As the sea of flames subsided, Arlo stood facing the barrier where the others were sheltered, now completely shrouded in darkness, just as he had intended.
[Dark Magic Unlocked.]
'Looks like the spell worked... that's good,' Arlo thought to himself, his gaze shifting to the Wyvern flying overhead, its powerful wings beating the air with each mighty flap. 'Now I don't have to worry about which spell to use.'
Seeing that the barriers remained on the ground, the Wyvern prepared to unleash another wave of flames from the air, its throat swelling as it gathered the necessary energy.
Simultaneously, Arlo began chanting his own spell to disrupt the Wyvern's attack, a blue magic circle appearing before his outstretched hand. Although the Wyvern's flames couldn't penetrate the barrier, the group wouldn't be able to withstand much more of the intense heat radiating from the inferno.
As Arlo's spell neared its completion, a large, swirling ball of water began to form in front of the magic circle, churning with intensity. The Wyvern was nearly finished gathering the flames it needed, but Arlo was faster.
[MP: 43 -> 42%]
"Intermediate Class Water Magic: Water Cannon-"
His words were cut short as the powerful sphere of water erupted from the magic circle, hurtling straight towards the airborne Wyvern.
Crash!
The Wyvern, preoccupied with charging its attack, had no means to evade the water cannon as it slammed into its body, pushing it back through the air and disrupting the attack it had been preparing.
The creature's gaze and glare shifted to Arlo, who was now running away from the barrier, leading the Wyvern's attention away from the others. He was already in the midst of chanting another spell, focusing on drawing the monster's ire.
'Of course, the water cannon wasn't enough to damage it, but it was the fastest spell I could release to stop its attack. Now, I'm going on the offensive-'
Arlo's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as the Wyvern suddenly dove from the sky, its massive form hurtling straight towards him with terrifying speed and purpose.
Arlo, nowhere near as fast or powerful as Argus or Alexander, could only watch in terror as the Wyvern closed the distance between them in mere seconds.
Realizing that the creature had abandoned its breath attack in favor of a frontal assault, Arlo quickly canceled his chant and began pouring his magic power into reinforcing his barrier.
[MP: 42% -> 40%]
'Calm down, I have a reinforced barrier up-'
*Shatter!*
Arlo's eyes widened in shock as the Wyvern crashed through the barrier with its momentum, shattering it in a single, devastating motion. The creature's hard skull slammed into Arlo, sending him flying through the air before he skidded to a stop against the chamber's walls.
Pain wracked his entire body, his limbs trembling as he clutched his grimoire. Fortunately, the barrier had absorbed most of the Wyvern's momentum before the impact.
[HP: 100% -> 60%]
With his back pressed against the wall, Arlo stood motionless, his mouth moving as he recited the chant from memory, not even glancing at the spell in his book.
The closed grimoire in his hand began to emit a soft, yellow glow as a magic circle of the same color appeared beneath his feet. Meanwhile, the Wyvern hurtled towards him, its wings propelling it forward at an incredible speed.
Within seconds, the creature was upon Arlo, its gaping maw ready to devour him whole. But by the time it reached him, Arlo had already completed his incantation, faster than he ever had before-
"Heed my call, Intermediate Class Barrier Magic: Barrier."
[MP: 40% -> 35%]
*Crash!*
The Wyvern collided with Arlo once more, pushing him further into the wall, seemingly crushing him. However, when the beast opened its remaining eye to assess its handiwork, it found Arlo enveloped in a slightly cracked, yellow spherical barrier.
Despite the close call, Arlo had managed to erect his barrier just in time, saving himself from certain death.
"I made it in time..." Arlo smiled nervously before coughing up blood. 'I almost died... it was the first time I've done a chant from memory, so I wasn't sure if it would work.'
Arlo's gaze slowly shifted to the Wyvern, which had begun to attack the barrier relentlessly, snapping its jaws and swinging its barbed tail with ferocious intensity.
However, despite the creature's best efforts, the crack on the barrier refused to progress any further. It seemed that breaking through Arlo's defenses would be no easy feat.
'It's no use... those kinds of attacks won't be able to break this barrier. I used more magic power to reinforce this one than the last. You'd have to hit me with another one of those flying headbutts a few more times if you want to shatter it.' Arlo thought to himself as he struggled to rise from the wall.
But it was no use; his body, wracked with pain, refused to obey his commands.
'Damn it, I should have memorized a healing spell for situations like this... I can't afford to let this fight go on... I'll have to go all out with this next attack,' Arlo resolved, steeling himself as he began to chant the most powerful spell he could recall.
"By the power of the divine, oh forces of destruction and might..."
Slowly raising his head, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, Arlo fixed his gaze upon the Wyvern. The creature had taken to the air once more, realizing that its regular attacks would be ineffective against the barrier.
Watching the Wyvern's every move, Arlo continued his chant, each word bringing forth a searing pain in his lungs. Despite the agony, he persisted, carefully pronouncing each syllable of the incantation.
As the chant progressed, the air around Arlo grew heavy, a bright orange magic circle manifesting before him. He knew that even the slightest mistake in his recitation could cause the spell to fail and the entire situation to take a turn for the worse.
Meanwhile, the Wyvern hovered in the air, its throat swelling once more as it gathered flames within its maw, preparing for another devastating attack.
"From the depths of the abyss, I summon the embers of oblivion, a force that consumes all creation..."
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As the chant carried on, the magic circle grew brighter, the air around Arlo crackling with static electricity. The wind within the confines of the barrier whipped his hair into a frenzy.
With the chant nearing its end, three magic circles formed in the air, two above and one below the flying Wyvern. The circles illuminated the chamber with an eerie glow, a swirling vortex of dark energy manifesting within them, growing larger and more powerful with each rotation.
[MP: 40% -> 35%]
Meanwhile, the Wyvern's throat continued to swell, expanding to an uncanny size. It seemed that both Arlo and the creature were preparing to end the battle with their next attack.
'More... that's not enough... pour more magic into it...' Arlo thought, gritting his teeth as he pushed himself to the limit.
The grimoire and magic circles began to glow with an even brighter intensity, as more circles manifested, layering themselves both above and below the initial ones. The swirling vortex of dark energy grew more intense and powerful, the circles expanding ominously, adding to their frightening appearance.
[MP: 35% -> 20%]
The Wyvern shot its head forward, releasing a roaring inferno of flames that crashed into Arlo's barrier, heating the inside to an unbearable degree. Arlo's lungs burned with a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced, but he persevered, determined to finish the incantation.
"Heed my call... Advanced Class Explosion Magic: Explosion-"
The instant the chant was complete, a blinding light flashed through the sea of flames, and a massive explosion ignited, roaring to life in the air where the Wyvern flew.
The intensity of the blast was unlike anything Arlo had ever witnessed. The shockwave that followed was so powerful that it pushed his figure further into the wall, cracks spreading across his barrier.
His ears rang as he stared at the embers and flames of the explosion expanding in the air up in the temple’s chamber and all around him. The chaos of the blast made it nearly impossible to discern what was happening outside.
[You have killed a Wyvern!]
[+200 Experience Points.]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Emergency Quest Complete!]
[You've completed the 'Emergency Quest: Wyvern Slayer’!]
[You've completed the ‘Unique Quest: Clear The C-Rank Labyrinth’!]
Ignoring the notifications appearing on the screen before him, Arlo hastily glanced at the barrier covered in a veil of darkness to his far right.
Although his vision was partially obscured by the flames, he noticed that cracks were also spreading across the barrier, indicating that it was on the verge of shattering. Without hesitation, Arlo began to transfer more and more magic power into it, reinforcing it just as he was doing for his own barrier.
'D-Don't break! Don't break!' He repeated in his mind, pouring in as much magic power as he could muster.
Arlo's heart raced as he watched the explosion consume everything in the chamber, the heat and force of the blast overwhelming everything in its path. He realized that unleashing such a powerful spell in a confined space had been a mistake, and now he could only hope that both barriers would hold until the chaos subsided.
[MP: 20% -> 17% -> 15% -> 12% -> 10%]
Time seemed to crawl as Arlo continued to pour magic power into both barriers, not only reinforcing them to prevent them from breaking but also to prevent the searing heat from seeping through and scorching them alive.
Arlo had discovered when fighting the wyvern that applying more magic power to the barriers not only increased their sturdiness but also their resistance to external elements, such as extreme heat. As long as he reinforced them sufficiently, the overwhelming heat from the explosion wouldn't boil him or his companions.
"Come on...!" He yelled desperately, his voice straining.
After what felt like an eternity, the aftereffects of the explosion finally subsided.
As the dust settled, Arlo's eyes widened in shock at the scene of utter devastation that greeted him. The chamber walls had been completely torn away, leaving nothing but rubble in their wake.
The floor had been transformed into a cratered landscape of broken tiles and pulverized concrete. Deep fissures and cracks ran through the surface, revealing the damaged foundation beneath.
At the very center of the destruction was the Wyvern, or rather, the gory remnants of it. A scattered mass of charred, shredded flesh and splintered bones was all that remained of the creature. Chunks of seared muscle and singed organs were strewn haphazardly across the ground, barely recognizable amidst the smoking debris.
The only structures left standing in the room were the two barriers, one coated in darkness and the other glowing a bright yellow, with Arlo inside it. His mind raced, hoping that his efforts to reinforce the barriers had been enough to protect them.
‘They’re fine... right…?' Arlo thought to himself, as he lowered his head.
He gazed at the grimoire in his hand, hoping to open it to a page where he could find a healing spell so that he could walk over to them and check. However, in his exhaustion, he accidentally dropped the book.
[MP: 0%]
The moment he let go of the grimoire, both barriers he had kept erected disappeared, revealing the group standing there, dumbfounded as they took in the scene around them. They seemed to be saying something, but with his ears still suffering from the aftereffects of the explosion, Arlo couldn't make out their words.
“Looks like they ended up just fine…” He muttered, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he collapsed onto the ground, reaching for the grimoire. “This time, I didn't run... this time, I was able to save them…” He whispered, tears welling up in his eyes.
With his face pressed against the ground, Arlo couldn't see what was transpiring around him. However, he heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching, and all of a sudden-
*Swoosh!*
He was lifted onto Liam's shoulder, before hearing Argus yell, "Run! Run to the portal!"
Arlo had expected them to be celebrating their survival, but their voices were filled with desperation as they ran with all they had. Clutching his grimoire tightly, he slowly glanced back from Liam's shoulder to see what they were running from.
When he did, his eyes widened in horror. Because the temple walls that had been blocking off the horde of Winged Serpents had been destroyed in the explosion, the serpents had gained a clear path into the room.
A sea of writhing, hissing bodies poured through the shattered walls, their scales glinting in the dim light as they surged towards the group.
Meanwhile, the group ran with every ounce of energy they had left, their eyes fixed on the crimson portal that had manifested on the opposite end of the room. They sprinted past the Wyvern's corpse, not even sparing it a second glance before leaping through the portal.
Upon crossing the threshold, their surroundings shifted, and they found themselves standing in front of a gate beside a large, dilapidated building in a cordoned-off area. The words "off limits" were prominently displayed on the tape that surrounded the site.
Two armed men stood at attention before them, and upon seeing them, the group were certain that they had successfully returned.
When they were spotted by the armed men, the group explained that the labyrinth had been cleared, noticing that the gate had begun to slowly fizzle out. It was common knowledge that once a labyrinth boss was defeated, it would normally take a gate a few hours to close completely.
Having received confirmation that the gate was cleared, the group was allowed to return to the Hunters Association to make their report and receive their rewards.
After stashing their weapons and the carriage bag filled with the energy crystals they had gathered in the back of the van, the vehicle took off, carrying the exhausted group back to the Hunters Association in the centre of London.
"Haa... that was so scary...!" Liam panted heavily, his legs trembling as stretched them on his seat
"Yeah, that could've gone south really fast... it's also a shame that we weren't able to properly extract all of its resources before clearing it," Alexander chimed in. "We might've gotten lucky and found some artifacts in the other temple rooms."
"Well, it's not like we had a choice. We ended up finding ourselves right in front of the boss," Arlene commented.
"Well, we made it out fine, so all's well that ends well, right?" Argus asked, a grin spreading across his face. "Besides, with the Wyvern being there, the gate's rank wasn't possibly classified correctly, meaning we're entitled to compensation from the Association." His smile took on a cold edge as he contemplated the potential benefits of their ordeal.
"Yeah, we made it out fine, so that doesn't matter. More importantly..." Arlene trailed off, her gaze shifting to Arlo, who was seated beside her.
She sat close to him, using her ability to heal his wounds. The others followed her gaze, their attention also falling on Arlo, who nervously averted his eyes in response.
"Care to explain what the hell happened back there?" Arlene asked, her voice firm as she stared intently at him.
The atmosphere in the van grew tense as everyone waited for Arlo's response. The events that had transpired in the temple had left them all with countless questions.