The Golem Mage - Chapter 848

Chapter 848: Punches and Kicks.
After Alec summoned his golems, he didn’t bother moving, he remained still, arms crossed, eyes locked on the kangaroo with the scar over its left eye.

From the expression on the kangaroo’s face, it was clear things weren’t going as it had expected. Alec’s golems were dominating the battlefield, though only the eight main golems were Tier 6, but with their minions by their sides it significantly amplified their power.

The synergy between them allowed the main golems to exceed their realm’s limits, overwhelming the Kangaroo opponents with brutal efficiency.

“Arrrh!” The kangaroo leader finally snapped, no longer willing to watch his subordinates be slaughtered, just as he prepared to leap into the fray, he realized someone was also moving to block his path.

Alec had been watching him closely and had tracked his line of sight in case of any sudden movement, so the moment the kangaroo flashed forward, with lightning crackling across its body, Alec reacted, propelling himself into the air with a surge of mana and qi wrapped around his body and legs to enhance his speed.

The kangaroo had been targeting Butcher, its eyes locked on him from the beginning as Butcher seems to be doing the most damage, the look of concern now replaced by aggression.

Alec’s movement wasn’t fast enough to stop him outright; as his elemental affinities weren’t built for high-speed travel, forcing him to rely on raw power to close the distance.

He calculated it would take another split second to reach them.

Meanwhile, Butcher, who is flanked by his ten Storm Knight golems in a battle against a set of kangaroo demonic beast, sensed the danger just in time, and he withdrew backwards, barely dodging a strike from another Tier 6 kangaroo in front of him.

Then, in a swift motion, he split his double-handed axe into two one-handed versions, though smaller, but the new weapons allowed for greater agility, as he shifted one arm behind him, positioning the axe defensively as he prepared for the attack he had sensed.

Bang!

A shockwave rippled through the air as the kangaroo’s figure appeared, fist clenched and slamming into the base of Butcher’s Thunder Axe, sending the massive golem flying backward, and causing Butcher to crash into his golems who he’d been fighting with, scattering them like pieces on a board.

In the very next second, Alec was already in motion, twisting mid-air, as he angled his body and launched a straight kick with his left leg toward the kangaroo leader, the kangaroo reacted quickly, turning his other hand to clamp down on Alec’s leg—

[> Mid-tier Spell – Gravity Shock <]

Boom!

But Alec had other plans for him as a purple, sonic-like ring exploded beneath Alec’s foot, striking the kangaroo leader and launching him upward, but instead of tumbling helplessly, the kangaroo twisted his body mid-air, somersaulted, and landed safely at a distance.

He looked up, only to see Alec smiling down at him.

“You’re one slippery cockroach, hard to kill,” Alec said, cracking his knuckles as he released his left hand grip on the Changdao on his waist, the motion was slow, deliberate, as Alec’s stance shifted as he prepared for a hand-to-hand fight.

The kangaroo narrowed his eyes, his pride stung, to him, it felt like mockery. Fist-fighting was the natural domain of kangaroos, and Alec choosing to not draw his weapon seemed like a challenge, a statement that he could win even without it.

“You’re going to regret that,” the kangaroo growled before vanishing from sight.

He reappeared in front of Alec, fist rocketing forward.

Alec calmly deflected the blow with a light slap of his right hand, then countered with a sharp thrust of his left, like a spear, the kangaroo raised his other hand to block, but the moment contact was made, the scent of something burning filled the air.

The kangaroo’s expression twisted in pain, as he recoiled instinctively, flinging his arm backward to withdraw Alec’s fingers from his flesh that was scorched, from there, a fierce exchange erupted—punches, kicks, spells, and sudden feints.

And to the kangaroo leader’s growing frustration, Alec was losing but not by much.

He was being beaten, and that was what made it all the more unsettling for the kangaroo leader as his punches landed hard, each one packing serious force, but no matter how bruised or battered he made Alec.

Alec took them all with a smile, as he even barely countered, almost as if he were letting the fight drag on, meanwhile, the kangaroo leader grew increasingly agitated, realizing that his subordinates were on the verge of being completely wiped out.

“Why are you smiling? I’ll wipe you off the face of this realm—even if it’s the last thing I do!” the kangaroo leader snarled.

Then, all of a sudden, Alec’s movement which was once clearly slower seemed to shift.

His speed hadn’t increased, but his reaction time seems to have sharpened dramatically, at the very last moment, he tilted his head and narrowly dodged a punch aimed at his face.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the lightning arcing off the kangaroo’s fist, crackling inches from his cheek, but now Alec was in perfect position to counter.

[> Mid-Tier Spell – Gravitational Shriek <]

Following his dodge, Alec responded with a simple palm strike while closing his ears with mana, his attack effort looked harmless, almost casual, but the instant it connected with the kangaroo’s chest, a deafening sonic boom erupted.

The blast was so intense that the surrounding kangaroos screamed in pain, with blood trickling from their ears.

Their leader, the direct target of the strike, wasn’t so lucky, he was sent flying, crashing into the ground with a violent thud.

Alec, who had just compressed the surrounding air to form a devastating sound-based attack, didn’t even flinch, he glanced calmly at his notification window.

[> Ding! <]

[Close Combat Mastery has evolved into the Intermediate Stage]

He had been using the kangaroo, an opponent with higher mastery in hand-to-hand combat as a training tool, deliberately taking hits to push himself further.

He could’ve ended the fight earlier with ease by drawing his blade, but Alec had decided it was time to master close combat for himself, and not just rely on his golems mastery when he needed to use his fists.

He chose to do it this way because with his newly gained Magma Control, there was no better method to unleash its destructive potential than by using his own body as the conduit, as the bearer of the power, he wouldn’t be harmed by it.

However, the moment he channelled it through a weapon not specifically designed to withstand Magma Control, the consequences were obvious, the intense energy would begin corroding the weapon’s durability until it eventually shattered.

Though his bloody Changdao was a divine weapon capable of restoring its durability by absorbing blood, and he could have activated the second seal to compensate, but Alec was too eager to see this idea through on his own terms.