Zach waspletely on guard against the mage escorting the prince as he pulled out the equipment he felt would work against the mage.


    He activated the "Anti-Magic Barrier" skill attached to the Skeletal Armor and increased his magic defense in preparation of what was surelying.


    As expected, the mage was the first one to attack as soon as he saw Zach pulling out weapon and some weird armor out of nowhere. Since he couldn''t take any risks when it came to Kolt''s safety, he decided to curb the rebellion of Zach and the others before it could begin in the first ce.


    His proactive approach couldn''t dy the speedy maneuvers of Zach even then as he was already as prepared as he could be.


    Just as the mage lunged at the group, Lunaunched herself in order to intercept the mage midway but was deftly ignored by the powerful mage with a quick side step that left her staring into emptiness.


    The mage wasn''t interested in Luna as his main target had always been Zach as instructed by his lord. He had been ordered to stop Zach in any manner and that was what he intended to do, even if he had to break several bones in Zach''s body to do so.


    His move had been so unexpected that Zach couldn''t think of anything and swung hisser dagger at thest possible moment. As if the mage had already expected it, he nimbly dodged at the edge of the effective range of the dagger and sessfully closed in on Zach for a counterattack. A single kick from the mage caused Zach to take several steps back in order to curb the force behind the kickpletely.


    In that moment Zach knew that his armor was for the most part useless now. The invulnerability to the three attacks didn''t work at all against the mage. It turned out that the mage wasn''t dealing magic damage at all. The mage was somehow using magic to augment his physical damage. It allowed him to exhaust the three strikes of the Skeletal Armor in a single attack and damage it on his right arm which took the brunt of the damage. The durability of the armor surely dropped below 80 at that moment.


    Zach was practically defenseless in this situation and both Bruce and Luna could see that as well. While Luna was still some distance away from Zach, Bruce was fully capable of intercepting the mage before he couldunch more attacks at Zach.


    As such, when the mage was about to reach Zach in order to deal a crippling blow to thetter, Bruce jumped in between the two using the maximum agility his artificial limb allowed him to move with and stopped abruptly right in front of the mage in order to win Zach some time to recover and improvise.


    The mage DID NOT appreciate this attempt of Bruce at all. He was extremely annoyed at having missed the golden chance to apprehend Zach due to Bruce''s interception.


    With an extremely irritated expression on his face instead of the usually calm and expressionless front, the mage kicked Bruce with enough power to break his bones andunched him into the air.


    Bruce was flung to the side like a kite with a broken string but the little amount of time he bought for Zach allowed thetter to bring out a pistol from the Weapons Arsenal. Due to theck of time, Zach didn''t have the time to choose a better weapon and drew the first weapon heid his eyes on.


    Zach pulled away to create some distance and aimed the pistol as Bruce was flung away by the mage with a powerful kick.


    The mage had exceptional agility and maneuverability as he changed direction mid-stride andunched himself at Zach who was busy pulling away with the pistol barrel aiming towards him.


    Zach pulled the trigger several times but not a single bullet made contact with the mage''s body. There were two factors that contributed to this failure and Zach''s uracy had nothing to do with it. The first was the exceptional agility of the mage who was able to enhance his physical capabilities using magic which allowed him to dodge the projectiles using lightning fast movements. The second factor was the choice of weapon. Thecking magazine size and the inability of the pistol tounch a hail of bullets at the enemy like a sub-machine gun or an automatic rifle was the major cause of failure.


    The mage remained unfazed by the surprisingly long ranged weapon as he speedily closed in on Zach like a tiger. Another kick sent Zach tumbling backwards as he tried to regain his bnce. Zach had used his left arm to block the kick this time which rendered the left arm of the skeletal armor in pieces as the defense of the armor for that part of the body was reduced to nothing. The broken shards of the armor were swept off his arm due to the excessive force leaving his arm exposed to the attacks of the mage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    For the first time since his arrival in this world, Zach felt the terror and the dangers thaty hidden in this world despite his obvious advantage in terms of technology. He found the hard way that in some situations, magic was far ahead of the technology he wielded. Even his guns had been renderedpletely useless in front of an enemy who was strong enough to resist and knew the right way to employ the magic avable to him.


    Zach couldn''t best the mage, no matter how many simtions he ran in his head or how many ns he made. His caution was useless in front of an enemy who was not only superior in terms of speed, but also in terms of strength and magical capability. No matter how much Zach tried to equalize the battlefield with the help of his weapons and armor, the chasm between their strengths couldn''t be diminished until Zach could unlock weapons capable of dealing with a threat of this level.


    Zach felt that this was a lost battle to begin with. There was no chance of victory even if he took thedy luck into ount and prayed to the non-existent gods to help him out.


    While Zach was thinking of a way to preserve his life and that of hispanions, the guard mage lurched forward as his feet dug a few inches into the ground to provide the mage with a significant boost in eleration.


    Another kick wasunched from Zach''s left side which was his most vulnerable side at the moment. There was no defensiveyer of the armor on his left arm to protect him from the iing kick that was akin to a ballistic missile.


    Zach panicked as he knew he couldn''t dodge the kick with his current speed. He gritted his teeth and waited for the kick to connect to the weakest part of his armor. He was even prepared to lose the arm in an attempt to save himself from the powerful attack.


    Just before his arm could be kicked off of his body by his assant, a powerful but dainty arm managed to stop the kick before it could touch Zach''s arm. The lovely arm that held the foot of the mage in its firm grip belonged to none other than his fiancée whom he had nearly married just a few minutes earlier.


    Christina was still in her gilded wedding dress but the train was nowhere to be seen. The edge of the wedding dress looked as if it had been through a shredder. She had probably ripped the train offpletely as a trade off for ease of movement and uninterrupted battle capability.


    Zach lost control of his lower jaw as it struck and lodged itself into the ground in surprise. He had never expected that the girl who had almost be his wife was such a strong woman. The mage he had barely been able to keep at bay using everything at his disposal had been casually stopped by Christina as if it was some routine task.


    The biggest reason for his surprise wasn''t the unnatural strength wielded by Christina but the fact that she hade out to rescue him even after he abandoned her at the altar and escaped by himself.


    Zach had heard that the spite of women was the greatest of all dangers in the world which was the reason he half expected Christina toe for his life instead of his rescue like this.


    But he had to acknowledge that he liked the way Christina had saved him in the nick of time. He had even begun to understand why those girls from the cheap stories liked those MCs who always came at thest possible moment to save them from the jaws of adversity.


    The effect was so pronounced that Zach couldn''t help but think that Christina in that moment looked far more beautiful than she had ever been before. Even when he hadid eyes on her in her shimmering wedding dress, she hadn''t looked as magnificent as she did now.


    Christina on the other hand was thankful to the gods that she had reached in time to save Zach''s life. Otherwise, she might have lost her husband on the day of her wedding.


    The fact that Christina had still managed to find Zach amidst the turmoil that ensued after the explosion could be attributed to the fact that she had an excellent perception and situational awareness. She was the first person amongst the many present in the wedding hall who managed to catch on to Zach''s intentions and his possible escape route.