I clapped, loud enough to startle Zero, and then pointed at him, to be more precise at the limestone cave behind him.

“What are you up to?” He laughed scornfully. “Are you that confident in taking me down?”

“Don’t mind it. I’m just flexing”

That was a sign.

Prior to mobilizing the golems to invade their main base, I’d instructed Blizzard to stay some distance away from us. This was all in order to respond when there were any unforeseen circumstances such as this.

I was planning to have Blizzard save the people kept inside the cavern, and since there were no longer any strong individuals like Jackie and Shadow, it should be easy. After that, she would unite with the golems and surround Zero, who was busy being delayed by me. Then, checkmate.

But to do that, I got to lead Zero elsewhere from here. It just happened that there was one solution to this, which was by making him think that my golems would pose a threat to him here.

“Where do we fight? Here?” I asked, spreading my arms wide.

“Surely you jest. I’m sure ya have the idea of going back from your words. There’s a good place near the summit of this mountain.”

“Oh, you’re quite cautious.” Good, good, good…

“Haha! Don’t underestimate me, lad.” Zero turned to his men located inside the cavern and yelled, “Men!”

““Boss!”” A dozen men responded to him. They all looked buff and brawny like soldiers that didn’t fear death.

“Watch these golems from a safe location. Don’t let ‘em do anythin’ funny.”

““Understood!””

“Follow me.” He gestured at me with his hand and revealed a derision smile that was saying “I’ve won this.”

I smiled back, though it was hidden behind the mask, and ordered forty golems to follow me with the rest standing guard defending the cavern entrance. Each step they took trembled the earth.

“Whoa there, bringing those magical golems with ya? Are you taking me for a fool?” Tch. He noticed.

“What do you mean? These golems are my summoned creatures, so it’s only natural that they will go with me,” I said, lying through my teeth. “I can’t fight without them; I am a mage.”

“Go ahead, then. But five’s the limit. If you don’t agree, I don’t mind killing the hostages and subsequently you, Lord Argen-whatever,” he warned, pointing his greatsword at me.

Shuck. If I brought at least twenty of them, then I could guarantee that pinning him down in place would be easy… Five was still an amount that he could take care of without much difficulty, it appeared.

His intention was clear: to separate me from my golems and kill me. He must have thought that I was some kind of mage, who was physically weak, that maintained these golems through magic, or at least somebody that he could beat easily without his golems (he wasn’t wrong). Thus, the whole reason for him proposing the challenge.

“Fair enough.”

Subsequently, we headed for the summit that he talked about. I walked behind the five golems while keeping some distance away from him. It felt that his presence was like an extremely dangerous beast, more powerful than anyone I’d encountered so far.

However, information was key to every battle, like data was vital to building up a working program. Therefore, I secretly used [Developer Interface] on him to check his stats.

Name: Zero

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Age: 44 years old

Height: 206 cm

Occupation: The leader of the Axiom Order, ex-mercenary, elementalist warrior, the lapdog of…

Vocation: [Magic Burst]

Stats:

STR: B- (83) AGI: C (69) VIT: B- (85) MAG: B (88) SPR: C (73)

Accumulation Points: 248 [B-]

The fuck! Is this guy on steroids? Seriously, even a C in STR is enough to topple a big tree with a single punch, a few for a boulder… I couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat and take more distance from him; he was an even worse opponent than what had been anticipated.

After all, once he attacked me, he would be able to kill me like squashing a bug. I dared not imagine the consequences of letting such a blunder since only death awaited me.

But then, what about his Vocation?

[Magic Burst]

An ability that can make any spell ten times stronger than its original power by expending immense magical energy (mana) in return. The user will experience exhaustion upon using this depending on the original output.

So he’s basically a glass cannon? Wait, an armored tank!

What was even more peculiar was his last occupation. The lapdog of… the Cult of Doomsday? If my mind served me right, Shadow was also a member of the Doomsday Cult.

I was about to go deeper into my thoughts, but Zero suddenly spoke, “Lad, before I kill you. Tell me, what are ya really up to by doin’ this all?”

“What? Haven’t I told you? It is to—”

“Cut the crap! I know that that’s not your real motive.” He glared with stabbing eyes.

Well, there wasn’t anything wrong in telling him at this point, so I answered, “For people…” And personal vendetta, but that’s a petty reason.

“Sticking to moral scruples, eh? You, the one who bears a family name, must be a noble… Is it for noblesse oblige? Nah, you don’t look like you came here with that intention.”

Who said that I really care about them? Even if dozens of them died, there would still be hundreds of kidnapped villagers remaining… Just that, they would label me as less incompetent if I failed to save their relatives.

“No…” he added, “I have never heard of your name, so you’re most definitely not a noble. Besides, I don’t think any noble would even care.”

“I only fight for myself and my own interests.”

“Ignorant! You don’t even know what darkness lies hidden in this world. Don’t blame me for not holdin’ back.”

“You’re free to think what you want.” It’s every man for himself…

He snorted in disdain and kept walking without glancing back.

Several minutes later, the path widened into a protruding cliff with a great view of the lush, endless forest under. If it wasn’t for the imminent duel between us, I would love to appreciate the breathtaking view while drinking a hot coffee and sitting on a comfy chair.

“We’re here. Quite a sight, eh? We can fight as much as we want here.”

“Mm.”

We distanced ourselves twenty meters from each other and took a fighting stance. He held his sword firmly looking like he was ready to rush in and break any obstacle between us, whereas I just simply had one of my arms near the hilt of my sword while the other was close to my backpack.

The sun that barely peeked at the edge of the earth became the signal that started our duel.

Zero gave me a beckoning finger, saying, “Go on. You may strike first,” but I didn’t fall for that since that would shoot myself in the foot.

“No, thank you.”

“Fine. Don’t die too fast. Kid!” After seeing that I didn’t bite, he decided to go for the initiative, launching himself at me while making a battle cry. His speed was insanely fast! Faster than a racing car.

“Golems, stop him!”

The five iron golems that I took with me were composed of three flamethrower golems and two gunner golems. My plan was simple: to stall for time. Once he was occupied with the golems, I would sneak away by launching magic at him.

The three flamethrower golems began unleashing flames at him. The other two went to the left and right of the three flamethrower golems and opened fire, sending numerous bullets at him, which he didn’t even bother to dodge as they didn’t even injure him, simply bouncing off his skin. Talk about superhuman.

“Ho… A golem that can use magic? Interesting. {Hail Wave}!” Zero swung his blade that was suddenly encased with ice at the golems, launching a sharp ice wave as tall as four meters at them.

While all this was happening, I cast {Flame Arrow} at him multiple times, releasing numerous flame arrows one after another. I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I could do silent casting just to gain extra time.

The flames from the golems and my flame arrows collided against his ice wave and dispersed countless tiny blue cold particles into the air. It was just a normal attack from him, but it took all that we got… This was looking bad.

Zero didn’t remain still and slashed his large greatsword at the nearest golem, splitting it into two and partially freezing the two cut pieces. Looking not satisfied, he went for another golem.

“Oh, don’t you dare.” I cast {Earthen Wall} to separate him and the golems before throwing two handfuls of explosive balls at him, causing smoke to arise in the wake of barrages of explosions.

However, he didn’t stop with his attack, swinging his blade encased in ice and cutting the earthen wall along with the golems behind it. All five iron golems that were supposed to be my shield were easily destroyed by him.

His figure simply walked out of the smoke with just some minor burns on his skin, though his clothes were pretty bare now except for his disheveled pants. Like nothing just happened, he said slowly, “If this is the limit of your strength, then you’re far from my match!”

Ugh… explosive balls were too weak to injure him indirectly, and as for gunpowder balls… In truth, I had a few of them with me, but I decided to save them for later.

“Then, this will force you back.” I drew out my sword and let the blade break into countless pieces that then formed a twenty-meter line of blade shards and swung it at him vertically.

“Hmm? What kind of magic weapon is this?” Zero’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly pulled himself together and cast {Ice Wall} from his greatsword to block the incoming blade shards.

Nevertheless, a blade made out of poor material would always have a poor performance. This time was no exception, the blade shards simply ricocheted when they hit the spherical ice wall without doing anything else. Simply useless. Welp, I’d anticipated this, but still…

“Doesn’t even tickle me. Ya done?”

“Not yet!”

The blade shards that had been bounced off the ground rose around me and spun around me with extreme speed. However, instead of expanding, the blade shards were kept a meter away, condensing into an extremely dangerous blender. I was confident that he wouldn’t be able to get in.

“Just a paltry trick.” With a swing of his sword, cold wind was blasted onto the spinning blade shards, dispersing them like autumn leaves.

“Argh!” I was injured by the blade shards despite instinctively covering my head. But thanks to the clothes set that hardened in time, I wasn’t hurt except for a few scratches on the hands. Something that could be treated with a mere potion.

Most importantly, he was able to destroy the spinning blades that I was proud of with just a swing of his sword!

I sank to the ground, looking at the sword in my hand that was no longer able to form back into a complete sword — turning it back into a broken sword. My body was shaking almost uncontrollably, but I forced myself to hold on by standing up again.

Zero took a step forward, placing his greatsword overhead as if about to give a final blow. “I told you, kid, I’m not gonna hold back at ya.”

I darted my eyes, looking for a way out of this situation. Right now, only the gun I hid in my overcoat’s patch pocket would scare him, but just before I was able to take it out, he had closed our distance so much that I was frozen, unable to move.

It was at that moment of desperation when a ray of light appeared right next to him, then a six-legged silverly wolf appeared and swung her claws at him. Zero was caught off guard and was thrown back a few meters as a result.

“Wait, so it’s all just to stall for time?” His countenance darkened.

“Always has been.” I took out the gun and fired at him.

He held his chest splattering with blood, staring below with a look of disbelief. “You injured me? Impossible. Impossible!”

I smirked. “Nothing’s impossible.”

Soon afterward, the rest of my forces ran here and encircled him from all directions, leaving the cliff the only path on his back.

“Now the start of round two — begin!”