Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Flashing an excited smile, Simon's fangs were bared before his targets. The high orcs he was facing were no weaklings, they knew how to coordinate well and cover each other openings. Unlike the other monsters that Simon had faced previously who only knew how to follow their instincts, the enemy in front were sentient enough not to underestimate him.

Whenever he showed any openings they would hit him with all their strength. A battle like that was what he was craving and also the quickest way for his growth.

Without holding back even a little, Simon burst out with an unrestrained strength and cast one magic after another towards his enemy. His newfound speed in magic gave him an edge over his enemies and his combat experience was being rapidly honed.

Not only was he able to conjure flame spears instantly, he even had the time to throw gale magic into the mix drastically bolstering the power of the flame spears.

BOOOM… BOOOM… BOOM… the power behind each of the flame spears was something that even these high orcs with their high defence did not dare to underestimate and used all of their powers to fend it off.

But even if they did, they weren't agile enough to block the other ones and were squarely hit by the spears.

Copying the actions of the leader orc, Simon grabbed one of the flame spears that he conjured and flung it towards the high orcs with all of his strength. The result was a missile that flew towards its target with an insane speed before exploding with all that momentum.

No matter if it was the high orcs or their tough hides, wherever the flame spears hit, it would shave off a portion of their body.

Miserable shrieks echoed everywhere but was drowned by the deafening noises of the explosion. The dark lands became even darker after being exposed to these shrieks and his flames.

Simon used this chance to increase not only his mastery over flames, but also electro. His electro magic was still a novice tier magic far inferior to his intermediate tier flame magic in both power and range. It was because of this reason, that he was mostly adept in using flame magic and could feel his mastery over it reaching new heights.

Although he was also proficient with gale magic intermediate tier of wind magic, his preference leaned more towards destructive attributes such as fire and electro.

Simon mostly used his gale magic to augment the destructiveness of his flame magic and in situations where his flame magic was ineffective.

After the amalgamation magic he created using Flame and Electro to defeat the Elder Treants, he had seen how effective the magic was. The Electro magic was unrivalled in terms of speed and swiftness not to mention the Lightning magic which was the intermediate tier of Electro was even faster and fiercer.

Simon remembered his fight with Laris who was able to utilise the Lightning attribute of mana and wrap himself in it to dish out attacks lightning-fast and with enough destructiveness to severely injure even a Demon Viscount like him.

Although the man was using the intermediate tier Lightning magic imbued by his twin blades, it was still a force to reckon with. From their fight, Simon had learned many important lessons. One of them was his flame magic, while it had enough destructiveness and might, it was severely lacking in terms of speed.

Sentient enemies and those that can think for themselves, would definitely try to capitalise on that and dodge his attacks that had power but no speed. He was aware that in the future battles, he couldn't just rely on his flame magic alone to best them all.

Because of all of these reasons, Simon wanted to increase his mastery over Electro magic now that he had the opportunity.

Electro magic- [Electro Bolt], [Electro Blast], [Electro Charge] swiftly flew towards high orcs damaging and electrocuting them. However, unlike his flame magic, his Electro magic while it was many times faster, packed far less power.

The High orcs who were up until now conscious of his flame spears, did not even flinch when taking the full brunt of his attacks. The Electro magic of his wasn't able to pierce the thick defence of his enemies and since his electro magic hadn't reached the intermediate tier and his mastery over this attribute was still lacklustre, he wasn't able to willingly shape or condense them as he was accustomed to with his flame magic.

Nonetheless, he repeatedly spammed them with his electro magic hoping to see some effects, his mana was big enough to sustain that kind of expenditure.

"GRUgaaaahh" the leader of the high orcs roared. A few moments ago the demon in front of it was throwing magic strong enough to deal heavy damage to them when hit. But after a while, the magic that came targeting them didn't do much and wasn't something they should be overly concerned about.

Thinking that the demon was getting weaker, the orc leader got bolder and ordered its kin to charge forward. The high orcs raised their makeshift shield and charged towards Simon with a ramming speed.

Electro magic continuously came their way but was easily endured through or was deflected by their shields, in any case, it did not have as much effectiveness as the flame magic.

Simon's insistence to keep on using electro magic allowed the high orcs to change the tide of the battle and close the gap between. Whooosh… one of the high orcs came crashing at him with its shield but was smoothly sidestepped by him.

However, even the wind that grazed past him due to the high orcs charge was enough to push Simon a few meter back. More attacks came flying at him before he could even stabilise his balance and forced him into defending.

From the one attacking to defending was a quick transition and the high orcs displayed that they weren't like any other opponents he had faced before. They knew when to press for more given the slightest opportunity and turn the battle upside down.

BANG… one of the clubs came flying at him with a terrifying momentum and smashed squarely on his arms that he hurriedly raised to shield himself. His body was knocked back skidded the ground and only came to a stop after hitting a few nearby trees.

Blood trickled down his arms from the wounds and from the splinters of the club that broke apart after hitting him. Flinching in pain, Simon looked at the smiling orcs and couldn't help but click his tongue.

It seemed that the enemy wasn't weak enough to let him practice his magic on them without retaliating. No in the first place, there wouldn't be an enemy who won't capitalise on such an obvious weakness if shown in front of them.

To put it bluntly, he had this coming. The current development was his fault, he had let his superiority get into his head and had underestimated his enemy severely.

"What am I doing? Since when have I become so strong to look down on these enemies? Had it been a life and death battle, I would have lost my life then and there. It's time I snap back to reality, what I don't have… I don't have. Instead, I should focus more on strengthening the things I already have".

Simon calmly thought over it before regulating his breathing. There was no way he could simply increase his mastery over Electro magic by just continuously spamming them. If things were that easy, this world would be full of people with mastery over different attributes of mana.

He felt foolish to think even for a second that he could acquire intermediate tier Lightning magic through this way.

After his mind settled down, and he came to terms with himself, Simon stopped spamming electro magic. BANG… with a loud sound, flames ignited on his hand and hurriedly engulfed his whole body.

The heat produced by the flames surrounding him had at this moment increased by a notch and just being near him, the surrounding sparse trees caught on fire.

The land burned and was scorched black and even the high orcs that were thinking of charging at him were pushed back by the heat, their skin continuously being scorched. The flames were no ordinary flames at they were the culmination of Simon's mastery over flame magic.

The scarlet flames burned with an intense fervour and there was even a tinge of golden mix with it indicating that his control over flame magic had reached an astonishing degree. This phenomenon was the result of condensing the flames to their extreme and the intensity of the heat was quickly reaching the realms of the advanced tier.

"Grugh?" Seeing that the atmosphere around Simon had changed completely, the leader orc hesitated for a while before ordering a retreat.

Following the command, the high orcs quickly started backing off but there was no way Simon was going to just let them go. They were his precious experience, something that was crucial for him to level up.

Without giving even the slightest chance, he bombarded them with hundreds of flame spears that manifested in the sky within seconds, each imbued with enough mana and power to flatten the surrounding lands.

But that was not all, Simon also activated his skills [Piercing Enhancement] and imbued them onto the flame spears. The result was a technique that fell on the high orcs like a rain of spears exploding and dealing massive damage.

Adding [Piercing Enhacement] onto the flame spears increased their deadliness while at the same time the momentum with which they fell onto the high orcs, was able to easily pierce through their defence.