"AHHH!!!" Matthew scread from excruciating pain. While his rank and level made his durability far exceed that of a normal human many tis over, hot lava might not lt his face the way it would an ordinary person, but the pain of it was still like having boiling tar splashed directly onto your skin.
"Derek!" Still in the middle of it he shouted for help. Derek, who was holding the boss aggro, had to make a split second decision while the molten claw of the Salamander swept down on him with brutal force.
The floor cracked as Derek was driven into the thin black rock, fractures spreading across the boss room in every direction. A bad sign for everyone involved, except perhaps the Salamander, which could live in lava regardless.
"Get Matthew out! I will buy you so ti!" Rowan switched to the AA-20 and blasted the Salamander’s face. Without [Soul Devourer] it only chipped away at the armored plating, leaving a small dent and exposing the bright fla-like skin underneath.
Then ca the bad news. The cracks reford almost imdiately, hardening back into black crust as the Salamander howled and began gargling in its throat again, this ti with a smaller buildup.
Rowan’s focus sharpened as he ran straight toward it.
GZZZT!!
The Salamander scread, but instead of a wave of lava it fired a volley of black rock pellets from its mouth.
Rowan dashed and slid under its belly, blasting along the way, cracking its stomach lining and sending it stumbling from the internal damage. With that level of injury it turned its attention from Derek to him and swiped.
Rowan raised his axe with his free hand and deflected the blow, but the force of it was enough to send him swaying left and right with each rhythm of its strikes.
He glanced over and saw Derek successfully pulling Matthew clear. Matthew had returned to his normal size but his eyes were charred shut and he was shouting in pain.
"Just get the hell out! I can’t open my eyes!" Even with Sarah using water magic to cool the burns and Amy running her healing wave to restore the damaged skin, Matthew was nowhere near recovered from being covered in lava.
’He tanked the boss’s opening move head on. I cannot believe he fell for that.’ Rowan noticed his axe beginning to shimr with a faint blue ripple of water. Sarah had split her focus to enchant his weapon as well, buying more ti for the others to recover.
"What the hell are you people waiting for? MOVE!!" Matthew acted up and shouted. His eyes were scarred red, his vision reduced to a blur.
He wanted out while Rowan still had the boss’s attention.
But with terrain like this, a full retreat was impossible.
The boss would just chase them all the way out regardless.
The mbers looked at each other while Rowan stalled the fight.
"Move it or get ready, because my brother is going to hear about this!" His words made them shiver. Matthew’s brother was an A-rank hunter, and at that level you could break a law or two before anyone caught up with you.
Getting his beloved brother blinded was a grave enough excuse for him to act, and even if it was not, one word from him and their careers as hunters were finished.
It took 10,000 hunters to equal the worth of a single A-rank, and even more so in practice, because there was no way 10,000 ordinary hunters could clear an A-rank dungeon together.
Rowan saw Derek hoist Matthew onto his back and shout, "We’re leaving! Hurry!" He tried to call out to Rowan but could not do much with an injured man on his back.
"I’m okay!" Rowan called back. "I’ll hold it off, you all go first!"
His movents began to quicken as the cracking floor opened a massive crater between them.
[Dash]
Rowan’s movent accelerated to the point where he beca a blur in the party’s eyes.
"Ugh!" Sarah cursed under her breath. She opened her pack and poured out her entire water reserve, channeling all of it into a full enchantnt on Rowan.
The heat suddenly lifted as a shimring aqua aura settled across him. Not only did it push back the temperature, it also relaxed his muscles, boosting his speed and flexibility even further.
"It will only hold for about a minute. Be careful!" As much as she hated the decision, this had beco a rescue mission, and as a support her place was with the main party. Sa went for Amy. As a close range healer she could not do much to help him from here.
But Rowan showed no sign of concern. "Just go!!" He shouted, urging them along.
"Yeah, what he said!" For the first ti, Matthew agreed with Rowan. The pain in his eyes was unbearable and he was terrified of going blind if he stayed inside this scorching ss any longer.
All three pushed through their hesitation and ran, moving as fast as they could. The sooner they got Matthew to safety, the sooner they could co back for Rowan.
But as they left, they all knew the situation was getting dire.
The boss room was shrinking and breaking apart. What had been one massive platform was fracturing into many smaller ones.
Each ti Rowan landed on one to dodge the Salamander, the impact cracked the piece further until it broke off and fell into the lava below.
The Salamander could not catch Rowan, so it turned its head down and subrged, circling beneath him.
It thought the lava could conceal it. But Rowan’s soul sense reached far beyond what lava could hide.
It suddenly burst out of the pool with its neck swollen to the brim with molten rock, prid to do exactly what it had done to Matthew and Derek.
But it had miscalculated one thing.
[Soul Devourer]
The ghostly bullet blasted through its neck and tore it apart. The massive reservoir of stored lava was now punctured full of holes, pouring out freely as its brain and internal organs were riddled through rather than filled with molten rock.
’Now that there are no spectators, you are just a at sack to .’ If an opponent had no magical or soul-based defense, it did not matter how thick their scales were.
Against him it was useless.
The Salamander was confused, frightened, and near death. It scrambled desperately to pull itself away, but Rowan had already taken aim.
"Thank you for helping realize I can definitely clear D-rank dungeons now."
BANG!
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