Chapter 274 The Astonishing Talent of the Magen, Threefold Casting
Author: Amnesty L
So much experience?
Tang Zheng's eyes lifted slightly. As expected of a demi-human race with stronger individuals. The dozen or so Magen who had rushed over first were already among the ranks of the powerful.
[Experience Bar: 407102/410000]
"An increase of over 50,000 experience. Their average level is around 20," Tang Zheng thought to himself as he looked at the change in the experience bar on his stat panel.
*Rustle—*
The "Sand Domain" was dispelled.
The vast expanse of yellow quicksand vanished, and the corpses of the Magen, which had been bound and pierced by magic arrows, tumbled to the ground.
"Is anyone else there?"
Tang Zheng called out politely toward the interior. Responding to the chaotic screams, he shrugged. "Then I'm coming in."
His red robe swayed.
Tang Zheng's steps were unhurried as he walked inward across the soft grassland.
An atmosphere of panic and dread.
It intensified with his every step, causing the Magen living in this area to scramble and flee deeper into their tribe.
Tang Zheng did not act against these ordinary Magen. After all, they would become his subordinates for a long time to come.
There weren't many demi-human races born with the innate ability to wield magic. Among them, talented Magen could master power equivalent to fourth-tier magic upon reaching a certain age.
Such a uniquely blessed race was highly valuable.
From the perspective of a game system, the racial job possessed by this demi-human race could substitute for a spellcaster class, allowing them to stack levels in arcane magic.
"This smell... it's quite foul," Tang Zheng noted.
For some reason, perhaps due to customs, the Magen Tribe had beast hides hanging everywhere, along with barrels of strange liquids that attracted swarms of mosquitoes and flies.
It filled the air with a corrupt odor that, while not a vile stench, was certainly unpleasant.
"It's Her Majesty the Queen, Her Majesty the Queen!"
"An enemy has broken in!"
"Lord Yier'er... they're all dead."
"It's an enemy we've never seen before!"
"..."
The distant commotion suddenly subsided, followed by rallying cries.
*Thud—Thud—*
The accompanying sound of footsteps was the complete opposite of the earlier retreat.
A Magen of high status, holding a staff and bearing special tattoos on each of her four arms, walked at the forefront, leading a group of Magen rapidly in his direction.
Simultaneously, the sound of swift running came from several directions deep within the tribe. It was clear that large numbers of Magen were converging on this location.
Tang Zheng halted, his gaze fixed on the figure of the Magen being escorted several dozen meters away. From the look of it, she had to be the Demonkin Queen.
"It's really the same way of handling things."
Tang Zheng chuckled softly.
Whether it was the few demi-human races he had encountered before or these Magen, he found their methods for dealing with sudden crises were remarkably similar. To put it nicely, they were rather "direct."
Among humans, no king or commander-level figure would ever so easily expose themselves to an enemy's line of sight.
That process would inevitably involve all sorts of probing.
Nasurini's face was grim as the red figure ahead entered her view. According to the reports from her tribesmen who had fled from the outskirts, the enemy was alone!
This filled Nasurini with both anger and a sense of humiliation.
"Has it been so long since This Old One has acted that outsiders have become so brazen?"
The thought surfaced in Nasurini's mind, but it was accompanied by shock and confusion. Attacking a tribe alone was, without a doubt, courting death.
There were indeed many foolish races in the hills, but none so foolish as to throw their lives away.
*Thump—!*
Nasurini stopped, and the crowd of Magen following her halted in unison, each one glaring at Tang Zheng with boiling killing intent.
"That figure, that attire... is that a human?"
The distance between them was no longer great. Nasurini could now see Tang Zheng's figure clearly, and a look of disbelief appeared on her face.
How could a human appear in the hills?
No! This wasn't the time to ponder that question. This human...
Nasurini's pupils shrank. An intuition from some unseen source made her breath catch and the hairs on her skin stand on end.
This human was dangerous!
Nasurini's eyes turned crimson. She saw the dead of her kind behind Tang Zheng, and her heart was completely ignited with rage. At the same time, she became even more certain that the human before her possessed great strength.
Those who had been killed were the elites of the tribe, yet they had been dispatched by this human in such a short time.
The man looked completely unharmed, which was perhaps why he dared to so brazenly invade their tribe!
"What do you think this place is, human!"
Nasurini roared, raising the magic staff in her hand and aiming it at Tang Zheng. She infused her voice with magic power, and it boomed, echoing overhead.
The terrifying soundwave shook the lush foliage on the surrounding trees, causing them to rustle violently.
The chirping of birds and insects vanished in an instant. Even the weakest bugs could feel the wrath of a powerful being.
"Oh."
"It seems you are the Demonkin Queen."
Tang Zheng rubbed his ear. Faced with the cold, murderous stares of a host of Magen, the face behind his mask remained calm. He spoke as if to an old acquaintance:
"I heard you have a rather nice magic item. Could you give it to me?"
In this otherworld, there were few magic items that Tang Zheng truly cared about, and the one in the hands of the Demonkin Queen, Nasurini, was one of them.
This was the fundamental reason he had sought out the Magen. Otherwise, according to his original plan, he hadn't intended to conquer these demi-human races one by one through force until he had finished gathering the Blue Maggots, the Pandes Tribe, the ogres, and the goblins. It was troublesome and a waste of time.
With the power of his current status, it would be abnormal for him to conquer the entire Abelion Hills by himself!
"Haha!"
Hearing Tang Zheng's words, Nasurini was briefly stunned before she began to laugh out of sheer anger.
"This Old One originally planned to flay your skin first, then listen carefully to your reasons for being in the hills. But now—die for This Old One!!"
Nasurini knew this human was no simple foe; otherwise, he wouldn't be so bold and arrogant. Thus, the moment she acted, she used her full power.
She would give this human no chance to escape!
An astonishing burst of magic power erupted!
"Ahhhhhh!"
An invisible current of air swirled around Nasurini's body. Aside from the arm holding the magic staff, her other three arms began to move in unison.
Among fourth-tier arcane magic, there was a spell called "Silver Knight's Lance," a type of physical magic. Her trump card was a modified version of this spell, with its attribute altered.
Granting fire-attribute damage—Flaming Knight's Lance!
Granting ice-attribute damage—Icy Knight's Lance!
Granting lightning-attribute damage—Lightning Knight's Lance!
The magic Nasurini unleashed was not just one of these, but all three cast at the same time.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
In an instant, a knight's lance burning with roaring flames, a knight's lance formed from freezing ice that radiated a glacial aura, and a knight's lance of thunder that flickered with blue lightning materialized in mid-air!
A single fourth-tier spell would consume a massive amount of Nasurini's magic power. Now, using three at once, with the continuous cost it entailed, Nasurini felt her magic power drain away in an instant, her body growing light-headed, on the verge of fainting.
This was her absolute trump card.
To use it in this situation was not only due to her heartfelt rage, but also because this human gave Nasurini a very bad feeling.
If anything unexpected were to happen, her tribesmen would likely suffer heavy casualties. Therefore, finishing the opponent in one blow was the most prudent course of action.
With a deafening "BOOM," the three knight's lances of different magic attributes hurtled toward Tang Zheng simultaneously.
The light of fire, the flash of lightning, and the spreading frost created a three-colored, dazzling magical impact that streaked through the air like a thunderbolt. The power of each spell was at the level of fourth-tier magic.
The terrifying magical aftershock brought looks of worship to the faces of the Magen behind Nasurini.
"Gravity Reversal."
Tang Zheng raised his palm, aiming at the three incoming knight's lances.
He wasn't trying to nullify or defend against the magic, but rather to alter the direction of the three attacks, deflecting their trajectory upward.
This was far easier than a head-on confrontation.
*Swoosh—Swoosh!*
The three elemental magic lances arced upward in mid-air, grazing past Tang Zheng's figure as they flew into the sky and vanished from sight.
*BOOM!*
Then, from some unknown distance, came the resounding roar of three violent explosions.
The air fell silent!
Nasurini's body stiffened. She stared in disbelief as her all-out attack was so easily thwarted.
"Such a racial talent is truly enviable," Tang Zheng's hoarse voice, thick with excitement, rang out.
"Threefold Casting, and not just releasing a single attribute. A pure racial talent. What a pity."
Tang Zheng looked at his system panel, which showed nothing, and shrugged, his excited tone now tinged with disappointment.
For a normal magic caster to achieve multi-casting, they would need to use a magic enhancement technique like "Magic Duplication" or "Magic Triplication."
But that kind of magic enhancement only casts the same spell multiple times, whereas Nasurini had just cast three spells of different attributes.
That was a world of difference.
"If you could also master that kind of magic enhancement technique, you could cast six, or even a full nine spells of the same level at once."
"Hiss, incredible. Ninefold Casting... anyone would be stunned if hit by that all at once," came a hoarse mutter from Tang Zheng's direction.
Nasurini and the other Magen had no idea what Tang Zheng was talking about.
At this moment, most of the Magen hadn't even recovered from the shock of how easily Tang Zheng had defended against their queen's "Three-Attribute Knight's Lance" attack.
"Hm?"
Tang Zheng looked up at Nasurini, who was so unsteady she could barely stand.
"I overestimated you a little, Demonkin Queen. You look completely drained after just one use of your trump card. Your magic power is much lower than I expected."
"You're much weaker than I imagined," came a disappointed voice.
Nasurini snapped out of her disbelief. Her face was devoid of anger, instead twisting in terror as she let out a sharp scream: "Cast magic together and kill him!"
A torrent of magic power surged forth.
A great number of Magen began to cast magic in unison. A barrage of colorful magical attacks of varying power came crashing down like a torrential rain.
Tang Zheng's vision was filled with the overwhelming sight of magic.
Against so many magical attacks, even an army would be heavily damaged or annihilated. This was the weakness of an individual facing an entire tribe.
Unless one's power had reached a crushing, overwhelming level!
Forget a "hero-level" entity, even an "aberrant" would have no choice but to flee.
*BOOM!*
*RUMBLE!*
The bombardment of cannon-like magic enveloped the area where Tang Zheng stood. The ground trembled violently, and a pillar of dust and smoke shot into the sky.
A long moment passed.
The magical assault finally ceased. The group of Magen panted heavily. A magical attack of that intensity was enough to blast any enemy into dust.
"ROAR!"
A roar, like that of a beast or a dragon, echoed from the center of the swirling dust. A gust of wind blew the dust cloud away.
In the area that had been bombarded by so much magic, a pit several tens of meters wide had appeared. But in the very center, a patch of ground five or six square meters in size remained completely unharmed.
The colossal figure of a bone dragon appeared before all the Magen. A faint, seven-colored light shimmered on its white bones.
Its six-meter-long bone wings were wrapped protectively in front of it.
*Crack.*
The bone wings unfolded, revealing the human in the red robe, standing there quietly. Even his clothing was undamaged.
"Everyone, you now have only one choice left," Tang Zheng said with a smile, patting the dust from his robe.
Bewilderment, incomprehension, and fear... Despair began to spread among the Magen.
(end of chapter)