Unlimited Power 03: The Sinful Ruler

"I suppose… that is why the mission is harder than the golems," Lana said. "I am starting to miss the pool of mud."

"We should gather some hide of the salamanders and then protect some parts of our bodies," Louise said.

"Yeah, you should," Jake said.

Jake and Karina probably can endure if some of the magma falls over them… for a few seconds, but that was another matter with Louise and Lana. They didn't have Mana Shield yet. While they were working on that, Jake used Appraisal on the boss.

Elder Salamander

Lv 70

Fire/Poison

Health: 17.500/17.500 (7)

Mana: 29.800/29.800 (7)

Stamina: 10.900/10.900 (7)

Strength: 300

Dexterity: 450

Speed: 300

Intelligence: 850

Endurance: 600

Control: 600

Mentality: 400

Luck: 530

Recovery: 4200

Willpower: 400

Coins

"In terms of status alone, this one should be at least thirty percent stronger than the golem…" Jake thought as he furrowed his eyebrows.

Since the specialty of the enemy was ranged fire attacks, it wouldn't be weird to say that the difficulty spiked more than fifty percent. Nevertheless, the idea of grinding for a few more days never crossed Jake's head. It would be a lot more fun to defeat the boss with his current strength.

The girls, aside from Karina, didn't need much mobility, so they made sure to cover all their gear with the salamanders' hide. Even though it made them smell like blood, and it was also pretty heavy.

"Using Earth Wall might only increase the number of lava pits in this place, so I will avoid using that if possible," Louise said. "It might increase the difficulty, but I will focus on the attack to make the battle end as soon as possible."

Jake nodded after hearing that since it was probably the best idea. Once that was done, the group entered the last room of the dungeon, and they quickly felt the temperature rising alongside the Elder Salamander. Usually, bosses would be like only two times bigger than the ordinary monsters. Still, that one was three times bigger and around the same amount intimidating.

The boss decided to welcome the challengers with a warm welcome… naturally, the welcome was a powerful Flamethrower that couldn't be compared to the ordinary salamanders. Jake raised his shield and blocked the attack, but even so, he could feel his legs burning…

Despite that, Jake moved toward the monster since Karina was behind him, and she would need some space to run and attack. However, before she could do that, Jake used his dark flames and burned the creature's face forcing the Flamethrower to stop. Once that was done, Jake charged toward the monster and swung his katana after jumping. However, the monster stopped him with a head-butt. While Jake was being pushed backward in the air, he still fired five Mana Blades toward the creature's face, making the monster forget about Karina and focus solely on him. In the end, instead of aiming for the head, Karina disappeared in the back of the enemy and attacked its tail. Jake could see the monster losing fifty points of health several times in a single second, but then the creature swung it and forced Karina to run away.

"Ah, yes… the tail don't have much endurance," Jake thought.

It was a pity, but Jake couldn't attack there, not to mention the monster was so big that Louise's spells won't reach it either. Nevertheless, Jake dashed toward the boss again before the creature could increase the scope of Flamethrower, and while the beast opened its mouth and made him sweat bullets, Jake stopped it once again by using Flames of Wrath.

The creature grunted in pain while another burn mark appeared and annoyed it. Jake used that chance to try to attack the boss' face again, and while the monster tried to head-butt him, he deflected by using Bash, Double Strike, and Sonic Trust in a single moment. Now that the monster was wide open again, Jake fired several other Mana Blades.

"Might as well go all out since getting close to this beast is a pain," Jake thought.

Jake knew that he couldn't use potions against a boss of that magnitude, so he gave his to Lana to use when she deems fit. After using so Mana Blades, Lana did exactly that, and when some mana potions broke on his back, the liquid restored his mana. Before the monster could open its mouth again, Jake bombarded the freak with Mana Blades. While that caused some damage, the boss got enraged, and then with its fury, the lava pits began to explode and make lava hit everyone.

Even Jake clenched his teeth when someone touched the unprotected parts of his arms, making him lose ten percent of his health. For some reason, the girls didn't make any noise, and Jake assumed that it was thanks to Lana's barrier. Nevertheless, Karina finally jumped on the monster's back before the creature could keep using that attack. She then hit the nape of the monster with her daggers. However, much to everyone's surprise, she only caused around one thousand points of health… As if that wasn't troublesome enough, the monster made some lava orbs spin around its head for a moment and then fired them at Karina. While she blocked the direct hit, some droplets fell on her, and then she suffered damage with it and when she fell to the ground.

Jake clicked his tongue in annoyance… what a fucking beast to force him to attack using only Mana Blades… Jake swung his sword around and fired so many Mana Blades that his mana was emptied in a matter of seconds, but at least he forced the monster to look at him again.

"Calm down, Jake," Lana said. "I can't focus only on using potions on you."

Jake ignored Lana's complaints and then prepared to attack, but the monster used Flamethrower on him again to stop him. As if that wasn't enough, the creature also makes some green darts appear and then fly toward him. Now Jake will have to deal with the poison…