Chapter 359: The Raid Begins

Rod's objective was achieved.

Too lazy to say more to them, he pointed behind him.

"The two firewood I promised are in the cave—do with them as you will."

After saying that.

With the force of his legs and 【Repulsion Art】 erupting at the same time, he shot up into the sky thick with volcanic ash, then immediately activated the flight technique within the Crystal Swan treasure and flew toward the depths of Black Cloak Mountain.

The fire spirits standing in place exchanged glances.

Only after the figure in the sky had completely vanished did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Then they burst into laughter.

In many of their laughs, beyond the exhilaration, there was also a sense of having escaped calamity.

No choice.

Their own wives indulged in dual cultivation without restraint, and lately in winter it had been even worse—for the past half month, their legs hadn't even been able to stand straight.

This killing god had come and slept with every woman in the village; they were finally free from their bitter sea!

"Burn the firewood!"

Someone started the commotion.

Then another joined in the shouting, after which all the male fire spirits around gathered to dance together, cheering the arrival of this high-quality firewood.

Clearly, compared to dealing with their own wives, tending the fire was a man's ultimate passion.

Poof—

A violent gust of wind suddenly came from afar.

The crowd followed the sound and saw a crude, ferocious silver steel spear spinning back from the distant forest, with several fruit trees behind it even cut clean in half at the waist.

Steady and slow.

Wherever it passed, things were smashed and broken without question.

The fire spirits recognized it as the silver-armored woman's weapon, knew full well how fearsome it was, and scattered in a chaotic rush.

The silver steel spear shattered the neatly arranged small stone pile placed at the entrance of the sacrificial cave.

Then, just as it was about to plunge into the darkness, it abruptly stopped midair.

The silver spear slowly leveled out, and the woman—half her silver armor scorched black, a bloody hole still in her chest—walked out with a cold expression.

"Truly worthy of Lady Grey! I knew you'd have a way!"

The half-deer person Kira cheerfully waggled her exposed ears, following behind with sincere praise.

At the same time she also breathed a sigh of relief: "Good thing that flower-stealing bandit didn't strike to kill."

"He fears the Hero Prophecy, fears the curse from powerful prophecy arts clinging to him."

Grey said coldly.

And this kind of prophecy-art curse was also one of the half-deer elder's methods of protecting the Hero.

Although in a life-and-death battle, if you're fated to die you still die, at least it could be used to avoid certain unnecessary, meaningless deaths.

"But why did he interfere with us?"

"You forgot, Lady Grey—this guy is a flower-stealing bandit, he must have taken a fancy to our beauty and bodies. You don't even know, he touched me! Twice! Boohoo, I'm not pure anymore."

Grey looked at the mischievous, clowning Kira and, rare for her, showed a faint smile.

"Then he must have only taken a fancy to Kira's body. Kira is the cutest half-deer person I've ever seen."

"Really!? Hehehe, that's not necessarily true, Lady Grey's face, if it's all cold and icy, is also very pretty, not an ounce of excess flesh on her body, although her chest really isn't as big as mine!"

She proudly thrust out her chest and stood with hands on hips.

Winter half-deer people had a biological phenomenon of hoarding fat, and the area where it was hoarded was also wonderfully and enticingly placed.

Kira's current bust was indeed not bad, but it still couldn't compare to Miss Xiao Ke.

"Alright, alright, Kira has the best figure."

Grey couldn't be bothered to argue.

She gazed far off into the sky—the direction Rod had vanished—with unwillingness and defiance in her eyes.

"Next time. Next time I will definitely win."

She murmured.

BOOM!!!

Just as she thought this, she saw a massive spiritual greatsword cleave down from the peak of Black Cloak Mountain.

It carved an opening into the heavy, thick mountain body.

"Wh-what is that?"

Kira said in shock.

"A labyrinth-escape monster. This person's objective is the same as ours—both of them came for that monster!"

Grey too fell into brief astonishment, but then concluded firmly.

Having said that, she drove her spiritual energy to hurry toward the mountaintop.

"Lady Grey! Your body!"

"It's nothing! Kira, I'm asking you seriously one more time—does your 【Hero Judgment】 have any reaction to him at all?"

Seeing her own Hero look so serious, the half-deer person couldn't help but be puzzled:

"I don't understand what you mean, Lady Grey."

"My intuition tells me that although this person acts despicably, he is absolutely no ordinary person—this feeling, I only ever get it when I encounter another 【Hero】."

The peak of Black Cloak Mountain.

As Rod dove downward, he sent another sweeping 【Giant-Size Slash】 crashing into it.

After a rumbling collapse, a cross-shaped gap appeared at the mountaintop.

Faintly, there were traces of reinforcement by earth and wood magic.

"Good, again!"

After a night of release, Rod was refreshed in body and mind, his spirituality flourishing, more than he could ever use up.

Blue-white mist rose up.

A massive bronze dragon war soul roared toward the sky, slamming heavily into the cross-shaped gap at the mountaintop.

【War Soul Charge】!

Unlike when playing with the girls in the forest, back then 【Elbert's Tome of Curious Love】 emphasized mutual spiritual communication, with the premise of not harming and jointly growing one's spirituality.

But facing the 23 female fire spirits was different.

They were no friends or relatives — Rod resorted to a single dual cultivation!

While drawing upon the spirituality within them, he engaged in highly stimulating interaction, which not only assaulted their minds but the powerful suction also caused them some bodily harm.

But it wouldn't be too serious — five or eight days of rest would heal them.

Rumble!!!

The mountain crumbled, rocks tumbling down.

A black gap was revealed, exposing the dark hollow within.

"Under my 【Spider Sense】, nothing can hide!"

Rod laughed heartily and leapt down through the falling rocks into that gap.

A thick, astringent taste like stomach acid rushed at him, and the moment he landed, a giant boulder was already hurtling toward his face.

【Dragon Scale Art】 activated in an instant.

Bang—

Gravel flew in all directions.

He charged against the scattering debris and burst out, immediately locking onto a mage with an oddly long back of the head and luminous blue skin.

This was no other race — it was a mind flayer in the middle of transforming!

"Can they use the host's spells before fully transforming?"

The Slime Black Sword slashed through the void.

A large swath of corrosive slime covered the person's head.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Screams rose together with the hissing of corrosion.

"But the reaction is very slow — casting and incanting are both sluggish."

Buzz—

Five or six mind spikes sank into his head.

If not for the prompt from 【Will of the Firmament】, he wouldn't have even noticed.

Rod turned his head to look.

The hollow space inside the mountain was empty — not a soul in sight, not even visible to the naked eye.

So what?

Think you can escape my 【Spider Sense】?

Rod manipulated the little black slime in his hand into a spear, then briefly cast a spell, attaching the magical effect of 【Shattering Emerald】.

Rocket launcher's coming!

The black spear pinned into the side wall, and half a second later exploded with a roar!

The tremendous blast tore off a huge chunk of the mountain, rumbling and rumbling, sending violent tremors through the area.

At the same time, a slender-built mind flayer with an octopus-like head on top was knocked back by the shockwave and blasted right in front of Rod.

The mind flayer sprawled on the ground in a sorry state, raising its head in fury, its white eyes filled with savage evil.

Another round of psychic abilities.

(End of this chapter)