Chapter 568: The Serpent King’s Hidden Chamber
Chapter 568: The Serpent King’s Hidden Chamber
Boom! Crack!The cave echoed with explosive impacts as Marcus and Pebble unleashed Blazing Dance, their attacks striking the black ice serpents with enough force to trigger critical hits.
Bright yellow damage numbers burst above the creatures’ heads in rapid succession: -13,000, -15,800, -17,000... Not bad at all.
The fire-element arrows were proving particularly devastating. After drinking the Millennium Fire-Apricot Wine, Marcus’s Fire Attack had increased by thirty percent, allowing his attacks to deal respectable damage even against Level 70 monsters. Between his attacks and Pebble’s, the two had already stripped more than 30,000 HP from the serpents in a single exchange.
"Blazing Dance!"
The second volley followed almost immediately. None of the arrows landed critical hits this time, but Marcus hardly cared. His pets had already joined the attack, and five Royal Sorcerers and four combat pets unleashed a storm of dazzling elemental magic that crashed into the remaining serpents from every direction. Their final 30,000 HP vanished almost instantly, and the creatures shattered apart, exploding into countless frozen fragments that scattered across the cave floor.
That took care of them.
Still, these were Level 70 monsters, and they were particularly troublesome because they attacked from range and fought in groups. Every Venom Ice Cone they launched struck the Sea Demon Souls for more than 2,000 damage. By the time the battle ended, the two Sea Demon Souls had lost nearly 20,000 HP between them.
Fortunately, their health pools were roughly twice Marcus’s. Without that advantage, even with Adamant Shield protecting them, neither Marcus nor Pebble could have endured such a relentless barrage for long. Fighting monsters nearly twenty levels above his own was still a serious disadvantage, no matter how many advantages he possessed.
Marcus waited for the Sea Demon Souls to recover before moving on. About twenty meters ahead, another group of black ice serpents came into view.
"Blazing Dance!"
The battle unfolded almost exactly like the previous one. The Sea Demon Souls rushed forward first, drawing the attention of every serpent while Marcus, Pebble, and the rest of his companions attacked safely from behind. Two rounds of Blazing Explosive Arrows later, the entire group had been reduced to shattered corpses scattered across the icy ground.
Marcus stepped forward and retrieved the two arrows from his opening volley before preparing for the next battle. Then he continued deeper into the cave, repeating the same process again and again. One group of serpents after another fell before him as he slowly made his way through the endless passages of the Black Serpent Cave.
’This place is a nightmare...’
From the outside, the entire islet covered barely a thousand square meters, yet the cave beneath it was practically an underground world. Endless corridors carved from ice-blue stone twisted in every direction, each passage nearly identical to the last. It was the sort of place where someone could walk in circles for days without realizing it.