Ian paused briefly but didn’t stop.

As he rounded the bend, three twisted creatures came into view.

They were Rock-Skinned Demon Dogs—if one could even call them dogs.

Their bodies were a patchwork of dark red rock and rotting flesh, their heads split open into three petals revealing a dense forest of sharp teeth within.

’Make it quick.’

Ian’s eyes grew cold as he made a pressing motion with his left hand.

Three Floating Crystal Cones abruptly accelerated, shooting out like three silver threads!

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The Crystal Cones precisely struck the joints and where the heads met the necks, their terrifying penetration power bursting straight through the armor of crystallized pus.

The demon dogs let out hoarse wails, their bodies instantly stiffening. The dark red color on their skin rapidly faded as they crumbled into piles of grayish-white rock fragments.

Almost simultaneously, Ian activated the Frost Ash Beam with his right hand.

A pale purple beam swept out, instantly freezing and scorching the puddle of Shadow Slime.

Under the alternating assault of extreme cold and heat, it let out a sharp SIZZLE before evaporating into a cloud of black smoke.

The battle was over in less than three breaths.

Ian walked over and picked out a few relatively intact Bloodstones from the remains of the demon dogs.

This material formed when rock was corrupted by an Earth Hernia, and it contained twisted Earth Element and Abyssal Energy.

He also collected some Corrupt Shadow Crystal Dust, the residue left behind after the Shadow Slime had evaporated.

"Pretty efficient," he muttered to himself.

The new Shield System’s performance in actual combat exceeded his expectations.

The penetration power of the Crystal Cones was enough to threaten the shield of a Level One Wizard.

And the destructive power of the Frost Ash Beam was on full display in this narrow environment.

But Ian didn’t let down his guard.

Ever since stepping into this maze, he had felt a faint sense... that something was watching him from the shadows.

It wasn’t a demon, but something more cunning, more sinister.

He ventured deeper, the passageways growing more and more complex.

The vein-like patterns on the rock walls throbbed more violently, and the whispers at the edge of his hearing became more frequent.

"Ian, behind you and to the right. Something’s following us."

Gaga’s voice echoed in his mind again, its tone wary. "Not a demon... It’s people."

Ian didn’t break stride or look back, his Spiritual Power spreading out silently like a spiderweb.

Sure enough, about fifty meters behind him, three subtle auras lurked in the darkness, maintaining a constant distance.

’What are they waiting for?’

Ian raised his guard to the absolute maximum, yet he feigned ignorance and continued onward.

He merely adjusted the positions of his Crystal Cones in secret, moving three of them behind him, ready to counterattack at a moment’s notice.

After rounding two more bends, he heard intense energy fluctuations and furious roars from up ahead.

"Help... help me!"

A hoarse man’s voice, filled with despair and terror, echoed from deep within the passage.

Ian’s eyes narrowed, and he quickened his pace.

Ahead was a relatively open cavern, about twenty meters in diameter.

In the center of the cavern, a wizard in a tattered red robe was being besieged by three Rock-Skinned Demon Dogs.

His left arm was severed, dark purple pus oozing from the wound. In his right hand, he gripped a bone-white magic staff, barely sustaining a faltering death shield.

Ian didn’t recognize the man and wasn’t about to offer help blindly.

"Help me!" The Red Robed Wizard spotted Ian, and a desperate light ignited in his eyes.

"These mutts... someone’s controlling them!"

Before the words had even faded, the three Rock-Skinned Demon Dogs abruptly abandoned their attack on Blood Hand and turned toward Ian in unison.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, like puppets on a single string, as they simultaneously spat corrosive, dark-red pus from their three-petaled heads.

Ian was prepared. His Witchcraft Shield and Enhanced Crystal Barrier flared into existence instantly.

The layered shields completely blocked the volley of pus.

At the same time, all twelve Crystal Cones activated, sweeping forward in a silver storm!

But at that very moment, three black-robed figures emerged from the cavern’s shadows like phantoms.

They appeared without warning, as if they had been one with the shadows all along.

Their black robes bore no markings, and their faces were hidden behind ghastly white bone masks that exposed only their eyes, where twin motes of eerie green Soul Fire danced.

"Target confirmed. Ninth on the contribution board, the Lone Wanderer, Ian."

The man in the middle spoke in a cold, mechanical voice, using some variant of an ancient language.

"Proceed with elimination."

As his words fell, all three struck at once.

There was no chanting, no hand gestures—three grayish-black soul spikes simply materialized from thin air.

They bypassed his physical shields, stabbing directly toward Ian’s Sea of Spirit!

It was a sinister form of Witchcraft that specialized in soul attacks!

Ian grunted, his Sea of Spirit rocked by the assault.

Even with the dark red filter of his Spirit Devourer trait devouring and weakening them, the intensity of the three soul spikes far exceeded his expectations.

Each blow was equivalent to a full-powered attack from a Level One Middle Stage Wizard!

"GAA!" Gaga leaped from the shadows.

Its Omen Eye activated at full power, bathing the nearest black-robed man in gray light.

But the black-robed man only faltered for a second. The Soul Fire in his eye sockets flickered, and then he recovered.

With a wave of his hand, a grayish-white wall of bone erupted from the ground, blocking Gaga’s follow-up pounce.

"A Summoned Demon? How interesting."

The man on the left rasped, "We’ll take it with us. It can be refined into a decent Soul Puppet."

Meanwhile, the man on the right had already circled to Ian’s flank and was forming hand seals.

The ground suddenly churned and split open as countless pale arms burst forth, clawing at Ian’s legs.

It was a three-pronged pincer attack, their coordination flawlessly in sync.

What was more frightening was that they seemed to have some knowledge of Ian’s abilities.

Soul attacks as the primary offense, physical restraints for support, and one person dedicated to pinning down Gaga.

This was no impromptu ambush; it was a meticulously planned assassination.

’Gaga, stay hidden and don’t come out. They can counter some of your abilities.’

Ian’s eyes turned to ice. He held nothing back.

His Spirit Devourer trait activated at full power. A dark red vortex spun rapidly, forcibly devouring and converting the three soul spikes.

Simultaneously, he swept his left hand out, unleashing the Frost Ash Beam to freeze and incinerate the grasping, pale arms.

"What?!" the leader of the trio exclaimed in shock. "He can devour a Soul Attack?!"

Ian’s counterattack had already begun.

His twelve Crystal Cones suddenly converged and expanded, forming a three-meter-long silver mega-cone that shot toward the leader with a piercing shriek.

"Child’s play," the black-robed man sneered.

An illusory, grayish-black shield materialized before him, the wails of countless souls echoing from its surface.

The Silver Cone collided with the Soul Shield!

There was no great explosion, only a sharp screech on the spiritual plane.

The Soul Shield vibrated violently and cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. The black-robed man had clearly underestimated the power of the Crystal Cones.

These miniature constructs, an evolution of his crystals, were in essence highly compressed Order Energy.

He had also secretly coated them with a web of his Spirit Devourer trait, making them a natural counter to soul-based defenses.

"Break!"

Ian roared, and the Silver Cone’s brilliance surged. It forcibly punched through the Soul Shield and pierced the black-robed man’s chest!

"Aargh..." The black-robed man let out a bloodcurdling scream.

It was the agony of a soul being torn asunder by Order Energy.

His black robe exploded, revealing a shriveled, skeletal body beneath. The Soul Fire in his eye sockets dimmed rapidly.

But in the instant before his death, he crushed a bone fragment he had hidden in his robes.

A grayish-black signal flared, shooting up through the rock ceiling, penetrating the maze itself to reach some unknown destination.

"You... can’t escape..." the man rasped, and his Soul Fire went out completely.

"Third Brother!" The other two assassins were both shocked and enraged.

They never expected Ian’s counterattack to be so devastating, much less that their third would fall so quickly.

Their shock and anger gave way to an even more frenzied assault.

"Kill him! Avenge Third Brother!"

The man on the left threw his hands into the air, and the cavern ceiling suddenly cracked open.

Countless grayish-white bone spikes rained down, each one wreathed in the wails of Resentful Spirits and designed to shatter Energy Shields.

The man on the right completely melted into the darkness, emerging a moment later from Ian’s own shadow with a pitch-black Soul Dagger aimed at his back.

At that same moment, the final, agonized scream of the Red Robed Wizard echoed from the other side of the cave.

The three Rock-Skinned Demon Dogs had finally torn through his shield and wrestled him to the ground.

Their split, three-petaled heads began to tear at him frantically, sending flesh and blood flying.

He struggled to look at Ian, the last light in his eyes filled with venom and resentment before fading to black.

"Seventeenth on the western contribution board, Blood Hand. Elimination complete."

The man on the left said coldly, "And now, it’s your turn, Ian."