The exact instant Nople announced the start of the battle, the black arrow floating at the tip of Werk Treuz’s wand trembled strangely.
My entire body was on alert.
I kept my eyes fixed on him, waiting for some movement.
But I felt nothing.
No wave of mana or perceptible change in the air.
Then the Biochip went off.
[Beep!]
[ALERT!]
[Curse attack detected!]
My pupils contracted.
The black arrow continued floating at the tip of the wand.
Then I noticed something.
The Biochip overlaid a red trajectory in my field of vision.
That thing had already been launched.
It was just...
I couldn’t see it normally.
I remained seated on the back of the enormous Giant Shark King, while my robe gently swayed in the wind.
Without my powered armor, I was wearing only the standard enchanted robe of the Acolytes.
I looked at Werk Treuz, who remained one hundred meters away.
He was smiling.
If it were any other Acolyte...
They would probably be hit without even realizing it.
But I had an absurd advantage.
The Biochip could see the spell.
And thanks to it, I could see through that trick.
[Recommendation: immediately move away from the area.]
[Failure to avoid the attack will result in the host being exposed to subsequent curse spells.]
[Analysis based on the current database:]
[Mana blockage probability: 70%.]
[Spiritual mental confusion probability: 30%.]
[Critical damage probability: 5%.]
I understood immediately.
Curses didn’t necessarily need to physically travel to the target.
First, they needed to establish a kind of connection through magical energy.
Once the target was locked...
The spell could reach it almost instantaneously.
That’s why they’re so difficult to intercept.
There was no time to simply "dodge" a curse after it established the connection.
My mind was linked to the Golem.
— Move to the side..
As soon as I gave the mental command, the Shark King moved.
The curse arrived.
But it didn’t find my body.
It found the Hunter Knight.
Flash!
The black arrow disappeared.
Then a huge amount of black smoke began escaping from the Golem’s body.
The smoke transformed into a dark chain.
It circled the Knight in a semicircle.
Then...
SHIIING!
The chain pierced directly into his body.
Werk Treuz’s eyes widened.
— Damn it!
He clenched his teeth.
— It failed!
Through his magical sense, he realized the problem.
His spell hadn’t struck a purely physical entity.
It had struck a Golem.
— Now I understand, you summoned a damn mud Golem?!
I smiled.
— Exactly.
Werk Treuz raised his wand.
He didn’t give me time to celebrate.
He immediately began preparing another spell.
I did the same.
— Biochip.
[Awaiting command.]
— Lock onto Werk Treuz.
[Beep!]
[Target locked.]
Perfect.
The next instant, the Hunter Knight raised his arms.
Earth-element particles and mud began to gather.
Whoosh!
A huge mud spear formed.
— Go!
The Golem hurled the spear.
ZOSSHHH!
BANG!
The spear struck one of the black shields.
The entire shield trembled.
Werk Treuz was forced to take a step backward.
I didn’t give him time to breathe.
I raised my arm.
Light Mana began to concentrate.
A luminous bow appeared in my hand.
I grasped the string.
I pulled.
A Light arrow formed.
I aimed directly at Werk Treuz.
— Let’s see how you handle this.
I released the string.
ZOSHH!
The arrow crossed the field like a bolt of lightning.
BOOM!
It struck the dark shield.
The explosion of Light flooded the area.
The brilliance was so intense that some Acolytes who had no affinity with Light had to close their eyes.
When the light began to disappear, I heard murmurs coming from the crowd.
— That...
— What kind of launching speed was that?
— Can a Level 2 Acolyte really do that?
— The power of that arrow...
The crowd, which had previously treated the fight as entertainment, stopped shouting after that spell.
They were finally taking the battle seriously.
And Werk Treuz even more so.
He retreated.
The dark shield was being consumed by the burning Light.
The elemental energy clashed violently.
The shield began to crack.
Werk Treuz gritted his teeth.
He quickly used his mana to create another dark shield.
BOOM!
The new shield replaced the previous one.
At the same time, he began reciting another spell.
His wand glowed, and then he thrust it toward the ground.
ZOSH!
As soon as the black glow struck the earth, I reacted.
— Advance!
The Shark King slid forward.
My plan was simple.
Use that gigantic body to crush him.
But...
Something emerged from the ground.
— What?!
A grotesque figure appeared near the point where the energy Werk had released with his wand had struck.
It was a corpse.
It was approximately two meters tall.
Pale skin.
A head resembling that of a dog.
Four arms.
Each arm ended in enormous claws.
Two legs.
Its body seemed to have been assembled in a completely disorderly manner using parts from different magical creatures.
It was horrible.
And it moved in an even worse way.
It crouched down.
Then it began running using all four arms and two legs.
I couldn’t deny that thing was truly disgusting.
— Lock onto this creature!
[Beep!]
[Target detected.]
Then I mentally ordered the Knight to attack.
Earth spears shot toward it.
ZOSH!
ZOSH!
ZOSH!
The creature dodged the first ones.
Then the second ones.
And continued advancing.
Its body moved irregularly, almost like a spider.
Within a few seconds, it was in front of the Shark King.
The enormous Golem slammed its fins against the ground.
BOOM!
The earth trembled.
The creature staggered.
It lost its balance for an instant.
That was enough.
The Shark King opened its gigantic jaws.
ROOOAR!
It lunged forward.
Its fangs closed around the corpse.
CRACK!
The body was crushed.
For a moment, I thought it was over.
Then...
BOOM!
The corpse exploded.
Black blood was thrown in every direction.
The liquid covered the Shark King’s head.
And then something happened that left me completely frightened.
The Earth particles forming its head began to melt.
Within seconds, huge amounts of earth lost their elemental connection and collapsed onto the ground.
Damn!
I leaned forward.
What kind of corrosive blood is this?!
It wasn’t simply destroying matter.
It was corroding the elemental energy itself!
If the control spirit crystal had been located in the head...
I probably would have lost my Golem at that very moment.
But fortunately...
The crystal wasn’t there.
The head had been destroyed.
But the body was still functional.
The Shark King continued advancing.
Then the elemental particles began gathering again.
Earth emerged in front of the destroyed neck.
A new structure began to form.
First the outline, then the muscles, jaws...
Within a few moments.
A new head began to emerge.
That was one of the reasons Golems were such irritating creatures to fight.
My Golem possessed an extremely convenient regeneration ability.
As long as its body remained connected to the earth, it could recover approximately 10% of its damage per minute.
It wasn’t instant regeneration.
But in a prolonged battle...
It was terrifying.
Because it meant my opponent needed to destroy the energy core or kill me directly.
Otherwise...
The Golem would simply keep rebuilding itself.
While I was still watching the Shark’s new head forming from the elemental particles of the earth, Werk Treuz acted again.
He raised his white wand and fired several spells at the ground.
Zosh! Zosh! Zosh!
The hardened ground began to crack.
Rrrr...
Grrrrr...
Haaaaa...
Dozens of small cracks spread across the arena and, suddenly, pale hands began emerging from them.
The fifteen corpses quickly spread out, forming a kind of triangular formation as they ran toward the Giant Shark King.
Each one of them was a different aberration.
And all of them were coming toward me.
There was no time to hesitate.
I reached for the ring on my finger and immediately channeled my mana into it.
A blue light appeared.
Clack!
Armor began forming over my body.
The material seemed to have been created from the bones of sea creatures. Bone plates fitted together, covering my chest, arms, legs, and shoulders.
Within a few seconds, I was completely protected.
...
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