What a Wizard Is Like

What a Wizard Is Like

The Blackstone Mining Area lay southwest of Blackstone City. It contained more than a dozen mines and covered a vast area.

Mining of the shallow veins had hollowed out the surrounding mountain walls, forming an inward-curving valley. Looking in from the entrance, the eye met vast stretches of reddish-gray and lead-black rock.

Mine carts and iron tracks littered the valley. It was clear that the former Lord had invested considerable resources into developing this mining area. Unfortunately, after several decades, it had long since become a desolate and abandoned ruin, with the carts and tracks covered in rust.

Kei and Sunan stood side by side at the valley entrance, surveying the environment within.

More than a dozen knights and over a hundred soldiers followed behind them.

Given the importance of the Blackstone Mining Area, Kei had mobilized nearly half of Blackstone City's forces at once.

Of course, ordinary soldiers would not be of much use in this operation.

Their task was to guard the retreat route and ensure logistics.

The true main force consisted of Sunan, Kei, and the dozen or so knights.

"Are you sure this is all right?"

Jordan glanced at the pitch-black mine entrance and muttered worriedly:

"I heard from the old soldiers that those Iron-Eating Beasts are very strong. Isn't it a bit too risky for just this many of us to go in?"

At those words, the other knights' gazes flickered.

To be honest, they had all been shocked when Lord Kei said he wanted to clear out the Iron-Eating Beasts in the Blackstone Mining Area.

Everyone in Blackstone City knew about the Blackstone Mining Area, and they had heard some rumors as well.

It was said that several previous Lords had tried to deal with the Blackstone Mining Area, but all had ultimately failed and lost quite a few men instead.

Over time, no one dared set their sights on the Blackstone Mining Area again.

No one had expected Kei to suddenly plan on reopening the Blackstone Mining Area.

If Sir Sunan had not said he had a way to deal with the Iron-Eating Beasts, they would have objected long ago.

Even so, quite a few of them still felt uneasy.

"Jordan, if you keep undermining morale, I'll punish you by banning you from drinking for a month when we get back."

Kei turned and glared at him.

Jordan shrank his head and fell silent sheepishly.

He loved all kinds of fine wines and spirits, and could not bear to go without alcohol. Banning him from drinking for a month was no different from taking his life.

Once Jordan settled down, Kei turned back toward the mine pit, though his own heart was somewhat unsettled.

After all, he had never seen an Iron-Eating Beast with his own eyes. If those monsters were even more terrifying than the old soldiers had described, they would be in trouble.

However, after glancing at Sunan beside him, Kei ultimately chose to trust his younger brother and did not reveal his worries.

Sunan touched the Scale Armor he wore.

It was the only set of Scale Armor in Blackstone City, more valuable than a full suit of Fine Iron armor.

It had originally been Kei's equipment, but Kei had been so worried something might happen to him that he had insisted on putting the Scale Armor on Sunan and even shoved a longsword into his hands.

Although Sunan's swordsmanship was terrible, it was better than nothing.

"Let's go!"

At Kei's command, everyone lit torches and filed into the mine, leaving only the soldiers behind to guard the entrance.

The shallow veins of the Blackstone Mining Area had long been exhausted. Later, several deep shafts had been dug into the ground to mine the lower ore layers.

The tunnels crisscrossed beneath the rock strata, with an oil lamp hanging from the rock walls every few hundred meters.

But the oil inside had long since evaporated away.

A knight raised a leather flask, poured lamp oil into the lamps, then lit them.

Before long, flames lit up one after another within the tunnels. Across the vast distances between them, light and shadow outlined winding, twisting paths that guided everyone onward.

As they went deeper, the group gradually slowed their pace.

The underground tunnels were uneven, and the dim light made it easy to fall and crack one's head open with a moment's carelessness.

Though everyone present was a knight with a powerful body, no one wanted to fall flat on their face.

The surroundings were utterly silent. Other than their footsteps and breathing, no other sounds could be heard.

There was not the slightest trace of life in the cold, silent underground. If an ordinary person had walked through such a place alone, they would surely have felt instinctive dread.

After they traveled farther, the surrounding rock walls finally began to change.

A knight approached the wall with a torch. In the firelight, they could clearly see a layer of deep, icy black coating the rock's surface.

"It's Blackstone Iron Ore!" Jordan's eyes lit up.

He did not need to say it. Everyone present had already recognized it.

The group immediately became even more cautious.

Farther ahead lay the unmined ore veins.

The miners back then had most likely encountered the Iron-Eating Beasts ahead, forcing them to halt their work.

In other words, they would soon encounter the target of this expedition.

The facts proved that their expectations were correct.

After they walked another four or five hundred meters, everyone soon heard a rustling sound coming from ahead, as though something were moving close to the ground.

"Stay alert! Prepare for battle!" Kei said in a low voice.

Everyone raised their weapons with grim expressions, staring ahead as if facing a great enemy.

Soon, feline beasts emerged from the darkness.

They stepped elegantly out of the dark and into the torchlight, their gray gemstone-like eyes fixed on these unwelcome visitors.

Iron-Eating Beasts!

They looked exactly like the illustrations Sunan had seen.

More and more Iron-Eating Beasts appeared from the darkness. A quick count showed more than ten, and several pairs of faintly gleaming eyes swayed beyond the boundary between light and shadow.

The dozen or so Iron-Eating Beasts vaguely formed a semicircular encirclement around the group.

"These beasts have quite the appetite. Looks like they want to keep every last one of us here!"

Brad said in a muffled voice, tightening his grip on his huge steel shield.

He was the strongest knight in Blackstone City after Kei, only a step away from becoming an Advanced Knight.

Standing two meters tall, he excelled with the shield. He was Blackstone City's finest shield fighter and a renowned fierce general on the battlefield.

Seeing the Iron-Eating Beasts up close, Brad sensed that these monsters were definitely no stronger than Novice Knights, and he immediately relaxed somewhat.

"If that's really the case, it would be a good thing. I'm more worried about these beasts running away."

Kei had seen it as well and relaxed slightly.

More than ten monsters at the level of Novice Knights were well within the capabilities of their group.

The question was how to keep this pack of Iron-Eating Beasts from escaping.

Reality gave them no time to think. The Iron-Eating Beasts soon launched their attack, leaping fiercely at the crowd!

Battle erupted in an instant!

The tunnel immediately rang with endless clashes of metal!

Brad swung his shield and sent an Iron-Eating Beast flying. It flew more than ten meters before crashing into the rock wall with a bang, sending stone dust raining down.

But after getting back up, the Iron-Eating Beast merely shook its head before pouncing again as if nothing had happened.

Brad's brows immediately furrowed.

On the other side, the knights had also fallen into a bitter struggle.

The Iron-Eating Beasts' bodies were incredibly hard. Even swords and blades infused with battle aura could only leave faint cracks when they struck them.

Only Kei, an Advanced Knight, could inflict obvious injuries on the Iron-Eating Beasts.

If the narrow confines of the tunnel had not restricted the Iron-Eating Beasts' movements and prevented them from displaying their swift, agile speed, they would have been even harder to handle.

The battle was far from as easy as they had expected, and it soon reached a stalemate.

Just then, Sunan acted.

He softly uttered strange syllables, then pointed with one hand. In an instant, a basketball-sized mass of acid formed out of thin air at his fingertip and shot forth, striking an Iron-Eating Beast squarely in the face.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

A large amount of pungent white smoke immediately rose from the Iron-Eating Beast's face. Its body rolled wildly across the ground, trying to rub off the corrosive liquid.

Offensive spells were never weak.

Although Acid Splash was merely a Zero-Circle Spell, its corrosiveness was even more terrifying than aqua regia.

A lump of acid the size of an egg was enough to corrode an ordinary adult human man completely, leaving not even bones behind!

Even with the Iron-Eating Beast's incredibly hard body, taking a hit like that in a vital area could not have felt good!

Whoosh!

A figure flashed over and thrust a sword into the wound on the Iron-Eating Beast's face. With a burst of force, the Iron-Eating Beast's head exploded. Its headless body swayed in place a few times before collapsing with a crash.

Kei pulled out his longsword and turned to cast Sunan a surprised glance.

The other knights could not hide their shock either.

They had personally experienced how hard the Iron-Eating Beasts' bodies were, no less sturdy than true Blackstone Iron.

Yet such a hard body had had nearly half its head corroded away in just a few breaths!

What terrifying power was that?!

If a body of flesh and blood took a hit like that, what would happen?

Just imagining the scene made everyone's scalps tingle!

So this was what a wizard was like!