“Roar! Roar! Roar!!!”
Seeing Luca charging toward them, the monsters at the forefront, as if they had spotted a rare and delicious meal, revealed a bloodthirsty gleam in their scarlet eyes and rushed at him with even greater ferocity.
Yet, Luca’s speed showed no signs of slowing down—if anything, he sped up.
The players watching this scene were stunned.
“Damn, that guy is fearless! How is he daring to take on so many monsters?!”
“He’s amazing! When we get back to Riverfall City, I’m definitely adding him as a friend!”
“Man, why didn’t I think of this?”
“Right? Even if I only get to look cool for a few seconds, that’d be something I’d brag about forever!”
…
A chorus of players was deep in discussion, while Ben gazed at Luca with a look full of admiration.
This guy is beyond bold!
In Eternal Game, the death penalty is incredibly harsh.
Every time a player dies, it takes days to revive, and they lose attributes, experience, and equipment.
High-level players like Ben wouldn’t dare to die lightly.
If they did, by the time they respawned, the progress of other players would be miles ahead.
But for regular players, in-game progress isn’t everything—looking cool is a lifetime achievement!
Just like Malina, who was hiding amongst the players, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Luca is so cool!” she murmured, her face flushing red under her cloak as she quickly took several snapshots from different angles, eager to post them on the forum later and share this moment with everyone.
At that moment, Catherine and the others finally realized what was happening.
Cassman, now livid, roared angrily, “Kid, are you looking to die? Get back here now!”
This level of a monster horde… Forget about Luca, a mere Bronze Grade Demonic Rune Mage— even if Cassman himself charged in, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Wasn’t Luca just going to become monster food?
Up ahead, Luca heard him but simply waved his hand dismissively, signaling them not to worry.
No one understood the terror of a monster horde better than Luca. If he wasn’t confident enough, he wouldn’t be taking this risk.
After all, hordes formed by low-level monsters were rare. If he didn’t seize this opportunity to farm some monsters and level up, he’d have wasted his efforts. That was something Luca couldn’t accept.
However, the people behind him clearly didn’t understand his plan.
Seeing Luca still not stopping, Cassman grew even more frustrated. “That kid usually seems pretty sharp, so why is he suddenly acting like a fool?”
“I’ll go bring him back.” Catherine frowned slightly, her voice low. Without waiting for anyone else to respond, her figure vanished from where she stood, leaving only a fiery red silhouette in the eyes of the group.
“Luca saved my life once. I’m going too!” Kaman said firmly, determination gleaming in his eyes. With his bow slung over his back, he moved to follow her.
“Get back here!” Cassman’s face darkened, and he yanked Kaman back by the arm.
Have these guys gone mad? Why are they so eager to die?!
Cursing to himself, Cassman grabbed his massive sword, ready to go retrieve both Catherine and Luca.
From a distant hill, where Matthew and Freeman had been observing the situation around Iron Mountain, they saw it all unfold.
Matthew sneered. “Haha, that idiot! Charging into a monster horde—what, is he in a hurry to die?”
Freeman let out a cold laugh. “That fool doesn’t even know what he’s up against. With that many monsters charging at him, it wouldn’t matter if Franklin himself showed up. Luca’s just a Bronze Grade Demonic Rune Mage—he’s finished!”
In Freeman’s tone, beyond the mockery, there was a hint of satisfaction.
Just imagining Franklin’s rage and despair once he learned of his student’s gruesome fate.
It brought Freeman a twisted sense of gratification.
He couldn’t do much about Franklin directly.
But his student? Easy prey.
At that moment, the pitch-black horde of monsters had already closed in on Luca.
“Roar!!!”
Tens of thousands of monsters roared and thundered forward, their overwhelming momentum crashing toward him like an unstoppable tidal wave.
Yet Luca’s expression remained unchanged.
But in his eyes, a flicker of purple lightning flashed.
High in the sky, an immense and terrifying force was silently gathering.
It unnoticed by the others.
Catherine, still some distance away from Luca.
She grew increasingly desperate. She pushed forward, trying to reach him, but Cassman intercepted her just in time.
Cassman sighed and said, “It’s too late.”
As his words left his lips.
In the blink of an eye, Luca was swallowed by the monstrous swarm.
Seeing this, Catherine’s face instantly drained of color, her expression one of disbelief.
Luca… is he really gone?
“Boom!!!”
Just then, a deafening crack of thunder suddenly erupted from the sky!
A streak of purple lightning, like a spear splitting the heavens, tore through the air and slammed down into the front lines of the monster horde!
Purple flames exploded, as if a radiant purple lotus had bloomed within the black sea of monsters!
Dozens of monsters, just moments ago charging ahead, were instantly incinerated by the raging lightning and fire, reduced to ashes in an instant!
Luca stood tall in the heart of the fiery inferno, holding his Black Steel Spear. Purple lightning crackled around him, and the flames raged within a ten-meter radius, obliterating every monster that had once swarmed the area.
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A barrage of damage numbers floated into the air, leaving everyone utterly shocked.
“This… is this a skill?!” The players stared wide-eyed, faces filled with disbelief.
Had they not seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have believed it. A player using such a skill?
The range and damage were simply outrageous!
Even the experienced players like Ada and Celephais, along with other top-tier players, were dumbfounded.
While they were still grinding with basic skills, Luca had already mastered an ability with such a massive area of effect?
Is this guy… cheating?!
But it wasn’t just the players—NPCs were just as stunned.
“Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire?!” Freeman exclaimed in disbelief. “But this kid is only a low-level caster! How is he using such a high-level skill?!”
“I have no idea!” Matthew was equally bewildered.
How could either of them possibly know why Luca could cast such an advanced spell?
After all, Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire was one of the most powerful skills in the high-level spell category!
Even many advanced mages couldn’t learn it.
So how had this guy done it?
“Could it be a high-level scroll?” Freeman suddenly had a revelation, his expression brightening. “That’s got to be it. He must have used a high-level scroll. There’s no other way he could cast Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire!”
Freeman had encountered countless prodigies over the years.
But he had never heard of anyone who could skip levels and master such advanced spells.
He was certain that Luca had used a scroll.
“That makes sense now!” Matthew finally understood as well. “It must be President Lucia who gave him the scroll. No wonder he can cast Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire—I almost got fooled by him!”
Freeman, regaining his confidence, smirked coldly. “No need to rush, Master Matthew. Even if he has a high-level scroll, he won’t be able to use it forever. Let him enjoy his little moment of survival. Once the scroll’s power is gone, he’ll be as good as dead.”
A sickly excitement spread across Matthew’s face.
“He’s just making a desperate last stand! Let’s see how long he can last!”
Meanwhile, at the front of the monster horde.
After clearing the surrounding monsters, a series of kill notifications appeared in front of Luca.
[Ding! You have killed a “lv16 Earth Fox (Normal)” and gained 12,013 experience points!]
[Ding! You have killed a “lv18 Rampaging Bear (Normal)” and gained 16,437 experience points!]
[Ding! You have killed a “lv17 One-Eyed Cat Demon (Elite)” and gained 32,483 experience points!]
…
Even though Luca had expected it, the sheer power of Heavenly Thunder Purple Fire still caught him by surprise.
He hadn’t thought that even elite monsters couldn’t withstand a single strike of his lightning. Truly, it lived up to its reputation as one of the highest-damage skills in the mage’s arsenal!
As the monsters fell, waves of experience surged into Luca’s body.
With the bonus from double experience, his experience bar skyrocketed as if propelled by a rocket.
[Ding! Your level has increased to lv14. You have gained 20 free attribute points!]
[Ding! Your level has increased to lv15. You have gained 20 free attribute points!]
[Congratulations, you’ve reached lv15 and unlocked the low-tier skill “Air Step”!]
In the blink of an eye, two golden lights flashed around Luca, signaling his rapid level-up.
Along with the level-ups, he unlocked a new magic rune skill.
Curious, Luca opened the skill menu to check its attributes and found that it was a movement ability.
[Air Step lv1: Low-tier skill. Upon activation, the Battle Mage can use the explosive force of magic runes to perform short dashes. Up to 3 dashes can be executed within 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Mana cost: 800 points.]
Skills like this were common among most classes, such as a mage’s blink or an assassin’s shadow step.
The key difference with the Demonic Rune Mage’s “Air Step” was its multi-dash capability, with additional dashes unlocked as the skill leveled up—an excellent burst mobility tool.
Luca was thrilled.
This skill would make a Demonic Rune Mage incredibly nimble in combat.
Calming his excitement, he quickly took advantage of the brief lull before the monsters attacked again. He gathered all the loot on the ground and stored it in his Storage Ring.
Behind him, Catherine and Cassman watched in disbelief as Luca calmly collected gear in the middle of a battle. They couldn’t help but laugh.
This guy’s nerves are something else!
He was surrounded by tens of thousands of monsters, and one mistake could lead to his death!
“Gutsy kid, I’ll give you that!” Cassman chuckled as he flashed forward, appearing right behind Luca.
Without warning, he grabbed Luca and hoisted him over his shoulder, much to Luca’s confusion, and started sprinting back.
The monsters finally snapped out of their daze, roaring with rage as they frantically chased after Catherine, Cassman, and the others.
Glancing at the horde of monsters trailing behind them.
Luca gave a wry smile. “You know… I could’ve just run on my own…”
Cassman, however, wasn’t paying attention to Luca’s protests.
As he continued running, he shouted at the Iron Mountain troops, “Everyone! Prepare for battle!”