A limestone cave on the twelfth floor of the dungeon.
Li Xiuman leaned against the stone wall, looking at his magic book while constructing a magic circle.
Right now was his rest time.
After the tenth floor of the dungeon, the terrain had become much more complex, and the monsters had grown significantly stronger.
Because of this, crossing a single floor took a lot more time.
If it were an adventurer party, they could alternate their vanguard to descend much faster.
“Connect this part to here... and this part can be omitted...”
Li Xiuman carefully outlined a light blue magic circle on his left arm.
He was trying to modify the spell.
After all, using the spells in the magic book felt incredibly awkward.
And simply manipulating raw elements had too low an efficiency.
The magic he was currently modifying was the Tier 1 spell, Water Wall.
“Tier 1 Magic...”
“Water Shield!”
The magic circle lit up with a beautiful blue glow, and water condensed into a vortex around his left arm.
Then, a circular shield of water condensed in front of his forearm.
The water forming the water shield flowed slowly in a swirling pattern, looking like translucent crystal.
He tried swinging his left arm; the shield on his left arm stayed locked to his movements, moving along with him.
It felt as if he were holding a real shield.
[Ding! Proficiency requirements met. Acquired skill: Magic Analysis Lv. 1]
Li Xiuman felt his mind jolt.
In an instant, the world seemed to become incredibly clear.
When he looked at the water shield on his arm again, he could actually see the flow of mana directly.
“This part is wrong. How did I not notice this before?”
“If I connect it like this, the effect should be even better.”
Li Xiuman subconsciously adjusted the magic circle of the water shield.
Ripples spread across the surface of the water shield, and the vortex became more stable and noticeably more condensed.
Even the mana consumption required to maintain the water shield decreased slightly.
Picking up the magic book again, those complex magic circles actually seemed to have become somewhat simpler.
“What a great skill!”
Li Xiuman dispersed the water shield and designed magic circles for other elements based on its design.
“Tier 1 Magic, Earth Shield.”
“Tier 1 Magic, Fire Shield... Whoa, holy crap, it's on fire!”
“Tier 1 Magic, Wind Shield.”
All four elemental shields were successfully designed.
The Earth Shield was no different from a regular shield, the Wind Shield could deflect and redirect attacks to some extent, and while the Fire Shield was flashy and impractical, it should still be able to burn up incoming arrows or similar projectiles.
After familiarizing himself with these new magic circles and recovering most of his mana, Li Xiuman left the cave and headed toward the thirteenth floor.
The moment he stepped onto the thirteenth floor, a poisoned arrow came flying straight at his face.
Li Xiuman raised his staff, knocking the arrow away in a shower of sparks.
“Lucky us! It's a mage!”
“That staff looks like it's worth a lot. Looks like we're going to make a fortune this time!”
“Stop chatting! It'll be a pain if we let him cast any magic!”
There were four opponents: two Heavy Warriors, a Swordsman, and an Archer.
One Level 16, two Level 15s, and one Level 14.
Without wasting words, the two Heavy Warriors rushed forward, seemingly trying to disrupt Li Xiuman.
The Swordsman circled around behind the Heavy Warriors with his sword drawn, seemingly waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
The Archer, standing furthest back, fired two more arrows from the shadows.
“Earth Shield.”
Li Xiuman raised his arm. The magic circle was instantly constructed, forming an earthy-yellow buckler on his left arm that deflected the incoming arrows.
“Don't blame us after you die, kid. Blame your own bad luck.”
A Heavy Warrior drew close and lunged to slam into Li Xiuman.
The other swung a greatsword and bellowed.
“Sharpness!”
The blade of the greatsword flashed with a cold light.
A Warrior's battle technique?
Li Xiuman retreated, raising his Earth Shield in front of him.
“Slide Step!”
The Swordsman's figure vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind.
A flash of sword light thrust out from behind him.
He was attacked from both front and back.
Li Xiuman shifted his stance and lunged directly toward the Heavy Warrior's greatsword.
The Earth Shield on his left arm collided with the greatsword, leaving a deep gash on the shield.
“It didn't shatter?!”
The Heavy Warrior exclaimed in shock.
Li Xiuman spun his staff to meet the Swordsman's battle technique from behind, but as his body lowered slightly, he was slammed and sent flying by the other Heavy Warrior.
The Archer quickly fired three more arrows, which shot toward the airborne Li Xiuman in a triangular formation.
The arrows easily pierced through Li Xiuman's heart, chest, and neck.
“Nice shot, Will!”
Will felt a bit strange. How did his arrows pierce through so easily? He didn't feel them passing through any flesh at all...
But he didn't dwell on it. After all, his arrows piercing the neck and heart was an undeniable reality.
“The biggest share is mine!”
Seeing the Swordsman and Heavy Warriors rushing toward the corpse, Will yelled and quickly followed them.
It was impossible to expect this bunch of thugs to leave anything for him.
But the very instant the leading Swordsman drew close, the corpse suddenly moved.
“Tier 1 Magic, Mud Bullet!”
This was a spell modified by Li Xiuman, originally the spell Earth Bullet.
The instant-cast Mud Bullet splattered directly onto the Swordsman's face, instantly blinding him.
“He's faking his death! Fall back!”
The Heavy Warrior hurriedly tried to shield the Swordsman behind him.
But how could Li Xiuman give them the chance?
“Tier 1 Magic, Quagmire!”
The ground instantly turned to muck. Due to his weight, one of the Heavy Warriors sank halfway into the mud in a split second.
The other noticed something was wrong in time and leaped repeatedly to escape the range of the Quagmire.
But the blinded Swordsman wasn't so lucky.
Having lost his sight, he had no idea what was happening before the ground beneath him gave way, causing him to sink inside.
He couldn't even use his Swordsman skill, Slide Step.
“Tier 1 Magic...”
A fiery red magic circle was outlined at the tip of his staff.
“No!”
“Get out of the way!”
His teammate's shouts were the last thing the Swordsman heard.
“Fireball!”
The fireball struck the Swordsman's head with pinpoint accuracy and exploded.
[Ding! Killed Swordsman Lv. 15. Experience +350]
“Die!”
“Rapid Fire!”
Several more arrows shot toward Li Xiuman, but he quickly dodged and charged toward the Heavy Warrior trapped in the Quagmire.
“Tier 1 Magic, Fireball!”
“Immovable Fortress!”
The Heavy Warrior bellowed, raising a thick shield in front of him as his armor glowed with a bright yellow light.
The fireball made a direct hit and exploded, throwing up a cloud of smoke.
As the smoke cleared, it revealed the battered Heavy Warrior, his armor and shield webbed with cracks.
“I'll kill you!”
He roared as he lunged at Li Xiuman. The explosion from earlier had dried out the mud, giving him a chance to break free from the Quagmire.
Li Xiuman gripped his staff and hurled several small fireballs in quick succession, but all of them were blocked by the shield.
“In that case...”
Li Xiuman gripped his staff tightly and, under the amplification of Great Strength, swung it fiercely toward the rushing Heavy Warrior.
The Heavy Warrior raised his shield, not thinking much of it.
After all, how much physical strength could a guy with a Mage class have—holy shit!
The shield shook violently and dented slightly. A tremendous force surged through the shield, ripping it from his grasp and sending it flying.
“Immovable Fort—”
Sensing that things were taking a turn for the worse, he tried to activate his skill, but that... if he wasn't mistaken, that pure metal staff was swinging even faster!
“Immovable my ass!”
The staff cracked against his skull with a sickening crunch, shattering his helmet and sending it flying.
The staff had been enhanced with a Wind Vortex of wind magic, which possessed a tearing effect.
With his head ringing intensely, under Li Xiuman's Appraisal, the warrior's status bar immediately flashed with Stun.
Aiming for the fractured spot, Li Xiuman delivered another heavy blow.
This time, the skull caved in entirely before being blasted apart by the wind pressure.
[Ding! Killed Heavy Warrior Lv. 15. Experience +350]
His experience gauge rose by another chunk.
Blood stained his staff. Li Xiuman wiped it clean on the corpse and slung the staff over his shoulder.
“I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm just a skeleton.”
“So, go ahead and sit tight while this skeleton bashes your head in.”
Rate on N.U.
