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"Shadow Life-Severing Algae!"
The Cave Lord cried out in pain. A bunch of fat algae wrapped in shadow quickly grew from nothing and moved to entangle Ayrin.
Psst!
However, the algae were chopped in half by a crimson gold flash. Ayrin dashed out with his crimson gold longsword.
"Impossible! You have only opened four gates! No matter how strong your materialize skill is, it's impossible to manifest such a powerful materialized sword!" the Cave Lord screamed in shock. A few of its steel-like fish scales were shaved off.
It managed to evade in the nick of time. Otherwise, half of its head would have been chopped off by Ayrin's sword.
"Bastard! I told you not to talk anymore, it will affect my appetite!" Ayrin shouted in frustration.
The crimson gold longsword changed back into particles and entered his body, "If you stop talking, I won't bully you with this sword anymore."
"Weak human! You have enraged me! Nobody can save you in this world!" The Cave Lord roared.
"Such an idiot." Stingham turned to look at Rinloran and the others, "Even I won't say such an idiotic line."
Rinloran and the others were speechless.
"Cell Division! Shadow Body Clone!"
At that moment, the Cave Lord began emitting explosive arcane energy fluctuations.
Countless particles swarmed out from its body. Its body seemed to have shrunk a little. However, two silhouettes a size smaller than it appeared to its left and right, spewing black flames towards Ayrin.
Boom!
Ayrin was blasted backwards.
"You're cheating again! You even called out two underlings to gang up on Ayrin! Rinloran, let's go!" Stingham blanked out for a second, then cursed again.
The two silhouettes that appeared next to the Cave Lord were monsters that looked exactly like the Cave Lord, albeit a size smaller.
"What's this arcane skill? It's not a summoning or materialize skill. It really looks like it's splitting its own body to make the two clones!"
Rinloran, Charlotte and Meraly were also confused.
The two smaller Cave Lords exuded the aura of flesh and blood. They were real creatures.
"Ouch!"
Ayrin crashed into the ground and cried out in pain. However, he immediately jumped up with greater excitement as his eyes started shining. His body seemed to be filled with greater strength, "There are actually two more fish! They can be steamed!"
"Steam me? I will steam you first! Platonic Steam!"
The attacking method of the two smaller Cave Lords seemed to be limited. They could only spew out black flames towards Ayrin.
The Cave Lord released a large amount of arcane particles again. Two thick streams of white steam gushed out from the ground, surging towards Ayrin.
"Shadow Department Secret Skill: Shadow Substitution!"
Ayrin made a hand sign in front of his forehead. A unique fluctuation reverberated from his body.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!……
The air around Ayrin rippled. Silhouettes appeared one after another without any movement.
Ayrin's figure flickered amongst the silhouettes, making others unable to distinguish real from fake.
"Hit all of them!"
The Cave Lord roared loudly. The two clones frantically spewed out black flames and smashed each silhouette into smithereens.
The impact spread out along the passage.
……
"There's a battle over there!"
While Ayrin was fighting against the Cave Lord, there were seven arcane masters running through the sewer soundlessly in another location. They suddenly stopped after hearing the commotion Ayrin's fight caused.
They wore pale cyan arcane robes and a layer of mist shrouded their surroundings at all times, as if it was drizzling non-stop.
The leading arcane master was a girl. She had green hair and seemed to be at a similar age as Chris. She also looked petite like Chris, but her expression was stern and sharp.
"The sound came from the Seven Puddles Zone. Some idiots actually ran into the territory where most of the sewer monsters have gathered!"
After identifying the source of the sound, the female arcane master had a bitter look on her face, "It's their own business if they want to die, but causing such a big commotion will surely alert the royal guard patrol!"
"What do we do? Should we retreat?" An arcane master behind her asked.
"No, we can only try to speed up. Even if we retreat this time, the patrols will be on high alert after this ruckus. We will not get a chance to infiltrate into the Royal Palace through the sewer again!" The female arcane master did not hesitate and sped up her pace.
The six arcane masters behind her did not waste any time and followed after her. The group became a white current speeding through the water passage.
Elsewhere in the sewer, five arcane masters came to a halt, "It sounds like someone is down here!"
The five arcane masters were royal guard patrols. They wore lavish arcane robes with a red cloth base and patterns sewn with golden or silver threads decorated on top.
The leading arcane master was a handsome young man with a trimmed mustache and neatly combed hair. He wore a ruby earring on his right ear.
"What do you mean? I don't hear anything?" He nonchalantly mumbled.
"Listen! Can't you hear it?" The other four arcane masters were confused.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After a few seconds, more rhythmic sounds were transmitted to their location. The sounds became louder and louder. They could even feel two great powers colliding against each other constantly.
The handsome arcane master just dug his ear and spoke with a serious expression, "What sound? I don't hear any sound."
The other four arcane masters almost tripped on the spot.
You can't even hear such a loud sound? Captain, are you really deaf?
"Captain…… are we really not sounding the alarm?" One of the four probed.
"I told you, there's no sound. Why sound the alarm?"
The handsome arcane master snorted and turned around.
After he turned around, mutterings came from his mouth, "There were some bad rumors not long ago…… I don't know if those rumors are true…… But it's a fact that Jean Camus has not shown up anymore. General Ten and Lord Kagis have also gone missing…… I don't hear anything here…… I really hope all of you heard something though, that there is an arcane team doing something here. If they can really infiltrate into the Royal Palace and cause a commotion, the truth may be revealed……"
The four arcane masters behind him looked at one another and immediately understood the Captain's intention.
"Oh yeah, there's no sound."
"Even if there is, it must be some random monsters in the sewer in heat and making out."
"Yeah, monsters in heat are the most dangerous. We better stay far away."
The four arcane masters also mumbled and began moving away from the source of the sound.
……
"Is this guy immortal!? Does he not feel pain?"
The Shoal Lord and Swamp Lord felt numb as they watched the fight.
Ayrin's head was full of bruises. However, the Cave Lord was not faring any better. The scales on many parts of its body were shattered, while blood flowed from one of its two noses.
In the battle half a minute ago, Ayrin decided to use the mutual sacrifice method after getting continuously blasted away. As a result, when he was hit, he also hit the Cave Lord. The most important reason for choosing that method of battle seemed to be because he was even more resilient than the Cave Lord.
"I don't believe you can outlast me!"
The Cave Lord was completely enraged. One of its heads closed its eyes and seemed to have entered a meditation state. Almost instantly, the arcane energy fluctuations around its body became more powerful.
It was clear it had been forced to use its strongest talent: One head in charge of fighting, the other in charge of refining arcane particles.
"Shadow Immolation!"
The two clones on its sides suddenly moved with amazing speed after it chanted. They became two blurry gusts of wind that could not be traced with the eye.
Meanwhile, a trail of black marks was left wherever the two clones passed by.
Countless black marks covered almost the entire area around Ayrin. The black flames on the trails released a burning light.
The Cave Lord decided to go into a battle of attrition.
Since it could replenish arcane particles while fighting, even if Ayrin could resist the damage using Dragon Scale Absorption and had greater arcane resistance than a Dragon, it believed that it could exhaust Ayrin to death.
"Ouch!" Ayrin screamed in pain.
However, the three monsters were shocked that Ayrin's arcane energy fluctuation became stronger when he travelled through the trail of black marks.
Whoosh!
A crimson gold sword flash shot out.
"Argh!"
One of the Cave Lord's clones screamed and got severed in two by Ayrin who suddenly appeared next to it.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't use that sword!?"
The Cave Lord screamed in fear. Ayrin's materialized sword was too sharp. If it got cut by that, it would definitely be severed in two.
"I told you to stop talking because it will affect my appetite, yet you're still blabbering." Ayrin said as if it was natural. Then, he swung his sword down and continued, "Wait first. Let me rest a bit, I'm too hungry. We can continue after I fill my stomach!"
"You!"
The Cave Lord was dumbfounded.
Ayrin was too weird. It did not even want to fight Ayrin anymore. It also wanted some time to sort out its thoughts. Otherwise, it would not have accepted Ayrin's suggestion for a break.
"Merlin, bring out the good stuff!"
Ayrin began preparing immediately.
Merlin quickly took out several items.
"What?"
"What's he doing?"
Meraly, Grandmaster Yi and the monsters were shocked.
Merlin took out a silver military-use pan, Burning Gem and some seasonings.
While they were spaced out, Ayrin had already cleaned up the severed Cave Lord clone with great proficiency and chopped it into smaller pieces. Then, he began cooking it in the pan.
"What? He's really going to eat it?!" The Shoal Lord and the Swamp Lord felt the chills. Meraly almost fainted as well.
The fire produced by the Burning Gem was strong. They could smell the fragrance of meat almost immediately. Ayrin had also sliced some thin pieces and barbequed them in seconds.
"So fragrant! It tastes much better than normal fish! This is only the clone using cell division? The main body must be even more delicious!" Ayrin chewed on the cooked fish slices and praised the taste with sparkling eyes.
"You bastard! You are asking for a break because you're hungry, yet you are eating my meat!" The Cave Lord went mad. Arcane particles gushed out from its body and a huge black swirl was flung towards Ayrin.
