Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

The burly man tore off his outer robe, revealing a dark red, scale-like inner armor underneath.

His muscles were bulging, and his body reeked of a strong, bloody stench.

He crossed his arms, grinned, and looked at Ian like he was looking at prey that had fallen into a trap.

"As expected, he's here, 'Potion Genius'." The burly man licked his lips.

"Phoenix guessed right, you're particularly interested in these 'stones'...we've been following you all this way."

He was followed by a man and a woman, both dressed in dark red robes, with cold eyes.

The male wizard toyed with a crystal ball that was constantly oozing blood, while the female wizard's fingertips were shrouded in dark red blood mist.

Ian's gaze swept over the three men, finally settling on the burly man's feet.

There were a few inconspicuous, dried traces of dark red powder.

It was the tracking powder from the deep red corpse at the entrance of the passage.

He cleaned up the part that had gotten on him, but it seems the other party had a way to trace the "source" of the powder.

They came specifically to target him.

He just tidied it up casually at the time and didn't really care.

"Blood Slaughter." The burly man pointed to himself, his smile sinister.

"Remember this name, so that when you die and your soul howls, you'll know who sent you on your way."

Before he finished speaking, his body suddenly lunged forward.

The speed was so fast that it left afterimages. His right hand formed a claw with five fingers, and dark red blood light rose from the fingertips as he grabbed straight for Ian's face.

Before the claw wind arrived, a violent and bloodthirsty mental shock rushed into Ian's mind.

It was as if countless screams were exploding in my ears, and I saw a vision of mountains of corpses and seas of blood before my eyes.

If it were an ordinary mist-wielding wizard, this would cause them to become mentally confused and sluggish.

However, at the core of Ian's mental sea, those pale golden light spots rippled slightly, dissolving the mental impact into nothingness.

His eyes were cold, unwavering, and his left fist was clenched.

The jade-like radiance beneath his skin was brighter than ever before, as he charged head-on at Blood Butcher's blood claws!

Bang! ! !

Fists and claws collided, creating a shockwave!

The savage grin on Blood Butcher's face froze instantly.

He felt as if he had slammed a claw into a piece of ancient black iron!

No, it's harder than black iron.

The force of the recoil made his entire arm go numb, and the blood-red light at his fingertips dimmed slightly.

And the other party... didn't move an inch?!

"You..." Blood Butcher's eyes showed surprise for the first time.

He followed the most brutal bloodline madness path of the Crimson Royal Court.

He tempers his body day and night with the blood and vengeful spirits of ferocious beasts and humans, and among those of the same level, he has never encountered an opponent in close combat!

Isn't this kid a potion master?!

How could a physical body be this strong?!

Ian didn't give him any time to think.

In the instant of the clash, he had already shaped a gravity-collapsed ball with his right hand.

But the target wasn't Blood Butcher, but the male sorcerer behind him who was casting a spell to assist him.

The small, gray ball slipped from my hand and disappeared.

The next instant, she appeared before the male wizard.

The wizard's expression changed drastically, and the blood crystal in his hand burst forth with a dazzling red light, instantly forming several layers of viscous blood shields in front of him.

But the moment the ball touched the blood shield...

hum!

A terrifying suction force erupted.

The blood shield was torn and twisted like a rag, collapsing inward.

The wizard screamed and frantically flew backward, barely managing to escape the center of gravity.

At the same time, he bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood shield shone brightly, barely managing to withstand the collapsing engulfment, but the person behind it was deathly pale and weak.

Just that one moment of distraction.

A barely perceptible golden glint flashed in Ian's eyes.

Intangible and formless, a "line" thinner than a hair, shoots out from the depths of the pupil.

In an instant, it covered a distance of tens of meters and pierced the wizard's forehead.

The wizard's body stiffened abruptly.

The terror and deathly paleness on his face were frozen in time.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

His gaze quickly became unfocused, his body swayed, and he collapsed softly to the ground.

Thin streaks of blood seeped from the nostrils and ears.

His soul had been completely pierced and annihilated by that spiritual power containing crystallization properties.

The entire room fell silent.

Blood Butcher and the witch both widened their eyes at the same time.

"Crystal... Crystallized silk thread?! How is that possible?! You're only level one..."

The witch cried out, her voice shrill and filled with unbelievable fear.

How could a first-level wizard possess the means to directly attack the soul and ignore energy defenses?!

That's the mark of a Level Two Crystallization Wizard!

Blood Butcher's eyes finally showed horror, but it was quickly replaced by an even more ferocious rage.

"Kill him!!!"

He roared, his blood and energy burning wildly throughout his body.

If we don't fight this hard, we'll die!

His skin surface was covered with a dense network of dark red blood vessels.

His aura surged, instantly breaking through the peak of the first level and faintly touching a critical point.

He stomped his right foot hard on the ground, causing a ring of cracks to appear, and his body slammed into Ian again like a cannonball.

This time, it was faster and more powerful.

The claw-like wind tore through the air, emitting a shrill, ghostly wail!

At the same time, the witch realized what was happening, gritted her teeth and screamed, and pushed with both hands.

Three ferocious venomous snakes formed from fresh blood lunged at Ian, blocking his space to dodge left and right.

On the other side, Gaga felt a relief from the pressure.

The three alchemical golems suddenly stopped attacking and stood motionless, as if they had lost control.

On the other side, Gaga felt a relief from the pressure.

The three alchemical golems suddenly stopped attacking and stood motionless, as if they had lost control.

Without hesitation, it flashed and pounced on the witch!

The witch sensed a fierce wind coming from behind and had to be distracted, controlling a blood snake to turn around and defend herself.

Gaga feinted, then suddenly turned around in mid-air.

With a flap of its wings, countless fine, shadowy feathers shot towards the witch's face like steel needles.

The witch dodged hastily, and the blood snake formation she controlled immediately fell into disarray.

Despite facing Blood Butcher's ferocious onslaught and the siege of the remaining two Blood Serpents, Ian remained expressionless.

He leaned back slightly, as if to take the blow head-on.

But just as Blood Butcher's claws were about to touch his chest...

His figure blurred eerily for a moment.

[Mimicry] Special Effects Activated!

Blood Butcher's claw, which he was determined to use, missed its target!

Ian's true form appeared three meters to his left.

He extended his right index finger, the tip of which was a purplish-white, compressed, and extremely cold light, and gently touched Blood Butcher's ribs.

An enhanced version of the Frost Ray, a combination of extreme low temperatures and intense annihilation!

Blood Butcher was extremely experienced in combat and remained calm despite being startled.

He parried with his left arm while simultaneously changing direction with his right claw, aiming for Ian's heart.

But Ian's gesture was just a feint.

The real killer move is under your feet.

He stomped his right foot on the ground silently.

It's not an attack, but... activation.

On the ground, the ancient defensive runes that he had just temporarily suppressed with a neutralizing agent were instantly detonated by his skillful mental power!

boom!

A blinding white light erupted from the ground, though it wasn't a full-scale attack from the defensive array.

However, the close-range energy impact also caused Blood Butcher's movements to falter, and his protective blood energy shook violently.

In that brief moment of stagnation.

From Ian's sleeve, a transparent crystal ball the size of a walnut slid out, its interior containing a slow flow of three-colored energy.

Black Hole Potion.

He flicked his finger lightly.

The crystal ball traced an arc and landed at Blood Butcher's feet.

Although Blood Butcher didn't know what it was, he instinctively felt a deadly threat, roared, and tried to retreat.

But the [Frost Ray] that Ian had previously pointed out was now truly unleashed!

Extremely cold blue-white frost instantly spread across Blood Butcher's legs.

Although it couldn't completely freeze him, it slowed his movements down by a tiny bit.

Just this little bit.

The crystal ball fell to the ground.

Click.

With a soft click, tiny cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere.

Blood Butcher's pupils suddenly contracted.

next second.

No sound.

Only light.

The ultimate darkness, devouring all light, burst forth from the crack.

It instantly expanded into an absolute black sphere with a diameter of two meters.

Blood Butcher only had time to let out a short, sharp roar filled with shock, anger, and fear.

His lower body was completely swallowed by darkness!

The black sphere lasted for two breaths, then suddenly collapsed inward and disappeared.

He vanished completely from the waist down.

The cross-section is smooth, without any bleeding, because flesh and bones were instantly annihilated into the most basic particles.

His upper body was thrown to the ground, his face still contorted with disbelief and terror, his eyes wide open as if about to burst.

"impossible……"

A hoarse sound came from his throat, and his life force was rapidly draining away with the blood.

Ian walked over and looked down at him.

His gaze was as calm as if he were looking at a stone.

Blood Butcher's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, whether it was a curse or a plea for mercy.

But Ian didn't give him a chance.

Lift your foot and step down.

Click.

The sound of skull shattering was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent hall.

Blood Butcher's body twitched twice, then remained completely still.

On the other side, the witch saw Blood Butcher die a horrible death and her soul scattered, so she turned around and tried to run away.

But Gaga had been waiting for her for a long time.

The Shadow Walk technique activated, appearing like a ghost in her escape path.

[Eye of Calamity] Full power activated!

The witch screamed, hallucinations flooded her vision, and she staggered.

Its cawing beak pecked fiercely at the back of her neck, piercing her spine.

The witch collapsed to the ground.

The battle is over.

From the start to the complete annihilation of all three, it took no more than a minute.

Ian took a breath, his chest rising and falling slightly.

Continuously using crystallized threads to detonate runes and [gravity collapse spheres] consumes a significant amount of mental and energy resources.

But he had no time to rest.

When the black hole potion erupted just now, the energy fluctuations that annihilated everything, as well as his own abyssal aura, must have leaked out.

Who knows what kind of monstrous things slumber deep within this underground palace?

"Giggle, clean up the battlefield, quick!"

He walked quickly to the Blood Butcher's corpse and began to search it rapidly.

He pulled out a dark red metal token from the hidden compartment of the Blood Slaughter Armor; it was warm to the touch.

It is engraved with a burning crown, carrying the distinctive bloody smell of deep red.

He then ripped another dimensional ring off his finger and violently broke through the restriction with his mental power.

He glanced at it and saw that besides the magic stone materials, there was also a recording crystal. He didn't have time to examine it closely and stuffed it into his pocket along with the token.

The witches and wizards followed the same method with their dimensional bags, taking away everything of value and piling up corpses.

Ian flicked out a wisp of embers from his Frost Ray, setting the three corpses ablaze.

Then he turned and rushed into the passage.

The quack shrank and flew back to his shoulder, its feathers a little messy, but its eyes were bright.

But just as they rushed out of the passage, they returned to the main road of that illusionary corridor.

The entire corridor suddenly began to shake violently!

It wasn't caused by the aftershocks of a battle, but rather it came from deeper underground.

Extremely dull, like the roar of a giant beast awakening.

The dark purple, distorted sky above began to flicker wildly.

The reliefs on the wall, those distorted human faces, all opened their eyes at the same time.

Countless malevolent, ancient gazes fell upon Ian.

An indescribable, savage, and hungry will surged forth from the depths of the corridor like a tide.

Ian has been locked in.

Locked in... those few newly acquired void anchor stones in his dimensional ring.

Ian felt a chill run down his spine, and his heart felt like it was being gripped by an icy hand.

run!

Ignoring all other directions, he sprinted towards the direction where the "rule fluctuations" he sensed were the weakest and also the most "stable"!

The roar behind us grew closer and closer, accompanied by the ear-piercing sounds of rocks tearing apart and metal twisting.

And... a wet, sticky sound, like countless suckers wriggling.

It looked like some enormous creature was crawling out of the ground and chasing after us.

The passageway began to deform, the walls squeezed inward, and cracks appeared in the floor.

Ian gritted his teeth, took out another vial of [Cat Potion] from his dimensional ring, uncorked it, and poured it into his mouth.

The drug takes effect, instantly boosting reaction speed and agility.

He was like a shadow, frantically darting through the twisted and deformed corridors.

Gaga gripped his shoulders tightly, her little eyes filled with tension.

"Ian...that thing...it's so fast!"

Ian could sense it without turning around.

Hundreds of meters behind, that suffocating aura was closing in at an alarming speed!

Wherever it passed, the walls and floors of the corridor were covered with a layer of dark red, viscous, lifelike threads.

Can't stop!

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he pulled a Black Hole Potion from his pocket.

He made three in total, used one just now, and has two left.

He held it tightly in his hand.

The road beneath my feet is constantly collapsing under the erosion of the silken threads behind me, like waves.

The corridor ahead still seemed endless.

Only endless twisting and ever-approaching, ancient, hungry roars.