The Golem Mage Chapter 1074: Slow Battle.

“When did Titan break through to the Tier 7 Golem Realm?” Arthur muttered to himself, completely stunned by the spectacle before him, his eyes locked wide on Titan in sheer disbelief.

The tremendous pressure radiating from Titan brought every battle to an immediate stop, with all attention shifting to the Tier 7 golem looming in front of them.

After a brief examination and braving the sharp chill from his aura, numerous onlookers couldn't resist looking over at Hoshino Ren, the mage they once praised for exhibiting Tier 7 combat strength.

It dawned on them for the first time: Ren had never actually projected a Tier 7 aura. Yes, his spirit had evidently reached the Tier 7 level, yet he apparently couldn't unleash the full realm's pressure.

What confronted them now operated on a wholly superior plane compared to anything Ren had demonstrated before, even when fused with Akagami.

Bang!

In the blink of an eye, Titan materialized right in front of Ren, extending his hand sharply. Yet his real hand never touched Ren—instead, a gigantic ice palm formed out of nowhere and crashed into him, hurling Ren through the air.

“Arrgh!”

Witnessing this, Shun dashed ahead immediately and hoisted his shield, attempting to soften the force propelling Ren backward. But Shun too got swept up, both of them shoved back by the sheer power.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Wind Slam <]

From her position farther back, Kiri thrust her palms down and unleashed one of the wind element's deadliest mid-level assault spells. Crushing air pressure then plummeted—but Titan's form remained utterly still.

Just the icy crown hovering over his head quivered faintly from the force, before he started advancing toward her.

Frost unfurled over the ground with each stride, creating a spreading blanket of ice underfoot. He lifted his right arm and effortlessly summoned an ice lance.

Everyone watching could see the frost motes assembling rapidly into a finely crafted weapon with seamless accuracy. Once finished, Titan merely whipped his arm forward and launched it.

The throw seemed laid-back, yet the lance exploded forward at incredible velocity, a blue icy trail slicing the air before embedding into Kiri and flinging her toward the arena's barrier.

She had no idea what struck her at first, but to the audience, it was plain: Titan had hurled the lance, which blurred across the space, stabbed her shoulder, and hauled her over the field until she collided with the wall.

By the moment awareness hit her that she'd been displaced, her head had already bashed the barrier, rendering her senseless.

“We have to attack together! There’s no way you Blade clansmen can win without joining forces to fight this monster!” Hoshino Ren yelled at the Blade Clan fighters.

At Ren's call, Kaelus and Aeron exchanged glances. Despite their frequent clashes, they both grasped a key truth: they couldn't let Alec's golem keep taking out rivals without restraint.

After all they'd observed, they were sure that facing just Alec and his golem alone would spell defeat for the pair.

“Why do things always have to get complicated? Why do new challenges always show up just to mess with me?” Kaelus grumbled while charging ahead, abandoning Aeron to handle Lucas as the other Gordon clansmen intercepted the remaining Blades.

As Kaelus bolted off solo, frustration boiled in Aeron. He'd proposed they team up after dispatching Lucas, but true to form, Kaelus rejected it, declaring he'd link up with Ren to take down the golem.

Leveraging his swiftness, Kaelus rapidly narrowed the gap to Titan. He crouched and swung his katana upward, while at the same instant, Ren blinked into position from the other flank in a teleporting blur, gearing up for an overhead blow.

Yet right then, Alec teleported in too with matching suddenness, his leg lashing out to smash into Ren squarely, propelling him away from the engagement.

“Why exclude me from the fight? Do you look down on me so much that you think I can’t participate in a Tier 7 battle?” Alec demanded icily while shoving Ren aside.

That divided the field, with Alec and Ren skidding apart from the epicenter where Titan and Kaelus squared off directly.

In the meantime, Kaelus' upward slash targeted Titan's visage, but Titan merely retreated a step and arched backward.

In that motion, though, he stamped his foot and channeled mana into the earth, shaping it just beyond Kaelus. Suddenly, a rough ice barrier erupted behind him.

Unaware of it, Kaelus lunged onward with his strike, but Titan extended his left hand leisurely and seized the blade.

A grating screech of metal against Titan's iced-over palm echoed through the arena, the jarring sound sending chills, yet the sword halted dead in his hold.

As the katana ground to a stop within Titan's clutch, Kaelus lifted his gaze to meet the massive golem's, though Titan had already acted.

His right fist plowed into Kaelus' face with devastating force, catapulting him airborne until his spine smashed into the spiky ice wall Titan had raised moments ago.

“Argh!”

Kaelus howled as the ice shards pierced his back.

The crowd observed Titan nonchalantly discard the sword, where from the gripped spot, frost was already creeping along the edge.

Plenty in the stands pondered uneasily what might occur if he seized a person outright and maintained the hold.

While Kaelus fought to pry his eyes open, he spotted Titan approaching. What enraged him most was the golem's gait—Titan moved with serene poise, but his pace was deceptively rapid.

A azure gleam erupted from Kaelus' right palm as he called forth the Aether Blade, and a silvery glow flickered in his left as he manifested a spear.

Despite the dire circumstances, Kaelus braced for a direct confrontation with Titan. He lashed out with the Aether blade initially, unleashing a burst of Qi energy at the golem.

However, before the strike could fully manifest, Titan swept his left hand casually, conjuring an ice axe in his grasp without delay, then parried the blade's energy with unerring skill.

He pursued with a savage uppercut, his right fist rocketing up at Kaelus.

Titan's punch connected solidly with Kaelus' chin, hoisting him briefly airborne. But Titan pressed on, sliding his hand ahead to clamp Kaelus' throat and thrust him rearward.

Bang!!!

Kaelus' frame collided with the irregular ice wall, then Titan flipped him and hammered again.

Bang!!!

And once more.

Each collision made viewers from rival kingdoms wince noticeably.

Initially, Kaelus resisted with vigor to escape Titan's hold, but following almost ten savage impacts, his form slackened and awareness faded.

Most figured the nonstop bashing of his skull against the ice had felled him. Yet Alec and the Blade Clan's mages understood Kaelus too thoroughly to buy that explanation.

As a formidable mage excelling in weapons and Qi manipulation, Kaelus could endure severe punishment. From the Blade Clan, he wielded Qi like an armor layer.

Amid intense strikes, he could have molded his Qi into a shield akin to a helmet to blunt the damage, prompting them to suspect the head impacts weren't his sole ordeal.

At last, Titan let go and flung his body to the floor. When gazes focused on Kaelus' neck, it appeared pallid, nearly frozen solid unlike the rest of him.

That's when Aeron pieced it together.

The instant Titan seized his neck, the golem's ice mana had infiltrated Kaelus' system. With sustained contact via skin, Titan injected and directed the frost mana relentlessly, hindering Kaelus' Qi flow.

The repeated slams merely hastened his blackout; the true confrontation raged internally within Kaelus the whole time.

Fine frost crystals were emerging on Kaelus' skin, evidence that Titan's infused ice aura continued propagating through him, gradually encasing him in ice from inside even in unconsciousness.

“I said this before, Come at me, or I will make a move.” Titan declared evenly, scanning the battlefield.

“It seems none of you are willing to approach... so I will make my move now.” he added, leaving the surviving mages baffled this time.

If that hadn't counted as him acting earlier... then precisely what had they all just endured?