The Golem Mage

Scar, who is radiating a peak Tier 6 aura, let out a deep sigh—he could already feel their days of peace slowly slipping away.

He remembered the day he had casually sent his subordinates to retrieve another of their kind who had just evolved into the Mid-rank into the middle regions; he hadn't expected much at the time.

Yet, he never anticipated that the same female would rise so quickly, growing strong enough to surpass him in both power and presence among the pack.

The strangest part of it all, however, was her laid-back attitude about it all, despite her strength, she had left the leadership role to him—until recently, when a certain human had been confirmed to have entered the second dimension, Scar didn't know who this human was to have such a hold on her, but there was one thing he knew for certain—he wanted that man dead.

In his eyes, only he was worthy of being her mate, however since his brute strength wasn't enough to sway her, he had chosen instead to follow her with unwavering loyalty, biding his time.

--

Meanwhile, Alec was doing his best to carefully consider his next move, he was still in no condition to be fighting an opponent of this level recklessly, he slowly pushed himself off the ground from his kneeling position, he then focused intensely on the demonic beast before him.

[Status]

Race: Red Salamander

Type: Beast

Tier: 7 (Low)

Affinity: Fire (High), Earth (Mid)

Special Abilities: ?

Using his Inspect skill, Alec confirmed his suspicion—the creature was indeed a Tier 7 demonic beast, but something else caught his attention. The system showed a "Special Abilities" tab—something highly uncommon, and a first for Alec in the Beast Forest for a demonic beast to have both affinity and special ability; more surprisingly, this salamander possessed two elemental affinities; that alone made it a deadly opponent.

"I don't know how you managed to resist the pressure of this region, but I think you'll make a nice snack." The Red Salamander said, lowering its body into an aggressive stance,

And it happened in a flash, Alec barely blinked, and in that split second, the salamander had already closed the distance, its towering body before him with its massive jaws unhinged and rushing down to devour him whole.

Just as the salamander was about to chomp down on Alec—who was still disoriented and reeling from the shock of encountering a beast with both a special ability and dual affinities—he suddenly felt a force yank him backward.

A drawing force, strong and swift, pulled him just far enough to avoid instant death, he watched the creature's massive jaws snap shut, as sparks of flame bursting from between its teeth and scattering in the air, some nearly licking his skin.

"Uhh?" the salamander grunted in surprise.

Snapping out of his daze, Alec wasted no time, as he drew his bone katana with his right hand, tossing the scabbard aside, and gripped the bony hilt tightly with both hands, that near-death moment had sobered him up quickly.

He had always taken pride in the 300 points allocated to his agility stat, however in that brief second, the salamander's explosive speed made him realize how insufficient that truly was.

Turning toward Titan and Legion, he now noticed with clearer eyes the flaming bubbles surrounding them—elemental restraints clearly meant to suppress non-fire-attributed constructs.

Titan, especially, was struggling, given his natural alignment with ice. Alec's system interface began pinging him with alerts, confirming a 20% drop in both golems' combat performance due to the overwhelming fire affinity saturating the area.

But Alec's mind snapped into high-speed calculation.

It wasn't just luck that he had adapted to this fiery region so quickly—it was all because of his Flaming Heart.

That unique core of his fire element seemed to have undergone a subtle evolution during his earlier struggle.

Realizing that, he made a decisive move, with a flick of his right index finger, two sparks of black flame shot out toward his golems.

[> Innate Spell – Flaming Aura <]

Alec hadn't used this spell in a while, though innate spells typically advanced alongside the mage, it wasn't something he had paid much attention to, but now, in this moment of urgent imbalance, he felt there was no better option.

Because Flaming Aura didn't just enhance his own power, it was also responsible for a lot more—like boosting his defence, enhancing flame-related attributes, and granting effects Alec was still gradually uncovering.

Now, for the first time, he had cast his innate spell using his black flames, while he could perform it with either of his flames or a mix of both, this time Alec had chosen the black variant specifically for one of its key traits:

Its ability to devour flames within a certain threshold.

The moment those black sparks made contact with the red flame bubble suppressing Titan and Legion, they spread instantly, engulfing the red aura and replacing it entirely.

In seconds, both golems stood shrouded in black flames, the oppressive aura dissipating around them.

The Flaming Aura had latched onto them without resistance, wrapping them in both defence and offensive enhancement.

[Ding!]

[Debuff has been cancelled.]

Alec grinned as the notification popped up—confirming that the environmental Debuff, which had previously drained over 20% of their combat effectiveness, had been neutralized.

It was a small loophole he had just discovered, and one that made fighting in fire-heavy terrains like this possible again.

Meanwhile, the salamander continued to watch with mild curiosity, as though all Alec's efforts were nothing more than child's play.

But that expression didn't last long, even Alec was surprised at how seamlessly the Flaming Aura worked on his golems; as this was the first time he had ever tried it.

Now, knowing he had a workaround to the elemental suppression in places like this, he summoned the rest of his golems.

As each one appeared, he flicked his finger to envelop them in black flames, since it was an innate spell, the mana cost was negligible—he could cast it repeatedly without draining himself.

Find this chapter's source on MV-LEM-PYR.

With his squad ready, Alec summoned his Infernal Mantle Set, as he wasn't about to face a Tier 7 lifeform without the powerful stat boosts his spirit equipment provided, as if that wasn't enough, a flaming aura slowly engulfed Alec as well.

Unlike the ones surrounding his golems, his was far more domineering—though the flames flickered with a blurry edge, they took the shape of armour that fused seamlessly with his Infernal Mantle Set.

Blazes of red and black danced along the contours of his body, making him look like a flame-forged warrior cloaked in chaotic fire.

This was what truly caught the salamander off guard, it had remained indifferent when Alec had only two golems at his side.

But now, it was facing an evolved looking Alec —who is radiating far more power than before alongside a full squad of eight golems, each cloaked in what looked like armour made of writhing black fire.

None of them looked like an easy hunt to the Red salamander .

"Boys, let's hunt a Tier 7 lizard," Alec said, a grin on his face.

As the salamander's eyes flared in rage the moment it heard those words, and without a second thought, it launched the first attack.