n

n

nBANG!

nShang immediately used his left arm to shoot himself to his right.

nJust an instant later, a bullet of purple sludge hit the place where Shang had just been. There had been enough sludge to cover Shang’s entire body.

nSSSSSSSSS!

nA violent and high-pitched sizzling noise came from the sludge as it burned a hole into the ground.

nShang gritted his teeth. ‘This is troublesome. The Spells of Poison Mages aren’t very fast, but they are extremely effective against humans.’

nWhy were they so effective?

nWell, what could the protective Magic Circle on Shang’s uniform do against that?

nNothing.

nWhenever Shang had fought Mages, he had always had his uniform to rely on, and he had definitely used the Magic Circles to his advantage in the past.

nThis wouldn’t work against the Poison Adept.

nThis Spell was called Sludge Bolt, and if Shang got hit by it, he would definitely die.

nThe Poison Adept raised an eyebrow when he saw that Shang had evaded.

nHe hadn’t expected that at all.

nHis target, Shang, was supposed to be a newly advanced Initial General Stage warrior. His speed shouldn’t have been fast enough to evade the Sludge Bolt.

nSure, the Poison Adept had noticed that Shang had somehow reached the Early General Stage already, but that still shouldn’t have been enough to evade the Sludge Bolt.

nThe Poison Adept was a Mid Adept. He was an entire level above this warrior.

nYet, this warrior managed to evade a Spell that came from a Mage an entire level above him?

nThis was very unusual. Many people would even say that this was impossible.

nHowever, the Poison Adept didn’t panic._.<

/sub>

nSo what if his target evaded a Sludge Bolt? He would just need to use different Spells.

nBANG!

nShang charged toward the Adept with all his speed as he readied his sword.

nThe Poison Adept began to chant a different Spell.

nShang reached the enemy very quickly since there hadn’t been much distance between them. After all, they weren’t fighting in the open but inside the Caves.

nBANG!

nShang’s heavy sword hit the Poison Adept’s Mana Shield and bounced off.

nThe Poison Adept’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

nThat was a lot of Mana that had just been used up!

n‘Doesn’t matter,’ the Poison Adept thought.

nA second later, his Spell was finished, and his hand pointed at Shang.

nShang’s eyes shone.

nThanks to Vice-Dean Ranos’ thorough lessons, Shang knew exactly what kind of Spell this was.

n“You can die now,” the Poison Adept said calmly.

nBANG!

nShang’s legs exploded with Ice, and he jumped upwards with all his power.

nNot a moment too soon.

nAn instant later, a gigantic wave of purple water exited the Poison Adept’s Mana Shield and swept throughout the entire cave.

nSludge Wave. _<

/sub>

nThat was the name of the Spell.

nIt cost several times more Mana than Sludge Bolt, but it was basically unavoidable by anyone close to the Mage.

nSure, Mages could use Mana Step to get away, but Sludge Wave wasn’t designed to deal with Mages.

nIt was a Spell specifically created to kill large groups of warriors.

nShang barely managed to avoid the Sludge Wave with his Ice Blast and kept flying upward.

nCLINK!

nAs Shang hit the ceiling, he buried his sword into it in a diagonal manner, allowing him to hang from it.

nIf the Tunnel Pangolins hadn’t hardened the walls over this many years, the ceiling would have crumbled under Shang’s weight.

nShang gritted his teeth as his breathing stopped.

nThe poisonous gas coming from below him was burning his skin and even a bit of his insides.

nIf just the poisonous gas was already this deadly, how deadly would the sludge itself be?

nThe Poison Adept looked calmly at Shang.

nHe hadn’t expected him to evade the Sludge Wave, but this was not an issue.

nThe many brilliant Mages that had designed this Spell over the years wouldn’t overlook such a simple counter as jumping.

nIf jumping worked, the Spell would basically be useless.

nShang looked at the sea of poison below him with narrowed eyes.

nThe sludge wouldn’t vanish for over half a minute.

nSo what if a warrior jumped?

nAs long as they couldn’t fly, they would still land in the sludge. _{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ<}

/sub>

nAt that moment, the Poison Adept’s Focus began to shine.

nIt had finished preparing its Spell.

nAn instant later, a Sludge Bolt shot at Shang.

nBANG!

nShang pulled out his sword, fell for a bit, and unleashed another Ice Blast with his left arm.

nBANG!

nThen, Shang landed on one of the walls of the tunnel and hung from there.

nAt the place where Shang had just been, the Sludge Bolt hit the ceiling, and the ceiling began to vanish at that place. A big part of the sludge also fell to the ground, leaving behind purple gas.

nThe Poison Adept frowned with annoyance.

nThen, his Focus had readied another Spell.

nAnother Sludge Bolt later, and Shang hung on a different part of the ceiling.

n“How long are you planning on keeping this up?” the Adept asked as he shot another Sludge Bolt from his Focus.

n“You do know that I am recovering Mana right now? Casting Spells with a Focus doesn’t consume any of my Mana.”

nBANG!

nShang avoided another Sludge Bolt. This had been the seventh one.

nBy now, Shang’s entire body was steaming. He had used different parts of his body to use Ice Blast to evade, and he was at his limit.

n“Do you actually know how fast an Adept recovers Mana?” the Poison Adept asked with annoyance as he shot another Sludge Bolt.

n“By the time the effects of the Sludge Wave end, I have recovered all the Mana I expended.”

n“This will continue indefinitely, and you will eventually die.”

nBANG!

nAnother Sludge Bolt hit the place where Shang had just been.

n“Or do you plan to escape into a different tunnel?” the Poison Adept asked.

nAs the Poison Adept shot another Sludge Bolt at Shang, he looked at the other entrances.

nIf Shang truly managed to escape, it could become troublesome.

n“Well, how about I make the other tunnels collapse?” the Poison Adept said with a smirk.

nThe Focus continued shooting at Shang with Sludge Bolts as the Adept readied another Sludge Wave.

nWHOOOM!

nAnother Sludge Wave left the Poison Adept’s Mana Shield. A huge part of the wave filled the tunnel even more with sludge as some of the wave washed over one of the entrances.

nThe walls and ceiling of one of the entrances began to sizzle until…

nBOOOOM!

nThe entrance collapsed.

nAt that moment, the Poison Adept got another idea.

n“How about we make a poison sea?” he loudly muttered to himself.

nShortly after, the Poison Adept unleashed another Sludge Wave to increase the amount of sludge in the tunnel.

nBOOOOM!

nAnother entrance collapsed.

nCrk!

nAt that moment, the ceiling at Shang’s current location gave way, and Shang fell.

nThe Focus unleashed a Sludge Bolt, and Shang evaded with another Ice Blast, severely burning his left arm.

nShang looked around and noticed that the poisonous gas had severely deteriorated the ceilings and walls.

nIt became harder and harder for Shang to keep himself above the sea of poison.

nOn top of that, there was only one entrance left.

nAt that moment, the Poison Adept seemingly took to the sky as he began to levitate.

nHowever, he didn’t actually fly.

nIt was simply his Mana Shield pushing him up as it isolated him from the poison around him. One could say that the Poison Adept was in the center of a sphere, swimming in a sea of poison.

nSome seconds later, the Poison Adept appeared near the last entrance.

n“Let’s see how you flee now,” he said with a smirk.

nShang’s eyes narrowed.

n“Shang?”

nShang’s eyes widened in horror.

nHe had just heard Astor’s voice coming from the last entrance.

nThe Poison Adept, who stood near that entrance, looked into it and groaned.

n“Great, now I have to kill them too. Hope you’re happy,” he said to Shang with annoyance.

nThen Shang heard with horror how the Poison Adept readied another Sludge Wave.

n“A human? Who are you?” Shang heard Elver’s voice coming from the entrance.

nHowever, the Poison Adept didn’t answer.

nAt least, not until his Sludge Wave was ready.

n“Doesn’t really matter,” the Poison Adept said in a bored tone.

nThe team looked at the Adept in confusion before they saw the scene behind him.

nTheir eyes widened in shock, but it was too late.

nThe Poison Adept unleashed his Sludge Wave.

n