Chapter 18 Luring Monsters

Gathering together densely by the thousands, tens of thousands of strange entities presented a rather spectacular sight.

Under his source energy perception, Lin Lei could only sense a surging, overwhelming tide of source energy. Because there were simply too many of these entities, he was unable to break down and distinguish the source energy fluctuations of each individual one.

He licked his lips, quietly retreated to the corner, and silently observed these creatures through the gaps.

"I cannot be impulsive!"

He was confident he could easily handle a few dozen or a hundred.

But now, facing thousands upon thousands of them, he truly lacked that kind of confidence.

Even if all these entities were to stand completely still and Lin Lei activated [Demonization] to slaughter them, he had no idea how long it would take, and his own source energy might not be sufficient to sustain it.

"Furthermore, that four-armed entity is very likely a Tier 4. Given that its abilities are completely unknown, I must not act rashly..."

Although Lin Lei currently possessed a certain degree of undying capability, if he were injured too severely and suffered excessive consumption, that meager self-healing ability of his would not be of much use.

The [Demonization] ability combined with his bone blade skeleton and Long Wentian's "undying capability" granted him terrifying damage resistance and recovery abilities—making even ordinary Tier 4 experts incomparable to him—but that did not mean he was invincible.

With thousands upon thousands of entities piled up here, Lin Lei believed that even if a Tier 5 master were to take his place, they would not dare claim they could fight ten thousand single-handedly.

No matter how strong Lin Lei was, he was still merely at Tier 3!

"I must absolutely not charge in blindly..."

He raised an eyebrow, temporarily placed his backpack on the other side of the corner, and then his body abruptly shifted, transforming into the appearance of the Tier 2 red crystal entity he had previously killed, swaggering out into the open.

Although the maze was not completely dark, the lighting was dim, which did not hinder Lin Lei from using the [Transformation] ability.

However, the moment he stepped out of the maze corridor and approached the crystal tower, many of the entities in front of the tower began to stir restlessly. As Lin Lei drew even closer, a large group of them swarmed up, rushing toward him en masse.

"These entities might have a way of recognizing each other! My disguise is ineffective!"

Seeing dozens and hundreds of entities charging directly at him, Lin Lei decisively turned around and headed back toward the maze corridor.

One had to bear in mind that the weakest of these entities were Tier 2, with Tier 3 and Tier 4 mixed in as well.

With a hundred of them charging together, the overwhelming momentum was quite exaggerated.

Lin Lei returned to the maze corridor in the blink of an eye.

Yet the entities chasing him did not stop there; like rabid dogs, they flooded into the maze corridor.

Lin Lei quickly returned to his backpack at the corner and watched the lured entities, a flash appearing in his eyes.

Previously, the source energy fluctuations of these entities had been so densely packed and wildly exaggerated that even Lin Lei could not confirm the source energy fluctuations of any single entity under those conditions. Therefore, he could not be completely certain that the four-armed entities were definitely Tier 4.

But now, he could be certain.

Among the swarming entities, there were about seventy or eighty Tier 2 red crystal monsters, twenty or thirty Tier 3 red crystal monsters, and a total of nine four-armed Tier 4 red crystal monsters...

Lin Lei raised an eyebrow, lifted his hands toward the direction where the entities were surging, splayed his five fingers, and violently whipped his hands forward.

"Bone Bullets!"

Swish, swish, swish!

A series of piercing sounds rang out as continuous bone spikes shot forth from his fingertips, firing out like bullets from a laser gun—black bone spines piercing through the air in rapid succession!

These monsters had already chased dangerously close.

Under Lin Lei's bone bullets, the bodies of several monsters at the very front were pierced full of holes like sieves, emitting shrill and bizarre screams before crashing heavily to the ground, dead.

Moreover, the momentum of the bone bullets, after piercing through the bodies of the frontmost entities, still retained enough force to penetrate the bodies of those behind them.

Lin Lei's eyes gleamed as his hands continuously whipped forward with immense force.

In the blink of an eye, twenty or thirty entities were riddled with holes and died on the spot!

Even the Tier 3 red crystal monsters could not withstand Lin Lei's rapid fire, several of them perishing in the blink of an eye.

Just then, among the horde of entities, those few four-armed entities abruptly began to emit piercing, shrill cries.

In an instant, these four-armed entities lined up in a row, each radiating a red halo from their bodies.

"What is this?" A sense of panic and discomfort welled up in Lin Lei's heart, and his physical state and mental focus were somewhat affected.

A feeling of powerlessness continuously spread and rose throughout his body.

Of course, this did not mean Lin Lei had been weakened to the point of having zero strength, but he undeniably felt that his power had drastically decreased.

In stark contrast to Lin Lei, the other Tier 2 and Tier 3 red crystal monsters affected by the red halo became mentally hyperactive, their entire bodies wrapped in red light that converged into circular shields of spiritual light!

As the tide shifted—one waxing while the other waned—Lin Lei's next volley of bone spikes was easily blocked on the outside by these red spiritual light shields!

"The four-armed entities act as group support—casting shields and buffs while also inflicting debuffs on the enemy..."

Lin Lei's eyes flashed, and he temporarily halted his ineffective "bone bullet" attacks.

The sole advantage of his "bone bullet" attack was that it was a ranged assault.

In terms of sheer force, it was considerably weaker than him swinging a blade with his own hands.

At this moment, the horde of entities had already closed in completely on Lin Lei.

"Did you really think I was afraid of you?"

Lin Lei stepped forward, his eyes ice-cold. Bone blades extended from his hands, while his entire body turned a pale reddish hue.

[Demonization] activated!

Within his weakened body, wave after wave of power surged upward.

Whoosh!

He transformed into a blur, charging forward fiercely toward the entities.

As he collided with the front lines of the horde, a pair of bone swords in his hands slashed outward like a whirlwind.

The bodies of the Tier 2 red crystal monsters shattered like glass, instantly cleaved to pieces the moment they touched the bone swords in Lin Lei's hands!

Yet Lin Lei's brows furrowed deeply, his expression extremely grim.

His own strength had been weakened, while the enemy's defense had noticeably increased.

With this shift in power—one side growing weaker while the other grew stronger—

Even though he could still instantly kill these Tier 2 entities, Lin Lei could feel a slight sense of sluggish resistance as his blade fell.

If his opponents consisted solely of these creatures, it would not matter, and this slight resistance would be of no consequence. However, amidst the surging horde before him, there were other, higher-tier entities!

Screech!

Accompanied by the demise of one Tier 2 entity after another, a Tier 3 red crystal monster finally broke through to reach Lin Lei.

Brandishing dual blades, this creature lunged forward with the frenzy of a rabid dog!

"Court death!" Lin Lei swept his bone sword horizontally.

Clang! Clang!

The red crystal blade, which he normally could have shattered effortlessly, tenaciously withstood Lin Lei's blade edge despite being covered in a dense web of rippling cracks.

"Damn it!" Lin Lei cursed under his breath.

This momentary lag completely disrupted his rhythm. All around him, even more entities surged forward, with the second and third Tier 3 monsters following closely on their heels.