Chapter 22

Molten Cave (IV)

Jamal dipped abruptly, bending his body to the side as an ax-shaped, edged blade whizzed past his chin, causing beads of sweat to drip along his forehead like rain. He thudded against the floor and rolled to the side, focusing Mana into his joints and springing out nimbly, lunging the sword in his hand in a backhand motion as he spun to the front, blocking a flaming sword that was aiming at him.

Urging Mana almost as though he was tapping the gas pedal, fumes of starlight dripped off his skin like smoke, his entire self coated in resplendent light. Crying out, he ducked to the side and swung up, moving two strikes away from him and destabilizing the burning creatures. He immediately dipped his feet in Mana and pushed, the sheer burst of energy beneath digging out two craters and ripping debris and chunks of rock into the air as he burned forward, turning into a flat, colorful afterimage.

He was using ‘Dance of the Stars’, each swing stirring the colors of the world, his sword humming a cosmic melody. Colorful arrays of light followed his blade as it cut through the fire, shedding off the embers, leaving behind lagging sonic booms.

Coming to a halt, sweat-covered, he ducked back once again and avoided a flaming whip as he used the last remnants of his momentum to chuck the sword to the side and send it flying. The blade torpedoed toward the creature in the distance, vibrating and distorting space around it, shining brilliantly, colliding squarely just a breath later and causing a massive explosion that sent out a pillar of fire and starlight into the sky.

“BACK OFF!!! BACK OFF!!!” Rick’s alarmed cry startled him to his feet as he glanced back, his eyes in horror staring as one of the creatures broke past on his side of things as he must have missed it. Recalling the sword into his hand, he coalesced as much Mana as he could muster into his feet and ran in full sprint.

He was going to be late, he realized. All three had frozen in front of the creature as they had the least experience fighting it. No, no, he gritted his teeth and started preparing to toss his sword once again, even if he was lacking Mana for it.

Just then, he felt the earth beneath him quake as he glanced to the side where he saw a figure blast against the earth and shatter it into splinters, a vine-like elongation ripping through the distance of several hundred feet and lashing against the burning creature, decimating it. Jamal came to a halt, his lips agape, as he glanced once again at the man who merely stood up and began walking away, seeming to curse something under his breath. What in the ever-loving---

"COME BACK HERE AND HELP!!!" Rick's angered roar pulled him into reality once again as he yelped and spun around, rushing back to the old man who had a darkened expression.

“... shit, shit, shit, I’m sorry,” he apologized as he helped Rick fend off four blazing creatures, alleviating some pressure. “Completely blanked there.”

“...” Rick glared at him for a moment but said nothing, lifting his shield up and, with a roar, charging forward as the shield itself began shining in a strange, copper luster. The old man slammed it into the two creatures of fire, easily dispatching them, though clearly not without sacrifice as he appeared even more tired.

“--!!” Rick’s eyes widened as he randomly looked to the front, at the dip in the center, where he saw a torrent of fire surge from within the earth and slowly begin shaping itself into a giant, one over twenty feet tall, far-bellied, with horns protruding out of its ‘head’.

"PULL BACK," Cain's roar rang across the battlefield as Emma, Lamia and Decker retreated to where Diya, Jim, and Gerald were. Rick and Jamal quickly backpedaled as well, joining the tired rest at the back while Lamia and Diya hurriedly began restoring their Vitality and Stamina to the best of their abilities.

A moment later, Cain joined them as well, landing at the front, next to Rick and Emma, staring at the burning giant with a frown on his face.

“... General-level Mini-boss?” he mumbled under his breath, trying to estimate the monster’s level. No, he’s slightly above that level... furthermore, unlike Escthew... it has wide-area as well as ranged skills... for all intents and purposes, we should treat it as a raid boss...

//Lord Eksha’s Fourth General, Ryle Race: Corrupt Humanoid

Level: 45

Traits: Aggressive(S), Intelligent(C+), Strength(D+), Resilient(B-)

Skills: Ripping Earth (C+), Scorching Trail(B), Infernal Blast(B+), Fire(S-)

“... wait--” Jamal mumbled, squinting. “Is... is that thing... spawning more of those tiny ones?”

“...” Ah, of course it is... Cain sighed inwardly, but still half-expected it. Only rarely do boss-type monsters have no ‘extra baggage’ when fighting them.

“... what do you think, Diya?” Rick spun around and asked frowning Diya who seemed to be contemplating something.

“... let us go in under the, uh, assumption... yes, assumption that the small ones will go if the big one dies,” she said. “Then, Emma, Lamia, Decker, and Justin... you four... can you deal the smaller ones?”

“...” Emma nodded with a serious expression, the remaining three also drawing distance and walking to the side.

“Is... this okay?” she asked, stealthily glancing at Cain who merely smiled and nodded. “Okay. We then focus the big guy.”

“Jamal,” Cain turned to Jamal who was sitting down, trying to recover as much Mana as possible. “It’s you and me, buddy.”

“Huh? Ah, yes... wait... what do you mean?”

“Rick will be too busy not dying, with Sam and Jim periodically assisting him, while Gerald will be on Diya-duty throughout. That just leaves you and me, man. But considering I’ve basically no Mana left, it’s just you...”

“Oi, dude, really?!” Jamal shot up to his feet, wide-eyed as Cain grinned. “Oh, suck my dick, dude. You scared the shit out of me...”

“Ha ha ha, come on, relax. He may look scary, but that’s all -- look. He’s just like the small ones... you know, just bigger.”

"... please tell me you weren't some UFC or boxing motivator for a living? 'cause I pity the souls who had to put up with you if that's the case..."

“Tsk, and here I thought my motivating skills were exquisite.”

“...”

“Stop rolling your eyes or they’ll pop out,” Cain chuckled as he took a deep breath, noting that Emma and the other three had created decent separation from the rest. “Ricky, buddy.” he walked up to Rick and put his hand on the man’s shoulder, looking at him pitifully.

“... what?”

“You’re gonna get beaten.”

“... yeah.”

“Hard.”

“... yup.”

“Tossed around like a broken doll...”

“... so kill it before my neck snaps from all the rolling...”

“... you were more fun when you were easily terrified...”

“I know.” Rick grinned, taking a deep breath and walking forward, immediately using Undying on himself, increasing his HP by nearly ten times for two minutes.

“... keep him topped up, Diya,” Cain said. “Forgo healing others unless absolutely necessary and make sure you don’t run out of Mana.”

“Y-yes.” she nodded and grit her teeth with determination, causing Cain to smile as he turned around and began walking toward the giant. It also seemed to have spotted them as it stood up, now reaching nearly forty feet in height.

“GO!!” Rick roared and charged forward, picking up speed immediately and kicking up dust behind him.

The creature stepped forward as well, materializing a mace-like weapon of fire within one of its hands and smashing it down. Rick immediately lifted the shield up above his head and took the full brunt of it, his body coming to a screeching halt as the earth around him was ripped apart, he himself sinking nearly two feet deep due to impact.

At the same time, Cain took position behind and began charging Wind, Frost, and Water in a variety of combinations, summoning bolts, arrays, lassos, and even rains as he pelted the creature with what he called 'shaving attacks'.

Jamal flanked, going a full circle around until he was at the creature's back, jumping and spinning midair as to gather momentum before slicing at the creature's back. It roared, sending a blast of fire that threw him a good twenty feet back and causing him to roll in the dirt. Pain surged, but just as quickly a faintly golden pillar of light washed over him, healing his wounds.

On the other side, Emma -- coated in a sheen of golden light -- was using her fists to block weapons and snap them, while Lamia continued to sing in a low, pleasant tune almost without a stop, topping off Emma's ever rippling Vitality. Decker stood by her, pensive and taut, on full alert should any creature blow past the woman in front of him.

Justin dipped in and out of 'reality', darkness adumbrations dancing and wiggling around his body as he morphed into a shadow, ripped near a burning monster, and sliced it apart with a swift strike before dipping back into the shadow and vanishing. Though he was burning through his Mana reserves relatively quickly, he calculated that he should be able to maintain his current style for at least three more minutes.

He knew that his Class wasn't suited for this -- dealing with the small fry. He should be with Jamal, flanking the boss and trying to kill it as quickly as possible, but as they, technically speaking, only had three actual damaging Classes in the party -- Cain, Jamal, and he himself -- one of them had to deal with the small creatures, and he was the best option as he could easily hide away after making a quick strike whereas Jamal ran the risk of getting swarmed.

He glanced at the main stage and saw Jamal flashed into the air, coated in the light, slashing the blade in a downward arc and firing off a fifteen-feet tall array of light that rammed into the creature's back, causing it to roar. Its pitch-black eyes suddenly lit up in golden hue, the massive body trembling.

“...” It’s a skill, Justin realized, backing off slightly. Which one?

Cain followed the creature’s motions and realized it was the ‘Ripping Earth’ skill. Virtually every monster skill that came from under the ground had similar tells, such as the quaking, crackling, and the creature generally taking a step back before firing it off.

“On my mark, everyone jump as high as you can!!” Cain charged Body into his throat to make his voice reach every inch of the arena, startling everyone. “Three... two... one... NOW!!” the moment he roared out, all nine of them jumped as high as they could, Jamal going nearly ten feet into the sky.

Right as they jumped, the ground beneath sunk a full foot, debris rippling out and scattering as it slowly began settling. While they were landing, Cain charged Arcane and Wind into his fists and slammed them together. However, rather than it being an attack aimed at the creature, he sent a fluttering array of light at Jamal.

“STAB IT WITH THE SWORD, AND THEN AT THE THING!”

Jamal nodded and spun his sword up, stabbing the array of light. He suddenly felt an insanely strong pull, as though his sword wanted to run away from him. Shit, why is it so strong?!

Rather than fumbling, he just used the momentum and spun in place, urging Mana to convert into ‘Sword Energy’, his secondary resource bar, adding a milky-white color to the mix before cutting the sword in a downward arc, barely reaching the creature.

The ensuing explosion ripped him from his feet and flung him into the air, tossing him nearly fifty feet back and rendering him full of injuries. Though Diya quickly healed them, the throbbing sensation of pain within his mind still remained, as did the blood that now covered every inch of his body.

Luckily, his suffering was not in vain as there was now a gash of extinguished fire running through the creature’s back; it tossed and tumbled, clearly enraged, before suddenly heaving to the sky and growling out so loudly it shook the arena. Right after, it began to rain fire, each drop a bolt that scorched the world.

Ryle bent forward slightly and focused his eyes onto Jamal, causing the latter to shudder.

Noticing it, Rick ran in a full sprint to the creature's side and used 'Guardian', sucking up Mana from the surrounding area into his shield that he then slammed straight into the creature's leg, tossing it onto the ground.

The fire continued to pelt on them as he noticed his health dropping more quickly than Diya was healing him. Frowning, he took out and quickly bit down a pearie, noticing that everyone else had done the same. Jamal scurried away from the corner and rejoined Cain who was also frowning.

"... I don't mind hot showers, but man, this ain't it..." Jamal sighed, panting, and trying to catch a breath.

“... ignore the small fry,” Cain called out to Emma and others, surprising them. “We go big at this fucker and finish it off quickly.”