The Golem Mage Chapter 1238: Who Is She?

Just as they anticipated Connor altering the current flow of events, a woman’s voice cut through the air, she approached them clad in a chitinous black armor, with her dark hair cascading all the way down to her waist.

Following close behind her were ten more arachne figures, each clad in armor of varying hues; with the two nearest to her wearing dark red armor and wielded long, bone-like spears of the same deep crimson tone.

“I approve of that strategy. Unbreakable, you would position your warriors directly beneath the city gates so they can surge forward the moment the city gates fall, that will allow you to leverage your expertise while eliminating hostiles for our master.”

She then turned her attention elsewhere.

“Connor, neither the city nor the barrier requires protection. I have positioned five of my children along the perimeter, so I will immediately know if anyone attempts to reach my master. As for you and your army, I will be deploying you guys up the rampart in the upcoming siege." She concluded her orders with her voice carrying a subtle, almost hypnotic charm as she finished speaking.

“Just who are you?” Knight demanded, stepping in before Connor could speak, he felt deeply threatened by the unknown woman’s presence.

The fact that neither he nor Connor had detected her until she decided to show herself meant she could have easily orchestrated a devastating ambush on them alongside the ten figures trailing behind her, though he felt those ten figures behind her looked a little bit familiar but he was unaware of who she was.

“Oh? You really don’t recognize me?I suppose my appearance has evolved significantly after my recent growth. Take a closer look.” she replied, sweeping her hair forward with one hand.

From behind her back, eight curved, hook-like iron spears—each articulated in three distinct segments—suddenly extended, as they plunged directly into the earth, lifting her slightly off the ground as a vast, delicate network of milky-white webs glistened into view all around them.

“H-Hive... Queen...?” Knight gasped in shock, as the entity standing before him now bore little resemblance to the Hive Queen he remembered after her little show of action.

However, why he had been confused was that she had always possessed a hybrid body, half-human, half-beast form. Never before had any of them seen her assume a fully humanoid shape like this.

“We can’t wait any longer. Move out.” Her expression abruptly shifted, the smile fading from her face as she sensed the invading army of light class mages closing in on the city gate, attempting to breach their defenses.

At her command, the three heroes, Sophia, and Knight surged toward the city walls, gliding effortlessly through the air as if treading on solid ground.

Once the area was clear, the Hive Queen turned her gaze back to the protective barrier surrounding her master just as the third lightning strike subsided.

“Hmm... It seems Titan and Legion are the only golems of master’s that they truly fear and avoid,” she murmured, her soft chuckle turning frigid.

“They may know he possesses a vast army of golems, but they are clueless about our hierarchy. Go, my children—show them that while Titan and Legion are foes to be avoided, I am the one they should never cross.”

_ _

Inside the throne hall, Alec had only just managed to endure the third wave of lightning tribulations, when he began sensing that his lightning control was teetering on the verge of an evolution. He instantly started to pray fervently that it would advance to the next stage.

Because while he was able to absorb the residual energy from the lightning strikes as it gave out immense benefit to him, he also felt surviving the ordeal should remain his immediate priority, As each strike felt like a blade aimed straight for his life, he realized that without his extraordinarily resilient physique, the repeated onslaught of the tribulation strikes would have claimed his life many times over.

He feared that any further increase in the lightning’s intensity would prove fatal, and fortune favoured him, as the fourth lightning bolt began to condense without expanding in size like the previous three had done.

He immediately started hoping that by elevating his lightning control to the next stage it would substantially boost his lightning elemental resistance, which would grant him a far better chance of braving the remainder of the tribulation.

Time pressed on as he weathered the fourth, fifth, and sixth strikes. Now, only the final thunderous blast awaited.

By this point, not only had his flaming element reached the fourth stage, but even his earth element had also crossed that threshold, forged and tempered by the relentless lightning striking from above.

However Alec who was observing his spiritual space was able to realize that neither his earth nor his flame energy made further progress after attaining Stage 4.

Reflecting on this, he concluded that maybe advancing his elemental control beyond this stage would likely require a considerably more potent energy source, than the tribulation lightning.

With these two main elements no longer consuming the lion’s share of the tribulation energy, the accumulated mass of pure, condensed mana split into two streams.

It directed itself toward Alec’s remaining powers: his Devourer bloodline and his newly awakened lightning affinity.

[Lightning Manipulation: Stage 3.]

“Hmm!”

Although no notifications appeared regarding his bloodline, Alec felt the soul beast tattoos etched onto his body began to heat up. While both the Eclipse Fenwolf and the Golden Wyvern showed little movement, he could sense that his Lesser Sanguine Bat bloodline had advanced significantly.

He could sense that if he ever gets the chance to devour the soul of a Great Sanguine Bat now it would allow his Lesser Sanguine Bat bloodline to evolve and also enter the Tier 7 realm.

Under normal circumstances, this would have troubled Alec; as merging with a soul beast of higher cultivation would place a strict time limit on how long the fusion could last.

Midnight and Zenith were prime examples of this restriction. Ever since both of them entered the Tier 7 realm Alec had refrained from merging with them, except he was in the amulet space, as he was wary of the severe backlash he would suffer if he accidentally exceeded the time limit.

Summoning them in their base forms presented its own challenges too, as he lacked the mana capacity needed to sustain them indefinitely.

While Alec possessed an extraordinary mana pool for a peak mid-rank mage, his rank still anchored his limits, allowing him to maintain only a single Tier 7 soul beast at any given moment.

With the Tier 7 realm now within reach, however, such concerns were fading, because even his mana stream around his body was also actively undergoing a qualitative transformation, as they were being refined continuously as they were fusing with the residual energy left behind whenever he withstood the descending lightning.