Charge In!

The Cave Demons screamed and howled. Frightened as they were of mid-tier magic, they hurled themselves forward without hesitation — using their own bodies to pave the way for the ones behind them.

Mid-tier magic was formidable, but it couldn't stop this endless tide of Cave Demons throwing themselves forward one after another. Before long, those massive bone clubs were drawing dangerously close to the group.

"Blast them! Blast them dead — don't let them near us, or we're all buried here!" Lu Zhenghe shouted.

No one dared conserve their Magical Energy now. Basic-tier spells flew out in a dense, nearly unbroken barrage. Fire Burst, Earth Wave, Lightning Seal, Ice Vine, Light Radiance — Elemental Magic of every variety lit the dark tunnel in a riot of color, each with its own effect: explosive flames that seared, mud pits that swallowed, frost that slowed, radiance that blinded, shocks that paralyzed...

A mid-tier spell required a full forty-nine Star Motes to trace, and its casting speed was agonizingly slow. In a fight where a single lapse of attention meant getting pounded into pulp, the Cave Demons left the mages no time at all to complete such spells.

Most mid-tier magic needed cover. Three to six seconds of Star Chanting was more than enough for a mage to die several times over beneath those savage bone clubs.

Fortunately, the group was of decent size. Seventeen mid-tier elite mages kept up a relentless rotation of spells, interspersed with the more devastating mid-tier magic, and the situation stabilized — the Cave Demons never once managed to breach the twenty-meter perimeter.

The armies of Cave Demons pressing from front and rear were nothing but moving targets. With enough magical firepower, they simply couldn't close the distance.

But the side tunnels remained the true threat. No one could say how many more of these grotesque demons still lurked within them.

"Watch out!" Bai Tingting sensed something wrong beside Liao Mingxuan and cried a warning.

Liao Mingxuan's reflexes were lightning-fast. Wind Track flared, a quick dash-step, and he'd shifted his position in an instant.

A particularly large Cave Demon swept past him, its bone club barely grazing his skull.

"Damn it — why won't the monsters in this side tunnel just die?!" He backed up to a safer position, staring at the side tunnel with lingering unease.

There were three side tunnels in total. Two had gone silent — clearly swept clean — but this large one had already disgorged no fewer than ten Cave Demons. Several team members had been forced to activate their defensive Enchanted Gear, and Bai Tingting had been running her healing magic without pause...

"Mo Fan, come with me. We're going in." Mu Ningxue swept a glance at Mo Fan beside her and pointed at the large side tunnel.

"Do you have to be this reckless?" Mo Fan was less than enthusiastic. *God only knows how many demons are packed in there. What if we go in and can't get back out?*

Mu Ningxue didn't waste words. Her white robes trailing behind her, she rode a crisp, ice-laced wind and slipped into the darkness of the large side tunnel in a flash.

Mo Fan had no choice but to steel himself and follow her in.

Once inside, the side tunnel proved far more spacious than it appeared — at least twice the width of the main passage. *Ugly as these things are, they sure didn't scrimp on the living quarters. Let me fix that with a bit of fire.*

He raised both hands. Flames erupted from each palm simultaneously — bone-searing fire on the left, an explosive burst on the right. He didn't bother checking whether any Cave Demons were lurking nearby. Hit what he could; miss and at least it served as a torch.

The explosive fire bathed the entire side tunnel in crimson light. Through the drifting sparks, something caught his eye — the tunnel connected all the way through to the other side.

"Son of a— no wonder this side tunnel never runs dry. It's connected. Demons from the other passages can funnel right through here." A curse slipped from his lips.

Mu Ningxue pressed on ahead, leaving Mo Fan with nothing but a view of her poised, elegant silhouette. The Wind Track she rode moved roughly twice the speed of a normal wind, and her mastery made her fearless — she cut straight through the tunnel, driving deeper toward the connected passage.

Her Coiling Ice Domain spread automatically as Mu Ningxue released her icy aura, radiating outward in all directions. Through this special ice field, she could sense disturbances in her surroundings with far greater acuity than anyone else — even in places beyond her line of sight.

She passed through to the other side. In the pitch darkness, four pairs of ghostly blue eyes suddenly lit up from either side, followed by the faint, rustling sounds of something shifting.

The Cave Demons clearly had night vision. They lay hidden in the dark, waiting for what they took to be a delicate young woman walking right into their trap — unaware that while they crouched in the shadows holding their breath, icy claws had already been reaching slowly toward them.

**Maah!!!!**

All four Cave Demons let out nerve-shredding shrieks and lunged at Mu Ningxue from four directions at once.

She stood perfectly still at the center, not a muscle moving. Her ice-blue eyes ignited with cold, lethal focus.

"Ice Lock."

The Star Chart had long since been traced within her mind. These four fools thought they had hidden so well.

Massive chains of ice materialized from thin air. Guided by Mu Ningxue's Mental Intent, they shot toward each of the four Cave Demons simultaneously.

*Maah——*

*Maah——*

The Cave Demons never saw it coming. Seized and bound mid-leap by the ice chains, not one escaped.

"Bone Crush!"

Mu Ningxue spoke the suffix in an icy murmur. The four Ice Locks snapped shut with tremendous force.

**Crack!**

A ghastly sound of shattering bone rang through the dark. The four Cave Demons had no chance to resist — their bone clubs clattered from lifeless hands as death claimed them in an instant.

Mo Fan had no movement skill. He'd barely managed to catch up with the swift Mu Ningxue when he arrived to witness all four Cave Demons crushed by Ice Lock: Bone Crush at the same moment. She stood among the four crumpled bodies, turned to give the plodding Mo Fan a single glance, said nothing, and drifted forward again on Wind Track.

Mo Fan was completely at a loss for words. Just as he moved to follow, he felt the faint trembling of his Loach Pendant.

*Right — Remnant Souls can be refined into Spirit Essence.* The thought surfaced in the middle of everything. He moved quickly, harvesting the Remnant Souls from the four Cave Demons.

Remnant Souls only lingered briefly after death. Speed was essential, or they would dissipate entirely.

Done, he sprinted after Mu Ningxue — only to find she had been cutting through enemies with ruthless efficiency. Not a shred of the sympathy a normal woman might feel toward even these wretched creatures. Along the way, Mo Fan passed several corpses frozen solid as ice sculptures.

He decisively harvested their Remnant Souls, then finally caught a glimpse of Mu Ningxue's slender form ahead — only for her to vanish again in the blink of an eye. He couldn't help but gape, cursing under his breath: *What the hell? I feel like some low-level alt being power-leveled through a beginner dungeon by a big sister. All I'm doing is trailing behind picking up the drops.*