Chapter 196 - 195: Inscribing Magic
Luckily, this was just the shallows, and the water wasn’t too deep.
Otherwise, even if Zelir had used all his Magic Power to cast Frost Technique, it wouldn’t have had this effect.
The Blood-Handed Demon Fish wailed in agony and cold.
It desperately used its few remaining mobile tentacles to try and pull itself up from the broken ice.
The Blood-Handed Demon Fish wanted to make one last struggle, to escape into the lake by crawling along the ice, but the smooth surface gave its tentacles no purchase.
It could no longer move freely.
The Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s enormous body twisted clumsily.
A few of its tentacles, straining too hard, slipped several times on the ice, causing the creature itself to stumble.
"Now’s our chance! Finish it!"
The other three would never let such a perfect opportunity slip by. Marcus and Maki rushed forward!
Seeing the two humans running at it from behind, the Blood-Handed Demon Fish suddenly felt a sense of despair.
It instinctively used its tentacles to prop itself up again, wanting to hasten its escape.
But in its panic, its movements were still clumsy, and its body slammed heavily onto the ice once more.
Maki seized the opportunity. He launched himself from the shore, leaping high into the air.
Then he brought his sword down on the Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s head!
"CLANG... SQUELCH!"
The blow gouged out a bloody wound, even cracking its hard skull!
However, when Maki landed, the ice was so smooth that his footing was unsteady, and he nearly fell.
Marcus, meanwhile, flung his Shield out like a discus.
The spinning Shield whizzed through the air and slammed viciously into the eye socket that had been pierced by the Aurora Energy Beam!
From a distance, a storm of Feathered Arrows rained down as well.
Valles sacrificed some killing power in favor of suppressive fire.
Arrow after Arrow, infused with a small amount of Thunder Fighting Qi, shot out in quick succession, blasting the Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s skin and flesh open and making blood flow freely.
Compared to the squad’s ferocious assault, the Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s counterattack seemed far too feeble.
Its few, frantic tentacle swings, born from agony, didn’t even require Marcus to intervene.
Maki easily parried them all; the Power behind the blows had weakened considerably due to its severe injuries.
The final blow came from Zelir’s Aurora Energy Beam.
The concentrated beam of light shot through the eye socket, completely destroying the Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s brain.
Its massive body suddenly stiffened, its flailing tentacles freezing in midair.
The Blood-Handed Demon Fish swayed twice before finally collapsing to one side, smashing another weak section of the ice and sending up a cold, bloody splash.
In Zelir’s data panel, his Experience Points were skyrocketing!
Level 19 (88/550) -> Level 20 (125/575), Level Up!
He had finally reached Level Twenty.
’As expected, the Blood-Handed Demon Fish is on the weaker end for a Challenge-rated Demon. Even the experience it gives is pretty low.’
Power: 95
Agility: 105
Constitution: 98
Spirit: 119
Intelligence: 126 -> 130
Perception: 32
Charm: 57 -> 58
Luck: 51
Talent Skills:
Technique Celestial Calculation
Magic Contract
This time, Zelir once again allocated his attribute points to Intelligence, pushing it past the 130 mark.
’On one hand, my Trigger Skill isn’t at its peak yet.’
’Even though I can construct a Domain now, I can only maintain it for a few hours. I still haven’t reached my goal of a 24/7 automatic alert.’
’That will require a higher Intelligence Attribute to support it.’
’On the other hand... it’s about time I put Engraving Spell Structures to sell Scrolls on the agenda.’
Zelir still remembered what Instructor Lena had told him.
Selling Magic Scrolls is a source of income for many Mages.
Magic commonly found on the market has a relatively fixed price. Unless the quality is exceptional, it’s hard to sell them for a good price.
But Fog Flowing Gauze...
It was very special.
Although it couldn’t provide protection from Magic attacks, it had extraordinary Defense Power against physical attacks.
While Fog Flowing Gauze was rather useless against High Tier Demons, during battles with Low Level Demons, it was like a shot in the arm.
It could block any sword strike or blade chop, even hidden arrows from the shadows, greatly increasing one’s safety.
’Magic like this should sell for a good price.’
"Uraagh!"
Gray roared as he hunted down the fleeing Sharp-Toothed Fish.
With a swing of his sword, he sliced a Sharp-Toothed Fish trying to dive back into a hole in the ice in half.
Valles’s Arrows and Zelir’s Magic followed, picking off some of the slower Sharp-Toothed Fish.
Level 20 (125/575) -> Level 20 (143/575).
But because there were too many Sharp-Toothed Fish, and they were dead set on running, scattering in all directions, there was nothing to be done.
It was impossible to kill them all.
In the end, a considerable number managed to dart back into the lake. Their forms flickered in the water a few times and then quickly vanished.
"They run faster than rabbits." Gray wiped the sweat from his forehead, then bent over with his hands on his knees, panting.
"This will cause problems later, won’t it?" Maki said.
"Nothing to be done about it. The commission only said to eliminate as many of the Sharp-Toothed Fish as possible, and we’ve already killed a lot," Gray said.
"I just counted. Thirteen of them got away."
Marcus said, "We should report it to the association when we turn in the quest. They’ll probably send another party of Adventurers to clean them up."
"But that won’t be our problem. It’ll probably become a Junior commission, anyway."
On the shore of Mirror Lake, the corpse of the Blood-Handed Demon Fish lay quietly in the shallows.
The lake water washed over it continuously. The layer of ice created by the Frost Technique had already melted significantly under the sun.
"Alright, let’s get to work!" Marcus clapped his hands.
The group struggled to drag the Blood-Handed Demon Fish out of the shallows and onto the shore, then began to carve up its corpse and collect their loot.
The Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s Demon Core was like a heart. It was dark red, and a viscous, blood-colored energy flowed slowly within it.
One could even feel the violent Magic Power contained within just by touching it.
Besides the basic Demon Core, the Blood-Handed Demon Fish also yielded some other spoils.
The other tentacles were useless, but at the center of its lower body were two newly sprouted Newborn Tentacles, slender and curled.
When cut off, they would still squirm and curl slightly, like snakes.
Their skin was incredibly tough and, after being peeled off, could be made into other special items by a craftsman.
"By the way..."
Zelir looked at the Blood-Handed Demon Fish’s corpse thoughtfully. "Are there any edible parts on this thing?"
"When we killed that Thousand-Teeth Rock Worm last time, why didn’t you ask if its meat was edible?" Gray laughed.
"Compared to a worm, fish meat is a lot more palatable..."
"No. The meat of a Blood-Handed Demon Fish is poisonous, including the tentacles," Valles said, shaking his head.
"Oh, well..." Zelir could only give up on his gourmet plans.