A Shadow Demon was worth 3 silver.
A Gatherer could have collected materials worth 5 silver.
Two Shadow Spiders, each worth a little more than 2 silver, plus some extra drops and Dark Crystals.
By his rough estimate, he had earned about 50 silver so far.
Iz was charging a fixed fee of 1 silver for protection, and Lu Cang had no problem with that.
This also meant that the rest of the loot from this Dungeon was all his.
'But his price for protection should be more than just 1 silver, right?'
'The price of a Shadow Cheetah seemed far too low.'
Iz said, "Just ahead is the Lord's room."
"Iz," Lu Cang asked, "to break through my Magic Limit, do I have to defeat the Lord?"
Lu Cang hadn't forgotten the purpose of his trip.
"Yes and no," Iz replied.
"Breaking through the Magic Limit isn't something just anyone can do."
"According to my current theory, a Level 1 Mage can only break through the Level 1 Magic Limit after they've learned Magic Tide."
"And the key to breaking through is..."
Iz didn't finish his sentence, merely giving Lu Cang a mysterious, cold smirk.
The smirk was even tinged with a sinister, venomous chill.
He looked at Lu Cang like a lamb to the slaughter. An overwhelming wave of malice, so thick it felt tangible, crashed down on him.
It was a malice that had practically taken physical form, something he could see with perfect clarity!
The hairs on Lu Cang's body stood on end!
'This is bad!'
'He's one of the bad guys!'
'Is he finally showing his true colors? That bastard!'
'Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have trusted anyone so easily in this Otherworld!'
'Damn it! I let my guard down just because he was nice to me!'
Lu Cang's first instinct was to turn and run!
But an invisible force instantly held him in place.
Lu Cang immediately spun around, and Ice Cones materialized at various points around Iz.
'Ice Cone Skill—Remote Casting.'
It was a skill Iz himself had taught him.
If an Ice Cone was cast from his own position, its flight path still gave the enemy plenty of time to react.
But if the Ice Cones formed around the enemy...
...directly surrounding them.
They would have less time to react and less room to dodge.
This very skill.
He now used it directly on Izparut.
But the next second...
BANG!
The countless, newly-formed Ice Cones shattered in an instant.
Lu Cang watched as the coalesced Ice Elements dispersed into tiny fragments.
He had no idea what sort of countermeasure Izparut had used.
'Is the gap between a Level 1 Mage and a Level 5 Mage really this vast?'
Fireball!
BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Fireball after Fireball materialized around Iz.
But the moment they formed, they exploded, leaving Iz completely unscathed. Not even a single hair was out of place.
He stood with his hands in his robe pockets, watching Lu Cang with a cold, malicious smirk.
It was as if his treacherous plot had already succeeded.
WHOOSH!
The massive stone door ahead swung open!
Lu Cang felt himself being seized by a giant, invisible hand!
SLAM!
He was thrown directly against the wall.
His insides roiled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood with a retch.
Back where Iz stood...
...the stone door slammed shut.
Lu Cang fought through the intense pain, his vision blurring.
The last thing he saw was Iz's cold, sinister smirk.
'It hurts so much.'
'That much force... he was definitely trying to kill me.'
Lu Cang could no longer move his right hand, and an excruciating pain shot up his arm.
'Is it broken?'
'No, this isn't the time to worry about that.'
Lu Cang had already noticed it.
A Giant Snake, a full ten meters long with scales that reflected the darkness, was slithering before him.
It reared up, looming over the minuscule Lu Cang.
Lu Cang had seen the behemoth the moment he was thrown into the room.
This time, there was no Iz to give him an explanation.
Lu Cang had no idea what abilities this snake possessed or how it would attack.
But he knew one thing for certain.
It was the Lord Level being of this Dungeon.
Lu Cang took a deep breath.
If he wanted to live, he first had to defeat it, or at the very least, survive its attacks.
Only then would he have the right to think about anything else.
In an instant, a Fireball formed!
But the moment the Fireball formed, Lu Cang keenly sensed that his Magic Power was not recovering with the surge of the Magic Tide.
Focusing his senses, he realized...
...the Elements in this room were abnormally sparse!
BOOM!
As the snake's head lunged at him, Lu Cang raised his hand and unleashed seven Fireballs to meet it head-on!
BOOM!
A series of explosions erupted before his eyes!
But this time, his previously infallible Fireballs didn't kill it instantly.
The snake's head was still crashing toward him!
Lu Cang threw himself into a desperate roll, narrowly dodging the impact from the side!
'Its attack method... ramming.'
'Did the Fireballs not do much damage?'
'My Magic damage is over a hundred times that of a regular Level 1 Mage.'
Lu Cang refused to believe that seven Fireballs had done no damage at all...
'Immunity to Fire?'
With that guess, Lu Cang immediately switched to a different type of Magic.
'Ice Cone Skill (LV: 91).'
The Ice Cone formed, draining about 3% of Lu Cang's Magic Power—roughly three times the entire reserve of a newly-ascended Mage...
This time, he had formed a massive Ice Cone!
BOOM!
The Ice Cone slammed directly into the Giant Snake's soft underbelly, making its body arch backward from the impact!
The Ice Cone left a deep dent in its abdomen.
But its hide remained intact; the Ice Cone hadn't pierced through!
'What a tough hide.'
BAM!
And in the very next instant, another massive Ice Cone slammed down from the complete opposite direction!
BOOM!
Two sharp Ice Cones pierced the giant serpent's body from opposite sides simultaneously.
The giant serpent let out a shriek of agony!
But as it shrieked...
...its tail whipped toward Lu Cang, kicking up a cloud of dust!
Lu Cang sucked in a sharp breath.
'What do I do?'
The massive tail was taller than Lu Cang himself.
'In this child's body...'
'...getting hit would mean instant death.'
'But at my current Speed, there's no way I can dodge a sweep with such a massive area of effect.'
The sweep had cut off any path of retreat on the ground.
'The ground?'
Lu Cang's gaze shot upward. The cavern ceiling was high!
'What if I go up...?'
'But even jumping won't be high enough to clear it.'
Even as the thought crossed his mind...
...Lu Cang's left hand was already gathering Ice.
SWOOSH!
The snake showed no mercy with its strike. Its tail didn't slow in the slightest; if anything, it accelerated at the very end!
It swept across the entire chamber with even greater speed.
The giant tail scoured the entire cavern floor.
When the tail came to a stop, Lu Cang's figure was gone, but the ground wasn't a bloody mess.
The giant serpent's eyes darted upward.
High on the cavern ceiling, an Ice Cone was embedded deep in the rock, and Lu Cang was hanging from a protrusion on it with his left hand.
No...
On closer inspection, Lu Cang had actually frozen his entire left hand to the Ice Cone.
He had used this method to launch himself toward the ceiling along with the Ice Cone.
That was how he had dodged the attack.