The Golem Mage Chapter 1086: Multiple Deaths 2.

Fair enough, Carmilla poured all her efforts into preventing her left arm from turning utterly worthless. Right then, she commanded the blood inside her arm, urging it to battle the encroaching plant energy and contain the alien intruder extending into her shoulder.

That alone explained why her arm hadn't burst apart from the wooden parasite Endrick unleashed the instant the arrow hit home.

Endrick seldom employed this particular technique. After Alec handed him a manual packed with plant-element spells blended into archery methods, he vowed to reserve them solely for desperate life-or-death moments due to their savage impact.

Yet now, he saw no reason to hold back. After all, these were just astral projections, not their actual flesh-and-blood forms.

As Carmilla frantically searched for his position, Endrick had already settled into a ruined nearby building, perched on the upper level with a clear view of the chaos below; from there, he launched his assault.

His weapon morphed into a crossbow this round as he unleashed a bolt that streaked forth abruptly. But since Carmilla stayed more alert now and the range wasn't too near, she spotted it in time and twisted away—still, she fell a split second short.

The bolt tore through her right hand, yanking her back until she crashed into the ice barrier Pale had erected before, its force leaving her stunned.

The crossbow bolt lodged deep into the wall, and thorny vines instantly burst from it, clamping her right arm tight. Grimacing through the pain, she fought to lift her wounded left hand amid the torment to unleash a protective spell—only for another bolt to nail the very hand she strained to raise.

A fresh explosion of thorny vines surged out, securing her other arm against the wall too.

Endrick pressed on relentlessly.

Two additional bolts flew true, slamming into her legs; each hit wrenched a piercing scream from her as vines erupted once more, anchoring her lower body solidly to the icy face.

Once Endrick lowered his crossbow at last, Carmilla resembled a figure crucified on a vast plant barrier, utterly immobilized. The thorny vines had drilled far into the ice, sprawling over its expanse to seal off any chance of breakout.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Verdant Archery: Thorn Arrow ]

Just then, Carmilla pinpointed Endrick's location as a green streak flashed by, bringing him right before her. He leveled his crossbow at her head; he watched her strain wildly to shatter the thorn bonds and lunge at him, but each effort crumbled.

“The more you struggle, the deeper they dig into you. Your efforts are futile. You would need to be far stronger than this to break my restraints. Goodbye,” Endrick declared icily.

“You better believe this—I’ll come back and hunt you until—” Her words cut off as Endrick loosed the bolt.

The arrow blasted straight through her skull, snuffing out her existence in an instant. Simultaneously, a ping resonated over the field, announcing Pale's triumph in claiming the rune point.

Endrick observed quietly as Carmilla’s astral form dissolved into shimmering motes before him.

_ _

As that chime sounded, the clash over the central rune had intensified. Connor and Kira had joined the fray, aiding Damien in cornering Brandon and Lucas into a tight spot.

Then another ping rang out, snapping them to attention—they noticed two War God Mage team members had vanished mysteriously from the center, and Carmilla never reappeared.

Next came the system alert.

[ Blue Team Member Carmilla — Eliminated ]

The broadcast stunned everyone, clarifying the turn of events.

[ Mid Bloodline Spell – Gatling Blood Needles ]

Damien erupted in full rage this time. He thrust both arms wide, and the enormous blood reservoir hovering overhead churned into motion.

Before Brandon or Lucas could slip free from Connor and Kira, a horde of thick blood needles—each pen-length—materialized aloft, hovering like a lethal tempest poised to unleash.

Damien lifted his hand gradually.

“Retreat!” Damien barked at his allies.

But he wasn't alone in issuing commands; via voice link, Alec had already ordered his squad to pull back too. In his battered state, he recognized he couldn't sustain the fight much longer.

With the western rune already theirs, he opted to withdraw briefly and regroup, yet Dragov refused to let him slip away that simply—especially since he still dared scout other fronts mid-battle.

[ Bloodline Transformation – First Stage ]

Before Alec could pull out, Dragov materialized in his path, his enormous greatsword now sheathed in dense Qi, crashing into Alec’s ribs with devastating might surpassing all prior strikes.

Evidently, the first-stage shift had massively boosted his attribute gains. Dragov’s frame now gleamed with draconic scales, resembling full dragon plate armor more than a mere change.

Even his hefty greatsword transformed—the grip now pulsed with cyan light, lending it an eerie, captivating menace.

Alec hurtled straight into the cluster of Damien, Connor, and Kira; even tumbling, he sensed his ribs shattered beyond repair.

Spotting him land amid foes, his comrades surged instinctively to aid, but halted at Alec’s steady voice.

“Don’t come any closer. Retreat to the rune points under our control. This is an order. And don’t forget—I still have two more lives after this one. So I’ll make sure I’m not going down alone.”

Those words only fueled their urge to charge ahead. They'd swap with Alec in a heartbeat if possible, but he'd made it a direct command.

“Fall.”

Damien, who’d geared up to strike Brandon and Lucas, redirected fully toward Alec. With a hand snap, the swarm of airborne blood needles plummeted straight at him.

Damien had weighed the odds and deemed taking out Alec far superior to dropping the other pair, so as the fatal barrage closed in, Alec resolved silently.

In his upcoming rebirth this round, he'd ditch the casual approach. From the start, he'd played bait to lock the central rune, accepting early wounds that hampered his peak output.

Moreover, he grasped now that victory here might not be ideal.

He could morph to Sanguine form and hijack Damien’s needles for survival, or go werewolf with Tier 7 Hide to endure—but the timing felt off.

For the moment, foes underestimated him, thinking golem-less Alec was ripe for the picking.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Ember Sever ]

Alec glanced up at the descending blood needle storm, a subtle smirk curling his lips as his eyes flicked to the nearby mages. With a rapid sideways blade sweep, he unleashed a scorching crescent of dark fire hurtling at Connor, while time and motion warped into sluggishness.

Connor countered fast, ripping a diagonal claw slash that propelled a talon-like Qi blast to block the flames. Evidently, he figured he could tank a hit from a debilitated Alec.

But instantly, blood fountained skyward, his right arm sheared clean off—yet Alec flowed onward. Seamlessly, he hoisted his right hand, bracing it with his left, clasping the Changdao hilt two-handed.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Ash Splitter ]

Now Alec hammered his Changdao downward in a mighty overhead chop, propelling a slim, ruinous black flame surge that bisected Connor's torso neatly in half.

Only post-strike did the blood needle deluge hit Alec, stabbing into him repeatedly.

“Ouch!” spectators yelped on reflex, flinching at the gruesome scene. Alec bristled like a porcupine under myriad blood needles, but his grin lingered.

“Explode.” Damien snapped his fingers.

Bang!!!

The needles buried in Alec detonated in a ferocious blast.

[ Blue Team Member Connor — Eliminated ]

[ Red Team Member Alec — Eliminated ]