The Elven Cultivator

Mind Blast!

The signature ability of the Mind Flayers!

When using this ability, they release a cone of psionic energy from their heads. Any creatures caught within its range with insufficient willpower would be stunned, rooted to the spot, and left completely at their mercy.

Had it been an ordinary Adventurer, they probably wouldn't have even had time to react to such a sudden sneak attack.

But when the four invisible assaults struck Anton, they vanished without a trace, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Anton's expression remained unchanged. His gaze swept around, just in time to see four Mind Flayers leap from the shadows, encircling him.

Long before setting foot in the Dark Nether Realm, he had applied Peaceful Spirit Talismans, Clear Heart Talismans, Exorcism Talismans, and other such Talismans to himself, prioritizing comprehensive protection.

The mental attacks of an ordinary Mind Flayer were simply not enough to break through the stacked defenses of so many Talismans.

What puzzled Anton was how the Mind Flayers had found him.

He had been exceedingly careful and cautious the entire way.

Perhaps while he was probing the inside of the rock wall earlier, he had accidentally triggered some more hidden warning Array?

The Mind Flayers had operated in this area for who knows how many years; the warning measures they'd set up were far more complex and ingenious than he had imagined.

Even with his Divine Sense and cautious movements, it was hard to account for everything.

Anton sighed inwardly.

The four Mind Flayers, oblivious to his thoughts, were visibly stunned when their attack failed. They immediately began to writhe the tentacles on their heads, preparing to launch an even more powerful mental assault.

But before they could act, a silver-white beam of sword light shot out from Anton's chest. It slashed through the gloom of the cavern like a bolt of lightning, tracing a great arc through the air and instantly piercing the heads of all four Mind Flayers.

The Spiritual Energy barrier the Mind Flayers relied on was as fragile as paper before the sharp sword light.

The four Mind Flayers didn't even have time to scream before they were killed on the spot.

In an instant, the cavern returned to silence.

Anton looked at the four Mind Flayer corpses, a glint in his eyes.

Mind Flayer society is extremely collectivist.

The absolute core of every Mind Flayer city-state is an elder brain, submerged in a briny pool.

The elder brain is formed from the fused brains of all deceased Mind Flayers, a collective consciousness of all the community's knowledge and will.

Through powerful telepathy, it maintains contact with all Mind Flayers within a certain range, issuing commands and sharing intelligence.

Each individual Mind Flayer is both an independent predator and an extension of the elder brain's vast will—one of its many arms.

In other words, the elder brain, far away in its city-state, already knew what had just happened here.

Anton acted decisively. He stored the four Mind Flayer corpses in his Dimension Ring, then the sword light around him flared, enveloping his body. He transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the location of the Mithril vein.

Since he'd been discovered, there was no need to be stealthy anymore.

'Since I can't leave this area anyway, I might as well deal with the Mind Flayer city-state first.'

Mind Flayers feed on the brains of intelligent creatures and enjoy enslaving others. Any being that appears in their territory either becomes food or a mindless slave.

Even worse is becoming a tool for their reproduction.

Once you enter Mind Flayer territory and are discovered, don't expect to be able to communicate with them.

You either flee quickly or fight to the death.

Of course, Anton wasn't foolish enough to charge into the Mind Flayer city-state head-on.

The best strategy was to first eliminate the city-state's peripheral forces, perhaps even luring the Mind Flayers out of their city to be killed. This would gradually weaken the enemy while allowing him to gather intelligence on the city-state and plunder their resources.

Killing many birds with one stone.

This was the same method he'd used against Kresol Dragon City on the surface. He hadn't expected to have to fight a guerrilla war in the Dark Nether Realm as well.

"Born to be a guerrilla fighter."

Anton gave a self-deprecating smile, but his Sword Escape only sped up.

Along the way, he encountered several patrols of the Stone-blind Barbarian Race. Anton didn't even bother using his sword light, simply tossing out a Five-Qi Origin Suppression that instantly ground the group of barbarians to dust.

Moving like a flash of lightning, Anton reached the Mithril mining area in just a few moments.

And they were already prepared for battle.

Hundreds of Stone-blind Barbarians stood in formation at the mine entrance, weapons in hand, staring ahead as if facing a great enemy.

Behind them, dozens of Mind Flayers hovered in mid-air. Their tentacles squirmed slightly, and their milky-white eyes, devoid of emotion, stared in Anton's direction.

Evidently, the elder brain had determined his target from the location of the dead Stone-blind Barbarian patrols and had ordered the garrison at the mining area to prepare for battle in advance.

Anton's gaze swept over the Mind Flayers and the Stone-blind Barbarians, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

In the next instant, he came to a sudden halt, but the sword light continued onward, splitting from one into two, then two into four in mid-air. Like four silver-white bolts of lightning, they tore through the cavern's gloom and shot toward the group of Mind Flayers.

The Mind Flayers almost simultaneously released their Spiritual Energy barriers. Dozens of translucent shields layered one over another, forming a thick wall of Spiritual Energy at the mine entrance.

But the sharpness of the sword light was far beyond their imagination.

Like hot knives through butter, the four beams of sword light tore through the Spiritual Energy barriers and crisscrossed through the horde of Mind Flayers.

Wherever the sword light passed, Mind Flayers fell in swathes like fields of wheat being reaped.

In just the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Mind Flayers had fallen.

Horrified, the Mind Flayers immediately switched targets, abandoning their defenses to focus all their power on attacking the intruder.

Led by a High Tier Mind Flayer whose aura was exceptionally dense—clearly at the Golden Tier—all the Mind Flayers aimed at Anton and unleashed a full-power Mind Blast in unison.

In that instant, an invisible tide of spiritual impact swept toward Anton.

The scale and power were so immense that they left visible distortions in the air.

But the moment they attacked, Anton casually tossed out a small, Cyan Bell, which flew out spinning and hovered above his head.

The cyan-gray bell slowly rotated on its own. Runes on its surface spread out in layers like ripples, instantly enveloping Anton's entire body.

The invisible spiritual impact surged forward, carrying a soul-tearing, bone-chilling cold, but it vanished the moment it hit the ripples around Anton, failing to stir even the slightest disturbance.

At the same time, the dull bronze luster of the bell's surface brightened slightly.

This was a sign that the spiritual energy was being absorbed and converted into Soul Power.

Taking advantage of this opening, Anton directed his sword light and slew another dozen or so Mind Flayers.

All told, there were only thirty-odd Mind Flayers garrisoned at the mining area, and in one fell swoop, more than half of them had been wiped out.

Only a few remained, including the High Tier Mind Flayer. After holding on for three or four breaths, they too were pierced through the head by the sword light, following in their comrades' footsteps.

With the death of the Mind Flayers, the remaining Stone-blind Barbarians instantly fell into chaos.

Due to their extreme loyalty, the Mind Flayers generally didn't need to waste Magic Power controlling the Stone-blind Barbarians. Thus, even with the Mind Flayers dead, the barbarians could still act freely and were immediately terrified into scattering in all directions.

Anton wasn't about to pass up this chance to weaken the Mind Flayer city-state. He directed his sword light and quickly annihilated the Stone-blind Barbarians.

The mining area returned to a dead silence in the blink of an eye, the air thick with the stench of blood.

Anton retracted his sword light and, without delay, darted deep into the mine. He expanded his Divine Sense to its full extent and quickly found the warehouse where the Mithril ore was stored.

It was a massive, artificially excavated cavern. The four walls were embedded with glowing crystals, illuminating the entire space.

More than ten wooden crates were stacked neatly, almost filling the entire cavern.

Anton casually opened one of the crates. It was filled with fist-sized, silver-white ore that gave off a faint, fluorescent glow.

It was Mithril ore.

A satisfied smile appeared on Anton's face.

'With this much Mithril ore, after smelting, I'll have at least a hundred pounds of Mithril.'

'I've hit the jackpot this time.'

Without hesitation, he quickly stored all the wooden crates in his Dimension Ring. Then he walked out of the mine and collected the Mind Flayer corpses from the ground as well.

After finishing all this, Anton finally left the mining area.

Just as he left the area, he immediately felt an immense, chilling aura erupt in the distance.

It was an invisible energy formed by the convergence of multiple sources of Spiritual Power.

Apparently, his attack on the Mithril vein had touched a nerve with the Mind Flayer city-state.

The Mind Flayer elder brain was furious.

Anton's Divine Sense soon detected hundreds of auras speeding toward his location.

Three of these auras were exceptionally powerful, no less so than Marcus or Drago had been.

Anton wasn't flustered in the slightest. The sword light enveloped his body, and he executed Sword Escape to leave at top speed.

He chose not to return to the rift.

The Mind Flayers were in hot pursuit. If he went back now, he could easily expose the rift's existence.

'I'll lead these guys on a merry chase for a while first.'

Even before he had mastered the art of Light Splitting and Reunification, Anton had been confident he could escape from a Golden Peak expert using Sword Escape.

Now that he could command four beams of sword light simultaneously, his speed had more than doubled.

Unless they had awakened a speed-type Power of Law, they wouldn't even be able to eat his dust.

After more than ten breaths, Anton had already shaken off his pursuers completely.

He decisively changed direction and, following his memory, sped toward the location of the ghost-shroom copper vein.

Next, he would repeat the same tactic.

After quickly slaughtering the garrison at the mining area, Anton swiftly carted away all the ore and the Mind Flayer corpses.

By the time the Mind Flayer pursuers followed his trail and arrived at the mining area, all they saw was a scene of utter devastation.

BZZZT!

Invisible spiritual energy burst forth, surging violently and making the very air tremble.

After venting their rage, the furious Mind Flayers continued to hunt the intruder under the elder brain's command.

In the time that followed, Anton played a game of cat and mouse with the Mind Flayers.

Although this was the Mind Flayers' territory, by relying on his Divine Sense and Sword Escape, Anton had them wrapped around his little finger.

Every time he shook off his pursuers, he would attack a mine, kill its garrison, and carry off the ore.

By the time the pursuing forces finally arrived, Anton was already long gone.

They could only continue the chase in fury.

In just two short days, Anton had plundered every single mine controlled by the Mind Flayer city-state, causing them grievous losses.

The loss of ore and the casualties among the slaves were secondary; the crucial part was the Mind Flayers' own combat losses.

The number of Mind Flayers who had died by Anton's sword had reached a staggering two hundred.

For a Mind Flayer city-state, with its small population and slow reproduction rate, this was undoubtedly a devastating blow.

The Mind Flayer elder brain decisively changed its strategy. No longer would it let Anton lead it by the nose. Instead, it dispatched large forces to guard each mining area to prevent further sneak attacks.

Meanwhile, the number of pursuers hunting Anton was drastically reduced, leaving only three High Tier Mind Flayers at the Golden Peak.

They no longer just blindly chased after Anton. Instead, they spread out, using the elder brain's psychic network for real-time communication. Like hounds cornering their prey, they closed in from different directions, gradually tightening the encirclement and squeezing the prey's room to maneuver.

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