You are all my wings!

Now that the fight has progressed to this point, with Karl critically injured and the knights' stamina greatly depleted, simply using magic to control the pace from the outside is no longer enough; someone is needed to draw fire.

Although his Shadow Walker is only at the second tier, it is a rare class with skills stronger than those of ordinary warriors.

Moreover, he is more agile than the Four Horsemen and has the movement-type combat skill Shadow Leap, making him best suited for close-quarters combat.

Shadow Leap!

He immediately activated the core skill of the Shadow Walker, transforming into a shadow and disappearing from the spot.

Immediately afterward, the shadow behind the water-swallowing ape suddenly leaped up.

Infuse the magic sword with magic power, activating its sharpening enchantment.

The shadowy blade swirled around the edge of the sword before suddenly slashing down!

Combat Technique: Shadow Sword Slash!

Target: the base of the Water-Swallowing Ape's tail!

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Shadow Sword's Ascension

The Water-Swallowing Ape's tail is muscular, thick, and powerful, over forty centimeters in diameter and seven meters long, coiling flexibly like a giant python.

It was this tail that caused the knights to be in such a sorry state, disrupting their attack rhythm.

If we can cut off his tail, we can put more weight on the scales of victory in this battle.

laugh!!!!

Lyon slashed down with his Shadow Blade technique, but the resistance was so strong that the blade only penetrated a dozen centimeters before he felt it get stuck. He had no choice but to pull it out immediately and leap off the ground.

The water-swallowing ape roared in pain and swung its back hand at Leon, but Leon turned into a shadow and left, so the attack missed.

If Leon hadn't dodged decisively when his attack was blocked, he would have definitely taken the punch head-on, resulting in a horrific scene like Karl's, with his bones shattered.

This is also his combat style: safety first.

The next moment, Leon's shadow appeared six meters away, leaped up from the ground, and waved his hand to cast a spell.

Ice-type basic magic, Ice Blade! *5.

Magic -5.

Twenty-five ice blades flew out from both sides, heading towards the Water-Swallowing Ape.

Bang bang bang!!!

The water-swallowing ape turned around and swept its paw across the ground, deflecting most of the ice blades. Five or six of them slipped through and struck its body, creating a cloud of ice mist but failing to inflict any effective cuts.

However, the sudden outpouring of this icy mist completely obscured the Water-Swallowing Ape's vision.

At that moment, Mark seized the opportunity, leaping up from the side, his sword flashing with magical light, and slashing.

He aimed his sword at the large wound at the base of the Water-Swallowing Ape's tail.

The magical light on the blade emitted a sharp buzzing sound, and its speed increased instantly.

Tier 3 Combat Skill: Diagonal Slash!

laugh!!!!

The wound reopened by more than ten centimeters, but when the blade touched the tailbone of the water-swallowing ape, it got stuck and didn't go any further.

"Damn it! Why is it so hard to cut!"

Mark thought that if Leon, a magician, could cut such a large gap, he could definitely cut it off with his own efforts, so he unleashed his full power and spared no effort. However, he got stuck on his joint, making it extremely difficult to pull out. He was hanging on the base of the Water Swallowing Ape's tail, swaying back and forth, which was very embarrassing.

The water-swallowing ape roared in pain and swung its hand backward.

Mark had no choice but to abandon his sword and kick the water-swallowing ape in the rear, hoping to use the momentum to dodge.

call out!!!!

A fleeting afterimage suddenly streaked through the air.

That was the Water-Swallowing Ape's hand suddenly accelerating, striking Mark and swatting him away like a fly.

Mark, sent flying backward, was caught off guard and failed to muster any muscle defense. His plate armor shattered, and most of his bones and internal organs were broken. He rolled on the ground like a rag doll, his mangled flesh and blood splattered everywhere. It was clear that he was almost half dead and unable to get up again, only slightly better off than Karl.

Leon leaped out from another position and slashed down from under the Water Swallowing Ape's crotch.

His entire body was filled with magical power, which gathered at the blade and flashed with fierce light.

This time, Leon increased his magical power, aiming at another angle opposite the wound, and slashed down from the side with all his might.

laugh!!!!

Combat Technique: Shadow Sword!

The blade's power swiftly tore through flesh and blood, and after three attacks from different angles targeting the base of the tail, it finally ended at this moment.

Lyon's power surged forth, and he felt no further obstruction from the blade. It sliced ​​smoothly through the side of the Mark's Demon Sword, and he was suspended in mid-air by the upward force.

The long tail throbbed upwards with the force, then fell to the ground with a heavy thud due to its immense weight.

The Water-Swallowing Ape lost its tail, causing it to lose even more blood and its body to suddenly lose its balance. It landed on the mud swamp that Leon had created earlier, its right leg sinking deep into it.

[In a moment of crisis, a desperate strike is unleashed, and the second-tier combat skill, Shadow Sword, is upgraded to a third-tier combat skill.]

Before Lyon could even check the updated information on the panel, he waved his hand and activated a basic ice spell, extending the freeze to the swamp where the water-swallowing ape's right leg was located.

Click click click!

The mud turned into an ice swamp, connecting to his thighs and freezing them firmly.

The water-swallowing ape had lost blood in many parts of its body and was using the wrong angle of force, so it couldn't break free in just a few moves.

Seeing this, Milo knew that the perfect opportunity to unleash his fourth-tier combat skill had arrived!

With the enemy temporarily pinned down, even if their combat skills are not very proficient, they should still be able to hit them, right?

He took a deep breath, channeled all his magic power into the magic sword, activated its hardening enchantment, and began to charge forward, the longsword trailing behind him.

A figure swept across the distance.

With the combined force of his sprint and the accumulation of magic, the power in his thighs, chest, and abdomen solidified, and he suddenly swung his sword horizontally, aiming directly at the bleeding wound on the Water Swallowing Ape's other thigh that hadn't been frozen.

Fourth-tier combat skill: Burst Cross Slash!

Two sharp sword lights flashed. The first horizontal sword strike successfully cut the Water-Swallowing Ape's femoral artery, causing thick blood to spurt out. The Water-Swallowing Ape reacted to the second vertical sword strike, reached out and grabbed it, then threw it away violently.

Bang! !

Milo crashed into the wall, sword and all.

It seems that due to the repeated drops in its health, its strength has finally begun to decline. This time, Milo was not seriously injured. Although he coughed up a little blood after hitting the wall, his bones did not shatter like Karl's.

At that very moment, Iris's long chant finally came to an end.

As she waved her wand, an enormous spear of light suddenly materialized.

This is her strongest single-target attack spell, condensed into Iris's strongest Judgment Spear to date, achieved through long chanting and immense magical power!

Then, with the sure-hit link, shoot!

The lance of judgment arrived in an instant.

The spear of light passed through the wound left by the previous Demonic Impact Slash in the chest without any obstruction, and emerged from the back of the Water Devouring Ape, bringing with it a spray of eerily colored blood that fell to the ground.

The water-swallowing ape suddenly stopped moving.

Did this hit a vital spot in the heart?

Milo and Bovary, whose condition was barely acceptable, stared in astonishment ahead. The water-swallowing ape that had been so ferocious just moments before was dead.

"Don't just stand there, finish him off!"

Leon shouted and unleashed a new wave of suction, drawing a large amount of blood from the Water-Drinking Ape's chest.

The two previous suction winds had dissipated due to the lack of Lyon's magic to sustain them during the chaotic battle.

Milo and Bovary reacted quickly and rushed forward to slash at various vital parts.

The Water-Swallowing Ape's movements ended too suddenly. According to Leon's estimation, even if the Water-Swallowing Ape's heart had been hit, it should still have some blood left. With its vitality, it should have been able to struggle a few more times.

This change is too unusual for him to ignore.

With this in mind, he activated another combat technique of the Phantom Walker, Shadow Breath.

This is the basic combat skill for the Leon Shadowwalker class. By adjusting your breathing, you can experience the essence of shadow and comprehend shadow-based skills.

While it's called a combat skill, it's actually more like a professional's basic skills.

Its significance to this profession is no less than that of meditation to a magician.

Furthermore, Shadow Breathing has another function that is very suitable for calming the mind on the battlefield, improving concentration, and enhancing the sharpness of the five senses.

As he entered the state of Shadow Breathing, Leon quietly activated another spell, Wind Detection.

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Alchemist of Life

Wind Detection is a basic detection spell. Although its effects are relatively crude, its advantage lies in its wide range.

By utilizing his wind perception and the elemental affinity granted by his current elemental mage class, combined with the enhanced hearing and mental abilities from Shadow Breathing, his detection capabilities will receive a slight boost.

However, because of the focus on the five senses and the effort to maximize the brain's processing speed of wind information, activating this move consumes a lot of mental energy. If the amount of information is large, it can consume a little bit of physical strength and magic power in about ten seconds.

Therefore, he rarely uses this technique.

With the two factors combined, Lyon felt that the sounds of his surroundings were becoming clearer and clearer.

The sound of water dripping from the cave ceiling, the distant roar of monsters, and the sounds of battle among adventurers on other side paths.

These messages came from very, very far away places.

Lyon adjusted the sound source, focusing on the sounds in his surroundings.

A few seconds later, he heard it.

About a hundred meters away from the perimeter of this cave, there could be the deliberately suppressed whispers of a superhuman.

It was a very low chanting sound, as if a spell was being cast.

Leon vaguely discerned that the chanting was likely a type of magic for taming beasts or controlling demons.

No, something seems off. Is it something else?

Could it be that the appearance of the Water-Swallowing Ape is related to the Hidden One?

If the two are related, then it makes sense.

It's extremely rare for the Water-Swallowing Ape to chase someone down from the 31st floor to the 25th floor in one fell swoop.

Given the strength of those four knights, it would have been impossible for them to escape from the 31st floor all the way down to the 25th floor.

If they were really being hunted down, they would probably be dead around the 30th floor by now.

The four knights we saw earlier most likely did not provoke the Water-Swallowing Ape on their own initiative.

Instead, they fell into the trap set by the hidden one!

Or it could simply be an undeserved disaster!

The target of the other party is most likely Britta, the saint of the Papacy.

Of course, this is a deduction made by process of elimination, because at present, only Britta has such value that it would attract such a high level of expertise to target her.

Secondly, there is Iris, a diplomat who is not yet well-known.

To be able to command a powerful fourth-tier monster, even if not with 100% control, and to make the Water-Swallowing Ape leave its dwelling so far, the hidden one's rank must be quite high, at least a senior fourth-tier, or even a fifth-tier.

But what exactly is that incantation?

Listen again!

Leon always felt that the chanted incantation resembled something he had seen before.

'Hades, the god who holds power over the underworld, your humble servant begs you... to manipulate life and death, to alter the course of destiny.'

As these words gradually entered his ears, Lyon finally understood.