Chapter 312 - 77: Frighteningly Powerful

That evening, the group gathered to share the intelligence they had each collected, discovering quite a few suspicious things about the area.

Jinghong had discovered a shrine. The local natives worshipped a god, but this deity had thirty-two names.

According to feedback from the players in Jinghong’s live stream, she found that thirty-one of these thirty-two names corresponded to gods from the surface world. Only one name’s reference was unknown.

The Shadow God had found scouts from the Celestial Wing Knight Order. After all, one of their squads had lost contact here, and they needed to know what happened.

Darts Guest and Cuihua helped with hunting and reinforcing the houses, which significantly improved the Slimes’ reputation in the area.

After bullying Qian Wulu, Eight Desolates had his subordinates analyze the situation and then summarize a development plan for the area.

Once all the intelligence was compiled, everyone’s attention turned to the cave Duan Fei had mentioned.

Learning that there was a mysterious cave that was endlessly generating Dungeon Warriors, the group debated its origins before finally deciding to send someone to investigate.

But the most pressing matter was the Celestial Wing Knight Order near the settlement. They could send troops to encircle and annihilate them at any moment and had to be dealt with preemptively.

However, the enemy numbered in the thousands, most of them veterans. Among them were powerful experts who could hold their own on the fifteenth floor. Duan Fei’s small group was seriously outmatched.

Understanding their current predicament, Eight Desolates said with difficulty, "My Professional Skill’s effect allows me to control light. I could try to melt the ice and change the landscape, making it impossible for them to cross. But it would require too many gems, and I don’t have that many."

Hearing this, Duan Fei immediately moved in close and copied Eight Desolates’s Profession effect.

Eight Desolates’s Profession was Light Mage, a Profession that utilized Light Energy. It received a significant boost in environments with light and was weakened in those without.

After copying the Profession’s special effect, Duan Fei spread his hands and said to Eight Desolates, "Light has wave-particle duality."

"I’ve forgotten all the physics I ever learned. Can you not start with this right now?"

"Understanding this will be good for your Profession’s development."

"...Really? You’re not trying to sell me an online course, are you?"

"Eight Desolates, don’t limit your thinking to just light. Electromagnetic waves are waves, gravitational waves are waves, magnetic fields are waves. They are all light."

"Ultraman is also light!"

"Tsk, don’t be a contrarian! Anyway, my point is, you can have better sources of Power. Just light alone isn’t enough to satisfy you. Come, join me in the search for a better light source."

Eight Desolates couldn’t help but look over, only to find Duan Fei’s body turning into a black hole.

This wasn’t a black hole in the astronomical sense; rather, his body had begun to absorb all the surrounding light, gathering it into himself.

Then, the black hole steadily expanded, starting from the room and slowly spreading until it enveloped the entire settlement.

But it didn’t stop there. The black hole continued to expand further, eventually becoming a pitch-black curtain.

In the distant base of the Celestial Wing Knight Order, they too noticed the appearance of this curtain.

The Great Mage in the base stood up and began to speculate on the curtain’s meaning.

The curtain looked like some kind of large-scale Magic, but it was a type of Magic he had never heard of.

Quietly using his Magic Power to sense it, he discovered the curtain was absorbing all surrounding light. It didn’t even spare the faint glimmers reflected by the snow, making them a part of itself.

Sensing that some terrifying change was about to occur, the Great Mage knew this was not the time to leisurely wait for the outcome.

He had been here for four years.

In those four years, the Celestial Wing Knight Order had spent vast resources to cultivate him.

His daily task was simply to study Magic, while others would capture and bring him all sorts of Demons. He needed only to lift a finger, kill these Demons, and then use Magic to absorb their Power.

He hadn’t rested for a single day in those four years, and as a result, he had obtained formidable Power.

He was confident he could even go toe-to-toe with the Pope himself.

Pointing to the sky, his hand drew a counter-clockwise circle. Magic Power converged at his fingertip, like a magical dragon coiling and roaring.

He already knew a squad had gone missing there, followed by the appearance of this massive black curtain. The two events had to be related.

Since the enemy’s goal was to summon darkness, he would call forth the light.

After the immense Magic Power coalesced, a blinding white light appeared above the black curtain. This sphere of light, condensed from Magic Power, could dispel all darkness and allow the Great Mage to see what was happening below.

"Oh ho."

Inside the black curtain, Duan Fei was stunned.

’Is... is this guy a saint?’

’He knew I was short on Light Energy, so he just decided to send some over? Such a selfless spirit, doing good deeds without asking for anything in return...’ Duan Fei was truly impressed.

Without hesitation, he devoured this Light Energy. The surrounding black curtain instantly expanded by a size, allowing Duan Fei to better cultivate this Energy.

Seeing the black curtain not only fail to shrink but actually expand, the Great Mage was also stunned.

He didn’t know that the black curtain was, in essence, an application of Light Energy. He had completely misunderstood it, and as a result, he had only made Duan Fei’s Power stronger.

However, he wasn’t foolish enough to continue summoning light sources. Instead, he began to use another type of Magic: Magnetic Energy.

Magnetic fields also have Energy. The Energy of a magnetic field could alter the composition of metal, melting it or using it to attack his enemies.

Injecting his Magic Power into the magnetic field, the Great Mage hoped to control the surrounding magnetic forces, but he was shocked to discover that his Magic Power was vanishing without a trace.

The black curtain was constantly absorbing his Power. Even when he changed the form of his Magic, that Power was still being ceaselessly drained away.

At this moment, the Great Mage finally realized that his opponent was on a completely different level.

The opponent was also a Great Mage.

And a Mage far stronger than himself.

This discovery crushed him. The confidence he had built up over the years vanished like smoke, leaving him to wonder what the point of all his perseverance had been.

Slumping into his chair, he ordered the other guards to take shelter while he himself watched the black curtain, wanting to witness what this unprecedented Great Mage intended to do.

Two hours later, the black curtain had finally absorbed enough Light Energy and began to enter the next phase.

The black curtain instantly shattered, and all the Light Energy was stored within a dazzling golden gemstone, causing it to shine as brilliantly as the sun.

Then, a powerful beam of light shot out from the gemstone, striking the ground in front of the Celestial Wing Knight Order before rapidly carving across it.

Before the mighty beam of light, the ice that had been frozen for a thousand years was as fragile as soft tofu, sliced open directly by the gemstone’s ray.

A massive chasm appeared, permanently separating the Celestial Wing Knight Order from their side and thus ensuring peace for Duan Fei and the others.

Watching this scene, nearly everyone’s jaw dropped as they stared at Duan Fei in astonishment.

This man... was truly terrifying.