I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

"Playing tricks!"

Kane's roar became sharp and piercing with fear.

He couldn't understand what was happening before his eyes. Why were those plants, which should have been unconscious, obeying the commands of this useless teaching assistant?

Fear fueled his rage, and Kane held back no longer. He swung his wand down violently, and the long-accumulated orange-red fireball roared out, carrying a scorching shockwave, heading straight for Rhodes, who was standing in the center of the open space.

"Die! Fireball!"

Boom!

The fireball exploded where Rhodes was standing, the violent explosion sending up a cloud of dirt and dead leaves, and the rolling heat wave instantly evaporated the surrounding mist.

"Ha...haha! This is what happens!"

Kane, panting heavily, stared intently at the plume of smoke: "What hunting ground? Before flames, plants are just firewood!"

However, his laughter quickly caught in his throat.

As the smoke and dust cleared, a charred, shallow crater appeared where Rhodes had stood.

However, there was no one in the pit.

There were no corpses, no limbs, not even a single charred fragment of leather armor.

Where are they?!

The burly man Brutus, standing to the side, gripped his greatsword tightly and looked around in terror.

"Above? Nothing! Behind? Nothing either!"

The thin, wiry Vic leaned against Brutus, the dagger in his hand trembling slightly. "Boss, he... he's gone!"

Just then, a strange breeze blew through the treetops, and the white mist that had been dispersed by the explosion gathered again, even thicker than before.

Under the faint moonlight and the refraction of the mist, the surrounding tree shadows seemed to come alive, twisting and elongating, with a pair of prying eyes seemingly hidden in each shadow.

Rhodes activated [Moonlight Mimicry]. In the dim depths of the forest, his body seemed to melt into the air, and the magical structure on the surface of his skin perfectly refracted the surrounding light.

He was like an invisible ghost, walking silently on the huge tree branch that stretched across the open space above the three of them.

He didn't completely dodge the fireball at the moment of its explosion.

Rod looked down at his left arm, where the sleeve had been burned, revealing skin with a grayish-white, rocky texture, and wisps of heat rising from it.

[Stone Skin] withstood the aftershocks of the explosion unscathed.

"The first one."

Rhodes's gaze locked onto the skinny assassin, Vic.

Such highly agile opponents are the most troublesome and must be dealt with first.

He raised his left hand, and the green tattoo on his middle finger glowed faintly.

Below, Vic was nervously brandishing his dagger, trying to cut off the slowly wriggling vines around him.

"Get away! Don't come any closer!"

Vic felt something touch his neck. He thought it was a leaf and instinctively reached out to brush it away.

However, those were not leaves.

It was a dark green poison ivy hanging from the tree crown, only as thick as a little finger, yet as tough as steel wire.

The moment Vic's fingers touched it, Poison Ivy tightened its grip!

"Uh~~"

Before Vic could even scream, he was instantly lifted up by a tremendous force!

The poison ivy tightened around his throat, its sharp thorns instantly piercing his skin and injecting a high concentration of neurotoxin.

Brutus turned around abruptly upon hearing the noise, only to see Vic's feet half a meter off the ground, kicking wildly.

But just two seconds later, the kicking turned into stiff convulsions.

Vic's eyes bulged out, his face instantly turned purplish-black, and the dagger in his hand fell to the ground.

"Vic!!"

Brutus let out a terrified roar and swung his greatsword to cut the vine.

"Don't move! Back to back!" Kane shouted, but he found he couldn't find a back to lean on.

Because Brutus had already rushed out.

"Come out! You coward! Come out and fight me!"

Brut slashed wildly at the surrounding air and trees, the massive winds of his sword pulverizing the bushes.

Rhodes stood on the tree branch, watching this scene indifferently.

"As you wish."

At that moment, a pair of semi-transparent silver wings suddenly unfurled from the shoulder blades on Rhodes' back.

【Lightwing Gliding】!

He leaped from the five-meter-high tree branch, using gravitational potential energy to glide silently like a hunting eagle, landing behind Brutus's head.

At the very moment of imminent contact, Rhode deactivated his light wings, and his entire body instantly returned to its original weight.

At the same time, the muscles in his right arm tensed, and the gray-white rock texture spread wildly, turning into an indestructible rock hammer.

"Stone Skin - Heavy Hammer!"

Brut felt a sudden darkness descend upon him and instinctively tried to raise his sword to block.

But it's too slow.

Rhodes' fist slammed into the back of Brut's head with a whooshing sound.

"Bang!!"

A sickening sound of bones cracking rang out, like a hammer smashing a watermelon.

Brut's burly body didn't even utter a sound before collapsing to the ground like a lump of mud, his skull caved in, and blood and brain matter instantly staining the ground red.

A single, decisive blow; the entire process took less than ten seconds.

Two law enforcement thugs with extensive combat experience were killed: one was hanged, and the other was hammered to death.

Kane was the only one left in the open space.

"No...no...this is impossible..."

Kane's hand holding the wand trembled violently, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

He looked at Brutus lying in a pool of blood, then at Vic's body hanging from a tree, swaying in the wind, and his mind went blank.

This is not a battle between wizards at all!

There was no chanting of incantations, no clash of magic, and not even the glint of spells.

This is a completely one-sided massacre! It's a hunt by wild beasts against humans!

"What...what exactly are you?"

Kane screamed desperately at the surrounding mist, "You're not Rhodes! Rhodes was just a mortal! You're a monster in human skin!"

rustling...

Footsteps sounded from the shadows ahead.

Rhodes' figure slowly appeared.

He deactivated [Moonlight Mimicry], and his tattered leather armor was stained with some blood, but this did not diminish the terrifying sense of oppression he exuded at that moment.

His left hand still retained its human form, with wisps of green poison gas wrapped around his fingertips.

His entire right arm was now completely petrified; the rough granite skin gleamed with a cold, hard luster under the moonlight, and his fingers were thick and sharp.

"monster?"

Rhodes walked up to Kane and looked down at the once arrogant steward.

"In the food chain, there are only hunters and prey. Weakness is the only original sin."

Kane screamed and raised his wand to cast the spell again.

"Acid..."

Snapped!

Rhodes's petrified hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Kane's wrist that was holding the wand and squeezing it hard.

"Snap!"

His wrist shattered, and his wand fell to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the giant rock hand moved upwards and gripped Kane's neck tightly, lifting him into the air like a chick with one hand.

"Cough...cough cough..."

Kane lifted his feet off the ground and desperately tried to pry Rhodes' fingers apart with his hands, but the rock-hard fingers wouldn't budge.

A feeling of suffocation instantly surged into Kane's brain. Looking into Rhodes's unwavering black eyes, Kane finally felt true despair.

"You made me kneel down in the academy."

Rhodes looked at Kane's face, which had turned a deep purplish-red, a cold smile curving his lips as his fingers slowly tightened: "Now, tell me, who truly owns this place?"