Ch. 37 - Fireball and the Sun
Setting aside whether Tang Qi's music could truly inspire courage in battle—
Black Snake didn't dare let him open his mouth anymore.
He feared another infuriating lyric might make him want to turn around and stab his own teammate with a knife.
*And add flowers to it*—what kind of person says something like that!?
The two-headed troll took advantage of the chaos to roll around, already extinguishing the flames on its body.
Dragging things out any longer would definitely not be a wise choice—
"Run!"
As the former captain of the squad, his thinking was clear.
"Lead the troll into the camp, then escape in the confusion!"
He shouted while turning to run, intending to warn Tang Qi as well.
But when he looked back—
That poet had already run fifty paces away.
"Fuck you!"
Black Snake cursed loudly and immediately broke into a sprint with all his might.
The two-headed troll followed close behind. Too lazy to even pull out the short blade stuck in its head, it trampled across the earth with unsteady steps, shaking the forest leaves and mist. In an instant, it caught Starshine's attention:
"You two bastards, don't lead it over here!"
"You're the one who cursed us to pay a price. Now the price has come, and you're responsible!"
Before Tang Qi's words had even faded, he pulled an exquisite small vial from his pocket and drank the transparent liquid within in one gulp.
The moment the potion hit his stomach, he suddenly felt his vision become incredibly clear.
The dense fog that had filled his field of view quietly receded to the corners of his eyes.
Even when he looked up at the canopy of this forest, he could glimpse the distant horizon—a winding Milky Way formed by countless stars gathered in the clouds.
Truesight Eye Potion—reveals illusions, lasts 8 hours.
It wasn't that Dawnmist Forest had spawned hallucinogenic fog.
Rather, this forest itself was covered in illusion.
"Enough—stop—make it stop!"
Watching the two-headed troll about to charge into camp with the two bastards, Starshine couldn't help but start running too—
At a time like this, whoever fell behind became the meat shield.
"Clean up the battlefield, I'll take care of that guy!"
Fortunately, Explosivewolf, now free of pressure, had the leisure to notice the camp's situation.
He sprinted forward, covering dozens of feet in just a few breaths. His two-handed greatsword dragged naturally behind him as he skidded to a stop at the troll's flank.
In terms of craftsmanship alone, this greatsword came from the hands of a dwarven artisan, forged from Nord steel from the northern mountains—fierce yet resilient, with excellent manufacturing standards.
But in contrast, it weighed twice as much as an ordinary greatsword.
For a normal warrior, even gripping it would prove difficult.
But this massive greatsword in Explosivewolf's hands was like a light stick.
When his front foot hit the ground, the momentum of his mad dash seemed to pour into both legs, causing him to lean his center of gravity forward, pivot his pelvis, and sequentially exert force through his torso and arms, channeling all his strength into the greatsword in his hands.
"Upward Cleave!"
His rough throat roared. The blade gleamed, startling cold light flashing.
Through the thick fog, a crescent suddenly slashed forth—
The front half milky white as snow, the rear half crimson as blood.
Despite wearing dozens of kilograms of plate armor, this slash still lifted Explosivewolf's body into the air.
From the split flesh, thick blood splattered onto Explosivewolf's face, making him look even more ferocious.
Rising just high enough to pass over the troll's head, while it couldn't react in time, the greatsword arcing behind him swung down another crescent, falling together with him at the troll's feet.
"*Squelch—*"
In just the span of a breath, two slashes carved the troll bloody, its body tilting to one side.
The sword wound split open from its waist all the way to its left ear.
From the overflowing blood, tiny crimson flesh buds oozed out, attempting to climb toward each other and stitch together.
"Fire Bolt!"
An incantation suddenly rang out. A ray of fire landed on its wound, burning the newly grown flesh buds until they withered.
The troll howled in pain, forcibly righting its body. The club in its hand swung out, smashing Explosivewolf into a nearby tent.
The charred remains on the wound's surface peeled away as flesh tumors sprouted, beginning to slowly reconnect.
And its round belly grew increasingly shriveled:
"Hungry—hungry!"
A round fireball, swift as an arrow, landed on its arm again, scorching its fur.
This most direct and effective cantrip had always been well-received in spellcaster circles.
According to statistics, it consistently maintained the excellent achievement of being the 'second-most useful spell in the wizard world.'
When spell slots were tight, it became the most handy weapon for a spellcaster.
And against this single remaining troll, he didn't need to use his last spell slot.
Once Explosivewolf got up to stall for time and the mercenaries on the side finished dealing with the ambush, surrounding and killing this two-headed creature would just be a matter of time.
When that moment came, he swore he would properly teach those two bastards a lesson...
Hm?
Where are they?
As far as Starshine could see, he couldn't capture any trace of those two criminals.
Looking around, he finally spotted the two of them silently and furtively running toward the edge of the camp:
"Two idiots—can you even find your way in an illusion?"
Just as he was about to mock them, he quickly realized something was wrong.
"Damn it, isn't that the direction of my tent!?"
He hadn't expected at all that these two were planning to raid his base.
Thinking of the tent where, besides that black blade, he'd also placed his dimensional bag—
Starshine feared the two bastards would quietly make off with it and immediately shouted:
"Stop—"
His words had barely fallen when his vision suddenly turned bright white, making him instinctively squint.
The moist sensation of fog still covered his skin, but with a hint of scorching heat.
This phenomenon wasn't uncommon.
At least sixteen hours ago, when they'd entered the forest, they'd already experienced two cycles of day and night...
He suddenly realized something was wrong:
"Wasn't it precisely because night had just fallen that we decided to make camp and rest?"
Since it was only deep night, then what was this 'daybreak,' this scorching sensation!?
Starshine's eyes shot open. Only then did he see clearly what was above the forest canopy, burning away the white fog and illuminating the dawn—
"The second most popular spell is Fire Bolt. Then what would be the first?"
When he'd just become a mage apprentice, he'd been curious about this question too.
Until in those circles, he'd heard this saying:
"There's nothing in this world that can't be solved with one Fireball spell. If there is, then use another one. Or upcast it."
So when he'd learned his first cantrip and flung the spark manifesting in his hand at a target—
He'd happily shared it all with his instructor:
"Look, I've finally learned Fireball too!"
In his view, this cantrip that had scorched the straw target—an orange-red sphere of flame shooting forth like an arrow—should be the 'fireball' everyone talked about.
After all, the spell's name seemed so plain and simple.
But his instructor was always proud and distant.
Not taking his sharing as innocent, the instructor let the corner of his mouth show the same familiar mockery and sarcasm as always:
"If this counts as Fireball, then those violent mages who only memorize Fireball would all be unemployed."
"But what I threw out clearly looked like a fireball, didn't it?"
"When you truly have the talent to surpass me and are qualified to touch third-circle spells, you'll know how laughable you are."
The instructor was too lazy to explain to him, but couldn't extinguish his curiosity.
Curiosity is the driving force that propels a person to learn and progress.
However, in all these years since he'd truly stood shoulder to shoulder with his instructor and decided to leave the ivory tower to venture forth, he'd actually rarely seen anyone use third-circle spells.
Spellcasters who reached this level mostly already had some fame and could stand on their own. They wouldn't form parties with 'newcomers' like Starshine.
So much so that he'd never been able to glimpse the true knowledge of this 'fireball.'
But now—
As he gradually felt the scorching heat on his skin and made out clearly that above the dome of the sky, a bright point of light was tearing through the darkness like a meteor, shattering the fog, and was about to descend—
He seemed to finally understand what 'ignorance' meant.
If what he had in his hands counted as a 'fireball'—
Then what he was seeing now was probably the sun.
The raging fire roared, drilling through his eardrums.
The point of light bloomed brilliantly, and in its splendor, burned into a sea of flames—
"BOOOOM!!!"