[Land of the Living Dead]
On a vast stretch of withered grassland, a lone young man could be seen, with a palm-sized moth flying beside him.
The moth emitted a bright light, like a white incandescent lamp, attracting all kinds of monsters in the night, including the living dead who originally feared sunlight.
But unfortunately, the light of a single Sun Worm still wasn't enough.
Those living dead who had been starving for far too long, under this air filled with death, had all become extremely active.
And when a fresh, living being suddenly appeared, it was no different from throwing a chicken into a tiger's den. Even if they feared the trainer's whip, that whip wasn't enough to kill them.
Just like the Sun Worm's light, although it made them uncomfortable, even burning them, it still couldn't stop their craving for fresh flesh.
"ROAR!"
After seeing Ethan injure two of their companions, the group of zombies didn't hesitate in the slightest.
They even sped up, continuing to surge forward one after another toward Ethan.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
Two more Grand Fireballs.
They struck two zombies cleanly. One hit a zombie that only had one leg left, directly breaking its last remaining leg and making it unable to walk.
The other fireball hit a zombie's head, not the best spot.
But at least it destroyed the zombie's nose.
Making it instantly lose its ability to determine position, because a zombie's eyes had long since stopped working. The only thing they could rely on was their nose. Their sense of direction and location came solely from smell.
So… When Ethan couldn't find any obvious weak points on a zombie, he chose to blast its nose.
"Heh! Heh!"
Ethan looked at the Grand Fireball in his hand, about the size of a ball.
He couldn't feel more pleased with himself.
He really was a genius.
After his Grand Fireball Technique upgraded to level two, he started thinking, 'Can't I split such a large fireball into two, turning it into two medium-sized fireballs to attack zombies?'
Although splitting it reduced the attack power compared to concentrating it.
It could still target the zombies' weak points.
For example, necks that had rotted down to just a thin layer of skin, or zombies that had been eaten down to only a spine, these were all perfect targets.
And the only thing he needed to worry about now was his lack of mental energy.
After all, a single Grand Fireball, especially a level-two one, consumed about one-tenth of his mental energy.
Which meant, with his current reserves, he could only use the Grand Fireball about ten times.
But fortunately… the upgrade of the Grand Fireball Technique helped make up for this weakness.
Ethan glanced at his skill's experience bar…
[Grand Fireball Technique - Level 2: EXP 40/200]
He still needed 160 EXP to level up.
And the mental energy he had left now, could probably support about eight more fireballs.
It wasn't exact, but roughly around that number.
Mental energy only recovered about 10 points per minute, an extremely slow rate. Right now, he had to adopt guerrilla tactics.
In other words, fight while running, run while fighting.
He absolutely couldn't let that old guy look down on him.
BOOM!
Ethan fired another split fireball, taking down two more zombies.
But the problem was, the zombies in this Land of the Living Dead seemed endless. Sometimes, even when Ethan clearly saw no zombies ahead, those things would suddenly crawl out of the ground.
That was just ridiculous.
Several times… Ethan was nearly tripped by hands suddenly reaching out from underground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
After firing dozens of Grand Fireballs in succession, Ethan finally began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. This was a sign of mental energy depletion.
But fortunately…
[Grand Fireball Technique - Level 2: EXP 150/200]
'Just five more fireballs!'
'As long as I cast five more, I can level up immediately!'
Five fireballs required 50 mental energy. That would take about five minutes to recover. Right now, what he needed most was to find a tree, climb up, and rest for a while.
But just as he found a decent withered tree and was about to climb it.
The next second… the tree in front of him suddenly disappeared.
"Huh?"
Ethan was completely stunned, "Could it be an illusion from overusing my mental energy? Why did the tree I was just about to climb suddenly disappear?"
"ROAR!"
That brief delay allowed the zombies behind him to catch up again, one after another.
This forced Ethan to stop thinking and quickly run toward another large dead tree. To make sure it wasn't an illusion, he even placed his hand on the trunk.
But the next second…
He suddenly lost his balance and nearly fell.
The tree… had disappeared again in a bizarre way.
"Damn it!"
Only at this moment did Ethan finally realize, the disappearing trees weren't hallucinations at all. Someone was deliberately making them vanish, just to stop him from climbing up to rest.
And the only one who could make trees disappear… Ethan suddenly looked up toward where Nostradamus was.
"Little disciple!"
Only after being exposed did Nostradamus shamelessly rub his smooth bald head and look toward Ethan, "If you can't hold on, or if your mental energy runs out, you can beg your master. But I guarantee I won't help you."
Ethan's face darkened, "I didn't ask you to help in the first place. But what's with making the trees disappear?"
"You must be wondering why I deliberately made your hiding spots disappear, right?"
Nostradamus said smugly, "Because for us mages, the more dangerous the situation, the more you can bring out your true level."
"Today, this place is your battlefield. You have to learn to fight until your very last drop of blood."
"Only then can your true potential be awakened!"
"Don't blame your master for being ruthless."
"I'm doing this for your own good."
"..."
Ethan was speechless.
But he knew that saying anything now was useless. In fact, he could guess Nostradamus's intention.
This guy was definitely planning to jump in and save him at the critical moment, then show off how powerful a real Grand Fireball from a Archmage was.
So that he'd admire him.
'Hmph!'
Ethan wasn't falling for that.
It was just five minutes, right? Just dragging these zombies around for five minutes, he could manage that.
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