Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society-Chapter 315: The Clash Approaches (2)
[Kuooooooong!]
The grizzly bear let out a fearsome roar and reached out with its foreleg, smashing a chunk of the mountainside and sending boulders flying down. Daisy quickly put Aikan away and summoned Laki from her inventory.
“Monsters you haven’t killed yet, leave them to the mantises.”
“Yes, my kids can eat them all!”
Yua left her mantises to do their thing and only called Luna back. However, I was already charging towards the enemy.
“Fight me, big guy!”
[Guoooooooong!]
As I got closer to the bear, I could see better just how absurdly big it was. Strangely, although enough time had passed since I recognized the bear, Sherafina didn’t say anything. Immediately, I could understand why. The dungeon’s power was weakened in this place. This mountain range was where it began.
It seemed Ciara was right about this place having something to make me nervous.
“But sadly, that’s not you!”
[Guoooooong!]
After shattering a mountain peak like it owned the place, the grizzly bear still seemed full of strength as it leaped off and shot towards me. We were easily several kilometers away, but the distance seemed to mean nothing to it.
[Guaaaaaa!]
Without exaggerating, a bear the size of a mountain swooped down from the sky and swung its foreleg towards me. Flying with Sharana’s power, I chose to not dodge it. If I did, Ye-Eun, Daisy, and Yua would be hit.
Instead, I drew Peruta Circuit’s energy up and directed it into a single point on my spear. Immediately afterward, I used Lightning God’s power and created a tornado of lightning. Peika then infused herself into the spear and brought up the lightning energy to the limit.
“I’ll take a leg as hello!”
I shouted energetically and shot my spear towards the bear’s foreleg. The concentrated energy even began to suck in surrounding mana as it drove into the bear’s foreleg. Soon, the bear’s foreleg exploded with a manhwa-like boom. It seemed to have planned to crush me under its weight, but it ended up being pushed back into the air instead.
[Kuaaaaaak!]
“Good, that’s what I like to hear! Dortu!”
[I am Dortu. Attacking the enemy.]
The metallic mirrors still floating in the air transformed slightly, becoming thinner, sharper, and tougher.
The hundreds of thousands of metallic fragments shot across the air carrying my mana and stabbed into the detonated foreleg of the bear. Unable to carry itself in the air, the bear was swept away by the flood of metallic fragments.
“That giant bear, so easily…”
“Oppa is so cool!”
“I climbed the same dungeon as Shin, so why can’t I do something like that…?”
The bear fell into a giant canyon, breaking everything in its path as it crashed down. Daisy then stepped in using Laki.
“Laki, scorch it.”
[Guuuuooooo!]
Laki breathed reddish-black flames from his mouth and filled up the canyon. The terrifying heat seemed to even cook the bear’s roar.
[Kuooooooo!]
“Wow, he’s so strong. I wonder when my Luna will be able to do that.”
[Kyuu kyuu.]
Luna’s eyes sparkled as she watched Laki’s performance. I couldn’t say Laki was Luna’s parent, but he was still the source of the existence called Luna. She was probably learning a thing or two by watching him.
However, what Yua said next made me doubt my ears.
“Luna, help Laki.”
[Kyuu.]
Luna nodded, and the flames Laki was breathing intensified noticeably. The grizzly bear’s scream also became louder. Realizing what happened, I asked in shock.
“Was that a buff?”
“She can raise the might of all flames. She learned it a short time ago!”
[Guooooooo!]
Soon, a savory smell rose up from the canyon. Laki seemed to be done breathing out fire, as he coughed a couple times and closed his mouth. Immediately afterward, the entire mountain range began to shake.
[Kuaaaaaak!]
“Damn, does this bear really need to deform mountains every time it moves!?”
Crack, crack. The canyon began to split loudly. The mountain peaks forming the mountain range began to drop rocks, from small pebbles to giant boulders. Surprisingly, they were all directed at us!
“Laki!”
Laki immediately moved following Daisy’s shout. Laki spread his wings and began to flap. I doubted whether he could get us out of this situation alone, but it seemed I was underestimating him gravely. Thinking about it now, he was once the Lava King. The boulders flying towards us through the grizzly bear’s mana faltered in face of Laki’s storm of magic power.
“Sharana, help Laki!”
[This is my specialty, Master!]
Immediately after Sharana’s cheerful shout, Laki’s wing flaps became fiercer. Rather than directly reinforcing Laki, Sharana guided his wind and directed the raining boulders onto him. The grizzly bear got up in shock and jumped back into the air.
[Guaaaaa!]
Because of Laki’s terrifying flames, it was bleeding everywhere, its fur and skin were scorched. Only its frighteningly shining red eyes and fearsome growl let me know it was fine.
Of the boulders hurling down, it grabbed the biggest one that could pass off as a chunk of a mountain's peak. Bleeding profusely from the spear wound I dealt, it looked to be in an excruciating pain, but it was clear what it wanted to do with the boulder.
“Shin, a spear is like a toothpick compared to that bear’s foreleg, so how did you do it?”
“You just have to compress more energy into one point.”
“Isn’t there a limit to how much energy you can compress?”
“There isn’t.”
I retorted lightly and poured about 100,000 mana into my spear. Like before, although the spear’s aura carried the power of Lightning God, it didn’t show it. One could only feel that something transparent was undulating along the spear blade.
“You should be able to do this too, Ye-Eun. Whether it’s with a dagger or an actual toothpick, it’s possible to use this technique.”
The bear threw the huge boulder at Laki. Brimming with its mana and shining black, the boulder hurled towards us quickly. I suspected even Laki would find it hard to receive that boulder head-on. Immediately, I kicked off into the air once more and shot my spear towards the giant boulder. The moment the spear tip touched it, 100,000 points of mana spread across the entire boulder.
I shouted.
“Gaia Buster!”
Last time was a serenade of metal, this time it’s a serenade of rocks! The boulder broke apart into tens of thousands of shards and returned back to the grizzly bear. Seemingly flustered, the bear rolled its feet. The hill he landed on crumbled, but a giant sharp stone mountain rose up and blocked the falling rocks.
I’ve been thinking this since the first time I saw it, but it seemed this bear could utilize this twisted environment to its fullest potential to both defend and attack. As long as it had its feet on the ground, it was a stage stronger! Thankfully, with Ye-Eun protecting Daisy’s and Yua’s bodies, I didn’t need to worry about their safety.
“Luna!”
[Kyuu!]
At the most unexpected moment, Luna’s cute cry rang out. In the next moment, I found out what she did. The stone mountain put up by the bear had turned into magma!
[Kuaaak!?]
“Is Luna’s growth direction different than Laki’s? Buffing flames and turning stone into magma… Well, regardless…”
This was a good opportunity! I immediately charged towards it! However strong Luna’s flames might be, they couldn’t possibly be EX rank, which meant they couldn’t break through my cape’s defense. I dove into the magma without hesitation and planned on giving the bear my spear of justice.
But a rather unexpected sight was waiting for me inside the magma. The grizzly bear was giving me an uppercut like it was waiting for me.
The moment I noticed it, I shouted the name of the most reliable elemental for times like this.
“Ruyue!”
[Un!]
One layer right in front of me, another layer a bit farther away, and one more layer even farther away! The grizzly bear’s fist shattered the triple-layered barrier Ruyue created and struck my spear.
Immediately, Thorn Throne’s effect activated and a single bone spear that popped out of the spear tip pierced through its fist. On the other hand, because I didn’t have my strength properly concentrated in my spear, I was sent flying.
“Haa!”
A little bit of blood was mixed with my frustrated cough. As I thought, in terms of purely physical and magical power, he was the next in line of the Beast King.
“You thought of punching me while submerged in magma? I like that!”
[Guoooooooo!]
Of course, the damage it dealt didn’t come without a price. It took on Luna’s magma entirely, and since it was counterattacked by the bone spear, which dealt damage proportional to the might of the damage it dealt, it should be a sorry state.
[Guaaaaaaa!]
As I thought, seeing the injuries covering its body and the blood flowing down profusely, the bear let out a horrid howl. It was then that a change began to occur. The blood flowing down its body covered its wounds and made new fur grow out. A red, blood-like fur. Each strand of hair stood tall, and the bear’s blood-shot eyes looked to be in a frenzy. Moreover, it’s already humongous body got even bigger, and a portion of the mountain range sunk in under the weight of its body.
It seemed this monster carried the trait of savage beasts. Going berserk. It was an ability that burned what little life flame a beast had remaining to kill anything in its sight.
[I am Dortu.]
However, it was too late. The previous magma was the decisive blow.
[Commencing action.]
The sound of a grenade exploded out.
[Kuooooooooo!]
Its blood-dyed fur exploded and its flesh and bones flew in all directions. The bear screamed. It was different than any of the previous ones, a scream that came purely from pain. A pain that even a berserk state couldn’t ignore could only be one thing, the pain from death.
The pain came for a very simple reason. The tens of thousands of metallic fragments Dortu shot out were melted by the magma and became liquid. It then covered the bear’s body and some had even entered inside. Just now, Dortu had simply detonated it.
[I am Dortu. Art is an explosion.]
“Yes, Dortu, that’s when you say that!”
I nodded in satisfaction at Dortu’s well-timed line. Then, I stared at the giant grizzly bear barely struggling to stay standing. It raised the one part of its body that I left untouched – its one remaining foreleg.
[Kuaaaaaaaaaaa!]
“Goodbye, grizzly.”
I threw my spear.
“Leave the bear paw so I can let the others have a taste.”
The spear penetrated its head and stuck the ground. The bear looked like a kid raising his arm to ask a question in class, and soon, it fell on its back. The hunt was over.
