I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 766: Chapter 766: Skill Advancement

The success rate of the Abyss Temptation skill was quite high, but its drawback was that it took a long time to cast, and the enslaved creatures were prone to betrayal after being charmed.

With the Bone Shield, Song Jian could cast the skill before the shield shattered. As for betrayal, he only needed the Flame Demons to act as cannon fodder; they would probably die before they had a chance to betray him.

As Song Jian ventured deeper, he encountered three Flame Demons huddled together, blocking the path ahead. If he wanted to continue further, these three demons would have to be eliminated first;

Along the way, some Flame Demons were positioned off the beaten path and could be bypassed, but some not only blocked the path but also moved back and forth. If one didn’t have stealth skills, it would be impossible to get through without exerting much effort to kill them.

Song Jian wasn’t here to fight monsters and level up; he had to find the temple mentioned by other players as soon as possible.

Seeing the three Flame Demons in front of him, Song Jian didn’t immediately rush into battle but instead stood at a distance, waiting patiently and observing. Soon, he picked up a small pebble and tossed it towards the nearest Flame Demon.

He didn’t throw the stone at the demon itself, but instead aimed for a rock three meters away from it.

Thud~

The sound of the pebble falling into a crevice attracted the Flame Demon’s attention. It couldn’t help but walk a couple of steps towards the noise, swinging its head from side to side as it looked around.

The other two Flame Demons merely glanced at it before turning their heads away, unaffected by the sound.

Song Jian was delighted and threw another stone at the approaching Flame Demon…

For Song Jian, this was akin to playing with fire; one misstep and he might end up attracting all three Flame Demons to fight him.

However, for Song Jian, three elite monsters at level 35 that hadn’t even reached First-order Combat Power didn’t pose much of a threat. Along the way, he’d already used up more than half of his supplies. If he continued at this rate, he probably wouldn’t last twenty-four hours before running out of supplies and leaving the Abyssal Gate to collapse.

Fortunately, Song Jian managed to lure the first Flame Demon towards him without alerting the other two demons. Now, he could cast Abyss Temptation. @@novelbin@@

Gulu, the stone golem, rushed forward to engage the Flame Demon, while Song Jian opened the Book of the Abyss and began chanting the spell for Abyss Temptation.

As soon as Abyss Temptation was cast, it immediately attracted the Flame Demon’s hatred. With a low growl, it abandoned Gulu and rushed towards Song Jian.

But just then, a stone the size of a grinding wheel slammed into the Flame Demon’s head, momentarily stunning it for three seconds.

During these three seconds, Gulu relentlessly pummeled the Flame Demon, causing hundreds of points of damage to float above its head.

However, once the stun effect ended, the Flame Demon was still irresistibly drawn towards Song Jian. Abyss Temptation forcibly attracted hatred; unless the target was beaten senseless, it was difficult to successfully charm them.

But this time, Song Jian had the Bone Shield, so he didn’t need to bring the Flame Demon to the brink of death before charming it.

Gulu continued attacking the demon from behind as the Flame Demon charged towards Song Jian. Its burning claws relentlessly rained blows on the Bone Shield, causing a series of deep, resonating thuds.

Just before the Bone Shield shattered, a black Abyss Rune floated out of the Book of the Abyss and flew towards the Flame Demon’s forehead.

Upon seeing the Abyss Rune, the Flame Demon’s face contorted with fear. It halted its attacks and turned to flee into the distance.

However, the moment the Abyssal Slave Rune appeared, it indicated that Song Jian’s Abyss Temptation skill had succeeded. It was impossible for the demon to evade the Slave Rune by running away.

As the sound of burning flesh resounded, accompanied by the low howl of the Flame Demon, its attribute above its head instantly turned from red to green in Song Jian’s eyes.

With a bitter expression, the Flame Demon slowly approached Song Jian, lowering its head in submission. The Abyssal Slave Rune constantly tormented its body and soul; as long as thoughts of harming Song Jian invaded its mind, it would relentlessly torture the demon until it abandoned such thoughts.

Such torture would make the Flame Demon feel fear and dread in the short term, but in the long run, once it adapted to this torment and became capable of enduring it, then the moment of betrayal would arrive.

With the first Flame Demon under his control, dealing with the rest became much easier. After the Bone Shield’s cooldown time ended, Song Jian lured the other two demons one by one. Gulu and the first Flame Demon acted as a distraction while Song Jian cast Abyss Temptation. As the Flame Demon charged towards him, he activated the Bone Shield to block the damage inflicted on him.

As long as Song Jian didn’t take damage, the Abyss Temptation skill wouldn’t be interrupted. Half an hour later, three Flame Demons stood beside him, each with an identical Abyssal Slave Rune etched on their foreheads.

With these three Flame Demons, Song Jian’s controlled team grew like a snowball, increasing in size. More Flame Demons were charmed, some betrayed him or were directly killed, but overall, the number of Flame Demons under Song Jian’s control continued to increase.

Finally, when eight Flame Demons stood behind Song Jian, virtually filling the entire valley passage, he received a system prompt:

System: Abyss Temptation target limit reached. To break the charm limit, continue to upgrade Abyss Temptation skill level!

Song Jian was stunned. What was going on? Weren’t the skills in the Book of the Abyss supposed to be MAX level when activated? How could they still be upgraded?

Upon opening the Book of the Abyss, he discovered that beneath the Abyss Temptation skill icon, a line of small text appeared, indicating that one million battle experience was required to advance the skill from Abyss Temptation to “Abyss Intimidation.” Not only would the number of controlled slaves increase from eight to fifteen, but their initial loyalty would also be higher, making betrayal less likely and indirectly extending the duration of control.

Most importantly, the casting time of the skill would be significantly shortened, and it would no longer forcibly control the target’s hatred. Compared to Abyss Temptation, this was practically a qualitative change.

In every aspect, Abyss Intimidation was on a totally different level than Abyss Temptation;

However, the battle experience required to advance to Abyss Intimidation had also increased exponentially. Initially, activating Abyss Temptation had only cost one hundred thousand battle experience, but now advancing to Abyss Intimidation required a million experience points – a hundredfold increase. This was practically equivalent to one-eighth of the experience Song Jian needed to level up. Even if he diligently killed monsters and leveled up, it would take at least three or four days.

…