**Chapter 110: Formidable Foe**
Its eyes blazed with subterranean fire, radiating a fierce, scorching glow. In its hands, it gripped a warhammer forged from solidified lava, each swing unleashing waves of searing heat and billowing ash.
The aura emanating from this being was unmistakably that of a second-level creature!
Battle erupted almost instantly!
The underground demon elder wasted no words, brandishing its massive lava warhammer with earth-shattering force, smashing toward the trio!
Molten lava dripped from the hammer, leaving charred black marks on the rock walls it passed.
“Careful!” Victor shouted, swiftly waving his staff-shaped artifact. A solid earthen wall sprang up instantly.
But the warhammer, imbued with terrifying kinetic force and flames, tore through the wall in an instant, forcing Victor to retreat clumsily, his defensive wizardry teetering on collapse.
Amy seized the moment to unleash her spells, firing a volley of fireballs at the demon elder.
Yet, the fireballs struck its rock-like skin like pebbles hitting a lake, causing only faint ripples, unable to penetrate its defenses.The demon elder roared, the ground trembling beneath its feet as spikes of rock and flame erupted from the earth, forcing Amy to dodge.
The elder’s strength and defenses far exceeded their expectations. Amy and Victor’s attacks barely scratched it!
Though both were only first-level wizards, wizards typically held an edge over other planes’ supernatural beings.
Especially since they had independently developed offensive wizardry, their attacks should have been capable of at least some damage to an ordinary second-level creature.
“Something’s off with this thing. I’ll handle it!” Jie Ming said.
Only as it drew closer did he sense that the elder’s “vibrations” resonated strangely with the surrounding mineral veins.
This suggested its power was integrated with the vein, making it far beyond an ordinary second-level creature.
Just before the elder’s warhammer could land, Jie Ming stepped past Amy and Victor, activating all four layers of his defenses!
The multi-layered defenses rendered the demon elder’s attacks highly ineffective, each blow landing like it struck cotton, unable to truly reach Jie Ming.
While defending, Jie Ming’s wrist-mounted rune artifact didn’t pause, unleashing a torrent of energy bolts like a tidal wave.
Each bolt precisely targeted the demon elder’s joints, neck, and other relatively vulnerable spots.
The energy bolts performed slightly better than Amy’s fireballs.
Though each hit caused damage, the elder’s physique was too robust, its wounds healing at a visible rate, as if the injuries were mere scratches.
Amy and Victor, buying time for Jie Ming, adjusted their attack strategies to find the elder’s weaknesses, but their efforts remained ineffective.
“This won’t do!” Victor gritted his teeth. “Its recovery speed is too fast!”
A glint flashed in Jie Ming’s eyes.
“Restrict its movements!” he commanded, pulling out an artifact gleaming with cold metallic light.
It was a fourth-level offensive artifact he had specially purchased from the academy.
Without hesitation, Amy and Victor unleashed their Alchemy Technique and offensive wizardry, pouring in mental energy without restraint, maximizing their spells’ power!
Victor’s wind blades converged into a massive hammer, striking with immense force at the demon elder’s leg joints and arms.
Knowing the elder was immune to fire, Amy focused on Alchemy Technique, manipulating nearby rocks into thick stone walls that pressed toward the elder.
“Roar!!” The demon elder let out a pained bellow.
Restricted by the powerful impact and heavy stone walls, its massive body swayed, no longer able to move freely.
In that moment of restriction, Jie Ming was ready.
His powerful mental energy surged into the fourth-level artifact, instantly locking onto the demon elder’s chest!
[Converging Ray].
At the artifact’s tip, a blinding light coalesced, forming a crimson ray imbued with destructive force.
The red beam sliced through the dim air of the mine, striking the elder’s rock-hard chest with pinpoint accuracy in less than a blink.
No roar, no explosion.
Only a chilling “sizzle.”
The crimson ray burned through the elder’s stone-like skin, piercing flesh and bone.
With Jie Ming’s strained manipulation, the ray swept upward and downward, then vanished.
The elder’s massive body froze, the fire in its eyes extinguishing instantly.
*Thud!*
Its giant lava warhammer slipped from its hands, crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The demon elder’s three-meter-tall frame split in two down the middle, collapsing lifelessly.
The severed surfaces smoked with black, charred crusts, testament to the ray’s terrifying power.
Amy and Victor sighed in relief, but upon melihat Jie Ming’s state, they started, immediately taking defensive positions.
While scanning the surroundings with scouting wizardry, they stood guard by his side.
“I’m fine, just a bit drained,” Jie Ming said, stowing the fourth-level artifact, his face pale.
Using the fourth-level artifact had consumed some mental energy, but the real drain came from the final tweak to the wizardry.
Given the elder’s strength and its symbiotic connection to the vein, a single piercing wound from the ray—unless it hit the head—wouldn’t have been fatal.
In desperation, Jie Ming had forcibly manipulated the fourth-level wizardry to “sweep” slightly.
Ray-based wizardry was already among the hardest to control, and manipulating a fully formed offensive spell was far more challenging than handling something like Soul Search.
Swallowing a potion, Jie Ming’s complexion quickly improved.
“Thanks to your artifact, or we’d have been in trouble,” Victor said, relieved.
Jie Ming shook his head. “Our current strength makes activating a fourth-level artifact too slow. Be cautious—this was a demon elder, yet it had no subordinates.”
“Scouting shows a concentrated energy source not far ahead, likely an altar, which might explain its frenzy,” Amy said, pointing deeper into the mine.
Before her words faded, the altar guarded by the demon elder in the mine’s depths suddenly trembled violently!