Damon did not wait any longer and imdiately [Shadowstepped] next to the boss. Long-range was simply not going to cut it any longer. If they did not wipe out the boss within the next couple of seconds, he was going to get an insane regenerative buff, which might as well be the rebirth skill of the other guy.
If that happened, with both the snake and the boss still in play, and the insane heat of the environnt, they were simply going to get wiped out despite their overwhelming advantage. At the end of the day, a 30-player raid party required at least 20 players.
However, Damon was not anxious just yet. He had a backup plan. Well, he did not have a backup plan when they started, but now a plan sort of ford in his head.
As soon as he appeared behind the boss, Damon used his axe to strike a blow at the great lord. The Emberbrand Axe ignited mid-swing, trailing a blazing arc as Damon brought it down with all the montum he could muster.
The edge t Ignaros’s back in a brutal clash of power, flas, blood, and raw force exploding on impact. A chunk of molten armor shattered off, exposing burning flas underneath. The boss shrieked, body trembling as another chunk of his health disappeared.
But it was nowhere near enough to end it right then and there.
Damon decided to go with the plan. The next mont, he put away the axe. Instead, he summoned a blood lance in his right hand, and at the sa ti, he summoned a ball of fire in his left hand.
"Let’s see if this works."
Damon then slamd both his hands forward simultaneously, thrusting the [Blood Lance] into the exposed boss’s back while hurling the empowered fireball directly into the sa point.
The two spells struck in perfect sync.
The result was detonation.
A violent, elental rupture exploded outward as the fire spell fed off the blood magic, and the blood magic fed off the ambient heat and fire affinity Damon had accumulated. The convergence wasn’t neat, but it worked.
A brief system error flickered in his vision:
[Ding! You have learned a new skill.]
Damon ignored it and continued with the attack. He poured mana, blood energy, and rage into back-to-back attacks and finally...
CRACK!
A massive fissure ripped through Ignaros’s chest. His body erupted in gouts of uncontrollable fla. The twin suns in his eyes dimd. His hands trembled as he reached toward the serpent that was now half-risen from the lava.
"No..." Ignaros groaned. "I am... the End...!"
"Shut it." Damon imdiately grabbed the guy and sucked in his blood essence, not wasting a single drop. The serpent roared in anger and lunged towards him, but before it could reach him, Mark arrived like an insurmountable mountain, standing between the serpent and Damon.
As the colossal serpent lunged with a hiss that could shatter bones and stone, Mark t it head-on. The veins of light pulsing through his arms blazed like lightning trapped inside a living forge, and his right fist shot forward like a hamr thrown by a god.
BOOM!
The impact didn’t stop the serpent, but it did stagger it. A wave of force rippled out, knocking chunks of molten debris loose from the cavern ceiling and causing the lava pool to ripple as if startled. The serpent reared back with a hiss of fury, coils surging high into the chamber, but Mark held firm, defiant, a singular wall between the dying boss and the rising monster.
Behind him, Damon’s eyes glowed red as the final threads of Ignaros’s essence flowed into him like liquid fire.
[Ding! Bloodline Extraction Successful.]
[Ding! You have gained 3 intelligence points.]
[Ding! Fire Affinity 3]
[Ding! You have gained experience points.]
Notifications flickered at the edges of his vision, but he tuned them out. He dropped the corpse as soon as he was done with the extraction and charged ahead to the serpent.
Together, Mark and Damon made quick work of it, and the serpent couldn’t bring out its full fighting power without Ignaros. In the end, with another combined shot of Blood Lance and Fire Ball, Damon finished the serpent, absorbing all of its blood essence.
Damon stumbled a step backward, finally exhaling. Every single monster in the dungeon had been dealt with, and the dungeon was finally finished.
[Ding! You have defeated the Hidden Boss: Vorthrix, the Eternal Fla Serpent.]
[Ding! Bloodline Extraction Successful.]
[Ding! Skill Acquired: Molten Blood (Passive, B-Rank)]
—Your blood now carries a latent fire elent. Grants minor fire damage reflection and slightly enhances the potency of all fire-imbued blood spells.
[Ding! Fire Affinity 2]
[Ding! You have leveled up!]
[Ding! You have unlocked a new Trait: Lavaborn Resilience — Passive]
—Reduces environntal fire damage by an additional 10%. Grants immunity to terrain-based lava hazards.
Kate finally caught up, landing atop one of the remaining stable pillars. She looked down at the smoking remains of the serpent and then at Damon and Mark, both breathing heavily but standing tall amidst the carnage. "Okay... now it’s over, right?"
Damon gave her a tired thumbs-up. "Dungeon cleared. No more bonus bosses hiding in the lava, I promise."
Kate slumped against her staff and smiled. "That was fun."
A few more notifications rolled in, but Damon swiftly ignored everything and clicked on log out. There were only ten minutes before the server shut down, and he was completely exhausted after fighting back-to-back for so long.
Kate and Mark followed his example and did the sa. They both were tired as well after finishing the trials, and now the long dungeon. The fiery remnants of the dungeon dissolved around them into pitch-black nothingness.
Damon was the first one to wake up in the real world. He exhaled long and slow, blinking into the low light of his apartnt. He removed his helt and stood up to stretch his stiff body. His gaze then landed on his two friends.
Were they both going to wake up or...
Just as he wondered, one pair of eyes flashed open.
***
Golden Ticket Bonus Chapter~~
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