Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

SPLASH… something rushed out of the water and approached Blake with an insane speed. When he laid his eyes upon the entity, he saw that it was a fish-shaped monster more than hundred centimetres big that looked like a piranha.

Its rows of teeth were so incisive that, it could give chills to anyone looking at it. However, Blake simply shifted his body a little and dodged the attack effortlessly.

"Pirodiles huh… but the numbers do not count up, there must be other monsters too" As he was contemplating something, from behind another splash sounded out and a being much more bigger than Pirodiles jumped out of it to tackle him.

Blake nonchalantly stretched his hands backwards and performed a slashing motion.  The space ring in his hands lit up and just when the monster was a few inches away from him, it was split into two by the great sword.

"I see… Lizardmen and pirodiles, no wonder the subsidiary team took some time previously to clear this floor".

After cleaving the lizardman into two, he glanced at the huge number of black shadows that was swiftly approaching him from the bottom of the swamp and smiled. 

SPLASH…SPLASH… by the time he could even count their numbers, he was surrounded by Lizardmen and pirodlies.

"Good come at me all of you… [Berserker's Howl]" Blake brandished his sword and used his class-specific skill that taunts his enemy and diverts their aggression towards him.

A hoarse howl that reverberated across the entire swamp made the Pirodiles and the Lizardmen angry. They focused all their attention on him as if he was their arch enemy.

Seeing the skill taking effect, Blake nodded satisfyingly. The skill would only make them keep focusing on him for a little more than two minutes; however, that was more than enough for Frida to let out a big explosion.

Due to the enemies being low levelled, the effects of the skill on them was quite strong thus they jumped on quite aggressively. With reddened eyes, the Pirodiles and Lizardmen charged at him intending to rip him apart with their sharp teeth and claws.

Blake agilely dodged all of their charges, multiple enemies would fall wherever he swept his greatsword. From his motion to his relaxed appearance he made it so simple as if he wasn't actually surrounded by enemies and rather was out on a stroll.

Numerous Lizardmen and pirodiles tried to jump him together to no avail, like a slippery loach he would always manage to find a weak spot and get out of their reach.

Blake sensed numerous presences approach the swamp, without turning around, he knew that his team was already here. The swamp was full of monsters and was the natural habitat of lizardmen and pirodiles. Therefore unless they cleared the swamp clear of them, treading on it would be extremely foolish.

Blake brandished his sword and counted the time needed for the large area attack from Frida to complete.

"I guess I have no choice, I'll get a little bit serious now…" right after his words sounded out, his black gold armour started becoming a bright crimson and the area around him became fiery hot.

A few of the pirodiles tried to bite him from behind only to find their bodies ignited the next second. The monster feeling the heat in the air, started backing out but because they were taunted by the skill [Berserker's Howl], they couldn't back far away.

"The swamp is the problem huh… hmph once Frida's magic is complete there will be no more water to save you". Blake said charging towards the hordes of pirodiles and Lizardmen popping their heads out from the surface of the swamp.

His armour which had turned completely turned crimson, radiated an intense amount of heat. The heat was so powerful that the water around him was starting to boil.

On top of being extremely sturdy, it had the effect of stopping the advance of the enemy. Lizardmen and pirodiles died in droves in front of him, no matter where they tried to jump him from.

Their claws and fangs were completely useless against him and his crimson armour burned them every time they approached close to him. Although they were not his opponents, their numbers were in the hundreds, probably more than five hundred and he alone would take a long time to finish all of them.

At this moment, a smile crept up to his face and his head turned around to look up. It was true it would take a long time if he a warrior was to battle all of them; however, to finish off a bunch of enemies in a short period of time, there was someone more qualified in this field in his party.

Looking above, he saw a gigantic flaming meteor take shape the size of which easily crossed more than thirty meters. It radiated an intense amount of heat that caused the surrounding air to distort and mana to become unstable.

A feeling of devastation and dread assaulted one's heart whenever one looked at it. The lizardmen and pirodlies clearly sensing the changes in the mana, glanced at the flaming meteor that threatened to destroy this place and immediately went into a panic.

Due to their state of mind being disturbed, some of them managed to escape the grasps of his taunts, their next target was obviously Frida the caster of the magic.

A few of the priodiles huddled together and dived deep inside the swamp, they then shot towards the stationary mage that was high up in the sky like a dart. The way the lots of them moved, was a beautiful sight to see at a glance; however, knowing that these were bloodthirsty pirodlies, made it a lot less pleasing and more alarming.

Dozens of pirodlies shot towards Frida, their incisive set of teeth were on full display. Just as they were a few inches away from sinking their teeth on her glossy skin, a thin transparent membrane like a shield appeared in front of her body and stopped the advances of the pirodlies.

The monsters bounced off the shield unable to get any close to her. Frida smiled and winked towards Kody who was dutifully standing with a mallet beside her. The transparent membrane like shield earlier was a skill of his that he uses for defence.

"Alright let's rock this place, my magic is about to be complete," Frida said waving her staff towards the huge meteor in front of them.

She glanced at Blake and knew that his skill that was taunting them for so long, was about to disappear. The moment it does, it was her job to finish off all of the monsters now that they were all clustered together.

If they were to fight these monsters inside the swamp, there was no way of telling how long it would take them to clear the floor nor was it possible to tell that they can do so without suffering any injuries.

For the sake of their exploration, she has to finish off them with one powerful strike.

TREMBLE… the air trembled from just the slightest movement of the meteor.

Six seconds…

A droplet of sweat trickled down her face, her cherry lips chanted the last syllables of her magic "Amalgamation Magic…Flame Earth Mastery- [Falling Meteor]".

One second…

The moment the effects of the [Berserker's Howl] ended and the monsters finally regained their senses, the destructive meteor that has been hanging in the sky for so long, started descending.

RUMBLE… the air screamed and the space trembled as the meteor slowly started to gain momentum.

Blake who was at the surface of the pond and inside the area of impact, felt the terrifying pressure pressing down on him. Even if it was him, he did not have the confidence to take it head-on and still be in unharmed.

With his job to distract the monsters long enough for Frida to cast her spell accomplished, he flapped the illusory wings behind him and swiftly got out of the range of the attack.

The thirty or so adventurers gathered near the swamp looked at the embodiment of destruction falling down. Their eyes widened in surprise and fear as they braced for impact.

The lizardmen and Pirodlies sensing the danger, obviously tried to hide beneath the swamp; however, this choice of theirs was useless since the meteor had enough firepower to completely evaporate the swamp and change the topography of this place.

Their only option out of this was to disrupt the magic from completing, now though it was already too late.

BOOOOOOMMM…

The meteor dyed the whole floor with its crimson hue, the swamp reflecting the scene like a mirror. The moment the meteor collided with the swamp, a loud noise of a huge amount of water being displaced echoed out followed by clouds of vapour rising as high as the ceiling.

The swamp was easily evaporated along with the organisms hiding inside it, nothing remained in front of the might of the amalgamation magic [Falling Meteor]. A magic that could be said to be above the levels of the intermediate tier and approaching close to the advance tier.

TREMBLE… the land trembled and cracks appeared from the bottom of the swamp. The vision was dyed white and the shockwave bringing along a scalding heat, hit everyone.

Fortunately, these adventurers had plenty of time to prepare and erect shields that covered all of them. When they removed their shields to see what happened to the swamp, they were shocked to see a huge crater taking the place of the swamp.

The ground for a few hundred meters was dyed red from the heat and released clouds of smoke from the moisture that remained underneath. That was the power of one of their three leaders, the strongest mage in their guild, Frida the [Hellbringer].