This won't work, Chilly thought. With the Living Embers lighting up the braziers behind him and still a half dozen braziers to go, he would never be able to extinguish them all. He would have to change his plan.

If targeting the braziers first didn’t work, maybe he could take down the boss through the onslaught of bombarding firebirds. Chilly rushed towards the Chrain, hunkering down as another set of fireballs washed over him. He endured the damage, coming out singed but mostly alright as Living Embers accentuated the damage. He unleashed Incinerate, watching the boss’s movements as he got into range.

The boss curled its wings inward, covering itself with its majestic plumage, which created a cocoon of living flame whose silhouette formed a teardrop of malevolent fire. It spun, cascading waves of yellow fire in expanding rings.

The first wave rushed outwards, liquefying rock, and causing the magma in the pools to grow just a little bit. It swept over Chilly, chunking a small but significant portion of his life as the Living Embers’ assault prevented his recovery.

Chilly's eyes flicked to his life bar, then widened as he saw several more waves approach. While one wave was not an issue, the many coming to him would be. He instantly stopped channeling, and cast Flame Dash to vanish in a flare of bright fire that transported him out of range.

Six more waves of yellow flame emanated out of the boss, causing the lava around it to hiss and sizzle. Luckily the waves of fire faded after only a short distance, their momentum lost before they could reach Chilly and harm him.

He ran around the room, making a beeline for the exit as he considered what to do. Living Embers harassed his every step, as the Chrain readied another set of fireballs. Low on health, and struggling to recover, Chilly raced out of the room, chaining Flame Dashes on cooldown to escape quickly. Despite his hasty departure, he could not escape the wave of white fire that rushed over him one last time.

He burst out of the room, and stumbled through the brimstone haze. Smoke rose from his damaged body, as pieces of freshly healed skin and armor dislodged stubbornly attached bits of ash. After a dozen steps, and another use of Flame Dash, Chilly stumbled over his own feet and fell to the floor with a crash.

He grunted, and rolled to his feet, panting as he carefully walked further away to ensure his safety. He kept an eye open to make sure that no Living Embers - or god forbid the Chrain itself - followed him out.

What a catastrophe, he thought grimly. Taking the braziers hadn’t worked, and getting into range of the boss was just asking to die. That didn't leave him with a lot of options. If he had an ability with a longer range, perhaps he would be able to gun down the boss from outside its circle of yellow fire, but from what he saw, he would need to nearly double the range on Incinerate for that to be an option. Flame Dash’s Arsonist augment did increase his range, but 40% increased area wouldn’t be enough. Perhaps if he also enchanted an axe or sword with an additional 20% or 30% then he would be able to reach, but then he would lose one of his shields. Without his inferior shield he was unsure if he would be able to tank the birds or the fireballs quite as well.

It would be so much easier if the Living Embers stopped harassing me, he thought. Without the Living Embers constantly reducing his life, there was actually a chance that he would be able to tank the wave attack that the Chrain unleashed. It only dealt around 20% of his life with each wave. There were seven waves, but that was easily manageable considering they were spaced out, which would allow his regeneration to rapidly recover the difference. With the orange haze in the air burning away at him and the Living Embers constantly attacking, he had no spare regeneration to dedicate to surviving the boss's main attack. He could barely sustain himself in the boss room when the boss used its arena wide fireball.

I just have to take down the braziers first, he thought. He could try to outrange the boss, but that path was dubious at best. As far as he could tell there was nothing else in the room that could assist him. The lava pools were a possibility, but he had no clue what he was supposed to do with them other than avoid them. Considering the Chrain was literally bathing in the stuff, it would definitely hurt him more than the fire monsters. Of course there was always the possibility that he couldn't take down this boss at his current level and gear, but that was just defeatist thinking. With enough skill any fight was possible. When he fought the Priest of Purity, he was able to control the boss and dictate what attacks it used, which allowed him to take it down even though he was not perfectly optimized to fight such a monster.

Could I break the braziers? He wondered. Curiously, he stepped towards one of the unlit braziers in the tunnel and grabbed it. He pulled as hard as he could but it didn’t budge. He slammed it repeatedly with his shield, attempting to disconnect it from the surrounding stone, but it still refused to move. That was a bust. Sadly, he wouldn’t be able to go into the arena and rip out the braziers, then chuck them out of the arena.

I just need to practice extinguishing them, he thought. He was relatively safe in the arena. If he didn't get too close to the boss there was not much that it or its minions could do to kill him. His regeneration was simply too high for that. That meant he could go in and practice extinguishing the braziers, until he got fast enough to remove them all before they were rekindled.

With new confidence, Chilly squared his shoulders and marched back to the arena. At the entrance, he charted a Hamiltonian path to efficiently extinguish each of the braziers, while making sure to avoid any lava pools which could not be easily traversed using Flame Dash.

With a plan determined, he set off. Ash sprayed from underneath his boots as he sprinted down the gentle slope towards the first brazier. A set of fireballs launched at him from the sub-boss, as Living Embers harassed him from above. He ignored them all, using Second Wind to bypass the cast time of Flame Dash, and instantly appear right on top of the target brazier. He grunted as the harsh iron stole his momentum, but immediately began the one second cast time for Flame Dash. He caught himself, using the edges of his shields to displace the formless flame. It vanished in a puff, just as Chilly himself vanished in a flare of bright fire right on top of the next brazier.

He extinguished that one as well, and flashed Incinerate in a quick arc around, taking out the closest Living Embers. He pushed off the brazier, using the added momentum to accelerate directly into a sprint. The next two braziers fell quickly, but a quick glance back revealed that one bird had managed to relight the first one.

Let’s see if I can outpace them, he thought, as he gritted his teeth against the increasing heat. He felt like a toad in a slowly boiling pot of water, in which the steadily growing pain wasn’t as debilitating as a sudden shock, but he was nevertheless going to end up cooked alive.

The next brazier’s flame vanished as the world went white from a fireball explosion. Chilly ignored the hindrance, turning blindly towards the next target, and advanced carefully so that he wouldn’t stumble into a pool of lava. The blinding light faded, and he cast Flame Dash and resumed his sprint.

The next brazier was precariously leaning out of a shallow pool of lava. Gingerly he reached over, using the iron pillar for support with one hand, and extinguished it with the other; meanwhile, behind him, another two relit.

Suddenly, a force slammed into his back. He twisted around to see four birds working in unison to push him forward. His hand slipped off of the brazier's support rod as the skin beneath his iron gauntlet seared off. He kicked a foot out in an attempt to rebalance, desperately beginning the cast time for Flame Dash. Time slowed as he failed to get a foothold.

His shoulders and back slammed into the molten rock, a hiss of steam creating a transient protective barrier, only for it to disappear a second later. He sunk into the thick liquid. Lava splashed over his chest, digging into his armor like acetone melting foam.

After an eternity of agony, his body imploded in a flare of bright fire. He appeared a second later, hacking up congealed blood and bits of ash that had found their way into his collapsed lung. Belatedly, he felt pain radiate up from his lower body. He blinked down, staring in incomprehension at his knees which were slowly sinking into the edge of a different lava pool.

In his haste to escape he had miscalculated with Flame Dash.

He screamed. More cinder than man, Chilly thrashed through the thick liquid, shedding pounds of flesh that formed a protective shell of ash around him, as he crawled out of the fiery grave.

Living Embers relentlessly bombarded him from above, preventing his regeneration and keeping him in a state of perpetual agony. He curled up, blindly flaring Incinerate upwards and around in a desperate bid for relief. Living Embers died, and his life began to tick up. But just as conscious thoughts began to peak out through the haze, another wave of white hot fire turned his vision black.

He silently screamed, becoming something primal as a boundless vitality warred against the incessant heat. His blood raged, his heart pumping with the drive of a locomotive, as a warm embrace wrapped around him. Starfire Aegis acclimated him to the fire, and little glowing crucifixes from beneath expunged the denatured flesh. Curled up in a ball, Chilly withstood the Chrain’s fire. He was built for this, defiant in the face of constant abuse.

White sclera manifested around brilliant irises, and his vision returned. Through a curtain of ash, he glared at the Undying Flame. His lower body was entirely encased in hardened lava and ash, restricting his movement in a form fitting armor. His hairless brows furrowed, as he transformed into a flare of bright fire to reappear on solid ground once again.

Armor repaired itself around him, making him decent, as he shambled out of the arena. The barrage of birds and fire bombs continued, but Chilly ignored them all. Compared to the lava, this was nothing.

He was out.

Chilly collapsed in a heap, panting hard with unfocused eyes staring into the distance.

Bloody hell, he thought. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to take in a slow, deep breath over four long seconds. He released, letting the air flow out in tune with his heart beat. Eight long seconds later his lungs were empty. Now cool and clean of ash and debris, he focused on the present, slowly remembering what it felt like to breathe with intact lungs.

Then he repeated the process.

For a couple of minutes, Chilly simply breathed.

He heard small feet on stone as the penguins gathered around in a reassuring huddle. He could almost feel their soft feathers despite their incorporeal nature. When his heartbeat slowed and thoughts recentered, Chilly opened his eyes. The white-blue feathers around him formed a stark contrast to the reds and blacks. Their presence somehow pushed back the ever present brimstone haze. He let the cool colors wash away the awful memory, burying it deep within the vaults of his mind.

“Guess what guys,” he chuckled wryly. “I found fantasy napalm.”

The penguins let out a collective sigh. High strung tension pouring out of them to be replaced with joyous relief. Chilly leaned his head back against the tunnel wall and closed his eyes again.

“I figured out how we can beat the shit out of the git,” he continued conversationally.

A penguin pointed at the room with a frown, then smashed its flippers together and shrugged.

“Mhmm. The lava cooled around me, yeah?” Chilly said. “We can use it to plug the braziers. With Flame Dash I can get rid of the extra lava that gets stuck to me.”

The penguins smiled, getting excited. They gestured for him to get on with it.

“Just...give me a second.” Chilly said, throwing a reluctant glance towards the arena.

Chilly sighed, but forced himself to stand. Defeating the Chrain was necessary, but...scary. If it was up to him, he would only go back once he was able to regenerate through the lava, but that might never happen, and then he might never manage to free Sooty.

In a reluctant shuffle, he made his way back to the boss room. He peered in, his eyes inadvertently drawn to the hollow half-statue of his lower body sticking out of one of the lava pools. He frowned and shook his head, clearing the unpleasantness and refocusing on his task.

The braziers had to go.

He jogged down the hill, absorbing the blows with stoicism. He reached the first brazier, and kneeled down, making absolutely certain that he was stable and wouldn’t get pushed in. With a grimace, he dipped his hand into the lava and scooped up a dollop of sticky, glowing lava that quickly hardened away from its heat source.

His flesh sizzled inside his iron gauntlet as he quickly stood and placed his hand over the brazier’s flame. The lava slowly gooped downwards, but before it reached the flame, Chilly Flame Dashed away using Second Wind.

Suddenly released, the dollop of lava plopped down into the brazier, extinguishing the flame as it hardened into black igneous rock.

Chilly scanned the birds, absorbing another eye searing burst of white fire as he used Incinerate to thin their population. It took seven birds for Chilly to find the one that was connected to the brazier that he had destroyed. It died like all the others, dropping the population by one. Hopefully in a permanent fashion.

Slightly singed, Chilly retreated back up the tunnel to heal and assess the situation.

The faint smile that he had forced onto his lips became more authentic as he carefully watched the covered brazier. Despite their best efforts, the Living Embers couldn’t reignite it, and nothing they did could detach the hardened igneous rock that obstructed the flame.

Chilly’s grin grew predatory, as he stared at the Chrain, preening indolently in the central lava pool.

“You’re next.” he whispered.

Over the next half-hour, Chilly calmly strode through the barrage of the bird attacks as he took care of each of the braziers one by one. He frequently retreated into the tunnel to recover and catch his breath, uninterested in hurrying and potentially making a mistake. The more he worked, however, the fewer Living Ember’s remained to harass him and the less necessary the breaks became.

The last dollop of magma solidified, and extinguished the final brazier. A quick flash of Incinerate eradicated the last of the birds. With a satisfied smile, Chilly turned to the boss.

The boss had been stationary up until now, maintaining its position around the central lava pool, content to barrage the area in long range sunlike projectiles, as its minions dealt damage to Chilly. It didn't seem intelligent enough to alter its strategy of only providing minor assistance to its minions, even though that strategy was something that Chilly could tank practically indefinitely. Now, however, with all the birds gone and the braziers extinguished, it finally seemed to change its mind.

Before the monster could attack, Chilly appeared at the entrance in a flash of fire, ready to duck out at a moment’s notice.

The Chrain slashed the air with its wings. Two spinning sickles of fire - that started small but crested bigger and bigger as they flew - arced towards Chilly. Halfway through, they got big enough to leave bleeding scores in the floor and ceiling as their edges melted the black rock.

Chilly dodged the first, but experimentally put his hand out for the second.

Chilly winced as his hand fell to the floor and he held his stump gingerly as bone and flesh erupted from the damaged limb. A moment later he was healed, his old hand the only grisly reminder of the event.

The Chrain slashed its wings again, once more unleashing two flame sickles that Chilly dodged easily.

With the boss’s new attack pattern understood, Chilly felt more comfortable re-engaging. He ducked forward, using Flame Dash and quick movements to dodge the barrage of sickle-like attacks that the Chrain was unleashing.

He got into range, and Star Fuel sent out a streamer of plasma to burn the sub-boss. Chilly instantly switched directions, strafing around the boss, at the edge of Star Fuel’s range.

The Chrain changed tactics. Instead of sending another pair of fire sickles his way, it curled up, its wings forming a teardrop shaped cocoon. Recognizing the attack, Chilly instantly backed up, as wave after wave of yellow fire expanded out of it in painfully bright rings.

Chilly hovered at the edge of the attack’s range. The seventh ring came and went, fading a foot in front of Chilly as he eyed the sub-boss. It unfurled from its cocoon and whipped its wings in quick arcs that sent a pair of fire sickles at him.

That’s it then, you’re done, Chilly thought, as he burst into a flare of bright fire and reappeared beyond the two sickles. The moment he landed, a twin stream of plasma and fire ripped out of him, and engulfed the Chrain. The boss let out a pained whistling warble, as the off color fire melded with its pure wings.

Chilly duck back out of range, as another cascading wave of fire erupted from the undying flame. He counted the seven waves then instantly teleported beyond the seventh to continue dealing damage to the boss.

The moment that it switched to unleashing its sickle-like slashes, Chilly dashed around it, dodging and sprinting in a circle to avoid the predictable projectiles.

And so Chilly dismantled the majestic bird who had taught him what it meant to taste fire. He plucked its plumage with the very element that embodied it, dancing around as he picked at its life pool with clinical efficiency.

The penguins on the side lines cheered with every missed blow, and every second Incinerate swaddled the Chrain. Chilly took their encouragement in stride, but didn’t let it distract him. He was angry at the sub-boss for hurting him so. But more at himself for making a mistake and allowing it to happen. This time he would be perfect. He would allow no hits to land. He wanted it to feel his frustration. He would make it learn what it means to challenge an untenable foe.

He was going to make this overgrown pigeon forsake its name.

An indeterminate amount of time later, the Chrain let out a mournful whistle. Its body flickered, and lost integrity as it lost its flame and its plumage withered to ash that floated gently down to rest on the pool of lava beneath.

Chilly paused. His eyes narrowed as he failed to see a notification indicating the kill. It was level 11. He should have received two experience points if he had killed it.

He channeled Incinerate at the remaining ash. They glowed with heat, but still no kill notification showed itself. He stopped channeling Incinerate, content to observe the situation for now.

A minute passed.

Another minute.

He noticed a faint stream of sparks traveling from one of the braziers towards the ash spread over the central lava pool. Curious, he went to investigate, seeing that the brazier had not been completely extinguished by the magma. Somehow the little formless flame had managed to survive being covered in lava. A little alcove in the hardened ingenious rock protecting it.

Chilly glanced back to the pool and back, then mercilessly slammed his shield into the igneous rock protecting the tiny flame. The rock shattered, brittle from the rapid cooling, and blew back into the brazier’s flame, extinguishing it in totality.

The stream of sparks between the brazier and the pool of lava ended, the rest of the ash floating on the surface disintegrated completely and vanished underneath. Instantly, the heat in the room diminished, but the brimstone haze that made every breath difficult, and inflicted the burning status ailment on Chilly, remained.

In addition to gaining experience from the boss, a pair of metal gloves floated onto the surface of the lava. Even from a distance Chilly could tell that hairline fractures were rapidly developing across its surface. He rushed over, shooting a quick identification to confirm that it was an item before he dove in. The moment his hand clasped around the gloves, he used Second Wind, and escaped the lava, only to bop his helmet into the hard ground since he’d been transported while diving down.

He rolled onto his back, pushing himself up, then inspected the gloves. They were made of some strange gray metal, with a red sheen that reminded Chilly of oxidized titanium. Wearing a whole suit of this armor would make him look like a shimmering dragon, albeit in human form, appearing to move even when standing still. Overlapping metal plates extended a hand's length beyond the wrist, providing protection up to his elbow should he put them on.

Mantle Gauntlets

Normal

Gloves

iLevel: 11

33 fire resistance

Fire resistance, Chilly thought, wonderful. With these, the coming fight with the last of the three sub-bosses would be easier. If he recalled correctly it was a lava golem of sorts. He would take it down, then be able to challenge Hellbringer and free Sooty from his eternal servitude.