"Flight Spell" was a Tier 4 spell. Before reaching level 4... it was difficult for mages to fly.
It wasn't that no mage had ever thought of other, unconventional ways to fly.
But all unconventional methods of flight essentially used magic spells that weren't originally meant for flying to achieve the effect.
And this gave rise to one common drawback.
Mana consumption.
The cost in mana was a problem mages could never avoid.
Flight Spell itself consumed very little mana. No other spell could easily achieve all of the following: carrying passengers, being easy and flexible to control, consuming little mana, and lasting a long time.
Especially the last part.
Otherwise, if you stopped in midair after flying for a while, you'd fall to your death.
After all, most mages needed to chant their spells.
So no matter what shortcuts they took, mages struggled to fly before reaching level 4 and learning Flight Spell.
But Lu Cang...
Was the exception to the exception.
The first time he fought the giant serpent, he'd used Ice Spikes to move around, and that had given him the idea of using them to fly.
Later, he'd evolved "Control" to experiment with improving his maneuverability in the air.
Crack!
"Shadow Bite!"
"Stop!" Lu Cang commanded.
The boss had completely latched onto them. The Dragon Rhino swung its body around and came to an immediate halt.
Fighting while moving would only make things more difficult for his side.
The Dragon Rhino's pounce missed.
The Defender tumbled off its back and rolled across the ground several times.
Yet he was completely unharmed.
Boom!
The moment he got to his feet, the shadow lunged at him!
"Get lost!"
Thud!
The shadow enveloped Trand's entire body and passed straight through him. Trand staggered half a step backward.
Whoosh!
A faint green glow fell over him.
The wounds all over the exposed parts of his armor began healing at a visible speed.
Hmm...
That healing sure seemed efficient.
The boss's attacks had left wounds on Trand, but they all looked fairly superficial.
Trand was definitely not fragile.
"Rapid Recovery talent."
He seemed to recover pretty quickly.
Lu Cang rose into the air, putting 300 meters between himself and the boss.
Light gathered in Lu Cang's hand, and a huge cross appeared in his palm.
Clang!
Clang!
Boom—
"Elemental Protection (Tier 3) (LV: 2)"
The shield in Trand's hand had turned a dark, earthy brown.
A hazy layer of mist in the same color also enveloped his armor and body.
An elemental defense.
Meanwhile, Loth also cast "Protection Spell" on Trand.
The black storm swept over him. The gray light around Trand dimmed slightly, but he took no damage.
It looked like he could hold on for quite a while.
And the boss's aggro was steady, too. It had no intention of attacking Loth at all.
Maizer fired several arrows as well. Several glowing shafts passed through the boss's body.
But they clearly didn't do much damage.
Oh... so that was the damage output of a level 2 archer.
It was practically the same as doing nothing.
This was the first time Lu Cang had seen anyone other than himself fight.
In fact, he hadn't even seen Iz and the others fight before.
The damage really was feeble.
Lu Cang raised his hand.
"Holy Light Cross (LV: 185) — Dispel Evil, Bind Shadow, Slay Evil, Gather and Guide Light, Everlasting, Purge Curses, Cleanse Filth, Physical Form, Slay Wraiths, Slay Darkness, Tracking"
Holy Light Cross was a highly specialized spell.
Against monsters it wasn't designed to counter, it did almost no damage.
But...
If it hit a target it was effective against...
Lu Cang glanced at the cross in his hand. Three "Holy Light Crosses" overlapped perfectly.
Then...
He hurled it!
Whoosh!
The moment the Holy Light Cross was thrown, the [Wind-Chasing Shadow Beast] sensed the danger!
It moved like a storm, its shadow darting sideways in an instant.
But it was useless!
Just before the Holy Light Cross could hit the ground, it abruptly curved back and swept toward the [Wind-Chasing Shadow Beast] like a cross-shaped boomerang—
Pfft!
Its body was torn apart in an instant.
"Graaah!"
A pained howl rose from the wind!
Almost instantly, its body changed from an almost formless mass of wind and shadow into a solid creature resembling a cheetah.
The Holy Light Cross had pierced straight through its abdomen—
Boom!
The force of the impact didn't let up. It pinned the Wind-Chasing Shadow Beast to a nearby tree!
Pinned in place, it thrashed and convulsed wildly, black smoke rising from its body!
Its darkness was being purified.
And darkness itself was part of its life.
Just five seconds later,
it stopped convulsing, its body gradually dissipating like a natural element.
Lu Cang descended from the sky.
"Captain..."
Lu Cang flashed a wide grin.
He looked absolutely invincible.
The last commission was to clear out a group of monsters.
They needed to eliminate a goblin settlement that had appeared in the wilderness...
Goblins, huh. A classic monster.
Lu Cang remained cautious. From aboard the Dragon Rhino carriage, protected by the Defender and the healer, he began bombarding them with magic from the greatest possible distance.
"Earthfire Eruption" ×15
"Emergent Charge Pillar" ×18
"Sunken Shadow Swamp" ×5
"Silent Wind Swarm" ×12
"Wind Blast"
He had absolutely no intention of entering the settlement. He just kept hurling spells from a distance...
Shadow Swamp probed the ground, Wind Blast blew away all the debris, Constant Lamp lit the area, and Wind Swarm searched for anything invisible.
Lu Cang blasted the area within a 500-meter radius until it was completely clear.
Ice shards rained down from the sky, pillars of fire soared upward, and lightning flashed. A furious gale blasted in every direction without pause. Forget goblins—even a single fallen leaf couldn't get close.
All they could see was a dazzling display of elements erupting over the goblin settlement.
The goblins didn't even get a glimpse of Lu Cang before the relentless bombardment wiped them out.
Loth's mouth twitched slightly.
Hey...
Is your mana infinite?
When he'd killed the [Wind-Chasing Shadow Beast] just now, he'd only blasted apart one side of the forest.
But now, while wiping out the goblin settlement,
he'd been bombarding it with magic nonstop for five minutes.
"Captain... that should be enough, right?"
But Lu Cang gazed at the distant settlement and gently shook his head.
"No, I'll clear it out for a little longer."
"I heard goblins are pretty cunning and dangerous. Better safe than sorry."
The others fell silent.
They could all tell that Lu Cang was cautious, but... wasn't he being a little too cautious?
They were only goblins! The strongest among them was a Tier 3 Goblin Priest!
What kind of goblin could survive this kind of nonstop bombardment?
But Lu Cang was the captain, after all.
If he didn't want to stop, there was nothing they could do.
At last... after a full fifteen minutes of saturated bombardment, the magic finally stopped.
As for the distant goblin settlement, all that remained as far as the eye could see was charred earth and drifting ash.
It kind of felt like the captain had some sort of personal grudge against goblins...
He hadn't even bombarded the boss that fiercely.
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