The First Magic World War

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Charles glanced at the prompt and still felt as though the end was far away.

He couldn't help muttering, "Why does it feel like they'll never stop coming?"

The prolonged slaughter had begun to wear on Charles's spirit; he'd become a bit more silent, his combat moves more succinct and decisive. The variations he once used had given way to straightforwardness, but these were combat techniques forged in blood and fire—an embodiment of the principle "greatest art appears artless."

Having wiped out all the monsters in sight, Charles put away his two-handed battle axe and sat down on the spot to rest.

Zimmerman handed him water and food, and he too had become less talkative. After a while, he suddenly said, "I'm going to leave."

Charles nodded, showing no particular reaction.

Zimmerman said quietly, "I originally planned to hunt monsters alone in the Underground City, so the provisions I prepared were only sufficient for one. After you joined, our gains increased significantly, but our supplies are no longer enough to keep us going."

Only then did Charles perk up, his entire being radiating pleasure as he said, "I'll stick with you until we level up again."

Zimmerman gave a faint, ineffably charming smile and nodded.

After their rest, the two resumed their campaign. It might have been a day or two later, or maybe two to three days, but after devouring enough Divine Fragments, Zimmerman finally made a breakthrough and advanced to Level Eight.

Charles watched his handsome companion open the exit and stride out. He didn't follow; instead, he turned and headed deeper into the Underground City. Little did he expect that Zimmerman, having already stepped through the exit, would blow a kiss towards his retreating figure.

At that moment, every cell in Charles's body was leaping with joy, his whole persona radiating happiness. With his peak Level Eighteen Bloody Glory fully unleashed, he began a reckless rampage.

No matter the monster, one swing of his axe would surely shatter them.

In one day, he pushed the total number of slain monsters past ten thousand, and in the following days, at the pace of one to two thousand daily, he advanced swiftly like the wind.

Five days later, he stumbled upon several large monster nests and, after a blood-soaked battle, the tally of his slain monsters surpassed twenty thousand.

Charles himself hadn't realized it, but his whole body was emitting a layer of bloodlight.

Long ago, for the sake of purifying his Blood Energy, he had stopped Devouring Life Force because he sensed that while Devouring Life Force for cultivation allowed for rapid progress at lower levels, at higher levels, what affected breakthroughs wasn't just the thickness of Blood Energy but rather spirituality, comprehension, and the understanding of the essence of power.

Impure Blood Energy, cluttered and chaotic, was not a boon on the path of cultivation.

But with his entire being steeped in Bloody Glory, having slaughtered so many monsters, he naturally still absorbed the life force of his enemies. Charles converted all this life force into the Flame Hand, and such a wild killing spree had allowed the Flame Hand to condense up to eighteen at once.

During battle, each of the eighteen Flame Hands wielded a weapon, and their efficiency was more than just eighteen times better, after all, the Flame Hands themselves had no vital points that could be attacked.

Apart from Divine Fragments, Extraordinary Weapons, Supernatural Runes, Extraordinary Items, and some indiscernible oddities, Charles ignored all other spoils of war, since he would take this place into his Labyrinth later on.

However, after slaying over twenty thousand monsters, Charles's advance began to slow down again. There were almost no wandering monsters left in this Underground City, only eight of the largest monster nests remained, three of which even included over a thousand monsters each. Even for Charles, with all his valor, they seemed a tough nut to crack.

Charles set his sights on one of the monster nests, observing it for two days. There was a Level Eighteen monster in this nest, a gigantic spider creature.

Beyond the leader, there were at least sixty or seventy spider creatures of Extraordinary Level. The nest was filled with spider webs, which was a very troublesome situation.

In the two days Charles had been roaming nearby, he had killed seventy to eighty spider monsters and had even tried several times to lure out the leader for battle. However, the spider creatures hid at the slightest disturbance, with dense webs blocking paths within the nest, which was extremely vexing.

Charles pressed down on his Blood Flame Demon Gun, this extraordinary firearm purely manifested from Special Ability was very similar in shape to the Rattlesnake he was accustomed to, except it didn't have as many attributes as the Red-Blue Rattlenake. It could be paired with the Arthur Clan's Blood Burst Technique and the Adonis Clan's Flame Scorching Blast Bullet, with the former ensuring an endless supply of Blood Energy Bullets and the latter making the Blood Energy Bullets devastatingly powerful.

Whatever the Level of the Extraordinary, compressing an Energy Bullet equal to a full-strength blow from their own level often required relentless effort for an entire day to produce just one, and at most only twenty or thirty in a year. After all, the Extraordinaries also needed to cultivate and deal with various other matters. These Energy Bullets were extremely precious and wouldn't be used lightly. Most Extraordinary shooters in day-to-day combat would use Psy-Bullets two or three levels below their own and favored physical bullets.

Thanks to his killing spree, the cost of using Blood Energy Bullets equivalent to his full-strength strikes was much smaller for Charles. He knew such opportunities were rare and that he wouldn't encounter scenarios where he could slaughter without restraint in the future. Therefore, after the Flame Hand had condensed to eighteen, he stored a batch of Peak Level Eighteen Blood Energy Bullets.

He felt an urge to forcefully barge into the nest, but after glancing at those troublesome spider silks, he dismissed the idea, secretly musing, "Perhaps I should switch to another monster nest first?"

No sooner had Charles thought this, he saw a spider creature large enough to fill a house walking out of the nest, its eight massive legs sliding and making a rustling sound, followed by dozens of smaller spider creatures.

It was out scouting.

Charles's eyes shone as the eighteen Flame Hands lifted into the air, each Flame Hand holding a Blood Flame Demon Gun.

Charles had tried various weapons and found that the Blood Flame Demon Gun was most suited for slaughter.

The spider creature, sent for reconnaissance, had barely left the nest when it was hit by more than ten High-Level Blood Energy Bullets. Blood exploded from its body, and without even a moment's struggle, its life blood withered away, its house-sized body cracked, and shattered into several large pieces.

The accompanying medium and small-sized spider creatures screeched in panic, trying to flee back to safety, but how could they outrun Charles's gun? Moreover, he now had twenty hands, two natural ones and eighteen from Secret Technique training. After a salvo like popping beans, not a single spider creature was left alive.

Charles blew on the gun barrel, about to give up the nest, having just killed an Extraordinary Level spider creature that had come out to scout. The leader inside would definitely not come out now.

Suddenly, he heard an angry woman's voice, "Why are you slaughtering my offspring?"