sonovelo Chapter 416: Like a Constricting Python
Chapter 416: Like a Constricting Python
This "unsportsmanlike" Fireball slammed into the Magic Frog Lord's face and left it completely stunned in an instant.Actually, you couldn't really blame the maze lord for being careless, it was more that Gauss's casting speed was just too fast.
Boom!!!
A raging inferno erupted with a powerful shockwave, instantly blasting the Magic Frog Lord away.
Pfft!
When the gigantic magic frog hit the ground, several of the ugly sacs on its body ruptured, and multicolored mana slime splattered onto the ground, leaving countless pits of various sizes.
The Magic Frog Lord shook its head slightly, and it seemed its mind hadn't fully recovered from the blast of the Fireball.
Gauss nearby allowed himself a small sigh of relief.
Right after releasing the Fireball, he had felt a bit of regret.
Not because the Fireball lacked power, but precisely because he was worried it was too powerful.
Although his Magician professional level was only Rank 7, the purity and total amount of his mana, plus the racial talents and professional specializations that could enhance spells, far exceeded other adventurers of the same rank, and might even surpass some Rank 11 spellcasters. Otherwise, how could he have matched those Rank 11 professionals without the help of a “Sphere” — a trump card capable of causing a qualitative leap in strength?
The potency of a spell is tightly linked to mana, specializations, and talents.
Even though Fireball is only a Circle 3 spell, in his hands it produced effects stronger than many Circle 4 spells.
Also, like humans with their varied professions, monsters have strengths and weaknesses too. Looking at that giant Magic Frog, it clearly followed a magic-oriented development path rather than the muscle-and-steel route of a warrior.
So he truly feared that after casting the Fireball, if the opponent carelessly failed to dodge and the fragile body of a "mage" was obliterated on the spot, his original plan would be ruined.
After a lord dies, would the subordinate monsters still recklessly throw themselves forward and die for it, even when defeat was obvious?
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario he feared did not occur.
The giant Magic Frog’s instincts made it leap aside the moment the Fireball appeared, and it used the Fireball’s shockwave to avoid the hottest center.
Not bad...
Gauss's view of this magic-oriented Magic Frog Lord improved somewhat.
Perhaps being a maze-level lord came with special bonuses; it indeed felt stronger than he had anticipated.
Moreover, he vaguely sensed that the moment the Fireball landed, the surrounding space seemed to undergo an indescribable change, as if this layer of the maze world absorbed part of the damage on its behalf.
Croak!
The Magic Frog Lord, just recovering from the daze, looked up and saw Gauss swaying and shaking his head, a strange expression in his eyes. Being somewhat "sentient," it immediately read the emotion Gauss projected and an instant of rage flared up within its massive body.
Damn humans! How dare they belittle me!
Flames flickered in its frog-eyes.
It was the lord of this layer of the maze, sovereign of many monsters — when had it ever been humiliated like this?
In its view, it had merely been caught off guard by this human's sneak attack; now that it had arranged itself for a full frontal fight, it believed itself superior.
Bolstered by the maze's power, it could continuously restore health, stamina, and mana in battle. So as long as any one instance of magic couldn't instantly kill it, the longer the fight dragged on, the weaker the attacker would become.
Croak!
Upon hearing the Magic Frog Lord’s roar, the outer monster host "boiled" with anger!
The monsters charged desperately toward the humans who blocked their path.
However, before the main force could reach the Red Dragon Guild members, they had to get past the ferocious, massive Goblin Clay Giant and a Red Drake.
Those two colossal beasts were so strong that they didn't need any special tactics; any part of their bodies—hands, feet, or torso—could become terrible weapons, shredding nearby monsters in an instant and reducing them to nothing more than numbers on Gauss’s monster log.
The other Red Dragon Guild members used those beasts as cover to strike from behind.
Especially the Rank 9 Warlock Luna; the way she hurled spells was downright glorious, bombarding the distant monster host with an array of magic. She was confident because no front liner had ever given such a sense of security as the Goblin Clay Giant and the Red Drake.
Particularly the Clay Goblin; it truly embodied "self-sacrifice," not caring for its own safety. All magic and arrows were absorbed by its enormous, thick body, like an insurmountable, despairing wall in front of the monsters.
If not for the surrounding monsters being continuously affected by the Maze Lord's power, they would likely have already lost heart and fled.
Gauss glanced at the distant combat with satisfaction.
He felt even more pleased—within this short span, the Red Dragon Guild members and his partners had killed over a hundred monsters for him, without him having to do any of the direct work.
It gave him the delicious feeling of being a hands-off boss, directing others to do the labor.
What he needed to do was pin down the lord, keep it in a berserk state, and avoid killing it too quickly; he had to make it shout and attract more monsters to come die.
Having finally found this "training ground," he wanted to farm as many kill counts as possible.
Although there was probably another lord on the fifth layer, who knew the situation there? It was better to seize this opportunity and relentlessly grind this target.
The Monster Lord had no idea that Gauss had already turned it into an "ATM."
It saw the human before it not attacking and began to grow a little complacent, thinking its mighty roar had cowed him.
Usually that tactic worked well on its minions; the lord's majestic presence could even frighten its own underlings to death.
Croak!
Acting on that thought, it opened its huge mouth and roared at Gauss. Visual soundwaves rippled outward from its front.
Huh?
Gauss, hovering in midair, lowered his gaze to glance at it.
Although he didn't understand why it had suddenly resumed calling at him in such a challenging pose, he was pleased with the result.
More bellows would attract more monsters.
He decided to hit harder later; he had already tested its thick hide—he just needed to avoid killing it outright.
In just a short time, the ruptured sacs on the Magic Frog Lord’s body had gradually healed and were slowly swelling again, seemingly filling with mana.
Among the intact mana sacs, the red sac and the blue sac located at its lower jaw suddenly lit up. The glow was as hot as molten lava; through the translucent sac walls he could clearly see roiling liquid flames inside.
Gauss narrowed his eyes.
"Finally going to act?"
He hovered in the air and didn't immediately interrupt the frog's casting. Instead, he quietly fingered his Dimension Door.
The Magic Frog Lord in front of him did not present a strong threat, and he needed to observe this lord’s strength more carefully. His goal was to capture it alive, not to kill it.
After a brief charge-up, the Magic Frog Lord’s lower jaw began to bulge.
As its body swelled, two strong currents of mana converged inside its mouth, inflating it to the limit; the lower half of its skull ballooned into a huge spherical shape, looking almost ridiculous.
It suddenly flung open its massive maw.
"Beautiful!"
Rushing flame and clear water-mist mana combined, and when expelled at high pressure they formed a white gaseous torrent.
It was a jet of superheated steam.
Where it passed, the ground instantly dried and cracked; plants didn't even catch fire—they were vaporized on the spot.
"Composite magic?"
Gauss was somewhat surprised; the attack's destructive force was indeed considerable.
The next moment, as the steam cloud was about to engulf him, his body flashed a blue light, and he instantly reappeared behind the Magic Frog.
"What a terrifying attack."
Gauss, having teleported to safety, observed the steam’s destructive power, a trace of surprise flickering in his eyes.
From one perspective, the composite magic this Magic Frog Lord used was even more terrifying than his Fireball.
A Fireball is pure high temperature and impact, but that superheated steam carried far greater energy; it could instantly penetrate surfaces and wreak terrible damage to the deep tissues of objects and living beings.
Those two totally different mana types seemed to undergo a special mutation the moment they combined.
Gauss had seen similar scenes before.
During the battle defending Grayrock Town, he had watched mages coordinate casting; sometimes they overlaid similar spells to enlarge the effect, and composite spell synergies existed too.
But in his perception, there was a qualitative difference between those and how this Magic Frog Lord used the combination.
Was it a bodily aptitude?
Gauss scrutinized its structure: multiple attribute sacs seemed to be part of its anatomy, special organs that enhanced its command over mana.
He had privately tried similar composite magics, but they never felt quite right.
Some things sound easy until you try to execute them.
As for why this creature could manage it, he could only admit every ruler has its unique strengths.
After releasing that thick steam, the Magic Frog Lord only realized its attack had missed a moment later.
It had just begun to look around.
Dong!
A two-meter-long giant arrow shot like a cannonball from high above, piercing the thick forelimb it had planted on the ground in an instant.
Weak muscle fibers and connective tissue snapped as if steel rods were cut; the mountain-sized body toppled to one side.
Jii!!
This cry carried raw emotion.
Pain!
A fierce, stabbing pain radiated from the bloodied stump, torturing the whole body.
Its round frog-eye looked at its severed limb.
A tenacious blue energy crept across the wound and continued corroding the flesh; it was this energy that caused the persistent agony.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It hopped in pain, each jump slamming the ground and gouging out deep pits.
At the same time, its mouth spewed all manner of composite spells in a frenzy.
High-temperature steam formed by fire and water, heavy toxic projectiles formed by water and poison.
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding once-flat terrain became pockmarked and devastated.
"Is it worried I'll land a killing blow while it's wounded?" Gauss guessed the Magic Frog’s thought.
He noticed that as it furiously spat spells, natural mana from the environment was also flowing into its body.
The infusion of ambient mana allowed it to function like a magical artillery platform, continuously firing in all directions and turning the hundred-meter area around it into a no-entry zone.
This innate home-ground advantage must be a privilege of being a Maze Lord.
No wonder the Adventurers Guild repeatedly warns about the danger of maze lords.
Gauss used Dimension Door to back off a bit and observe the target.
To his senses this fourth-layer Maze Lord's strength appeared only Rank 8, but its threat level far exceeded ordinary Rank 8 monsters.
You can't compare a juvenile dragon to a goblin of the same rank.
With the maze's special bonuses, it might be an unremarkable Magic Frog on paper, but its aptitude had undergone a qualitative leap. If not for facing Gauss, it could easily challenge Rank 9 or Rank 10 powerful adventurers and their many helpers.
However, Gauss, who had already activated Golden Dragon Eyes, also sharply noticed that behind its powerful sustaining recovery lay an overloaded body.
Although a monster enjoying the maze's special enhancement, it was still flesh and blood.
If it operated like this for a few more minutes, long before Gauss struck, it would burn out.
"My ATM, don't kill yourself playing around."
As Gauss worried, fortunately the Magic Frog Lord’s brief "magical bombardment" ended.
When the dust settled, Gauss found the previously severed forelimb enhanced by Godwater had already healed.
More precisely, it had broken the "infected" wound again and used its regenerative ability to regrow a forelimb.
It seemed tormented by the Godwater blessed by Mete; the Magic Frog turned its head to look at Gauss, hatred burning in its eyes, mixed with a thread of dread.
It gradually realized this human might be a bit too strong.
Not only were his attacks sharp and lethal, his two actual strikes had hit it precisely and inflicted heavy damage; his movement was as slippery as an eel.
Its magic seemed enormous, yet it failed to land on the opponent.
Too slow.
Its neural processing accelerated, desperately thinking of how to break the current situation. As it looked toward its minions and the human adventurers in the distance,
the annoying human’s voice sounded from above.
"Alright, the make-believe show is over."
Gauss's expression grew a touch more serious.
Although the Magic Frog couldn't hurt him directly, if it broke into his teammates' ranks the consequences would be catastrophic. Even if he was reluctant, he would have to kill it to ensure their safety.
For the sake of everyone's lives, he had to take a serious approach and completely control it first.
He raised his White Wand over his head.
A brilliant radiance blossomed above.
Three spheres hovered in the air, then in an instant smashed toward the ground, forming an encircling strike that trapped the central Magic Frog.
The frog was terrified to find that no matter where it leapt, it remained inside the attack radius of those already-exploded, terrifying fireballs.
No place to hide!
Boom!!!
Mushroom clouds rose from the plain.
The ground within kilometers trembled violently.
Even the Red Dragon Guild members and monsters fighting in the distance felt the effect; some casters in the back couldn't help but glance at the dreadful explosive spell, inwardly sighing.
"The guild leader really is a monster."
No matter how many times they saw it, this level of magical assault was thoroughly awe-inspiring.
In the center of the explosion, as the dust cleared, the Magic Frog Lord that had sensibly chosen to curl up remained battered and covered in wounds. Mana-filled pus gushed like a fountain from many parts of its body.
But despite this ghastly state, it still lived.
Of course, that was exactly Gauss's careful intent.
Perhaps because he possessed the World Rule power "Precision," he had an aptitude for fine micro-operations. After probing and observing, he quickly found the frog lord’s tolerance range and used three Fireballs with perfect timing to blast it down to half of its life.
The ambient mana seemed to stir again and flowed into the Magic Frog Lord to heal its injuries.
"Control Water!"
Gauss wouldn't waste this carefully created opportunity; he smoothly cast the Circle 4 spell Control Water.
Masses of clear water surged from his storage, infused with Godwater and abundant mana. Under the spell’s effect, that ordinary water instantly formed several powerful, thick water dragons that rushed toward the fast-regenerating Magic Frog Lord.
The water dragons instantly coiled around its mountain-like body and continued tightening, like a water prison that bound it in place.
Pfft!
Halfway through regeneration, the Magic Frog Lord spat a mouthful of blood.
It tried to struggle, but quickly felt a constricting sensation like a python coiling around it; the heavy pressure rendered it immobile.
On the surfaces of those tightly wrapped water dragons, countless blue-gold spikes sprouted, constantly stabbing into its body.
The inflicted damage perfectly matched the pace of its regeneration.
As it healed, the water prison simultaneously inflicted equivalent wounds.
At this point it had been flawlessly subdued: not only was it unable to move, its life was also held in a precarious in-between, neither able to live freely nor die.
"Perfect!"
Gauss looked at the Magic Frog Lord bound by the azure water prison and smiled with satisfaction, a surge of accomplishment swelling in his chest.
To capture an enemy alive and neutralize its counterattack is far harder than simply killing it.
In the vast Timberbell Maze, he suspected he might be the only one capable of pulling this off.