Chapter 10 The Brain Eater

Bright lightning tore through the darkness, striking the wall with a deafening thud.

For a moment, debris fell, and the darkness itself seemed to recoil from the light, as if in fear, with sharp, piercing screams erupting and echoing through the narrow passageways.

However, Zane paid it no mind, letting the lightning's flash dance and disappear on the back of his hand before raising his right hand again. Quickly, with Zane's gesture, roaring flames advanced along the ground. The intense heat and burst of flames once again illuminated the pitch-black darkness in front of them.

Though it was only for a moment, Zane's keen sight still caught the fleeting shadow of tentacles retreating in front of the flames. He said nothing, merely gesturing in that direction. Soon, Enoya leaped forward, her thunder whip showing no mercy as it lashed out.

"Boom!!"

The thunder whip struck the ceiling, easily capturing the monster lurking in the darkness with its dazzling white light and scattering currents. Zane could see it, wrapped in currents, trembling on the ceiling. But in the next moment, the shadowy monster broke free from the electrical bind and screamed again as it ran deeper into the passage.

"We chase, it won't get far."

Zane wasn't surprised; subterranean creatures often have resistance to magic, which is why few surface adventuring teams dare to venture here. The magic cast by ordinary mages is almost child's play in the eyes of subterranean races, and those powerful mages wouldn't bother coming to this godforsaken place to die.

Despite only mastering two spells, Zane's royal demonic bloodline and years of refining his magic meant his spells were as powerful as those cast by a high-ranking mage on the surface. Yet, it only paralyzed the dark magic beast momentarily, showing how strong the subterranean creatures' resistance to magic was.

But Zane didn't care, with the dungeon system deployed, he had an endless supply of magical power. The Heart of the Dungeon, being the core of the system, constantly supported Zane with magical power. If put into numbers, casting a spell would cost Zane at most 30 magic points, and even alternating between two spells would only cost 60 points.

Meanwhile, the Heart of the Dungeon replenished 100 magic points per second for Zane, a number that would increase as the dungeon's level rose. This meant Zane could continuously cast these two spells without ever running out of magic.

Moreover, during his years in the demonic world, Zane immersed himself in the study of various magical knowledge. He was aware of his weaknesses but also knew how to compensate for them. Limited by "level," Zane couldn't cast those powerful high-ranking spells.

However, in this process, Zane mastered a unique skill, allowing him to manipulate any spell he could cast at will, unlike ordinary mages who lose control over their spells once cast.

This was Zane's greatest reliance and the source of his confidence as he boldly walked through the dark caverns, approaching the demonic creature. In terms of the total amount of spells cast, Zane's output was close to that of three or four high-ranking mages, yet he remained calm and composed.

Saturated attacks indeed consume resources, but the effect is immediate.

At first, the demonic creature tried to deplete Zane's spells, hoping to ambush him when he was weak. But soon, it had no choice but to retreat under Zane's relentless magical bombardment.

Although Zane wasn't without mistakes, his loyal lieutenant filled these gaps well. She wielded her thunder whip, blocking all possible exploitations by the opponent, and resolutely attacked the demonic creature according to Zane's will.

Being an undead, Enoya didn't have to worry about being attacked or controlled. The seemingly sheltered lady now behaved more fiercely and valiantly than a drunken dwarf. She didn't care about her own safety; as a lieutenant, her only task was to fulfill her master's orders.

Under the joint assault of Zane and Enoya, the demonic creature was in a sorry state. The gray dwarves it controlled were kept outside by Vilna and her subordinates, unable to be summoned back. Although it tried to escape their pursuit, the omnipresent banshee always managed to track it down by following the scent of life, driving it out.

This game of cat and mouse lasted quite some time. Initially, the dark demonic creature hoped to exhaust its enemies through complex tunnels and fleeing, but its plan was quickly deemed futile. As a necromancer, Enoya knew no fatigue, and Zane, being a demon—even the weakest demon—had physical capabilities far beyond the strongest creatures of the dark realms.

This is one of the reasons why demons are the supreme rulers of the dark realms.

"It has nowhere to run."

While forcing the dark demonic creature to scream and flee again, Zane also realized this fact. In fact, the creature was more exhausted than it thought. It had to dodge attacks from Zane and Enoya while constantly being vigilant to avoid the banshees emerging from the stone walls, making it extremely weary and ragged.

In fact, if Zane really wanted to kill it, he wouldn't need to go through so much trouble. He could simply paralyze it and let his banshee guards extract the creature's soul. However, Zane didn't do this, as the mission description was very clear.

"Do you seek treasure? The monster hides it where the sun never reaches, defeat the dark demonic creature, and claim the reward you 'rightfully' deserve."

The system's missions always had a peculiar tone, but this was part of the game's charm. Finding clues in these poem-like descriptions was a test of the player's wisdom, where any word could hide secrets beyond imagination.

Sure enough, after Zane and Enoya turned another corner in the tunnel, they easily found the dark creature.

At that moment, the creature, resembling a spider, spread its arms wide, clinging to the stone wall. Beside it, clusters of magic crystals grew wildly like weeds, emitting a soft glow that illuminated the depths of the dark tunnel. The glowing fungi on the ceiling reflected off these, creating a unique beauty exclusive to the underground.

But what caught the attention most was not the beautiful scenery, but the floating creature.

It was about five meters tall, with a massive, exposed brain occupying most of its body. In front of this "brain," there was a beak similar to a parrot's. Ten tentacles hung from its body, floating in the air like a giant jellyfish.

And the creature that had been obediently crawling near it, snarling at the intruders like a watchdog, was nothing but a decoy.

It was a brain-eater!

Upon seeing this creature, Zane immediately recognized its true identity. Brain-eaters are one of the most detestable beings in the dark realms, second only to soul-suckers. They always hide in the darkness, using their tentacles to grab solitary creatures, then feed on their brains, and inject a liquid into the empty skulls of their unfortunate prey. This turns their food into the most loyal servants.

Just like that lapdog.

Zane could now be certain that the unlucky gray dwarves had carelessly opened the crypt, awakening the sleeping brain-eater. Naturally, the brain-eater didn't hesitate to accept this delivered feast. No wonder the tomb seemed so simple; the entire tomb was probably a trap to lure greedy tomb raiders.

Creatures of the dark realms have a strong sense of territory; it's natural for any intruder to be killed. Letting someone pass through freely would only show weakness and incompetence. From the previous encounters, those clawed beasts were probably originally controlled by the brain-eater as guards, allowing it to silently eliminate a whole group of fully armed gray dwarves.

The brain-eater also wanted to repeat its trick on Vilna, but it didn't expect to encounter a powerful mage, leading to its current embarrassing situation.

But for both parties, these were trivial matters.

"Attack!"

With just a glance at the brain-eater, Zane immediately gave a decisive command. He quickly made several gestures in the void, and then a bright red light shone again. Following that, a ball of fire appeared out of thin air in front of Zane, turning into three fire serpents with a burst, opening their gaping mouths and pouncing on the brain-eater.

To the brain-eater, lightning and paralysis were ineffective. Only fire could pose a sufficient threat.

Facing Zane's sudden attack, the brain-eater was startled, but its reaction was not slow. As the fire serpents flew towards it, the brain-eater opened its mouth, emitting a sharp scream. The air in front of it rippled, and an invisible force barrier unfolded, attempting to block Zane's attack.

But it wasn't as easy as the brain-eater thought. Over the years in the demonic world, Zane had learned a lot. He knew how to manipulate his magic and where to release it for the desired effect. Thus, seeing the brain-eater deploy the force barrier, Zane remained calm, simply staring at the massive creature, then spread his fingers.

Following Zane's gesture, the roaring fire serpents suddenly scattered as if receiving a command, skillfully bypassing the invisible barrier and crashing into the brain-eater's massive body.

The flames quickly began to rage, and the brain-eater, in severe pain, started to violently swing its tentacles, hitting everything around it. It opened its mouth, emitting a lethal roar, and invisible sound waves formed a terrifying force, rushing towards Zane.

Of course, Zane wouldn't just stand there as a target. After releasing the flames, he quickly moved away from his original position, narrowly avoiding the brain-eater's sound attack. At that moment, to protect her master, the dark demonic creature once again screamed and charged at Zane. Unfortunately, before it could reach him, Enoya whipped it into the corner, where it could no longer stand.

The flames from the demonic world caused significant damage to the brain-eater, but they weren't enough to completely destroy it. At this moment, the brain-eater began to struggle and retreat, its tentacles suddenly plunging deep into the ground. Then, with the ground bulging, giant clawed beasts emerged.

It seemed these were the brain-eater's true guards.

But for Zane, these clawed beasts, though difficult to deal with, were of no concern. They had already been brain-eaten by the brain-eater, turned into its puppets. As long as the brain-eater could be eliminated, these clawed beasts would naturally be finished as well!

Thinking this, Zane pushed up his glasses and swiftly issued commands through a mental link.

"————————!!"

And at that moment, accompanied by the icy screams of death, the banshees' translucent bodies appeared out of nowhere, pouncing on the massive prey before them.