At this moment, while the mid-rank battlefield had descended into complete chaos, the high-rank battlefield had fallen into an eerie standstill, as no one knew how to move forward anymore.

The high-rank mages within the City Lord’s forces shifted uneasily, confusion written across their faces as the situation turned grim far faster than they had anticipated.

“Leave that one to me,” Alec said pointing at one of the Tier 8 mages present.

From his left hand, the Eclipse Fenwolf leapt out and appeared beside him. At first, it was as though a painting were melting into the air, white and black colors dripping downward like liquid ink.

But once the flowing paint reached a certain point in midair, it began to take shape, slowly, it became more defined, more real.

Although it still didn’t possess physical flesh, but even in its soul form it looked far more alive, it snarled, its gaze locked onto the Tier 8 mage hired from the Dark Guild, the reason was simple.

Alec had chosen him as its opponent.

Many of the Gordons’ elders initially believed that Alec meant he and all his golems would face the Dark Guild’s Tier 8 mage alone, along with the demonic wolf he had just summoned from the tattoos on his hand.

But then they saw one of Alec golems and the Eclipse Fenwolf moved together, cornering the mage, as the wolf stepped through the air as if invisible stairs existed in the wind itself.

The partner chosen to fight alongside the Eclipse Fenwolf was Oni.

[ Status Window ]

Name: Oni

Level: 121

Realm: Low Tier 7

Golem Type: Shogun Lord

Rank: General

Progress to next level: 1.0%

Strength: 950

Agility: 950

Endurance: 900

Spirit (mentality for humans): 200

Mana: (250,000 / 250,000)

Affinity: Shadow Manipulation II

[Life Drain Control (Low), Black Prison Control (Low)]

Special Skills:

Advanced Scythe Mastery (Peak)

Advanced Blade Mastery (Peak)

Advanced Close Quarter Combat Master (Peak)

Summons:

Captain-Ranked Oni Shinigami Golems (10/10)

“And leave that one too,” Alec added calmly, this time, he pointed toward the Tier 8 Dragonmir elder.

Now, they all realised that there was no mistaking it, Alec wasn’t joking, he was selecting his targets, to the mages on the City Lord’s side, Alec’s words only sounded like arrogance.

As they felt that the small victories his golems had achieved must have gone straight to his head. In the eyes of the three Tier 8 mages, the things the golems had done so far was truly not enough to label them as a threat on the same level as an expert Tier 8.

If anything, they believed they themselves could have achieved the same results, so at most they believed the golems had a quasi Tier 8 prowess at best, all the stem to the fact that they were still underestimating them due to their Tier 7 realm.

That thought lasted only until Alec turned his gaze toward Legion and Titan to make them realise he was theirs for the taking.

Unlike the two he had assigned to his first target, these two were natural competitors, and neither of them liked waiting, because waiting meant giving the other a chance to claim the final blow.

And they both knew very well that whoever landed the last hit would take the lion’s share of the experience points, so Titan moved first as he knew he had a slower speed and was at a disadvantage when Legion weapons were put in play.

In the blink of an eye, he had already appeared before the Dragonmir elder, his fist swinging straight toward the man’s head, dragging behind a frost Qi.

But he wasn’t alone.

The instant Alec made his choice, Legion had vanished as well, reappearing behind the Dragonmir outer-branch elder with his firearm already raised, its barrel pressed toward the back of his skull.

Like a match thrown into open petrol, the high-rank mages of the City Lord’s army finally reacted, especially the City Lord himself, who immediately moved to stop the deadly entanglement that was about to unfold.

The speed displayed by both Titan and Legion shocked them awake, when those two had fought Tier 6 and Tier 7 mages earlier, they had seemed relatively slow.

It never occurred to the high-rank observers that they simply hadn’t been trying at all, because their opponents had been too weak to warrant their full speed.

Only now, seeing this burst of terrifying acceleration, did the City Lord’s forces realize the truth, they were in trouble.

As even among Tier 8 mages, their speed was top tier, it was now the City Lord’s high-rank mages rushing desperately to save the Dragonmir branch family elder.

Not because they were eager to enter the fray, but because they understood one thing clearly:

If the Dragonmir elder died, those two terrifying golems would be free to turn their attention toward the rest of them.

They could only hope that the Dragonmir mage had simply been caught off guard, so that this nightmare of a fear that he is bound to die would not repeat itself again, now unlike when the Gordons mages were scrabbling to save Alec and the were intercepting it, now they were the ones trying to save someone and getting intercepted.

The roles have reversed completely.

As the Gordons’ mages moved to block them, two of the Tier 7 mages from the City lord forces still managed to slip past; those two were mages that were facing the Second and the Sixth Elder previously, their intentions to break out were already clear, they were heading for Alec.

They believed that if they could kill him, everything would end.

One of them was Alistair, the City Lord’s son, he was already in his second transformation, With red dragon scales covering large parts of his body and giving off a ferocious aura, while the other mage also seems to be a mage that had come from the from the branch family with the Tier 8 mage that was besieged.

Seeing those two move for Alec, and with the entire high-rank battlefield on the verge of collapsing into chaos, the last Tier 8 mage who had been hired finally decided to act, but not to fight.

Instead, he threw out a small spherical object towards Midnight and Oni’s direction, the moment it flew a few meters into the air, it burst apart, releasing a dark mass that spread rapidly and covered a huge area, completely engulfing them both, and from afar it looked like a shadowy cover in midair, it was as if a powerful shadow spell had been cast.

Clearly, the Tier 8 mage was using it as a chance to escape, he had weighed the pros and cons and decided it wasn’t worth risking his life any longer in this battle.

He was running.

Because he still could.

At that same moment, the City Lord was hurled in his direction after being overpowered in a clash of strength, having just deflected a massive stone hand that had been launched at him.

As he flew past, he quickly stabilized himself in midair and turned his gaze toward the fleeing Tier 8 mage from the Dark Guild, the one he had paid an enormous price to hire.

And now, that very mage was trying to abandon the battlefield before the outcome was even decided, for the City Lord, this was an unacceptable outcome.

The other two Tier 8 mages were the final pillars holding his hopes in this war, and he could not allow one of them to leave.

If the hired Tier 8 mage managed to escape, it would ease the pressure on Alec’s golems, which could very well lead to the death of the other Tier 8 mage that had been sent from his branch family.

And knowing his family well, the City Lord was certain he would never be forgiven for such a miscalculation on his part—one that resulted in the death of one of their powerhouses.