Bob had been happy, initially, with the new Dungeon. Sure, it was a bit warm, what with all the lava streaming down from the lip of the volcano, but it hadn't been nearly as hot as the tunnels in the Dungeon next to their settlement. The less said about the Dungeon at the pole, the better.

His enthusiasm had waned when it started raining flaming boulders.

Assuming their theory was correct, the appearance of the Irth as antagonists started to fill in a few blanks. They looked like an ice attuned version of the Eire. They'd had to fight their way up the volcano, and then they'd had to fight their way down inside of it. They'd killed over a thousand lava elementals, and over a hundred Irth, but they'd finally reached what appeared to be the final battle.

It looked like some sort of industrial control room, sized for the ten foot tall Irth. There were a dozen Irth guarding what was likely the boss, who was two foot taller, and focused on a control panel covered in dials and wheels.

One of the Irth noticed their presence immediately, and shouted in warning, drawing the others to form a barrier between the party, and the boss.

His team was familiar with the Irth's capabilities, and as one they rushed forward, not wanting to give the Irth the opportunity to pepper them with stone-cored ice lances. The room wasn't large, perhaps fifty feet to a side and twenty feet tall, so the Irth's formation would need to be broken for them to get to the back.

Or it would have, if they hadn't had a preponderance of spellcasters.

While Jack, Mike, Elli, and Wayna crashed into the formation, Bob, Amanda, and Eddi dropped their summons around the boss, with Auruffra and Rexy hitting him from the sides, and Jake raking his back.

Bailli and Dave lashed out, utilizing the damage conversion ability of their Mana-Infused Focusing Staves, targeting their Fire Blasts on one of the Irths Mike was engaging.

The Irths weren't just taking the attacks, as they lashed out, proving why they were more dangerous than the lava elementals as they focused their attacks. Mike was full defensive, taking cover behind his shield while at the same time moving it to intercept as many blows as he could. Despite his prowess, he still took a lance to the shoulder, and one to the shin, while his shield protected him from most of the blows, but some of that force still transferred through, straining his arm and shoulder as the muscles bruised and tore.

Jessica was bouncing her heals across Jack, Mike, and Wayna by barraging her Anima Blast. Wayna's Anklyasaurus form allowed her soak nearly as much damage as one of the primary beacons, and when she whipped her tail forward, the club at the end broke the sound barrier, delivering crushing blows.

Harv and Elli had effectively peeled two of the Irth off, with Harv raising a wall behind and beside the two saboteurs, forcing them to face the experienced adventurers. The Irth seemed to have a divine magic type of build, as they weren't physically strong or fast. Elli was a balanced swordsman, and beyond his attributes and System granted skills, a man who had dedicated his life to the art of swordsmanship. His Magma Infused Heavy Sabre, left deep, angry slashes in the Irth as he flowed around the larger humanoid.

The first Irth fell three seconds into the battle, unable to defend itself from the combined blasts from Dave and Bailli. The next fell two seconds later to Elli. Like dominos, the Irth began to fall more rapidly, the second facing Elli in two seconds as Dave and Bailli focused it down, allowing Harv to drop his wall, and Elli to flank the formation, then the next a second later as the two nukers finished the Irth that had taken a beating from Wayna.

Harv had spent years fighting alongside, or usually slightly behind, Elli. He knew how his friend would move at any given moment, which allowed him to work with him in a display of incredible synergy. Mike was an easy read in comparison. Harv raised a series of pillars that softened the impact of the blows raining down on the former detective, which in turn allowed Jessica to drop an Anima Blast on him, rather than adding another effect over time stack.

Meanwhile, the summons had done their best to distract the boss from whatever it had been doing at the console. They'd actually been trying to kill it, but they'd been wildly unsuccessful. Auruffra and Rexy both had been killed twice, while Jake had continued his assault, alternating between hissing furiously and honking as he lashed out. The boss had discovered that attacking the UtahRaptor was an exercise in frustration, as after the shield and the healing effect were taken into consideration, it would have taken several consecutive blows to end the beast. So, the boss had popped the other two summons and accepted the damage from Jake as he worked the dials, wheels, and levers.

The group blew through the last of the Irth, who shouted loudly, warning the boss that the party was coming.

"Get him off that console!" Jack shouted as he rushed toward the boss, who was ignoring the party in favor of completing his task.

Harv gestured, and wall of stone rose between the boss, and all but one two of the dials, upon which the boss had his hands.

Harv was aware of the limitations of spells, even more so after he'd started practicing the more targetted aspects of Necromancy. Attempting to encase the boss in stone wouldn't work very well, as it would pit his spellcasting power against the boss's matrix, and he wasn't confident in winning that challenge. But by sculpting the spell around the rest of the controls, and avoiding the boss, he'd effectively obscured and blocked the remaining controls, and given the way the boss had been moving his hands from one dial or wheel to another, he expected that to work just as well.

Snarling the boss slammed his fists against Harv's wall, punching through it, but not destroying it. Harv repaired the wall in the next moment, leaving the boss with access to a gauge and and a dial, neither of which it appeared were what he wanted.

It was at that the moment that the rest of the party crashed into the back of the boss.

With a roar, it spun to face the group.

"Baldarkurax will not be denied this world!" the boss roared.

Bob didn't have time to consider the implications of his being able to understand the boss, as it gestured and glacial ice exploded out around it, a whirling maelstrom of razor sharp ice that pierced deeply into Elli and Wayna, while leaving deep gashes in Mike and Jack. Auruffra and Rexy were almost killed immediately, while Jake took damage beyond what his shield and ongoing healing effect could cover.

Eddi and Amanda dropped their focus on their summons, and cast summon mana-infused object, creating a bulwark against the storm of ice, behind which Wayna and Elli took cover. Jessica and Erick burned into their mana pools, spending mana to pick up an extra bounce on their barrage, each of the healing all four of the beacons.

Jack and Mike were grimly bashing away at the boss, ignoring the blood streaming from their wounds as they tanked it. They weren't alone, as Jake had gone into a beserk rage, his honks muffled as he tore at the boss with his teeth as well as his razor sharp obsidian scythes.

Dave and Bailli were dumping their mana as well, sending veritable swarms of barraged fire blasts through the boss's ice storm, and while it seemed to weaken the blasts, the sheer numbers, as well as the vicious effect, was taking its toll.

"Insects! Filthy Vorstrach worshipping whores!" The boss screamed, his voice laden with hate.

The ice storm that surrounded the boss increased in speed, and shards of stone were added to the already deadly ice.

The bulwark protecting Elli and Wayna was destroyed, but it had served its purpose, protecting the two beacons. The increased power of the storm tore into Mike and Jack, and the streams of blood became torrents as the blades penetrated their armor. Jake had lost all of his feathers at this point, which only served to show that an ambulatory plucked turkey should have had it's own horror movie back on Earth as the denuded UtahRaptor continued his assault.

Dave and Bailli were putting everything they had into their barraged blasts, and their mana pools were rapidly emptying. They could only maintain that expenditure for a few seconds, a situation shared with Jessica and Erick, who were following the same strategy of piling healing into Jack and Mike.

Now without cover, and knowing that the summoners would need a full second to recast the spell, Elli and Wayna crashed into the boss as well, adding their own attacks.

The boss, while having unleashed a truly devastating attack, was in rough shape. Blue-ish white blood was fountaining from a variety of wounds, and as the party pounded it with blows and magic, it staggered.

"Keep it up!" Mike shouted, slamming his blade into the boss.

The boss let out a wordless shout of pain and rage. The maelstrom of ice and stun rushed in to cover the boss in a sphere, which then immediately exploded outwards as the boss detonated.

The blast took out Jake completely, with chunks of diced and frozen UtahRaptor pelting the party, while Mike, Jack, Elli, and Wayna were thrown back halfway across the room, where they lay stunned, and leaking like seives.

Bob started throwing his own Animancy Blasts as Erick and Jessica frantically cast their spells.

It only took a few seconds to repair their torn and battered bodies, but Mike and Jack remained on their backs for a moment.

"Fuck," Mike grumbled, sitting up a second later.

"I think that's the closest I've ever come to dying," Jack groaned as he staggered to his feet.

"That was a pretty brutal blast," Bob agreed.

Jack lurched over to the control panel, Harv gesturing to lower what was left of the wall that he'd raised to cover it.

"It's a drill, I think," Jack muttered as he ran his hands over the dials.

As Jack spoke, a pair of System notification windows appeared.

Quest Advanced!

Irth sabotuers are attempting to interfere with the grand design! They have redirected a crucial magma flow and created a volcano that threatens to destabilze the core, and to flood the sky with ash, cooling the world and killing the nascent life you've worked so hard to create!

Destroy one thousand Lava Elementals! Complete.

Destroy one hundred Irth Saboteurs! Complete.

Locate the magma diversion and set it back on course! Complete.

Destroy the Irth responsible for this cowardly attack! Complete.

Bonus Objective!

You have discovered that the Irth were using a drill to divert the flow of magma, and you have stopped the drilling. The magma will form a natural plug, blocking the flow to the volcano above. One of your party members possesses the capability to take control of the drill, using it to backfill the well the Irth created, preventing the volcano from being a future threat.

Backfill the tunnel using the Irth Drill.

"Looks like it's your time to shine," Dave said.

"I can't believe the System is asking him to fill in the hole," Amanda shook her head.

"That was bad, and you should feel bad," Jessica replied.

"Even the System acknowledges that when it's time to pack it in, I'm the right man for the job," Jack said as he continued to study the control panel.

"Blah blah, I want to see our quest rewards!" Eddi was practically vibrating.

"This is actually pretty damn impressive," Jack muttered, tapping a dial, then turning a wheel and throwing a lever before studying another dial.

"How's that?" Mike asked, wandering over to the control panel.

"The drill is not only sectional and flexible, but you can control the diameter as well," Jack replied. "If I increase the diameter at the back, reverse the rotation and the threads and slowly back it up, the sidewalls will collapse behind it, sealing the tunnel."

He twisted two more wheels and a dial, before throwing another lever. "That's done, it'll take a few hours, but it's sorted."

The System notifications popped up.

Quest Advanced!

Irth sabotuers are attempting to interfere with the grand design! They have redirected a crucial magma flow and created a volcano that threatens to destabilze the core, and to flood the sky with ash, cooling the world and killing the nascent life you've worked so hard to create!

Destroy one thousand Lava Elementals! Complete.

Destroy one hundred Irth Saboteurs! Complete.

Locate the magma diversion and set it back on course! Complete.

Destroy the Irth responsible for this cowardly attack! Complete.

Bonus Objective, Backfill the tunnel using the Irth Drill! Complete.

Calculating Rewards.

Quest Complete!

You are the first user to enter this Dungeon!

Clear this Dungeon to receive a reward! Complete.

(All Quest goals must be completed during the user's first entry)

Calculating reward.

Dungeon 801972G610N497ISS6PM63D Completely cleared. 1,782 Lava Elemental Manifestations dispersed. Scenario anchor "Irth Commander" Discovered. Irth Drilling machine discovered. Scenario anchor "Irth Commander" defeated. Irth drilling machine stopped. Hidden scenario objective discovered. Tunnel backfilled to prevent future eruptions.

User may select from the following rewards.

600 energy crystals.

1 Lava Affinity Crystal

Blessing of Vorstach

Bane of Baldarkurax

Lava Infusion

"I think that we have find and complete the hidden objectives to get the good loot," Dave said, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

"What's the difference between Lava Affinity and Magma Affinity? I mean, we call it magma below ground and lava above ground, but it's all just molten earth," Mike grumbled.

Lava Affinity Crystal.

This item, when consumed by a user before accepting a path, will confer the Lava Affinity. This acts as an Elemental Earth Affinity, as well as an Elemental Fire Affinity, with the later operating at half value.

When consumed after the user has accepted a path, the user will receive both the School of Elemental Earth, and the School of Elemental Fire. If the user already possesses the School, they will be allowed to select a skill from it.

This item may be used as a crafting material.

"So if you use both a Lava Affinity Crystal and a Magma Affinity Crystal, do you get both affinities at like, a hundred and fifty percent?" Jessica asked.

"You're such a munchkin," Amanda pulled Jessica into a hug.

'Trebor,' Bob mentally projected.

'I believe that combination would provide both a standard affinity as well as a lesser affinity in both schools,' Trebor replied.

"I think they stack, but don't add together, if that makes sense," Bob explained.

"That's still pretty hot," Jack said.