“Roar, roar, roar!”
The Ore Wolf let out an angry howl.
As it ran, its claws and teeth tore at the Golems crawling all over its body.
It charged faster and faster toward the exit of the mine.
Li Xiuman could already see the orange-red lava.
He burst out of the mine and flapped his wings, dodging the ore attacks flying from behind.
The Ore Wolf also burst out of the mine, shaking its body to fling off all the cannon-fodder Golems that clung to it like fleas.
But immediately after, it sensed that something was wrong.
“Attack!”
At Li Xiuman's command, the Golems that had been waiting outside to surround the cave swarmed forward to attack.
The Heavy Armored Golems took the lead, while the Swordsman Golems charged toward the flanks.
The Mage Golems, which had already finished gathering energy, did not hold back either.
“Tier 1 Magic, Molten Spiral Spike!”
“Tier 1 Magic, Torrential Wind Spiral Spike!”
Two long, rapidly spinning spikes—which the Golems had already charged—tore through the air with a sudden, deafening boom, shooting straight at the Ore Wolf's head.
The Ore Wolf wanted to dodge, but the Heavy Armored Golems and Swordsman Golems desperately held it down for a split second.
The Molten Spiral Spike and Torrential Wind Spiral Spike struck simultaneously.
After being blasted by extreme heat and then rapidly cooled, the Ore Wolf's metal skull inevitably became brittle.
Caught in the ambush, the furious Ore Wolf snapped at the Golems surrounding it.
A Swordsman Golem failed to dodge in time, its arm instantly ripped away.
Meanwhile, the Mage Golems in the sky and at the rear tirelessly bombarded the beast with magic.
But the Ore Wolf's defense was simply too high.
Whether physical or elemental, the attacks felt like mere tickles to it, failing to inflict any meaningful damage.
Instead, the Golems on Li Xiuman's side began to be torn apart limb by limb by the Ore Wolf's bites.
“Tier 2 Magic, Rock Spear!”
Li Xiuman raised his wand, the mana in his body depleting rapidly.
A massive, earthy-yellow magic circle expanded, and glowing particles of earth element gathered toward its center from all directions.
Within a single breath, a massive stone spear several meters long coalesced at the center of the magic circle.
Following that, Li Xiuman quickly cast a wind magic circle.
“Tier 2 Magic, Wind Swirl!”
The cyan magic circle opened directly over the yellow magic circle, transforming into a whirlwind that enveloped the stone spear, starting to slowly spin it.
After all, Li Xiuman had only recently become a Tier 2 Mage, and he had not yet mastered Tier 2 composite magic.
Thus, he could only use this clever trick of casting two spells simultaneously to replicate the effect of composite magic.
Spun by the whirlwind, the massive stone spear whirled faster and faster.
A visible tornado even formed around the spear.
As it spun, it sounded like the roar of a wind dragon, tearing at the eardrums of anyone listening.
Though, of course, not a single creature present actually possessed eardrums.
“Roar, roar, roar!”
The Ore Wolf raised its head, staring up at Li Xiuman, who hovered in mid-air holding the massive magic circles and maintaining the tornado-enveloped stone spear.
The Ore Wolf's simple intelligence sensed a threat from that spell.
Swinging its claws, it batted away the battered Swordsman Golems that charged from both sides.
Then, tensing its four limbs, it prepared to spring upward and shatter the threatening magic in the sky.
But next, it felt its tail being grabbed.
Looking back, it saw the Heavy Armored Golem it had previously bitten in half, stubbornly holding on.
With a whip of its tail, the wolf flung the Golem away.
But this brief delay was all the time Li Xiuman needed to finish charging his Storm Rock Spear.
The spear emitted a terrifying aura, conjuring a violent gale that swept across the entire exposed mineral bed.
“Tier 2 Magic, Storm Rock Spear!”
The massive rock spear shattered the two large yellow and cyan magic circles, trailing a tail of yellow and cyan mana behind it as it shot toward the ground.
At the same time, five Golems raised their hands, opening magic circles simultaneously from five different directions.
“Tier 1 Magic, Fire Imbue!”
Five layers of magic circles expanded in front of the descending Storm Rock Spear. With every layer it pierced, the surrounding storm absorbed another coat of fire.
Within an instant, after piercing through the five layers of orange-red magic circles, the storm around the Storm Rock Spear was thick with crackling, rolling crimson flames.
“Tier 2 Magic, Storm Molten Spear!”
The Ore Wolf roared as pieces of raw ore integrated into its body, forming a thick plate of armor.
Yet the massive rock spear drove ruthlessly into its neck.
The fire melted its body, the gale tore open fissures, and the rock spear drilled forward as it spun.
It kicked up a massive cloud of dust and smoke.
Even the surrounding lava churned violently from the wind.
“Is it dead?”
Li Xiuman could see the rock spear had completely impaled the Ore Wolf's neck, yet no system notification appeared before his eyes.
Was it because the target was a Golem, so it did not yield any EXP?
Li Xiuman slowly descended, waving his wand.
“Flowing Wind!”
A cyan magic circle opened at the tip of his wand, blowing away the smoke.
With its neck pierced through, the Ore Wolf lay motionless on the ground.
Not letting his guard down, Li Xiuman ordered the two remaining functional Swordsman Golems to approach.
Suddenly, the Ore Wolf lunged upward, biting down on one of the Swordsman Golems.
“It's still alive after that?”
Seeing the Ore Wolf still moving even with a rock spear impaled through its neck, Li Xiuman could not help but mutter.
However, it looked like its strength had depleted significantly; it wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
The Ore Wolf lunged toward Li Xiuman without hesitation, swiping its sharp claws viciously.
Li Xiuman raised his wand, parrying the claw.
At the same time, he rotated his wrist to deflect the claw while gripping his skeleton sword in his other hand, stabbing it toward the Ore Wolf's joints.
The skeleton sword was a magic item, after all, and it successfully pierced the Ore Wolf's hard body.
Then, using his skeleton sword, he carefully dismantled the Ore Wolf piece by piece. Employing his superb swordsmanship, he did his best to preserve the integrity of its body.
The Ore Wolf grew weaker and weaker. Boosted by [Close Combat] and [Swordsmanship], Li Xiuman accurately anticipated every single one of its attacks.
It was only when his final strike pierced through its head that a system window finally popped up in front of him.
[Killed Ore Wolf Lv.27, EXP +2,600]
[Ding! EXP is full. Level has risen to Lv.22]
[Constitution +1, Spirit +2]
[Race Dragon-Blooded Skeleton Strength Modifier triggered. Strength +1 additionally.]
[Free Stat Point +1]
Rate on N.U.
