Karl knew he couldn't let the [Moon Shaman] keep buffing the [Undead Warriors] any longer.
It wasn't even a question at this point.
The warriors were already dealing absurd amounts of damage, and with his barrier already shattered, Karl understood one very simple, very annoying truth.
If even one of them managed to land a clean hit on him right now, he would barely survive.
If two of them hit him at once, he'd be dead instantly.
He clicked his tongue.
Even if he wanted to fix that problem by raising his [Constitution], he couldn't do much about it at the moment.
Fwish!
Karl didn't hesitate for even a second.
He used the closest warrior as a foothold, pushing himself upward as if he had done this a thousand times before.
His body shot into the air, and while he was still rising, he already had his staff pointed forward.
The moment he reached the peak of his small jump, he unleashed the first spell that came off cooldown.
Lightning Strike!
Fwish! Zap!
-12,960!
The bolt tore straight into the shaman, and the monster staggered violently.
The damage carved almost a quarter of its total HP in one go.
A single clean hit, and the shaman's body jolted backward in shock, its casting flow completely broken.
And naturally, because the [Moon Buff] depended on constant focus from the caster, the moment the shaman's concentration was disrupted, the buff vanished immediately.
The glow around the warriors faded, and their movements slowed.
Karl noticed instantly.
The warriors lost the frenzy they had been engulfed in only seconds ago.
He spun his staff, lowering it with a sharp motion.
Annihilating Fireball!
BOOM!
-15,120!
The explosion ripped through the closest group of [Undead Warriors].
Most of them had already been weakened by his earlier spells, and the fireball was the final blow they needed.
Dozens of bone fragments scattered across the ground as the monsters crumbled one after another.
A few warriors still remained in the back, but Karl ignored them completely.
He had only one target now, the [Moon Shaman], which was already trying to start another buff.
He rushed forward without hesitation.
'All my spells are on cooldown,' Karl thought while sprinting across the stone floor, 'but I can't let it cast another buff.'
If the warriors caught up while buffed again, the fight would turn into a mess.
Karl didn't want to deal with that.
So he did the next best thing.
Slam!
-65!
He swung his staff directly at the shaman's body.
The damage was low, barely equal to his current [Strength].
It was nothing compared to his spells, nothing that would ever matter in an actual fight.
But it was more than enough to interrupt the shaman again.
The monster recoiled from the impact.
It shrieked in anger and frustration and lifted its scepter with trembling hands.
Being disrupted twice enraged it, and it finally switched to the only offensive spell it had.
Fireball!
A small blazing orb launched toward Karl, but he sidestepped casually.
The spell hit the ground behind him and fizzled out. The shaman froze.
Its empty eyes glanced at the scepter, then back at Karl, almost confused.
Fwish!
It tried to imitate what Karl had done.
It swung its scepter forward, as if trying to disrupt him as well.
But Karl simply responded with a harder swing of his own.
His staff slammed the shaman and staggered it again.
From this close of a range, the shaman was helpless.
Karl kept disrupting it again and again, and the monster had no way to cast or defend itself properly.
And after only around thirty seconds of fighting, every monster in the hall was dead.
Ding!
---
[You have killed x14 "Undead Warrior (Level 13)"]
[You have killed "Moon Shaman (Level 14 Elite-Rank Boss)"]
[You have gained 48,000 experience points!]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 13!]
[All your attributes have increased by 5, and you have gained 5 free points to distribute.]
[You have gained 9 Evolution Points!]
[You have gained 97 Lives!]
---
Karl leveled up again, but his attention went straight to the EP he earned.
'I got 9 when I killed the [Moon Sentinel General], even though it was a level 12 uncommon-rank boss,' Karl thought, 'but I got the same amount from the [Moon Shaman].'
It didn't line up perfectly with what he expected.
Logically, the higher the level and the higher the rank, the more EP he should get.
But that didn't seem to be the full picture.
Maybe something else affected the number of EP gained, but he didn't have enough information to piece it together yet.
[Current Evolution Points: 20.]
With this amount, he could evolve two of his skills all the way to legendary rank.
Ten points for each evolution, that was the price for reaching such a high tier.
And considering this hall was the last one before the real boss of the [Moon Temple], this might be the perfect moment to strengthen himself.
The final boss was a level 15 epic-rank monster.
Anyone who wasn't extremely prepared would get destroyed.
Karl had no intention of being unprepared. He needed more damage.
And among all the skills he had, there was only one choice he considered obvious.
[Do you wish to consume 10 Evolution Points to evolve "Annihilating Fireball"?]
"Yes."
Ding!
[You have evolved "Annihilating Fireball" (Epic) to "Cataclysmic Fireball" (Legendary)]
[Current Evolution Points: 10.]
'Frost Crystals would have been useful too since it increases my damage,' Karl thought, 'but the area-of-effect of the fireball is too good to pass up.'
---
[Cataclysmic Fireball (Legendary): Conjure an annihilating fireball that deals 700% → 1000% of Spirit. 14 → 12 (6)-seconds cooldown.]
---
"Nice."
This was Karl's very first legendary-rank skill in this life.
He knew for a fact that no player in the world, no matter how talented or lucky they were, could possibly have a legendary skill this early.
It was simply impossible.
His fireball now dealt even more damage and the cooldown lowered again.
It was everything he wanted.
But…
'I also need to evolve another skill.'
He planned to save more EP, but his battle against the shaman and the buffed warriors made something painfully clear: his barrier needed to be stronger.
[Do you wish to consume 7 Evolution Points to evolve "Strong Magic Barrier"?]
If it could be destroyed in seconds by level 13 warriors, then it wasn't reliable.
"Yes."
Ding!
[You have evolved "Strong Magic Barrier" (Elite) to "Powerful Magic Barrier" (Epic)]
[Current Evolution Points: 3.]
---
[Powerful Magic Barrier (Epic): Summon a shield that can endure up to 5,000 → 10,000 HP. 40 → 30 (15)-seconds cooldown.]
---
"The HP doubled," Karl said with a satisfied nod, "Good enough."
He stored the loot from the battle, two [Undead Warrior Swords] and the [Moon Shaman Scepter], into his inventory.
He didn't waste any time.
His mind was already focused on one thing: the final boss waiting ahead.
'Time to beat the boss of the [Moon Temple],' he grinned, 'Been a while.'
Usually, once you cleared a phase of [Gods Ascension], you never returned to it.
Zones like [Moon City], [Moon Plains], and [Moon Tower] were all part of one of those phases.
In a normal player's life, there was no reason to go back once you had cleared them.
Progression was always forward. Karl understood that logic well.
He reached the stone door at the end of the hall and descended another flight of stairs.
And once again, another stone door appeared before him.
Behind it, he could feel faint waves of magic flowing outward.
The air tingled slightly, the pressure familiar.
'Oh, right, the final boss of this zone is a mage-type boss.'
Unlike the [Moon Shaman], which was strongest when it had other monsters to support, the final boss excelled when standing alone.
Karl stepped forward and pushed the stone door open.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Final Moon Hall"]