If you had asked Will three minutes earlier how many people were needed to clear a dungeon’s final BOSS battle, he would have cautiously replied that four people would be the most suitable and safest, and it would be best to scout the location beforehand.
But now, Will felt that four people were truly overkill! After all, they had just one-shotted the Cerberus before, so even if it was a BOSS, one person should be enough, right? He could just sit back and add some buffs for her! No wonder he heard that young masters often hired S-Rank fighters to farm dungeons for fun. It really was that satisfying.
Unexpectedly, the BOSS floor of Rock Fire Iron Wall didn’t have any special decorations or give off a particularly oppressive aura compared to other floors. The only difference was that directly behind the door was a BATTLE ARENA located in the middle of the lava, as if in the center of a volcano. It wasn’t connected to the door by a long path.
It even made Will feel that this BOSS floor was much simpler than the other normal floors. And the Emperor of this dungeon was an old man with a full head of white hair. His white beard circled his chin, and he wore a thin, white half-shirt. He sat in a chair, looking like he had just woken up, and slightly moved the hand propping his head to look at the two of them.
“Hmm? You… are the ‘challengers’ who made it here? I didn’t expect anyone to be able to defeat Sanha and reach this point. I thought he would last a little longer…”
There wasn’t a strong oppressive feeling; instead, it had a truly…
Uh…
Mysterious, leisurely, afternoon-nap-taking old man vibe.
Where’s your BOSS-like oppressive aura?! Will hadn’t personally seen many dungeon emperors, but in the original works he had read, there were countless of them, especially since the perspective was from the original work. Although he knew that the original works were filled with all sorts of strange Dungeon Empresses and Dungeon Emperors, this was the first time he had encountered one so leisurely that they lacked any oppressive aura.
Perhaps, as Shuna had said… he was easy to communicate with? Shuna stepped forward, and instead of the terrifying offensive or killing intent she displayed against the Cerberus, she reached out her hand, tilted her head, and asked:
“Is it called Sanha because it’s a three-headed dog?”
….
“Ah? That’s the point you’re focusing on?”
“Because I’m genuinely curious.”
After listening to Shuna and Will’s conversation, the old man on the chair pinched his beard and nodded:
“When it had only one head, it would only let out a ‘ha’ when it laughed. Now it lets out three ‘ha’ sounds. Naturally, it’s called Sanha.”
“…”
“As a Fire attribute dungeon, do you have to cool everyone down like this?”
“To be honest, Floor 30 was only established a few days ago. You guys cleared it too quickly, and it’s not fully built yet. It’s a bit crude, please don’t mind.” The old man sighed, stood up from his chair, and said as he walked towards the two of them.
Such a humble final floor BOSS?! Will suddenly gained confidence in “friendly communication.”
“That’s fine. Actually, we’re not here to clear the dungeon. We want to ask a question…”
“Hmm?”
“It’s about… the Green Ghost Stone outside. The green stone that turned Yiha into Sanha. Where did you get it? We’re particularly curious about that. If we could…”
But…
Will’s words were not finished. He felt a fierce gust of fist wind attacking his head—
And then…
This fierce fist was caught by Shuna with one hand. It stopped just three centimeters from his forehead.
Will’s eyes widened. The old man who had been sitting casually in his chair was now, apart from his head which still bore a resemblance to the old man from before, entirely transformed! His body below the head had become burning rock, and one could even see the churning magma through the cracks in the rock! His fist, naturally, had become a giant, flaming hot fist.
“Hoo… hoo…?”
After Will’s brain caught up, his heartbeat accelerated wildly. There was no room for “friendly communication” at all!
“At least listen to me finish—”
Shuna, blocking the punch, forcefully pushed the opponent away. The opponent dragged his heavy body, leaving two long trails on the ground and kicking up rocks along the way. He propped himself up with his hands on the ground, barely managing to steady himself before shakily standing up. Will could see clearly. The rocks on his outer layer were falling off one by one. It seemed he had taken quite a bit of damage from Shuna’s push and shock. After he stood up again, he gathered rock fragments from the ground, and with the scorching of magma within him, they appeared even harder. It was basically using the advantage of the arena as a continuous shield? This could explain the origin of this dungeon’s name and its future. In the future, wouldn’t the ground in this place become like Iron Wall, where he could turn parts of himself into armor, or even bury things within the arena?
It seemed that as the final BOSS of the dungeon, he possessed his own unique strengths. Centered around magma, with a rocky outer layer for defense, relying on his powerful physique to maintain high mobility and strength. At the same time, he depended on the arena’s advantage to have a sustained shield.
On the other hand… Shuna, who had pushed him away with a single blow, merely twisted her wrist, appearing to be quite relaxed.
“Little Will~”
“Yes, yes.”
Will reached out, preparing to recite the incantation to buff Shuna.
“I will heal you and grant blessings, though you don’t seem to need it much…”
“No, did you see what that old grandpa just did? Do you understand how to defeat him now?”
Shuna turned around, walked past him, and stood directly behind him…
“I understand, but… wait, why did you push me—” “Your physical and magic circuit capabilities haven’t been trained yet, but I can lend you an experience card.”
Shuna stood behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Then, her tone turned serious—
“Plead to the great Goddess Reviers, cast your gaze upon the abyssal dungeon, and lend us your strength—”
Just standing there, Will could feel power pouring from Shuna’s shoulder into his chest. This was… the highest level of prayer. The role of a Priest as support was simple: healing, buffing, and debuffing. Buffing was primarily achieved through “blessings.” Usually, blessings were prayers of “self-sacrifice,” where one’s own power was bestowed upon teammates. Only… blessings that received power from the Goddess used this highest-level prayer. The wording of the prayer alone conveyed the difference. However… this was not something anyone could use. To use this prayer, and even magic related to the Goddess Reviers, one had to be “watched over by the gods”…
When Will turned to look at Shuna, he met her black eyes. At such close range, he could only see her eyes, and within them… they were completely filled with her own “brown.”
“Stop looking at me. The BOSS is about to stand up and enter the second phase.”
“What second phase? Did you just blast away his entire health bar?!” Shuna playfully stuck out her tongue behind him.
“You know better than anyone how to defeat him by yourself; you just lack the sufficient power?”
“Little Will—!”
“Go!”
