Chương 24: Flame Breath

The massive body began to contract once again. The Giant Slime was charging up another leap. With a sudden burst of force, it launched itself into the air and crashed straight toward Marcus! Marcus threw himself forward, barely managing to evade the incoming attack. However, repeated bursts of movement over such a short period had drained his stamina. His movements were no longer as nimble as before, and the shockwave from the Giant Slime's crushing leap left his vision spinning.

He staggered backward several steps before finally regaining his balance. But by then, the Giant Slime had already begun gathering another spray of acid.

"Get down!" Zelier's shout rang beside Marcus's ear. Without hesitation, Marcus dropped low. Zelier stepped forward. The tip of the white waxwood staff suddenly erupted with blinding flames! Flame Breath had finished charging!

"BOOM!" A continuous torrent of fire surged over Marcus's head and slammed directly into the Giant Slime! Direct hit! The Giant Slime's gelatinous body began boiling violently the instant it came into contact with the flames. Its massive body melted away like wax beneath a candle, dripping and collapsing under the relentless heat. The damage was devastating. But it wasn't enough. The core was still protected deep inside its remaining body. To kill it, he needed to burn away everything surrounding it.

Zelier gritted his teeth and poured more mana into the spell, maintaining the torrent of flames. The entire cavern was illuminated by a blazing crimson glow, completely overpowering the light from Illuminate. Zelier could feel his mana reserves rapidly draining. Hold on!

"ROOOAAARRR!" The Giant Slime let out a strange, savage shriek, almost resembling a beast's howl. Its gray-green gelatinous body twisted and warped, violently convulsing under the flames. But Flame Breath continued to burn. The Giant Slime attempted to escape by charging another leap, but its body was melting faster than it could gather strength. The flames carried not only intense heat but also the destructive force of magic itself. The combination was devastating.

After several desperate struggles, its instinct to flee was finally crushed. Under the endless assault of Flame Breath, more than half of its enormous body vanished. Stolen story; please report. And its greatest weakness—the magic core—was finally exposed. The exposed core couldn't withstand the terrifying flames. With a sharp crack, it shattered, destroying the Giant Slime's last trace of life. The pure, spherical magic core fell to the ground.

The remaining pieces of the Giant Slime rapidly shrank and curled inward, eventually becoming nothing more than a dry lump of hardened gel. [Party defeated Giant Slime. Large amount of experience gained.] [Level Up! Lv. 3 → Lv. 4] Only after seeing the kill notification did Zelier finally stop supplying mana. The enormous flames gradually faded away. He took deep breaths, trying to stabilize his exhausted body.

"Hah... hah..." A single seven-second Flame Breath had nearly drained his entire mana pool. According to his character panel, killing the Giant Slime had granted him 90 experience points. Zelier had now reached: Lv. 4 (27/175) He also received 4 free attribute points. After a brief consideration, he invested them into Intelligence. Intelligence increased from 70 to 74. Due to the linked mechanism, his Charisma attribute also rose slightly, reaching 47.

His current attributes were: Strength: 65 Agility: 61 Constitution: 68 Spirit: 71 Intelligence: 70 → 74 Perception: 30 Charisma: 46 → 47 Luck: 41 Talent Skill: Spell Evolution Prioritizing Intelligence was an obvious choice. It improved his mana control, accelerated Spell Evolution's analysis speed, and even indirectly increased his Charisma. Besides, unlocking his next talent skill required him to advance to Novice Mage. And the biggest gap between Zelier and becoming a Novice Mage was his casting speed.

A casting time under three seconds was something even Zelier, equipped with his white waxwood catalyst, still couldn't achieve. Increasing Intelligence, improving mana manipulation, and gradually optimizing unnecessary structures within his spell matrices—those were Zelier's primary goals. His Spirit attribute was sufficient for now. His current problem wasn't a lack of firepower. As for Strength, Agility, and Constitution... Those weren't even worth considering. Then there was Perception.

There was no need to increase it for the time being, especially since each point required two free attribute points. A bit too expensive. However, Zelier had noticed something interesting. Vaelis's Perception was clearly far above that of ordinary people. Almost every time, he was the first person to understand the flow of battle. Finally, there was Luck. That attribute was simply too mysterious. There was no reliable way to measure its effects.

Thinking back, Zelier had indeed experienced plenty of fortunate events. For example, the Mistwraith they encountered had been only a juvenile. If it had been an adult, the entire team would have been wiped out with no chance of survival. Another example was how he had used his 30 points of Perception to sense the magical connection within the mist and prepare Fireball ahead of time. Without that, even if his teammates managed to buy him casting time, the party would have suffered catastrophic losses.

Grey might have died. Marcus might have been severely injured. Then there was meeting Bev, who turned out to be genuinely kind, Marven giving him a second chance, and finding a spell at the arena that perfectly matched his fighting style. All of those could be considered manifestations of luck. But how much of it happened because of his 41 Luck? And how much was simply because events naturally unfolded that way? Zelier had no answer. Besides, increasing Luck was far too expensive.

Each point cost four times as much as a basic attribute point. He would think about it later. After Flame Breath disappeared, Marcus finally dared to stand up. His expression was completely stunned.

"That is... ridiculous." Was this the destructive power of a mage? Watching such a massive Giant Slime get burned to death right before his eyes, Marcus gained an entirely new level of respect for the mage profession. Vaelis also clicked his tongue in disbelief.

"That's absurd..." A level of destruction like that was something he probably wouldn't achieve until he became a Mid-tier Ranger and learned how to combine Aura with archery. Yet Zelier was still just a newcomer who had only completed two missions. And he had already surpassed him? The two pushed those thoughts aside and began collecting the spoils. Compared to the Mistwraith's magic core, the Giant Slime's core contained far less energy, and its market value was correspondingly lower.

Still, it was a considerable amount of money. Then there was the remaining gel left behind after the burning. Zelier picked it up and weighed it in his hand. It was lighter than he expected. He tested it by punching the surface.

"Smack." A faint fist mark appeared. But within moments, the material completely restored itself. Sure enough, it was an excellent material for armor padding.

"Same split as before? Forty-thirty-thirty?" Marcus asked, looking for Zelier's opinion.

"Sure." Zelier agreed immediately. After storing the two valuable materials, the party continued deeper into the cave to investigate. There were no further abnormalities. No more contaminated streams appeared on the ground. The entire Slime infestation inside the abandoned cavern had been eliminated. The mission was successfully completed.