V3.C6 Magma serpents, Hellfire
Entering the 49th floor through stairs, he found no magma river, rather it was a large room.
A pair of more than hundreds of fiery eyes locked on them. Ox, hedgehogs, and lizardmen like monsters and some sort of wyvern spewing beam of magma from its mouth. The bat monsters were too much to count.
Leo hurriedly took out [Walking Fortress] to block the incoming surge of magma.
"Yue, prepare frost prison and shoot when I say."
Her face turned serious. "Okay."
"Shea, take out the troublesome ones from the side."
"Roger~"
She shot ice bullets while peaking, her body trembled in fear when magma nearly hit her bunny ears.
The large wave stopped for a few moments, giving them the opportunity to retaliate.
"Now."
Cold ice covered an area of 50 meters, freezing nearly a quarter of the enemies.
"Prepare another!"
"On it!"
"I'll go there," said Shea and charged out of the shield.
Twisting her body in midair like an acrobat, she dodged the beam of blazing fire.
"ORYAAAA!!!"
She hit the ground while evoking Shock skill imprinted on her hammer. Almost half of the bat swarm got obliterated in one hit while pushing back the rest of the sturdy monsters. One wyvern's throat lit up like up a lamp, it gathered a large amount of fire. Leo saw this and smirked, the wyvern exploded head the next moment, while the rest of its throat froze. The heat with nowhere to go exploded like a bomb and took down a group of bats with it.
He kept an eye on the wyverns and shot the ones attacking. Another round of frost prison finished off the bat swarm. Several lizardmen attacked Shea with spears made of fire, making her retreat to the party.
Leo wind blades cleaned the rest of the mob.
Yue wiped the sweat from her brow and looked at him with a 'Praise me' expression. He stroked her hair for a minute before Shea also joined.
A sudden rumble interrupted their moment. The party took a cautious stance, ready for a fight. They blinked in surprise as the two large walls parted slowly and revealed an arched-gateway with stairs to the next floor.
"Next floor is last, I think."
"...Yeah, same as a hydra."
"But we won't lose this time."
"If it's a large monster, then I'll smash it with my hammer~."
They collected the mana crystals and put every wyvern body in Yue's ring. It might be suitable for some crafting materials.
'108000SP now.'
They rested for a while and entered the 50th floor from the stairs.
The stairs ended at a cliff, the party stood there and gazed at the vast ocean of magma below, flare-like pillars shot up every now and then.
"..Is this the final floor?"
She pointed at the island below them. It was shaped like a dome, magma surrounded it from three sides.
"I think so too, be ready for anything," he said and readied the shield for any unexpected attack.
The party hopped on the island. A sudden barrage of blazing fire attacked them. He tightly gripped the shield and defended the blast of magma.
The wave seemed to be endless. It already pierced through the diamond protection of the shield.
"Yue!"
She erected an advanced-level barrier. The magma slid down the barrier to the floor.
Leo concentrated a large amount of mana in his hands, Yue seeing this took back the barrier.
The mana filled ice breath in his hands lowered the surrounding temperature by a few degrees, the hail of frost clashed against the blazing flames, forming a wall of steam and clouded their visions. The smoke settled moments later, allowing them to see the magma frozen solid.
Roar~
They didn't get a moment to relax as a serpent jumped from the magma ocean. Red magma coated half of its body peaking through the ocean. It didn't wait and charged straight at the party.
Leo summoned Nemean spear and dashed forward. The serpent widely opened its jaws as if trying to swallow him whole.
"Pierce"
The red tip of the spear glowed bright red, creating a distraction for the serpent. He took the opportunity to stab the spear in its jaws.
The serpent head exploded and its body collapsed and slowly slid in the magma ocean.
"Easy?"
"Shea, stop doing it!"
Shriek~
A piercing noise reached their ears, Shea covered her bunny ears in panic. A moment later, a serpent sprang from the ocean, half of its limp head dangling and slowly attaching itself to the body.
'Regeneration? It will have some weakness.'
He concentrated his senses while activating detect mana to notice a ball of mana moving throughout its body.
'That must be the core, then I just need to crush its whole body with the core.'
He strengthened his right hand with mana, focusing 12000 stats of strength solely on his right hand.
He raised the spear over his head and threw it with all his strength.
Kaboooom~
The spear became a blur and crashed against the snake with ear-splitting noise. The serpent burst into pieces of magma along with its core, he hurriedly recalled the spear that was about to fall in magma.
He felt a sudden chill from behind. Following his instincts, he hurriedly rolled to the side.
""Watch out!""
Crunch~
A magma serpent closed its jaws on the place he stood before. He stored the spear and shot aurora breath at the monster, it melted down the serpent body slowly with its core.
He sighed seeing the SP melting in front of him. Another twenty serpents rose from the ocean and simultaneously fired masses of flame at the party.
He thrust his hands, a compressed ice beam stopped the ones heading for him. Yue also defended herself along with Shea.
Shea leaped at the Serpents and blew their heads one by one. He regrouped with the party.
"Cover me for a while. I'll charge the big gun."
"Roger~"
"Of course."
He thrust both of his hands forward and gathered mana, compressing blood-red fires in the shape of an orb.
'It's not enough, more destruction!'
He kept increasing the mana and compressing the flames until it became pitch black. Half of his monstrous mana reserves were depleted on the tennis ball-sized orb.
"MOVE!"
The pitch-black ball flew towards the serpents.
A chill ran down his spine when he looked at the pitch-black orb.
'Crap, I went too far.'
A vision flashed through Shea's mind.
"Leo-san! Use your shield and defend it with everything!"
Hearing the urgency in her voice, he didn't waste any time.
"Get back, here," he said and equipped the shield with maximum defense mode and activated diamond protection of the shield.
"Shea! Support the shield with everything you got."
"Okay."
"Yue, cast hallowed grounds."
"...Got it."
The black sphere fell on one serpent head, it didn't dodge like it'd fear such a puny attack.
Black flames erupted from the ball as the center, it slowly engulfed one-tenth of the magma ocean. Everything within the area was annihilated without a trace.
Leo looked at the tiny black sphere increasing its radius without stopping. It devoured everything it touched, and dyed the world itself black. Yue used every bit of mana in her barrier to halt the explosion. But the barrier lasted for a few seconds before it was shredded into pieces. An impact of thousands of tons crashed against his shield. He gritted his teeth and strengthened his legs and firmed his grip on the ground.
Blood veins on his hand burst from the pressure and sprayed blood. Shea's hands trembled furiously, her mana was already hitting its bottom.
"As if I'll lose to my own creation! Limit break!"
Blood-red mana covered his body, he was still slowly pushed back.
The explosion ended after a few seconds. Shea fell on the ground in exhaustion. Yue hurriedly gave them a vial of ambrosia.
"Leo-san, what the hell were you thinking? That explosion was too much," She started sobbing. "Hic, I saw all of us dying."
He embraced her tightly and patted her bunny ears, Yue also patted her back gently until she stopped crying.
'That person wasn't Leo-san, how can he…'
She put more strength in her hands and hugged him harder.
He stopped the limit break skill and a sudden feeling of exhaustion hit him. He drank ambrosia to relieve some of it and gazed at the destruction caused by a small ball of flame, the magma level in the ocean fell down considerably. They were standing at the shore, any surface before them vanished entirely.
'What if it was a human city? Just how many will die in one attack? Only the aftershock would be enough to kill behemoth level monsters.'
[Skill 'Hellfire Orb' acquired]
[Hellfire Orb] (Active skill)
A compressed orb of hellfire flames, only for those who love chaos and destruction.
[Quest completed: Clear Gruen Volcano Labyrinth]
Difficulty: A+
Rewards obtained: Permanent 5% on all items, 10000SP
He ignored the overly bizarre description of his new skill and said, "I didn't know about its might, I'm sorry."
Yue shook her head. "...It's fine, just tell us beforehand... if you do something like it."
He nodded his head gratefully and consoled the sad rabbit girl for a while. He checked the shield, more than half of it was vanished without a trace.
'I'll repair it in Ankaji.'
Shea cheered up a little after some time.
"Leo, look at the wall."
He noticed light shining on the wall behind them. He narrowed his eyes to see a row of shining crystal buried in the wall. He followed the light and discovered a black building there.
He looked at Yue and Shea. "Shall we?"
"Of course~."
"...Nn."
