V3 Chapter 82

Rain focused on sensing the monster’s movement underground. When finally, he noticed the monster making an erratic action. It’s going up! He realized and immediately he followed where it was going to resurface. It’s not coming for him… but rather someone else. Where… him?!

“…It’s coming for him,” Rain pointed at the red-robed mage and said in warning. “The monster is going to resurface and it’s targeting him.”

“Roel, protect Jin.”

“On it.”

Jonathan frowned, but he immediately took a stance and ordered the armored knight to protect their one and only (?) mage. Mages are fragile cannons. If he was caught off-guard and couldn’t defend himself in time, even with his high level as a Mage, Jin would surely be defeated in at least, one attack of the monster. Not to mention, being devoured alive.

The red-robed mage knows he was the target and started chanting a spell; “Levitation” a basic spell and he started to rise in the air. After that, he once again started chanting for another spell.

When the monster once again burst out from the ground, Jonathan and the armored knight were already waiting for it, and immediately attack. Zia even slashed her sword, electricity covered her body as she let out a slash of lightning arc.

Another blood wound was created, and arcs of golden lightning spread through its body, hurting the monster even more. It was then followed by fireballs and fire lances that showered from above. The timing was right and the monster couldn’t even retaliate. They exploded right straight into its gaping mouth, causing blood to shower upwards like a fountain. A large number of sharp teeth were broken, and the monster wriggled violently, thrashing everything around it.

Jonathan and the armored knight hurriedly avoided its thrashing tentacles. Rain who was also desperately dodging the random, berserking attacks, turned his head as he heard a melodic verse, and turned towards the red-robed mage, his eyes looking fixedly at him.

At first, it was a language he does not understand, including those from his chanting before but gradually the words started to change. Wait… this language, why does it sound very familiar? He frowned as he put all his focus on listening the melodic verses of the red-robed mage.

“[email protected]$^%in, %4hand, $5flame, t^hat can torch the world, of f#lame of heaven, reduce thy enemy to ashes-”

[You have obtained [Balkan Empire’s Language (fragment)]! Your understanding of Ancient Language (Balkan Empire’s Language) had risen!]

Ancient Language?

Rain looks at the message window with a surprised but curious expression. Balkan Empire’s Language? He recalled the books he couldn’t read in Stagna’s collection. And he remembered Stagna saying they were from an Ancient Civilization called Balkan Empire. And even Stagna has yet to read it since she doesn’t know the language.

He tried to decipher it before and had some success, but there was still always a gap he couldn’t reach no matter how much he tried to read the book, and the Language couldn’t be learned. It doesn’t help the fact that there are only 2 books he can study with.

Now, he once again manages to increase his understanding of the language.

It truly is an amazing coincidence… the spell tongue used by mages, or at least, used by the red-robed mage; Jin, was from the Balkan Language.

With this, I should be able to replicate Jin’s Magic Spell!

Up until now, he had never seen any magic-user aside from the Lamians. Since the Lamians were innate magic creatures, they all practice chantless magic. Thus, he had never used or even heard someone chanting spells. This was the first time. And this made him somewhat curious.

The red-robed man was chanting it softly, and it seems like he was reciting was a very long poem. There was even a melodic tune on it as if he was singing, it was quite pleasant to listen into.

Still, the modern mages’ magic spell doesn’t use the current language…instead, they used an Ancient Language as a Spell Catalyst, huh…

Balkan Empire?

[Balkan Empire. According to still, alive recorded history, it’s one of the biggest, and largest ancient magical empires that ruled the center of the Continent a long time ago- founded more than 2, 000 to 3, 000 years ago. Their influence spread widely, almost covering the entire Continent. And is among the few civilizations that have influence still alive even now. Most of the Magic Culture, Practice, Ancient Books, and many more are written in the language from this time.]

Sylphy said, giving a timely description.

Rain listened as he was quite interested in this Ancient Empire. Suddenly, he felt the frightening fluctuation of mana and he raised his head in awe. At the head of the massive worm, fire elements congealed, which after a faint spark was ignited into flames, causing a column of fire that swallowed the entire monster.

The monster let out a piercing shriek, causing a ringing noise inside their minds, making them dizzy. Furthermore, because they are quite close to the target, the splash of scorching heat slaps them. Still, Jonathan and the others are not simple warriors. Though somewhat burned by the heat, it was nothing to them…their resistance to fire magic was quite high.

But not for Zia.

It seems like, within the team, she has the lowest resistance. Especially to fire. Her face instantly turned red, not from embarrassment but the scorching heat, and even her brows furrowed painfully. Nevertheless, she grits her teeth and endured the wave of heat as she raised her sword, preparing to attack.

However, at this moment, noticing her expression, Rain suddenly slowed down, and grasped her waist with his arm, hugging her. Zia’s body stiffened, and so were her eyes widening. What is he doing?! Not knowing what Rain was doing. However, before she could say anything, she saw a translucent membrane covering them like a bubble, and the scorching heat drastically disappeared.

What followed next was the comforting sensation that flows through her body, and the small cuts and burns seemed to recover immediately. This was Rain’s [Protective Shield] skill and [Health Recovery (Weak)] skill.

Though, because of the nature of the skill, only his body can be protected inside the spherical shield. But doing this, one can also absorb others inside the shield- with limitations of course. At his current level of this skill, he can only create a spherical barrier that can encompass two people.

“You know a Healing Skill as well?” Zia asked weirdly as they landed at the top of a branch.

Rain nodded as he separated from her.

Now, she was dumbfounded, and she stared at the black-haired boy weirdly. It’s not a Recovery Magic from the Light or Water Department Magic, since she didn’t hear him chant nor felt the fluctuation of magic power. And also there was no other effect that resembled one, such as the mellow light orb of the Light Magic or the Spherical wave of the Water Magic.

So she easily concluded that the healing skill and the protective shield that protected them was an extra skill. An instant-cast magic-type skill. One of the rarest among the recorded skills. And something that can only be obtained through God's Gift, or magic tomes found in ruins.

But how many skills did this boy possess?

From the [Inventory] skill and the [Fire Manipulation] skill to this one, he has at least, four Skills. Though there are people who possess five or more skills, they obtained through their years of living. How old is this boy?

Even if he is a Genius, Extra Skills are not that easily obtained. He’s a Monster. He’s not just a Dual Skill Holder like the others had assumed. Perhaps, he even had more of them… still, is that even possible?

There are only three known ways one can obtain a skill; First, is obtained through the Gift of Gods, or what they call a Blessing. Often, among these cases are Unique Skills, thus, anyone who has it was called Chosen Ones.

The second was Skill Books, Tomes, or Orbs. These Rare items can be found in Dungeons, Labyrinths, or Ancient Ruins. They are very rare and uncommon, but from time to time, they do appear in the market, becoming a sensation every time.

And third… and also the hardest, was obtaining an extra skill, through training.

If one trained one skill for a few or more years, there’s a chance of it becoming a skill. Though, it’s not absolute as obtaining skills needed specific requirements to achieve. Though some skills can be obtained by following training manuals that were passed down, most of these skills are just simple and basic skills. Most even were combat-related skills.

Nothing special.

That’s why most people used the second and third methods to obtain more skills. After all, it’s not like all the people in the world can use Magic. 60 to 70% of the human population cannot use magic. Thus, most people rely on skills.

But still, as mentioned by the others, having two or more extra skills, for common people is already a remarkable achievement. And most especially, possessing two or more powerful magic skills, be it attack, defensive, or support–type skills such as [Inventory], [Flame Manipulation], and even a [Healing Ability] that differs from one’s own Class, is nigh impossible.

Having them can be considered chosen ones. Those skill tomes that can be found in ancient ruins or dungeons rarely have something good on them- most of them are useless, or trash skills.

And yet this boy… he easily displayed four Extra Skills.

Even the Geniuses of the Great Noble Families of Empires are not that extravagant.

Just who is this boy?

“Now, we’re even,”

“…?!”

Rain smiled, not answering Zia’s question. He turned towards the burning worm that was again attempting to dive underground. But Jonathan and the others immediately made their move again, not letting the monster escape.

However, no matter what they do, they would not be able to stop the monster from diving back into the ground. The toughness of its scaled body, and even the incredible vitality it possesses that puts even cockroaches to shame, are not something easily penetrated even with their powerful skills and magic.

Rain knows that either the giant worm escaped first or that they would have to fight against it for a very long time, which either way is something he was not fond of happening. He considered his options for a moment before finally, he let out a sigh. They’ll eventually know about his true powers anyway. There’s no point in hiding it now.

And besides, they did follow him in this dangerous, and reckless whim of his without hesitation. They are trustworthy people. And besides, getting afraid and anxious now would be looking down upon them. It’s his time to show some backbone to them… and also, return their sincerity.

“Get back!”

Making up his mind, the look on his face changed and his aura surged stronger that even Zia felt the change in him. Once again she was surprised and even started to doubt if he was still the boy they had been with up until now.

His voice might be soft, but it's already loud enough that it reached everyone's ears. Jonathan immediately stopped attacking and look at Rain.

Looking at the black-haired boy in confusion, he wondered what he wanted. However, subconsciously following his voice, he didn’t rush again and instead jumped backward. So did the others, waiting on what Rain was about to do.

The giant worm’s head is now back on the deep earth, but there is still fire on its body. This is already enough, he thought. Rain reached out his hands; his left hand glowed with a red spherical light that shots toward the monster's body.

Invoking a series of hex magic skills such as; [Added Fire Damage] curse to increase the damage from flames. [Flame Weakness] -decreasing the giant worm’s Fire Resistance, and [Flame Meltpoint] a Fire hex Magic Skill that weakens armor, and further increases the damage caused by fire or heat.

Immediately, the flames burned stronger, and the monster also shrieks even louder due to being burned alive. Rain felt the heavy burden of casting three different skills simultaneously, still, he grit his teeth and endured. And then, after gathering an incredible amount of magic, his right hand clenched.

It’s time!

Rain started changing the flow of his magic power, and the element of fire started congealing around him. Unlike Jin, the Red-robed Mage, he doesn’t need to chant. Or rather, he doesn’t know about any chanting spells. He controls his spells through his mind- though, this consumes too much mana compared to normal Mages, but with his enormous mana pool, it’s not a problem at all. At least, he can cast that spell successfully.

With the red-robed mage attack a while ago, the monster should have been siege by burning heat outside and inside of its body.

[Inferno] skill was a 4th Tier Skill that attacks the target with hell-like fire, at the same time, burned its inside, including organs. It’s a deadly skill that consumes an incredible amount of mana that often can deal instant kill. If not for the giant worm's incredible vitality, it would have keeled over and died.

Rain felt magic power running through his veins, and he felt exhausted, his magic power almost depleted.

*Boooooooom!*

Immediately after, under the shock and startled gazes of the people around him, a massive explosion occurred on the monster that was originally covered with flames, trying to dive back into the earth.

The ground trembled and exploded as if a bomb had been detonated underneath, revealing a scorched wriggling monster that came flying from underground.

“That’s [Conflagration] Spell!! A 3rd Grade Fire Spell!!”

Jin who had witnessed such a scene exclaimed in shock. Then, his head whipped towards Rain, looking at him as if he was looking at a monster.

Though, [Conflagration] was not an uncommon Magic Spell, learning it was harder than trying to learn a 4th Grade spell. It’s even harder than a normal 5th Grade Spell due to mana output. More so, the area of the spell depends on the user’s magic power. And to think Rain can cover that large area easily- just how much mana he possesses in that small body of his?

In addition, what makes [Conflagration] a difficult magic spell to control, is because, it needed an incredibly high level of control of magic power, or else, if it fails, the Mage might detonate the fire elements around him as well, causing a pitiful suicidal death. Worst, even if he succeeded he might also explode his comrades surrounding the target. There are already a lot of cases of that happening before. That’s why it’s a very strong spell, but it’s the least favorite by many Fire mages.

Jin admits that even he didn’t dare to use [Conflagration] Magic if possible-especially at this moment, since, due to his [Inferno] he had just cast, the fire elements had gathered densely in the area and was now running amok. One mistake, and the entire place might be swallowed in a very massive explosion.

And yet this boy…

Is he not scared that he would engulf the entire area in flames?

Or is he that confident that he would not fail...!

“...furthermore, he even cast the magic, chantless!”

Just how much magic power had he used to do something like that?

This time, it was real magic…the fire elemental fluctuation was perceived even by Jonathan and Zia. Though, he had suspicions about it before, since Rain possesses the Fire Element Extra Skill, still when it’s confirmed that he can use Magic, somehow Jin felt it was too shocking.

He’s a Monster Tamer, isn’t he?

If not even… a swordsman or a fighter, right? He’s very strong and fast in close combat, after all.

Though I heard that Monster Tamers are capable of using Magic compared to other specialized Classes, however, their capability to use Magic was limited, and that they can only use basic elemental skills since their skill set is occupied most by support-type skills, or Familiar-related abilities. I’ve never heard of a Monster Tamer that can cast a 2nd Grade Magic Spell… much less, a 3rd Grade like the [Conflagration] Spell!

“He’s a Master Mage?!”

“Just how old is he? He even mastered [Chantless] skill, high enough to cast [Conflagration] instantly! Even a Master Mage might not even be able to do that! His Magic Power and Mana are at least at the level of a Grandmaster... this is absurd!”

Thanks to his high fire resistance, Rain felt nothing of the heat from the surging flames. He didn’t avert his attention to the monster at all, so he didn’t notice how shaken and surprised Jonathan and the others were by his magic prowess. Suddenly, his expression brightened, his lips grinning in excitement as he stared straight at the wriggling monster.

Half of its body was finally revealed on the surface, and even in some places, its tough scales seemed to have melted due to the heat and had now revealed burned flesh underneath, becoming its fatal weak point. And with its flesh burned badly, its vitality had dwindled a lot, making it on the verge of dying.

They cannot let it escape now!

“It won’t last long! Kill it immediately!”

Hearing his words, Jonathan and the others snapped out of their daze and immediately turntheir attention back to the struggling monster. Seeing its condition they hurriedly went into the offensive position again.

The monster worm, whose resistance to fire magic has drastically weakened, felt the burning fire more than before. Not to mention the pain of its internal organs burning. It should be feeling an excruciating pain at this moment, as it wriggled on the ground, helpless.

While seeing the battle was entering the breaking point, Jonathan and the others including Rain rushed forward with incredibly fierce momentum. The red-robed mage left in the rear and started chanting another magic spell as well.

The monster’s carapace was thick and harder than even metal. But with a continuous attack by them, the monster’s blood dyed the entire place. Fire spears and fireballs continued to rain down on the monster, while Jonathan, Rain, Zia, and the full-armored Shield Knight attacked it with their bladed weapons.

Rain invoked [Eye of Death] and saw several black points on its large body, most around the gap of its carapace that had its scales melted, revealing its burned flesh- he focused his attack on those black points, dealing even more damage to the monster.

Cyan, who had finally completely absorbed the Rock Panther, came out of her hiding place as well and attacked. Her attacks were even more effective, and more direct, as she covered a small part of the monster’s body, as much as she could with her own slime body, and slowly activated her Devour Ability. With the naked eye, everyone could see the monster’s carapace being corroded. It was frightening.

Cryaaaaaahhhh!!

A few minutes after, with its last cry, the horrifying monster finally took its last breath. It tried to counter with its tentacles, and attempted to dive back into the ground, and escaped. But Rain had already planted [Slowing Mine], as well as, trap magic skill [Exploding Mine] and [Magic Trap] around the place. And so, when it tried to escape, it triggered the trap mines and another set of explosions occurred. In the end, it was killed almost single-handedly by the combined attacks of the group.