My mana… it's not working?!

Mei Gui, sensing my panic, hurriedly sent out a crescent-shaped barrage of Chaos energy with her spear to knock the monsters back out a bit, then sent me a telepathic message.

Master — listen closely, I am going to teach you a new ability — the power to absorb mana from the environment.

I'm listening. I replied, clenching my fists.

This place has an overwhelming amount of Necromancy mana. Take advantage of that and use the power of Chaos to absorb it all. Close your eyes, focus, and feel the invisible strands of energy around you, Master.

…

I closed my eyes despite the situation and did my best to remain calm, desperately searching for the strands of mana in the air.

C'mon… where are they…

Master, calm your mind. Take as long as you need to… I will cover you.

Hearing this, I was able to relax a bit as Mei Gui continued to launch attacks at the creatures outside the door, preventing them from getting inside. However, her mana was also limited…

On the other hand, Lin Luo, Feng Mian, and Obsidia were still sleeping like logs, afflicted by the fog.

… There!

Suddenly, I found a strand of grey energy to my right. It was as thin as hair, but I found it within the darkness of my closed eyes.

Immediately, I turned and directed my hand at the strand of power, sucking it into my body. It felt no different from absorbing someone else's spell, but there was definitely less mana concentrated. Of course, that was only natural.

After sucking in the first strand, however, countless more appeared behind it, as if being pulled along.

This…!

The energy was all absorbed into my body, empowering me immediately. A necromantic aura — the aura of death — appeared around my figure, glowing white.

"… Mei Gui, move aside.

"

Mei Gui, seeing that I had succeeded, leaped back and let me face the abominations that had gathered by the door, clawing their way inside.

"Trying to murder me in my sleep… good try.

"

I raised my hand calmly and chanted a spell's name within my mind.

Level Three Fire Magic — Thermite Lane.

I smashed the ground, setting the entire distance between the door and I ablaze with white, purgatory flames. The heaps of killer flesh outside were scorched immediately, shrieking in pain.

"White… flames…

" Mei Gui muttered, eyes widening in surprise.

"Master, you learned how to use different elemental mana already?

"

I could keep this wall of fire going on forever, given how much mana I just absorbed. I just sat back, relaxed, and watched the monsters burn.

"Elemental mana… is that what this is?

"

"Yes… this is the core concept of dual-element spells.

"

At this, I blinked.

"Dual-element?

"

"Yes, Master. I was planning on waiting until you achieved the Golden Monarch stage to tell you about this, but…

"

"I see… you can tell me more later. For now, wake those two up. I'm going to check on the other teams.

"

Mei Gui nodded.

"Understood, Master. I will rendezvous with you as soon as I can.

"

*****

Using my death-empowered white flames to burn through everything in my path, I noticed there were three rooms before mine that had already been broken through. Within them were several molds of flesh, greedily feeding on the mutilated bodies of what was once a young and aspiring mage.

The humps of flesh noticed me and turned their two detached eyeballs to me together, before lunging at me.

"GRAH…!

"

"… Hmph.

"

Level Two Fire Magic — Abomination Flare.

Blasting all of the creatures away with my white, explosive bomb, they were incinerated to a crisp and began decaying on the ground.

I stepped past what remained of their disgusting, split apart bodies to look at the human corpses laying on the beds, but didn't recognize any of them.

Or, if I once did, I couldn't now given the mutilated state they were in.

After stepping on one of the eyeballs of the heaps of flesh and crushing it beneath my feet, I headed out and went to inspect the other rooms.

Once again, I found the same scene. What remained of the mages' corpses was far too mangled to identify them, but… the next and final room that had been attacked already, I did recognize.

There was only one human corpse inside, laying on the bloodstained bed. Its face had been completely eaten out, but judging from the long grey hair and tall figure along with its attire, it was safe to assume this was the elder.

… Poor old man.

I closed my eyes and left behind a little prayer for him, but little did I know, while I was doing this, the remaining body parts of the flesh monsters I killed — or thought I killed — earlier began converging into one big heap, crawling across the bloodstained ground like ants.

"RAHHHH…!

"

Suddenly, a growl came from behind me at the doorway — the new monster had finished its own creation. My eyes snapped open and I immediately sent a fireball towards it, but it used its tentacles to block the attack. Naturally, my fire ate away at the tendrils, but the massive creature grew new ones back near immediately and slid into the room, morphing shape like a pile of slime.

"Tch…!

"

I turned around and spotted a window, then back at the creature again. This one seemed to be far stronger than the other ones I've taken out. In a desperate attack, I formed my Chaos katanas and crossed them before unleashing an X-shaped sword energy attack towards the creature using my mana, but the monster split itself before my attack could hit and promptly regrouped back together.

Damn…

Fighting in an enclosed space like this worked against me and to the monster's advantage, so I needed to get out of here if I wanted to eliminate this thing. The problem was, if I jumped out that window here, who knew how many more of those monsters would be waiting outside…

"Ah… ** it!

"

With no other option, I shoulder charged out through the window, knocking the vase down and leaping into the air.

Level One Sky Magic — Flight.

I immediately soared into the air right before one of flesh monsters could grab me. It had been waiting right outside the window, having merged with its peers to form a long and tall 'ladder' of flesh creatures.

"Shit… luckily I expected that…

"

Fortunately, at least all the monsters were focused on me alone now. That meant the others were safe. And now that I was out here…

Just as expected, the creature that had been inside the inn followed me out the window and merged with the ladder organism, forming one massive monster of flesh.

"Alright… now, I can finally use my full power,

" I said, grinning like a maniac as I held a white flame in my hands.

Mei Gui and the others, who had just arrived at the window, realized my intentions and put up a Water Barrier to protect the inn itself.

Looking at the grotesque lifeform in front of me, made of red, bloodstained flesh, and organs, I couldn't help but want to vomit. Eyes, mouths, noses, and ears protruded from the being's skin, extruding utter horror from every pore of the organism.

"It's time… for you to burn.

"

Lifting my hand into the air, I decided to chant loudly for maximum power. Now that Mei Gui was there with a barrier, I could safely use everything I had.

"Legendary Fire Magic — Solar Nova.

"

As the creature attempted to become as tall as possible and reach me in the air, I formed an incredibly enormous burning white sphere of raw fire and launched it downwards towards the monster.

BOOM!

A loud explosion ensued, setting the entire organism ablaze.

"GRAHHHHHH!

"

It roared in pain and fell over, smashing into another building and sending it tumbling into pieces. However, the burn remained on its body, slowly turning it into ashes. But I wasn't done just yet.

Legendary Fire Magic — Pillars of Flame.

This was a spell I learned from the university's library — and now, it was time to test it out in real combat.

Spreading my arms, I conjured eight pillars of blinding white fire, surrounding the creature and caging it inside to prevent it from doing any more damage. And then, beneath the monster, a large white circle appeared.

The creature squirmed and writhed from my previous attack's burn, having zero idea of what was below it. And by the time it felt the heat coming from beneath its grotesque body, it was too late.

"BRAWWWR!

"

The ground split open, revealing a ray of light.

And then, chaos.

The earth shook as a blinding surge of fire shot out of from the ground, piercing the monster's body in an instant, directly through the middle. Like a geyser, it pushed the monster into the air and kept it there, piercing through the heavens and acting like a beacon of light.

The white fire from this central pillar of fire connected with the flames from my Solar Nova and encased the monster's entire body, burning it from both the outside and inside.

As I snapped my fingers, with one final, dying scream, the creature burst into ashes, purged by the white flames of death.