Chapter 534 - Magic Ignition

Bang!

The little ape did not have time to think things over nor was it given time to feel surprised or stupefied because after saying such extravagant words, Bai Zemin stomped on the ground beneath his feet and turned into a flash of golden light charging straight up into the sky and soaring more than 1000 meters in the blink of an eye.

However, just like a corralled rat, the fear of the little ape began to turn into anger and with a vicious glint in its eye it roared sharply: 

"Don't underestimate me, human!!!"

The mana inside the body of the little ape surged like a torrent in such a way that even Bai Zemin felt small for a second. It was more than clear that the amount of Mana the little ape had inside its body was without a doubt considerably higher than Bai Zemin's total Mana.

If one were to take into account that Bai Zemin's Mana statistic could be compared to an early Third Order existence, then the little ape's Mana could be compared to a middle or perhaps late Third Order existence; and this was so even though the little ape was barely level 101!

Bai Zemin did not respond to the roar of the little ape; at least, not verbally.

All he did was stab forward with his spear as his eyes tried to anticipate where the next magic attack would be launched. However, nothing was easy when it came to facing a Third Order existence and that was multiplied infinitely when it came to facing an existence of such magnitude while you were two stages below.

"Magic Ignition!!!"

When such words reached the senses of Bai Zemin, all the hairs on his body suddenly stood on end and out of pure instinct he activated Gravity Manipulation, increasing the gravity around him x15 times and causing the course he was moving on to change in an instant.

Boom!

The space around the little ape shuddered ferociously as if the world was trying to warn about the difficulty it was experiencing in withstanding such pressure. However, how could the little ape care about such things? At this moment, the beast leader wanted nothing more than to tear the human in front of it into a thousand pieces even if the price was its own life!

After using Blood Manipulation to control several blood chains that coiled around his body and led him back to the bridge, Bai Zemin frowned and a glint of worry flashed in his gaze as he looked up at the sky.

For a moment, even the battle of the mermaid princess and the zombie leader came to a halt as both existences looked skyward with shock in their eyes.

The body of the little ape was surrounded by a faint red light and while using the natural and magic air currents to its advantage in order to stay floating, the beast leader felt a scorching energy burning in its abdomen even though there was no flame at all.

Magic Ignition. This was a Third Order skill that had mutated after the little ape found a treasure in the middle of the forest; a treasure which also helped it to lower the difficulty of its evolution requirements from Second Order to Third Order. Of course, the consequence had been that before reaching level 150 the little ape would only be able to use 90% of the power of a true Third Order existence and even after reaching level 150 the purity of its Soul Power could no longer be the same.

Magic Ignition was an advanced self-polishing skill that after reaching Third Order could not evolve any further; this was its limit. As an advanced skill, the effect was naturally outstanding. However, any increase in power that was not natural to the soul or body had its own consequences and, as the name suggested, Magic Ignition was a skill that burned the little ape's magic power.

For the little ape, the mana cost of all elemental skills doubled in addition to consuming 2 Mana points every 4 seconds. The duration was only 3 minutes while the cooldown of Magic Ignition was 6 months. In addition, Magic Ignition would cause a colossal 30% decrease in the stats Health, Stamina, Strength, Mana, and an even worse 70% in Magic for 180 days!

However, for such a severe punishment, there were naturally high-grade rewards.

Magic Ignition was a skill that increased the power of elemental skills +300%. It also increased the Magic stat +50%. and the casting speed of magic skills +100%.

A skill that granted the user overwhelming god-like power for a short 3 minutes in exchange for practically leaving said user on the verge of death for half a year!

"DIE!!!" The little ape roared to the sky as a huge fireball formed above its head.

The little ape needed nothing more than to kill the human on the bridge! Everything else was insignificant in its eyes!

The fireball started out as just that; a fireball. However, in a matter of blinks of an eye, that fireball transformed into a sphere of fire over 100 meters in diameter that at the same speed continued growing.

200 meters... 300 meters... 400 meters... 500 meters... 600 meters...

The darkness was completely erased from the surroundings by the illumination of the flames and the sea water began to evaporate so fast that 3000 meters around a kind of concave hole appeared in the middle of the water. As the water spun in the form of a spiral, a fierce whirlpool of water that the ships were so afraid of began to take shape.

As the water began to disappear so quickly, the surrounding sea began to spin counterclockwise and had it not been for the fact that most of the surrounding sea creatures were on top of the bridge, they would have been torn apart by the pressure in the center of the swirling water.

The sphere of fire did not stop expanding and soon reached 1000 meters in diameter. At the same time, the whirlpool of water had grown to a beast of over 5000 meters in diameter!

Xian Mei'er had difficulty to control the water wave she was resting on and even though she was doing her best the heat of the fire sphere was such that all she was succeeding in doing was preventing the water around her from disappearing.

The power of the sea creatures plummeted and at the terror of the fire energy gathering in the sky above their heads many of them began to shriek and roar. Had it not been for the mermaid princess' command to them being absolute, these creatures would have definitely jumped into the water in an attempt to get away from the heat; which would end their lives as the swirling water would tear them apart immediately.

Swoosh!

Shangguan Bing Xue slaughtered all the enemies that got in her way and in just two seconds she arrived at Bai Zemin's side after having opened a path of blood by herself.

"And now what?" she asked in a cold voice while in her blue eyes reflected a huge, slightly orange circle with shades of yellow of varying magnitudes.

Bai Zemin did not respond immediately, he was weighing the pros and cons of each possible action.

However, Bai Zemin knew that first of all he needed to do something or else the bridge would soon be destroyed.

Rumble....

Indeed, even though the magic attack had not been launched and had not touched the bridge at all, the tremendous pressure that the swirling water 200 meters below was so great that the gravity in the area increased considerably. If not for the blood barrier and ice ground that Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue had prepared, this bridge that had been built with normal post-apocalypse materials would have already collapsed.

"Bing Xue." Bai Zemin called out in a serious voice. As he looked at the little ape, his eyes flashed strangely, "Days ago, you told me that the second activation of your Ice Maker skill allowed you to create traps which would activate only when you wanted them to, didn't you?"

"Yes?" Shangguan Bing Xue said somewhat uncertainly as she did not understand what Bai Zemin was getting at. After all, it was absolutely impossible for her Ice Maker skill to be of any use in this kind of situation.

"Explain to me how it works, hurry!" Bai Zemin pushed as he noticed that after reaching 1800 meters in diameter the expansion speed of what now looked like a fire plant slowed down.

From where Bai Zemin and the rest were standing. all they could see was fire as the sky was completely covered by the magic skill of the little ape. It was more than clear that the beast leader wanted to die with everyone here as it was even ignoring the zombie leader's shouts and curses.

No one dared to approach the little ape to stop it. While it was possible to kill it, it was more likely that the magic power of the surroundings would turn anyone into a pile of bloody pulp.

In addition, thin black lines continuously appeared in the environment as proof that the spatial barrier of the world had no way to handle this pressure.

Shangguan Bing Xue quickly gave him a summary of how the second activation of her Ice Maker skill worked and once Bai Zemin understood the scenario he realized that his plan was plausible.

"Bing Xue, make for me a temporary magic circle with an ice pillar at least 2000 meters high. Can you do that?"

"... Even though such a huge pillar will consume practically 70% of my remaining Mana, it is possible." She said after thinking about it for a second.

Then, Shangguan Bing Xue closed her eyes and focused on her skill.

Bai Zemin looked at her out of the corner of his eye and noticed that on her beautiful face that seemed to be made of porcelain like that of a doll, the beads of sweat were moving tantalizingly. The temperature of the area had reached at least 200 degrees Celsius and more than 60% of the sea creatures had died; of course, zombies and beasts had also suffered. The beasts to a lesser extent thanks to their powerful physical bodies but they were fewer in number to begin with so there were only around 10,000 creatures standing alive right now.

Were it not for the fact that they were all 50 kilometers away from the mainland and were it not for the fact that the night winds in the middle of the sea were extremely fierce and cold, the forests would have caught fire at the slightest contact with this kind of environment.

Bai Zemin took a deep breath and the seductive fragrance of a female body sweating clouded his senses for a fraction of a second before he regained his composure. Just then, Shangguan Bing Xue opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

She extended her small hand forward and calmly said, "Here."

Bai Zemin looked down and saw a 5 centimeter diameter ice circle enclosed by countless small unreadable magic runes that joined together to form strange lines. The magic power coming from the small circle was considerable in comparison to its size.

Bai Zemin took the ice circle in his left hand and then said something to Shangguan Bing Xue using a voice that only he and she could hear.

She looked at him in confusion but her confusion was soon swept away by her preoccupation. Shangguan Bing Xue hesitated for a moment before softly saying, "You.... Take care."

Bai Zemin stared at her for a moment before smiling and say in a joking tone, "Do you want a bye bye kiss?"

"Do you want to die?" Shangguan Bing Xue replied calmly as she tidied up a section of her hair.

"Haha... I'm sorry, but no. I still have many things I want to do." Bai Zemin laughed out loud and while looking at the almost finished huge magic attack with narrowed eyes he said with a hint of determination, "I have so many things to accomplish.... So many people trust me that I can't die."

Then, he looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and said arrogantly, "Don't look at me being so handsome and charming, if I am honest, I never had a girlfriend. sigh My standards are too high after all."

Shangguan Bing Xue glared at him before bursting out laughing. She laughed loudly, so loudly that in the middle of the stony silence the beautiful sound of her laughter traveled far and wide for all to hear.

"Maybe you haven't had a girlfriend because you haven't been able to get one?"  She joked in between laughter and tears.

".... Who told you about it?" 

Hearing Bai Zemin's "bitter" tone, Shangguan Bing Xue laughed even louder.

The two of them, far from worrying about the seemingly horrible situation they were in, joked with each other like two old friends who had just reunited after years of being apart.

"Even when death is imminent can you laugh? Let me see how much more you can continue smiling!" 

A roar charged with anger and pain resounded, practically completely suppressing the beautiful laughter of Shangguan Bing Xue.

Looking up at the sky, the eyes of Bai Zemin met the rabid eyes of the beast leader who seemed to want to devour his flesh, drink his blood, and scatter his ashes until no trace of him remained.

Where did all this hatred come from? Where did this pain come from? Bai Zemin could not understand the reason why the little ape was willing to go so far as to create such a suicidal attack.

Bai Zemin racked his brain to the point where it hurt but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a possible answer.

Bai Zemin had gone so far as to think of silly reasons such as: Could it be that this little ape was my pet and I abandoned it years ago so now that the world evolved it is releasing its anger on me? After all, in many novels this kind of trope happened frequently.

However, he never had a pet monkey so such a thing could not be possible; such was the degree of Bai Zemin's confusion.

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