Chapter 380: Episode 109 Touching the Corpse and the Accident (Part 2)
Ben gritted his teeth and shifted his body to let the flame brush past his chest—the skin there immediately felt like it was on fire, a sharp pain. The young man knew it was the feeling of his flesh being eroded by the Dark Element, but it was still better than having two ribs broken. He exhaled silently, realizing he had underestimated the Dark Priest’s high-level spellcasting skill. Even though he was on guard, he couldn’t avoid it completely. In past games, this kind of attack would usually be endured by a tank-type profession like Knight or Judge. However, Ben trusted his reflexes, and they didn’t let him down—with that hit taken head-on, he’d probably have to endure a set of spell combos; although it wouldn’t kill him, he’d definitely be in a rough shape for at least a day or two.
Most importantly, in the future, opportunities to solo grind for experience would likely be blocked by Hu Que and others.
Fortunately, it was as expected. Since the Dark Priest’s scheme had failed, it was Ben’s turn for a counterattack. With a flash of his figure, he was already behind the guy.
Another sword strike—
As expected, the Dark Priest of the Black Fire Sect waved his hand backward, and the black light shield that originally blocked his front immediately swirled around halfway to meet Ben’s sword. At the same time, a mass of black flame appeared on his left hand. Ben snorted coldly, thinking, here you go again—the Lower Dark Priest’s Eclipsing Light Shield only had a hardness of 10, and his last sword strike had already worn out at least a third of it—yet this guy seemed to think it would take three strikes to break through his magical defense.
Ben wasn’t hasty, so he leapt backward to dodge the second Magic Arrow thrown by the opponent. At that moment, the exchange between the two, which seemed like it took no more than a blink, ended. Meanwhile, the Lizardman Warriors at the peripheries finally noticed they had lost sight of Ben. They hesitated for a moment before turning their heads, only to first witness this scene:
The young man retreated slightly, dodging one black flame, then immediately attacked again—
His sword was glowing. Official source is NoveI~Fire.net
In the moment of retreat, Ben had already brought up his attribute panel and simultaneously upgraded his newly acquired skill to Level 5. With Frontal Breakthrough reaching Level 5, the damage reduction had increased to 10. This skill was in fact the nemesis of all Heavy Armor Warriors and Barrier Wizards, let alone the Dark Element Master’s Eclipsing Light Shield—which started vibrating at a high frequency, reflecting the moonlight, and looked like it was coated in a layer of fluorescence from a distance.
Power burst, Frontal Breakthrough, Ben felt like half of his body’s strength was released with that sword strike.
But the result did not disappoint him—the Dark Priest watched in disbelief as his Eclipsing Light Shield shattered into pieces of black fragments, and the seemingly plain sword followed through, cutting into his abdomen. Ben immediately released the sword and dashed behind the guy, moving just a step before the Dark Priest howled—his eye sockets, nostrils, mouth, and wound sprayed a large amount of black flames forward. These flames were far more magnificent than those of the Magic Arrow, at least by a factor of ten. Even though Ben stood behind, he could feel the Dark Elements in the space causing slight stinging sensations on his skin.
Burning half of his Life Value to activate the Element for an instant cast, this was the last self-preservation tactic of any Elemental Mage. Only the Dark Priests of the Black Fire Sect would be crazy enough to use it, even when they knew they had lost more than half their Life. If Ben hadn’t suffered the same before, he likely would have fallen for the trap, and although he might not have died, he would have at least been severely injured.
Regardless, his reasonably well-made Whiteboard Longsword was done for; unless it was a Magic Item, very few mundane weapons could survive the Element’s incandescence—Ben didn’t even want to check what might be left of that sword.
He turned around and smiled at the Lizardmen who were planning to surround him.
Ben thought his smile was somewhat friendly, but to the Lizardmen, it looked like it belonged to a devil. They had just witnessed how strong the Dark Priest was, yet in just a blink, he was taken down by this young man—they, being mere small fry, could do nothing. The Lizardman Warriors glanced at each other and then turned to run. As a ragtag bunch of bandits, this action was in line with their nature.