Chapter 143: Easily Annihilated 2

Cluri kept his eyes fixed on Daphne, practically drooling at the sight of her.

Dark elves had grown increasingly cunning over the years, and it was becoming rare to find one traveling alone. Even when a lone dark elf did appear, they were usually high-ranking professionals, far too dangerous for ordinary adventurers to capture.

It had been several years since a dark elf had last appeared on the black market.

The main reason was that the dark elf race kept an extremely close watch on such activities. The slightest hint of trouble was enough to send dark elf forces sweeping through the underground black markets. Quite a few black market bosses had lost their lives as a result.

Even so, dark elves remained an irresistible temptation for many adventurers. Their prices on the black market were simply too attractive to ignore.

And Cluri had connections of his own. He knew exactly where to sell Daphne for a fortune.

The more he thought about the wealth that was practically within his grasp, the brighter and greedier his eyes became.

“Brother...”

Feeling Cluri’s burning gaze, Daphne edged closer to Kent and called out to him in a timid voice.

“Hehe, don’t worry. Everything’s fine.”

Kent gently patted her hand and reassured her.

“Hahaha!”

“Ha! So that’s what this is, boss! These two are a little pair of lovebirds!”

The adventurers around them froze for a moment when they heard Daphne call Kent Brother. Then they burst into wild laughter, looking at Kent with undisguised mockery.

Cluri, too, suddenly seemed to understand everything.

With a swagger, he strode toward Kent.

“Kid, I actually believed you when you said you’d gotten separated from your main group. So you were just tricking this little girl into running away with you, eh?”

“Who we are doesn’t matter. But I’d strongly advise you to stop right where you are. Otherwise, you’ll have to accept the consequences.”

Looking at Cluri’s sudden change in attitude, Kent felt a growing sense of impatience and issued a cold warning.

Cluri paused for a moment, then turned around and looked at his men.

“Did this kid just tell me to stop, or I’d have to face the consequences?”

“That’s right, boss! That’s exactly what he said!”

“Boss, remember that dwarf from last time? Why don’t we do it again? Shove a stick up his backside and drive it out through his mouth! What do you say?”

“Boss, how about letting me have a go at that little one? I haven’t seen a woman in two months. This one will do in a pinch!”

Hearing his men’s shameless remarks, Cluri burst out laughing. He then turned back toward Kent, his face twisted into a mocking grin.

“Oh, mighty mage, I’m absolutely terrified! I’m just a humble seventh-rank warrior, after all. I wonder, has Your Excellency even reached the second rank? Why don’t you cast a spell for this humble fellow to admire? Come on, show me what you’ve got!”

He threw his head back and laughed uproariously.

“Hahaha! Hahahaha!”

Kent listened to Cluri’s taunts without showing the slightest anger. He merely replied in an indifferent voice.

“If you don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke you.”

“Then I’m provoking you, you little bastard! What are you going to do about it?”

Kent’s calm, almost dismissive response only made Cluri angrier.

He had originally hoped that a few taunts would provoke Kent into revealing something about his true strength. Instead, the young mage had remained completely unfazed, and now Cluri simply wanted to crush the irritating little bastard with his own hands.

As he advanced, he drew the dagger from his waist.

Cluri was confident that he could kill Kent before the young mage had time to finish chanting a spell. As for Daphne, the little dark elf girl with a crossbow slung over her back, she was hardly worth worrying about in the eyes of an archer like him.

“Cluri, you’ve brought this upon yourselves. Anyone who still wants to leave should do so now. Once I make my move, none of you will ever leave this place alive.”

Watching Cluri steadily approach him and Daphne, Kent delivered his final warning.

Even now, he found it difficult to bring himself to kill other humans.

Much of that reluctance stemmed from the education and values he had acquired back on Earth. Although Kent understood perfectly well that this was a different world, deep down, he still couldn’t bring himself to take another person’s life with his own hands.

“Boss, let me peel the skin off this brat, and then...”

One of the swordsmen immediately stepped forward when he heard Kent’s warning, shouting arrogantly as he volunteered to deal with the young mage.

But before he could finish his sentence, his head suddenly flew off his shoulders and rolled away to one side.

A fountain of blood burst from his severed neck, splashing into the air.

Illuminated by the fiery glow of the distant volcano, the crimson spray looked strangely beautiful, almost mesmerizing.

Yet that fleeting spectacle had been purchased with the life of a living man.

“Damn you! Die!”

“Little brother! I’ll avenge you!”

“Everyone, grab this brat! Then we’ll have some fun with his little sweetheart right in front of him, and...”

The surrounding adventurers were instantly enraged by what they had witnessed. They drew their weapons and charged toward Kent, shouting threats and curses as they rushed forward.

But in Kent’s eyes, their chaotic, undisciplined attacks were nothing more than a suicidal charge.

He casually swept his hand through the air.

A series of enormous Wind Blades shot out at terrifying speed, instantly spreading in every direction.

Kent was now a sixth-rank mage, and the Wind Blades he unleashed were each as large as a two-handed greatsword.

In a single cast, he released more than a dozen of them.

The adventurers who had been shouting so confidently moments earlier suddenly fell silent.

More than half of them were cut down almost instantly by the enormous blades of wind, their bodies collapsing before they even had time to react.

“Ins... instant casting...?”

Cluri was the first to sense the violent surge of magical energy radiating from Kent.

His expression changed dramatically.

With a desperate leap, he sprang out of the path of the incoming Wind Blades and grabbed one of his own men, dragging the unfortunate man in front of himself as a human shield.

That desperate move saved Cluri’s life.

But he had witnessed everything.

All around him, his companions were being torn apart by what seemed like invisible greatswords, their bodies severed in the blink of an eye.

Cluri’s face drained of color, and sheer terror seized his heart.

He might not have known much about magic, but he certainly understood what instant casting meant.

“Hmph. You brought this upon yourselves.”

Kent looked coldly at the few surviving adventurers and let out a contemptuous snort.

The survivors were all warriors carrying shields. They stared at Kent warily, while some hurriedly fumbled with their crossbows, apparently intending to remain behind their shields and attack him from relative safety.

Did Kent look like someone who would give them such an opportunity?

Of course not.

Cluri had also taken refuge behind one of the shields, trembling uncontrollably.

His entire party consisted of intermediate-rank professionals, yet they hadn’t even managed to withstand a single exchange with this young mage.

His mind was in complete disarray.

Nevertheless, Cluri had survived countless bloody encounters to become the man he was. Even in the face of overwhelming terror, his instincts eventually took over, and he hurriedly grabbed a massive refined-steel shield from the ground.

The adventurers’ shields were made of refined steel and stood nearly half a man’s height. Their defensive capabilities were clearly formidable.

Even Kent’s Wind Blades had failed to cut through them completely, leaving only deep, clearly visible grooves across their surfaces.

Cluri crouched behind his shield and shouted desperately toward Kent.

“Sir, we were wrong! We offended you, and we sincerely apologize! Please, be magnanimous and spare...”

“Hmph. You think hiding behind a shield will save you? Falling Rock!”

Kent sneered at Cluri.

These adventurers were all the same. Whenever they encountered someone stronger than themselves, they immediately became meek and submissive. But when they came across someone weaker, they robbed and murdered without hesitation.

Kent despised people like them more than anything.

With a cold expression, he cast a sixth-rank earth-element spell.

BOOM!

A deafening crash shook the cavern as an enormous boulder came crashing down from above.

Cluri and his remaining men disappeared beneath it forever.

Even to his very last moment, Cluri never managed to finish his sentence.

“Who dares disturb the great Saedis?”

Before Kent could even enjoy his victory, a deep, resonant voice suddenly echoed throughout the vast cavern.

A tangible wave of mental energy swept across the area, passing over everything in its path.

Then an overwhelming aura erupted from somewhere nearby, its sheer intensity enough to make the entire cavern seem to tremble.

Clearly, Kent’s Falling Rock spell had disturbed something that should never have been awakened.

Kent froze in astonishment.

For at that very moment, one enormous head after another began rising from beneath the ground.

Kent stood there with his mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief.

The adventurers who had been crushed beneath the falling boulder had completely disappeared into the ground, leaving no trace behind.

But Kent had only cast a sixth-rank earth-element spell, Falling Rock!

Normally, Falling Rock summoned three boulders, each weighing approximately one ton, to crash down upon a target. Kent had originally intended to search the adventurers’ belongings for their map, but the boulder that had fallen from above had weighed at least several hundred tons!

That was practically the power of a ninth-rank earth-element single-target attack spell—the Meteorite spell!

Of course, Meteor Shower was an entirely different matter. That was a composite spell combining earth and fire elements, and it belonged to the forbidden-spell category. It was in a completely different league from the Meteorite spell.

“Damn! Environmental factors really make that much of a difference? Fine, so the rock turned out to be a little bigger than expected. But why do I keep running into these ancient monsters?”

Kent could hardly decide whether to laugh or cry.

Immediately after the enormous boulder crashed down, an unbelievably massive creature emerged from beneath the ground.

Kent couldn’t see its entire body. The only thing he could make out clearly was its enormous mouth, which was even larger than the front of a locomotive!

Kent had no intention of running away.

Not because he didn’t want to escape, but because the aura emanating from this colossal creature was simply too overwhelming. It was so powerful that Kent didn’t even dare to move.

Besides, any magical beast capable of human speech had to be at least ninth rank.

And Kent had absolutely no desire to provoke trouble with a monster of that caliber.