As an NPC, having a lot of skills is quite reasonable, right?

As the greatsword in Gray's hand hummed, the previously sweltering air suddenly became thick and heavy. Unlike mages who manipulated the elements floating in the world, Gray's aura originated from within himself.

In the Blood and Wine universe, ether is the core medium for mages to cast spells, while warriors rely on their own source blood.

That is the pure destructive power that bursts forth by instantly squeezing and igniting every cell in the body, using the high-strength flesh as a furnace.

At this moment, Gray was surrounded by dark red blood energy. At his stage, releasing blood energy was a basic ability.

"roar?!"

The newly awakened Molten Throat, as a sub-dragon, possesses considerable intelligence.

The old man wielding the iron sword in front of me is far more terrifying than that sword strike from before!

All it could think about now was escaping. It raised its head and let out a roar, and the lake water in front of it quickly closed in.

At the same time, the entire cave began to shake, the bottom of the lava lake exploded, and scalding lava shot up from the bottom to form a lava column on the lake surface.

Molten Throat intended to use this move to slow Gray down, and then take the opportunity to escape deeper into the cave.

"Trying to run away?"

Gray bent his knees slightly, and the rocks beneath his feet shattered instantly. Then, he transformed into a red meteor, smashing through the lava pillars in his path and chasing after the lava throat into the bottom of the lake.

"That old man is really violent." Moen looked at the commotion and knew he couldn't get involved in the fight.

"Lie down, lie down, just bask in the experience points." He wisely retreated behind a huge obsidian rock on the shore and found a safe viewing platform.

A continuous roaring sound came, and the entire cave was shaking.

However, just as Moen had downed a bottle of recovery potion to calm his nerves, the surrounding sounds suddenly changed.

The deafening fighting sounds from the bottom of the lake disappeared instantly, and the lake surface returned to calm.

"It's over?" Moen was taken aback.

A burly figure leaped out of the lake, the scalding lava still dripping slowly despite being blocked by the blood energy shield.

It's Gray.

The old knight carried the enormous, still-dripping gallbladder in his hand, a relaxed and carefree smile on his face.

"Kid, all done."

Gray beckoned to Moen, his voice slightly unsteady: "Come here, put this thing away, let's go back and have a drink."

Moen instinctively reached out to walk over, but stopped just as he was about to take a step.

Not right.

Although Moen has never fought this boss, he has read about Molten Throat in the encyclopedia.

When an elemental creature like the Molten Throat dies, its fire elemental core collapses, causing the lava on its body to instantly solidify into black stone. It's impossible for Gray to silently split open the corpse at the bottom of the lake and remove the gallbladder.

Moreover, the body of the Melting Throat is filled with indestructible lava, so how could blood be dripping from its gallbladder?

Moen looked at the smiling Gray.

This old man is a typical example of someone who is tough on the outside but soft on the inside. After a fight, he would only say, "What are you standing there for? Get over here," and would never show that kind old grandfather smile.

Upon closer inspection, it really does have flaws everywhere.

[System Warning: Psychological intimidation detected]

[Passive skill "Iron Law Breathing Technique" activated; mental resistance assessment in progress]

[Passed]

Fog Demon.

The name flashed through Moen's mind instantly.

This is an extremely rare elite monster that only randomly spawns in cave environments with extremely high magic concentration.

They have no physical form and are adept at creating illusions to lure their prey closer. Once a prey gets close, its signature move, "Suffocating Embrace," will be triggered.

That's a deadly skill that forces silence and deducts 15% of maximum health per second; it's a nightmare for any class.

Seeing that Moen didn't move, the imposter Gray took the initiative to approach, and was now three meters away from Moen, with his arms outstretched as if he wanted to give him a hug.

Moen quickly recalled the information about the Mist Demon. The Mist Demon is a spirit, and physical attacks are ineffective against it. To kill it, one must bombard its core with high-intensity elemental magic, or freeze it and shatter it!

Just as Gray was about to touch Moen, Moen stomped his foot on the ground.

[Winter's War Song] is released, and a ring of icy blue light explodes, instantly sweeping through the surrounding mist with extremely cold air.

The mist rapidly condensed into tiny ice crystals at low temperatures, and the once ethereal mist demon froze instantly. Its originally transparent body surface was covered with a layer of white frost, forcing it to reveal a semi-solidified state.

"Found you, core!" On the chest of that humanoid mass of icy mist, there was a faintly shimmering gray crystal core.

Without the slightest hesitation, Moen immediately chanted [Mirror Warp] while the Mist Demon was temporarily unable to move.

The three mirrors instantly surrounded the Mist Demon. Moen then unleashed the [Meteor Bomb], sending a burst of arcane energy into the mirrors.

The arcane beam, amplified by 120%, bounced wildly within the narrow triangular area, instantly piercing through the exposed crystal core.

At the same time, the Frostfire Oath buff was applied, which caused Moen's attacks to deal frost magic damage. He then strode forward and used his extremely fast burst speed to slash back and forth on the Mist Fairy, stacking the Frozen status.

The Mist Fairy, which ignores physical damage, is 200% vulnerable to magical damage and is quickly frozen and shattered.

As the Mist Demon died and turned into a pile of shimmering powder, the surrounding illusions vanished instantly.

A gray crystal, radiating a mesmerizing glow, fell to the ground.

Moen turned to look at the lava lake, and almost at the same time, a violent explosion occurred at the bottom of the lake.

Gray tossed the massive carcass of the Molten Throat ashore like it was trash.

At this moment, the dark red lava surrounding the lava throat had extinguished and solidified into black stone, and it was completely dead.

Gray sheathed his greatsword, glanced at the pile of powder at Moen's feet, and said with some surprise, "A Mist Demon? You actually managed to run into something as rare as that?"

Moen picked up the core from the ground and smiled, "If it weren't for the old man's special training, I would have almost died here."

[The Core of the Mist]

[Level: Rare]

[Item Description: A grayish-white, semi-transparent crystal about the size of a walnut. Its surface is always covered with a layer of condensation that is difficult to remove. When you hold it in your hand, you will feel that the outline of your fingers becomes blurred.]

[Type: Magic Material/Enchanting Catalyst]

[Note: "Never leave it lying on the table! I just turned around to get my coffee last week, and then spent three whole days looking for it!" —Unlucky craftsman Buck]

At this moment, a series of pleasing system prompts appeared on my retina.

[Team Kill: Mist Demon Lv.19]

Experience points gained: 2410 + 482 (reward for killing enemies above your level)

[Gained Mortal Fragments: 12 + 30 (First Kill Reward)]

[Completion condition: "The Sober Hunter"]

[The Sober Hunter: Defeating the Mist Demon Without Taking Damage While Bewildered by Illusions]

[Statue Unlocked: Mist Demon]

[Team up to defeat the Lord-level Boss: Lord of Boiling - Molten Throat Lv.22]

Experience points gained: 2880 (significantly reduced due to damage contribution being less than 1%)

[Gained Mortal Fragments: 120 + 50 (First Kill Reward)]

[Received Ritual Fragments: 1 + 5 (First Kill Reward)]

[Statue Unlocked: Lord of Boiling - Molten Throat]

[Detection indicates that the fate of the sub-dragon "Lord of Boil - Molten Throat" has been altered.]

[Obtained Life Stone: Furnace]

[Life Stone: Furnace]

[Level: Pale]

[Life Stone Maxim: The world will be thankful for the ashes that never came]

Seeing a pile of fragments enter his account, Moen was in high spirits. Moreover, he didn't expect that such an intelligent boss would have a chance to drop life stones, which was a pleasant surprise.

Although the experience gained from Melting Throat was lost, the gains from these fragments and life stones are enough for him to go back and exchange for several skills, including the Mist Demon's disguise god skill.

"Let's go." Gray had gone to great lengths to cut open Molten Throat's body and remove the Fiery Gallbladder, and he was clearly in a good mood.

"I'll go to your place tonight and soak the wine first. It shouldn't be a problem to have dinner at your place tonight, right?"