Chapter 72: One-shot, What’s There to Say?

“These are fourth-tier magical beasts! This isn’t a joke!”

“Big brother, how about we just forget it… Let’s pull back a bit. Fighting second or third-tier beasts is fast too!”

Kasiya’s trio had already retreated to a safe distance.

Kasiya had felt it clearly while they were being chased just now.

In the eyes of a fourth-tier magical beast, she—currently only at the second tier—was nothing more than prey that could be crushed at will.

That was the instinctive fear born from the suppression of ranks.

“Are you… really going to deal with two at the same time?”

There was a hint of uncertainty in Ibuki Mio’s voice.

She took a stance, unsheathed her blade, and stood by Lomyu’s side, ready for defense.

“If anything happens, I will block them for you.”

“My attributes are better for suppression, perhaps…?”

Karenina did not finish her sentence.

She did not want to question the authority of the examiner.

But believing him did not mean there would be a chance to turn back once they started.

“Let’s test the feel of it.”

Lomyu didn’t feel a shred of fear.

He only had the confidence of a veteran player.

Fourth-tier magical beasts were indeed strong, but they had their limits and weaknesses.

Besides, the team’s current strength had long since exceeded what was necessary to handle two fourth-tier monsters.

Lomyu pulled a card from the system warehouse, its surface shimmering with a faint gold dragon-scale pattern.

[Dragonflame Art].

“Don’t let me down, senior.”

Lomyu wanted to see what kind of tricks a fifth-tier alchemist could pull off when using dragon blood as a catalyst.

He injected his mana.

Buzz.

The vibration of the card traveled from his fingertips, and a surge of scorching energy was instantly activated.

Without the slightest pause, he aimed the card at the magical beasts inside the lair.

“Lock on.”

With a single thought.

In an instant, four fist-sized crimson-gold fireballs condensed into shape in front of him out of thin air.

The temperature of the air rose abruptly.

The surface of the fireballs didn’t have flickering flames; instead, they presented a restrained, almost liquid-like energy texture. The golden light at the center pierced through the crimson outer layer.

“Go.”

Lomyu let go.

The four fireballs made no sound as they flew.

They simply vanished.

In the next heartbeat, they appeared directly around the two Flame-armored Lizards, sealing off all paths of retreat!

“What?!”

Even Ibuki Mio, who had the best dynamic vision, couldn’t see the trajectory of those fireballs!

The four fireballs only lightly touched the Flame-armored Lizards’ bodies.

Then, the light exploded.

Destructive mana formed a circuit and began to rotate.

Collapsing inward, then devouring outward.

The indestructible dark red scales provided no resistance whatsoever against that crimson-gold light; they were directly decomposed and evaporated.

Muscle, bone, internal organs… the tough bodies that fourth-tier magical beasts took pride in were as fragile as paper before the dragonflame.

The two massive Flame-armored Lizards had barely felt the pain and started to thrash their bodies before they were turned to ash within that all-sweeping radiance.

Boom!

A pillar of crimson-gold light shot into the sky, dispersing the dark clouds over the basin, leaving behind four charred, massive craters whose edges were still turning to glass.

A mountain breeze blew past, scattering the final embers.

The world fell silent.

Kasiya’s trio stood with their mouths agape and eyes bulging, their minds a total blank.

One-shotted?

Two fourth-tier magical beasts… were one-shotted?

“What kind of card is that?!”

You’ve got to be kidding!

These were magical beasts with high attribute resistance that ate fire for breakfast!

“As expected of you.”

Karenina let out a breath, her tensed body finally relaxing.

What terrifying power.

Indeed, Russell’s mage system was still far, far inferior to the Duchy’s alchemy system.

This alchemy card, with power far exceeding standard specifications, was the best proof.

“Not bad.”

Lomyu took back the card. Feeling half of his mana instantly drained from his body, his head was buzzing slightly.

He asked Silvia to make a grenade, and she ended up forging a missile?!

She had actually managed to integrate the power of dragon blood into the card!

“An SSR… truly terrifying…”

“You can’t give an SSR from the same period a chance to grow, otherwise, in the future… sigh!”

He lamented his own fate.

Lomyu now understood a bit why those SSR characters with special bloodlines and identities in the late game were all so unreasonably strong.

“What are you all standing there for?”

Lomyu turned back and looked at the众人 who had turned to stone.

“Go down and pick up the loot.”

“Our goal is a hundredth-rank relic. We’re just getting started.”

***

Meanwhile, in the entrance area of the Southern Valley.

“Roar!”

A second-tier Spine-back Boar was sliced into two pieces by a heavy blade, its pungent blood splashing all over the ground.

“That’s it?”

Lilith retracted her greatsword and wiped the blood spots off her face, her eyes filled with irritation.

“You guys, are you done yet?”

Her team members answered breathlessly, “Captain, this is already the seventh nest, but they’re all these low-level beasts. Clearing them out is a total waste of time!”

“The gains are too low. We’ve only gotten two first-tier relics so far.”

Lilith looked into the distance. At the end of her vision were dense jungles and rolling mountains.

They had been advancing for several hours, yet it felt as if they were still standing in place.

The low-tier magical beast nests were too densely distributed to bypass, and fighting through them was a pure drain on physical strength and mana.

Right then.

On the distant horizon, a powerful shockwave shot into the sky.

Boom!

That energy was incredibly strong, carrying a crimson-gold glow that seemed to dye even the horizon with golden light.

Although the distance was extremely far, that pure and overbearing mana fluctuation was clearly transmitted to the senses of every spellcaster present.

Across the entire entrance area, dozens of teams currently struggling with low-level beasts froze simultaneously.

Everyone raised their heads and looked toward the depths of the valley.

“What is that?”

“That direction… it’s the depths of the valley! The high-level beast zone!”

“Impossible! Who could reach that place in such a short time? We haven’t even made it out of the perimeter!”

An uproar broke out.

Everyone was shocked by the scene before them.

How long had it been since the exam started?

Not even a single morning had passed.

Someone was already fighting in the high-level zone?

Furthermore, they had caused such a startling phenomenon.

“Captain…”

In the Black Queen team, a mage responsible for perception underwent a dramatic change in expression.

“That mana fluctuation… the intensity is too high!”

“There’s no way a third-tier spell could cause that!”

Lilith’s red eyes narrowed as she stared fixedly at the sky where the light pillar had vanished.

She knew perfectly well it wasn’t a third-tier spell.

The texture of that energy was filled with destruction and majesty, even causing a slight throb in her warrior bloodline.

Fourth-tier?

Or even… higher?

On the other side.

The White Queen team had also come to a halt.

Elena pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, the lenses reflecting the afterglow of the distant sky.

“The analysis results?” she asked softly.

The elven hunter beside her closed her eyes, then opened them a moment later with a grave expression.

“I felt it… but…”

“Speak.”

“If the fluctuation just now was correct, it means a team has already reached the final zone and has engaged in combat with fourth-tier magical beasts.”

“The Chief’s team, who used [Shadow Mist] to vanish right at the start… their direction was that way.”

Elena’s fingertips lightly tapped her arm.

Indeed, it was him.

Kafnier.

“As expected of the Chief, he really is an interesting man.”

Lilith gripped the greatsword in her hand, her mouth splitting into a smile full of battle intent.

“All units, advance at full speed!”

She didn’t want to waste any more time in a place like this.

“Captain, the Black Queen is moving. Should we…”

“Wait a moment.”

Elena, however, fell into deeper thought.

“You saw the energy just now. If we follow the Black Queen team, we can save a lot of effort clearing out low-level monsters.”

“We’ll make our move when they encounter the Chief’s team.”

That kind of trump card?

A spell of at least the third tier or higher?

How is that possible? Who could have created an alchemy card like that in their first year…

In fact, in the very first month of school?!