"Three, two, one, Go!"

Punk ordered No. 1 to stand in front of him and then prepared two spells in his hand but didn't release them instantly.

 Although Punk had not learned the super magic skill-Double casting, but because of his extensive training and with a bit of tweaking from the System, he could still release two spells together after preparing them one at a time. 

And as he was about to face the mastermind of this cave, he decided to use all his hands. 

So he had already blessed himself with "Advanced mage armor," "Advanced deflection position," "Advanced swiftness," and a few other defensive spells.

"Roar!"

After letting out a loud roar, the Flesh golem blew open the iron gate with its fist, which had now lost all its flesh. 

He chose such a method because after the shielding formation on the gate was destroyed, Punk, an official mage, would not be able to stay hidden from another official-level professional without some special method, so he decided to let No. 1 create a huge movement to attract the enemy's attention.

A burst of light and heat erupted from the destroyed shielding formation, and then the energy leaking from it begun to burn the hollow iron door. The badly twisted iron door flew into the inner room while carrying a scorching airwave with it.

"Boom!"

A twisted iron mess fell heavily on the ground inside the inner room, and this sudden and unexpected attack undoubtedly alarmed the enemy inside.

"Who!"

But despite the suddenness of this attack, the enemy's reaction was quick, and the Steel binding spell released by No. 1 failed to catch the enemy. 

A rickety figure in a black robe narrowly avoided a large number of steel branches and stopped beside an alter. 

At this time, Punk could clearly see the enemy.

This was a wrinkled old man with blood-red eyes staring at the doorway that was suddenly blown open. The old man's body was also transformed into a half-human, half-spider beast like the believers outside, and he was wearing a gorgeous robe on his upper body while his dry spidery lower body was exposed.

What surprised Punk the most was the black scar on this old man's face. It was an extremely conspicuous scar that Punk had seen before. It was exactly the same as the scar on Elenka's grandfather's portrait that she had given to Punk. 

She informed Punk that her grandfather received this scar when he was young and adventurous. But because the scar was infiltrated by a high-level weapon containing shadow energy, it couldn't be removed without the help of a Master-level spell, so lacking means to invite a Master level- powerhouse, her grandfather had to live with this scar all his life.

And now...seeing the same iconic scar on the enemy's face... Punk didn't have to guess his identity.

Punk looked at the old man, who had turned into a beast, with a bit of amazement. He now knew why Elenka's grandfather did not return home. The kind-looking old man from the portrait had now become the leader of a group of fanatics. Not only was his body transformed, but his spirit also had some anomalies, which meant he was most likely brainwashed. 

"Damn it, why didn't those trashes informed me? Sinners, all of them have failed to serve the great goddess Ti Xiaer. They must be given the punishment of eternal damnation!"

After the initial surprise, the half-beast old man immediately realized that his base had been thoroughly infiltrated. 

Suddenly the old man's firey pupils shrank while his sparse white hair kept moving wilding with the air.

"Why are you speaking so much nonsense!"

Although Punk was a little surprised that Elenka's grandfather was not dead and was transformed into this weird creature, he still did not stop his actions. And as soon as he saw that the enemy successfully avoided No. 1 spell, he immediately released the two prepared spells in his hand.

One of them was the official-level elemental spell-Instant flash, which created ten flashes with the brightness of about 100000 Lumen in one-hundredth of a second!

And the second one was an official-level incantation spell- Raging Muscle, that could stimulate the muscles of biological creatures for five seconds that increased the affected creatures' attributes.

Punk threw the first spell into the air, and the latter spell landed on No. 1.

"Ah----"

The unprepared old man was disoriented by the sudden strong flashes and temporarily lost his sight. At the same time, the flesh golem begun to sprint toward the enemy at five times its usual speed. Its supersonic sprint left a scorching afterimage in the air.

"Damn it! Goddess Ti Xiaer will punish you!"

The blinded old man growled and cursed in a hoarse voice, and when the flesh golem was about to reach him, he activated a spell that was engraved on his robe.

The space behind the old man suddenly distorted for a moment, and a colorful door opened, and the old man disappeared inside it. 

"Boom!!"

The flesh golem's claws passed through the empty air and hit the rock wall behind, creating a deep hole in it.

"Damn it! It will be big trouble!"

Punk's pupils narrowed sharply. He recognized the spell activated by the enemy from the memory inheritance of his body's parents.

That was a Master-level Incantation spell—Any Door, that could open a space door within one-tenth of a second to a desired location within one hundred meters radius."

This spell was two-level higher than the spell engraved on Punk's robe, which not only took far longer to activate but it had a shorter range, and the teleportation destination was also random.

Even before the old man activated the robe on his body, Punk had already sensed some powerful mana fluctuations from it. 

So at first, he just guessed that this robe might be a very advanced magic item, but now with the release of the master-level spell, it confirmed his conjecture.

"A Master level magical item!"

Although he knew that this old man would be a tricky enemy to deal with, especially with such an advanced magical item, but Punk felt neither fear nor panic facing this unexpected development. He just carefully analyzed the situation in his mind:

"This robe is the biggest threat."

 From the nature of the spell just now, Punk could see that the engraved spell on the old man's robe was a spell that favored mobility. 

As the old man's lower body was transformed into a spider's body, he obviously lacked in terms of speed, but now with the help of the master level spell, the enemy would definitely get a massive speed boost and combined with his sharp spider legs, he would gain frightening lethality in close-quarter combat.

Punk was expressionless as he keenly discovered that the half-beast old man's half-spider transformation was much more advanced than that of the believers outside. At least there was no feeling of disharmony from the old man's body, and his actions were also more agile.

Knowing that the enemy might launch a sudden melee attack, Punk did not dare to be careless. He quickly prepared his next spell.

"Today, I will tear you into pieces and present you as the sacrifice to the goddess Ti Xiaer."

Just like Punk thought, the enemy had no plans to fight with the flesh golem. The old man had already positioned the exit of the "Any door" spell beside Punk before being blinded by the flashes.

"So, he actually planned to avoid No. 1 from the very beginning!"

Punk furrowed his brows knowing that this seemingly crazy and brainless enemy most likely had more combat experience than his own.

Suddenly a circular light door opened beside Punk, and a pair of dark green dry limbs protruded out from it and stabbed toward Punk's throat with lightning speed.

"Ding----"

A clear sound of metal colliding with metal reverberated throughout the cave.

Now there was a thick metallic shield beside Punk that blocked the limb's attacks. It was an official-level  Summoning Spell-Steel Shield, which summoned a solid shield that was especially resistant to physical-type attacks.

Seeing that Punk blocked his attack, the old man immediately rushed out of any door. Then after swinging his limbs several times, he climbed up the cliff of the cave at a very fast speed.

Punk, who was now holding a huge reinforced iron shield, quickly retreated toward the direction of the Flesh golem in order to draw some distance between him and the enemy, and with this, the first confrontation between the two came to an end.

"Good, good, you little heretic. You are qualified to be the sacrifice of the great Goddess Ti Xiaer."

The old man was hanging from the rock wall with the help of his spider legs, his bloodshot eyes were rolling around, and his hoarse voice was filled with endless madness and excitement.

"I don't know about sacrifice. But I lack excellent experimental material. And I think the soul of an official mage will be very suitable for my research."

From behind the Steel shield, Punk stared at the old man expressionlessly. An azure blue glow was rotating at high speed in his eyes, and a slight purple brilliance was looming in his pupils.