[Chapter 92. Fighting Two Battles at Once]
Heat washed over Searanox in heavy, suffocating waves even from his position at the tunnel entrance. The primary chamber radiated a blistering, artificial intensity far beyond anything he had experienced in his previous, uncorrupted runs of the Burrowing Depths. Through the shimring haze of distorted air, he spotted the massive, grub-like creature writhing near the center of the glowing pools. As the Golden Order team advanced, splitting into their practiced, highly efficient formation, Searanox's tactical instincts began to scream that sothing in the dungeon’s fundantal logic was about to go terribly wrong.
The Fla Spewer, now visibly infused with the jagged purple energy of the Void, rotated its massive, segnted body toward the intruders, arching its bloated front segnts upward with a wet, heavy sound. Its multi-layered maw gaped open, spewing not just the expected torrent of high-temperature flas, but a thick, viscous, neon-green sli. The burning torrent seed to fill Searanox's entire field of vision, the sheer scale of the attack making him instinctively take a half-step back into the shadows of the corridor.
When the initial flas finally subsided, leaving behind smoldering, hissing patches of burning sli on the blackened stone floor, Searanox nodded grimly to himself. The basic chanics were still there; just as Iris had described the creature's original pattern, the beast would unleash its primary breath attack and then imdiately dive into the safety of the pools to cool its internal organs. From his elevated vantage point, Searanox scanned the dozens of bubbling pools inside the chamber, his eyes tracking the ripples until he spotted the creature's head erging on the far side of the room.
Streams of concentrated fire from Valdor’s staff and enchanted arrows from Narina’s bow crisscrossed the chamber toward the Fla Spewer, only to be consud or deflected by another violent torrent of green flas and acidic goo. Aruru moved with deadly, predatory speed across the rocks, his blade a blur of silver, yet each ti he neared striking distance, the creature was already halfway subrged back into the viscous, green liquid of a different pool.
`This is a fucking ga of high-stakes whack-a-mole.` Searanox thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched the struggle from his relatively safe distance.
Several rapid dives and lunges later, the Fla Spewer surfaced dangerously close to Searanox's position at the tunnel mouth. Seizing the sudden opportunity, he shouldered his Magitech Rifle with practiced ease as all four of his active drones pivoted to fire in perfect unison with him. The cavern air filled with the pungent, sickening sound of burning alien flesh and a piercing, multi-tonal shriek as the creature recoiled from the concentrated violet beams. It pushed off the ground with a sudden, violent motion, jets of pressurized green fla shooting from smaller, circular holes along its sides like biological thrusters.
The Fla Spewer launched its massive bulk through the air, crossing several ters in re seconds, its trajectory aid directly away from the main party but into a position that allowed for a wide-angle retaliation.
The creature's bulbous head swiveled toward Searanox with predatory intent, and all he saw for a split second was a blinding, erald-green light. Intense flas filled his vision, the radiant heat searing his skin even from across the gap. In that frantic heartbeat, he acted on pure reflex, summoned three additional Defensive Drone. Their hexagonal barriers slamd together in mid-air, interlocking to form a solid wall that sealed the tunnel entrance completely.
Sickly green sli hissed and oozed down the translucent hexagonal plates, the corrosive liquid eating into the energy field. The air inside the tunnel grew dangerously hot, the oxygen thickening with the sll sulfur. The barriers held, though they began to crack under the imnse kinetic and thermal strain, sustained only by the massive overcharge of energy he had pumped into them. As the green flas finally died down, he dismissed two of the drones to conserve power. The remaining sli clinging to the vanished barriers plopped heavily to the floor, forming small, persistently flaming puddles of chemical fire.
"Go in. Provide fire support," Searanox commanded, and his remaining Offensive and Assault Drones shot forward into the main chamber like streaks of silver light.
The four drones hovered in a tight diamond formation in the center of the room, firing consistent pulses of crimson and violet energy whenever the larva erged from a pool. Under the relentless, automated pressure, the beast began to take damage faster than it had in the first minutes of the fight combined. Searanox watched the Golden Order team from the safety of his barrier, his eyes tracking their movents with a cold, analytical precision.
They were undeniably efficient, but their high-impact attacks were missing more often than they were connecting due to the creature's erratic movents. Occasionally, an arrow from Narina or a high-tier spell from Valdor would connect solidly, leaving a gaping, smoking wound in the beast’s side. If he had to guess based on its remaining health estimates, the fight would drag on for quite so ti. At their current rate of success, it might last as long as his grueling, near-death encounter with the Elental Dire Wolf.
His drones didn't hit nearly as hard as the specialized abilities of Astera's team, but they hit with chanical consistency. In a fight against a mobile or teleporting target, that consistency made all the tactical difference.
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Minutes began to bleed into each other as the attrition continued. The ambient heat in the chamber intensified until the air itself seed to shimr. Garu's four massive tower shields were now running with thick, burning sli, their enchanted tal glowing from a bright, dangerous orange to a dull, angry red. Narina's quiver appeared to be bottomless, another feathered shaft appearing on her bowstring the very instant the previous one was loosed. The only two mbers showing visible signs of physical strain were Aruru and Valdor. Aruru's movents remained precise, but the rhythm of his breathing had beco ragged and heavy. Valdor was leaning more heavily on his staff with each passing minute, the fires erupting from its tip now coming in shorter, noticeably weaker bursts.
Astera, however, stood serene and untouched in the geotric center of the chaotic chamber, a perfect, shimring sphere of golden light enveloping her. Waves of that sa golden light pulsed outward at regular intervals, washing over her allies each ti the Fla Spewer unleashed another devastating torrent of green fire. Searanox couldn't quite identify the specific spell effect—it could have been rapid regeneration, a boost to maximum stamina, or perhaps a purification ward against the sli's lingering corruption. The possibilities within the System were endless, and her mastery over them was absolute.
He remained at the tunnel entrance, a detached, cynical observer to their divine struggle. His drones had clearly made the difference, their relentless, chip-damage fire wearing the beast down faster than the Order's team could have managed through burst damage alone. But one specific detail began to nag at him—a small, tactical detail that didn't fit the natural rhythm of the battle. He had noticed it several minutes ago, and now, as the boss neared its end, it was undeniable.
Narina wasn't just watching the grub. She was positioning herself with extre care, her movents keeping Searanox squarely in her peripheral vision at all tis. He watched her nock a frost-enchanted arrow, her head tilted just so, her gaze flicking from the thrashing creature to him and then back again in a rhythmic cycle. It was subtle—the habit of a high-level professional scout—but he saw it for what it was. To fight a boss of that caliber while maintaining such a focused, lethal awareness on a potential ally.... threat, it was as impressive as it was deeply unnerving.
The Fla Spewer suddenly let out a final, agonizing shriek—a sound like tearing tal and boiling fluid. It convulsed one last ti, its thick, chitinous plates cracking wide open as the internal pressure reached its limit. Then it stilled, its massive, deflating corpse slumping into the glowing green pools. It was a death by a thousand cuts, delivered by hands of gold and relentless beams of violent light.
As the combat ended, burns and scorch marks were visible on every available inch of the Order’s bodies, their high-quality clothing scorched in jagged patches that still smoldered with green embers. From his distance, Searanox watched their wounds begin to knit together at a staggering, unnatural rate. His own specialized healing drones would have needed two or three full cycles per person just to match what Astera accomplished with a single, casual wave of her hand. She was a high-level healer, and the sheer scale of her power was undeniable.
Searanox dismissed both of his Assault Drones and one of the Defensive Drones, replacing them with a single Cargo Drone. His tech-point counter showed he was hovering in the lower five hundreds; the System window floating beside it displayed three active drones and a natural regeneration rate of four points per minute.
The cargo drone moved through the cooling chamber like a chanical Roomba, thodically absorbing the lingering, burning goop from the floor and dumping it safely into the nearest glowing pool. Even as her team began to tend to their equipnt and wounds, Narina's yellow eyes remained fixed on him, her gaze unwavering for at least eighty percent of the ti she spent conversing with Valdor and Garu.
Searanox stepped fully into the chamber, following the clean path cleared by his drone. From the side, Aruru's dry, raspy voice cut through the cavern air. "Victor, you are significantly stronger than your current level might suggest to the uninitiated."
Searanox turned his head slightly toward the warrior before giving a short, professional nod. "Singular, predictable beasts are my specialty. My drones thrive on them."
Searanox approached Astera, who still stood in the center of the chamber, faint waves of golden light still pulsing rhythmically from her form. The light washed over her companions, their severe burns knitting together at a staggering rate, but when the edge of the golden aura touched Searanox, nothing happened. His body remained unchanged, his minor scrapes and the lingering heat on his skin ignored by her magic.
"Astera," Searanox said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "Your healing is impressive. To sustain this many high-tier injuries at once must take a lot of focus. Do we take so ti to rest and recover here, or do we push through to the core?"
Behind him, Narina snorted loudly. "Rest? There is no such thing as rest inside a dungeon, Dhampir. You either move or you beco part of the floor."
"Narina is right," Astera said, her gaze drifting toward Valdor, who was currently drinking a glowing blue liquid from a small glass bottle. Several empty bottles already lay shattered at his feet. "We have spent only as many resources as we were willing to give. So of us, perhaps, more than others."
`Can't shake the feeling they're watching every single micro-movent I make.` Searanox thought, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the ground.
He quickly calculated his base Tech Points; the number was dangerously low for a deeper push. He accessed his System Shop interface with a ntal flick, purchasing a standard Mana Potion for fifteen silver pieces. Right now, to him, it was worth a hundred tis that price. He uncorked the bottle and drank the tasteless, shimring liquid in one go, watching his Tech Point gauge jump up by a solid hundred points.
"I see you are also parched of Ether," Valdor said, dropping another empty bottle to the stone floor with a clinking sound. "Maintaining those autonomous constructs must drain your internal reserves quite heavily. Nevertheless, you're still young in the ways of the System, so let give you so free advice. You should always have a few physical bottles at hand. There are certain zones and status effects that will prevent you from accessing the shop interface entirely."
"Yes, there are," Searanox replied, tossing his own empty bottle into a nearby pool of green liquid. "But summoning them in the first place drains nearly as much as maintaining them."
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