The mutant boss peeks out from the bubbling lava pit that surrounds us. All that's visible are its bright red eyes, jagged white teeth, and scaly black skin.

The island we stand on rumbles and shifts.

Portions of the rocky floor begin to fracture and flood the island with even more molten rock. The cracks are inching closer, threatening to collapse the entire area we stand on at any given moment.

As I stare into the lurking monster's deep red eyes, I feel the intense waves of its intimidation skill running through my body.

Unlike its underlings, this Boss monster has what seems like hard-scaled skin. It's shiny and as black as the rocks we stand on.

I don't back down.

With a steady grip on my sword, I keep my mana shielding activated on full blast, with a veil of dark flames around my full body. I stare back at the beast, sending a wave of intimidation back at it.

The Boss lifts its head completely out from the lava. Molten rock drips from its mouth and rolls off its scales.

The monster looks terrifying. It wouldn't hesitate for a moment to end us if it gets the chance.

I haven't been this excited in a while...

The head of the beast keeps rising out from the pool of molten rock. Over 5 meters and still moving upward before it places its first front leg on the island with an earth-shaking stomp.

A long fracturing line of broken stone moves straight at us, it looks like it'll crack the entire island in two.

Thankfully, it stops about 20 meters from the monster's front leg, but another fracture appears once the monster lifts its second limb onto the island.

Glowing hot molten mass spews off in all directions and the massive Mutant Salamander lets out a roar. The deep bellowing sound it lets out followed by an ear-shattering shriek fills the air, echoing off the edges of the boss room and seemingly getting louder and louder.

It fully climbs onto the arena we stand to show off its full form. A 12-meter-long dark-as-night creature from hell, glowing with a murderous red aura. Its mouth leaks with hot molten rock and I can feel every step it takes as it sends shockwaves through the island floor.

Without a second to waste, the monster opens its mouth and spews an attack full of flames... or at least, what I thought were flames.

A long 3-meter wide beam of glowing dark red and orange light comes flying directly at us. As the wave of blood-red magic rockets toward us, I realize it's pure mana-imbued molten stone.

Also, it's very fast.

I turn, locking eyes with Maria and following her to my left side to jump out of the way and dodge.

Overwhelming heat fills my senses and my mana shielding is fried straight through the moment the massive beam of red-orange mass comes whizzing by.

The attack misses me by about 3 meters.

It was only for a fraction of a second, but my entire right arm, side, and back are covered in severe burns... Maria was much further from the blast, but her arm and leg are severely injured too.

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Both of us fall to the floor, but quickly stand to get our footing again. We face the monster with no fear, about 60 meters away from us. Maria drinks an MP and HP potion while I heal my side and think of a plan.

I try to take a few steps forward, but the heat is too much.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I feel the ground shake... On the other side of the island, 6 more mutants between levels 385 and 400 appear.

I reach into my item storage to grab a Strengthening Fragment out of instinct. I need more power, and I need it now.

I grit my teeth and murmur under my breath.

"But... there has to be another way."

Although It may get the job done, there's a potential that I'll be out of commission for a few days if I try anything too rash here.

Boosting my power once usually leads to doing it many times over without thinking about the consequences once I get started.

"If only...."

As the underlings of the boss step onto the platform behind me, I watch the boss charge up another one of its attacks.

An idea clicks in my head.

I let go of the shiny black Fragment and grab the clear crystal core of the Golem Boss I defeated yesterday.

"This will work..."

I put my sword away into the item box around my waist, betting it all on my new plan.

The crystal-clear round orb glistens in the fiery light of the Boss Room Dungeon as I hold it up between my line of sight and the mutant boss before me.

I drink an MP potion and speak.

"Mana Manipulation."

[Use Advanced Mana Manipulation]

Advanced Perk: [Temporary Minion]

Enter Desired Level: 0-423

[YES][NO]

"Level 423."

"Yes."

Pink strings of energy come off of my fingertips and begin to pour into the clear ball. I let go of it and stand back.

Maria yells out.

"W-What's that, can we take this boss on? I-"

I concentrate, cutting her off with a stern look while focusing on the intense amount of mana leaving my body to merge with the floating crystal ball.

Still, I mutter out a reply.

"Take out the approaching mutants and cover me from behind. I'll finish this boss and cover your back as well. Trust me."

Not another word needs to be spoken, I let my flames die down and solely focus mana on a thin layer of shielding around my body. The rest is channeled into the now brightly pink glowing orb.

I grin as I feel the temporary minion perk fully activate.

My mind's eye connects to the orb.

"I'm in full control..."

The rocky ground below begins to crack and mold into liquid stone, to come up and meet the floating pink orb in the air.

It forms into a ball of rock that looks like a large black boulder levitating above the Dungeon Floor.

Then, two arms and two legs form. The massive boulder grows and grows while the shape of a humanoid Stone Golem forms in its place.

With two loud thuds, its feet hit the ground. A 6-meter tall Golem Boss make of hot black stone stands in front of me like an ominous impenetrable barrier.

Its eyes glow pink, and I control its every move. I make the marionette of a Golem let out a battle cry and begin to charge forward. It effortlessly moves through the portion of Boss Room too hot for me to handle.

The Salamander Boss reacts by releasing its charged-up attack of flames. I intend to take the brutal blow head-on.

Concentrating on creating a dense layer of shielding similar to the one on my actual body, I drink another MP potion to fuel my power.

It's done with ease. The body of this Golem was able to summon shielding when I fought it, meaning, so can its manipulated clone.

Just, with my own personal twist.

A buzzing pink layer of makeshift shielding appears over the entire front half of the Golem as the spiraling molten rock attack comes rocketing at it.

The Golem and the fire collide. My minion doesn't budge. It keeps moving forward.

The loud twang of mana on mana colliding rings out and lava spews off to both sides of the jet-black Golem.

A magnificent sight follows, I watch molten stone splash off to both sides and settle into pools on the island floor.

Portions of my rock Golem are melted away where the shielding was weakest, but only 10% of its mass at most.

I just concentrate harder and summon more rock from beneath its feet to heal the minor wounds.

The Golem took on its full-powered attack head-on and didn't back down for a second.

The Salamander Boss lets out an angry roar and finally makes its move. The beast takes a step toward us.

I can hear the first clash of Maria and the mutants from behind me. I'm putting my full trust in her, as she's put her trust in me.

The clash between my Minion of Stone and the Dungeon's Mutant Boss has begun.