Malice

The Shadow Demon was worth 3 silver.

If there had been a gatherer, materials worth 5 silver could have been collected.

The two Shadow Spiders were each worth a little over 2 silver, plus some extra drops and Dark Crystals.

So far, by rough estimate, his gains should have reached 50 silver.

Iz wanted to take a fixed 1 silver as protection money, and Lu Cang had no objections at all.

This also meant that all the remaining gains from this dungeon would belong to him alone.

Still, the price for Iz's protection should have been worth more than 1 silver, right?

The price of a Shadow Leopard was far too cheap.

Iz said, "Up ahead is the lord's chamber."

Lu Cang asked, "Iz, do I need to defeat the lord to break through the magic limit?"

Lu Cang had not forgotten the purpose of this trip.

Iz said, "Yes, but not entirely."

"Breaking through the magic limit isn't something everyone can do."

"According to my current theory, a level 1 mage can only break through the level 1 magic limit after learning Magic Tide."

"And the key to breaking through is..."

Iz did not finish the second half of his sentence. He merely gave Lu Cang a mysterious, cold smile.

There was even a trace of chilliness and malice in that smile.

He looked at Lu Cang as though he were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. An overwhelming malice, so dense it could not be dissolved, surged toward him.

This malice had almost taken physical form. He could see it clearly and distinctly!

Lu Cang's hair stood on end!

This was bad!

He was a bad guy!

Had this bastard finally shown his true colors?

Damn it, I knew I shouldn't trust people so easily after being transported to another world!

Damn it, he'd treated me so well that I trusted him so easily!

Lu Cang turned to run at once!

But in an instant, an invisible force restrained him.

Lu Cang immediately spun around, and Ice Spikes formed around Iz from different directions.

"Ice Cone Technique—Long-Range Casting."

Iz had taught him this technique.

If an Ice Spike was cast in front of him, its flight toward the enemy still gave them plenty of time to react.

But if the Ice Spikes formed around the enemy—

They could surround the enemy directly.

Their reaction time would be shorter, and there would be less room to dodge.

This technique—

Was used directly on Izpalut.

But in the next second...

Bang!

The countless Ice Spikes that had just formed shattered instantly.

Lu Cang watched countless condensed ice elements scatter into fragments.

He had no idea what kind of countermeasure Izpalut had used.

Was the gap between a level 1 mage and a level 5 mage simply too great?

Fireball!

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fireballs formed one after another around Iz.

But the moment they appeared, the Fireballs exploded. Iz was completely unharmed, not even a strand of hair out of place.

With both hands tucked into his robe pockets, he watched Lu Cang with a cold, vicious smile.

As though his scheme had already succeeded.

Whoosh!

The massive stone door ahead opened!

Lu Cang felt as though an invisible giant hand had seized him!

Bang!

He was slammed directly into the wall.

His insides churned, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

In Iz's direction—

The stone door closed.

Lu Cang endured the agonizing pain, his vision blurring.

The last thing he saw was Iz's cold smile.

It hurt.

That force... it had clearly been meant to kill him.

Lu Cang felt that his right hand could no longer move, while piercing pain shot up his arm.

Was it fractured?

No, this was not the time to worry about that.

Lu Cang had already noticed it.

A massive black serpent, a full ten meters long, its scales reflecting the darkness, was moving before him.

It raised its body and looked down at the tiny Lu Cang.

Lu Cang had seen such a colossal creature the moment he was thrown in.

This time, there was no Iz to explain things to him.

Lu Cang had no idea what abilities the snake possessed or what kind of attacks it would use.

But he knew at least one thing.

It was the lord-level being of this dungeon.

Lu Cang took a deep breath.

If he wanted to survive, he first had to defeat it—or at least survive this monster's attacks.

Only then would he have the right to think about anything else.

In an instant, Fireballs formed!

But at the moment the Fireballs appeared, Lu Cang keenly noticed that his magic power had not recovered with the surging Magic Tide.

When he sensed the surroundings more carefully—

He discovered that the elements in this room were abnormally sparse!

Boom!

As the serpent's head crashed toward him, Lu Cang raised his hand and fired seven Fireballs straight at it!

Boom!

A chain of explosions erupted before him!

But this time, the ever-reliable Fireballs did not kill it outright.

The serpent's head continued crashing toward him!

Lu Cang rolled with all his strength, narrowly dodging the headbutt from the side!

Its attack method... ramming.

Had the Fireballs not dealt much damage?

His spell damage was more than a hundred times that of an ordinary level 1 mage.

Lu Cang did not believe that seven Fireballs had done no damage at all...

Fire immunity?

Lu Cang made his guess and immediately switched to another type of magic.

"Ice Cone Technique (LV: 91)"

An Ice Spike formed, draining roughly 3% of Lu Cang's magic power—equivalent to three times the total magic power of a mage who had just changed classes...

This time, it was a gigantic Ice Spike!

Boom!

The Ice Spike slammed directly into the giant serpent's soft abdomen, knocking its body into a backward arch!

The Ice Spike crushed its belly inward.

But its outer skin remained intact. The Ice Spike had not pierced through it!

What tough skin.

Bang!

Almost in the very next instant, another gigantic Ice Spike descended from the complete opposite direction of the first!

Boom!

Two sharp Ice Spikes pierced the giant serpent's body from both sides at the same time.

The giant serpent let out a painful howl!

But as it howled—

Dust rolled in from the distance as its tail swept toward Lu Cang!

Lu Cang sucked in a breath.

What should he do?

The enormous tail was taller than Lu Cang himself.

With the body of a child—

If he got hit, he would probably die on the spot.

But at his current speed, he could not possibly dodge such a wide sweep.

That sweep had completely cut off every escape route along the ground.

The ground?

Lu Cang abruptly looked up. The cavern was high!

What if he went upward...

But even if he jumped, there was no way he could avoid it.

Even as that thought crossed his mind—

Ice had already begun gathering in Lu Cang's left hand.

Boom!

The attack showed no mercy at all. The tail did not slow down in the slightest; instead, it accelerated at the very end!

It swept across the entire area even faster.

The giant tail swept through the cave, plowing across the entire floor.

When the tail stopped, Lu Cang was no longer on the ground—but there was no bloody mess there, either.

The giant serpent's eyes turned upward.

At the top of the cavern, an Ice Spike was embedded deep in the rock wall, and Lu Cang clung one-handed to a protrusion on the Ice Spike with his left hand.

No...

Looking closer, Lu Cang had actually frozen his entire left hand completely together with the Ice Spike.

Using this method, he had launched himself into the ceiling along with the Ice Spike.

That was how he had avoided the attack.