Damon barely finished killing the last magma hound when two figures walked over to him. Mark stood tall and silent, his massive fra slick with soot and ash, molten runes along his arms still faintly pulsing from the battle. Clearly, he hadn’t even bothered to dodge half the ti.
Beside him, Kate twirled her staff once before tapping the butt of it against the scorched stone. The six orbs of blood floating around her glowed faintly, pulsing in sync with her heartbeat, saturated with essence from whatever monsters she’d just annihilated.
"Hmmmm? How did you beat us to the gate, Damon? Did you take a secret route?" Kate narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously.
"Nope. Scout’s honor. Cleared everything in my path." Damon casually answered.
"Do you need so ti to heal?" Mark pointed at his injuries.
Damon looked down at the faint cut across his ribs and chuckled. "Minor scratch. Got sward by a whole pack."
The three of them did not wait around any longer, and Damon charged ahead at the closed gates. The instant his palm struck the iron gates, a deep rumble echoed through the chamber like an ancient beast stirring from slumber.
The runes etched into the tal flared a blistering crimson, and steam hissed outward from the seams as the gates slowly parted, grinding against the floor with the weight of centuries.
A wave of scorching heat washed over them, far worse than anything they’d felt so far. Even with Damon’s enhanced resistance, his skin prickled as though it were being scorched from the inside.
[Mini-Boss Room: Hall of the Fla Lords]
Inside was a vast circular chamber. Lava canals crisscrossed the floor, glowing like veins in a living heart. At the center stood an armored figure kneeling in slumber, enshrouded in a mantle of fire. Its axe, taller than most players, was planted in the molten ground, heat waves rippling around it.
[Flalord Vak’Rath – Lv. 35 (Mini-Boss)]
[Title: Herald of Cinders]
Damon’s eyes narrowed. "He has a few tricks up his sleeve, so be careful."
Kate’s crimson eyes glowed brighter as she stepped into the chamber, her blood orbs slowly orbiting higher. "Don’t hog all the fun this ti, boys. I want to see how a fire-based boss handles blood-based suppression magic."
Vak’Rath’s axe twitched.
The slumbering giant slowly lifted its head, and fire roared to life beneath its visor. Runes along its armor pulsed like a beating heart, and the molten channels on the ground surged upward in jets of fla, forming a burning ring around the three intruders.
[Challenge Initiated – Flalord Vak’Rath has Awakened]
Vak’Rath rose to his full, terrifying height, dragging the axe across the floor in a shriek of tal. He pointed it toward Damon like a judge passing sentence. "Die, you blasphemous pig!"
Damon grinned. "That’s Lord Blasphemous Pig to you."
Vak’Rath answered with a roar, his entire body igniting in a blaze of living fire. The rune-lit canals surrounding the chamber flared, and columns of fla erupted like geysers as the ground shook under his wrath. The molten axe ca down in a sweeping arc that should have split the entire chamber in half.
But it t nothing but air.
Damon had already [Shadowstepped] out of range, appearing behind the boss. "[Blood Cleave]!" His clawa lashed out, carving a line of crimson through Vak’Rath’s back but it barely pierced the armor, drawing only a flicker of molten blood.
"Figures," Damon muttered as he retreated.
"I’ll soften him," Kate called out. The six blood orbs around her began spinning faster, compressing into narrow spikes mid-air. "Kill!" she declared, sending a spiraling crown of crimson lances straight into Vak’Rath’s midsection.
The magic struck true. Vak’Rath staggered, not from damage, but because the orbs had begun leeching his internal pressure, slowing his movents. His flas sputtered for just a mont.
That was all Mark needed.
He shot forward like a cannonball, runes along his arms flaring to full brightness. His right fist connected with Vak’Rath’s chest in an explosion of force that sent cracks spiderwebbing across the floor and forced the fire giant back two full steps.
Damon whistled.
Vak’Rath let out a guttural scream, his body erupting into a new inferno. The cracks in the floor flared as geysers of lava burst forth, so snaking like serpents. The room was about to beco a hellstorm.
Kate snapped her fingers, erecting a semi-transparent blood do around herself. "What the heck is this heat? Is he going to make it harder and harder as the fight goes on?"
Even Mark now had trouble adjusting to the heat and had to erect a blood shield around him.
anwhile, Damon casually charged towards the boss, not wanting this chance to slip away.
Both Mark and Kate stared at him in disbelief. Wasn’t he just sweating for the normal dungeon temperature just a while ago?
"How are you standing near him?" Kate grit her teeth and erected another blood shield as the last one corroded away.
While Vak’Rath was summoning more flas, he aid for his wounded mid-section and started drawing more and more blood energy.
He then aid for the cracks in the armor, especially his head and started punching the armor with all the power he could muster. Within a few seconds, the armor cumbled.
Damon followed it up with a [Howl of Terror].
Vak’Rath reeled backward, his roar faltering for a split second as Damon’s [Howl of Terror] exploded through the chamber like a shockwave of bloodlust.
For just a heartbeat, the Flalord froze, his burning aura flickering. Both his physical armor and his magical armor was down.
Damon didn’t waste the mont.
His clawed hand ignited with blood energy, and with a savage thrust, he drove it straight into the exposed gap in Vak’Rath’s chestplate, right between the runes that pulsed with unstable fire mana.
Kate and Mark took the hint and the three of them went all out with their attacks. The boss couldn’t handle it anylonger and the health started plumting.
Damon dealt the last finishing attack as summoned a extra powerful blood lance and shoved it into the guy’s chest without holding back.
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