Under the Second Ring, the Strongest City Wall

With a tremendous boom, the bursting flesh, shattered bone, and blood-slick sludge splattered across the white barrier.

Elaine was scared out of her wits. The Magic Wolf's hideous appearance, coupled with the sight of its body exploding right before her eyes, hit her with tremendous force.

Her legs went weak, and she nearly dropped to her knees. Fortunately, Celine caught her in time.

This beast-transformed orc was richly experienced in battle, but even she had been caught off guard by that sudden situation just now.

If Lynn had not been there, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Thinking of this, the slightly upturned corners of her eyes hooked toward Lynn's back, and she felt that this boy seemed to have grown quite a bit overnight.

He actually made her feel at ease.

At this moment, Lynn was letting out a breath of relief. Fortunately, the Corrupted Magic Wolves' explosive attack had not contained any special magical damage, so Shield Spell had just managed to withstand it.

He was somewhat pleasantly surprised. He had originally thought that this explosion would trigger the three Ring-Ascension [Shield Spells] that old Barton had left him.

The defensive power of this one-ring Shield Spell had exceeded his imagination, but after checking, he found that the blow just now had consumed nearly one-tenth of his mana!

That was far beyond the mana consumption of an ordinary one-ring spell.

It seemed that the improved version of Shield Spell obtained from the Codex of Origin actually had the effect of drawing more mana according to the situation to increase its defensive power?

However, this effect should have an upper limit. It could not possibly exceed an entire ring slot...

This was the rule that had to be obeyed in this world. Before he learned his first second-ring spell, no matter what, Lynn could not make the magic in his hands reach a true second-ring standard.

This train of thought was completed in only an instant. The aftermath of the explosion was completely absorbed by "Shield Spell," and the battle continued.

The little life energy left inside the Magic Wolves was shattered by the Radiant Enchanted Weapons, and they were also driven by instinct to rush to Elaine's side, the caster of "Blessing Spell," and detonate.

Fortunately, Ulshi was on guard. He triggered Thorn Arrow Rain in advance, isolating the area where Elaine and Lynn were.

The battle situation seemed to have become very clear.

Lynn did not need to make too many moves either. His Frost Ring was severely countered and had little effect; instead, Shield Spell had displayed tremendous value.

However, his thoughts were still locked firmly on the battlefield. After observing for a moment, he suddenly had an idea.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Parasitic Vines on the nearest Corrupted Magic Wolf bound by thorns withered and it was about to explode, he extended his left hand and made a loose grasp forward.

At the same time, the Mana Web that had long since spread around them, visible to the naked eye, instantly gathered toward the Magic Wolf and wrapped it into a large amethyst-purple cocoon.

In places unseen, countless threads probed out from within the mana cocoon, drilling into the Corrupted Magic Wolf's body and greedily draining the mana it was about to use as explosive material.

According to [Mana Drain], he could only absorb ownerless mana or mana that its owner willingly offered.

And the mana inside the Corrupted Magic Wolf's body had completely lost control the instant those Parasitic Vines withered.

That was also the reason they suddenly exploded.

As the mana cocoon took shape, the remaining mana inside the Magic Wolf began rapidly surging into Lynn's body.

And without mana as explosive material, the original explosion naturally stopped as well.

The others could not see the existence of the Mana Web and were only astonished by this change, but the battle was still ongoing, so they could not afford to be too distracted.

For a time, the battlefield showed a completely one-sided situation. Under Elaine's radiant support from "Blessing Spell," the seamless cooperation of the three, and Lynn's silent finishing work, the Magic Wolves were quickly cleaned up.

The others fought with increasing courage, while Lynn alone grew worried.

The mana he had just lost had all been replenished through "Mana Drain," and there was even a great deal overflowing.

What a waste... Lynn felt secretly pained. This mana was all precious resources, something that had to be exchanged for silver coins.

Thinking of this, he walked to Elaine and Celine in turn, chanted an incantation, and cast Shield Spell on them one after another.

"Th-thank you!" Elaine looked at him somewhat inexplicably. The battle was clearly almost over. Shouldn't he be conserving mana now to make it easier to deal with the battles afterward?

What Lynn was thinking, however, was, What a pity Shield Spell can't be stacked, and it can only last less than ten minutes too. I wonder what method old Barton used. If I get the chance, I should ask him for advice...

The several Corrupted Magic Wolves all turned into mangled corpses. The group had no time to clean up the battlefield. In the distance, there were faint signs of Demonic Beasts approaching, and they had to retreat as quickly as possible.

"But what about that eye up there?" Liam raised his head and looked at the Pitch-Black Eyeball in midair that had been watching them the entire time, his expression extremely displeased.

Liking to hide in the dark and secretly spy on others was a wanderer's hobby. Now that the situation had been reversed, he was very unhappy.

Because they were being monitored by the Pitch-Black Eyeball, strange marks had appeared on their bodies, and they could no longer enter a hidden state.

Lynn thought briefly, then looked toward the pale-faced ranger. "Ulshi, can you lend me an arrow?"

Ulshi said nothing. He quickly drew an arrow with a metal arrowhead and feathers on its tail from the quiver on his back.

After Lynn took it, he swiftly recited an incantation. In the blink of an eye, the metal arrowhead lit up with an orange-yellow glow.

Zero-ring cantrip [Light Spell], an essential spell for home and travel.

The arrow was swallowed all at once by a dazzling sphere of light, like a round lantern, and the area for more than ten meters around them was illuminated by its radiance.

Lynn handed the arrow to Ulshi and explained, "The light sphere about half a foot around the center of Light Spell is extremely bright. If it can make contact with that eyeball, it should be able to obscure it. At that time, Elaine can reactivate the Moonshadow Necklace, and we can enter a hidden state again."

In theory, this method was feasible, but its execution requirements were extremely strict.

First, Ulshi had to hit the target with precision. Fortunately, that Pitch-Black Eyeball had never moved and was a fixed target. Ulshi had also struck it with one shot earlier.

Second, and more difficult, Elaine had to seize that extremely brief moment to complete the release of "Invisible Shadow."

Sure enough, after Elaine understood Lynn's idea, her face flushed slightly.

On one hand, being entrusted with such an important task made her nervous and excited; on the other, she was terribly afraid she would fail.

Ulshi, however, silently drew two more arrows and said to Lynn, "Put the Light Spell on these two as well."

"What are you planning?" Lynn was a little puzzled, but then he suddenly understood his intention and quickly cast the magic on the two arrows.

Ulshi held the three arrows wrapped in bright spheres of light in his hand, like three blazing little suns.

This undoubtedly drew even more of the Demonic Beasts lurking around them. Rustling sounds kept coming, mixed with faint hissing.

Elaine could not help growing tense. Her heart hammered wildly, and her right hand, pressed against the Moonshadow Necklace, trembled slightly.

Suddenly, someone gently took her left hand.

She looked up and saw a handsome, calm young face smiling softly at her.

"Don't be nervous," Lynn said in a low voice. "You can close your eyes and let me be your eyes. If you feel me squeeze your finger, activate the magic."

Was he taking the responsibility for controlling the timing onto himself?

Elaine blinked, her lips moving, but she said nothing.

She only quietly closed her eyes, feeling the warmth from his palm, and her heart strangely settled down.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Ulshi nocked the arrows and drew the string. The three arrows imbued with the Light Spell shot out one after another, controlled into a single line, tearing through the curtain of night like three suns sharing one sky.

The three balls of light pierced through the Pitch-Black Eyeball in succession.

Thanks to Ulshi's exquisite shooting skill, the arrows glided along a low parabolic arc, passing through the eyeball at the highest point and greatly extending the time in which the dazzling spheres of light blocked its surveillance.

Lynn kept his eyes fixed on the sky the entire time, sending the signal the instant the light spheres made contact with the eyeball.

Elaine activated the Moonshadow Necklace at once. The moment the dark-red marks above the five of them vanished, an invisible field expanded.

The group of Demonic Beasts groping their way over could only watch helplessly as they disappeared on the spot.