by Zhuang Bifan
He had a hunch that such a rare Eternal Adamantine vein would contain precious stones of at least the level of the Heart of Gaia. Ordinary crystals such as those that could be bought with ten gold coins were almost certain not to appear…
"Wrong…" Lin Li's knitted his eyebrows shortly after.
This could not be just an ordinary crystal…
Lin Li was very clear about the power of the five Air Bomb scrolls. Under the earth-shaking explosion, let alone an ordinary crystal, even pig iron would be blown up. But the crystal among the rocks was still glittering, and not even a crack could be found.
"There's a problem with this!" At the thought of it, Lin Li hurried to remove that piece of rubble. In order to speed up, he even used the Ring of Endless Storm once again.
"…" Andoine almost went crazy. Loading mineral stones into a dimensional space was something abnormal, but this kid had gotten worse—he was actually using dimensional space to load stones. Those were real stones; if he liked them, the Nightmare Mountains were full of them. He could hire a motorcade for 200 gold coins, and load as much as he wanted!
The old man was hopping in anger, but there was no time for Lin Li to pay attention to him.
The stones were moved away, and the entire crystal was revealed.
This crystal looked similar to the Dragon's Eye—both were of the same size and oval in shape. The only difference was that one was glistening yellow, and the other was shiny and glittering.
When Lin Li held it in his hand, he suddenly realized that this crystal did not seem to have been formed naturally, for its surface was covered with a strange pattern.
Lin Li knitted his brows again at the sight of the patterns.
He constantly felt the pattern was familiar. He stood there and carefully recalled it for a long while before he vaguely remembered—when he was in the Endless World, he seemed to have seen similar patterns somewhere. If Lin Lin remembered correctly, they should belong to the category of inscription.
However, even Lin Li couldn't tell exactly what the patterns stood for.
He could only vaguely guess that this should be a mageweath array because only mageweath arrays had a large number of magic circuits and a large number of magic nodes—each seemingly independent but interrelated. The source of mana that they tapped into was the same at the end of the day.
Lin Li was astonished for a moment.
It was uncommon to see a mageweath array…
The combination of more than three mageweaths was qualified to be called a mageweath array.
This was not as simple as adding one to two. Mageweaths were extremely complex per se. The combination of several mageweaths would cause the complexity to increase exponentially. Even the level certification hall in the Emerald Tower used only two mageweaths—the Elements annihilation field and the Magical shield field—instead of adding a Magic exhaustion field to form a real mageweath array.
Lin Li knew that it was not because the Jarrosus Guild of Magic was unwilling; it was because they were unable to do it…
It was exactly this reason that Lin Li felt puzzled about.
It was only an ordinary crystal; was there a need for a mageweath array?
Lin Li stood there thinking for a long time, but could not figure out why. Finally, he shook his head, and kept the strange crystal in his pocket.
In any case, the purpose of this trip had been achieved. Not to mention a set of equipment, even two or three sets would be more than enough with the large number of Eternal Adamantine. Adding to it the few precious accompanying gemstones, the harvest of this trip could be said to be far beyond Lin Li's imagination.
"Want to take a look at other entrances?"
"No, no, it's so late. I'm going back to bed. I'm getting on with age, and can't be compared with you young people…" With the Crystal of Eternity in his hand, Andoine's heart had long returned to Alanna. He could not wait to find a jeweler to carve the giant Crystal of Eternity into a potion bottle, and then bring it to the Pharmacists Guild to show off. How could he still have the thought of exploring other entrances…?
"Then let's go back first…" Lin Li nodded, and did not force Andoine. Anyway, he still had to stay in Alanna for three months; he'd have time to explore the other entrances. They did not have to rush it today.
On their way back, Lin Li was still the one leading the way with his Illuminating Spell.
Lin Li listened intently as he walked. He wanted to know whether the voice he'd heard when he entered the cave was his misconception. But this time, the voice seemed to have disappeared. No matter how Lin Li tried to concentrate on it, there was no trace of sound in his ears at all…
It was already late at night when they came out of the cave. A crescent moon hung high in the night sky, and the moonlight sprinkled on the Nightmare Mountains like dew, adding a gentle aura to this crisis-ridden forest.
"You just cannot hold out for long as you get older. It's just past midnight, and I can't take it anymore. Bad, bad. I have to go back to bed earlier…" The old man yawned as he came out of the cave. He kept emphasizing his age while the Power of Flight was already released by him. "You two go back on your own. I won't send you…"
Lin Li was amused and annoyed at the same time. He was a legendary mage, but he was using "can't stay up late" as an excuse. Just say you're itching to go back to show off the Crystal of Eternity; do you have to find such a lame excuse…?
"Do some good, will you. Don't frighten an illness out of Old Grimm…"
"Rest assured, it won't scare him to death."
After uttering these words, the old man flew out of the forest.
Standing at the entrance of the cave, Lin Li could not help but yawn. The night's ordeal was really exhausting. Even if he was full of vigor, he was just too tired at this time. All he wanted was to go back to the Alanna Guild of Magic and have a good sleep.
But the world was as such—the more you wanted to sleep, the more it wouldn't allow you sleep.
Lin Li was yawning when he heard a terrible scream from afar.
The scream was so piercing that it scared off half of Lin Li's sleepiness in an instant.
"What the heck…" Lin Li muttered a curse, but he did not freeze as he promptly released a Warlock's Eyes.
He had heard clearly enough to know that the scream had come from the campsite.
Under Lin Li's control, the Warlock's Eyes turned into a stream of light and glided off in the direction of the campsite.
Lin Li was startled when the Warlock's Eyes approached—the campsite that was dead silent earlier on was buzzing with noise at present. From the Warlock's Eyes, there was only the glint and flash of cold steel and flickers of magic rays from time to time. Shouts and screams mingled together, and it sounded noisier than exploding the mines with Air Bomb.
This was a battle of great disparity in numerical strength. One side was a team of more than 30 adventurers, while the other side was a single magical beast.
"F*ck! The Shapeshifter!" Lin Li's eyes straightened after a thorough look at the situation.
It not for the fierceness of the battle, Lin Li really wanted to go over and interview those adventurers to ask them what gave them the courage to climb the Nightmare Mountains in the middle of the night and challenge the Shapeshifter! Could it be that they really thought it was something like a unicorn, easy to be trifled with?
"Wash up and sleep…" Lin Li shook his head, having lost the interest to continue watching. In fact, he did not need to watch—what would happen after that would be a massacre through and through.
Chapter 134 - Sacred Weapon
In all the folklore of Anril, the Shapeshifters were usually depicted as the mount of Demons. They came to the human world in hellfire, along with blood and slaughter.
The birthplace of these beasts was definitely locations which suffered calamity. No matter if the disaster was natural or man-made, it was certainly a catastrophe that claimed the lives of thousands and millions. Only thi
s could trigger the birth of the Shapeshifters, which were an amalgamation of pure negativity.
Suffering and hopelessness were the greatest sources of energy for them.
As they were created from negative emotions, their bodies were neither tangible nor a figment, and were born with all sorts of Dark Magic. At birth, they would be at least level-16. When they had finished evolving, they might surpass the level-20 mark, and become a Legendary Beast.
Although that Shapeshifter in front of them had yet to surpass level-20, it had already evolved once. There was fire circling around its four limbs, and the color of dark red around its horn. That meant that the beast before them was at least a level-18 one. Since its body did not have a definite form, the beast would have great immunity to any attack—no matter if it were to be a magical or physical one. On top of that, with its proficiency in Dark Magic, it would be extra difficult for even Macklin, a level-19 senior, to defeat that Shapeshifter before their eyes.
How could these Adventurers be able to deal with such a formidable monster?
Strength-wise, the adventurers definitely had an edge over those beasts. Their abilities, however, were not on the same level. Among the 30-odd adventurers, the strongest was just level-12, and the weakest was only level-8.
In Master Gerian's words, if they wanted to battle a Shapeshifter in such a group dynamic, they would be digging their own graves!
Nearly 10 men stayed at the front line. Each of their heavy armors had obviously gone through inscription to protect themselves against Dark Magic from the Shapeshifter. They miraculously pulled through the deadly attacks, and gave the mages behind them precious time to do their recitation.
Yet, how would the abilities of a Shapeshifter be limited to Dark Magic?
One warrior lost his life in a short distance attack.
When the beast charged at him with its dark-red horn, his thick and heavy armor was as if a thin white sheet of paper. Despite having protection, the long horn pierced through his c.h.e.s.t. The sharp tip that passed through his back showed faint but bright gleam. Amidst that shriek, blood flowed out profusely, leaving behind an impressive crimson that stained the long horn.
Yet, the time that the warrior bought with his life did not manage to bring any impact.
The levels of the soldiers in the camp were too low.
That was the weakness of a mercenary corps. In Felan Kingdom, there were very few mercenary corps which had the finances to employ powerful mages to aid them.
A full set of magical equipment cost at least a few million. How many magical beasts did one have to kill in order to earn this amount of money?
Unless the Guild of Magic had the ability to pay a hefty sum to employ them, no Magic Shooters would want to join the guild as an Adventurer.
That being said, who would dare to invite Gerian into the team?
Lin Li noticed two Magic Shooters in the mercenary corps before him. And that made the team one of the strongest already…
Apart from them, the abilities of others were undoubtedly horrible. They were a bunch of level-eight and level-nine mages—nothing comparable to the mages in Jarrosus Guild of Magic. Besides, they were from the capital, Alanna.
Since their combined strength was weak, their fate had been sealed.
In that precious recitation time, most of the mages had already summoned their strongest spells, ranging from Flaming Storm to Arcane Missile, and then Icy Spear to Fireball. The over 10 spells that were cast together raged a magnificent scene of brilliant sparkles…
However, what followed that blinding ray of light was a raging howl.
Although the deaths of those mages on the front line happened almost concurrently, the damage they could do to the Shapeshifter was minimal. Among them, the Flaming Storm had the biggest impact. After all, it was still a spell that only Magic Shooters could cast. Yet, in dealing with the beast, it seemed to have lost its usual impact. When the sparks were cleared, there were only burnt marks on the body of the beast.
Lin Li sighed disappointedly upon witnessing that scene. The Flaming Storm was indeed a powerful spell to injure Shapeshifters—but too weak to kill.
Since Shapeshifters were created from resentment, the most effective way to deal with them would be to use the Holy Light that had purification properties.
However as Felan was a magical kingdom, very few people would choose to become a Priest. That being said, it was even rare to be see a Paladin around.
To be able to find a someone who had the skills to purify a Shapeshifter would be more difficult than teaching Andoine the art of creating pharmaceutical products.
Of course, magical spells would work too—provided they had a strong enough impact.
For Andoine, it would only take him one legendary magical spell in order to kill a Shapeshifter.
And that was what differentiated the realms.
To the people who were at the legendary-level, intangible opponents like the Shapeshifters were definitely not a challenge.
For example, to Andoine would not need to consider what spells he should use to deal with the beasts. With the sufficient amount of strength, any spell would be enough to kill—just like how earlier on in the jungle, Andoine's instant yet simple Fireball managed to take lives so effectively…
Unfortunately, the old man left too hurriedly.
Or else, Lin Li would really hope to seek his help to take down that rare Shapeshifter in front of him.
If anyone could get ahold of the horn of a Shapeshifter, they would be envied by everyone. With the addition of their horns, even the value of a normal metal could be multiplied by a hundred times. That was due to its firmness, which had been proven by how the Shapeshifter managed to slit open the thick and heavy armor of the warrior so easily as though it was a thin piece of paper.
Weapons that were forged from the horns of Shapeshifters would hold an extremely mighty Dark Force that could break all protective barriers. With the horns of Shapeshifters, the Spell of Frost would be a mere joke…
The magical crystals of the Shapeshifters were even more precious to mages. The negative emotions contained inside would be able to enhance the Mental Spells and Spiritual Spells by many folds if one of such crystal were to be attached to their staffs.
Lin Li was very tempted just by the thought of how he could make use of the body of a Shapeshifter for his benefits.
Yet it was like a goldfish—one could only see, and not touch…
While Lin Li was feeling his share of disappointment, a series of shrieks could be heard from the camp. From afar, the Shapeshifter that was provoked by the magical spells looked like a wild horse that had gone loose. Its dark-red horn conducted a massive slaughter in the camp.
Under the firm and strong horn, the heavy armor was as if a floating cloud. No warrior could withstand the Shapeshifter's attacks. At first, there were seven or eight warriors battling the beast. Within a second, half were down. Fresh blood oozed out of their wounds, leaving behind a ground of red.
The charging Shapeshifter was like a real nightmare—it was using its own unique method to spread suffering and hopelessness.
"BUY SOME TIME FOR THE MAGES!!!" a voice commanded when the team was close to collapsing. That exasperated howl belonged to a young man with golden hair who was standing at a corner of the battlefield.
The shrill cry indeed helped to delay the collapse of the team. It motivated the remaining warriors to raise up the weapons in their arms and block the charging Shapeshifter.
At the same time, the mages behind them completed another recitation. They grew smarter this time round. Instead of using offensive spells to hurt the Shapeshifter, they utilized all sort of spells that dealt with states. Among them, there were the Delaying Spell, Blinding Spell, and Weakening Spell, all cast over the Shapeshifter like a net.
After all, the body of the Shapeshifter was half intangible and half tangible. The massive low-grade attacks that focused on its body affected the beast as well. Although res
embling insect bites, lacking the power to kill, that indeed caused an irritating feeling for the beast.
It is the frustration you get when a buzzing housefly circles around your ear continuously—and you really would hope to smack that tiny bug dead.
And that was what the Shapeshifter did…
That pair of red eyes reflected an extremely bright light. What followed was a huge gush of Dark Force, which distorted the surrounding space. From how the magical elements sizzled like boiling water, Lin Li knew that it was a powerful and destructive Dark Magic.
"Why…" Lin Li sighed as he shook his head. He had expected that to be the ending of the team with no one ranked higher than level-12.
"Let's go back to Alanna."
Lin Li summoned the Hastening Spell for himself and Sean to make an escape before the Shapeshifter shifted its target to them.
In fact, that was the only time Lin Li dared to leave the location.
The battleground was in-between the cave and the jungle. If one wanted to return to Alanna with the same path they came, they could either use the Power of Flight like Andoine or cut through the battlefield. Yet Lin Li feared that if they were to do the latter, they would trigger the Shapeshifter's hostility.
Shapeshifters would not care whether you were adventurers or not. As long as you were a human being, it was all the same to them.
But it was not a problem now.
Thanks to those mages, the Shapeshifter had been close to becoming crazy. Even if Lin Li were to walk towards it casually, it wouldn't pay any attention to him. To the Shapeshifter, the number one priority was to find out how to get rid of the buzzing housefly.
To be safe, Lin Li did not use the Illuminating Spell. Both men crept stealthily towards the camp in the dark…
Their footsteps were very light. As they stepped on the lush green grass, there were only rustling sounds.
The vigorous movement of the Dark Force and the sizzling waves of magical elements gave everyone a sense of suffocation.
"HOLD ON! EVERYBODY HOLD ON!" the golden-haired youth screamed with all his might. His voice had already gone hoarse from all the shouting. Red veins surfaced in his eyes too.
