As the Golem trudges forward, it takes hit after hit from the Salamander's molten attacks. Hot lava spews out after every impact staining the battlefield with hot red-orange mass. I continue to drink MP potions and heal its wounds.

Losing parts of an arm or a leg after every blow, the Golem moves forward without flinching. It only costs me minor MP stores that can be restored with ease, while the salamander that's attacking is becoming more irritated by the second.

The ground beneath the Golem's feet is getting much hotter and more unstable with every new attack thrown. As it nears the outer edge of the island, more large cracks and lava pools become common in its path.

Its feet land into hot molten mass with almost every step. This slows it down but also heats up the average temperature of the rock that forms its body.

As my jet-black minion takes in more mass from its environment, it starts to glow red hot the closer it gets to the Mutant Boss.

Every hit the minion takes from the fiery blast, the less effective it becomes. Once over 40 meters away from me, and less than 30 meters from the Boss, the Golem is made almost entirely of molten stone.

It's highly malleable and even easier to imbue mana into. This isn't what I planned for, but has turned out even better than I'd hoped.

I see the eyes of the Salamander Boss widen as the Molten Golem approaches. It's visibly surprised, having never encountered lava that fights back...

I smirk, shifting both of the golem's arms into bladed edges mimicking the form of a very fierce Floor Boss opponent I faced in the past.

The glowing red-orange arms of the Golem shine with a glossy finish as I cover them in the densest layer of mana shielding I can muster from this distance.

Less than 15 meters away now, I launch the Golem into the air with both blades poised at the Salamander's neck.

Another blast of molten rock comes flying out to hit my minion head-on at full power.

With dense pink mana shielding focused solely on the Minion's bladed arms, this is enough to slice clean through the incoming attack without a problem.

The golem's unguarded lower half is stripped away by hot debris and destroyed in the blast. It doesn't matter right now.

I keep my eyes on the prize.

Not slowing down for a moment, the top half of my Golem flies through the air, upwards, and lands two devastating hits on the monster's tough black-scaled neck.

A white flash of light blinds me momentarily and is followed by the murderous roar of the heavily injured beast. It evolves into a loud shriek and the entire island shakes and rumbles.

Two deep slashes can be seen in its neck, cutting almost all the way through.

If I just had a little more power, I would have killed it right then and there. It knows this too...

Ignoring the top half of the molten golem as it falls to the floor, the mutant shifts its glowing red gaze toward me. I feel another wave of intimidation, but it only makes me focus on the fight more.

I'll end this here and now.

Its mouth begins to glow red, orange, and yellow as it prepares to send a final desperate attack at me, its actual enemy.

"I can't let that happen."

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As the injured Golem touches the floor, my strands of mana manipulation glow and hum. I channel all of my remaining MP into the body of stone as it rebuilds its lower half making its full form able to fight again.

Forming a layer around its arms of blades again, I have the minion run forward, just like before.

The boss lets out its attack.

Well, it tries to....

The dual gashes in its throat from earlier gush out with molten rock. Its attempts to shoot at me backfires, covering its black-scaled body in man-imbued lava.

Simultaneously, my Golem jumps for its neck, ignoring the flying debris of flaming stone and finishing the cut from its last attack. The monster's head is sliced clean off.

It flies up in the air, spinning a few times before falling into the pit of lava behind it.

The body of the mutant boss collapses to the cracked fiery floor with a loud thud, then I start to see it glow bright yellow. The black scales, now growing brighter and brighter, expand outwards and my eyes open with shock.

I know exactly what is about to happen next.

While summoning a wall of rock to block the incoming blast, I hear Maria finishing off a final attack on the mutant mobs behind me.

I hear explosions of fire and molten stone. They're followed by the wall of ice that protects me from the aftermath of her finishing blow. Then, the ear-shattering eruption of flames follows on my side of the battlefield.

Our magic stone and ice combine together to form a dome. We both kneel on the floor, focusing on keeping our magic steady as the world around us explodes into chaos.

Then, moments later, it all stops...

We... won....

The room falls silent. The violent shaking beneath our feet and against the walls protecting us stops.

I let out a long sigh, and a grin creeps across my face as a familiar ringing tone fills my ears.

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

I check my status to see I've hit level 425, then simultaneously hear Maria's cheerful voice behind me yell out.

"Alright! Level 400, finally!"

We release our magic and the dome around us fades and crumbles.

Before I can turn around to congratulate her, something else catches my eye. The fragments of black scales and molten mass that remain from the Boss' body start to dissolve away.

Wanting to pick up the loot I reflexively try to walk forward, but the air is still too thick and hot.

My Golem was torn to pieces in the blast, but I quickly re-form it from the charged core. It picks through the hot rubble and I watch through its vision in my mind's eye until I see two items on the floor.

There's a large pink stone and a dark red fabric. I reach down and pick them both up with the golem's hands and bring them over to us quickly, knowing the transfer magic could trigger at any moment.

Seconds later, my Golem approaches and drops the items to my feet. I deactivate the Minion perk and the hot stone collapses to the floor. I grab the empty crystal core along with the mana crystal and the odd fabric, then white magic fills my vision.

Just in time.

The entire Dunegon fades away. Both Maria and I are left in a dark cave.

Instantly, the walls and floor are covered with ice, and I activate my flames to counteract the extreme cold.

Maria shouts out.

"Sorry- Sorry!"

I laugh while she deactivates her magic and I keep a small flicker of flames activated to light up the cave.

"No problem. We made. Another break cleared. 2 down, 4 to go."

I nod as Maria stares at me, then down to the fabric in my hands.

"Ohhh, a mutant drop? What is it? What is it?"

I lift up the heavy fabric, then activate Appraisal.

[Salamander King's Cloak] +80% Mental Strength +80% Fire Magic Resistance

I grin and reply.

"80% added Mental Strength and Fire Resistance. Pretty good drop. Along with the 7 FireStones from mutants we farmed, that's one of the best loot dungeons we faced... probably ever."

On that note, we begin walking back up the dark cave tunnels.

It's much cooler now.

Some residue heat remains, but neither of us has to use any magic skills to block it out. We're back into the normal non-magical temperature range.

We agree to divide the loot later, but I hold onto it for now.

The walk back up to the surface takes about half an hour. After passing the two remaining stable dungeons, we finally make it to the surface.

As we start to walk out from the mouth of the cave, I hear an oddly familiar voice arguing with my teammates.

The fire-wielding hunter from the mercenary guild that we happened to pass by last night yells out in a stern tone.

"What are you outsiders doing messing with my dungeon?! I don't want to see your kind around here anymore. Get lost before something bad happens to ya!"

As soon as I hear him, I step out of the cave with Maria by my side.

I see Arie standing in front of Danny and the camels with his arms crossed and a bored look on his face.

Abby is butting heads with the arrogant grunt.

She's grinning ear to ear, having a great time watching the fire user get red in the face. She's been antagonizing him for fun while waiting for us to return.

The hunter notices our arrival and faces us as we step out of the cave.

"Oh great. There's more! Look's like I'm going to have to teach all of ya a lesson!"