Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Barely a Scratch? Then I’m Not Letting This End Here!
Deep within the ancient castle.
The originally sinister corridor was now undergoing an even stranger transformation.
The rotten, damp smell in the air gradually faded, replaced by the sickly-sweet scent of blood that seemed to have fermented for ages.
The skull lamps on the walls, which had been burning with ghostly blue flames, suddenly began to flicker violently, their fire shifting from spectral blue to dark violet.
“Something’s wrong!”
Walking at the very front, Xia Qingyue suddenly came to a halt.
She stared fixedly at the rolling mist ahead, then swept her gaze across the changes in the surrounding environment.
“Captain, what is it?”
Zhang Kai, who was following behind her, was somewhat bewildered and asked instinctively.
Xia Qingyue kept scanning the surroundings, as though confirming it again and again. At last, she forced out a single sentence:
“It’s undergone Abyssalization...”
The moment those words were spoken, everyone else’s expressions froze.
They all knew perfectly well what Abyssalization meant.
“A-Abyssalization?”
Zhang Kai went weak all over with fright and fumbled out his 【Return Scroll】 in panic.
A faint glow spread from the scroll, but nothing happened.
“The Return Scroll isn’t responding. It... it really has undergone Abyssalization.” Zhang Kai’s voice trembled, his eyes hollow with despair.
A mood of hopelessness spread through the team.
Liu Weiwei, the timid little priest girl, was already covering her mouth and crying, while even the burly Wang Meng could not stop his hands from shaking as he gripped his shield.
“What do we do?”
Zhang Kai looked at Xia Qingyue, then at Lin Mo.
Before entering the dungeon, the others might have looked at Lin Mo with disdain, thinking he was nothing more than a burdensome rich young master from a powerful family.
But after witnessing the relentless bombardment all the way here, Lin Mo had already begun to replace Xia Qingyue as the true pillar of support in everyone’s hearts.
“Young Master Lin...”
Zhang Kai’s voice trembled, thick with tears. “Wh-What do we do now?”
Lin Mo looked at the pitch-black road ahead and felt speechless himself.
What kind of nonsense was this?
It had been eighteen years. He had finally gotten a golden finger, and the moment he stepped out, he ran into a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance?
His luck truly was beyond words.
An Abyssal dungeon was the sort of place that required an entire top-tier elite team to even have a hope of clearing it.
【‘Fireball’ is greedily drawing in the Abyssal aura in the air!】
【‘Fireball’ trembles with excitement: This smell... this scent filled with violence, destruction, and corruption! It is exquisite!】
【‘Fireball’ erupts in wild laughter: Hahahahaha! Now this deserves to be called a dungeon! Everything before was child’s play! I can feel the hot blood in my body boiling! It is the call of hell itself!】
【Current Mood: Extreme Excitement (Damage to Abyssal monsters +200%!)】
Looking at this skill that delighted in chaos, Lin Mo let out a sigh.
So it really did become stronger the stronger the enemy was, did it?
Still, even with damage increased by 200%, that did not necessarily mean they could defeat an Abyssal Boss.
Lin Mo brushed the snack crumbs from his hands and said calmly,
“All right, stop looking so miserable.”
“Since our retreat is gone, the only thing left is to keep moving forward.”
Xia Qingyue drew a deep breath, gripped her staff tightly once more, and her gaze turned resolute.
“Young Master Lin is right. Crying is useless. All we can do is fight!”
“Everyone, listen carefully! Tighten the formation and protect Young Master Lin. We... are going to kill our way in!”
...
The road that followed could only be described as brutal.
After Abyssalization, the monsters’ attributes surged, and their desire to attack became frenzied beyond measure.
Monsters that could once be dealt with in just a few Fireballs now required far more sustained firepower.
Fortunately, the cooldown reduction from Lin Mo’s Purple Cloud Set was absurdly overpowered, and with Little Fireball’s buff of “Damage to Abyssal monsters +200%,” the team managed to force its way to the deepest part of the dungeon despite repeated danger.
Lin Mo’s level also rose to Lv.6, while the others all reached Lv.5.
Before them stood a black giant gate over ten meters tall.
“We’re here.”
Xia Qingyue’s voice was hoarse. “The Boss is inside.”
Rumble—
Before anyone could push the gate, it slowly opened on its own.
A terrifying pressure instantly swept out!
At the center of the grand hall, seated upon a throne built from piled bones, was a horrifying figure.
【Abyss · Skeletal Knight (BOSS), Lv.5】
It wore tattered black heavy armor. Beneath the helmet was no face at all, only two clusters of flickering violet soul fire.
In its hand, it held a greatsword two meters long, and beneath it was a skeletal warhorse burning with ghostly flame.
“Intruders...”
“ROAR—!!!”
A dreadful, hoarse voice echoed through the hall.
Along with that roar came a wave of killing intent that struck them head-on.
At a single glance, Zhang Kai and Liu Weiwei found it hard to breathe. They were almost losing even the courage to raise their weapons.
Even Wang Meng, who had always been steady, now had a violently trembling hand on his shield.
Though it was only a level 5 Boss, that terrifying Abyssal aura was countless times more dreadful than any monster they had encountered before!
【‘Fireball’ is wildly excited: Now this is a real opponent! Let me test myself against it!】
Suppressing the fear in her heart by force, Xia Qingyue swung her staff and shouted,
“Do not be afraid! It is only level 5! With Young Master Lin here, it is not as though we have no chance at all!”
“Wang Meng, get up there! Young Master Lin, prepare—”
Before she could finish speaking,
Lin Mo did not even need to raise a hand.
Whoosh—!
An orange-red streak shot straight past everyone and charged toward the Skeletal Knight upon the throne!
Boom—!!!
A deafening explosion instantly erupted through the vast hall.
With the terrifying bonus of 【Damage to Abyssal monsters +200%】, the power of that Fireball was astonishing.
“It hit... it hit!”
Joy appeared on Zhang Kai’s face, and he clenched his fist.
Yet in the very next second, his smile froze.
The dust settled. The flames died away.
The Skeletal Knight was still seated upon its throne, without the slightest change in posture.
Around its body flowed a semi-transparent shield of eerie violet light, cold and ghostly.
That attack had not even managed to blast a single crack into the shield!
【‘Fireball’ is stunned: ???】
【‘Fireball’ cannot believe it: I did not break its defense? That was my furious strike with a 200% damage bonus! This makes no sense!】
“Roar—”
The Skeletal Knight slowly raised its head, and a mocking intent shone within those two masses of soul fire.
Then it mounted the skeletal warhorse, dug in its heels, and launched a charge at the group amid blue ghostflame.
The ground shook!
“Careful! Wang Meng! Stop it!”
Xia Qingyue immediately shouted her command.
“Ahhhh! I’ll fight you to the end! Immovable as a Mountain!”
Wang Meng’s eyes went bloodshot. With a roar, he slammed his tower shield deep into a crack in the ground, his whole body glowing with an earthy yellow radiance.
In the next moment, that five-meter-long greatsword came crashing down onto the tower shield.
Clang—!
“Pffft!”
Wang Meng, shield and all, was sent flying straight backward. A great mouthful of blood sprayed from him in midair before he slammed heavily into the wall more than ten meters away.
“Wang Meng!”
Liu Weiwei screamed and rushed over.
“How can this be... even a Fireball with Young Master Lin’s power could not move it...”
Zhang Kai’s face was ashen.
Lin Mo stood in the middle of the team. He was not overly alarmed, but his brows drew together slightly.
“This is troublesome...”
“Little Fire, do not stop. Blast it back and do not let it get close.”
【‘Fireball’ roars: You did not need to tell me! I am not letting this end here with it!】
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The hall blazed with fire, and explosions rang out without end.
Under the alternating bombardment of Fireball and Multi-Burst Fireball, the Skeletal Knight was blasted back step after step.
Yet when the flames finally dispersed,
that violet shield remained completely intact.
Lin Mo watched this scene, and his gaze darkened.
It seemed that unless they broke that shield, there was no possibility of killing this Boss.
【‘Fireball’ stops cursing. It stares fixedly at that shield.】
【‘Fireball’ sinks into thought: Why? Why can I not blast it apart?】
【Status: Deep in Thought (It seems to be growing a brain... intelligence is seizing the high ground...)】
“...Is it finally about to have an epiphany?”
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow.