novelraw Chapter 255: Epic Skill: Heaven-Burning Flame Spear, Falling into the Deep Layers
Chapter 255: Epic Skill: Heaven-Burning Flame Spear, Falling into the Deep Layers
After that Crystallized Spider Queen was killed, the remaining Crystallized Spiders on the scene immediately panicked, turning into a swarm of headless flies. With their will to fight gone, they began to scatter and flee in all directions.
Lin Mo certainly wouldn't let them off so easily. Without bothering to inform the others, he hurriedly gave chase, already preparing a [Blazing Fire Spear] in his hand, taking down one spider every time he saw one.
After chasing for a while, he had killed off most of the Crystallized Spiders.
The remaining ones weren't so easy to find, so Lin Mo returned to the group.
By now, the adventurers and the academy students had already started cleaning up the battlefield together.
After all, they had just fought side by side, so the atmosphere between them was relatively harmonious.
Although Dirk was an old hand, he was still a decent person at heart. As for the students, there was even less to say;
having always stayed within the academy, they had certainly learned a lot, but they lacked experience and were mostly quite naive.
The materials from these Crystallized Spiders were divided and processed after negotiation between the two sides.
Just as the discussion was wrapping up, Lin Mo happened to return from outside.
"Brother Lin Mo, you're back just in time. Regarding this Crystallized Spider Queen... since it's an extra gain outside the mission and you handled it alone, we discussed it and felt too embarrassed to participate in the distribution. These are the extracted materials, please take them."Lin Mo didn't stand on ceremony either, nodding and storing those materials into his Spatial Ring.
"I chased down and killed a few more just now. We can collect those materials on our way out later."
"Alright."
......
Everyone had their own things to attend to. Although the numbers weren't high and the injuries weren't severe, some adventurers had still been wounded during the previous battle.
Finnie was helping them with treatment, and Lin Mo also casually joined in, earning a few points of proficiency in the process.
At the same time, his attention turned to the information that had appeared during the battle.
This fight involved killing relatively high-level magical creatures.
Those ordinary Crystallized Spiders all had levels above six or seven, each providing a decent amount of proficiency.
[Blazing Fire Spear] proficiency +40
[Blazing Fire Spear] proficiency +50
....
[Phantom Sword Dance] proficiency +100
A series of proficiency prompts, each with a large value. The final 100-point one was the proficiency from that Crystallized Spider Queen. (There was a minor error in the previous chapter regarding proficiency being stealable;
it has been corrected.)
Actually, this value seemed a bit higher than that from a typical Level 10 magical creature. It was probably due to its special status within the colony and its relatively stronger power compared to other Level 10 creatures...
With this accumulation of proficiency, the skill [Blazing Fire Spear] smoothly reached its maximum level.
"Skill [Blazing Fire Spear] Lv6 (300/300) has leveled up!"
"Current skill [Blazing Fire Spear] Lv7 (Max)"
"Gained basic attribute points: Mana +3, Spirit +2!"
"Has automatically evolved into a new skill — Burn Sherfilia!"
"Comprehended skill [Blazing Sky Fire Spear]! Gained basic attribute points: Mana +4, Spirit +1!"
[Blazing Sky Fire Spear] Lv1 (0/20): Consumes a large amount of mana to resonate with fire elements, forming an incredibly powerful "Blazing Sky Fire Spear." The "Blazing Sky Fire Spear" possesses the "Guaranteed Hit" characteristic. Once a target is selected, it will definitely hit. If the enemy dodges, it will automatically pursue. Upon hitting, it attaches a powerful "Burn" effect. Without purification-type skills to remove it, it will never extinguish!
It finally arrived, Lin Mo's first purely single-target Epic-level magic skill.
The Epic-level magic skill [Frost Storm] he had obtained previously, while also incredibly powerful and possessing a remarkably large damage area, didn't pose a huge threat to single enemies.
This meant Lin Mo actually lacked a means to annihilate high-level enemies on the magic front. The skill [Blazing Sky Fire Spear] could fill this gap in Lin Mo's arsenal.
The power of this skill could be sensed just from its description.
Putting everything else aside, just the "Guaranteed Hit" characteristic alone destined this skill to be a major headache for enemies.
This was quite different from the guaranteed hit of the final sword energy wave in Phantom Sword Dance. That guaranteed hit only took effect with the final wave, and the threat posed by that final wave was also related to the number of sword energy hits landed before.
In essence, Phantom Sword Dance was a skill with very high total damage output but required time to deliver.
The new skill before him, Blazing Sky Fire Spear, was an instant burst-type skill. For such a skill to possess a guaranteed hit characteristic was truly terrifying.
Moreover, once hit by this skill, not only would the enemy suffer damage from the skill's immense power, but they would also be afflicted with a powerful subsequent burn effect. If the enemy lacked a means to remove the burn status, the burn effect attached to Blazing Sky Fire Spear would continue until it spread throughout the enemy's entire body, burning them alive!
One characteristic guaranteed a hit, the other ensured eternal burning. These two traits gave the skill a strong degree of irreplaceability.
Lin Mo was very satisfied with this skill.
He then eagerly looked at the evolution path choices for this new skill.
Please select evolution direction—
Evolution Path 1: Eternal Flame I: The "Burn" effect attached after Blazing Sky Fire Spear hits becomes immune to purification effects from sources with mana lower than the caster's!
Evolution Path 2: Fatal Strike I: The "Guaranteed Hit" effect of Blazing Sky Fire Spear will additionally possess a 20% chance for a guaranteed vital strike characteristic.
Both evolution directions offered no numerical boosts;
they were entirely mechanics-based, and both were extremely powerful mechanics.
The first evolution path, "Eternal Flame," could further strengthen the permanent burning characteristic of Blazing Sky Fire Spear. Burn effects, as a special status, generally had a duration and could easily be suppressed and extinguished by powerful mana or qi and blood.
The powerful burn effect of Blazing Sky Fire Spear, on one hand, had an unlimited duration, and on the other, couldn't be simply suppressed by mana or qi and blood. Even the most powerful enemy, without purification-type magic or water element magic, couldn't remove the "Burn" effect.
But as long as the enemy had such magic, the threat posed by the powerful burn would be greatly reduced.
After all, even a mage with mana far below Lin Mo's might find one purification spell far from enough, but five or ten might significantly weaken the burn effect. And if numerous low-level mages cast purification spells together, they might completely remove the powerful burn effect.
However, if he chose the first evolution path, "Eternal Flame," then as long as the mana wasn't higher than Lin Mo's, even a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand purification spells would be useless.
The second evolution path was also very impressive. Although only a 20% chance, it could turn Blazing Sky Fire Spear's "Guaranteed Hit" characteristic into a "Guaranteed Vital Strike" characteristic.
The difference between a normal hit and a vital strike was self-evident.
Especially against magical creatures where weaknesses were hard to pinpoint. For example, think of the Corrupted Swamp Stalker encountered earlier in the Blackwater Swamp. Its massive black body made it difficult to locate its core under normal circumstances.
But if Lin Mo chose Evolution Path 2, then as long as he cast Blazing Sky Fire Spear and triggered that 20% probability, the spear would automatically penetrate its body, strike its core, and kill it in one hit!
It was another situation where he wanted to choose both paths.
Honestly, it would be better if one path was clearly inferior to the other. After all, Lin Mo himself had a bit of decision paralysis. When both were this powerful, making a choice became even harder.
After agonizing for a good while, Lin Mo ultimately chose Evolution Path 2.
"Eternal Flame" was undoubtedly a very powerful effect, but fundamentally, Blazing Sky Fire Spear was still a single-target burst skill. The most important duty of such a skill was to deal sufficiently high single-target damage in a short time. As for the damage-over-time effect, while very powerful, it was ultimately supplementary.
In many battles, Lin Mo might not actually need this persistent burning characteristic.
But if he chose Evolution Path 2 and triggered that 20% chance for a vital strike, it could truly significantly reduce the difficulty of the fight.
After selecting the evolution path, the cleanup on-site was also mostly done. The adventurers and the academy students prepared to leave this nest.
During their earlier conversation, Dirk learned that these academy students apparently hadn't completed their original objective;
they got caught up in the fight with the Crystallized Spiders halfway.
So, they would continue their adventure next.
Dirk's group, however, had already completed the three tasks they took on this time and naturally planned to leave the Boulder Mine directly and return to Fargard City.
Therefore, after leaving this cave, the two groups would bid farewell.
"It should be almost there..."
Dirk said while extracting materials from a Crystallized Spider that had fallen by the roadside, one Lin Mo had chased down earlier.
"Well then, let's meet again if fate allows."
He looked towards the cave entrance ahead and waved to the students led by Eve.
Lin Mo's group did the same, and the two parties parted ways.
However, just as they emerged from the cave and were about to go their separate ways...
The entire mine suddenly shook violently.
"Rumble—"
A tremendous tremor sounded, accompanied by the noise of mountain walls cracking and rubble flying, causing everyone's expressions to change instantly.
"What's going on?"
An earthquake? Does this world have earthquakes too?
Lin Mo wasn't familiar with this situation and quickly turned to look at Dirk beside him.
Yet, Dirk also wore a look of complete bewilderment, having no idea what was happening.
"What's happening?"
Luke asked, somewhat panicked, looking at the constantly shaking ground beneath his feet.
"I don't know. I've never heard of such a thing happening in the Boulder Mine before..."
Cold sweat began to bead on Dirk's forehead. Situations that defied common sense were the most troublesome;
no one knew what would happen next.
"In any case, let's hurry and leave!"
But just as they tried to rush towards the carriage, the shaking of the ground suddenly intensified, to a degree that could no longer be described as mere shaking...
"The ground, it's cracking!"
Hahn exclaimed.
Just as he said, the "ground" beneath their feet was already covered in cracks.
"We need to be quick..."
Dirk's voice trailed off because everything happened too fast. As he spoke these words, the ground beneath their feet completely shattered simultaneously. After a brief sensation of hanging in the air, came a rapid descent.
A large area around them had directly collapsed.
The ground broke into numerous large and small fragments, falling towards the lower layers of the Boulder Mine.
"Careful!"
Sherfilia reacted swiftly, immediately carrying Finnie on her back. Lin Mo, meanwhile, scooped Ellie up with one arm around her waist.
They looked up. By now, they were already hundreds of meters away from the mine's middle layer where they had originally been.
No good, can't get back up...
Falling from this height, several hundred meters, Lin Mo might withstand it, but the others would definitely be seriously injured or even killed.
Lin Mo took a deep breath, observing his surroundings, trying to find something.
"Over there!"
Dirk's voice came through at this moment, already some distance away.
"To the east, on the eastern side, there's a cliff face!"
Lin Mo and Sherfilia exchanged a glance. Carrying their respective charges, they jumped towards a nearby ground fragment, using this method to head towards the east.
The total descent time was only about ten seconds. Fortunately, they were fast, and the cliff face Dirk mentioned was relatively close. When they were only a few dozen meters from the bottom, Lin Mo finally managed to thrust his sword horizontally into the cliff face.
After a short slide, they finally managed to stop their descent.
At the same time, he had already cast the [Fortitude] skill on all party members beforehand.
Sherfilia did the same, managing to stop herself not far away using her dagger.
The tremendous impact force hit her like a heavy blow, nearly breaking her arm on the spot.
Fortunately, Lin Mo had helped improve her Constitution attribute quite a bit during this period. Combined with the effect of the [Fortitude] skill and her qi and blood absorbing part of the impact, she remained unharmed.
After confirming safety, Lin Mo quickly cast a [Greater Healing Art] on Sherfilia, Finnie, and Ellie each. Only then did he slowly exhale a breath of turbid air, taking several deep breaths to finally calm down gradually.
Although he had been an adventurer for several months now, such perilous situations were rarely encountered.
So, what exactly happened?
Lin Mo flipped himself up and stood on the horizontally placed sword.
Before him, fragments of the middle layer "ground" were still falling, like the arrival of doomsday.
In the darkness, even with the enhancement of [Eagle Eye], this was about all he could see.
Areas further away were difficult to make out clearly.
In any case, for now, they could only go down first.
There were still a few dozen meters to the ground. This height was much more manageable.
Lin Mo had Ellie cling to his back, holding tightly around his neck.
Then he pulled the sword embedded in the cliff face, changing its orientation from horizontal to vertical. The sharp blade immediately cut into the mountain wall as they slid downwards.
Like a crude slide, they quickly reached the bottom.
Not long after, Sherfilia and the others also came into view.
Lin Mo quickly stepped forward, catching both of them together and landing steadily.
"Are you alright?"
Sherfilia shook her head. She had indeed been injured earlier, but after Lin Mo's [Greater Healing Art] treatment, she was already healed.
Lin Mo released them. Sherfilia naturally took a few steps back, but the other person clung tightly to Lin Mo's waist, refusing to let go.
Lin Mo gently stroked her soft golden hair. Finnie's body trembled slightly, clearly badly frightened.
Although she had been an adventurer for a while, under the protection of Lin Mo and Sherfilia, Finnie's adventuring career had been almost smooth sailing, encountering few setbacks.
Coupled with growing up in the City Lord's Mansion, living a stable and peaceful life, she had never faced any real danger. Such a sudden catastrophe was indeed terrifying for her.
Fortunately, Finnie wasn't an unreasonable child. She soon calmed her emotions, released her hold on Lin Mo, and said softly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lin Mo."
"It's alright."
Lin Mo smiled and shook his head. "If Finnie wants to, you can lean on my chest anytime."
Finnie nodded. Having just experienced such danger, she couldn't care about shyness now;
only a sense of security mattered.
What about Dirk and the others? No idea how they're doing...
Lin Mo searched around for a while. Not too far away, he came across Dirk, who looked rather battered.
He was leaning against the cliff, appearing quite seriously injured.
Luke was in worse shape. The bones in his arm were completely broken, twisted into a grotesque shape, his entire face covered in blood.
Dirk was about to feed him medicine.
Lin Mo stopped him, snapped his fingers, and cast [Greater Healing Art]. Luke was almost instantly healed.
His injuries looked scary, but they weren't fatal. Professionals weren't that fragile... This didn't even count as a serious injury.
A Level 10 mage's [Greater Healing Art], especially one with mana far exceeding ordinary Level 10 mages, used to treat a Level 5 warrior for non-fatal injuries—just some broken bones—was almost effortless.
Besides Luke, Lin Mo treated all other injured personnel one by one.
[Greater Healing Art] proficiency +3
[Greater Healing Art] proficiency +4
......
It seemed that healing people of higher levels or with more severe injuries yielded more proficiency.
"And those students... we should look for them too."
Dirk said.
"Mm."
Lin Mo nodded.
Although they had just met, they were comrades who had fought magical creatures together. Naturally, they would help if they could.
Moreover, Flora, who had once helped him with his magical foundation, was an instructor at the Royal National Academy. Even just for her sake, Lin Mo wouldn't stand by and do nothing.
Lin Mo used [Light] for illumination and began searching for the students.
Soon, he spotted a flickering light in the darkness.
It was the mage from the student team...
The flame flickered unsteadily, clearly indicating she wasn't in good shape.
Mages had fragile constitutions. Even with companions' protection and defensive magic, it wouldn't be pleasant.
Lin Mo hurried over and treated them one by one.
Fortunately, these students were all quite capable and reacted quickly. After hearing Dirk's warning, they had all used the cliff face correctly in time.
Only the knight was slower, burdened by heavy armor, and didn't make it in time. But knights were tough-skinned and thick-boned with high Constitution. He fell hard but not fatally. Lin Mo used two [Greater Healing Art] spells to heal him.
After treating everyone in a circle, he finally came to Eve. She had also suffered significant injuries while protecting Milun earlier.
While Lin Mo cast the healing art, her gaze remained fixed intently on him.
Mage, warrior, and now adding priest...
But compared to before, Eve's heart felt surprisingly calm now.
People like him were too distant from them, almost like a different species.
"Thank you."
Eve stood up, expressing her gratitude sincerely.
However, her face still showed no obvious expression, somewhat similar to Sherfilia in that regard, though not as completely impassive.
Soon, everyone gathered together again.
"So, what exactly is going on?"
Luke complained, "Almost thought I was done for..."
"Not sure. I've never heard of such an incident happening in the Boulder Mine."
Dirk shook his head.
"The academy will investigate this matter later."
A relatively calm male student from the student team spoke up. "Rather than the cause, what we should think about now is how to survive here until rescue arrives."
"The accident occurred in Zone 6. It's temporarily impossible to determine how far that tremor spread. If we assume the worst—that the camp in Zone 4 didn't notice immediately—then it's troublesome... Zone 6 isn't visited often, especially the area near the Crystallized Spider nest. Who knows when they'll discover this accident."
Hahn said somewhat pessimistically.
Dirk frowned tightly. Hahn's concern wasn't unfounded. When the accident happened, he had noticed a problem—that tremor didn't seem to affect the entire Boulder Mine, but was limited to the small area they were in.
"No good... it's too deep here, and the mana fluctuations are extremely chaotic. The mana communication device can't connect to the academy either."
Milun's words made Lin Mo suddenly pause.
He then looked towards the profound darkness in the distance ahead.
"What did you just say?"
"Um... the mana communication device can't contact the academy?"
Milun seemed a bit nervous at being questioned so abruptly.
"No, the sentence before that."
"The mana fluctuations here are extremely chaotic?"
"Yes, that's it!"
Lin Mo's expression became unprecedentedly serious. "This accident could very well be man-made!"
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked.
"Disordered mana fluctuations in the lower layers of the Boulder Mine don't just cause communication failure... they can also mask traces of magic usage."
Having read many books recently, Lin Mo now had a certain understanding of this world's common sense and fundamentals.
"So, even if a powerful earth element mage used magic to cause this area to collapse, it would be almost impossible to detect afterwards..."
Lin Mo's words sent chills down everyone's spines.
"It's fine, they wouldn't dare to act directly."
Eve remained calm. "The academy will definitely investigate later, so they can only make us die by accident, like by the hands of magical creatures..."
Lin Mo turned his gaze to her.
In fact, he had been wondering if this was the work of the Morin Family.
Although warned by the Oxivis Family, preventing them from acting directly against Finnie, seeking revenge through such underhanded means was possible.
With the Morin Family's influence in the Kingdom, finding out their whereabouts wouldn't be difficult either.
However, judging from Eve's words, it seemed that wasn't the case?
It seemed someone wanted to deal with Eve's group as well?
"It's because of the Hunting Competition, right!"
That relatively calm male student had also figured it out. "Damn that Satt, is he that afraid of Big Sis Eve?"
"Can't win fairly, so he resorts to such despicable methods. Disgusting!"
As soon as he said this, the other students seemed to suddenly understand, all becoming indignant.