After three full days of practice, Ye Chui could now drive dozens of gold coins at once. The coins transformed into Golden Sword Aura while magnetic magic hurled them forward, unleashing devastating destructive power. With a casual wave of his hand, pillars of golden light slammed into the black-clothed man with overwhelming might, piercing straight through his body.
The man was a powerful fire mage, half a step into the Saint domain. He could partially merge his body with flame and had now become a blazing fire-being. Yet even those flames were torn apart by the ferocious sword aura. Fire scattered in all directions, breaking into clumps of flickering sparks. The golden beams that passed through him continued onward, striking a building behind him.
Light exploded outward. Golden aura filled the air. The entire structure collapsed with a thunderous crash. Shouts and cries of alarm rose from all around. The shockwave from the attack had directly demolished one of the Jores family’s buildings.
The black-clothed man himself looked like a candle flame in a storm. The fire enveloping him was shredded, leaving only a thin, wavering strand that twisted and writhed, barely managing to reform into a human shape. He knelt on the ground, utterly drained. His grimoire had vanished from magical exhaustion. His face was a mask of pure terror as he stared at Ye Chui.
He had not died to Ye Chui’s bizarre attack, but for one terrifying instant he had teetered on the edge of death. He no longer had the strength to fight back.
A mere mage had unleashed the Golden Sword Aura that even swordsmen rarely mastered, and had fused it with magic to create this unique assault. Many of the man’s strongest techniques had gone unused simply because the attack caught him completely off guard.
If he had understood Ye Chui better, if he had truly prepared, he had thought he already knew Ye Chui well. He had listened repeatedly to Black Priest’s account of Ye Chui’s fight with Criann three days ago and had analysed Ye Chui’s strength thoroughly. Yet in just three days, Ye Chui had developed so many entirely new attacks.
He had lost to being unprepared and to underestimating his opponent. With proper preparation, he might… might not have lost so pathetically.
“You are disgracing the Magic Guild!” Boothly walked coldly to the man’s side, though her icy gaze was fixed on Criann.
Criann hurriedly looked away in panic.
Boothly waved her hand. A wave of freezing air enveloped the man, forming an icy arm that seized Criann by the collar and hurled him toward Black Priest. Her expression was one of deep displeasure, but when she turned back to Ye Chui, a smile appeared.
“It seems you’ve grown a lot stronger in three days,” she said to him.
“So have you.” Ye Chui glanced at his iPad grimoire. Boothly’s point value now read “1500+”. Three days ago it had been only “1200+”.
The “+” meant she still had vast untapped potential.
The two exchanged smiles. Their duel was fake, yet a faint competitive spark still existed between them. Even in a pretend fight, both carried the desire to outshine the other. Fine, let’s just see who can wreck the beast garden more thoroughly.
Together they walked to the Jores patriarch standing beneath the colossal turtle statue.
The patriarch was staring at his collapsed study on one side, his face twitching. That building had contained many of his prized collections… He looked at Ye Chui with cold eyes and said, “Master Ye Chui, I hope today you can defeat Miss Boothly just as you once defeated my son.”
“I’ll do my best,” Ye Chui replied with a casual smile. Snake-Hair Yulen had been the patriarch’s son. He had never gotten over Ye Chui killing him with two punches.
“Hmph. Let’s see if you can even survive inside the beast garden,” the patriarch whispered into Ye Chui’s ear. Before Ye Chui could respond, he straightened up, raised both arms high, and shouted, “Great Beast God, please open the beast garden and allow these two to enter for their fateful duel!”
With the patriarch’s cry, a spatial gate unfolded behind him. Through it could be seen dense jungle. A curious little beast even poked its head out right in front of the gate, peering at the outside world.
The beast garden was an independent spatial realm. The Jores family regarded it as their most precious asset and wealth. Every so often they sent large numbers of ordinary animals inside to feed the magical beasts. Periodically they would also dispatch hunting teams to capture beasts. During these hunts the Beast God granted blessings, giving the hunters immense power within the garden.
The garden was perilous. Countless ferocious magical beasts roamed freely. Some powerful ones even formed herds and claimed territories. The Jores family maintained trade relations with these beast kings.
From the very beginning, Archbishop Elisha had sensed something wrong with choosing the beast garden. Over the past three days others had also grown suspicious of possible tricks. The patriarch himself found Ye Chui and Boothly’s relationship oddly non-hostile. Yet he still opened the gate without hesitation. The reason was simple. The beast garden was truly dangerous. It was the Beast God’s domain. If he asked the Beast God to kill the humans inside, they would have no chance of survival!
He hated Ye Chui to the bone. He had even considered luring Ye Chui inside long ago to eliminate him. Now Ye Chui was walking in of his own accord. Why would he refuse?
Ye Chui underestimated the terror of the beast garden!
And he would pay the price for that arrogance!
“Guild Master Ye Chui, Miss Boothly, please enter,” the patriarch said with a smile, gesturing toward the spatial gate.
Boothly glanced at Ye Chui and stepped through first. This was to guard against any tricks. No matter what, the Jores family would never dare plot against her. Once safely inside, she waved for Ye Chui to follow.
Ye Chui nodded and stepped in after her.
The gate vanished.
The patriarch raised his arms once more and shouted toward the giant turtle overhead, “Great Beast God, open your eyes! Let us witness everything within the beast garden!”
The turtle’s eyes glowed brightly, projecting beams of white light. In the clear morning sky, a massive illusory screen appeared, showing the scene inside the garden. The crowd gasped in awe at the sight, but soon some noticed something wrong…
“Why can we only see Boothly in the projection? Where is Ye Chui?” Debbie cried out in alarm.
The sky-screen displayed the duel area. Boothly stood within it, yet Ye Chui, who should have entered right after her, was nowhere to be seen.
A cold smirk flashed across the patriarch’s face before he put on a panicked expression. “Th-this must be a teleportation mishap. It has happened before. But everyone, do not worry. With Ye Chui’s strength, I’m sure he’ll be perfectly fine inside!”
Of course, that was not the truth. The patriarch had tampered with Ye Chui’s teleportation. Some regions of the beast garden were relatively safe; others were extraordinarily deadly, crawling with high-tier magical beasts. Boothly had been sent to a safe zone. But Ye Chui…
“He will face the wrath of the Beast God! He will be drowned by a terrifying beast tide before he ever reunites with Boothly!” the patriarch muttered under his breath.
…
Ye Chui surveyed his surroundings. He stood in a black forest. Everything in sight was pitch-dark: trees with trunks hard as steel, black soil, strange twisted vines. The air carried a faint scent of blood and a chilling, sinister aura.
This was nothing like the area Boothly had entered. She was nowhere to be seen. The moment he stepped through the gate, the teleportation array had twisted, dumping him here. So the patriarch really had pulled a dirty trick.
“Well then…”
Ye Chui glanced at his iPad grimoire, then scanned the surroundings.
From the dark trees, terrifying magical beasts emerged one after another: earth dragons, iron-headed dragons, flame tigers, snow lions… all tier three to five. Individually they posed no threat to Ye Chui, but now countless beasts were gathering in hordes. Even he had to treat this seriously.
This was the fearsome beast tide!
“…So you’re the patriarch’s little trap? A beast tide?”
A cold smile spread across Ye Chui’s face.
The patriarch had no idea how terrifying Dragon Baby had become. With its current power, a single roar of [Dragon Might] would cow every beast here. But Ye Chui had no intention of summoning Dragon Baby yet. Looking at the ferocious creatures closing in, he decided to test one of the new spells he had created over the past three days.
Facing the encroaching horde, Ye Chui smiled and waved his hand. Suddenly, black dots appeared in the space around him. Each dot was a miniature portal. From every portal extended the barrel of a magical firearm.
After the iPad upgrade, Ye Chui had gained a shop function that let him purchase items from unlocked works. Back in the secret realm he had bought a massive arsenal of guns, all magically enhanced. When he left the secret realm, those weapons had returned to his storage space.
Now, using the unique properties of spatial storage, he summoned only the muzzles into the real world while keeping the rest of each weapon inside the storage dimension. His will controlled the parts still within.
Dozens, hundreds of gun barrels pointed in every direction, locking onto the approaching beasts.
Then, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Deafening gunfire echoed through the black forest.
A storm of bullets swept outward with no blind spots.
Ye Chui called this fighting style: the King’s Arsenal.
