Liquid Oxygen Airburst

Phosphorus Candle was an illumination spell with little offensive power, but detonating it right in front of someone's eyes could produce a blinding effect—especially deadly to creatures like rabbits.

A rabbit's field of vision differed from a human's; it was nearly 360 degrees, meaning it could see everything around its body. Compared to a human's 188-degree field of vision, it saw more, and accordingly suffered more from intense light.

Moreover, rabbits were crepuscular animals. Their eyesight was sharpest at sunrise, dusk, or on moonlit nights like this one.

Under such circumstances, having the spell Phosphorus Candle explode point-blank was practically like being hit from every direction by a flashbang with its eyes wide open.

The rabbit shrieked as it landed, and Richard mercilessly drove his dagger down.

At the critical moment, the silver rabbit sensed the deadly threat as well and immediately unleashed its final trump card.

Ordinary rabbits bit people when driven desperate. What would a demonized rabbit do when driven desperate? Richard soon learned the answer.

With a whoosh, the surrounding air surged violently. The rabbit abruptly opened its mouth and spat out visible wind blades.

One, two, three... dozens, hundreds!

More than a hundred wind blades gleamed in the night as they shot in every direction, as though the rabbit had slashed out over a hundred sword strikes in an instant. Anyone caught within them would be shredded in a single breath.

Richard retreated rapidly and watched as the wind blades savagely sliced through the surrounding weeds, tore up the ground, and cut through the Air Walls in their path.

After its outburst, the silver rabbit looked somewhat exhausted. Still, it forced itself onward and fled into the distance, leaping high as it fell toward the frenzied animal horde.

Once it landed, its body would immediately be concealed. There would be no chance of finding it again.

Richard narrowed his eyes, unwilling to let the Capture Plan fail like this.

After all, a Demonic Silver Rabbit—particularly one capable of unleashing more than a hundred wind blades—held tremendous research value.

The next moment, he flicked his wrist and hurled the scalpel in his hand, sending it shooting toward the silver rabbit in midair.

But the silver rabbit kicked the scalpel away with one foot and fell even faster toward the countless frenzied animals below.

Richard did not give up. Throwing the scalpel had merely been to free up his right hand. The next moment, he tipped his right hand forward, and seven or eight White Jade Shards slid out from his sleeve one after another. Each shard bore the same intricate magical pattern, complex to the extreme.

Without hesitation, Richard controlled the mana within him and poured it into the first White Jade Shard. With a crack, the shard broke apart, and a fist-sized cluster of liquid oxygen appeared before him, floating in midair.

Then Richard poured mana into another White Jade Shard. Another fist-sized cluster appeared before him and hovered in the air.

Then came the third, the fourth, the fifth...

Magic Pattern Spell · Zero-Ring Mid-Tier · Liquid Oxygen Condensation!

Once all the White Jade Shards had been activated, more than a dozen fist-sized clusters of liquid oxygen floated before Richard. With a wave of his hand, he merged them all into a single cluster nearly half the size of a washbasin.

Taking a deep breath, Richard looked into the distance.

The silver rabbit had already fallen into the frenzied animal horde and vanished from sight, but that did not matter. Knowing its general location was enough.

With another wave of his hand, the half-washbasin-sized Liquid Oxygen Cluster flew out at high speed, soaring into the distance.

During this process, Richard began chanting an incantation. A moment later, he raised his hand, and a blood-red flame shot out, chasing after the Liquid Oxygen Cluster.

Spell · Zero-Ring Low-Tier · Flame Impact.

Richard suddenly thought of something. Turning his head toward Pandora, who was still swinging the tree trunk as she fought, he warned, "Watch out! Cover your ears!"

"Hm?" Pandora tilted her head slightly and looked over with a cold expression, her gaze somewhat puzzled. During that brief hesitation, the frenzied animals around her swiftly attacked, swinging their claws down at her.

Then the blood-red flame caught up with the Liquid Oxygen Cluster and rapidly covered its surface. Stimulated by the high temperature, the unrestrained liquid oxygen expanded sharply in midair, spreading in all directions.

The temperature at its core rose sharply, incinerating everything, followed by a shockwave that howled across the entire hilltop.

This time, Richard used magic patterns to create even more liquid oxygen than he had demonstrated for Gregory before. To maximize its power, he chose an airburst.

The airborne Liquid Oxygen Cluster did not disappoint him. It was practically earth-shattering. Amid the tremendous blast, creatures within nearly ten meters were directly killed by the shockwave and scorched black. Creatures within a dozen or so meters suffered severe internal injuries and collapsed, unable to rise. Creatures within dozens of meters were all overturned, flung away, and left with broken bones. Creatures within nearly a hundred meters were affected, losing their balance and falling.

In the blink of an eye, the vast hilltop was cleared. Scorching air swept through with a howl, and frenzied animals fell in droves.

Pandora fiercely swung the tree trunk in her arms, only to hit empty air, because all the animals before her had fallen a moment earlier.

Pressing her lips together, Pandora belatedly thought that the sudden noise just now had seemed a little too loud. It had made her ears hurt. Should she have covered her ears? Right, hadn't someone just reminded her to cover her ears? Pandora frowned and turned to look at Richard.

But Richard shot out like an arrow, charging into the explosion's corpse-strewn center. His eyes swept rapidly over the area before fixing on the silver rabbit, half its body charred and thoroughly dead.

He grabbed it, swiftly returned, tossed it into the castle for later research, then turned to Pandora. He saw confusion, curiosity, and... anger in her gaze? "Hm? Are you planning to question why I didn't use that method earlier to clear out these frenzied animals?" Richard's eyes flickered. "If that's the case, then I can only tell you that I can't use a spell of that level too often. On one hand, I don't have enough magic patterns; on the other, it consumes too much mana.

"Besides, while this method can indeed kill large numbers of frenzied creatures in an instant, there are simply too many creatures attacking us right now. Kill these, and more will come. It doesn't solve the root problem."

Pandora turned her head toward the foot of the hill. After most of the creatures atop the hill had died, the creatures below showed no fear and charged up one after another.

They were like waves. One wave crashed onto the shore and disappeared, only for the next to follow close behind. So long as the sea existed, the waves would come one after another without end.

At this moment, the beast horde was the sea.

It really had not solved the root problem...

In the blink of an eye, densely packed frenzied animals occupied the hilltop. First, they tore into the heavily wounded or dead bodies of their companions and devoured them. Then, their eyes reddened as they closed in and attacked.

Pandora frowned deeply, clutching the tree trunk and swinging it again. This feeling of never being able to kill them all was truly irritating...

P.S. Thank you all for your comments, recommendation votes, and rewards. I'm immensely grateful!