Chapter 150: Massive Increase in Skill Level

Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Massive Increase in Skill Level

The last Kobold wielding a Wooden Spear had its neck thoroughly snapped.

An abrupt, deathly silence fell over the lakeshore.

It seemed no new Demons were emerging.

Lance’s excited nerves relaxed slightly, briefly pulling him out of the frenzied killing state he had just been in.

He stood in the ankle-deep shallows, letting out a long, scorching breath.

He lowered his gaze, glancing around at the mangled corpses littering the ground.

A rough count revealed that the remains of several hundred Demons now lay scattered across the shallows and the lake’s edge.

The Demons’ blood had stained the once-clear Jade Star Lake a murky, dark color.

Seeing the scene, Lance couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.

’To think that Karen, before he’d even matured, was able to single-handedly defend the powerless Elisya and slaughter an entire Monster Group here.’

’He was incredible.’

He himself was relying completely on his Unlimited Stamina Talent. Only then did he dare to push his Breathing Technique to its limits, unreservedly squandering Ether Energy in high-intensity melee.

He truly had no idea how Karen, an Ordinary human, had managed to accomplish this back then.

It never occurred to him that Karen’s method for "clearing" this trial might have been just a little different from his own.

Just then, Lance sensed the panel in his mind pulsing. With a flicker of thought, he immediately opened it.

[After ninety minutes of extreme, overloaded operation, your lungs have devoured Ether Energy like an abyss!]

[Ethereal Energy Pool +7.6 units]

[Dragon Hunting Breathing Combat Technique Skill Level has greatly increased by +527. Current progress: Level 4 (864/1500)]

[You have perfectly replicated the brutal posture of an ancient Giant Dragon tearing apart its prey! Lizardmen, Gnolls, Kobolds... Countless Low Level Demons have been mercilessly crushed and slaughtered by you!]

[Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style Skill Level has massively increased by +415. Current progress: Level 4 (617/1000)]

[Your spirit has grown increasingly joyful amidst the bloody slaughter. Your soul is becoming more and more like that of a bloodthirsty Giant Dragon. A Basic Attribute has increased: Spirit +1]

Lance’s eyes lit up as he looked at the last line of flashing text.

He never imagined he could gain a rare Spirit Attribute increase in such a high-pressure combat environment.

The Spirit Attribute was what determined one’s future resistance to and power of certain Spells.

This single point, forced up through combat, was by far the greatest unexpected reward of this tedious defensive battle.

As Lance was silently processing the feeling of clarity that came with the attribute increase, he heard a faint scraping sound from the towering white rock, Bai Yan, behind him.

It was followed by a very weak cry.

"Senior..."

Lance quickly turned his head to look.

To his surprise, he found that Cecilia, who should have been lying quietly on the flat stone steps due to Magic Power exhaustion, was now desperately propping up her heavy body with both hands, trying with all her might to stand up.

"You were fighting down here for too long."

The ghostly figure of the Witch floating in the air slowly descended and offered an explanation.

"This little girl’s soul must have rested long enough to recover a tiny bit of strength from her state of Magic Power exhaustion."

Elisya drifted toward Cecilia as she spoke.

She looked at the teetering Half-Elf Maiden and kindly tried to dissuade her.

"Little girl, it’s best you don’t try to force yourself to stand right now."

"Your amazing senior has already taken care of all the trouble down below. You just need to be a good girl and rest here. Once the Array’s Energy is depleted in a little while, you two can leave safely."

Cecilia had no idea who this beautiful woman floating in mid-air was.

Her red eyes were filled with a thick mist of tears.

Her first thought upon waking was that she had to find her senior immediately and apologize to him in person.

This pure-hearted girl had taken all the blame upon herself.

She felt that it was all because of her own carelessness—accidentally triggering the Technique Array while sorting out the nodes—that the two of them had fallen into this crisis.

Especially when she managed to force her eyes open and, by the bright moonlight, saw the mountain of Demon corpses piled up on the riverbank below, as well as the familiar, blood-soaked back standing amidst a sea of bodies and gore.

The maiden’s heart felt as if it had been viciously squeezed by an invisible hand.

Her mind was completely filled with overwhelming guilt and immense worry.

She couldn’t think about anything else.

She had to get to her senior’s side and check with her own hands to see if he had suffered any severe, life-threatening injuries.

But right now, she was playing the role of the Star Night Witch Elisya from all those years ago.

Therefore, this body she was in was currently in a rigid state from Magic Power exhaustion and a severe Magic Power backlash.

The weakness was as heavy as a mountain crushing her, and her limbs wouldn’t quite obey her commands.

But she still bit her lip.

After getting to her feet, she struggled to move her legs, trying to climb down from Bai Yan.

"Such a stubborn little girl."

Elisya, watching this desperate display from the sky, couldn’t help but let out a soft, pitying sigh.

But just then, a deep, heavy footstep suddenly boomed from the depths of the dark forest in the distance.

The ground itself seemed to tremble slightly with the step.

Lance immediately focused his mind, clenched his fists, and looked in the direction of the sound.

A massive black shadow pushed aside thick trees and stepped heavily onto the soft sand.

This was a Demon Lance had never seen before.

The aura it emanated was, without a doubt, that of a genuine Professional Level Demon.

And this was definitely not some bottom-tier existence like a Big Goblin that relied solely on brute force.

It was a rare mutated species.

A juvenile Forest Giant.

Although the monster was only in its juvenile stage, it was already an astonishing two and a half meters tall.

Its thick palms and feet were immense, and each footfall left a deep, water-filled pit in the ground.

The Giant’s skin was a nauseating dark green, completely hairless, and had a morbid, thick, rubbery texture.

The most hair-raising part was that on the monster’s back, broad shoulders, and the back of its head,

a dense swath of purplish-black, venomous fungi grew parasitically, surrounded by an ugly layer of keratin that resembled coarse tree burls.

"See? This is all your fault!"

Elisya flew to Lance’s side, spreading her hands.

"Look what you’ve done to this rigid historical projection! You’ve forced it to spawn a mutated monster like this that makes absolutely no sense."

"Me?"

A series of massive question marks popped up over Lance’s head.

’I was clearly just trying my best to complete the defensive mission. How did I suddenly become the culprit responsible for destroying the Array’s balance?’

But before he could voice his confused question,

the towering Mutated Giant had already snapped its burl-covered head around.

Its turbid yellow eyes, filled with a tyrannical aura, bypassed Lance standing in the water and locked onto the Half-Elf Maiden climbing down from Bai Yan in the distance.