Chapter Sixteen: Entering the Fire Spirit Furnace
“Fusion skill?”
Michen looked at the newly fused skill before him, quite surprised.
[Holy Blood Slaughter Blade A]
[Effect: For a certain period, attacks ignore defense and have a 30% chance to crit. If the first two attacks do not crit, the third attack is guaranteed to crit, dealing 1.25 times damage.]
In simple terms, it’s true damage combined with critical strikes.
An all-around enhancement!
He hadn’t expected that, besides stealing monster skills, his Demonic Eye system could also fuse existing skills.
After closely examining the panel, he found that he currently possessed seven skills: Blood Recovery E, Blood Frenzy D, Serpentine Wind Blade E, Coiling Snake Martial Art, Steel Armguard D, Pure Moon Silver Blade B, and Crimson Heavy Blade B.
Except for Coiling Snake Martial Art, each skill had a suffix indicating its level.
He hadn’t paid attention at first.
Now it seemed that those represented the skill tiers.
Lower-tier skills could be fused to form higher-tier ones.
But how exactly to fuse these skills was another matter.
Michen discovered that in the new skill panel, Pure Moon Silver Blade and Crimson Heavy Blade fused to form a new skill, Holy Moon Slaughter Blade.
The other skills—Blood Recovery and Blood Frenzy—were in the same column but couldn’t be fused yet.
Steel Armguard and Serpentine Wind Blade each occupied their own columns.
This raised a new question: which skills could actually be fused?
Based on the many monsters Michen had hunted, skill acquisition was highly random.
A single monster might possess multiple skills.
Which ones he would obtain was purely a matter of luck.
“Brother Michen, what’s wrong? Why are you just standing there?”
At that moment, Qi Xiaoyun approached, breaking his train of thought.
“Nothing, let’s hurry to the elevator.”
Michen snapped back to reality.
The Demonic Eye system was an extraordinary cheat beyond worldly logic.
He still knew almost nothing about it.
He could only take it one step at a time.
But no matter what, skill fusion greatly enhanced his power.
That was a good thing.
After facing the Spirit Sword Warrior, Michen understood more clearly that as monster levels rose, relying solely on E or D grade skills was quite limiting.
Perhaps that area was the Spirit Sword Warrior’s territory.
They hadn’t encountered any monsters until reaching the elevator.
Michen felt a bit disappointed; he had wanted to test the new Holy Moon Slaughter Blade skill.
The canyon labyrinth had thirteen elevators in total.
Aside from the central main elevator leading to the Giant Sword Peak, the other twelve only led to the Fire Spirit Furnace.
“What kind of person made these statues?” Qi Xiaoyun looked up in wonder at the huge stone statues flanking the elevator.
One humanoid statue’s face was covered with molten iron, its arms covered in scales, with four fingers curled into a fist; the other statue’s face was covered with octopus-like tentacles, holding a heavy sword in each hand—one raised, one lowered—creating a bizarre appearance.
Some said that the secret realm was the relic of another dimensional civilization.
If they were relics, where had those beings gone? If extinct, what caused their demise?
The reason this place was called a secret realm was because, to humanity, its existence and origins remained a profound mystery.
“Let’s go!”
Michen said, activating the elevator switch.
The two statues rumbled as the entire platform lifted.
Michen and Qi Xiaoyun jumped onto the platform.
The tentacled statue slowly lowered its downward-pointing sword, and then the whole pedestal began to descend.
Darkness enveloped them.
As they descended, the light above grew smaller until only a speck remained.
The air was scorching hot.
Dense flames of magical power formed tiny particles floating in midair.
Boom!
A tremendous sound echoed.
The platform stopped descending.
Ahead appeared a massive door.
Through the crack, dazzling flames and heat waves surged forth.
“This is the Fire Spirit Furnace?” Qi Xiaoyun, visiting the depths of the secret realm for the first time, was very curious.
“The monsters here are almost all above level two. Control your aura tightly. Without my order, do not stray more than three meters from me.”
Michen ordered.
Qi Xiaoyun nodded. The secret realm was no place for a stroll; carelessness could mean death.
It had to be said, the power of ‘Colorless’ was indeed extraordinary.
Her magical fluctuations quickly dropped to near invisibility.
With everything prepared, the two passed through the gate into the third section of the Broken Sword Canyon—the Fire Spirit Furnace.
The canyon was classified as a C-rank secret realm mainly because the Fire Spirit Furnace and Giant Sword Plateau areas were extremely dangerous.
Michen’s mission was simply to collect Molten Fire Crystals.
So he planned to avoid combat as much as possible.
Preserving magic for emergencies.
“Brother Michen, where exactly are the Molten Fire Crystals located?” Qi Xiaoyun asked.
Michen scanned the surroundings thoughtfully.
“Probably deeper inside.”
The interior of the Fire Spirit Furnace was a complex maze of rock and flame.
Bridges reinforced by unknown metals or magic spanned the boiling lava below, twisting straight or curved, weaving into a vast network connecting various areas.
The bridge surfaces were covered with strange runes emitting faint glows.
Crimson lava flowed like a living thing, occasionally surging or bubbling under the influence of fiery magic.
Molten Fire Crystals usually lay at the intersections of these lava flows, containing terrifying thermal energy.
As the two ventured deeper, an explosion sounded nearby.
A battle was underway ahead.
They hurried over.
On an iron bridge, a female hunter clad in white leather armor, with a fiery figure, was fighting a Lava Sentinel.
The Lava Sentinel resembled a small mountain, its body covered in flowing molten armor, with flames leaping intermittently, radiating suffocating heat.
On its head were two strange protrusions like crab eyes, giving it a full 360-degree, no-blind-spot view.
Boom!
Another explosion resounded.
The Lava Sentinel swung its molten hammer, smashing the ground.
A moment later, a towering pillar of raging flame erupted.
The female hunter reacted swiftly, dodging just before being engulfed.
She circled to the side and unleashed a barrage of magical projectiles.
The red magic bullets sprayed like a machine gun.
But the sentinel’s eyes saw through it all.
It controlled the surrounding flame magic, instantly forming a sturdy molten shield.
The shield absorbed heat, boosting defense.
The hunter’s magic bullets were absorbed on contact.
Seeing this, the hunter tried to retreat.
But the sentinel blocked her path with a molten summon.
The hunter was trapped.
Just then, she noticed Michen nearby.
“Friend, help me take down this monster and I will reward you handsomely!”
Michen was reluctant.
In the secret realm, it was better to avoid trouble.
Monsters were dangerous, but hunters weren’t always trustworthy either.
Backstabbing, betrayal, ambushes...
He had seen many hunters die not by monsters but by their own comrades.
But now, called upon, if he ignored her, how was he any different from a backstabbing scoundrel?
“Brother Michen, are you going to help?” Qi Xiaoyun asked.
“Fine, it’s to deal with a monster anyway. No question of helping or not.”
“Be careful, don’t let the monster detect you.”
“Don’t worry.”
Without another word, Michen charged forward with his blade.
The Lava Sentinel was a mid-level tier 2 monster, its combat power comparable to high-level tier 2 monsters due to environmental advantages.
Noticing Michen’s approach from behind, the sentinel immediately turned, unleashing its molten shield.
Michen had anticipated this.
Holy Moon Slaughter Blade!
He drew his Bloodthirsty Blade.
The long sword burst forth with dazzling silver light.
The slaughter blade pierced straight through the shield, striking the Lava Sentinel.
True damage with critical strike!
Half of the sentinel’s body, including one eye, was sliced to pieces.
The sheer force stunned the female hunter.
“Is this... the damage a two-star hunter can cause...?”
Her combat skill was exceptional.
Though momentarily shocked, she quickly recovered and seized the sentinel’s moment of vulnerability.
She gathered all her magical power.
A fiery heat gun formed in her hands.
Swish!
The heat gun fired.
The sentinel tried to raise its shield again.
But the heat gun’s speed was too fast.
Even with its high fire resistance, the sentinel couldn’t withstand the gun’s terrifying penetration.
It hit the core precisely, piercing through the sentinel’s body.
Yet the sentinel still lived.
It absorbed vast surrounding flame magic, barely enduring the hunter’s finishing strike.
“Damn!”
Exhausted of almost all her magic, the hunter staggered, losing balance.
At that moment, the sentinel raised its arm.
Flames danced across its body.
Its ultimate move—Molten Explosion.
It detonated the molten hammer, unleashing a massive shockwave to flatten the surroundings.
If it succeeded, the entire bridge would collapse.
Below was boiling lava.
No one would survive.
The hunter deeply regretted coming alone into the Fire Spirit Furnace so recklessly.
“Did you forget about me?”
Michen’s voice sounded calmly.
Unnoticed, he had appeared behind the Lava Sentinel.
The sentinel’s reliance on its all-seeing eyes made it complacent.
When one eye was severed, its low intelligence blinded it to Michen’s approach.
Serpentine Wind Blade!
A blue wind blade instantly severed the sentinel’s arm.
He chose not to use Holy Moon Slaughter Blade again due to its high consumption.
With Michen’s current magic, three strikes were the limit.
With its arm cut off, the sentinel could no longer perform the Molten Explosion.
Without giving it time to recover, another wind blade struck.
This time, it shattered its entire body.
[Monster hunted]
[Magic power gained: 10]
[Current magic power: 533]
[Skill acquired: Molten Explosion Mark C]
[Effect: Can apply a mark on the target with the left hand; the mark explodes either on command or after a delay.]