Chapter 374: The Final Trial, Slay the Epic-Level Magical Creature! |
The sudden "compression" of space was still continuing. Before each occurrence, there would still be a very obvious fluctuation.
But as the fluctuations gradually increased, their frequency began to slowly rise, and the reaction time left for Lin Mo was constantly shortening.
Clearly, this was some kind of trial or test.
It was probing Lin Mo's sensitivity to spatial elemental fluctuations and his proficiency in Space Magic.
Lin Mo dodged with ease. Judging by the current intensity, the person who designed this had quite high requirements.
Especially later on when the intensity gradually ramped up, if one's proficiency in Space Magic was insufficient and they couldn't use it multiple times quickly in a short period, they would likely be unable to dodge in time and get "squished" along with the compressed space.
Hmm, squished in the literal sense.
Lin Mo had no interest in trying out just how powerful this energy compressing space was.
Finally, after Lin Mo also felt a bit of pressure, the trial finally ended.
However, just a few seconds after the trial ended, all those crushed spaces recovered at an extremely fast speed.
Lin Mo looked around and continued walking forward.
The next moment, his vision suddenly blurred, and the surrounding scenery changed drastically. Looking back, it was still that very spacious cave; but turning his head to look forward again, the scene before his eyes had already transformed into a vast plain.
These two spaces seemed to be in a state of overlapping coexistence.
This was different from cutting and dividing within a space; it was forcefully fusing two different spaces together. Yet between these two, there were no barriers at all, yet they did not interfere with each other. This terrifyingly formidable mastery over space made Lin Mo's heart tremble.
Who exactly created this Secret Realm?
This question was difficult to answer, because the other party was most likely not from this world.
At the very least, Lin Mo had never heard of such a person in all the texts and records of this world.
In the long river of this world's history, those who could master Time Magic were extremely few, so they had all left behind relatively clear records. Before this, Lin Mo had also had some conjectures.
But at this moment, those conjectures could already be confirmed as wrong.
Because among the people Lin Mo currently knew of, not a single one was qualified to be the creator of the Secret Realm before him, not one could reach such an astonishing height.
This miraculous, god-like power had perhaps already surpassed the Legendary Realm category and was beginning to step towards the domain of gods.
Or perhaps... all of this was truly the work of a deity?
Regarding matters of gods, Lin Mo didn't know much.
Or rather, the existing records in the world weren't many.
Apart from having more information about the Goddess of Holy Light, this chief deity, the records of other elemental gods like the God of Fire, God of Water, and other deities like the God of War, God of Protection, were all very limited.
It was only known that they had once followed the Goddess of Holy Light to eliminate the Titans controlled by the Dark Tide, preventing the world from being devoured by the dark side.
Information after that was scant.
Afterwards, Lin Mo hadn't paid much attention to those aspects. But just now, he learned of the Goddess of Holy Light's death. If even that chief deity had fallen, then how could the other gods be faring any better now?
But unlike the other gods, the God of Time and Space was an especially special existence.
Light, dark, time, and space were all fundamental elements of this world. But at the world's inception, there were no gods of light and dark. It was only after the dark side gradually spiraled out of control that the world coalesced the power of light, gave birth to the Holy Light, and from that, the Goddess of Holy Light was born.
Time and space were different from light and dark. At the world's inception, the God of Time and Space already existed and had never been replaced.
Time and space were the most fundamental existence of the world, higher than light and dark.
Yet in all human records, there was no information whatsoever about the God of Time and Space.
This mysterious deity had also never appeared before any living being.
This Secret Realm before him contained many factors that were difficult to explain. If this Secret Realm was the work of a deity, then some of the things within it would become logical.
Of course, this was just Lin Mo's current speculation... after all, no one truly understood that mysterious God of Time and Space, so there was no way to know if they would possibly do this.
Returning his gaze to the present, Lin Mo continued forward. There must be other trials or tests within this new space.
Lin Mo carefully stepped forward, constantly observing the situation around him.
But everything before his eyes seemed completely normal, as if this was just a very ordinary grassland.
Lin Mo frowned and continued onward. Five minutes, ten minutes...
He kept walking forward, yet the scene before him didn't undergo any changes. There was nothing around him either, no living beings, no trees, just the grassland stretching to the horizon.
Something was wrong.
Lin Mo stopped walking, because continuing forward most likely wouldn't yield any results.
During this recent stretch of travel, he likely hadn't truly advanced at all.
Lin Mo tried leaving a spatial mark in place, then continued forward as before.
Two minutes later, he sensed the mark he had just left.
Indeed!
The distance between that mark and him hadn't changed at all.
This space seemed somewhat bizarre...
Was it that space was constantly folding, causing his direction of travel to change without his knowledge, ultimately resulting in the effect of running in place? Or was it that he was actually trapped by something invisible and hadn't truly been "moving" at all?
Lin Mo looked at the ground beneath his feet and frowned deeply.
Anyway, let's test it first...
He used Flash towards the front, then sensed the spatial mark again.
The position had changed.
But things were absolutely not that simple.
Lin Mo continued using Flash. After each flash, he would sense the mark's position anew. Repeating this, and then...
Abruptly, after another flash, he returned to the starting point.
Lin Mo frowned deeply. He had been paying attention to the spatial fluctuations around him the entire time and hadn't noticed anything suspicious.
This meant that the space itself hadn't undergone any transformation; it was a problem caused by the space's own inherent form.
It seemed he had to continue exploring, to thoroughly understand this space.
If the first trial just now was testing Lin Mo's mastery of spatial skills, then this trial was testing Lin Mo's depth of understanding of the very concept of space itself, as well as his spatial perception ability.
If his guess wasn't wrong, to leave this space, he had to go through constant trial and error to completely grasp the structure of this space, then find the key coordinate. Only from that correct coordinate could he leave.
This was most likely a very difficult and lengthy process; he had to be prepared for a protracted battle...
Thinking this in his heart, Lin Mo used the Flash skill again, preparing to record information to simulate and construct the structure of this space in his mind.
And then...
After one flash, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed.
Lin Mo was stunned for several seconds before snapping back to reality. This was... directly clearing the trial?
He had just flashed randomly and seemed to have bumped right into the correct coordinate.
This worked too!
If the designer saw this scene, they'd probably laugh in exasperation, right?
Lin Mo himself couldn't hold back a smile.
So, next...
After escaping that space, he was now in a white space, standing on a very large arena.
Lin Mo looked ahead. Not far away, he could clearly see a massive magical creature, its pair of crimson eyes open, looking this way.
It was a huge magical creature twenty to thirty meters tall, resembling a bear but also a giant ape, looking like a small mountain.
What was examined before could still be said to be technique, but what was being examined this time was genuine, hard power.
Lin Mo could feel the powerful oppressive aura from ahead, a feeling completely different from the magical creatures encountered before.
Without a doubt, what appeared at the end of this Secret Realm was not a Level 30 magical creature, but a true Epic-Level magical creature above that!
The corner of Lin Mo's mouth gradually curved into a smile.
To be honest, he had been holding back for a long time.
Ever since his universal promotion to the Transcendent Level, he had wanted to fight a battle where he could go all out. However, the strength of the magical creatures encountered before was really difficult to support this; often, with just a casual attack, the other side would just lie down.
This Epic-Level magical creature before him, although still unlikely to make him use his full strength, could at least let him have some fun and also confirm just what his current strength was like.
Not in a hurry to use magic or draw his sword, Lin Mo first took out the Ice Soul Bow from his Portable Space and drew the bowstring to its full extent.
The next moment, his figure directly disappeared.
The magical creature was stunned for a moment. Immediately after, an invisible arrow suddenly shot from the side. The moment it became visible, it was already about to hit.
However, an Epic-Level magical creature was, after all, not like the weaklings encountered before. Even at such close range, it still reacted quickly. With a furious roar, a fiery red barrier materialized in front of it, blocking the arrow Lin Mo had shot.
"Oh?"
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. As expected of an Epic-Level magical creature. Leaving aside stealth, the power of this arrow he shot was not low, yet it could be directly blocked with a magic barrier. The opponent's Mana attribute seemed quite high too.
But, this was exactly what was good, this was what made it interesting!
Lin Mo's figure moved. The next moment, he flashed forward, already holding the Frost Dragon Scale Sword in his hand, and slashed out.
A casual Thunder Dragon Piercing Kill shot towards the magical creature's face.
This magical creature was clearly fire-attribute. So besides being able to use fire-element attacks and defensive means, as an Epic-Level magical creature, it most likely also had fire Elemental Resistance, and not low at that. Therefore, fire-element attacks like Blazing Moon Sky Charge were obviously not very suitable.
The magical creature also sensed the power of Lin Mo's strike and didn't dare to be negligent in the slightest. It raised its massive form, its huge palm swatting over, wrapped in powerful Qi and Blood and surging flames.
This was the powerful effect of bloodline, innately able to use both Qi and Blood and Mana power simultaneously.
However, compared to a true fusion like Lin Mo's, the magical creature's use of these two energies was more like simple stacking. Although it would still be much stronger than a single type, compared to Lin Mo's Magic Sword skills, it was completely incomparable.
If magical creatures or Orcs borrowing bloodline power could achieve a 1+1=1.5 effect, or maybe 1.6, 1.7 depending on bloodline strength, far surpassing opponents who only knew one type of power... then the Magic Sword skills Lin Mo used were a true comprehension of these two powers, allowing them to complement each other. The power unleashed was undoubtedly 1+1>2. Based on current estimates, it could reach about 2.5.
Plus, there was also a gap in attributes. So if the other side dared to take this hit head-on, they were in for a world of hurt.
"Zzzzt—!"
With the flash of lightning, a blue-purple thunder dragon directly pierced through its palm, leaving behind a huge bloody hole.
"ROAR—!"
The magical creature before him roared furiously, clearly enraged. Its body, twenty to thirty meters tall and like a small mountain, rose from the ground, flames coiling around its entire form as it charged head-on towards Lin Mo.
Lin Mo gave a cold smile, quietly watching the opponent approach. When it was less than a hundred meters away from him, he suddenly stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers.
The next moment, the magical creature's movements became as if they were in "slow motion," growing sluggish.
Those crimson eyes widened to their limits, but it could only watch helplessly as Lin Mo slowly raised his hand—
Space Slash!
The next moment, an invisible slash directly erupted inside its body. The magical creature's eyes instantly bulged, on the verge of bursting. At the same time, the Time Slow effect ended. It immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, its aura instantly wilting considerably.
Space Slash was just an Exceptional-Grade skill. Although it was a powerful space skill, in terms of absolute numerical value, it wasn't much higher than other Exceptional-Grade skills. There was still some gap compared to a proper Epic-Level skill.
But the strength of this skill lay in its ability to ignore all of the opponent's surface defenses and shield defenses, directly attacking the interior.
The magical creature before him was clearly not known for its Constitution. Having suffered this strike, although it wasn't a heavy injury, it was definitely not a light wound.
Of course, an Epic-Level magical creature wasn't so easy to take down after all.
This creature, which looked like a bear on the outside but didn't resemble a bear in many places, had completely lost its sanity—besides fighting Lin Mo to the death, it had no other choice. It had no way out; losing also meant death.
Thus, the Qi and Blood around its body surged violently, dense bloody energy coiled around its entire form, the aura on its body suddenly intensified once more, yet blood continuously overflowed from the corner of its mouth.
Clearly, this was that kind of innate skill that used self-harm as a price to greatly increase strength for a short time.
Lin Mo became slightly more serious. However, looking at the opponent attacking him, he still didn't choose to dodge. Instead, he activated defensive skills like Unyielding Body and Shield Against Demons, then similarly leaped forward. The sword blade was wrapped in flickering thunderlight; where the thunderlight flashed, space also distorted.
Thunderous Descent!
This was an upgraded version of the combination skill Thunderous Descent that Lin Mo had used before. Within it, Furious Leap Cleave had been upgraded to the Exceptional-Grade Crag Breaking Strike, Lightning Strike had been upgraded to Thunder Dragon Devour, and most importantly, Void-Shaking Fist had been replaced by the Legendary-Level skill Lin Mo had just obtained—Shattering Void Fist.
One Legendary, one Epic, plus one Exceptional-Grade—this could be said to be Lin Mo's strongest skill combination currently. As for stronger combinations... that would require further research and attempts.
"BOOM—!"
With a loud explosion, both sides directly collided. The Epic-Level magical creature, strengthened by its "self-harm" method, was indeed not to be underestimated, actually briefly deadlocking with Lin Mo.
However...
Soon, the thunderlight grew increasingly dazzling. At the point of collision between the two, space was also forcibly torn apart. The powerful tearing force born from this directly disrupted the opponent's balance, making it impossible to maintain any longer.
Lin Mo's sword subsequently landed on the opponent's body.
There wasn't any particularly bloody scene, no cutting it completely in half, no massive wound.
But the moment his sword landed on the opponent's body, the magical creature trembled all over. Rampant electrical currents rapidly spread, quickly dissolving its originally still tenacious resistance.
Immediately after, the space within its body was also torn apart. It seemed fine on the outside, but in reality, all its muscles and internal organs had already been shredded to pieces by this terrifying force.
The light in its eyes scattered, its massive body powerlessly fell...