Chapter 17: Deduction, Skill Entries

"Thank you for the rescue, friend." The huntress pulled several white pills from her bosom.

This medicine, known as [Dusk], was a restricted type of restorative pill. It could rapidly replenish a hunter's mana and boost their vigor. The side effect, however, was dependency; long-term use would cause a hunter's personality to mutate, becoming irritable and aggressive.

Mi Chen grew a measure more wary of the woman.

"Just a convenience. If you're fine now, I'll be taking my leave."

Mi Chen had no desire to get entangled with her. He intended to depart immediately.

"Wait."

The huntress suddenly called out to him. "You’re planning to head into the depths of the Furnace, aren't you? But without me, I doubt you'll make it in."

She spoke with absolute conviction.

"How so?"

Perhaps due to the effects of the pill, the huntress's mana and vigor had recovered significantly.

"The place is crawling with Furnace Curse Puppets. Entering blindly is a death sentence."

Though the [Furnace Curse Puppet] was only a Level 1 monster, in terms of threat, it was more terrifying than many Level 3 monsters. The puppets possessed two abilities: a curse and parasitic infestation. Whether you were spotted by a puppet or killed one before it saw you, it would trigger a curse. Once triggered, puppets from the entire area would swarm toward you. At that point, your only choice was to flee, because the more puppets you killed, the more the curse would accumulate.

Once the curse reached a certain threshold, it would summon the Furnace Curse Matriarch, a terrifying Level 4 monster that possessed a lethal, one-hit-kill curse. Furthermore, if you were "lucky" enough not to accumulate that much curse, but were wounded by a single puppet while fleeing—even the smallest scratch—you would be infested. Your mana and physical strength would rapidly plummet until you were eventually consumed by the growing number of parasites.

Mi Chen was troubled to learn the place was infested with such creatures. He asked, "And you have a way to deal with them?"

The huntress smiled. She had delicate features—double eyelids and an oval face—and looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, a classic beauty. But Mi Chen felt nothing. To him, the dead all looked the same regardless of appearance.

"Of course I do." The huntress lifted her bangs to reveal her forehead.

There was a black, thorn-like tattoo. Above and below the ring of thorns were four eyeballs, connected to form an arc. In the very center of the tattoo, an ancient character for "Release" was inscribed.

This was a Curse-Breaking Seal, a method used by Curse-Masters to counteract curses. Mi Chen had heard that a single Curse-Breaking Seal cost at least 300,000, making it quite expensive. He hadn't expected this woman to possess one.

Mi Chen pondered for a moment. "What do you need me to do?"

"Simple. You handle the monsters on the road, and I’ll protect you both as we enter the depths. We get what we each need."

Although the woman was dangerous, she wasn't an immediate threat. Without this partnership, Mi Chen knew he couldn't handle the Furnace Curse Puppets on his own.

"No problem."

Mi Chen agreed to the cooperation.

The huntress reached out her hand pleasantly. "My name is Wan Bieling."

"Mu Chen."

Mi Chen did not give his real name. Who knew if Wan Bieling was even her real name? Neither of them delved into it. They were merely using each other.

The two reached a temporary alliance. After rendezvousing with Qi Xiaoyun, the trio set off toward the depths of the Furnace.

The deeper they went, the higher the concentration of flame mana. Mi Chen and Wan Bieling were fine, as they both possessed the strength of 2-star hunters. But Qi Xiaoyun, despite being only a 1-star hunter, was able to withstand the high concentration of flame mana. Her ability, Colorless, not only enhanced her stealth but also increased her resistance to magic.

"Is that... a puppet?" Qi Xiaoyun asked, her voice tinged with surprise.

A beetle-like, pale blue insect was crawling slowly on the ground. It moved extremely sluggishly, and as the firelight shone upon it, it shimmered with iridescent colors, looking incredibly gorgeous and beautiful.

It was hard to imagine that such a terrifying creature could look so lovely. However, in the secret realms, the more beautiful something was, the more poisonous it tended to be.

"With the Curse-Breaking Seal, the puppets won't detect us for now," Wan Bieling said.

Her destination was the Slave Graveyard located in the depths of the Furnace. As the intersection point for underground magma, the probability of finding Molten Essence Crystals there was extremely high. However, reaching the graveyard was unavoidable combat. There was only one road leading there, and that road was patrolled by a large number of [Slave Golems].

Slave Golems were mid-level 2 monsters with strength comparable to Lava Sentinels. They weren't particularly aggressive, but their resistance to fire was absurdly high, which was one of the reasons Wan Bieling needed to partner with Mi Chen.

Based on Mi Chen's observations, Wan Bieling was a Sorcery-type hunter with fire-attribute mana. She excelled in mid-to-long-range combat and possessed a special skill that allowed her to move at high speeds, pinning down enemies from a distance. In a team, she would typically act as a skirmisher. Sorcery-type hunters consumed a vast amount of mana and almost always operated in groups; they rarely entered secret realms alone.

***

As Mi Chen was contemplating this, the trio finally arrived at the Slave Bridge.

The bridge was incredibly wide, and from a distance, it looked no different from flat ground. The massive black bridge was built entirely of rough, dark stones with irregular gaps, revealing the heart-stopping red light glowing beneath. Magma surged and churned under the bridge, occasionally spewing scorching tongues of fire. The air was parched and carried a pungent scent of sulfur. There were no guardrails on either side of the bridge, only sparse iron chains hung with rusted bells that swayed, emitting shrill, mournful sounds.

"Strange... how come there are no Slave Golems?" Wan Bieling looked out; the wide bridge was empty.

A lack of monsters was naturally a good thing, but as an experienced hunter, she instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Just as she hesitated, Mi Chen said, "Since we haven't found any, let's cross the bridge quickly. This is not a place to linger."

Wan Bieling nodded. "Right, let's get across first!"

The trio moved quickly. They had crossed a third of the bridge. Along the way, they still hadn't found any traces of monsters.

This was too bizarre. Usually, monsters in a secret realm had a strong sense of territory, and the types and numbers of monsters in each area were fixed. There were rarely exceptions. For hunters, as long as they had gathered intelligence and made preparations, exploring a secret realm wasn't actually difficult. The truly difficult ones were the unknown realms where no one had ever set foot. Only those hunters who successfully pioneered such realms could be considered top-tier.

Suddenly, a sound of piercing wind rang out.

Mi Chen was the first to notice. He looked up quickly and saw a streak of light shooting toward them.

*Clang!*

He drew his blade and blocked the attack. The sudden assault startled Wan Bieling and Qi Xiaoyun; they hadn't noticed it at all.

"Run to the sides!" Mi Chen ordered.

The two reacted quickly. The moment they dodged, two streaks of light struck the ground, blasting out terrifying craters.

Following the direction of the projectiles, they saw a [Siege Archdemon] standing on a watchtower in the middle of the bridge, holding a massive bow. The Archdemon's head was a bronze cauldron burning with flames, and huge tusks protruded from its abdomen. Deep within its mouth was a ball of scorching fire, locked firmly onto the three of them.

It had four arms. Two held the bow, while the other two were curved behind it, ready to draw arrows as thick as tree trunks from its quiver.

*Boom!*

With a deafening roar, another arrow shot out like a cannonball. The distance of several hundred meters was covered in the blink of an eye. The arrow was fast, but Mi Chen's reaction was faster. He cleaved the arrow in two with his blade. However, the next second, two more arrows came flying.

"Damn it!"

"The distance is too great."

The terrifying force of the arrows pushed Mi Chen back several meters. Just as he prepared to unleash his Blood Frenzy, the ground behind him suddenly bulged. A pitch-black arm reached out from within.

"It's a Slave Golem!" Qi Xiaoyun cried out.

"Leave the Golems to me!" Wan Bieling raised her left hand and fired a flame mana bullet. However, the Slave Golem's fire resistance was extremely high; the bullet only inflicted minor damage.

The three-meter-tall Slave Golem climbed out of the earth. It looked like a giant gorilla, its body bound in countless iron chains. Barbs on the chains pierced its skin, and its eyes and lips were sewn shut with steel wire, preventing it from making a sound; even its most painful roars could only echo within its chest as a low, muffled thud.

The Slave Golem had very low intelligence. Even after being attacked by Wan Bieling, it didn't react. It only instinctively moved forward. Soon after, three more golems crawled out of the ground.

With a Siege Archdemon sniping from the front and Slave Golems closing in, they were trapped in a desperate situation!

"There's no choice, we have to retreat..." Mi Chen blocked another shot from the Archdemon, but his stamina would eventually run out. Passive defense wouldn't break the current predicament.

"No! We absolutely cannot retreat!" Wan Bieling refused to withdraw, her voice becoming sharp. She had sacrificed almost everything for this mission; she could not fail now.

Mi Chen initially wanted to abandon Wan Bieling and take Qi Xiaoyun away, but considering that the path back required passing through the area of the Furnace Curse Puppets, he hesitated.

Could they really just wait here? The speed of the incoming arrows was too fast. As a Sorcery-type hunter, Wan Bieling’s techniques had a casting time and couldn't handle the situation, so they had to rely on Mi Chen to block. To deal with the surrounding Slave Golems, Wan Bieling was countered, and Qi Xiaoyun was too weak—it all fell to Mi Chen. If Mi Chen chose to deal with the golems, no one would be left to handle the Archdemon's sniping.

Just as Mi Chen was pondering a solution, Qi Xiaoyun suddenly spoke: "I think I have a way..."

"What way?" Wan Bieling asked sharply, her expression shifting.

"I haven't used that skill yet, but I can try."

Hearing that Qi Xiaoyun hadn't used it before, Wan Bieling's face fell.

"What do you need me to do?" Mi Chen asked.

"Buy me three seconds."

***

"No problem."

"Wait, you actually believe her!" Wan Bieling questioned Mi Chen.

Mi Chen shot her a cold glance. "Do you have a better idea?"

Wan Bieling was speechless. She clicked her tongue and had no choice but to cooperate with Mi Chen and Qi Xiaoyun.

Qi Xiaoyun closed her eyes. Pale purple mana gradually began to emanate from her body.

The Archdemon's sniping continued. Mi Chen stood in front, blocking the powerful arrows, while Wan Bieling fired mana bullets. Although the fire was useless against the Slave Golems, the impact of the explosions helped restrict their movement.

It was an agonizingly long three seconds.

Finally, Qi Xiaoyun opened her eyes. Her pupils shimmered with pale purple mana.

"Colorless Haze!"

The mana instantly turned into a thin mist, shrouding the three of them. At the same time, the monsters' attacks ceased. The Archdemon in the distance was just about to fire but suddenly found that its targets had vanished into thin air. The dim-witted Slave Golems stopped moving entirely, standing foolishly in place.

"It... it actually worked..." Wan Bieling looked on in disbelief.

Qi Xiaoyun’s face was pale; it seemed the move was a heavy burden on her. "If we're going to act, we must be fast. I can only maintain this for five seconds!"

"Five seconds is enough," Mi Chen said firmly.

He turned to Wan Bieling. "Cover me. Use your most powerful move."

"I know that without you telling me."

Five seconds might seem short, but for a hunter, it was enough to decide the outcome of a battle. Wan Bieling clenched her fists, mana gathering in her palms. A fire javelin began to take shape. The terrifying power within the javelin made even Mi Chen feel a sense of dread.

"So this is the full-power strike of a Sorcery-type hunter..."

Seeing the javelin form, Mi Chen knew it was time.

"Blood Frenzy!"

Scarlet mana erupted. With a violent stomp, Mi Chen turned into a blood-red flash and charged out.

The Siege Archdemon in the distance immediately noticed Mi Chen. *Boom!* An arrow shot out like a streak of light. At the exact moment the arrow was fired, the effect of Qi Xiaoyun’s Colorless Haze vanished.

In mid-air, a pillar of fire brighter than the sun took shape!

The fire javelin was launched! It moved so fast that the Siege Archdemon couldn't even draw its bow again in time.

*BOOM!*

The fire javelin hit its mark with precision. The exploding fireball instantly swallowed the Archdemon. When the flames dissipated, half of the Archdemon's body had been blown away, but its arms were still clutching the giant bow. The next arrow locked onto the location where Wan Bieling and Qi Xiaoyun stood.

At this moment, their mana was depleted; they couldn't possibly dodge the Archdemon's final strike. The impact of the giant bow alone would be enough to crush them.

The bowstring moved.

*BOOM!*

The Archdemon's arrow suddenly exploded violently.

"Crimson Lotus Mark!"

It was Mi Chen. Wan Bieling’s attack hadn't been intended to kill the Archdemon, but to buy time for Mi Chen. The impact of the magma explosion shattered the Archdemon's arms completely. Without its bow, the Archdemon had no way to fight back.

Mi Chen drew his Bloodthirst Blade. A scarlet slash instantly shattered the bronze cauldron atop the Archdemon's head.

[Monster Hunted]

[Mana Gained: 7]

[Current Mana: 540]

[Skill Gained: Crimson Lotus Arrow Array D]

[Effect: Summons three arrows that, once locked onto a target, will automatically pursue the enemy.]

As he gained the new skill, Mi Chen noticed that in the skill fusion column, Crimson Lotus Arrow Array and Crimson Lotus Mark appeared in the same row.

"Could these two skills be fused?"

However, no fusion prompt appeared. Clearly, the conditions hadn't been met.

"It seems that skills capable of fusion likely have similar names."

Previously, Heavy Blade and Silver Blade had fused to evolve into Slaughter Blade. The newly acquired skill, sharing the "Crimson Lotus" prefix, confirmed his hypothesis. Both the Lava Sentinel and the Siege Archdemon were unique to the Fire Spirit Furnace.

"I'll have to see what other monsters around here carry the 'Crimson Lotus' prefix."