Tier Three Lord

Lu Cang spoke, and behind him, Jidi tightened her grip on her wooden staff.

Although they hadn't run into any danger so far, they still took things seriously.

They'd already been paid, after all.

They couldn't exactly afford to slack off, could they?

Inside the carriage, Jidi had already prepared the incantation for "Poison Slowing Technique."

Gaiton, their defender, was also standing by the carriage exit, ready to jump down and take a hit at any moment.

They were on high alert, poised to act.

But in the end...

Nothing happened.

Lu Cang cast one "Piercing Pillar" and one "Ice Shard."

He sent both spells flying.

They pierced the scorpion and froze it into an ice sculpture. It was well and truly dead...

Uh.

Little brother...

Your attack range is way too long.

Just to make sure it didn't get back up, Lu Cang followed with another "Silent Wind Swarm."

He really was being a little too cautious.

In the end, Zhou Er was still the only one who went over.

He trotted off to collect the spoils.

Harvest Moon really lived up to its name: they'd harvested 2 gold and 12 silver.

The drop rate was definitely high.

Every lord they'd killed so far had yielded an extra reward.

This time, the extra reward was an earth crystal again.

Lu Cang turned the earth crystal over in his hand.

Were elemental magic crystals guaranteed drops during Harvest Moon?

Why did the drop rate seem so high?

Scorpions were earth- and poison-element monsters, found in caves and poison-element dungeons.

They were also naturally common in scorpion-themed dungeons.

Besides the earth crystal, there was the poison-element loot that all poison-element lords produced.

Poison sacs, poisonous tails... anything poisonous could fetch a decent price.

After all, coating a weapon with poison was the simplest way to add extra damage, and there was never a shortage of buyers for that sort of thing.

Archers especially could deal considerably more damage with poisoned arrows. Hiding in the shadows and shooting poison arrows was about as underhanded as it got.

After taking down this scorpion, the remaining Tier Two Lord was nearby.

They approached on the Dragon Rhino again.

Everyone followed Lu Cang's instructions and stood ready.

They put on a suitably serious show.

Once they were within range...

Lu Cang simply cast two spells again, and the fight was over.

It wasn't even a hard-fought battle.

The three lords had practically been doomed the moment they laid eyes on Lu Cang.

After achieving such results, Lu Cang couldn't help but reflect.

It seemed Izpalut was the only truly tough opponent.

He actually did have the strength to steamroll any enemy of the same tier.

And if Izpalut really was Level 2...

He might not even be able to beat me.

The thought helped restore some of Lu Cang's confidence after Izpalut had utterly crushed him a while back.

With all the Tier Two Lords on the commission dead, only one Tier Three Lord remained.

All four bosses were scattered across the same plain, so traveling between them had been quick.

From a distance, Lu Cang watched the creature's tail, shaped like a meteor hammer.

It was huge.

Its body was about as big as two trucks driving side by side...

Thud--

Thud!

Its thick, long tail, tipped with a huge spiked ball, kept swinging about.

Every swing produced a tremendous sonic boom.

It was heavy, yet its tail was incredibly nimble and immensely powerful.

Lu Cang couldn't help swallowing.

With his frail physique, he'd probably die instantly if that tail swept into him...

This was a Tier Three monster.

Its thick, rough hide and massive body radiated strength.

Even at a glance, it was obvious that it was in a completely different league from the giant snake they'd fought before.

After hunting so many lords, Lu Cang felt like he was playing Monster Hunter, except this version let him use magic.

"Go."

Lu Cang patted the Dragon Rhino.

The Dragon Rhino broke into a run, charging toward their target as before.

But before they were within casting range, the [Hammer-tail Horned Bull] turned its head toward Lu Cang!

The moment it saw him, it charged straight at them!

Lu Cang's mouth twitched slightly.

Hey...

Did you have to be that perceptive?

Tier Three Lords gave off a completely different sense of pressure from Tier Two ones.

That was what Lu Cang thought.

But his hands never stopped moving.

As soon as he saw that the creature meant to charge him, Lu Cang cast a spell at once!

Rumble--

Three layers of tightly packed giant walls rose up!

They blocked the creature's path!

He had to stop it. If a body as big as two trucks hit him, wouldn't he end up bruised from head to toe?

They were already quite close.

Almost immediately—

The [Hammer-tail Horned Bull] slammed headfirst into the heavy wall Lu Cang had created!

Boom!

The sturdy stone wall cracked all over.

And yet...

It didn't break!

"Stone Wall (LV:195)—incredibly sturdy, self-repairing, rapid generation, enhanced hardness, impact absorption, enormous width, enormous height, ultimate hardness enhancement"

Lu Cang's Stone Wall Technique had evolved to maximize its hardness.

And as he practiced, he had kept enhancing it in that direction.

The reason was simple: this was one of the few spells he had that leaned toward defense.

He had no shortage of offensive power.

What he lacked were ways to stay alive.

Of all the spells that could block an enemy's attack, Stone Wall was the one Lu Cang had practiced the most.

But in truth, this was the first time he had used it to stop an enemy's assault.

When he sparred with Izpalut, the wall was either smashed through by Izpalut or easily bypassed. It had never once worked.

And the lord monsters he'd killed today hadn't even had time to attack the wall before Lu Cang killed them.

So...

The [Hammer-tail Horned Bull] had become the first real test of the wall's defensive strength.

And the sight left [Gaiton] gaping from the carriage.

Seriously?

It stopped it?

And the first wall stopped it?

Lu Cang had raised three layers of heavy walls, stacked together like three slices of bread.

The creature hadn't even smashed through the first wall. It was nowhere near getting past Lu Cang's defenses.

There was no need for him, the defender, at all!

Boom!

"Piercing Pillar" shot up!

A sharp pillar of earth instantly thrust toward the [Hammer-tail Horned Bull]'s belly!

Splatter!

Blood sprayed everywhere--

The Earth Spike skill was useful in many situations.

Most monsters had soft underbellies, and the bellies of those that walked on four legs were usually close to the ground.

Ordinary warriors and archers needed to create an opening or wait for the right moment to attack the belly.

Only mages...

With their versatile ways of fighting, they could use spells like Earth Spike to attack directly from underground.

That was also why, even though everyone complained about how long mages took to cast, they never truly looked down on them.

"Piercing Pillar" proved exceptionally effective.

Lu Cang had also closed to within 400 meters.

Impaled by Piercing Pillar, the [Hammer-tail Horned Bull] could barely move.

This wasn't an ordinary earth spike.

Once it pierced an enemy's body, the only way to pull it out was to break the pillar.

But Piercing Pillar was much harder than an ordinary earth spike... breaking it would come at a painful cost.

And Lu Cang's assault wasn't going to stop.

"Curse Arrow"

Fifteen pitch-black curse arrows quietly took shape in the shadow cast by the giant wall.

Thud!

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud--

The fifteen curse arrows pierced through the creature's tough, heavy hide like water and sank into the [Hammer-tail Horned Bull]'s body.

"Curse Arrow (LV:175)—weakening curse, exhaustion curse, softened defenses, blood melding, penetration, concealment, shadow melding, complex curse removal, rapid effect"