Chapter 57: Sea of Fire (Please keep reading)

The battle in the distance was also clearly visible to Lu Cang.

The [War Elephant] had its limbs severed, its body crashing toward the earth as a highly impactful beam of light pierced through it.

It seemed to be an arrow...

Yet it had punched a massive hole directly through the War Elephant's belly.

It looked like a victory.

However.

It felt as though this beast tide was far from over.

The question that followed immediately was... how long would they have to defend?

As it stood, the results were quite considerable.

Through mutual cover and assistance, there were almost no casualties.

But the subsequent problem was this

A mage's mana would eventually run dry, and a warrior's stamina would be exhausted.

A healer's spells would be depleted.

Not every mage could cast spells with infinite mana like Lu Cang.

"How long does a beast tide usually last?"

Lu Cang turned to ask the Level 4 mage beside him.

Only then did Lu Cang notice that the man's expression was exceptionally grim.

"I don't know..."

"A short one might just be a small wave, stopping after ten or so minutes."

"But some long-lasting tides can persist for months."

"Wasting an entire kingdom until they are out of ammunition and food."

Lu Cang: "Huh?"

"Doesn't the beast tide have a source or something?"

The Level 4 mage shook his head. "If we knew the source, we would have dealt with it immediately."

"Monsters are formed by invisible monster tides; they spawn out of thin air in places people cannot see."

"In the gaps of the forest, behind the cover formed by beasts and monsters, new monsters are constantly spawning from nothing."

"You mean, they can't be killed off?"

"They can..."

"If you hold out until the monster tide thins out, they can be finished off."

*Tsk...*

Lu Cang reached out and made a sweeping motion—

[Fire Wall (LV: 191) — Distant fire walls, spreading flames, infectious burning, wider width, longer duration.]

*Whoosh~*

*Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—*

Eighteen fire walls lined up in succession, forming a Great Wall of Flame.

Unfortunately, his casting range was insufficient.

A single fire wall was originally 300 meters long.

But limited by his maximum casting distance, Lu Cang's fire walls could only stretch for a maximum of 1.6 kilometers.

"Heh... a true magical genius."

Seeing Lu Cang's maneuvers, the Level 4 mage's expression turned somewhat somber.

His level was higher than Lu Cang's, but Lu Cang's magical talent made him feel a chasm-like gap between them.

He had seen with his own eyes how Lu Cang had gradually transformed [Flame Belt] into the current Fire Wall.

The entire process...

Could not be called "sublimation" without exaggeration.

"Is all of this beyond standard magic?"

"Can you teach me?"

Lu Cang nodded, then shook his head. "I don't know how to teach it."

"I just know how to cast it."

When Yi once asked him how he released them, Lu Cang's answer had been: "It just feels like it can be released this way."

As for *how* they were released, even Lu Cang couldn't explain it clearly.

It was simply that once his proficiency reached a certain point, he gained an intuitive understanding after the evolution.

As his proficiency increased, Lu Cang's comprehension of these spells became incredibly profound.

However, having a deep understanding in his mind did not mean he could verbalize it.

It was like being able to feel one's blood flowing through specific vessels or Qi flowing through meridians, but Lu Cang couldn't say which vessel was which or what the meridians were named.

He simply couldn't teach it.

Receiving Lu Cang's answer, the Level 4 mage's face darkened.

Is this what a genius is?

Easily reaching heights that he could never attain.

"If you weren't here..."

"We would likely have fallen very quickly."

Lu Cang's gaze drifted toward the Level 4 adventurers in the distance, and even further to the Level 5 adventurers.

"If it wasn't me, there are them."

"No..."

"They have to deal with their own battlefield."

"If they came to defend against these charging monsters, there would be no one left to deal with those powerful Lord-level monsters."

Lu Cang fell silent.

Indeed.

Pali was right; if he weren't here, they might truly fall very soon.

Oh...

[Fire Wall] has reached Level 200.

With a thought, Lu Cang triggered the evolution direction for [Fire Wall]: Area of Effect.

Lu Cang evolved the range of Fire Wall once more.

[Fire Wall —> Sea of Fire]

*Whoosh!*

Flames erupted!

A massive sea of fire was actually piled up in front of the city walls!

The original fire wall was 5 meters high.

After evolving into a Sea of Fire, the height of the flames became lower, only about one meter.

However, the range had expanded significantly.

A single sea of fire could cover a radius of 200 meters.

*Twitch—*

The Level 4 mage's mouth twitched again; he had just witnessed Lu Cang complete another spell transformation.

*Damn?*

*He can get even stronger?*

These beast tides haven't stopped, and you haven't stopped either. Isn't your growth rate a bit too heaven-defying?

"Holy crap... who the hell cast that fire?"

"This is... monster stealing!"

The observers on the city walls pointed their fingers toward Lu Cang.

Observers could perceive traps, see monster weaknesses, and discover hidden opportunities.

On the battlefield, they were often responsible for managing the macro-perspective.

When they saw something noteworthy, they would call out a warning.

They were also responsible for coordinating the support between the ranged classes on the walls and the melee classes below.

But...

Right now, all they saw was a floor covered in a sea of fire, and the mana source for all these fires came entirely from Lu Cang.

The archers and mages on the walls all turned to look at Lu Cang.

*Shit... he cast it all.*

Originally, there were some stragglers that slipped through the fire walls.

With this sea of fire spread out, the entire ground became ablaze.

With Lu Cang as the center, a radius of 1.1 kilometers outside the city walls was entirely covered in a sea of fire.

In truth, the damage of the Sea of Fire was relatively low.

A Tier 2 monster could hop around inside it for ten or so seconds before being burned to death.

If it were a Fire Wall, they would have died in two or three seconds.

However...

The problem was that the range was too vast.

They were being scorched the entire way through; even Tier 3 elite monsters were being burned to death just by trying to run through it.

[Sea of Fire (LV: 201) — Vast sea of fire, extremely long duration, continuously increasing burn damage.]

The longer one stayed in the sea of fire, the higher the damage became.

As for the Lords that couldn't be burned to death—

Because there were so few of them, as soon as they appeared within Lu Cang's attack range, they would be instantly killed by his other spells.

The beast tide that had originally threatened to annihilate Rain Town was actually being... out-competed for kills by Lu Cang.

Lu Cang looked toward the observer beside him.

"How many have I killed?"

"One hundred and twenty-one thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine."

*Oh, the count is that precise?*

If he wasn't just making up a number, then the Level 4 observer's perception was indeed powerful.

But, aren't there just too many monsters?

Even with many outsiders arriving, the total number of adventurers in Rain Town was only a little over a thousand.

One hundred and twenty thousand...

So far, does that mean each person has to kill 120 monsters on average?

Thinking of the Level 2 mages nearby, who couldn't even kill a single one with an ice shard, he felt that Rain Town was truly in a dangerous position.

Furthermore.

This number would only keep increasing.

Watching Lu Cang spend magic without restraint, the Level 4 mage couldn't help but ask with concern, "Is your mana really alright?"

"Oh... I'm fine."

His current total mana was approximately 3.3 million.

Compared to yesterday, it had increased by another 10%.

Currently, his mana recovered at a rate of 330,000 per second.

And right now, the mana consumed by casting all his spells within a single second was less than 20,000.

This consumption wasn't even a fraction of his recovery.

There were still some minor beast tides outside the front lines.

However, those small fry couldn't cause much damage to the walls.

Moreover, the mages and archers were gradually dispersing away from Lu Cang.

Otherwise, they would literally just be standing there doing nothing.

As long as they defended like this, it should be fine.

He had nothing else to do...

"Lu Cang, an invisible assassin! Watch out!"

An observer suddenly let out an urgent warning!

Lu Cang's heart instantly went on high alert!

*Ding!*

Sparks flew beside him!

Lu Cang saw a dagger slicing through his barrier from top to bottom, only millimeters away from his eye!

[Repulsion Wind Blast]