The Golem Mage Chapter 1235: New Entree To The Battle [1].

BOOM! BANG!

After gathering power for several minutes, the second strike of the heavenly tribulation came crashing down upon Alec, and he had to admit, it was far from pleasant.

He gritted his teeth against the searing agony, feeling every single arc of lightning trying to force its way through his pores in a relentless bid to invade his flesh.

Blackness nearly claimed his senses, but at the absolute last second, he felt a soothing wave of aura radiated from the amulet resting against his chest, anchoring his mind and keeping him conscious.

Alec knew all too well how disastrous passing out would be right now, and that waas because he was at a crucial juncture, splitting his focus across multiple fronts: one part of his mind was actively weaving together his innate spell runes and his total comprehension of them, while another part was delving deep into the fundamental nature of the surrounding flame domain.

Finally, he dedicated another portion of his mind to enduring the crashing thunder of the heavenly tribulation, so he was profoundly grateful for the amulet’s assistance; without its soothing influence, he believed he would have not only slipped into unconsciousness, but losing his focus would have almost certainly caused his breakthrough to fail entirely.

Though he felt like kissing the amulet in gratitude for its support, however; all he could do in this current moment was grit his teeth and hold on. Yet, merely enduring was hardly enough, as the heavenly lightning cascading from the sky only seemed to grow fiercer and more destructive by the second.

Just when it felt like his plight could not get any worse, a sudden twist occurred.

Alec felt an unfamiliar stream of power being forcibly dragged into his spiritual space, and no matter how fiercely this new energy resisted, the relentless strands of mana remained hell-bent on pulling it inside.

Alec’s facial expression clearly betrayed his confusion as a massive, lightning-like bolt floating in space was forcibly dragged into his spiritual space.

He genuinely could not comprehend what was happening until strands of mana successfully pulled it in to revolve Alongside the flaming heart, the unmoving mountain, and the ever-changing beast faces. Only then did a realization begin to dawn on him.

Even so, his own understanding lagged far behind the system’s prompt alerts:

[? Ding!, Awakened Lightning affinity]

[Class: Peak.]

[Lightning element absorbing lightning from heavenly tribulations; understanding of lightning affinity is being forcefully increased.]

[Lightning manipulation stage I]

“I guess this isn’t so bad after all,” Alec remarked as he finished taking in the entirety of the second thunder strike of the tribulations, and started to feel a series of lightning manipulation information settle in his mind.

Awakening the thunder element had made absorbing the lightning significantly easier for Alec, prompting his casual comment. However, as if eavesdropping on his every word, the heavenly tribulation seemed to take his remark as a challenge and seemed hell-bent on punishing him for that.

Outside, the storm cloud had already expanded across a vast radius, a terrifying growth that Alec could feel intensely, even if he couldn’t see it since he was inside the palace.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alec swore as he sensed the cloud swelling further.

_ _

Meanwhile, over at the frozen city, Legion stepped out of the space nexus and glanced up at the sky. Above, a massive, planet-shaped sphere of ice hovered, encircled by 10 smaller, revolving ice glacier bodies.

“That bastard, I was the first to reach Tier 7, and now here he is, breaking into Tier 8 before me. It feels like no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get rid of him.” Lionel muttered, shaking his head.

"Look on the bright side, My Lord," Number One said, stepping out from behind Legion as Lionel shook his head.

"He only holds the lead for now; you will soon surpass him. The sole reason he entered that realm before you is simply because his city was the one targeted."

"Hey, Legion, it’s been a while," Agnes greeted him as she started coming over to him, she had just managed to get the soldiers back into position along the city wall, sensing that their troubles were far from over with the massive, icy moon looming above this current section of Alec’s domain.

"Hello to you as well, Little Miss," Legion replied in a metallic voice, adopting a surprisingly noble and refined demeanor that caught Agnes off guard.

"I sensed my Master’s will and came to protect him. While I would prefer to remain closer to my master, it seems he has other plans, leaving me stuck with this ice-brain. Put me to use however you see fit."

This courteous demeanor of Legion hardly matched her memories of him. And that was because she felt like he had drastically changed from what she could remember him as in her younger days, back when he was merely a mischievous Golem who pulled all types of pranks on the gang, however; she still accepted that such a profound shift was only natural since he was not the same Tier 2 golem she knew.

Suddenly, a devastating blast of energy slammed into the ramparts, instantly capturing the focus of both Legion and Endrick.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Legion leaped straight onto the city wall, and from that vantage point, he spotted a vast horde of undead advancing steadily toward the city gates.

Squinting through the distance, he identified three robed entities stationed near a massive portal at the back, from which the endless tide of undead continued to pour from.

"Isn’t that Dorian... Dorian Voss from Onyx Academy, one of the Northern Kingdom’s Big Eight?" asked Agnes. Having hurried up to the wall beside Legion, Endrick, and the golem captains, she instantly recognized the intruder, while Legion silently glowered at the unwelcome guest.

“It seems Master’s concerns were entirely justified. Boys, take your positions—we’re about to blow these undead to smithereens!” Legion declared, spreading out his left arm.

At his command, all ten cybernetic captain golems deployed into formation: with four positioning themselves behind the icy cannon, while the remaining team began assembling rocket launcher weapons.

They stood ready, awaiting their lord’s signal to unleash a devastating barrage into the heart of the advancing undead horde.

_ _

Meanwhile, another force was gathering another army force that had passed through the Beast Forest region, since the beastkin folks had moved out from the outer parts due to the movement from the army.

This new army that was trying to reach Alec’s main domain was spearheaded by Julian Soul alongside the Lightbringer twins, Gabriel and Michael—all former students of the Holy Grail Academy—with David Tudor standing by their side.

“Hahaha! Who could have imagined such a perfect opportunity to strike down that arrogant brat? Attack!” David shouted.

Yet despite his outburst, the troops remained stationary, advancing only after Julian and the Lightbringer twins raised their hands to give the final order.