A Sorcerer’s Journey

Above the Jewel Sea.

Without soil around, the Savage Flame Giant did not get to activate its Lava Refining Ability—which meant that it did not get to craft its Lava Greatsword and Armor. In other words, its combat prowess was at best, at around 80%.

However, there was also the need to activate the Savage Flame Giant’s Soul Hatred Eating ability. How should one increase Third Ghostpepper’s hatred on oneself?

Thus, Grimm recalled what Third Ghostpepper had mentioned earlier.

He was pissed that Grimm claimed that he had no chance in winning against his Marked Friendship Key. Thus, Third Ghostpepper announced that he would kill him within a minute.

If that were the case, perhaps with a little stalling for time, he might have a chance.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Third Ghostpepper was determined to kill Grimm. In a matter of seconds, he swiftly sent out his six spirit-flame Soul Slaves to surround Grimm and his Savage Flame Giant before attacking.

Grimm agilely evaded an attack from a bone-spiked Soul Slave and then met his fist with another scaly monster’s.

A claw-like fist versus a human fist.

Booom!

Scales scattered all over the place as the six-meter scaly monster was sent flying a dozen meters away.

Although at a disadvantage, it still stood up and leaped toward Grimm.

Evading attacks and moving further away from his Savage Flame Giant, Grimm quickly scanned his surroundings to gather strategic and battle information.

“There’s an elemental monster behind me… about thirty meters on the left. Hmm, it seems to be accumulating energy. The energy level is about 700 degrees and will increase up to over thousands of degrees in two seconds. From the direction it’s facing its energy at… it would appear that it’s aiming for the Savage Flame Giant.”

“The bone-spiked monster on the right is now charging towards me again. This type of creature… hmm… its spikes possess various kinds of corroding venom. These could linger in one’s body for a lengthy period of time… and there are a lot of punishing effects if one gets infected by these liquids.”

“As for the Savage Flame Giant… it’s been surrounded by three Soul Slaves. Oh, it’s already wounded. I suppose it could still hold off these monsters for another thirty seconds at most.”

“Hmm? No, something’s off. I had exchange punches with the scaly monster earlier. It tried to disperse some kind of micro-parasites at me but they were disintegrated by my Mystic Forcefield.”

“So, if I were to fully activate my Mystic Forcefield, this would consume a lot of my Magic Power. I could probably disintegrate the most threatening bone-spiked monster around thirty seconds. When Third Ghostpepper tries to summon more Soul Slaves, I could then taunt him to increase the hatred level.”

“So, all I have to do is to last around thirty seconds!”

After finishing his combat analysis, Grimm quickly devised the best combat plan for himself using the resources that were available to him.

However, a battlefield is ever-changing. There was no way a plan could be carried out perfectly.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

As several mirror images zipped through the air, Grimm’s current strategy was to raise up his defenses and do his best to avoid clashing with the bone-spike monster.

Then, a misstep was made as Grimm tried to evade the bone-spiked monster’s attack.

A piercing pain was felt on his back as two bone spikes penetrated his skin.

“Damn, it can launch its spikes too!”

Grimm did not expect this at all. Now, there were two spikes pierced into his chest from the back.

Quickly activating his Forcefield, Grimm had the spikes disintegrated and used several dozen tentacles to push them out of his body.

“Hmm? The bone spike’s venom isn’t as potent as I thought. My body’s antibody and poison resistance can handle them—thus, they won’t affect my body at all.”

Overjoyed, Grimm quickly changed his stance and opted for a different battle plan—to go on full-defense against the bone-spiked monster while trying to completely evade the scaly monster.

By doing so, Grimm would not need to handle the micro-parasites from the scaly monster while speeding up the disintegration of the bone spikes.

“Well then… now all I need to do is last for twenty seconds!”

After deciding on what to do, Grimm quickly hurled three Fire Birds at the energy-charging elemental monster.

Boom! Boom! Boooooom!

A ray of blue energy beam was shot straight at Grimm as the three Fire Birds exploded. In a mere second, Grimm was able to evade the beam attack.

From afar, Third Ghostpepper was observing Grimm’s battle keenly.

He was surprised.

His Spirit Sorcery was guarded by an unknown entity. Thus, he could not decimate Grimm out of existence.

As for combat techniques…

By seeing how he was able to form tentacles out from his body cells in a mere instant to force out the bone spikes, one could deduce that he had mastered some sort of freak sorcery—one that could guard against physical attacks and improve healing.

The venom on the bone spikes and the micro-parasites had no effect on him at all.

Not only that, due to Grimm activating his Wild Instinct ability and Third Ghostpepper spent most of his time perfecting his mastery in Spirit Sorcery, this led to him not able to dish out effective elemental attacks at Grimm via his elemental Soul Slave.

As for the others…

Third Ghostpepper’s face started to turn grim.

This weird elemental creature possessed great resistance against the fire element. The flames that continuously burst and burned the creature even started to distort his Soul Slaves’ Spirit Flames.

Due to this, his three Soul Slaves were not able to perform their best.

No way!

It seemed that he needed to resort to extreme measures.

In just a dozen seconds, Third Ghostpepper had already analyzed the battlefield and decided his battle plan.

Above in the sky, Grimm was surprised at what happened next. “What? He is ignoring the Savage Flame Giant completely and focusing all his attacks on me?”

Indeed.

The three Spirit-Flame-burning Soul Slaves that were fighting against Savage Flame Giant had now completely forfeited their fight against this huge monstrosity and turned their attention towards Grimm.

If he were to face all six Soul Slaves of this caliber, Grimm would not be able to hold on for even five seconds.

However, that was not all.

“Third Ghostly Shackles!”

Third Ghostpepper chanted quietly before swiftly cast out a Spirit Sorcery spell at Grimm.

In an instant, Grimm could feel that the reaction time of his body to his soul was starting to slow down. The sixth sense that was accompanied by his Wild Instinct not only was suppressed but also created some illusions to hinder him.

“Hmm? Bone spike attacks?”

While evading attacks using flight momentum, Grimm did not notice the oncoming bone spike attack at all. At the same time, the scaly monster had landed a heavy punch on his chest.

“Urgh..!”

As Grimm whimpered in pain, his sorcerer robe was torn while several scales dropped out from his skin. He could feel that one of his bones on his rib cage had broken as his lungs started to bleed.

As his body was sent flying backward, Grimm barely evaded another sneak attack from the side.

“No, I must come up with a plan quickly. At this rate, I will need to flee for my life before the three other Soul Slaves reach me.”

As the tide of battle shifted, sharp murderous intent was seen in Grimm’s eyes.

Grimm had decided to give up on having the Savage Flame Giant to pursue the three Soul Slaves and regroup with him.

No.

Instead, he decided to dash toward Third Ghostpepper.

Indeed.

This old bastard was quite adept in his Spirit Sorcery. However, how good was he at Anatomy Refinery though?

And if he were to clash into him directly like this, it would mean they both would end up fatally wounded.

“You!”

Third Ghostpepper did not expect Grimm to do this. Looking at the black-golden Savage Flame Giant dashing toward him too, he could not help but feel suffocated due to the intense pressure.

Poof pooof poooof!

The three Soul Slaves that were pursuing Grimm earlier had instantly zipped to Third Ghostpepper’s side and lunged at the Savage Flame Giant.

Then, they engaged in another aerial dog fight.

“Hmm… something’s wrong.”

Grimm was sharp. He was able to detect a certain anomaly while Third Ghostpepper summoned his Soul Slaves back to his side.

These Soul Slaves… their combat prowess had decreased a lot.

Especially the short time when they burst into Spirit Flames and zipped to his side, they were all distorted by a certain energy—an energy that he was familiar with.

Oh yes!

This was the Ancient Lava Giants’ ability to control and distort fire elements—the ‘Flame Territory’.

So… this ability to control fire also worked on these Spirit Flames?

After being struck four times, Grimm’s leg was severely wounded by the elemental creature’s energy blast. His scales had all but fallen off from his body while the cells in his body had been weakened.

Usually, without the aid of potions and months of rest, Grimm would not be able to recover from his injuries.

Yet, Grimm still saw a glimmer of hope for victory.

Though, this ‘victory’ was just being able to survive for more than a minute.

Tanking against another body slam from the scaly monster, Grimm quickly dashed toward the Savage Flame Giant.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The three Spirit-Flame-burning Soul Slaves quickly pursued him.