Shang gritted his teeth, not in panic or fear but in frustration.
'Seems like the plan is ruined,' he thought.
"Astor! Water!"
Astor stood beside Sarah and Elver as he heard Shang's shout.
An instant later, a purple wave of sludge left the Poison Adept's Mana Shield and charged toward their team.
For a moment, Astor felt like he was about to die.
A Poison Adept had attacked him!
He knew that he couldn't defend himself from such a Spell.
And then, an orange glow came from behind the Poison Adept.
And a moment later…
BOOOOOOM!
The huge sea of poison in the tunnel and even the wave combusted.
Poison was weak against fire.
The wave of poison that had just doomed everyone had turned into a wave of fire.
But when Astor saw that, his eyes widened.
He could deal with fire!
"DOWN!"
Astor pushed Elver and Sarah to the ground.
A moment later, he used all his Mana to bury the three of them in water.
SSSS!
The water turned into steam in nearly an instant.
BANG!
The Magic Circles on all their uniforms activated on their heads, and the wave of steam and fire pushed past them.
Without the water barrier, the Magic Circle would have been broken by the violent explosion.
But thanks to the water barrier, the Magic Circles managed to hold.
Astor felt the rumbling through the ground, and he realized that the tunnel behind the Poison Mage was collapsing due to the explosion.
'No! Shang!' Astor thought.
The Poison Adept was dumbstruck with shock.
Fire?
His target was supposed to have an Ice Affinity!
Where did all this fire come from?!
Even though everything around the Poison Adept had exploded, his Mana Shield had blocked all of it.
The only thing he had lost was a lot of Mana.
BANG!
Suddenly, the Poison Adept was thrown to the side as a short explosion of black lightning hit his Mana Shield.
'Darkness?!' the Poison Adept thought in terror as a huge chunk of his Mana vanished.
BANG!
The Poison Adept's Mana Shield hit the side of the tunnel, and he turned around.
His eyes widened at what he saw.
It was a desecrated, severely burned, unrecognizable corpse standing beside him.
An instant later, all the burned skin vanished and fell off, and a healthy Shang was revealed beneath it.
At that moment, the Poison Adept felt fear for the first time.
Shang exploded forward and attacked him again.
BANG!
Shang only hit the wall, which collapsed immediately after.
BANG!
Shang's body exploded with Ice Mana as he shot down the tunnel.
He knew that the Poison Adept had just used Mana Step to escape.
BANG!
Shang's legs hit one of the walls as the tunnel made a curve.
BOOOM!
Shang exploded forward with an explosion of fire.
Hot gas and air washed over Shang's body as he exploded down the tunnel.
The retreating Poison Adept turned around, and terror appeared in his heart as he saw how fast Shang was following him.
This speed was ridiculous!
His target was supposed to be a weak Initial General Stage warrior!
He had not signed up for this!
Fuck the intelligence department!
They really screwed up this time!
'Fuck this! I'm not about to die to some shitty warrior!' the Poison Adept thought as he unleashed another Mana Step.
The Poison Adept appeared near the entrance to the Caves that the team of hunters had used.
Then, he quickly took out a talisman. This talisman would shoot him out of the Caves as soon as it got activated.
Boom.
Bang.
The Poison Adept heard the rapidly approaching explosions with terror.
Then, the talisman activated.
Wind Mana gathered around the Poison Adept, and a moment later, he jumped towards the hole above him.
Just before the Poison Adept was about to leave the Caves, he threw one last glance at Shang.
That was when he saw a black wave fill his vision.
'What's that?'
BOOOM!
The wave washed over the Poison Adept's Mana Shield, and the Poison Adept realized with panic that a ton of his Mana had been consumed.
However, that wasn't the most terrifying part.
The Wind Mana around him had vanished!
At that moment, the Poison Adept realized what that wave was.
'A ranged attack with the Darkness Element?!'
The Poison Adept's body halted in the air, and he looked at the hole above him in terror.
Only five more meters!
However, these five meters might as well be five kilometers.
The gap was insurmountable.
And then, the Poison Adept's body began to fall.
In terror, he turned to the entrance of the tunnel.
He saw his target rapidly approach him in the air, parts of his body frozen and other parts burned.
In panic, the Poison Adept released the prepared Sludge Bolt from his Focus and shot it at Shang.
BANG!
The right side of Shang's body exploded with fire, and he was shot to the left, evading the Spell.
BANG!
Shang's feet exploded with ice, and he shot at the Poison Adept again.
The Poison Adept only looked with fear at Shang.
He couldn't evade!
Mana Step was only usable while on the ground!
BANG!
Shang hit the Mana Shield with his sword, and the Poison Adept's body was punched to the wall.
BANG!
A round crater appeared on the wall, but a moment later, the Mana Shield around the Adept vanished.
His Mana was used up!
And an instant later…
BANG!
Shang's body hit the Poison Adept's falling body, burying both of them in the wall.
Inside the hole, Shang strangled the Poison Adept with both his hands as he activated Darkness Absorb.
In pain, the Poison Adept only stretched his hands to Shang's face in order to claw out his eyes, but he saw his hands turn into lifeless husks of their former selves before they lost all their power.
The last thing he saw was the burned face of his target regain life and vitality.
After the Poison Adept turned into a corpse, Shang looked at it with furrowed brows.
'I wanted you to give details about your client while you were assured of your victory.'
Then, Shang turned to the tunnel he had just come from with a frown.
'Sadly, the others interfered.'
'And now, I have to deal with the fact that they know about my power and Affinity.'
At that moment, dark thoughts appeared in Shang's mind.
