After having defeated the last acid lizard swarm that had attacked them, Marcus was keeping watch while the Eternal Queens removed the valuable materials from the lizards they had killed.
'Damn at first they were pretty easy to manage, with maybe five at most attacking us and none of them being over level thirteen, but the second we went down a layer where the amount of platinum is denser, they began attacking in groups of over twenty with all of them being in the upper teens or lower twenties.'
Lamenting the increase in difficulty this mining trip was becoming, Marcus could only hope that after the number of lizards they had killed so far which was over a hundred, things would settle down a bit.
Once the Eternal Queens had finished collecting the valuable material from the acid lizards, namely their blade arms, acid glands, and magic cores, they began heading off towards the direction of the next Platinum deposit.
However, when they could see the soft glow coming from the large cave that most likely was full of celestial platinum ore, they also noticed a massive number of acid lizards.
Abruptly stopping everyone did their best to hide their presence before walking a bit away to have a strategy meeting.
"There is no way we can take on all of those lizards safely, maybe if you and Branna could use fire magic it would be possible, but we risk suffocating if either of you use powerful fire magic spells inside these tunnels." Bridget said with a grim expression.
Many of the other Eternal Queens agreed since from a cursory glance they figured there must have been around forty lizards and that was just of what they could see.
However, the alure of the large amount of celestial platinum was too enticing, and Marcus figured that the lizards were attracted to the stuff, so any large deposit was going to be similarly swarmed.
With a resolute stare Marcus looked at the Eternal Queens and said, "I think we can take them, while I may not be able to use a big fire magic spell, I also have lightning magic. I will hit them with a big attack and hopefully kill a large portion of them in one go. After that I will take the front line while all of you support me from behind. If at any time you feel it is getting to dangerous feel free to retreat at you own discretion, and do not worry about me I can take care of myself."
Hearing this around half of the Eternal Queens wanted to tell Marcus he was crazy while the other half were onboard since just the magic cores from all of those rock lizards would be worth a small fortune.
Unfortunately for the discontenting half they could see it in Marcus' face that even if they did not support him, he would go ahead on his own.
Marcus with a smile on his face stood up and began walking over towards the cave that was full of celestial platinum and acid lizards.
Beginning the chant for his tier four lightning magic spell, Marcus also activated his heighten spell skill further empowering the spell.
At this point the acid lizards could feel Marcus' presence since their instincts were telling them that a deadly threat was approaching.
Many of them began letting out a distressed cry before running towards Marcus, planning to kill the threat before it could kill them.
Alas, they were too late and as Marcus finished up the chant, he activated his unique skill to bring the spell's power to its maximum.
'Embodiment of Light and' "Thunderbird Strike!"
His body being enveloped by a blinding light, Marcus unleashed the spell he had been preparing and a torrent of elctrictiy in the shape of a massive bird appeared and flew forwards, blasting through the first lizards that had charged him, leaving them ass nothing more than ashes and their magic cores.
The powerful spell continued to fly forward shocking every acid lizard in its way before flying into the cave's entrance and exploding in a vibrant blast of elctrictiy.
After the spell had lost its power and was no longer releasing massive amounts of electricity everyone stared at the astounding power behind the spell they had just witnessed, even Marcus.
'What the hell. I knew it would be strong, but that was more than I anticipated. I guess this is the first time I have ever cast a heightened spell while using my embodiment of light since reaching level thirty-five, but still that was much stronger than the last time I cast that spell.'
However, while Marcus was surprised by the power of his spell, the Eternal Queens had been left speechless.
They had always known that Marcus was quite strong even for his level, but this was well outside of the normal level of power for someone at level thirty-five. In fact, if Marcus had told them that he had just cast a tier-five spell they all would have believed him.
Bridget the first to regain her composure from the Eternal Queens walked up to Marcus and said, "Irene, what was that light surrounding you just now, and how was you spell that strong."
Marcus coming out of his own daze turned around and said, "Ah I guess I have never used it since the situation never demanded it, but that was my unique skill, and the spell was that strong because of it and my heightened spell skill working together."
Bridget hearing Marcus had a unique skill froze. Unique skills were stuff of legend, only being possessed by those that were incredibly strong.
It was said that only one in a hundred million people were born with a unique skill and only one in ten million would be fortunate enough to acquire one in their lifetime.
Of course, these were just arbitrary numbers not actual statistics, but it still spoke to how rare a unique skill was.
With a flustered voice Bridget said, "Irene if you have unique skill why are you out here adventuring with us and working to become a forgemaster. You could easily have more money and status if you joined up with some powerful noble or organization. With you strength on top of you unique skill, the royal family would probably even be willing to bring you into its ranks."
However, contrary to what Bridget was thinking, Marcus just lightly chuckled before saying, "Yes you are right I could probably join with some powerful noble fairly easily but then I would be under them. I am a free spirt at heart and do not want to be tied down. I am more than willing to have to work hard on my own and be free, than be someone's solider."
Hearing Marcus' reply, Bridget finally understood Marcus' disposition. She had thought it was weird when a noble had joined up with her party as an adventurer, but it did happen on occasion.
But now that she new of Marcus' unique skill, she figured he could get whatever he wanted so long as he served the kingdom.
Except, Marcus would rather be free than become the kingdom's lap dog even if it was a cozy position.
Sighing Bridget, said, "I get it you are not unlike us, wanting to do what you want whenever you want. I am glad that you trusted all of us enough to use you unique skill in front of us."
"Well yeah we have been friends for months now, other than my little sister you are the people I trust most in this world. And it was not like I was keeping it a secret or anything, the opportunity just never presented itself. Now let us go and check the cave, there is no telling how many survived my attack and we have already given them too much time to recover."
All of the Eternal Queens remembering where they were once Marcus mentioned the lizards, brought their guard back up since they had been incredibly distracted by Marcus' prowess and explanation.
Walking into the cave full of celestial platinum ore, Marcus could see dozens of acid lizard corpses lining the area that had been killed by his spell.
However, even though his spell was incredibly powerful there were still a few of the stronger lizards left alive, but they were currently stunned and with the quick work of Marcus and the Eternal Queens were finished off.
With all of the lizards in the large cave killed, Marcus got to work on mining the celestial platinum ore, while the Eternal Queens began dismantling the acid lizard corpses except for Atalie who was keeping watch.
Nearly three hours went by and other than the occasional lizard that came by to inspect the noise and was then promptly killed, Marcus and the Eternal Queens had not been disturbed.
'This place really is the motherload, I have nearly filled up my item box, and then I will only have to fill the high-end magic bag Thabon gave me, and we can get out of here. I guess it was a good idea to take this cave since just it by itself has enough to completely fill up my storages.'
Continuing to smash away it was not long before Marcus had filled up his item box and had started on the magic bag, when he felt a low rumbling.
Looking behind him he could see that the Eternal Queens felt it as well, and in a few moments the rumbling got louder until Atalie with a face full of fear said, "There are hundreds of Lizards coming, we need to get out of here now."
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only