The Golem Mage Chapter 1228: Stolen Skill [2].

By the time Alec reached the ground, he could tell that the Beastkin general’s lifeforce was almost entirely depleted, when he had unleashed the skill he had not anticipated the skill to be so potent that it would take out the Bearman general in one move, yet there was something else he was worried about and that was about the fact that it had drained both his mana and a portion of his blood in the process of activation.

While he had utilized the blood absorbed by his Changdao earlier he had only used it to replenish his stamina and mend his injuries, he had not been using it to restore his own blood bank, a skill that is attached to his Changdao as it seem to have a space to store blood that Alec could just pass to his blood stream instantly .

So it was not that he was unable to use the sword to replenish his blood, but rather that he realized the process took significantly longer if he wanted to do that due to the blood undergoing refinement before being passed onto him .

Furthermore, the refined blood did not seem to mix with his own; instead, it felt as though it was being stored elsewhere for a different purpose.

It was only after activating this borrowed skill that he finally grasped why he needed to stockpile blood in the first place, though had he still be wielding the blood Changdao at the time he activated the skill, he doubted he would have needed to sacrifice his own blood to unleash it, due to the weapon storing up spare blood for itself.

However, because the weapon was currently undergoing an evolution, Alec lacked access to the sword’s blood bank.

The only abilities he could draw upon were its second and third seals, and unless he was overthinking the situation, he suspected the blade had deliberately allowed the usage of those skills before it began evolution itself, since it was aware that it had left its master without a weapon, considering that Alec had used the bone katana his former secondary weapon —a reward from Zack Gordon—as the main ingredient in constructing his latest golem.

He had sacrificed the katana after sensing that the blade was beginning to exhibit a semblance of intelligence, and his instincts proved correct: because Vermis, his newest golem, appeared to retain the memories embedded within the bone blade.

The swordsmanship Vermis displayed was entirely identical to Alec’s own, leading him to conclude that his extensive use of the bone katana had permanently ingrained his techniques into the weapon.

Yet, while a mere semblance of intelligence was Vermis matter, his suspicions pointed toward the blood Changdao was something far greater, and that was because he believed his blood Changdao was on the verge of developing its own ego.

Although Alec knew little of the process, however; he had read enough about ego to understand its potential, now that he had finally uncovered a purpose for the blood stored within the Sword, he was more than willing to utilize it.

Walking toward the Bearman general, who lay sprawled on the ground coughing up blood, Alec looked down at him.

"Surrender or die?" Alec asked, resting his hands on his knees while his new blood scythe hovered in above his head, held aloft purely by his mental energy.

"Just kill me... You already know I can’t surrender to you," the Bearman general replied.

Despite his plans to attack the Beast Forest in future, Alec had always secretly hoped to subjugate its forces rather than destroy them. Yet, as he had observed so far, only those reduced to complete powerlessness ever surrendered; the stronger ones refused.

While Alec took no pleasure in unnecessary slaughter, he was by no means soft-hearted, the moment he realised the general made his choice, Alec raised two fingers, positioning them just slightly above the Bearman’s head.

“Death it is then. Rest in peace...”

[? Innate Spell: Stone Bullet ?]

Out of respect for the Bearman general, Alec granted him a swift end, as a small earthen projectile infused with earth Qi coalesced before his outstretched fingers, spinning rapidly before launching straight toward the general’s head.

Bang!

The bullet straight out bursted through the general’s skull as a series of notifications clouded his view

[ Ding! ]

[ Golem ‘Titan’ is about to undergo an evolution into the Tier 8 realm. ]

[ A portion of the Experience Points has been transferred to you from Titan. ]

[ Level up. ]

[ Prepare to undergo your Breakthrough. ]

_ _

Just as Alec finished his fight, the clash on Titan’s side drew to a clear close, forcing the Zerg army into a full retreat.

This provided immense relief to many of the human lords who were nearby and had managed to survive being overrun by the Zerg army, because a massive portion of the realm-fused Zerg forces had been drawn away toward the ice border city by the Zerg queen.

The surrounding domain lords couldn’t hide their astonishment at how events had unfolded. Knowing full well that the Zerg Queen was determined to crush the human stronghold, they had secretly harbored hopes that her swarm would breach the defenses and deal a devastating blow to Alec’s military forces.

And when disaster had seemed imminent, Titan, who is the most renowned of Alec’s golem, and whose capabilities were widely recognized by nearby lords was ambushed by a pair of Tier 8 Zerg lords.

Believing the golem was destined to fall under the siege, the onlookers were then caught off guard when reinforcements suddenly arrived in the form of Agnes and Endrick who had come with their mage unit.

Agnes’s arrival immediately turned the tide on the city walls.

Ever since the Ice Golem captains had descended into the air to fight the Tier 7 and 6 zergs, the ice mage unit had been left leaderless, suffering heavy casualties in the chaotic slaughter.

In fact by the time Agnes took charge, numerous Zerg that had breached the wall were already showing signs of partial evolution, unlike other species, the Zerg rarely needed deep slumber to evolve, allowing them to rapidly adapt even right in the midst of battle.

The unique physiology of the Zerg allowed them to digest every cell fragment and ability the moment they bit into an opponent, initiating an immediate metabolic process that fueled their own evolution.

This inherent structure enabled them to grow steadily stronger as combat progressed, because they always gorged themselves on the corpses of powerful mages across the battlefield.

Consequently, even without developing social traits, they could naturally ascend to higher realms.

When Agnes arrived, however, she confronted Zergs that had already adapted to the element with her mage unit, while being supported by the plant magic ranger unit of Endrick.

Frost energy visibly radiated across their outer armor and exoskeletons, rendering them increasingly resistant to the assault of the ice mage unit, which is why she made this switch.

With all of these factors at play, it was clear for her that the ice mages unit were headed toward complete ruin. However, after taking command, she reorganized the battle formations that the ice golem captains had previously been using, consolidating each unit into a unified force.

Since she possesses one of the city lord seals as a sub-lord of the main city she could order them, she literally held authority equal to that of their current city lord (Titan).

Aside from the main city lord, Alec was the only one who could override the orders she has given them or instruct the troops to disregard whatever she says next, so they dared not disobey her when she gave out an order as there was no superior above her present.

Thus, she ordered them to retreat from the city wall into the lower region, believing it would offer them better room to maneuver and fight; upon reaching the area though, she immediately instructed them to construct a barricade with them casting instead of battling directly.

As the soldiers worked on the barricade, their frustration grew, as they watched their comrades lose their lives by the second while holding the defensive line at the front to keep the Zergs at bay from reaching them while they created the barricades.

Yet, whenever they recalled the extent of her authority, they could only grit their teeth and carry out her commands.

After immense struggle and heavy casualties, the barricade was finally completed.

It was then that the ice mages unit witnessed the true, devastating strength of a city lord.

A single woman annihilated nearly seventy percent of the invading Zerg forces. Looking on, they felt deeply humbled, and ashamed to even call themselves mages, realizing that all her previous preparations had merely been to establish a defensive stronghold capable of enduring the swarm’s assault when they came at her because she wanted to cast an intricate spell which required a lengthy casting time.

And given the massive convergence of mana drawing directly toward her, she knew that remaining undetected by the Zergs swarm was impossible, because the sheer scale of her spellcasting would act as a glowing beacon, inevitably making her the swarm’s prime target.