Ashen Spiral Spear

In the dry grass on the outskirts of the Black Forest, the five-man party, whose members had all just reached level 1, was now so full of itself that they had forgotten their own names.

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] closed his eyes, feeling the dark gray energy surging inside him, and slapped his thigh in excitement.

"Guys, can you feel it?"

"This is power! This is what gives a mage his confidence!"

He eagerly extended his right hand and silently invoked his skill.

A cloud of black smoke gathered in his palm, instantly turning into a missile trailing sparks.

He casually flicked his hand. With a boom, a clump of dry grass nearby was blasted into a shallow, scorched crater.

"It might not be that powerful yet, but with that blinding effect and explosion sound, this is one seriously useful god-tier skill!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s eyes gleamed.

Meanwhile, Jiahao had taken an entirely different road of no return.

Instead of testing the missile, he actually formed a hand seal and used [Ashen Shaping] with a look of utter devotion.

Under everyone's bewildered gazes, the ash on the ground crept along his fingertips and onto his face.

It actually formed the outline of a "gold-rimmed monocle" over his right eye, complete with a vintage British flair.

Jiahao adjusted his Ash Glasses, his lips curling into an aloof smile.

"While my peers are still studying how to fight monsters, I've already begun exploring the deeper interactions between this game's character customization system and skill system. This monocle perfectly completes the final piece of my personal aesthetic."

"It's just so... you get it, right?"

"Splat."

Less than two seconds into his showboating, his Mental Power ran dry, and the Ash Glasses collapsed into a heap of black ash.

It splattered squarely across Jiahao's face, instantly turning him into a coal miner who had just crawled out of a mine.

"Hahaha! Jiahao, you dropped your aesthetic! Hurry up and pick it up!" Ma Lou mocked him mercilessly.

"All right, stop messing around."

[Ji Luo] glanced at the sky. The crimson crescent moon had begun to rise above the horizon, and the surrounding mist was gradually growing cold and clammy.

"Conserve your Mental Power. We might be in good shape right now, but this world is no joke at night."

"If you don't want to run into that monster Ma Lou met yesterday, we should get ready to head back."

Everyone nodded, gathered up the day's loot, and prepared to return home.

Just as they were following the dried-up creek back and approaching the edge of the abandoned village-

"Crunch... crunch..."

A teeth-grating chewing sound drifted into their ears on the night wind.

All five instantly went on alert. They crouched behind a broken wall and peeked out.

Beside the dry well at the entrance to the ruined village, a huge dark shape lay on the ground, ravenously devouring a corpse dressed in an unfamiliar robe.

The monster stood over two meters tall, its entire body covered in hard carapace. Six sharp, jointed limbs sprouted from its back, and foul-smelling green acid dripped from its hideous mouthparts.

"Holy shit, it's that thing!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] recognized it at once.

Wasn't this the fucking "Cave Stalker" that had used up every last one of their free revives within five minutes of starting yesterday?

"Enemies really do keep crossing paths." Ma Lou licked his lips, a vicious glint flashing in his narrowed eyes.

This was the thing that had cut him in half yesterday.

"Ji, are we doing this?"

Bossy Guy tightened his grip on his stone axe and turned to Ji Luo.

Though his tone was good-natured, his eyes shone with that gambler's gleam unique to the Fourth Calamity.

[Ji Luo]'s mind raced.

This monster was at the First-Tier Peak. Yesterday, they had been tier zero and utterly outclassed.

But today, all five of them were first-tier Ash Apostles. Not only had their physical abilities improved enormously, but most importantly, every one of them had learned new skills!

"The blinding effect from [Ashen Missile], plus support from [Ashen Shaping]..."

[Ji Luo] gritted his teeth. "Let's do it! No risk, no reward!"

"If we take down this elite monster, we'll get rich in one shot tonight!"

"Here Comes the Big One!"

The moment their tactical commander gave the go-ahead, [Passing Pure-Love Warrior] dropped all pretense. Grabbing his acne-covered spiked club, he leaped out from behind the broken wall, hollering.

The feeding Cave Stalker heard the noise and whipped its head around.

When its enormous compound eyes took in the familiar humans in oversized shorts, it visibly froze for a moment.

Hadn't I sliced these freaks into ash yesterday?

How were they running around alive again?

But the monster's logic was simple: I don't care whether you died. Anyone on my turf is a snack!

"Hiss!!"

The Cave Stalker let out a piercing screech. Its six jointed limbs kicked hard against the ground, and its massive body hurtled toward Pure-Love Warrior like a dump truck, bringing a howling gust of putrid air.

"It's still just as fast!" [Passing Pure-Love Warrior]'s pupils contracted.

"Now!" [Ji Luo] roared.

Just as the monster was about to slam into Lu Ziye-

Ma Lou, Jiahao, and Ji Luo, who had stayed behind, raised their hands simultaneously, aimed at the monster's enormous compound eyes, and unleashed three [Ashen Missiles] together!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three black-smoke missiles trailing orange-red sparks traced graceful arcs through the air and struck the Cave Stalker squarely in the head.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three bursts of dazzling sparks exploded amid thick black smoke!

Scorching ash pierced the monster's densely packed compound eyes, and it immediately let out a shriek ten times more agonized than before.

Its charge instantly veered off course. Its six legs scrabbled wildly at the ground as it was plunged into complete blindness for a full five seconds.

"Kill it while it's blind!"

[Passing Pure-Love Warrior] sidestepped the monster's wild charge, swung his spiked club in a full arc, and smashed it hard into one of its joints!

A crisp crack rang out as the carapace shattered.

But an elite monster was still an elite monster. Even blinded, its instinctive counterattack remained lethal.

Its sharp forelimb swept toward Pure-Love Warrior's waist like a scythe.

"Not a chance!"

At that critical instant, Bossy Guy charged forward.

Instead of using his weapon, he slammed both hands against the ground and roared, "Ashen Shaping!"

The black mud and ash on the ground surged up instantly, solidifying into a black ash shield half a meter thick in front of Pure-Love Warrior.

Bang!

The monster's forelimb slammed into the shield.

The ash shield shattered with a crash after holding for less than two seconds, and the recoil made Bossy Guy cough up a mouthful of blood.

But those two seconds were enough for Pure-Love Warrior to roll clear!

"Ji! It's up to you!" Ma Lou shouted from behind.

"Coming!"

[Ji Luo] stepped onto the collapsed stone mill beside him and leaped high into the air.

While airborne, he drained every last bit of Mental Power left in his body.

A layer of rapidly spinning, pitch-black ash instantly coated his ordinary stone spear, turning it into an Ashen Spiral Spear with tremendous penetrating power!

"Fucking die!"

Using the force of his descent, Ji Luo aimed at the center of the monster's compound eyes, where its defenses were weakest, and drove the spear down hard!

Shhk!!

The ash spear tore straight through the Cave Stalker's eye socket and buried itself deep in its walnut-sized brain.

The monster's enormous body suddenly stiffened. Its six jointed limbs twitched frantically in the air a few times before it collapsed with a crash, sending dust billowing everywhere.

It dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling, dark green sludge.