His movements were extremely nimble and adept, especially for a Fighter. However, if he didn’t at least possess this little bit of skill, how could he have received the role of main tank in Holy Empire’s elite team?

A line of damage values rose above Violent Waves as he endured the relentless onslaught of the Manticores. Soon, a gentle radiance enveloped him, replenishing a large portion of his missing health.

His health bar continued to fluctuate as the battle raged on. Though, ultimately, the Priests weren’t able to keep pace as his health fell progressively lower. It appeared even Holy Empire’s best Fighter wasn’t able to endure against these fierce attacks.

The rest of the frontliners, which included Sleepy Fox, rushed forward and entered the battle in order to alleviate some of the pressure.

“Remember to use Anti-Paralysis Potions!”

“Understood!” Violent Waves replied.

Meanwhile, the Mages in the rear were emitting a brilliant radiance as magical energies coalesced. Some were still channeling high-level magic while others had already finished and were firing off their spells.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Magic bombarded the Manticores and instantly obliterated the one they first engaged.

Nie Yan circled behind one of the two remaining Manticores and assailed it with Concussive Blow followed by Vital Strike.

?103

?123

“Holy shit! What kind of damage is that!?” Many of the team members felt their minds turn to mush. Were those really the attacks of a Thief? Why did they seem so much fiercer than some of the attacks of the Warriors in the team?

From their perspectives, Warriors naturally had the higher attack because Thieves accounted for it with high attack speed. This was common sense. So, when they saw Nie Yan deal so much damage, they were astonished.

While dual-wielding daggers, Nie Yan possessed both high attack speed and high damage. This combination was simply too overpowered!

「Thud! Thud!」With that, the remaining two Manticores collapsed on the ground. The entire team worked with quick efficiency, so even by Nie Yan’s standards, he still had nothing to complain about.

After the first three Manticores were killed, the other thirteen had finally arrived.

All six frontliners, Sleepy Fox included, readied themselves to engage the Manticores. Directly behind them were the Paladins. Since they were a class that wore plate armour, they could occasionally serve as frontliners as well. Moreover, Paladins with good equipment possessed defenses no lower than a Warrior’s.

“Dammit, these Manticores deal a lot of damage. Violent Waves, try to hold off that Alpha Manticore,” Sleepy Fox ordered. As their guild leader, even he felt incredibly nervous when he saw Violent Waves’ health continuously fall lower and lower. Needless to say, the other team members weren’t faring much better.

The amount of damage these Manticores could dish out exceeded Sleepy Fox’s expectations. Even though there had been just three of them, they were barely able to cope with it. Yet now, there were thirteen of them. Thankfully he placed their formation in a choke point; otherwise, if so many powerful Manticores were allowed to freely get to their backline, he imagined the consequences would be disastrous.

It was probably a bad idea to continue gauging a Specialist dungeon by using their experiences on Normal.

“Cold Maple, cast Scorching Meteor. Otherwise, it’ll be too late,” Sleepy Fox declared solemnly. The healers were under far too much pressure. Even the slightest mistake could lead to serious consequences. He didn’t dare to dally any longer. He had to play all of the cards in his hand.

Wait, what? Scorching Meteor? Templar Magic?

“Wai-!”

Nie Yan wanted to stop him, but it was too late. That Holy Mage called Cold Maple had already taken out a golden coloured talisman and begun chanting the spell.

Ahh, what a waste! Why would you use Templar Magic in this kind of place! Nie Yan felt quite annoyed.If he had known they had such a spell in their arsenal, he would’ve prevented them from using it until the boss. The King Manticore was the most dangerous when it reached critical health, so the burst damage of a spell like Scorching Meteor would’ve been perfect for such a situation. Not only would it have saved them much time and effort, it would have also prevented potential casualties. However, by now, it was too late. The spell had already begun channeling; even if it was cancelled, it would still go on cooldown.

Out of the many classifications of magic, there were over several that were considered the strongest. They comprised Humanity’s Templar Magic, Giant’s Kasate Magic, Beastmen’s Berserk Magic, Elves’ Lunar Spirit Magic, Demons’ Black Magic, Undead’s Fate Magic, and a few others. Furthermore, there were also powerful magics just a tier lower such as Elemental Hall Magic, Undead Temple Magic, and so on. Each one possessed cultural and regional characteristics and was tied rather closely to the factions of the players.

There was no doubt that all of these magics were incredibly powerful.

Templar Magic was also divided into sixteen ranks.

Scorching Meteor was classified as the weakest rank one Templar Magic. Make no mistake, just because it was the weakest Templar Magic didn’t mean it was actually weak. Among the spells available to the current player base, Scorching Meteor was an exceedingly formidable skill. Its cooldown was two days, and the requisites for casting it were notoriously harsh.

The spell required a Templar Talisman that needed to be prepared in advance, which meant inscribing and imbuing. It would take nearly an hour to inscribe a spell like Scorching Meteor onto a talisman. Then, for there to be sufficient energy to power the spell, the talisman needed to be imbued with mana. Even the most common rank one spells required at least a thousand or more mana points. In other words, for a player like Cold Maple, he would have to drain at least three bars worth of mana to cast the spell.

Moreover, after casting Scorching Meteor, the spell required two entire days for it to be cast again. So, it seemed quite obvious that this spell shouldn’t be used rashly.

Naturally, Templar Magic wasn’t easily obtainable. A single skill book could cost upwards of one gold or more. Moreover, just because someone had the money didn’t mean it was necessarily purchasable.

Sleepy Fox had ordered Cold Maple to cast the spell. The main reason was because the situation seemed desperate, but the other reason was because he wanted to show Nie Yan his power and wealth.

After all, very few teams possessed spells as powerful as Templar Magic.

Under the ferocious assault of the Manticores, Sleepy Fox and the other frontliners were gradually being pushed back as they tried to buy as much time as possible.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. Scorching Meteor required three sets of syllables to invoke. Finally, the golden talisman in Cold Maple’s hand emitted a dazzling brilliance, whereupon a giant, scorching sphere emerged in the sky and burst into countless white meteors that streaked toward the Manticores.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The meteors fell like rain as they battered the earth below.

?302, ?321, ?301, ?310, ?310... A stream of damage values rose into the sky. Each meteor blossomed into beautiful fireworks of light, resembling white lotuses as they bloomed into the open air.

After the third wave of meteors, almost all of the Manticores were killed. The only one remaining was the Alpha Manticore, but the meteors continued to fall. 「Bang! Bang! Bang!」After the fifth wave, even the Alpha Manticore was on its last legs.

The frontliners charged forward, and due to it being severely weakened, the Mages easily finished it off with another round of attacks.

Were it not for Scorching Meteor, they would have had a very tough time dealing with the Alpha Manticore. Perhaps without it, their team would have even been wiped out.

The area in front of them was littered with Manticore corpses. The few Thieves in the team walked over and began retrieving and sorting the dropped items.

“So, what do you think of that spell?” Sleepy Fox asked. He felt somewhat smug, but he didn’t reveal it in his expression. After all, he believed there was a chance Nie Yan hadn’t seen such a powerful spell before. He might have even broadened Nie Yan’s horizons.

Nie Yan forced out a smile. “Why did you have to use Templar Magic here. It’s simply too wasteful, don’t you think? If that had been your secret plan all along, what’s going to happen when we encounter the next den?”

Nie Yan wasn’t some newbie who just joined the game. His experiences far exceeded Sleepy Fox’s wildest imaginations, so he hadn’t been the least bit surprised, much less impressed, by a rank one Templar Magic like Scorching Meteor.

In fact, he was incredibly vexed and disappointed. Sleepy Fox using Templar Magic here was complete overkill. By the time they encountered the next den, not only would they not have the spell as back up, they would be stuck with no way to advance!

Sleepy Fox felt slightly embarrassed after listening to Nie Yan’s comments. If there were another way, he also wouldn’t have been willing to use Templar Magic, but their previous situation had been dire. Furthermore, the other reason he decided to use the spell was because he wanted to impress Nie Yan. Unfortunately, he garnered the complete opposite reaction and criticism instead, with Nie Yan identifying the spell as Templar Magic with just a single glance. Not only that, but Nie Yan seemed to know much more than him. Just who in the world was this person?