Eren was fighting with three mini giants at once.

Flesh-altering spell!

Eren was using the spell he had learned from Bulal Blood for the first time. He used it on his arms and retrieved the Beskar sword.

The Beskar sword was a heavy sword that was part of the Hex gear set. It was more than 50 pounds in weight and wasn’t easy to use. So Eren had never used it.

However, Bulal’s flesh-altering spell made his biceps abnormally large. The spell allowed him to carry and swing the sword with ease.

Blitz Steps

Eren cast his movement spell and disappeared from his place, leaving the trail of lightning behind him. Usually, his stride wouldn’t leave a trail. But since the sword he was carrying was so heavy, it affected his movements. His steps had become more prominent, cracking the ground beneath them every time he used the movement spell to spring forth.

Swoosh!

Eren barely managed to dodge the water-element arrow aiming for his head. It was shot at him by the elven lady who was the only one trying to maintain her distance from him.

The mini giant puppets were intimidating. But thankfully, they were also a bit slow. Their strides were predictable. And their attacks were easy to dodge for a guy like Eren who was exceptionally skilled at using his movement spell.

However, what they lacked in agility they made up for with the spells they had. These mini giant puppets worked in tandem. They moved like a party of three adventurers trying to take down a small monster.

These mini giant puppets made sure their attacks would sync. The ax-wielding puppet and the mage puppet prevented Eren from interacting with the elf puppet who was targeting him intermittently with her long-range attacks.

Eren focused on getting rid of the elf puppet first. Her attacks were too unpredictable. Plus, her arrows had the potential to change direction in midair, making them difficult to dodge. Of course, they had their limits while cutting through the air. But that limit wasn’t something to celebrate.

Eren would defend himself against the ax-wielding puppet’s frontal attacks using his heavy sword. He would then use the flesh-altering spell on his legs and get away from his position, lest the mage attacks him with his fire-element spells.

Eren couldn’t use the flesh-altering spell on all four of his limbs. He would have to cancel the spell’s effects on his two limbs to make the spell work for his other two. Thus, he would retrieve the sword from his storage before disappearing from the scene.

It had only been a minute. But Eren had exchanged many blows with the ax-wielding puppet. Almost got caught in the flame flowers that the mage was making bloom right underneath the ground he was standing on. Next, he would do his best to avoid the water-element arrows aimed at his vital points.

The cycle kept repeating itself. And Eren wasn’t making any progress despite using the flesh-altering spell in the most effective way possible at the time.

‘Why the fuck is this test so damn difficult?’

Eren thought to himself as he fought with the mini-giants. He had forgotten that the test was specifically designed for the Hexers, who have their own style of casting spells. Meanwhile, he was just brute-forcing his way into the test.

The stalemate was frustrating for him. So he decided to use another trump card he had in his arsenal.

Taranbiest!

Eren cast his lightning-element summoning spell. Unlike Alfem, it wasn’t as easy to cast. And it consumed an enormous amount of mana.

Eren tapped into his infinite mana core and let the spell consume as much mana as it could afford to consume without getting destabilized. As a result, the spell was cast fast and it manifested instantly.

A lightning-element creature appeared in the testing hall while Eren was busy battling with the three puppets. This creature had a thin, hound-like physique without any tail. Its limbs were thin.

The lightning-element summoned this creature with red eyes that shone with intelligence. A strange creature with a bird’s face and a bird’s beak for its mouth had appeared on the scene.

This hound-like beast was about 5 feet in height and 8 feet in length. Because its body was composed of lightning elements, lightning streaks danced all over it.

Kiyeeh!

Taranbiest screeched as it attacked the mage that was about to attack Eren using his fire-element spell. Eren was about to have a giant fire lotus bloom around him. But in the next moment, the spell was dispersed as his summoned beast approached the mage.

The beast’s intentions were clear. It wanted to blow itself up to get rid of the mage. But in the next moment, the beast was almost stopped in its tracks all of a sudden by a strange power.

The beast started approaching the mage at a very slow speed. It looked like some formless force was acting on its body.

The mage puppet had used his stopwatch-like time-element artifact on the approaching summoned beast. By using the artifact, the mage was able to alter the passage of time for the target. This allowed him to deal with it almost as easily as if it was still.

Eren cursed his luck when he saw the effects the mage’s artifact had on his summoned beast. He felt that the testing ground was a sham. Because nobody of his level would be able to clear the test if this was the standard norm.

Eren had tried to limit himself in using his infinite mana core, thinking that the one presiding over the test wouldn’t like that. They would kick him out of the testing ground for blatantly cheating.

However, he decided to stop acting goody-two-shoes when the mage used his artifact. Just like the real deal, this puppet mage was also a glass canon. Meaning it was easy to deal with once Eren was left to deal with it for a good minute. Alas, the ax-wielding puppet made things difficult for Eren.

“This accursed mage and that elf wench. I’ll just bombard you with my spells and see what sticks.”

Eren snorted his nose before casting all of his summoning spells at once. A swarm of firebirds started flying in the air. The lightning-element hounds started appearing on the ground.

The 30 firebirds and 12 lightning hounds were cast at the same time by Eren stacking his spells and sending his mana circuits on overdrive. Meanwhile, he kept his distance from the ax-wielding puppet while attacking him intermittently.

He gave up approaching the elf puppet or attacking the mage. He would focus on defending against the ax-wielding puppet’s heavy-handed attacks using his heavy sword. Meanwhile, he would stay on his toes and let his summoned beasts take care of the other two puppets for him.

About 18 firebirds and five lightning hounds attacked the elf puppet. The remaining summoned beast attacked the mage puppet.

The weakness of the mage puppet was obvious. It did not have exceptional movement speed, agility, a close combat weapon or weapon arts, or any close-combat spell. As with the real mage, it had tried to overcome its weakness with the means available to it.

For the time being, the mage puppet did not use the time-element artifact. It seemed that the artifact had a usage limit.

The mage puppet tried to cast a lotus flower around itself, intending to use an offensive spell as a defense. It kept using the lotus flame spell to strengthen the flames all around it.

The two Taranbiest had tried to enter the circle of flames the mage was in. However, their bodies started to be destroyed because of the invasion of the fire-element mana in their mana bodies.

Despite this, one Taranbiest managed to close the distance between itself and the mage puppet. However, the mage activated the time-element artifact just when it was about to attack it.

It looked like the mage puppet had managed to defend itself against the attack of the Taranbiest. But in the next moment, it turned its head towards the still-trapped Taanbiest in his flame flowers.

The Taranbiest which had been waiting outside the flame lotus made guttural sounds before taking a few steps back. Then they ran toward the flame lotus before launching themselves inside the circle of flames.

The lightning hounds used the bodies stuck in the earlier beasts as footholds to launch themselves in the air once again. They landed safely inside the center of the flame lotus before attacking the mage puppet in one go.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Two distinct lightning clusters bloomed in two distinct places inside the forest stage of the testing grounds. The lightning-element hounds had first attacked the limbs of the mini-giant puppets by biting on them.

The two puppets had all their limbs bitten by at least one lightning hound. In the next moment, all the lightning beasts blew themselves up. The dense cluster of lightning covered both mini-giant puppets.

This was not all. The firebirds launched themselves on their targets as a follow-up. Flame clouds engulfed the lightning element cluster, trapping the puppets within their range.

Eren had his attention on the two puppets while he was trying to defend himself against the ax-wielding puppet. But eventually, he heard the sound of something dropping on the ground in quick succession.

Thud! Thud!

The puppets’ bodies were dropped to the ground. Eren’s spell spamming had eliminated two of his opponents for him. His fight with the ax-wielding opponent needed to be completed using the same strategy.

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