Magic Beyond One's Own Level

At the exit of the cave, a bouncy magic rabbit poked its pink nose out and sniffed. Just as it was about to hop out to forage, a strong gust of wind swept past its face, and then everything went dark.

After the darkness, only a giant bear paw print and some reddish-brown mixture remained.

At this moment, Chen Cheng was immensely impressed by his foresight. The magic rune corridors he had researched earlier were now paying off.

The variable magic structure, formed by inscribing the same magic rune corridors within his body, had already proven its feasibility during the recent chase.

He could use the Minor Speed Spell to accelerate himself while also seizing the opportune moment to launch a Fireball at the Earth Tyrant Bear behind him, slowing its pursuit.

However, this process consumed a lot of magic energy, and he dared not absorb external magic energy at the moment. He could only replenish it with the magic gems that Melinda and the others had given him earlier.

Fortunately, he was also keeping Fini's share, so these minor spells were sufficient.

Chen Cheng knew that with his current strength, he was absolutely no match for this level six ferocious beast. He could only use the forest terrain to circle around this guy and wait for Melinda and the others to rescue him.

Behind him, the Earth Tyrant Bear relentlessly smashed through the trees blocking its path and continued to chase Chen Cheng with bloodshot eyes.

In its heart, it felt both fear of the Black Dragon's aura and excitement from pursuing Chen Cheng, who possessed that aura.

In its eyes, Chen Cheng had become the representative of the Black Dragon that oppressed the magical beasts of Nanmu Forest. It was excited to chase and tear apart the human before it.

Chen Cheng glanced back, calculated in his mind, and incorporated his previous erroneous calculations as references. He began to reconfigure the magic runes within his body.

He then observed the terrain ahead. Spotting a tree too large for two people to embrace, Chen Cheng took out a new magic crystal, quickly extracted its magic energy, and immediately altered his internal magic structure.

The moment he reached the tree and turned, Chen Cheng seized the opportunity, twisting his body to face the pursuing Earth Tyrant Bear.

Seeing the concentrated flame elements in Chen Cheng's hand, the enraged Earth Tyrant Bear instinctively turned its head to avoid injury to its eyes.

The instant it turned its head, Chen Cheng caught his timing. This was exactly as he had calculated; a Fireball, delayed by half a second, struck the Earth Tyrant Bear's left eye.

With a boom, an explosion followed by the Earth Tyrant Bear's roar. Chen Cheng had already reconfigured his magic structure and continued to sprint.

Chen Cheng discarded the depleted magic crystal. He was certain that this attack had injured the giant bear's left eye.

After the explosion and smoke cleared, a gush of hot blood could be seen spilling from the giant bear's left eye socket.

Bears already have poor eyesight, and with one eye missing, the Earth Tyrant Bear's vision became even worse.

Its vision became more blurred, further igniting the beast's ferocity.

The creature then reared up on its hind legs and slammed its front paws heavily onto the ground. Chen Cheng, who had only run about ten meters, now understood what an Earth Tyrant Bear was capable of.

Its slam created a crack in the ground, over ten meters long and half a meter wide.

As the crack spread, the obstructing boulders and trees were shattered into fragments.

It was fortunate that Chen Cheng had fled immediately after the attack; otherwise, he would have certainly died from this impact.

Feeling the vibrations from the ground, Chen Cheng's heart trembled. He had anticipated this situation, which was why he had tried his best to weaken the bear's already poor eyesight. Otherwise, if such a ferocious beast truly used its magical abilities, his small Bronze Mage self would surely be doomed.

Chen Cheng then changed his escape posture, switching from running straight to a zigzag pattern, using this method to evade the attacks of the visually impaired Earth Tyrant Bear.

However, Chen Cheng's plan was good, but a level six magical beast was still a level six magical beast. When facing humans, they could at least be defeated by someone at least two levels higher.

Their strength was not only reflected in their powerful physiques but also in their innate talent magic, which they could cast without incantations.

Just as Chen Cheng was about to use this trick to stall the giant bear, the Earth Tyrant Bear, possibly annoyed by Chen Cheng, directly unleashed its innate magic, the Earth Spike Prison.

Although Chen Cheng had maintained a distance while moving in a zigzag pattern, he was eventually trapped within the Earth Spike Prison that erupted from the ground.

Seeing the blood-covered Earth Tyrant Bear charging at him with its mouth wide open, Chen Cheng's back was already drenched in sweat.

The magic structure within him was undergoing its final transformation, a trump card he had kept for himself.

While this trump card might mean little to Gold Mages like Melinda, it was a final life-saving trump card for a Bronze Apprentice Mage like him.

The magic structure transformation was complete, and almost all the magic rune corridors inscribed within him had been used.

At the same time, the moment his trump card magic rune fully formed within him, he could no longer control the rune's attraction to external magic energy. His body began to absorb magic energy frantically, like a giant whale drinking water.

Chen Cheng's entire body crackled.

Chen Cheng knew what this sound represented: it was a signal of magic overload within his body, a signal typically seen in those who failed to inscribe magic rune corridors and died from magic accumulation.

Chen Cheng's body swelled like a rapidly inflating balloon, and the numerous capillaries within him began to rupture under the immense magic energy. The blood seeped through his pores onto his skin.

At this moment, he looked like a human-shaped balloon dyed with red paint.

Feeling the magic surge into him instantly, looking at the fully illuminated inscribed magic, Chen Cheng finally looked at the charging, open-mouthed beast and roared:

"Explosive Flame Technique."

Instantly, Chen Cheng's entire body emitted a red glow, a light so intense that it pained the Earth Tyrant Bear's good eye.

These lights formed an exquisite fire-elemental magic array before Chen Cheng.

Then, a super-sized fireball brimming with surging flame elements erupted from the magic array.

By now, the Earth Tyrant Bear was too close to Chen Cheng. Unlike other mages, Chen Cheng's magic had no incantation phase.

Moreover, its gaping mouth couldn't close in time to dodge. It directly swallowed the entire large fireball.

Following that was a world-shattering explosion. The ferocious Earth Tyrant Bear, which had intended to pounce and tear him apart, fell before Chen Cheng.

After casting the Explosive Flame Technique, Chen Cheng's body rapidly shriveled, and the blood on his skin quickly turned black under the high temperature.

His entire body was blackened, and one could even smell roasted meat from him. His clothes had turned to ash. Looking at the fallen Earth Tyrant Bear, in the moment before he lost consciousness, he knew his experiment had succeeded again.

However, his life force was also extremely weak at this moment. If he couldn't receive prompt treatment, he would likely not survive much longer.

Meanwhile, within the forest, Melinda and the other woman, who already knew what had happened, were recalling the students who had gone out and were also searching for Chen Cheng's whereabouts.

Upon sensing the powerful flame element emanating from the Explosive Flame Technique, which he couldn't yet control freely, Melinda and Isabel immediately rushed towards the direction they had sensed it.

As the two women approached, they saw the fallen, shattered trees and the cracked ground. Seeing the destructive force, they knew they were close to the site of the incident.

When they saw Chen Cheng lying on the dead Great Bear, especially upon seeing his shriveled, scorched body and sensing his faint life force, they knew this was no simple matter.

Arriving beside Chen Cheng, Melinda immediately used the Advanced Healing Spell on him. Accompanied by a green light, a healing Magic Array appeared under Melinda's chant, and surging healing magic flowed into Chen Cheng's nearly extinguished body. His scorched skin quickly began to grow new skin under the healing magic.

At the same time, the life force within him, which was about to extinguish, stabilized under this Advanced Healing Spell and was slowly recovering.

Seeing that Chen Cheng's condition had been stabilized by Melinda, Isabel began to examine the Earth Tyrant Bear that Chen Cheng had killed.

When she flipped over the bear's corpse, a huge bloody hole blasted into its abdomen was visible, and the smell of roasted meat could be detected.

Sensing the pure flame magic on it, Isabel could confirm that the Earth Tyrant Bear had died from the flame magic she had just sensed.

After the examination, Isabel looked at Chen Cheng, who was lying unconscious in Melinda's arms. At this moment, seeing Isabel look at her, Melinda narrowed her eyes and gripped her magic staff again.