The experience from the monsters that were trampled to death actually counted toward him!
Didn't that mean that as long as this horde of monsters kept following him, the more monsters there were, the more of them would be crushed to death—allowing him to level up without lifting a finger?
Well, there was no need to overthink it.
In any case, it would be even better if these monsters continued following him.
When he tested the Mythic Fire Elemental Rune later, he could kill them all at once.
That would probably net him an astronomical amount of experience!
Lin Ye continued deeper into the Poisonmist Forest.
What he didn't know was that the entire leveling zone of the Poisonmist Forest had already descended into complete chaos!
“Run!”
“Forget the materials! A monster tide is coming!”
Large numbers of professionals came charging out of the woods.
Some carried injured teammates on their backs, while others had even thrown away their weapons and were simply running for their lives.
Not a single one of them dared to stop and provoke that terrifying horde of monsters.
…
Wanghai City, Professional Alliance Garrison Headquarters.
A young professional in military uniform hurried into the office.
“Reporting!”
Inside, a burly, unshaven man was standing with his head lowered, sharpening a massive battle-axe.
He appeared to be in his forties. His body was powerfully built, and he wore a suit of silver heavy armor.
Every muscle on his body was thick and knotted, while an old scar ran across his face, stretching from his brow to his chin.
His name was Qin Lie, commander of the Wanghai City Garrison—and a Tier Four Warrior.
“What is it? Speak.”
“Sir!”
“We’ve received reports from a large number of professionals that monster riots have broken out throughout the leveling zones on the outskirts of the Poisonmist Forest. At least a thousand monsters are moving toward the depths of the forest!”
“Preliminary estimates put the scale of the monster tide close to Grade B!”
Upon hearing this, Qin Lie stopped what he was doing and looked at his subordinate.
“Moving toward the depths of the forest?”
“The monster tide isn’t charging outward. It’s moving inward?”
“Yes!”
The subordinate opened a tactical panel, and a virtual projection quickly appeared.
The image showed an aerial view of the Poisonmist Forest.
Although the forest’s details were impossible to make out from such a high altitude, the treetops could clearly be seen swaying wildly. A long, winding column of monsters was weaving through the forest, already stretching for more than ten kilometers.
Qin Lie stared at the image.
Monster tides were nothing unusual.
The Poisonmist Forest was teeming with monsters. Occasionally, high-level monsters would fight over territory, or someone would provoke a BOSS and cause a disturbance.
But this was the first time Qin Lie had seen a monster tide moving with such order and purpose.
Qin Lie grabbed his battle-axe and stood up.
“Send people immediately to evacuate the professionals on the outskirts.”
“Notify the nearby garrison squads. Secure the forest exit first. Don’t let the monsters reach the Gold Coast.”
“Sir, are you going there personally?”
Qin Lie hoisted the battle-axe onto his shoulder and strode toward the door.
“I’m going to take a look.”
“My instincts tell me this monster tide isn’t as simple as it looks!”
…
At the same time, inside the Poisonmist Forest.
Lin Ye hadn’t encountered another professional in quite some time.
In fact, even the monsters had become fewer and farther between.
The deeper he went, the taller the surrounding trees became. Their branches and leaves overlapped in dense layers, almost completely blocking out the sky overhead.
The trunks were also covered in thick webs.
The purple poisonous miasma had grown so dense that it seemed almost solid, obscuring his vision.
Even Lin Ye felt that he was close to getting lost. If he tried to turn back now, he might not even be able to find his way out of the forest.
Just as Lin Ye passed through a dense thicket, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
In the distance, a small lake lay in the middle of the forest, formed from a pool of viscous purple-black liquid. Bubbles rose from its surface with a constant glugging sound, filling the air with a foul stench.
Lin Ye felt a sharp pain pulsing through his head. At the same time, it seemed as though countless faint whispers were reaching his ears.
This was… Abyssal Energy!
Lin Ye immediately became alert.
If one were to ask what humanity’s greatest enemy was in this era, there could be no doubt: the Abyss!
According to the knowledge Lin Ye had learned from his textbooks, the Abyss was a bizarre world no smaller than Blue Star—perhaps even hundreds of times larger.
It was home to countless monsters.
But the most troublesome thing was a unique substance found only in the Abyss.
This substance constantly released intense energy radiation.
The source of most monster mutations on Blue Star was radiation from Abyssal Energy.
If humans came into contact with this radiation, they would suffer dizziness, hallucinations, and auditory hallucinations at best.
At worst, they would mutate outright and degenerate into Abyssal monsters!
Lin Ye raised his right hand and rubbed his forehead.
The discomfort came quickly, but it faded just as fast.
To Lin Ye’s surprise, however, the band of light around his right wrist was charging at an astonishing speed!
68%…
69%…
70%!
It had originally taken at least fourteen minutes to charge a single percentage point, but now the progress was jumping every few seconds!
Lin Ye was stunned.
Could this escaping Abyssal Energy be charging the band of light?
Before he could think it through, Lin Ye heard a rustling sound.
Looking ahead, he saw countless webs covering a large number of white spider eggs in the clearing by the lake.
Each egg was nearly the size of an adult’s head. Their surfaces writhed constantly, as though something inside was about to break through the shell.
This was clearly the nest of a poisonous spider.
The sounds were coming from the countless enormous spiders in the nest, their legs scraping against the ground.
Soon, countless giant poisonous spiders began swarming out of the nest.
[LV.11, Venomous Guard Spider (Elite)]
[LV.12, Venomous Guard Spider (Elite)]
…
In addition, Lin Ye noticed something hanging down from between two towering ancient trees above the spider nest.
It was a gigantic spider.
Its body was as large as a truck. A white marking resembling a human face covered its abdomen, while purple lumps of flesh covered its entire body, twitching incessantly.
[LV.???, Spider Queen]
This was the final BOSS of the Poisonmist Forest!
The question marks indicating its level meant that the BOSS was at least fifteen levels higher than Lin Ye. Otherwise, its level wouldn’t have been impossible for him to see.
“Hiss—!”
The Spider Queen’s eight compound eyes locked onto Lin Ye.
It opened its vicious mandibles and spat out a massive web, while corrosive venom rained down from the sky. Both attacks hurtled toward Lin Ye at once.
Lin Ye didn’t dodge. He had no time to.
The web descended over his head, only to pass through him as though he were nothing more than a holographic projection before landing in the muddy ground behind him.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The highly corrosive purple venom likewise passed straight through his body, corroding the ground behind him into numerous deep pits in the blink of an eye.
Confusion and fury appeared in the Spider Queen’s eyes.
How dare a mere low-level human trespass into its territory!
The dignity of a Lord-level monster sent it into a frenzy in an instant.
“SKREEEE—!”
The Spider Queen abruptly reared up, and the human-face marking on its abdomen began to glow with a strange purple light.
In the next second, Lin Ye felt the earth beneath his feet begin to tremble.
Then, a translucent, visible sound wave surged toward him, carrying a terrifying shriek that seemed capable of tearing everything apart!
Lin Ye’s heart jolted.
This was the first time he had encountered a monster in the Poisonmist Forest capable of unleashing an energy attack.
As expected of a BOSS.
With a thought, Lin Ye activated the second effect of Void Incarnation.
His figure instantly became blurred and indistinct, while a layer of deep-blue mist rapidly enveloped his entire body.
Boom!
The sonic attack erupted in full force. The trees within dozens of meters were shattered in an instant, and the ground was violently torn up!
Lin Ye, standing at the very center of the sonic assault, remained completely unharmed.
But before he could celebrate, a sharp, needle-like pain suddenly stabbed into his mind.
Lin Ye let out a muffled groan. His vision went black, and the intense dizziness left him barely able to stand. Drowsiness overwhelmed him.
This time, Lin Ye was certain that it wasn’t the escaping Abyssal Energy affecting him.
His mental power was running dry!
The immunity to energy attacks granted by the Void Incarnation came at a price after all!
Activating this ability consumed his mental power.
With his current level of 2 and his unallocated mental power, he could only maintain it for an extremely short time.
The surrounding elite Venom Spiders immediately surged toward him like a tidal wave, surrounding him from all sides.
Lin Ye forced himself to remain conscious.
But he knew that the time had come. If he waited any longer, things might go disastrously wrong!
Lin Ye took out the Mythic-grade Fire Element Talisman and used it directly!
In the next instant, time itself seemed to freeze.
The yellow talisman in Lin Ye’s hand instantly transformed into specks of light and vanished.
Yet the earth-shattering flames that were supposed to shoot into the sky never appeared.
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. Not even a spark could be seen.
Lin Ye’s heart sank.
Could this thing really be nothing more than an oversized lighter? Even at Mythic grade, was it still useless?
The next moment, Lin Ye pulled out the Return Scroll Feng Yuanshan had given him, preparing to return to the city immediately.
But just then, an utterly astonishing scene unfolded before him.
Centered on Lin Ye, every elite Venom Spider within a hundred meters—including those that had leaped toward him—was instantly vaporized by terrifying heat before it even had time to scream!
Not even ashes remained. They simply vanished into thin air!
“Eek—!”
The Spider Queen seemed to sense the fear of death as well.
It let out a terrified shriek, frantically waving all eight of its legs as it turned and tried to flee for its life.
But it was useless.
That intangible, invisible extreme heat—so intense that even space itself warped beneath it—spread outward in an instant.
The Spider Queen’s iron-hard black fur curled and burned away immediately.
Its enormous body suddenly froze in midair as it fled. Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it disintegrated, transforming into a mass of nothingness before completely vanishing from the world.
The pool formed from its venom evaporated in an instant, leaving the basin dry!
Only a crystal glowing with a faint violet light remained at the bottom of the pool. Even under the scorching heat, it did not shatter or disappear.
The next moment, Lin Ye watched as the enormous Venom Spider nest also turned to ash in an instant.
Not a single flame had appeared throughout the entire process, yet its power was enough to instantly annihilate everything within its range!
The Mythic-grade Fire Element Talisman… truly terrifying!
Lin Ye let out a sigh of relief.
Just when he thought everything was over, he suddenly noticed something.
Why did the surroundings seem so bright?
Lin Ye instinctively raised his head.
To his astonishment, dazzling light was piercing through the dense canopy overhead and pouring down, illuminating the forest—which had previously been shrouded in darkness—as brightly as day.
He had thought that the vaporization of everything around him by the talisman’s intense heat was the end of it all.
Only now did he realize that this was merely the prelude to the activation of the entire Mythic-grade Fire Element Talisman.
The main event had only just begun!