John switched to his staff, the powerful magical energy surging. A series of spells roared towards Evan in the distance.
“This guy’s cooldowns are so quick?” Evan was startled, cursing angrily, “Joel, you idiot, stop this guy!”
He couldn’t take another hit from John’s attack. Seeing the gathering demon soldiers nearby, he didn’t hesitate to rush into them.
He using their bodies as a shield against John’s magic.
Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions echoed. The demon soldiers fell in droves, while Evan was struck by two Thunderstorms, his health dropping below ten thousand.
One more hit and he would be done for.
Panicked, Evan turned and ran towards the fortress behind him.
“You can’t escape,” John said coldly, switching to his dagger and activating the Shadow Strike skill.
In a flash, he darted through the demon soldier ranks, aiming directly at Evan.
“Damn it! Shadow Mirage!” Sensing John closing in from behind, Evan cursed, unwilling to confront him directly. His body split into several clones, each darting in different directions. Swish!
A cold gleam flashed as John struck one of the clones, which then vanished.
It wasn’t the real Evan.
“So he has a life-saving skill like this!” John was surprised. Seeing the clones scatter, he switched back to his staff and cast Rain of Fire, covering the dozen clones.
“Aah!” A scream pierced the air. The clones vanished, leaving only one figure scrambling towards the fortress.
It was undoubtedly the real Evan.
John raised his staff and two Lightning spells descended.
Boom! Boom!
Evan, unable to evade, fell to the ground, his remaining health depleted.
[Killed 70-level Epic Demon Guard, gained 4960 XP]
[Plunder skill activated, gained Strength +100, Spirit +100, Luck +1]
No skills or talents were plundered.
John disappointing.
“Human, I didn’t expect you to kill Evan. You’ve truly surprised me!” Joel’s voice came from behind.
He showed no sorrow for Evan’s death; rather, he seemed quite pleased.
Evan was dead, making Joel the new leader here.
As for the human before him, he didn’t see him as a threat.
The only reason Evan was killed was that he was too weak, combined with the human’s sneak attack.
“What are you all standing around for? Get him and avenge Lord Evan!” Joel ordered coldly. He knew the demon soldiers weren’t a match for John, but he didn’t care about their lives. The demon soldiers snapped out of their shock, roaring as they charged towards John. According to the beggar, there should be over three thousand demon soldiers in the Dark Land.
The ones here were just over a thousand.
John guessed that the remaining soldiers were likely killed off by these two demon guards.
Whoosh!
Endless flames enveloped the area as John cast Rain of Fire.
The 60-level demon soldiers, equivalent to elite bosses with ten thousand health points, couldn’t withstand John’s fiery assault.
Agonized screams filled the air as demon soldiers died in droves.
[Killed 60-level demon soldier, gained 420 XP]
[Plunder skill activated, gained Strength +10, Spirit +10, Skill Point +1]
…
The notifications kept flashing as John reaped a bounty of attribute and skill points. Soon, all the demon soldiers were wiped out, leaving only Joel, the demon guard.
“Interesting. Human, your strength is impressive,” Joel remarked, his axe glowing with powerful magical energy.
“But this ends now. Dark Blade!” Joel roared as he swung his axe with mountain-splitting force.
John, however, remained unfazed, watching Joel’s movements closely. He cast a lightning spell, which struck before Joel’s attack landed.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the magical energy around Joel dissipated, and his skill was forcibly interrupted.
“Cough!” Joel spat out blood from the magical backlash, staring at John in disbelief. “You… you can interrupt skills!”
Such a high level of combat skill, he had only seen it in powerful Demon Kings.
Joel couldn’t believe that the human before him had a combat talent comparable to a Demon
King.
John looked at him with disdain, calmly saying, “If you had teamed up with Evan earlier, I might not have been able to take you both down. But now, you don’t even have a chance to
fight back.”
“Arrogant!” Joel was enraged by John’s words. Abandoning skill use, he charged directly at John, coldly declaring, “You underestimate the demons. Elemental Disruption!”
An eerie energy wave radiated out, causing the elemental forces around John to become chaotic and hard to control, preventing him from casting spells.
He still has such tricks up his sleeve!
John was a bit surprised; this had the same effect as the anti-magic seal, but the force was
even more overpowering.
The skills the demon guard had used so far were very enticing to him.
“Human, without your magic, let’s see how you handle me now!” Joel’s arrogant voice boomed as he charged at John, swinging his axe with sheer brute force, no finesse, just raw
power, aiming to crush John.
But John was not afraid. His true strength lay not in his magic but in his physical attacks.
Switching his staff for a dagger, he activated Death Whirlwind.
His figure blurred into shadows, deftly dodging Joel’s slashes while delivering precise strikes that made blood spray and damage numbers flash.
-1014
-997
-2084
–
John’s attacks included critical hits, rapidly depleting Joel’s health by over fifteen thousand.
“Piercing Strike!”
“Deadly Strike!”
Two more Assassin skills struck Joel with precision.
Reeling from the pain, Joel staggered back, his health plummeting, panic setting in.
This human was far stronger than he had anticipated.
He sensed death looming and knew it was too late to escape now.
“Human!” Joel stepped back, halting John’s attack, and quickly proposed, “You came here for the Demon King’s treasure, didn’t you? I’ll give you the treasure map if you let me go.” “Treasure map?” John was momentarily taken aback. This was the second time an enemy had
begged for mercy.
He sneered and asked, “Are you in cahoots with the Orcs?”
“Orcs, those filthy beasts!” Joel spat in disgust. “Human, do not insult me. I am a noble,
powerful demon.”
“Half a dozen of one, six of the other,” John scoffed, uninterested in further conversation. He
resumed his attack.
Killing Joel was essential for his class advancement.
As for the Demon King’s treasure, it would drop just as easily when he killed Joel.
“Damn it! You’ll regret slaughtering the demons!” Joel cursed as he realized John had no
intention of sparing him. He launched a desperate counterattack.
Despite having higher base attributes than John, Joel felt powerless against him.
It seemed like John could see through all his moves, while Joel couldn’t fend off John’s
relentless attacks.
Soon enough, Joel’s health was depleted, and he died with resentment in his heart.
[Killed level 70 Epic Demon Guard, gained 4960 experience points]
[Plunder Talent activated: you gained a B-rank talent, Dual Mastery]
[You have completed your class advancement quest and successfully advanced to a Tier 3
Wrath of the Gods Mage and a Tier 3 Phantom Assassin]
…
The notification popped up.
John had successfully completed his Tier 3 class advancement.
Moreover, he had plundered another talent.
John opened his status window to check.
[Dual Mastery: B-rank talent; Your physical attacks now include 50% magic damage. However, regular attacks consume 10 mana points, and physical skill attacks consume double
the mana points.]
John was speechless.
This talent drastically enhanced his physical attack and skill damage.
His Phantom Assassin class received yet another terrifying boost.
However, his main class was supposed to be Wrath of the Gods Mage.
John found it hard to accept; at this rate, his main class might become a mere decoration.
“Wow, I have accumulated this many skill points?” He noticed the number of skill points he had. Over the past few days, he had gathered more than three thousand skill points. This was enough to max out all his basic skills, with plenty to spare. “Upgrade,” John commanded, spending his skill points to max out all ten of his basic skills.
He still had 2044 skill points remaining.
John might be the only player to have maxed out his skills at the current career stage.
However, upgrading primary skills to intermediate skills required 100 skill points.
Additionally, each skill upgrade also required 100 skill points.
Even with the more than two thousand skill points remaining, John was still far from being
able to max out everything.
The journey to Tier 4 class advancement was still a long way off, giving him time to
accumulate more skill points gradually.
He set aside his concerns and examined the items dropped by the demon guards.
“Legendary gear!” John exclaimed as he held a black armor piece in his hand.
[Twilight Shadow Armor: Legendary; Usable by Tier 3 classes; Physical Defense +100, Magic Defense +100, Strength +100, Spirit +100]
All four attributes reached the maximum values for Tier 3 legendary gear.
The only downside was its tier; if it were a Tier 9 legendary item, its attributes would be
comparable to those of a low-grade divine artifact.
John immediately equipped the armor, along with the Blood Refining Belt dropped by the Orc
leader.
His strength saw a significant boost.
“City Building Order!” John exclaimed in surprise upon seeing a token on the ground.
He had unexpectedly acquired another City Building Order. However, he didn’t find the Demon King’s treasure that Joel had mentioned. “Could it be on the other demon guard?” John checked the items dropped by Evan.
“Another City Building Order?” he muttered, astonished. He had spent days previously without getting a single City Building Order.
Now, in this exploration of the Dark Lands, he had found two!
Had these items suddenly become so common?
John joyfully collected them and inspected the rest of Evan’s dropped items: 20 equipment
enhancement stones, 20 equipment embedding gems, and a Tier 3 legendary spear, which unfortunately could only be used by warriors or knights.
He decided to give it to Ritchie.
John stored the items, still finding no treasure map.
Was Joel trying to deceive him?
Gazing at the fortress before him, he quickly gathered all the loot dropped by the demon
soldiers and ventured into the city.