Chapter 244: Pyromaniac

Almost instantly, Lu Mi's whole person seemed to be burning.

From body to soul, every part of him was suffering from the pain of scorching.

Lu Mi was no stranger to this feeling. Whether it was the serious injury encountered when hunting fire monsters or the experience of being on the verge of losing control when accepting the gift, he had been truly ignited.

And at this very moment, such scorching and such pain could not cover up the ball of fire in his heart, the fire of wanting to resist fate, wanting to change everything, wanting to burn away all repression and despair.

This made Lu Mi not fall to the ground and curl up to alleviate the pain, but stand straight there, gritting his teeth, twisting his face, refusing to bend his waist.

He gradually couldn't bear it, his waist and back gradually bent downward, but Lu Mi, just like when facing Father Guillaume Bénet, facing Termiboros who brought a destructive disaster to Cordu Village, tried his best to straighten his waist and back.

His body leaned forward bit by bit, then raised bit by bit. A scorched scent lingered at the tip of his nose, and a terrifying sound that seemed to come from infinitely far away yet close by rang in his ears.

A familiar, intense stinging pain pierced his entire head, making him unable to help but let out a low scream. Cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, and liquid resembling magma flowed inside vaguely.

Lu Mi's hands pressed on the desk in front, using this to support his body.

The places he touched turned black and charred rapidly, and the smell of wood being scorched permeated.

Lu Mi's instinctive scream could no longer make a sound. His mouth was wide open, spraying out scorching hot gas.

He didn't immediately open that bottle of gray amber perfume, relying on the ball of fire in his chest to fight against the various pains from inside to outside and his increasingly blurred thoughts.

Time passed second by second. Lu Mi, who had always been gritting his teeth, felt the fire in his chest spray out, merging with the scorching that filled his whole body.

Various pains receded, and his blurred thoughts gradually became clear.

Lu Mi supported himself with both hands and stood straight again, casting his gaze toward the full-length mirror in the room.

In the mirror, his golden hair still revealed a bit of black, his clothes had been burned to tatters, and there were large amounts of scorch marks all over his body, which were rapidly forming scabs and falling to the ground, revealing his pale skin.

At the same time, Lu Mi saw that there seemed to be two crimson flames burning in his blue eyes. It wasn't until he tried his best to calm his mood and relax his state that they disappeared bit by bit.

The next second, Lu Mi raised his right hand, and a ball of crimson flame suddenly condensed in his palm.

He had successfully advanced to Sequence 7 of the "Hunter" pathway, becoming a "Pyromaniac"!

Flames constantly emerged in Lu Mi's palm, intertwining with the original crimson, constantly compressing inward.

After more than ten seconds, the color of that crimson flame became incandescent white. Regardless of temperature or the explosive nature contained within, it had improved by more than one level compared to just now.

"I can directly use crimson-colored, weaker-powered flames, or after accumulating and compressing for a period of time, use more powerful incandescent white flames..." Lu Mi's palm seemed not to fear scorching, letting that ball of incandescent white flame burn quietly there.

He had initially reviewed his own state and the mystical knowledge he had obtained, having a relatively complete cognition of the "Pyromaniac" Beyonder abilities:

First, the spirituality of a "Pyromaniac" has been greatly improved. This made Lu Mi's "Spirit Vision" undergo a qualitative change—he can not only use this to set up more hidden and faster activation methods, but finally can see the colors of various parts of the "ether body" described by his sister, no longer having only a chaotic, single picture.

This helps a "Hunter" grasp the physical condition of the target, thereby targeting it more effectively.

Second, the danger intuition has also gained a certain enhancement. Currently, Lu Mi is no longer just having a sense when a problem is about to explode; he can stimulate his intuition in this regard by observing the environment to collect information. Correspondingly, he can better detect whether he is being followed and can apply his own anti-tracking techniques more fully and perfectly.

Third, he has the ability to control flames. This also comes with several spells.

The current Lu Mi can mainly control those flames that originate from himself and are manufactured by himself. He has an affinity for flames and flammable materials in the surrounding environment, but he cannot yet exert sufficient influence. After he initially digests the "Pyromaniac" potion or advances to a higher sequence, perhaps there will be corresponding changes.

In addition, Lu Mi can use the flames he manufactures to attack enemies, but once the flames leave his body, they won't be under his control unless he has hidden a portion of his spirituality inside them beforehand.

That is to say, making the fired fireball turn midway is a quite difficult thing to do and must consume a lot of extra spirituality to achieve.

The control of flames is mainly divided into seven aspects:

One is condensation and compression, bombing the target in the form of a fireball. The longer the compression time, the more flames accumulated, and the greater the power;

Two is letting the body surface burn with a layer of flame, thereby defending against attacks like freezing effects and toxic gas damage to a certain extent;

Three is using flames to manufacture different temporary weapons, thereby bringing high-temperature cutting, scorching piercing, and other damage. This can also be divided into crimson and incandescent white types according to the different charging times;

Four is delayed explosion, relying on attaching spirituality and changing the structure to let the manufactured "flame bomb" explode at a scheduled time, instead of being detonated on the spot;

Five is range influence, extending the flames instead of throwing them out, ensuring the flames are under his own control, exploding at the set position or burning in different forms;

Six is "Fire Injection," relying on the pressure brought by physical contact and force collision during close-quarters combat to inject flames bit by bit into the enemy's body, and finally detonating them;

Seven is attaching flame damage to his own weapons.

The several flame-type spells Lu Mi obtained are all applications of these aspects, but they achieve effects he couldn't normally manufacture by relying on some techniques.

Those spells are:

"Fire Crow Art," "Incandescent White Spear," "Xiong Xiong Wall," and "Giant Fireball."

Among them, "Fire Crow Art" is the most magical. It allows Lu Mi to quickly condense a group of flame crows around his body and assign a bit of spirituality to each fire crow, making them still under control to a certain extent after leaving his body, thereby simply adjusting the trajectory and initially locking onto the target.

If he didn't have this spell, the Lu Mi who had just advanced to "Pyromaniac" would need to consume at least three times the spirituality and energy he currently has to achieve a similar effect, and the fire crows would be much clumsier and more rigid.

"Incandescent White Spear" is a spell that condenses incandescent white flames relatively quickly, but it can only exist in the form of a long spear, and it can also roughly guide the fireballs Lu Mi manufactures after attaching spirituality.

"Xiong Xiong Wall" uses the earth as a medium and himself as the source, casting a circle of fiercely burning walls around the enemy by manufacturing two fire snakes rushing toward the enemy.

"Giant Fireball" requires ten to twenty seconds of time, equivalent to compressing multiple crimson fireballs into one and firing it.

The flames of a "Pyromaniac" all originate from himself, mainly physical damage, but they can also initially scorch spirits. Lu Mi now doesn't have to be unable to do anything about soul-type creatures and must rely on external forces.

Fourth, after the potion's transformation, his body has a strong ability to resist flames. Even if he is poured with animal fat and ignited with a torch, burning for half a day, the damage he receives won't reach the level of serious, but the shockwave brought by the fireball explosion can still normally damage him.

Lu Mi believes that after his sequence is higher, his body might even be able to directly merge into the fire.

He shook his right hand casually, letting that ball of incandescent white flame dissipate in the air.

Immediately following, he clenched his palm, and a long sword condensed from crimson flames appeared out of thin air.

Lu Mi brandished it a few times, shook his head in disappointment, and muttered silently:

"Only has the ability to damage enemies, cannot block or parry..."

That flame long sword doesn't possess a physical body. Lu Mi suspects that he will have to wait until a certain higher sequence to make this type of weapon turn from virtual to real.

He subsequently let that flame long sword dissipate and took out the dagger from the pervert Hedersey.

As Lu Mi's fingers brushed over the surface of the dagger, a layer of fiercely burning flames covered the blade.

Lu Mi gripped the handle and performed a few thrusts with this dagger, seeing a few points of crimson sparks that were dissipating rapidly remaining in the air, the scene quite dreamlike.

"Can both block and have flame damage. Although in this form, it cannot produce high temperatures, it can still be considered quite useful."

"The problem now is that ordinary weapons cannot withstand flame scorching for a long time..." Lu Mi nodded thoughtfully.

Having confirmed the "Pyromaniac" Beyonder abilities, he quickly tidied up the desk and changed into a flaxen shirt, brown jacket, and dark trousers.

Lu Mi looked at himself in the mirror again, the corners of his mouth curling up, revealing a smile.

He then put on that dark-blue duckbill cap, turned his body, and walked toward the door.

Behind him, balls of crimson flames emerged silently, bright and dazzling, disappearing in a flash.

Market Avenue, outside the earth-yellow four-story building where the MP's office is located.

Lu Mi sat down again among the homeless people at the entrance of the alley opposite, watching the coming and going of people at the target house.

Because the Goodwill Chemical Plant had an explosion, quite a few workers died, and there were even more injured, all the Trier news reporters had swarmed over, so the gas wall lamp light in Hugues Artois's office was still lit, busily receiving visitors with different purposes.

The MP hadn't gone home, and those staff members who relied on him naturally had to stay in that earth-yellow building. Every room there seemed to have light shining through.

Lu Mi leaned against the street wall, observing the visitors to the MP's office while pondering the strategies he could adopt.

He wanted to light a "fire"!

He wanted to "burn away" that bastard who brought illness!

He knew this would have very serious consequences. He knew that he, who had become a "Pyromaniac," was not yet enough to rely on one person's strength to fight against the evil god believers surrounding Hugues Artois.

He just wanted to do something. He just felt that even the fiercest sea of fire started from a single spark.

PS: Third update, asking for base monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 245 =====