Killing

(Second update complete. I won't ask for monthly votes, but at least I hope it gets on the category recommendation list. Thank you all.)

The archmage in his light blue robes reappeared at the tomb entrance, and Li Wei abandoned the fat man and rushed straight towards him.

Li Wei didn't plan to use his special skill 'Devour,' mainly because of the fat man's comment, 'This robe is a treasure.' So, Li Wei couldn't resist trying it out. He was quite interested in magic now, and even a fool would know that this blue robe was definitely not an ordinary object. Li Wei also wanted to get his hands on the Crystal Staff in the monster's hand. So, if he used the Devour skill, both treasures would probably be shredded by the Devouring Black Silk.

Even without devouring it, Li Wei had other ways to deal with this monster.

First, you must prevent the opponent from casting spells easily again. To do this, you must attack continuously.

With lightning speed, Li Wei drew his Beast Soul Sword and summoned the Blood Demon and Flower Demon, two Old Ghost, directing them to attack the opponent. At the same time, Li Wei employed guerrilla tactics, using the long-range attack characteristics of his Cloud Piercing Palm and Shockwave Fist to continuously deplete the opponent's health.

A single strike, the Cloud Piercing Palm, landed on the opponent's body. Although most of the force was absorbed by the defensive mist and the robe, it still caused over a hundred damages.

The Blood Demon and the Flower Demon unleashed their full power, and soon, the mage monster's health was reduced by half. Throughout this time, it had no chance to unleash powerful magic, because Li Wei's Shockwave Fist would relentlessly strike down every time it was about to cast a spell. The vibrations and destructive force from the shattering air interrupted the monster's spellcasting, thus giving Li Wei a significant advantage.

This was the tactic Li Wei devised after observing and analyzing the situation. The magic of mages was indeed very powerful. It could be said that in terms of attack and destructive power, no special skill could compare to magic. However, magic also had its weaknesses. To mobilize powerful elemental forces to attack an enemy, one had to chant the corresponding incantation to mobilize and gather the necessary elements. This process was the casting time.

The more powerful the magic, the longer the casting time. Therefore, if you can seize the moment when the opponent is casting a spell to attack, you can break their casting process. This sounds easy, but it is actually very difficult to do.

In battle, opportunities are fleeting, and without exceptional observation and reaction skills, it's impossible to seize that crucial moment. Furthermore, even with sufficient observation and reaction skills, one still needs the ability to execute them; after all, talking without doing is useless. Li Wei possessed both of these qualities, which is why he was able to suppress his opponent.

With a Shockwave Fist, Li Wei struck the light blue robe directly.

The powerful force seemed to strike cotton; more than half of the force was absorbed by the robe. However, the remaining force still took away 190 points of the opponent's health.

Just then, the mage monster shouted and cast an instant spell.

In an instant, its body was enveloped by a large block of ice, and all of Li Wei's and the two Old Ghost' attacks were blocked by the hard ice.

"How could this be?" Li Wei frowned, but then looked closely.

' Ice Barrier: The target is enveloped in an Ice Barrier, rendering them immune to all attacks for a certain period of time, but also unable to attack others...'

It was a magic spell that granted temporary immunity to any attack.

Li Wei swallowed hard. This mage monster was truly formidable. Not only had its combat strength increased from B2 to A3 after Purification by powerful buff magic and absorbing the Corpse Demon, but its combat awareness had also improved considerably.

What's even more astonishing is the opponent's use of magic; several spells, both offensive and defensive, were used to their maximum effect.

After the Ice Barrier disappeared, Li Wei launched another attack, only to find that the archmage monster had cast a 'Cure' spell on him.

"Damn it!" Even Li Wei had to swear at this moment. In his eyes, the opponent's health, which was originally only half, had instantly recovered to less than half.

"If this keeps up, I'm really going to get killed by this bastard!" Li Wei also became ruthless. At this moment, he held nothing back and used all his S1-level combat power. At this time, his right arm had also Regeneration, and he continuously used his fists to bombard his opponent with 'Shockwave Fist'.

This completely deprived the magician monster of its chance to cast a spell. Fearing that the monster would cast 'Ice Barrier' again, Li Wei attacked relentlessly, his fists raining down like raindrops.

With each punch, cracks would appear in the air, and before those cracks could heal, Li Wei's fist would arrive again. He unleashed hundreds of punches back and forth, leaving even the powerful mage monster with its strong defenses with only a sliver of health remaining.

At this moment, Li Wei was also severely exhausted. In order to break through the opponent's light blue robe defense, Li Wei put all his strength into every punch. With only a sliver of health left, Li Wei was completely powerless, but he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

At this point, it all comes down to who has the greater endurance. Li Wei bet that if it weren't for that light blue robe, this monster would have died from his fists long ago.

Of course, if it weren't for the robe, Li Wei could have simply swallowed it whole, saving himself the trouble.

Finally, the monster's health reached the critical value.

"Health Points:..."

With only 200 points of health left, Li Wei roared, his arm muscles bulging, and a visible ball of true energy emanating from his fist. Then, Li Wei slammed it down hard.

Bang

This time, even the light blue robe couldn't stop Li Wei's fist; the archmage monster was slammed into the wall by Li Wei's punch.

The damage dealt was considerable; Li Wei wiped out the last sliver of health with a single punch. The exceptionally fierce mage monster let out a mournful cry, and countless azure magical essences surged from its body. These magical Purification quickly dissipated into the air, and then the monster collapsed to the ground with a thud. Above its body appeared a Skill Book and a fragment of azure crystal.

Li Wei leaned against the wall, panting heavily. He was completely exhausted. Since entering the 'Mage's Tomb', he had never imagined that he would experience such a difficult battle.

The opponent's magical skills were simply divine; relying on enhancement magic and magical robes, they were able to fight against me for so long.

I walked over and picked up the items dropped by the mage. The Skill Book was 'Basic Water Magic Mastery', and the blue crystal shard was 'Water Soul Fragment'.

Li Wei immediately used his Eye of Perception, and soon, information about the two items appeared.

' Basic Water Magic Mastery can upgrade 'Basic' water magic to 'Elementary' water magic... After that, you can learn and cast Elementary water magic...'

' Water Soul Fragment can be transformed into water-based magic essence; consuming them can enhance one's water-based magic level.'

Both items were quite good, so Li Wei quickly put them away. After glancing at the archmage's corpse, Li Wei chuckled, squatted down, and pulled off its robe, taking the Crystal Staff from its hand as well.

The robe is indeed a treasure. The 'Icebound Robe' increases defense by 30% and comes with a Water Mist Protection spell, which increases defense by another 40%. Together, they can withstand 70% of the damage.

Li Wei thought to himself, no wonder his attacks were so weak. This thing was good, but it required magic to activate, so it was useless to Li Wei at the moment.

The other item was the Crystal Staff. If the 'Icebound Robe' was characterized by its defensive capabilities, then this Crystal Staff was a true weapon—a weapon belonging to a mage, of course.

' Crystal Staff, increases magic attack power by 30%, and increases Faster Casting rating by 1...'

It has very simple attributes, but it's extremely useful. No wonder this monster's casting speed is so fast; it turns out this staff can shorten the casting time.

At this moment, the fat man also got up from the ground. He had seen the whole fight and admired Li Wei immensely, but he was still resentful about being slapped by Li Wei earlier.

"Hey Li, couldn't you be a little gentler with me? Good grief, that slap almost killed me. But thank you anyway, without you I probably would have died here."

The fat man walked over and examined the monster's corpse again, his meticulousness making Li Wei frown. This lewd fat man even pried open the archmage's mouth, sticking his fingers inside and groping around for a long time, ultimately finding nothing.

The fat man then stripped the robes off the four small water corpses and looked at Li Wei, saying, "These things are indeed trash, but you can still sell them for a pittance in the Free Market. Unlike you, I don't have all sorts of good stuff. I'm all alone, so I have to be careful to survive in Shadow Street."

His fat, sleazy appearance actually looked rather pitiful at that moment.

Li Wei chuckled and said, "Alright, didn't you say there was a mechanism in that pool? Let's go down and open it; maybe there are treasures left behind by these water corpses."

Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately perked up, took off his clothes, put on a pair of shorts, and jumped into the pool.

He dived into the water and searched for a while, but found nothing. The fat man, his face full of disappointment, poked his head out of the pool and said, "Brother Li, there's no treasure down there. You're lying without even thinking..."

He wanted to say something more, but he froze.

Li Wei, who should have been by the pool, was nowhere to be seen. The fat man shivered in the pool, looked around, and was horrified to discover something terrible.

This is not the same tomb chamber as before.

"No way? You're not kidding me, are you?" The fat man climbed out of the water and looked around. Sure enough, this wasn't the tomb chamber. This place was much more spacious. The surrounding darkness prevented him from seeing the distant stone walls, but judging by his eyesight, it was at least a hundred meters away.

The fat man wanted to scream, but dared not. What if there was some monster in the darkness? Screaming would be like walking into a trap. He looked down and suddenly covered his mouth with his hand.

The pool he had just climbed out of was surrounded by stone coffins. The fat man had seen these stone coffins before; they were the same kind that the drowned water corpse had crawled out of earlier.