Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12: It Was All Little Fireball’s Doing, It Had Nothing to Do with Me
Inside the sinister corridor,
Zhang Kai, Xia Qingyue, and the others stared wide-eyed at the pile of shattered bones, then all turned at the same time to look at Lin Mo in the middle of the team.
“It... it died?” Zhang Kai’s voice was dry. “Three shots... just three Fireballs?”
Even Xia Qingyue’s cool eyes were filled with disbelief.
As an A-rank water mage and the top student who had scored full marks in theory class, she understood better than anyone what that scene had just meant.
Under normal circumstances, even a Blaze Mage with S-rank fire elemental affinity would need at least six casts of Fireball to kill a level 5 elite monster at full health.
And yet this Blank-Slate Mage had done it in only three. How was that even possible...?
And, more importantly, there was that terrifying micro-control.
That smoothness, that precision in predicting the monster’s landing point, even that control required to halt the spell in midair and accelerate it again...
Was that really something a Blank-Slate Mage who had only awakened two days ago could do?
Even the top fire-mage students in Dragon Nation’s annual Class Holder Grand Exam could not achieve this level of micro-control.
Crunch.
Lin Mo looked at the stunned group, casually took a bright red nut from his snack bag, and tossed it into his mouth.
The crisp sound of chewing echoed through the silent corridor.
Then he took out a few more and held them out toward the others.
“Want some? They’re pretty spicy.”
“Uh...”
Only then did the others come back to themselves.
Lin Mo had actually been eating snacks while performing that absurd level of micro-control!
“N-No, thanks...”
Zhang Kai replied instinctively.
“Oh. All right, then.”
Lin Mo did not press the matter and simply withdrew his hand.
【“Fireball” let out a cold snort: Tch, that already scared them stupid? Basic stuff. Wait until I pull out something like a shower of celestial blossoms. They’ll probably wet themselves on the spot.】
“I mean...”
He swallowed the pine nut in his mouth, looked at the others, and helplessly brushed the crumbs from his hands.
“What are you all standing there for? Let’s get moving. This place is creepy as hell, and I want to clear it early and get back to sleep.”
Hearing Lin Mo’s voice, the group finally snapped out of it.
“Ah... oh! Right! Right!”
Zhang Kai shuddered violently, and the disdain in his eyes from earlier was long gone.
“Young Master Lin is absolutely right! Young Master Lin is incredible!”
“I knew it! With that kind of presence, Young Master Lin had to be a hidden expert! Those three Fireballs just now... my goodness, that was art! Pure art!”
Wang Meng also scratched his head foolishly and joined in with the flattery.
Xia Qingyue, too, looked at Lin Mo with a complicated expression.
Originally, she had thought this team-up would be a difficult journey with a burden dragging them down, and she had even prepared herself to rescue Lin Mo at any moment.
But now...
It was hard to say who the burden really was.
This seemingly lazy young master of the Lin family was no good-for-nothing rich heir coasting through life at all. He was a genuine monster disguised in sheep’s clothing!
“Everyone, adjust your condition and continue forward.”
Xia Qingyue quickly steadied herself. Though she had been shocked, as the captain, she had to stay calm.
“Since Young Master Lin has such powerful offensive methods, our tactics can be a little more aggressive as well.”
“Wang Meng, take the lead up front and pick up the pace a bit.”
“Got it!”
Now filled with confidence, Wang Meng let out a loud shout.
Just then,
Liu Weiwei, whose presence had been rather faint until now, suddenly stared at the pile of white bones from earlier with a deathly pale face.
“M-Monsters... so many monsters!”
Everyone’s heart tightened, and they followed the direction of her finger.
At the place where that elite Nether Spirit Cat had appeared, countless pairs of ghostly blue eyes were lighting up one after another in the darkness.
One pair, two pairs, ten pairs... there were dozens of them.
【Nether Spirit Cat, Lv.5】
They were all Nether Spirit Cats!
Although they were slightly smaller than the elite monster from earlier and were only ordinary monsters, there were simply too many of them!
“Don’t panic. They’re only ordinary Nether Spirit Cats. Aside from their numbers, their attributes are nowhere near that elite monster from before!”
Xia Qingyue’s voice rang out sharply, cool and steady.
Her eyes sharpened as she rapidly gave orders.
“Wang Meng! Activate ‘Immovable as a Mountain’ and hold the front line at all costs!”
“Zhang Kai! Use ‘Arrow Rain’ to suppress the left flank. Don’t let them circle around us!”
“Weiwei! Put a shield on Wang Meng and be ready with group healing at any time!”
“Everyone, get your backs to the wall and shrink the defensive circle. We’ll clear them little by little—”
Before Xia Qingyue could finish laying out the tactics,
whoosh—!
That familiar wave of heat howled out from behind her once again.
A single orange-red fireball shot straight toward those dozens of Nether Spirit Cats.
“Young Master Lin?!”
Xia Qingyue cried out instinctively.
This young master was far too impatient...
This was a pack of dozens of high-agility monsters!
If he pulled them recklessly at a time like this, he might enrage the entire group and trigger a full-scale riot!
“That’s too reckless...”
But in the next second, everyone’s eyes widened as they stared at that fireball in utter disbelief.
The fireball trembled violently, then split apart in midair.
In the blink of an eye, it divided into more than ten fireballs, like a miniature rain of meteors blanketing the Nether Spirit Cats from above.
“Th-That...”
“Multi-Burst Fireball?!”
“Isn’t that a Beginner fire-mage skill?!”
As the top student of the group, Xia Qingyue recognized it at once.
Boom boom boom boom boom—!!!
There was no time for anyone to think.
More than ten fireballs crashed into the cat pack.
In an instant, violent explosions shook the entire castle.
Flames soared into the air!
【Killed Nether Spirit Cat, EXP +40】
【Killed Nether Spirit Cat, EXP +40】
【...】
【“Fireball” burst into wild laughter: Hahahahaha! So what do you think of that move, ‘Multi-Burst Fireball’? Shocked, aren’t you? I just comprehended it yesterday!】
Xia Qingyue quickly recovered her senses.
As the team captain, she had to organize the attack immediately.
“Stop standing there! Move!” Xia Qingyue shouted. “Support Young Master Lin in clearing the monsters! Don’t give them any time to breathe!”
“Wang Meng, finish off the ones that slipped through! Zhang Kai, pick off the low-health targets!”
In truth, there was hardly any need for that much support.
Because Lin Mo’s assault never stopped.
Thanks to the staggering 60% cooldown reduction from that top-tier Purple Cloud Set, a powerful AoE skill like this would normally have quite a long cooldown.
But for Lin Mo?
Only six seconds passed.
Whoosh—!
The second fireball shot out, then split once again in midair into more than ten fireballs.
Under that terrifying blanket of firepower, the battle was over in less than half a minute.
Xia Qingyue stared blankly at the piles of shattered bones ahead.
Dozens of monsters of the same level—under her original expectations, the whole team would have needed to work together and kite them carefully for at least ten minutes.
But now?
In less than thirty seconds, the world had gone quiet.
“Amazing... absolutely amazing, Young Master Lin...”
Zhang Kai spoke dryly.
Once again, everyone turned in unison to look at Lin Mo, who was in the middle of eating snacks.
“...Uh.”
Lin Mo felt rather awkward under their gaze.
All he had done was eat snacks and watch the show. Little Fire had done all of this; it had nothing to do with him...