Chapter 7: Taotie, You Glutton, Did You Eat the Whole Dungeon Away?

"Get out of the way!"

Lu Zheng looked up to see a girl in a white windbreaker riding a wind demon griffon flying in midair, holding a longbow, aimed at the steel-clawed black panther below.

Behind her followed a middle-aged man holding a magic wand, also riding a wind demon griffon, looking like he should be that girl's guard.

That ice arrow had not been able to deal damage to the steel-clawed black panther. The middle-aged man waved the wand in his hand, and the next moment, a fireball the size of a human head appeared and landed on the steel-clawed black panther's head, exploding with a boom!

This was the fire-type spell 'Rupturing Fireball' that only mages of level twenty or above could learn. That middle-aged guard was clearly a high-level mage.

Dongfang Niaoniao looked at Lu Zheng, wrinkled her nose, and said with dissatisfaction:

"How can you be so rude? I saved you, and you don't even say thank you?"

Lu Zheng was speechless. You stole my kill and still want me to thank you! You really have some nerve!

But he also understood that at his current level, to the other party he was no match for this level-15 monster, so they had intervened to save him, which could be considered well-intentioned.

He did not want to cause extra complications, nor did he want to expose too much of his ability in front of others, so he put on an appearance of gratitude.

"Thank you!"

Having received the thanks, Dongfang Niaoniao was very satisfied and nodded, saying, "No need to thank me! But you don't have anyone protecting you, so leave here as soon as possible. At your current level, it's too dangerous here."

Good grief, just now she insisted I say thank you, and now she says no need to thank me. Women really do have two faces! "Understood, thank you, I'll be going now, farewell!"

With this kind of woman, Lu Zheng knew he could not get too entangled with her, otherwise it would definitely be endless trouble.

Watching Lu Zheng run directly into the distance, Dongfang Niaoniao frowned again but did not think much more of it. Although reaching level-eight talent at this time was not bad, that was all it was. She was already close to level ten. This was nothing but a minor interlude, of no consequence.

"Let's go, Uncle Fu. We need to level up as quickly as possible. Before the college entrance exam, I must earn two titles so I can get enough bonus points!"

The mage called Uncle Fu smiled and said:

"Miss, with your class quality, as long as you don't slack off, you will certainly be able to take first place in the city, and may even contend for first place in the entire commandery. Getting into a top-tier university will not be difficult. There's no need to be in such a hurry."

Dongfang Niaoniao said proudly:

"I'm going to contend for first place in the entire nation!"

Their conversation was not heard by Lu Zheng. After quickly leaving the two of them, he once again found a suitable prey to conduct a combat power test.

A level-16 gale gray wolf.

Lu Zheng first released a crescent wave, consuming 10 points of mana and dealing 100 points of damage, reducing its health by one-third.

The gale gray wolf was enraged and used its only skill, Wind Blade.

Lu Zheng had already had his other beast pets test it beforehand. The gale gray wolf's Wind Blade dealt roughly 60 points of damage, and he had a full 880 points of mana. Under the effect of the passive skill 'Mana Annihilation,' even if hit, it would not deal damage to him.

Moreover, he had a full 1200 points of health, more than the level-16 gale gray wolf. A mere Wind Blade dealt truly limited damage.

So he directly chose to tank it head-on.

【You suffered the skill Wind Blade attack from LV. 16 Gale Gray Wolf. Gale Gray Wolf dealt 60 points of damage to you, triggering the passive skill 'Mana Annihilation' effect. Your health is unaffected. 60 points of spell damage converted to 30 points of mana. You gain 30 points of mana.】

Feeling his mana indeed recover somewhat, Lu Zheng could not help but reveal an excited expression! Good! Good! Good! Just like this!

Lu Zheng was still testing on his end when he suddenly saw that he had leveled up again. He was stunned for a moment, then realized that Taotie had already reached level 10, and with the experience points fed back by the other summoned beasts, it had naturally caused him to level up again.

He was still playing around on his end and leveled up in the blink of an eye. It seemed leveling up was not so difficult! Immediately after, Lu Zheng discovered that Taotie, having reached level 10, had raised its killing speed by another tier. A continuous string of sounds rang in his ears, all of them experience point feedback.

By the end of this first day, Taotie had gone from level 1 to level 13. This speed was truly too fast.

And Lu Zheng felt that this did not seem to be its limit. The wild monsters around here were still a bit too low-level, completely insufficient for Taotie to kill.

The next day, arriving at Black Pine Forest again, Lu Zheng went directly to its deepest reaches.

Within this area, the lowest-level wild monsters were all above level 15. Moreover, although the highest level was still only 20, there were wild monsters at the minor boss tier here, corresponding to the elite-quality beast pet tier.

Their combat power was far beyond what ordinary wild monsters of the same level could compare to.

This time Lu Zheng did not go far. He wanted to see exactly how Taotie managed to deal such a large-area damage.

Taotie was released, and the next moment it transformed from a two-meter shoulder-height beast into a terrifying giant beast with a twenty-three-meter shoulder height. This was unmistakably one of its Divine Skills, Dharma Avatar World! 【Skill: Dharma Avatar World】

【Effect: Consumes a certain amount of mana to enlarge the body size. All attributes double. Minimum consumption of 20 mana per minute.】

All attributes surged! Originally, as a divine pet, Taotie's base attributes at the same level already completely crushed other creatures. Under the effect of this skill, they directly doubled, and it was not merely as simple as doubling two or three times.

As long as there was enough mana, increasing four or fivefold should be very easy!

And after activating this skill, immediately following, Taotie activated another skill.

It suddenly opened its huge mouth, and a black vortex appeared inside. The next moment, the surrounding wild monsters, sand, stones, and soil were rapidly sucked into it, and then a series of sounds of monsters being killed rang in Lu Zheng's ears.

【Skill: Black Hole Devour】

【Effect: Consumes a certain amount of mana to create a devouring black hole that devours everything within a certain range, converting it into own mana or experience points. Minimum consumption of 30 mana per minute.】

The towering black-barked pine trees were shaking violently. A level-16 steel-clawed black panther clung tightly to a large tree, its body pulled toward the black hole by the violent suction, its eyes filled with terror.

This suction was not wind but gravity, and it could not be resisted by ordinary means unless one anchored oneself to a certain spot.

And when that large tree was also snapped by the immense force and sucked into the black hole together, a look of despair appeared on the steel-clawed black panther's face! Although the monsters in this world could respawn, each monster also had independent thoughts; they were not purely energy-structured projections.

Therefore, they too could feel fear, which was why mental-type spells could have an effect on them.

And the scene before them, although not a mental-type spell, was still enough to leave them utterly shocked and filled with inner terror.

As the devouring continued, Taotie leveled up again, its body continuing to expand, and the Black Hole Devour's effect grew even more powerful. When Taotie advanced to level 16, the Black Hole Devour's gravity directly uprooted the black-barked pine trees within a radius of dozens of li. The entire Black Pine Forest seemed as though the apocalypse had descended! On the other side of Black Pine Forest, Dongfang Niaoniao in the sky looked at the black storm sweeping across dozens of li in the distance, her mouth wide open, her eyes filled with shock.

Beside her, Uncle Fu's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly said, "Miss, leave here quickly! This dungeon is about to collapse!"

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(End of this chapter)