“Fuck, what rotten luck! These aren’t just statues; they’re golems!” Jared cursed in frustration.

“This isn’t going to be easy; there are so many of them.” Dorian frowned, readying himself to cast some spells.

“Uh-oh.” Elara worriedly said, “I hope there’s no more of them…”

On the flip side, Graviel snorted in response to their comments as he stared at his magic tool, seemingly already expecting this to happen. “Just a bunch of golems. The only ones we have to worry about are those gargoyle golems.”

As the statues — now revealed as golems — advanced and encroached on them, the group didn’t remain silent. The mercenaries, who had been momentarily frozen in surprise, quickly unsheathed their weapons to face these foes. Though a fact was true; they were surrounded from all sides: The gargoyle golems loomed before them, while the stony collection of more than a dozen golems closed in from behind.

Rowan, the large, bearded man, immediately barked out orders, rallying his companions into a defensive formation. “Form up! These stony bastards aren’t goin’ down without a fight!” His voice cut through the air as he drew his weapon, bracing for the imminent clash.

Victor, amidst the chaos, was instead assessing the situation from behind. Despite his primary mission of vengeance, the immediate threat had to be resolved while maintaining the guise of Felix. This meant that he couldn’t use his magic. Unfortunately, Victor was not a Ki-Warrior, but the sword produced by the Mask of Impersonation was no different than a real sword, so he should be able to play his part just fine. Moreover, although very basic, he’d once learned swordsmanship back home in order to have some familiarity when fighting Ki-Warriors.

Soon enough, the confrontation escalated into a cacophony of metal and magic as the group engaged the golems. Spells and blades struck against stone skin, sparks flying with each impact. The myriad of golems, for their part, retaliated with the swing of their weapons and swipe of their massive claws. Meanwhile, the gargoyle golems shot beams of destructive energy from their mouths, leaving large holes in the hard ground whenever they struck.

Based on this alone, Victor deduced that the gargoyle golems surpassed the strength of average third-stage Initiate Attunement acolytes and were closing in to the power of the queen spider. Perhaps their destructive powers were even higher.

Even though they were a group of elites, it was apparent that maintaining this defensive formation was impossible. Some of the mercenaries were already injured or even killed in the clash after getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of the golems. Furthermore, Rowan and the four acolytes were preoccupied with fending off the stronger gargoyle golems and were unable to support them.

As Victor played his part by holding a nearby knight golem and trying his best to avoid drawing undue attention, a lightning bolt struck one of the gargoyle golems. Yet, not even a scratch was left on its surface. It appeared that these golems were resistant to magic attacks.

“Crap. These golems are too tough, and there are too many of them! What’s our plan, Sir Graviel?” The caster of the spell, Jared, was finally unable to hold it when he discovered that his spell did not work at all.

In response, Graviel issued a decisive order. “Eight of you hold off these golems and cover our backs. The rest follow us inside!”

What a surprise… Victor sarcastically said in his heart. Of course, it was clear that Graviel was trying to sacrifice the mercenaries here and escape.

Whatever the case, Victor took that chance to move closer, expressing his intention to join those heading inside. Despite the desperation etched on their faces, the remaining mercenaries nodded in grim determination, turning to face their daunting opponents. This was actually good for Victor, as there were now fewer mercenaries that he had to fight later on.

Regrettably, Rowan — the Ki Master — chose to go inside as well. This meant that making any covert maneuvers would still be quite difficult. Nevertheless, there was one thing that had to be done before they could get inside: taking care of the gargoyle golems.

“Sir, let me break open a path,” Rowan declared, his grip tightening around his axes. With a determined glare, he squared his shoulders, unleashing a powerful surge of Ki energy through his axes. Crackling energy formed a protective barrier as he charged headlong into one of the gargoyle golems with a fierce battle cry.

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Bang!

The golem was caught off guard by Rowan’s sudden onslaught and staggered backward under the force of his assault. Rowan’s strength was indeed superior compared to the gargoyle golem, and cracks began to form where his weapons struck. With a few more strikes, they might be able to disable the golem. Alas, the two gargoyle golems didn’t let that happen as they shot beams of destructive energy at him.

Victor observed all of this from behind. He actually had little information about strong Ki Masters like him and their innate abilities. When it came to it, knowing what he was truly capable of up close was important, especially for their inevitable confrontation.

“What are you doing? Help us!” a mercenary yelled at Victor, snapping him back to the present.

“Mm,” Victor grunted in acknowledgment. With a quick nod, he joined in the fray, swinging his sword against the other gargoyle golem alongside two other mercenaries. Even with the three of them, it would be impossible to hold this golem back for long.

Still, as the two gargoyle golems were preoccupied, Graviel and the others swiftly approached the massive metallic door and tried to open it. However, they found it firmly sealed shut. Victor noticed that the door was enchanted with a powerful magic seal to prevent easy entry.

“Damn it, it’s sealed with magic!” Graviel exclaimed in frustration.

“Let me try — {Rock Bullets}!” Dorian chanted. Several fist-sized rocks materialized and hurled themselves at the door, causing dust to swirl as they collided against each other. Yet, when the dust settled, the door didn’t budge an inch.

Seeing their futile attempt, Victor couldn’t help but internally scoff. Did they truly believe that a mere Aleph-tier spell could shatter this heavily fortified door? It would take far more than that to breach its magic defense.

Even the spell {Warpblade} might not be powerful enough to break the magic seal placed on the door. This meant that similar Bet-tier spells had to be cast several times just to make a dent. Of course, Graviel was not aware of that, and he retrieved a magic scroll from his interspatial ring in a desperate attempt to bypass the seal. With determination etched on his face, he unfurled the scroll and imbued it with his infused mana to activate its spell.

After which, a human-sized green fireball was launched from the scroll and blasted against the door, sending searing hot air toward the nearby mercenaries and golems.

“That’s a Bet-tier spell.” As Victor murmured to himself, ripples appeared from around the door. Alas, the spell didn’t do much more than that — the door remained tightly shut.

Shock and disappointment washed over the group, particularly Graviel. Though one thing was for sure, this guy truly had a lot of treasures hidden in his interspatial ring which made an Elemental Adept Magus like Victor green in envy.

“Sir Graviel, how about using the artifact fragment? Maybe that’s the key to open the magic seal,” suggested Elara.

“Hmph, I was about to do that.” Calmness returned to Graviel’s face as he took out the artifact fragment, causing Victor’s eyes to widen in realization as he continued his engagement with the gargoyle golem. In the past, Victor had no idea that the artifact fragment was actually a gear-shaped object, and only now did he realize about it.

Interesting. I may know what the inheritance of this pocket dimension is all about. It is much, much “better” than I expected, Victor gleefully thought in his heart. If his conjecture was correct, then it would be very beneficial for the development of the academy. Perhaps even completely revolutionized how things worked!

Focusing his attention back on the metallic door, it finally reacted once Graviel presented the artifact fragment. The magic seal that was unaffected by the earlier Bet-tier spell, dissolved as if it had never existed, and the four acolytes quickly pushed the door open like their lives depended on it.

“Quickly, inside!” someone shouted, prompting Graviel, Jared, Dorian, and Elara to dash into the tower without hesitation. Rowan, unleashing a burst of ki energy to blast away the gargoyle golem he faced, also followed suit.

Already positioned to make a swift entrance, Victor wasted no time in bolting into the tower. With each step, he left the other mercenaries behind to their demise. After all, fewer enemies meant fewer obstacles to his own objectives.

True to expectations, the instant he entered the tower, the heavy door sealed shut behind him, cutting off the stranded mercenaries to fend for themselves. Subsequently, the door shook as something powerful collided with it — likely to be the attacks of the gargoyle golems.

Finding that the door showed no signs of breaking open, the group breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure had been mounting on their shoulders, and a bit of respite was all they needed.

“How many are left?” Graviel asked.

“It’s only the four of us, Rowan,” Dorian pointed to each member before settling on Victor’s impersonation of Felix, “and him.”

“He is?” Graviel squinted his eyes at him. Well, it was understandable to be a bit suspicious seeing that the other mercenaries didn’t have the chance to escape except him. If even Rowan could barely escape, then how did he, a much weaker individual, manage to do that as well?

“His name is Felix, sir,” Rowan interjected. “He’s a Ki Guard and is quite dependable.”

While maintaining his impersonation, Victor inclined his head slightly. “I await your orders,” he stated.

“This guy’s so damn lucky.” Jared frowned before quickly proposing a vicious idea, “We should let him lead the way. Maybe we’ll find less troubles that way.”

Graviel considered the suggestion and pointed at Victor. “You, lead the way.”

“Yes, sir.”

Victor had no intention to refuse the order since he didn’t want to arouse any more suspicion. Besides, an Elemental Adept Magus like him could see hidden mechanisms and traps that others couldn’t, so he could use that to his advantage. In fact, he was laughing for trusting him too much in this situation.