“Time to see how my new spells perform.”
Li Xiuman raised his wand. A blue magic circle expanded in front of him, completely obscuring his body.
“Tier 3 Magic, Water Spirit's Blessing.”
Water currents flowed, taking the shape of a phantom water spirit. Its hands gently brushed over the top of Li Xiuman's head, coating his body in a thin blue film.
The water also turned into a vortex, wrapping around Li Xiuman's body.
“The effect isn't half bad.”
Li Xiuman stretched his body.
Water Spirit's Blessing could increase the caster's underwater mobility and boost the efficacy of their water magic.
“Next up is...”
“Tier 3 Magic, Earth Spirit's Blessing!”
A yellow magic circle expanded, and dust condensed around Li Xiuman, taking the form of a phantom earth spirit that brushed over his head.
A dusty-yellow film of mana coated the surface of Li Xiuman's body.
Earth Spirit's Blessing could increase the caster's defense and boost earth magic effects.
“Tier 3 Magic, Wind's Favor.”
A cyan magic circle expanded, and flowing wind stirred the water, wrapping around Li Xiuman's hands.
Wind's Favor would form a Wind's Favor mark on both hands, granting one opportunity to instantly cast wind magic of Tier 4 or below.
“Tier 3 Magic, Flame Corrosion!”
A red magic circle expanded, and the surrounding water began to boil under the high temperature.
A wisp of flame burned underwater and settled onto Li Xiuman's forearm.
Flame Corrosion could convert the damage of cast fire spells into corrosive damage. Although the power would decrease, corrosive damage could be dealt underwater.
Using four Tier 3 buff spells directly consumed a quarter of Li Xiuman's mana.
It seemed that although his mana pool had increased, the mana consumption of the spells he cast had also gone up.
One had to keep in mind that because his Spirit stat was far higher than that of ordinary Mages of the same tier, his mana pool was also vastly larger.
If casting Tier 3 magic drained this much even for him, he really didn't know how other Mages who painstakingly advanced to Tier 3 managed to get by.
They would struggle so hard to reach Tier 3, only to end up barely able to cast a few Tier 3 spells.
Among these, the buff spells gave Li Xiuman a lot of confidence.
He walked up to the stone doors, looked at the indentations on them, and pressed both of his hands into them.
[Ding! Initiating authentication]
[Port authentication complete. Authentication target: Z-01 Dungeon Tier 3 Demon King]
[Beginning authority acquisition. Demon King panel updated]
[Main Quest refreshed]
[Defeat the 30th Floor Boss of D-02 Dungeon]
[Quest Reward: EXP +10,000, unlock creation authority for special terrain 'Deep Water Floor', unlock creation authority for special monster 'Jet Catfish' x1]
Staring at the pop-up window in front of him, Li Xiuman pushed open the stone doors with force.
The water formed a vortex, surging out from within the stone doors.
In the deep water behind the stone doors, a pitch-black figure swam slowly, spewing out massive clouds of bubbles and letting out a piercing cry.
[Initiating Floor Boss challenge: Underground Water Monster Lv. 30]
[Name] Underground Water Monster
[Race] Deep Water Octopus
[Level] Lv. 30
[Class] Monster
[Status] Healthy
[Skills] Great Strength Lv. 3, Water Magic Lv. 3, Ultra Regeneration Lv. 3, Corrosive Slime Lv. 3, Magic Resistance Lv. 3, Deadly Poison Lv. 3, Skin Hardening Lv. 3, Muscle Strengthening Lv. 3, Resilience Lv. 3, Entanglement Lv. 2, Spirit Deterrence Lv. 2, Swiftness Lv. 2, Parallel Thought Lv. 2, Son of Water Lv. 1, Water Pressure Lv. 1
[Description] An intelligent deep-water predator. Its tentacles can secrete corrosive and toxic slime. Once entangled, it is extremely difficult to break free, leaving one with no choice but to become its food. Underestimating it will lead to a very bad situation.
“An octopus monster?”
Li Xiuman murmured as he watched the massive figure gradually become clearer in the darkness.
His recent impression of tentacled octopuses wasn't particularly good.
After all, not long ago, he had been psychologically manipulated by an evil god that looked remarkably like a giant octopus.
“Go.”
Li Xiuman waved his wand, and all the zombie aquatic monsters rushed forward at once.
At the same time, Li Xiuman summoned Number Zero and his other Golems, then raised his wand.
“Tier 3 Magic, AoE Water Adaptation!”
A blue magic circle expanded, coating all the Golems in a film of water so that they could move freely at the bottom of the lake.
Watching the giant octopus beast being held at bay, Li Xiuman raised his wand.
“Tier 3 Magic, Fire Spirit Arrow!”
A massive fire arrow condensed at the bottom of the lake, causing the surrounding water to begin boiling.
Li Xiuman locked onto the octopus's head. The moment the fire arrow finished condensing, he lowered his wand.
In an instant, the fire arrow shattered the magic circle, piercing through the water currents as it shot toward the octopus's head.
The octopus looked toward Li Xiuman and, without hesitation, shrank back into the depths of the darkness, its massive head dodging the arrow.
However, with a sizzling sound, one of its tentacles was struck by the fire arrow, breaking off at the impact site as if it were being corroded away.
The octopus swam rapidly, trying to bypass all the Golems and monsters to take down Li Xiuman.
This was different from the simple-minded bosses Li Xiuman had defeated before, who only knew how to attack the targets closest to them.
This octopus seemed to understand the concept of leadership and targeting the leader first, charging straight for Li Xiuman.
“Tier 3 Magic, Wind Sever!”
Li Xiuman unhesitatingly opened his hand. The magical effect of Wind's Favor activated, instantly deploying a magic circle. The flowing wind stirred the water currents, instantly condensing into a wind blade that slashed toward the incoming octopus.
The octopus didn't seem to expect Li Xiuman to throw such a powerful move at it so suddenly.
It hastily defended with its tentacles, which resulted in the two blocking tentacles being sliced clean off.
Its head was also cut open with a large gash.
Had it not blocked with its tentacles in time, this spell would have likely sliced the octopus's head clean off.
Taking advantage of this delay, Li Xiuman successfully escaped the octopus's attack range.
The Golems and monsters surrounded the octopus once more.
The power of Tier 3 Magic was indeed impressive.
However, its mana consumption was even more impressive.
Offensive spells consumed far more mana than buff spells.
These few spells had directly drained more than a third of Li Xiuman's remaining mana.
For the first time, this made Li Xiuman feel like he was running low on mana.
“Tier 2 Magic...”
Three overlapping layers of red, yellow, and cyan magic circles expanded, and the spinning rock spear boiled the flowing water.
“Storm Molten Spear!”
Completing its charge, the molten spear let out a dull boom, shooting fiercely toward the octopus.
The octopus scrambled to dodge.
Li Xiuman rapidly opened a magic circle for the second time.
“Tier 2 Magic, Water Prison!”
The water currents tightly bound the octopus as it tried to escape, causing its figure to stall in place and leaving it with no choice but to block with its tentacles.
It desperately extended its tentacles, attempting to halt the rock spear.
In the end, however, the rock spear pierced through its tentacles one by one, pinning it to the ground.
“Tier 3 Magic, Wind Sever!”
The cyan magic circle expanded, rapidly gathering wind mana elements and beginning to charge.
The octopus realized things were going south, trying to tear its pinned tentacles away to dodge.
Its strong will to survive forced it to forcefully tear off its own tentacles one by one.
The other Golems and monsters also attacked continuously, leaving numerous wounds of various sizes on the octopus's body surface.
Just as the octopus severed its last tentacle and prepared to dodge:
The long-scheming—pfft, long-prepared Number Zero raised its Troll's Mallet and smashed it down toward the octopus's head.
The shattering shockwave effect of the Troll's Mallet made the intelligent octopus's head ring, leaving it dazed in place.
The Wind Sever spell had also successfully finished condensing. As Li Xiuman lowered his wand, it slashed toward the octopus's head.
It was completely unavoidable.
Blood splattered as the octopus's head was sliced clean in half vertically.
[Ding! You have killed the 30th Floor Boss Guardian of D-02 Dungeon, the Underground Water Monster!]
[EXP +10,000, received special reward: Blue Chest x1]
[You have completed the Demon King Side Quest]
[EXP +10,000, unlock creation authority for Flowing Water Lake Floor, unlock creation authority for Jet Catfish]
[You have obtained partial authority over D-02 Dungeon]
Several glowing orbs floated up from the water monster's corpse.
Only then did Li Xiuman swim slowly toward the water monster, retrieve his Dungeon Core, and extend it toward the glowing orbs.
The glowing orbs surged into the Dungeon Core one after another.
Rate on N.U.
