Karl calmly observed all this and asked casually: "Are these gargoyles difficult to deal with?"
"Karl, you don't understand. 'Difficult to deal with' doesn't even begin to cover it! Gargoyles are guardians of ruins created by the greatest sorcerers of antiquity."
"Their entire bodies are made of extremely hard marble and possess a strange kind of life."
"They are extremely resistant to magic, their strength is terrifying—a knight in heavy armor wouldn't withstand a single blow from them!"
"And they can teleport short distances; ordinary attacks like fireballs are almost like tickling them!"
Ephal quickly explained, a slight tension and tremor in his voice.
Karl listened to Ephal's description, his eyes fixed on the five gargoyles that were roaring fiercely, preparing to spread their targets to their side.
Instead of feeling nervous inside, he became happy.
"No long-range attack ability? High magic resistance? Strong? Can teleport?"
"Isn't this purely... a living punching bag?" He thought to himself, the corners of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.
He slightly moved his wrist, and the desire to fight became unbearable.
It seemed this mission wouldn't be as boring as he had expected.
......
Dradi and Ephal raised their trembling spell shields, their faces serious.
They desperately hurled fireballs and lightning bolts at the approaching gargoyles that had been besieging Alexandrea.
A fireball struck a gargoyle's rough stone body, but its massive form only shuddered slightly.
Aside from exploding into a useless shower of sparks, it didn't even manage to chip off a single stone fragment.
A chain of lightning wrapped around it, the dazzling electrical light flashing for a moment before disappearing without a trace, as if completely absorbed by the strange stone body.
Karl quietly stood behind them, observing, understanding inwardly.
Indeed, as Ephal had said, the magic resistance of these ancient constructs was incredibly high.
His gaze swept over Dradi and Ephal's feet, noticing that they were supplementing their own shields and attacks.
They hadn't pre-arranged any control circles, like the slowing runes Hen had used.
"Don't they know how to do such spells? Or is the situation urgent, and they didn't think of it?" Karl thought to himself.
He hadn't learned such runic spells himself; firstly, his study time was too short,
and secondly, he didn't need them because any enemy trying to get close was practically asking for a dead end.
Currently, he only had a few spells: fireballs, lightning bolts, shields, and opening portals.
He had mastered them in just over a week and was already using them skillfully, and had been called a terrifying talent by Hen.
"Be careful, the gargoyles have teleported," Dradi suddenly reminded loudly, a note of nervousness in his voice.
Ephal noticed that Karl behind him hadn't moved, not even activating the simplest spell shield.
Ephal couldn't help but feel a surge of worry, thinking the young man was scared by this battle. He sharply turned his head, ready to scold and urge Karl to activate his shield.
At the same time, he was ready to expand the range of his own shield to protect this still-standing novice.
However, the moment he turned his head, a faint but throbbing teleportation sound came from above Karl's head.
Out of nowhere, a massive, rock-heavy shadow appeared, and a gargoyle, using its short-range teleportation, materialized directly above Karl.
It suddenly plummeted towards him like a meteor.
"It's over!" A flicker of pity and regret passed through Ephal's eyes.
He seemed to see the tragic situation of this newly joined young companion, crushed into paste in the next moment.
He didn't even have time to take effective rescue action.
In the flash of lightning and stone, Karl, at the center of the attack, leisurely looked up.
His eyes were eerily calm, as if a deadly gargoyle wasn't falling above his head, but a light feather.
Then he raised his hand and swung his fist upwards, the movement simple and straightforward, even a bit casual.
There was no incantation, no magical light, only a faint whoosh that almost tore the air from the instantaneous burst of physical force.
His fist struck first, accurately hitting the gargoyle's rapidly descending underside.
WHOOSH... CRACK... BOOM!! A series of strange and rapid sounds exploded almost simultaneously.
The moment Karl's fist touched the gargoyle's body,
the stone near the point of contact instantly turned to powder, forming a clear, smooth hole.
Immediately after, with that hole as the center, countless web-like cracks spread wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye, instantly covering the lower half of the gargoyle's body.
Finally, in a dull explosion, the massive gargoyle, with its extremely high magic resistance,
shattered its lower half as if it had been blown apart by explosives planted inside.
Large and small pieces of gravel sprayed like raindrops, smashing into the surrounding ground with a clatter.
The remaining upper half of the body lost all its strength.
With a THUD, it crashed heavily at Karl's feet, raising a cloud of dust.
Dradi heard the loud crash behind him and couldn't help but look back.
Then, with just one look, his body froze as if a spell had been cast on him, stunned.
What did he see?! The gargoyle, which had been showing off its strength and magic resistance, was hard to injure.
At this moment, only half of its body lay at Karl's feet, the lower half scattered as rubble on the ground.
Karl stood unharmed, slowly lowering his fist, his posture as if he had just swatted a fly to death.
Not to mention Dradi, even Ephal, who had been right next to him and witnessed it all, had a ghostly expression at that moment, his jaw almost dropping to the floor.
He had only vaguely seen Karl seem to raise his hand, so fast he couldn't capture the specific movement.
It was only when the gargoyle's disfigured body fell to the ground that he realized the attack was over, in that unbelievable sense.
Ephal opened his mouth wide, a "ho-ho" sound coming from his throat.
He wanted to say something, but realized he couldn't even utter a complete syllable.
The scene before him completely overturned his understanding of how sorcerers should fight.
Karl's restrained but extremely shocking punch also caught the attention of Alexandrea, who was struggling to hold out in the distance, from the corner of her eye.
She only saw that Karl seemed to have used some method to destroy a gargoyle in an instant, but didn't understand how he did it.
She subconsciously thought it must be some kind of ancient spell, extremely powerful, possibly even lost.
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