The Golem Mage

The image of a dragon, seemingly formed entirely from molten flames, erupted from the ground behind Alec, the moment it appeared, it locked onto its target, which just happened to be the rear of the salamander Alec was pointing at.

The salamander froze for a full second, stunned by the dragon's roar, it wasn't fear—it was bloodline suppression.

But in the next heartbeat, it realized the roar had come from a phantom construct born from Alec's spell. Still, with the attack so close and sudden, it had no time to react as that one second was enough for the dragon to close the distance.

The dragon slammed into it, and a massive explosion followed.

Even Alec, who was caught within the blast radius, was violently thrown backward.

As the smoke cleared, Alec lay motionless on the ground, coughing, completely drained, his limbs were heavy, and his vision blurred, he knew the signs too well—death was creeping in.

He had faced this brink too many times not to recognize it. Yet, he clung to consciousness with sheer willpower, as he wanted to confirm if the red salamander had truly been killed?

But as his gaze found the creature, disappointment sank in, it was still alive—barely, critically wounded, but somehow holding on longer than Alec could.

A defeated chuckle escaped Alec's lips, he hadn't expected to successfully cast a high-tier spell, and yet, he had.

He remembered he had heard of Pale having an ancient dagger—a relic that allowed its wielder to cast spells above their realm, provided they understood the complete runes of the spell they wanted to cast and the inner mechanics of the spell and had the mana to fuel it.

Normally, only mages at the peak of their rank attempted such a reckless feat, ones with vast mana reserves.

However Alec had decided to follow the relic principles even when he wasn't even at the peak of Tier 6, but he had another advantage—the five stored attacks, stored directly from attacks the red salamander had initiated itself.

Using the special ability of his gloves, Alec had tried to convert the stored attacks into pure mana—and to his surprise, it actually worked, in that moment, he wasn't thinking about consequences, he simply acted, converting the mana from four of the orbs to cast the only high-rank spell model he had managed to acquire from a skill tome he'd bought in the system store.

He had always been curious to see how a high-rank spell model would differ from a mid-rank one, strangely enough, he'd successfully learned it—but that didn't mean he could miraculously cast it.

First of all, he was still only a mid-rank mage, and he hadn't undergone the qualitative transformation that high-rank mages experienced—one that reshaped the body, spirit, and magical pathways.

His mana, though abundant for his realm, wasn't refined enough to handle such a colossal drain, even with his entire body serving as a mana reservoir, the cost was extreme.

Yet in the chaos of battle, Alec had decided to gamble—using the stored energy of high-rank attacks to fuel the one spell he knew, a spell that had nearly crippled the salamander.

By now, Alec understood that the salamander's survival wasn't just due to its insane defence, it was also thanks to its mid-rank regeneration special ability it had, which had kept it going even through devastating injuries.

But Alec refused to let the beast live—not after everything he had endured.

He now realized that hunting Tier 7 demonic beasts in the Beast Forest was a far-fetched idea, they weren't just strong—they were monstrously overwhelming.

Several factors had lined up to make this moment possible.

First, he had entered a fire region, which aligned with his primary element, which helped him greatly in resisting the regional pressure and gave his fire-element golems a boost.

Second, the fact that he had been storing a high-rank fire spell—far above his gear's usual limit should have torn him apart. But thanks to his exceptional fire resistance, granted by having two distinct flame types, he was able to endure it all.

All of these elements and the strange, heightened state he'd entered during the fight had brought the salamander to its current condition, with its rear limbs and tail were gone; in fact, only half of its body remained.

This was after Alec had poured the energy of four of the salamander's stored attacks into casting a spell even stronger than what had been thrown at him.

"You bastard, how am I supposed to—" the salamander began, but stopped mid-sentence as Alec raised his right hand slightly.

This time, Alec didn't bother converting the final stored attack into mana, he simply unleashed the enormous fireball he had stored, as it shot toward the salamander like a blazing comet.

The moment it left his hand, Alec's neck gave out, his head slumping as his strength finally ran dry, he didn't care anymore. Thе full sеriеs is hоstеd оn Мy Virtuаl Librаry Еmpirе, knоwn аs МV7LЕМРYR.

All he wanted was for that final strike to land—to make sure the salamander died, and that the sacrifice of his golems just to help him hunt his first tier 7 demonic beast in the beast forest hadn't been in vain.

As the sound of the explosion rang out, Alec closed his eyes, unable to fight off the pull of death any longer.

—

Gasp!

Alec jolted upright in bed, his body drenched in sweat, he couldn't remember the last time he had to face death so closely in the beast forest, since becoming a seasoned hunter in the second level of the beast forest, it had always been a matter of running out of time and not being killed out of the amulet world.

Pain still coursed through him, though there were no visible wounds, but it felt as though every inch of his body was scorched with fire, without hesitation, Alec summoned a small pill bottle—the one containing the blue-coloured pills he'd recently acquired.

From what he understood, part of its work was healing soul damage.

After what he'd just endured inside the amulet world, he wasn't taking chances. Prevention was better than cure.

Without a second thought, Alec popped one of the pills into his mouth.