Swiftly, Alec read through the intentions behind both Tier 7 mages’ movements.

They were trying to gang up on him and end the fight quickly, yet he remained far too relaxed, as if he didn’t even take them seriously.

The tattoos of the Infernal Mantle began to materialize across his body, he knew he needed the additional stats to overpower them both.

In a flash, the Infernal Mantle clad him in a display that was almost fashionable, his hair flowing freely, the red strands deepening in color while the black and brown were forced toward the tips, giving him a fierce and imposing presence.

Within a second, his Spirit Equipment set was fully summoned, it wasn’t just fast, it showed how deeply connected he had become to his equipment.

The left hand that had been trembling slightly as it held the Changdao hilt which restrained Alistair’s claw suddenly stabilized.

At the same time, the wide blade of the second Dragonmir clansman reached him. Alec raised his right hand, which was now covered by the Infernal Grasp glove, and stopped the blade barehanded.

That glove possessed the ability to negate up to five spells, attacks, or special abilities directed at its wearer, as long as they remained below its power threshold, which was Peak Tier 5.

True, Alec had not yet had the chance to upgrade his Spirit Equipment set to the Tier 6 realm, and the strike coming at him now, had been enhanced by Qi, wrapped in wind energy, which makes it a triple layered force attack, which clearly exceeded the Peak Tier 5 limit that the glove is meant to negate.

But Alec had planned for this.

He knew that if he reached for his katana, he would lose both speed and momentum, and that was something he couldn’t afford in such a tight knitted battle, so instead, he trusted the glove and met the blade directly.

Seeing Alec raise his bare hand to block his attack, the Tier 7 Dragonmir sneered in contempt, to him, it looked like blatant underestimation.

And he was more than ready to punish Alec for it.

Boom!

When the blade finally struck, the Dragonmir mage froze in shock, the image he had imagined in his mind of Alec’s fingers being severed and the blade continuing on to his neck never happened.

Instead, he felt his weapon tremble violently, the force traveling all the way back into his hand.

Alec, on the other hand, calmly watched as two out of the five small luminous spheres embedded in his glove dimmed and went out after blocking that single attack.

It was a clear sign.

High-level attacks above its limit drained the glove’s power rapidly, at this point, he could only stop one more attack with the same ease.

If he tried it a third time, it would be his own fingers that paid the price, but it didn’t matter to him again.

As he had already achieved what he wanted, he had been able to push the Dragonmir mage’s blade aside and, in the same motion, sent a low kick into Alistair’s right knee.

“Ouch!”

The moment Alistair bent, Alec drove his right fist forward, blasting him through the air and smashing him straight into the ground.

With Alistair dealt with, Alec turned to face the second Dragonmir, who was already gathering momentum for another strike.

Swish!

The mage attacked again, this time with even greater force and determination, but Alec didn’t need anything elaborate.

He simply held out his changdao, which was still half-sheathed in its scabbard, as he moved past him, this caused the Dragonmir’s clansman blade to scrap violently against his own as they crossed paths.

After passing him, Alec twisted midair in a sharp turn and raised his right hand like he was about to shoot a gun.

[ > Innate Spell – Stone Bullet + Flaming Aura < ]

He didn’t even hesitate, a single stone bullet formed instantly, wrapped in blazing flames, but this innate spell wasn’t like the one he was used to, clearly he had entered new realms which made his innate spell level up too.

It was far stronger than before.

The bullet was shorter, yet visibly denser and heavier, packed with a far greater concentration of stone essence than any he had ever used before.

The flaming aura didn’t just coat the bullet, it transformed it. The stone bullet looked like it had been torn straight from a molten magma volcano, glowing with terrifying heat.

Alec then finally released it, the bullet shot forward and slammed into the mage’s shoulder, making him jerk violently as pain tore through his body.

“You little runt!” the Dragonmir clansman snarled, as he opened his mouth, with mana rapidly gathering in his throat as he prepared to unleash one of the Dragonmir’s most infamous copied dragon techniques.

[> Mid Bloodline Skill – Wind Dragon Breath <]

But the moment Alec saw the mana concentrating in his throat, he drew out his changdao with his left hand and sent it spinning freely toward him.

The Dragonmir mage’s expression changed instantly, as he was forced to halt the activation of his skill midway and make a side step from the sword’s range.

Stopping such a technique midway was dangerous, and the backlash alone would injure him, but he was far more afraid of being struck by Alec’s blade.

He dodged, letting the sword pass, but the consequences were immediate, as he began coughing violently, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, after all he just swallowed back a violent mana he was just about to unleash.

[> Innate Skill – Flaming Aura <]

[> Mid Tier Skill – Iaido <]

Like a specter, Alec vanished from his original position. In the next instant, he appeared only a few meters away from the Tier 7 Dragonmir mage.

In his right hand was his bone katana, the blade already stained with fresh blood...while appearing like a blade that had just been forged, not yet cooled, still radiating heat and sharp, raw danger, while his left hand pressed firmly against the scabbard.

With a smooth motion, he flicked the katana, twirled it, aligned the blade with the scabbard’s opening, and sheathed it.

Shling.

The sound rang out sharply, as the Dragonmir mage’s head slid from his shoulders, the force holding his body together vanished, and his corpse began to fall freely through the air.

The death of a Tier 7 Dragonmir sent a chilling shock through the hearts of the surrounding Tier 7 mages, many felt the urge to flee, but their opponents would never allow that.

Alec’s figure flickered in midair once more, and in the next second he was already standing above the crater where Alistair had crashed into.

He drew his katana and raised it, then lifted his left hand to support the right which was gripping the hilt firmly, his legs spread slightly as he took a steady stance, his posture calm and unwavering.

He waited, waiting for Alistair to rise.