The steam dissipated.
Only two Firewing Beasts remained. He could easily overpower them now, so it didn't matter whether the steam was there or not.
The remaining two Firewing Beasts had clearly realized the danger.
They merely hovered in the air, refusing to come forward.
This pleased Li Xiuman. After all, his actual class was a Mage; close combat was just a hobby and a result of having no other choice.
Since he was a one-man party, it was difficult to have a proper position to deal damage from.
That was why he had to wield his wand in close combat to bash his enemies.
Remote bombardment like this was what an Elementalist was actually supposed to do.
Li Xiuman raised his wand and aimed it at the two Firewing Beasts.
“Tier 1 Magic, Water Arrow Rain!”
A magic circle expanded, and a large volume of water condensed into water arrows, blanketing the Firewing Beasts like a rain of arrows.
The Firewing Beasts hastily spat fire and flapped their wings to dodge.
But Li Xiuman had no intention of waiting for them to survive the barrage of water arrows. He raised his wand again.
“Tier 1 Magic, Spiral Spike!”
Whirlwinds enveloped the spiral stone spike, spinning it rapidly. At the same time, he expanded an additional wind magic circle.
“Tier 1 Magic, Precision.”
Locking onto one of the Firewing Beasts, he released the magic circle.
Instantly, the spinning stone spike pierced through the Firewing Beast's wing, sending it spiraling down toward the ground.
“Tier 1 Magic, Torrential Spiral Spike!”
Li Xiuman raised his wand and aimed it at the falling Firewing Beast.
Water compressed, rock enveloped it, and the whirlwind propelled it with a spin.
It shot out violently, piercing straight through the head of the grounded Firewing Beast.
[Ding! Killed Firewing Beast lv18. Experience +450+23]
Only the last Firewing Beast remained.
Li Xiuman raised his wand, and a series of disc-shaped magic circles expanded.
Stone spikes, waterballs, and wind bullets bombarded the Firewing Beast one after another, finally blasting the pitiful creature to death.
[Ding! Killed Firewing Beast lv20. Experience +600+30]
[Experience bar filled. Level up to lv20]
[Constitution +1, Spirit +1]
[Free Stat Point +1]
[You have reached your level cap. To continue leveling up, please increase your level cap.]
Ignoring the pop-ups for now, Li Xiuman lowered his body and landed on the ground.
The two energies he had barely managed to survive earlier welled up once more.
As expected, they hit together again!
Fortunately, including this level up, he now had three Free Stat Points, so he wouldn't suffer an unexpected setback.
The two energies surged from both arms, starting to ravage his body once more.
However, it wasn't too painful this time.
After the torture his two arms had put him through previously, Li Xiuman's Constitution had suddenly spiked by several points, and his pain tolerance had increased significantly.
While enduring the assault of those two energies, he even managed to quickly dig out and pack away the magic stones of the Firewing Beasts.
He also skinned the highest-level Firewing Beast while he was at it.
Then, carrying Rorona, he rushed toward the twenty-first floor.
During his run, the two energies were also digested.
[Spirit +1, Strength +1]
Looking down at his left arm, he saw that its shade of red had indeed faded a little more.
It seemed that it wouldn't take much longer for the remaining energy to be fully digested.
Following the massive lava waterfall on this floor upward, he reached the twenty-first floor.
Since he had already reached his level cap, Li Xiuman couldn't be bothered to deal with the fire crocodiles on this floor and headed straight for the passage to the twentieth floor.
He flew whenever he encountered lava, traversing the map in a nearly straight line, and quickly arrived at the passage.
After passing through the passage and entering the twentieth floor, Li Xiuman finally felt at ease.
Pulling out the map atlas wedged between his pelvis and spine, he walked toward the nearest cave he had marked.
Entering the cave, Li Xiuman sat on the ground, leaned against the stone wall, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Not that he actually had any lungs to sigh with.
Visually, it just looked like a skeleton completely slumping against the wall and onto the floor as if it were about to fall apart.
Despite her severe injuries, Rorona remained standing, not daring to sit down. It was a pitiable sight.
“What is your name?”
Li Xiuman raised his skeletal head and asked Rorona.
Although he had already learned Rorona's name through Appraisal, he wanted to ask formally so that he could address her directly in the future.
“Are you really going to address me by my name, Lord Skeleton?”
Rorona nervously clutched the hem of her tattered clothes.
“Just tell me.”
“Rorona,” she whispered softly.
“Rorona, what are your plans once we get out of here?”
“Plans? Isn't Rorona your slave now?”
“Since when!”
Li Xiuman suspected that the people of this alternate world all had some screw loose in their heads.
Previously, Ilu had inexplicably said she liked him. (In reality, Ilu believed they were already in a relationship, but Li Xiuman was completely oblivious.)
And now this one was inexplicably claiming to be his slave.
“You saved the life of this slave, my lord. Naturally, you are now my master.”
Rorona explained as a matter of fact, yet testing the waters.
“If Rorona misunderstood your intentions... and if in your eyes, a creature like Rorona is unworthy of being your slave, I will have no complaints whether you kill me or cast me out.”
“I didn't say that, don't talk nonsense!”
Damn, were people from alternate worlds always this good at overthinking things?
“I don't have the habit of keeping slaves.”
“The humans before said that torturing me and listening to my screams was a fine way to pass the time. You can try it, Master, as long as you do not cast me out.”
Damn it, did he look that sadistic?
“In any case, let's treat your injuries first, and deal with those silver fragments.”
Li Xiuman pointed at Rorona's right eye.
Her right eye had been poured with liquid silver, preventing her eye from regenerating.
According to Li Xiuman's deduction, both of her eyes must have originally been poured with liquid silver.
This time, because the nobles needed her to assist with their plan in the dungeon, they had dug out the silver from her left eye to restore its vision.
“I am sorry, did I disgust you, Master?”
Rorona hastily covered her right eye and lowered her head.
“...”
Stop overthinking things already!
Admittedly, it was indeed a bit horrifying, but in his current state, he had absolutely no right to look down on anyone else.
Sometimes, when he looked in a mirror, he even wondered about Ilu, who still hadn't given up on him despite his terrifying appearance.
Just what kind of terrifyingly robust level of tolerance did her bizarre tastes possess?
“Master, could you turn around for a moment? It might frighten you.”
Rorona's expression was filled with pleading.
Perhaps she simply didn't want Li Xiuman to see her in such a pathetic state.
“Very well... but stop calling me Master on your own.”
“Understood, Master.”
“...”
He turned around.
Behind him came the sound of tearing flesh, followed by suppressed groans of agony.
After the sound of blood and hard objects clattering onto the ground, there was only rapid, heavy breathing.
Just what kind of person could bring themselves to pour liquid silver into someone's eye?
The heavy breathing only subsided after a while.
“It is done, Master.”
Li Xiuman turned around. Rorona's eye was now covered with a strip of cloth. It seemed that in her weakened state, regenerating an eye would take quite some time.
“Stretch out your wings. I'll help you pull the nails out.”
“How could I trouble you with this, Master? The blood will make you dirty.”
“Stop calling me Master on your own. Besides, I am not afraid of getting a little dirtier.”
At this moment, Li Xiuman was already drenched in a layer of Firewing Beast blood.
“Understood, Master.”
Rate on N.U.
