The Golem Mage

But now with one of the so-called smart ones giving them a justifiable excuse to attack, the crowd jumped at it without hesitation, after all, none of them had the courage to face Arthur or Brandon alone, the only way they dared make a move was as a group, as none wanted to be a lesson for the others.

As a portion of the mob surged toward Arthur and Brandon, two hung back including the one who incited the charge, subtly distancing themselves from the fray, and those were the ones Arthur and Brandon really wanted in the first place—the ones pushing this so-called challenge from behind the scenes, including the mage Arthur had already knocked out, that made four key instigators.

Now that they had their targets, the first step was clearing out the expendable mob in front of them.

"Come," Arthur said with a grin, dashing into the incoming wave of mages, and what happened next was far from what anyone watching from afar would have expected.

One hit—that was all it took, every strike from Arthur rendered his opponents unable to continue fighting, he wasn't holding back. Ribs snapped, hands shattered, jaws dislocated—and through it all, he laughed.

Some mages got spooked by Arthur's overwhelming brutality, and swiftly broke off from going to him as they made a move toward the seemingly calmer looking Brandon instead, however seconds later, they regretted it.

The moment they stepped within a certain range, they felt themselves sinking into the ground, that's when they noticed it—a swirling aura of sand emanating in all directions from Brandon's feet, as if he were the eye of a desert storm.

The more they struggled, the deeper they were dragged into the spiralling quick sand like trap, even the manipulation of their mana did nothing, their resistance only seems to make matters worse for them, and soon they were begging to be spared.

But Brandon stood still, calm as ever, as if he hadn't heard a thing as he picked his ears.

It hadn't even been two minutes since Arthur had smashed his fist into the fan-wielding mage, and already the mob lay sprawled across the ground, those that were not unconscious were writhing in agony, groaning from broken bones and the searing pain that came with them, it was funny how they were wishing they were the ones knocked out instead as those who were couldn't feel any pain at the moment.

While over in Brandon's area, his opponents lay completely unconscious, many of them with sand trickling from their mouths along with deep fingerprint-shaped bruises stamped across their bodies.

Though they were all Tier 6 mages. However none of them had reached the high or peak stages of the realm.

They were mid- and low-tier at best, this year's third-years weren't nearly as overpowered as the fourth-years who had just graduated, in fact, this group could be considered one of the strongest among the current third-year class, the only real advantage they had was their solid combat experience, thanks to the academy's constant tasks and missions.

"Hey, I thought this was going to be tough, but this wasn't even half as pressing as our last Blood Moon battle." Arthur said, cracking his knuckles as he turned his gaze toward the last three mages they had purposely saved for last.

"Well, that's obvious, against those goblins, every move was life or death, each attack was aimed to kill, you can't compare that kind of pressure to fighting a bunch of mages pretending this is some playground."

Just then, another voice rang out, causing every conscious mage to turn toward its source, and there he was—the most sought-after mage in the academy, the one they had all been waiting to see. Alec.

Behind him stood two figures, but as those mages staring took a closer look they revealed they weren't humans—they were golems.

Alec wore the academy's uniform, but it had been customized into a kimono-style outfit, for some time now, Alec had developed an interest in samurai aesthetics, since both his weapons leaned in that direction, he figured his attire might as well follow suit.

Technically, uniform customization started from the third or fourth year, but Alec was no ordinary student either.

As the most publicly acknowledged strongest disciple in the academy—and the key liaison to the logistics department's new supply chain of pills—Old Man Alderic hadn't hesitated to approve his request when he asked for it.

As the remaining conscious mages laid eyes on Alec, he seemed no different from an ordinary human, but the two golems standing beside him had his scent while still radiating a powerful and dangerous aura—making it obvious that they were his summons.

And if he could control golems of such strength, it was only logical to assume he was even more formidable himself.

In their minds, they began to paint a picture of Alec as someone powerful enough to suppress his own aura completely, while in reality, it was the weight devices he wore that were forcibly restraining his realm to a lower level.

And since he was also consciously avoiding the use of mana, his presence gave off nothing but the illusion of a regular person.

Without sparing a glance at the groaning mages on the ground, Alec calmly walked toward the final three still standing.

Titan and Legion moved in closer, herding the mages toward Alec, as he leaned in and whispered a few words to each of them.

Whatever he said left them visibly shaken—as the dread in their eyes unmistakable. Arthur and Brandon couldn't discern or hear what was said, but from the look on their faces, it was clear those three wouldn't be showing up again anytime soon.

Just as Alec felt the weight of responsibility lifting from his shoulders, the loud toll of the academy's soul bell echoed through the air.

Despite its name, being the soul bell it didn't mean that it did ring inside a person's soul, rather, it emitted a sound that could only be heard by those carrying either a student badge or an executive badge tied to the War God Mage Academy.

And whenever it rang, it signalled the occurrence of an important event, an order for all who heard it to report immediately to the Arena Square at the heart of the academy grounds.

Alec turned to Arthur and Brandon, whose expressions told him they'd heard it too.

"I seriously need a long vacation from all these earthly troubles, now I understand why those old men in books always retreat into deep seclusion claiming they don't want to be disturbed." Alec sighed.

Arthur just laughed and started dragging him along, while Brandon shook his head as Arthur muttered, "He's blabbing nonsense again."

After all it's not like they were from Alec's old world to understand what he was making reference to, behind them, Titan and Legion followed closely.

With his battle strength currently restrained, Alec didn't feel secure moving around without the protection of at least two of his golems, and since he was keeping his newly gained prowess hidden, it made sense to stick with the two golems already well-known throughout the academy due to their growing popularity.