Chapter 153: The Blood-Thirsty Scepter

Half a day later, Vel and Rosted finally caught sight of a mountain's silhouette from a hillside.

"That is Luojia Mountain, and it is our first objective."

Pointing at Luojia Mountain for Vel, Rosted looked at the sky, which was gradually growing dark, and then asked, "Well then, shall we cross this mountain first, or rest here for the night?"

Vel had no intention of wasting a whole night resting here. He also raised his head to look at the distant horizon, watching the pale white light gradually vanish, and asked Rosted, "How long will it take to cross this mountain?"

"At our current pace, crossing Luojia Mountain will take at least half a day!"

Rosted pondered the time for a moment, turned his head to look at Vel, and asked, "What? You want to cross this mountain overnight?"

"Yes, I'd like to arrive at the Splendid Stone Forest earlier. Although traveling up the mountain at night is somewhat troublesome, I think as long as we are careful, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Vel's words caused Rosted to deliberate carefully for a moment. He had been to Luojia Mountain a few times himself. Although it was close to the Magical Beast Forest, there were not many magical beasts on the mountain that posed a real threat to humans. If they were as careful as Vel suggested, nothing should go wrong.

With that thought, Rosted nodded and said, "Then let's make a fire and rest here, have dinner, and then head up!"

"Alright!" Vel agreed with a nod.

The tasks that followed became much simpler: gathering firewood, starting a fire, and simply finding two clean wooden forks to skewer two pieces of dried meat to roast over the flames. At this moment, Vel smoothly pulled a wineskin from his tunic and handed it to Rosted.

Although Rosted still couldn't figure out how such a large wineskin had been concealed inside Vel's tunic, he didn't ask any further. Taking a deep gulp of the fruit wine, he found the taste truly exceptional—sweet and very smooth on the palate. Unable to resist, he took a few more gulps, smacked his lips, and then handed it back with lingering reluctance.

"What? Not to your liking?"

Vel took the wineskin back with a trace of confusion, then flipped the two pieces of meat roasting over the fire. Seeing that the golden-brown color was just about right, he picked up one of the skewers and handed it to Rosted.

"The wine is great, but hey, we're heading up the mountain shortly and need to be careful! As for the wine, I'm hardly worried you won't let me drink more after we return, am I?"

"That's true!" Vel smiled and nodded. The two of them quickly finished eating the roasted meat, hastily wiped their mouths, and began their ascent up the mountain.

In this region, anyone even slightly familiar with the terrain knew that Luojia Mountain was the only route if one wanted to reach the Magical Beast Forest. The Magical Beast Forest stretched for over twenty kilometers, flanked on both sides by treacherous terrain such as swamps, rifts, and steep peaks, making it utterly impossible to bypass from either side. Luojia Mountain stood like the gateway to the Magical Beast Forest; to enter the forest, one had to cross the mountain first.

As soon as they started climbing, Rosted fully demonstrated the rich wilderness experience of a veteran mercenary. On the pitch-black mountain trail, he could tell at a glance—solely by experience—where there was a path, where there wasn't, where danger lurked, and where it was a dead end. Vel's only task was to follow closely behind Rosted. Walking one after the other for nearly three hours, the two encountered no danger whatsoever.

After walking for another half hour, Rosted finally stopped. He surveyed the surrounding environment, then turned back and smiled at Vel, "Alright, we've pretty much climbed the mountain. The path going down will be a bit more difficult, let's rest for a bit!"

Vel nodded. To be honest, he was almost exhausted. The rugged and difficult mountain paths consumed far more stamina than ordinary roads, and given the fragile physical constitution of a magician, being able to persist this far was already quite impressive.

Closing his eyes, Vel immediately entered a state of meditation. Ever since the battle in the City of Mercenaries ended, Vel's strength had naturally improved accordingly. His magic power across all seven elements had advanced by one tier. Currently, his strength stood at: a Tier 2 Magician in Fire, having broken through to Magician rank in Ice, and sitting at Tier 9 Mage in Water and Light. His Wind and Spatial magic had reached Tier 8, while Earth and Darkness were at Tier 7 Magicians.

A trace of cool energy circulated rapidly within his body, continuously soothing his exhausted frame. At the same time, Vel's mind was operating at high speed. Ever since he retrieved the Staff of Rosigiegel, his combat style seemed to have undergone a significant transformation. Charging directly at enemies for close-quarters combat? If it were in the past, Vel would never have done such a thing, but now he suddenly found this combat method simple, straightforward, and unexpected!

Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea after all?

Vel thought to himself secretly, even considering whether he should deliberately practice some spatial magic to complement it. Just at that moment, his extended perception suddenly detected some dangerous entity. Alerted, he immediately opened his eyes. By now, Rosted had already released his defensive battle-aura, scanning the dark depths with a guarded expression.

A faint breeze carrying a foul stench blew past, causing Vel to frown involuntarily. He quickly took the divine staff off his back and tore away the layers of white bandages wrapped tightly around it.

"Do you know what it is?" Vel asked Rosted. At this moment, his perception had completely locked onto that entity in the darkness. However, the creature hadn't moved a single half-step from the very beginning, appearing almost petrified, which instantly made every nerve in Vel's body tense up.

"It's a big one!"

Rosted licked his slightly dry lips. "That thing is very cunning; it knows how to hide itself. Dealing with a creature like this might be a bit difficult."

Hearing Rosted put it this way, Vel actually breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Interpreting Rosted's words, this creature would be difficult to deal with, but not completely impossible. In other words, it was just troublesome.

Probably some kind of large magical beast, right? Vel thought to himself. Just then, Vel's perception stirred abruptly—the giant creature hiding in the dark finally made a move.

Despite the night, relying on the faint moonlight, Vel and Rosted managed to make out the creature's appearance. It should be some kind of giant bear. When crawling on all fours, its height was around 1.8 meters, and standing upright, it would be at least three meters tall. Its body was covered in thick, crimson fur. Though bulky, it radiated terrifying strength. Its eyes were a rare shade of red, a glint of ferocity and bloodlust flashing through them. Opening its blood-stained maw, it let out a deafening roar!

"We've got some trouble; this is a Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear!"

Rosted gritted his teeth. Vel understood what Rosted meant by trouble. The Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear belonged to high-tier magical beasts, ranking quite high in terms of offensive power among its peers. However, such beasts were extremely rare. Wondering if they should consider themselves lucky or unlucky to encounter one here was anyone's guess.

"This Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear is a female with a very strong sense of territorial awareness. We must have stepped into its domain. If we leave this place, I think it should be fine!" Rosted said to Vel. Vel nodded, and the two slowly retreated step by step. Just as Rosted said, this Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear was indeed female, and they had indeed stepped into its territory. In the past, quietly retreating like this might have worked fine, but Rosted had forgotten one crucial detail: Great Raging Bears were carnivorous, highly volatile magical beasts whose habit was to rest by day and hunt by night!

In other words, their luck was simply terrible; they had run right into the beast's dinnertime. Facing prey delivered right to its doorstep, how could the great bear possibly let it slip away?

"Roar!"

The giant bear roared, and a sudden burst of searing flames erupted across its body. The intense heat wave instantly put Vel and Rosted on high alert. With a sharp swish of air-breaking sound, the giant beast swung its massive claws right at them. Vel immediately used spatial teleportation to dodge, and Rosted's speed was terrifyingly fast—his speed in the Slaughter Moon organization was second only to Pepero. Evading the bear's attack in a couple of moves, he leaped and flashed behind the bear, his blade bursting with battle-aura as he stabbed fiercely into its spine!

"Clang!"

With a strange metallic sound, despite exerting his full strength, Rosted's blade only pierced a mere two inches or so into the bear's hide and flesh. Given the sharpness of his aura-infused blade, it could only penetrate that deeply—one could well imagine how thick the bear's hide actually was!

"Roar!"

Feeling the pain in its back, the giant bear spun around abruptly, stood up on its hind legs, and roared angrily. The crimson fur all over its body completely transformed into raging flames in that instant. The extreme heat was unbearable for Rosted, forcing him to immediately retreat and dodge. But how could the great bear easily let him go? It raised its sharp claws and brought them down upon Rosted once more!

Seeing this situation, Vel immediately waved the staff in his hand and shouted, "Ice Stone Guardian!"

"Bang!"

No sooner had the words fallen than a vast expanse of crystalline ice dust suddenly permeated the surrounding air, freezing all the joints of the Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear solid in an instant. Not only that, four colossal ice pillars suddenly erupted in front of Rosted, connecting to one another to form a bizarre rhombus shape that desperately blocked the bear's heavy strike!

"Crack!"

The ice pillars were smashed to pieces, but Rosted used the opportunity to escape. This enraged the giant bear even more. Glancing down at the large frozen chunks of ice locked onto its arm joints, it let out an angry roar. A pillar of fire suddenly erupted from its body, completely enveloping it and shooting straight into the sky. Standing over twenty meters tall, it illuminated the dark shadows as brightly as day.

"Well, we've truly thoroughly angered it this time!"

Rosted suddenly appeared behind Vel, glancing at the slowly fading pillar of fire while the soul power inside his body began to circulate at an even faster pace.

"Whether we've angered it or not, it's a trouble either way. Let's just finish it off as quickly as possible!"

Vel frowned. Suddenly, something occurred to him. Lowering his head to look at the divine staff in his hand, a strange gleam flashed in his eyes.

"Got a plan?"

Rosted seemed to have picked up on something. Although he was more than twice Vel's age, Rosted wouldn't dare treat this young man like an ordinary child, and quickly asked him.

"This great bear's hide is too thick, so ordinary attacks will naturally be very difficult. But we can target its most vulnerable spots, like its eyes! I'll use magic to draw its attention while you take the opportunity to attack. How about it?" Vel looked at Rosted and asked.

"A very cliché method, but effective. We can give it a try!"

Rosted nodded, raised his aura-infused blade, and immediately charged at the giant bear. Meanwhile, Vel waved his divine staff, and dozens of fire swallows instantly flew out, swarming the bear in continuous attacks. Not stopping there, Vel supplemented the attack: the crystalline ice dust in the air transformed instantly into dozens of ice bats, flapping their wings and whistling toward the great bear!

Seeing the dense swarm of fire swallows and ice bats descending, the giant bear showed no fear. Without dodging or evading, it kept its attention squarely fixed on Rosted. Seeing this, a wicked smile curled the corner of Vel's mouth.

Opening both hands, he balled one hand into a fist while holding the staff tightly in the other, and then brought his hands clapping together!

The very next moment, the dozens of fire swallows and ice bats collided violently with one another. Ice and fire repelled each other, triggering a staggering, massive explosion!

"Boom!"

The shockwave generated by the violent explosion shook the ground itself! Shattered rocks and dust flew wildly in all directions, while Vel roared at the top of his lungs, "Rosted! Now!"

In fact, Rosted was already moving. The instant the explosion went off, he had pressed close against the back of the giant bear, scrambling all the way up to its shoulders. What he hadn't expected, however, was that whether to defend against himself or the violent blast, the great bear let out a roar, and all the crimson fur across its body stood on end, instantly turning into raging flames!

"Damn it!"

Seeing this, Rosted immediately recalled the terrifying twenty-meter pillar of fire that had erupted from the bear earlier. Cursing aloud, he leaped away to safety. Just as he anticipated, the moment he dodged, a stunning blaze flashed before his eyes—a column of fire over twenty meters tall soared from the bear's body, its momentum piercing straight into the clouds!

"Roar!"

The great bear roared within the flames, its eyes filled with ferocity and brutality. Catching a glimpse of Rosted in its peripheral vision, it swung its massive paw down heavily toward him. Though Rosted's speed was great, he had no leverage points in mid-air and took the bear's heavy strike head-on, getting smashed hard into a patch of wild grass dozens of meters away, where he passed out cold.

Damn it! How many times had he passed out in combat now? Three times? Or four?

Vel's thoughts drifted chaotically in his mind, but he couldn't afford to care about that right now. Watching the crimson pillar of flame gradually subside, he hardened his heart, flicked his body, and vanished from the spot into thin air!

Spatial Teleportation!

When Vel reappeared, his body had already materialized directly above the great bear's head. The divine staff in his hand traced an exceptionally gorgeous arc in mid-air, carrying a verdant green radiance as it plunged directly into the bear's eye!

With a strange, heavy sound, the sickle-like crescent blade sank in more than halfway. Fresh blood gushed out continuously. Yet because the bear's hide and flesh were simply too thick, no matter how hard Vel pushed, he could only maintain this stalemate, unable to advance or withdraw. At this point, the great bear had reached the absolute limit of its fury; crimson light flared across its entire body, appearing ready to detonate that terrifying pillar of fire once again!

Taking a blow like that at such close range would spell absolute doom!

The thought flashed fiercely through Vel's mind. Desperate, he tried using both hands to pull the divine staff back out with all his might, but after a long struggle, it remained completely stuck. Watching the flames gather bit by bit, cold sweat drenched Vel's back.

"I can't possibly die here!"

Thinking thus, since he couldn't pull it out, Vel shifted his force entirely inward, driving the staff even deeper. Not stopping there, he even added a layer of wind-blades to the staff, frantically stirring it around inside! By now, a large hole had been gouged out of the great bear's eye socket, a bloody mess of flesh within, and its wailing roars drowned each other out. Just then, Vel suddenly felt the divine staff in his hand shake violently twice, after which the entire staff began to radiate a faint glow.

Yes, the entire staff was glowing, but this time it wasn't the verdant green light of before—it was a crimson glow like fresh blood!

"What's going on?"

A wave of confusion washed over Vel's mind. At that very moment, he felt the great bear's body begin to shrink rapidly. The blood within its body rushed toward its head like a geyser, only to be swallowed up entirely, not a single drop spared, by Vel's divine staff!

The divine staff was actually drinking blood?!

Shock was plastered all over Vel's face. When he finally snapped back to his senses, he found himself sprawled flat on the ground, while the Crimson Flame Great Raging Bear before him—that pitiful giant creature—had been completely drained of blood and lay collapsed limply upon the earth.