Chapter 12: The Horde of Fire
Sweat begins to soak into my bandages as the heat from the forest’s flames surround me. At most, I’ll last about 15 minutes before my body becomes affected by the temperature. I continuously leak mana around me, and the ground begins shaking as the stampede of monsters approach my location. They all ignore the aura of death that hits them, and continue converging onto my position.
I stand my ground, and keep my guard up. The first monster leaps out of the flaming bushes to my right, and I react to it immediately. It was another one of those flaming wolves that nearly ambushed me earlier, so this is going to be revenge for that. Its jaws were wide open, head tilted sideways, aiming straight for my throat. I was faster, though.
Without taking a step, I simply rotate my body and tilted it slightly to the left, before throwing a left hook right at its head. The punch hits its muzzle, and it crushes right through the jaw, disabling its mouth. I take one step to the left so it lands on the ground next to me, before stomping on its neck to finish it off. I stop leaking mana, and focus on the battle that's now starting.
A group of three monsters appear from the flames, trying to attack me from three sides. From behind, was a large boar with a flaming back. On the left side, there was a deer with its antlers on fire. Both the boar and the deer were much larger than me, but I can use that to my advantage. To the right, a large bird with red and orange feather designs was flying straight at me. There doesn’t seem to be any fire on the outer body, so most likely, it was a creature that can breathe fire.
The boar begins charging at me, and the deer maintains its distance for now. The sparrow started to dive towards me, and it would arrive faster than the boar, so I’ll take care of that for now. As the bird dived at me, it opened its beak and a small, quick ball of fire bursts from the small mouth. I step to the side and dodge the fireball, while waiting for the sparrow to come within one meter around me.
Just as it was just about to pierce me with its beak, I dodge it and thrust my arm out, catching it. As predicted, its outer body wasn’t very hot, so I was able to hold it. I apply pressure to my grip, and kill it by crushing it’s bones in my grasp. Blood starts dripping out of its body and into my hands, the bandages absorbing the blood. I don’t mind it though, and continue on with the battle.
Still holding on to the bird, I turn to the left and release a back kick straight at the snout of the boar charging at me. The snout sinks into the creature’s face, and was killed instantly. My leg was stuck for a second though, and the deer tried to take advantage of this and charged at me with its fiery antlers pointed at me. By the time I was able to pull out my leg, the deer was 2 meters away from hitting me.
I didn’t have enough time to try and dodge it, so instead, I leapt back and raised the sparrow’s corpse in my hand, holding it like a dart. I throw it straight between the antlers and into the skull of the deer, but it didn’t go deep enough to kill. It did cause the monster to steer its direction though, so its charge barely miss me. As it ran by me, I grab one of its antlers and using my strength, pulled on it as hard as I can to drag it onto the ground. I snapped off a part of the antler in the process, which I use to cut its underbelly after it fell over on the ground.
This was the fourth kill in a row, but it still wasn’t the end. A large group of wolves cautiously surround me, and I notice that one of the wolves was much bigger than the rest, and its fur was dark red. The alpha wolf, leader of the pack. It growls at me, and I slowly grab the antler of the deer I just killed, snapping off a small part of it. The fire that originally covered the antler was extinguished when it died, so it’s safe for me to use now. Upon hearing the snapping sound, it served as a signal for them to strike, and three of the wolves lunge at me at the same time, from three different directions.
This time, I took the offensive stance, and lunged towards the nearest wolf. As it was just about to land on me. I lean backward and slide under it. With my back making friction with the ground, I slam the weapon in my hand right into its chest as I slide by, and the corpse dragged over me into one of the other wolves that tried to pounce me. I stand up immediately after, facing the closest target to me, which was the alpha wolf.
Its body was at least 3 meters tall, big enough to bite off the head of the boar I just killed earlier. The wolf growls at me, and sprints forward, swiping its claws at me when it got close. Instead of stepping back, I go forward and under its head faster than it could react, gripping it by the snout. It begins to shake its head to try and shake me off, but I twist it with all my strength, killing it easily. I swing off the snout before the body fell limp onto the ground, and landed on my feet.
One of the wolves tried to pounce on me just as I land, but instead, I dodge the lunge by quickly twisting my body to the side. As it flies past me, I grab its fur and spin the wolf around me. Using the momentum from spinning it, I ram the body right into the closest tree, and trunk of the tree is destroyed by the force. Gravity forces the tree to fall over, landing on the body of the dead alpha wolf. Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky enough to have it land on the remaining two wolves.
Both wolves were now hesitant in coming to attack me, so I came to them instead. I run straight towards both wolves, which caused them to react. One of them ran right at me, trying to bite my neck like the other wolves. I easily dodge the attack and kicked its head, sending it flying into another nearby tree. The tree didn’t fall from the force, though.
I look at the final wolf, who didn’t come at me. It wasn’t running either, but the monster’s mouth was opened widely showing its sharp teeth, ready to bite at me. I recall from the earlier ambush with Thoth that these things also breathe fire, so I immediately dash towards it, but I was too late. A large ball of fire is shot from its mouth, and the momentum from my dash couldn’t let me escape to the sides. Instead, I push off the ground as hard as possible, and leap as high as I can.
Thankfully, I was able to jump over the 2 meter fireball, and I was spinning in the air above the wolf, about to land right on top of it. I swing my leg down on its head, feeling my leg sink right into the skull of the monster, the monster died on the spot. After killing the final wolf, I stand alone in the middle of a small pile of monster corpses, with their blood splattered onto me.
"Battle has ended.
Burning Alpha Wolf has been defeated. Received 6,000 experience.
Burning Wolf x 5 has been defeated. Received 7,500 experience.
Boar of Flames has been defeated. Received 2,000 experience.
Deer of Fire has been defeated. Received 2,500 experience.
Heat Sparrow has been defeated. Received 750 experience.
3,018,487,500 experience until level 32.”
I relax my guard as I hear the nostalgic voice of the [System]. It’s been 8 years since I’ve actually done anything for it to report, after all. Though, that amount of experience needed until the next level is the largest number I’ve ever seen from the [System]. Not that it matters, anyway, and the amount needed probably increased due to the fact that I cursed myself this heavily.
Normally, I would be scavenging these carcasses and taking what materials I could find, but right now, I didn’t really need it. I only came here to fight, after all, and regain battle experience.
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Although I didn’t suffer any direct attacks from the monsters, the hot environment is starting to affect my body, and the blood of the monsters is extremely hot. I didn’t feel it at first because the bandages stopped it from making contact with my body, but now that it has soaked its way through, it has really started to burn my skin.
I recreate my [White Zone], and sit down on the nice, cold ground. While keeping an eye on the area around me. I create water out of the ice generated by the [White Zone], and use it to soak my bandages in the cool water, and remove the hot blood from it. Afterwards, I heal any burn wounds I have on my body. Right after doing so, I stand back up and prepare to start moving in the forest. Unfortunately for me, the system has other plans for me.
“Regional Announcement: Conditions for [Forest Fire Hidden Boss] has been fulfilled. Summoning [Inferno Bear] within the vicinity.”
Thank you, [System]. I totally needed that. A few seconds after that message came, I hear loud steps coming towards me. Immediately, I remove the [White Zone], and raise my fists. A large figure can be seen through the flames, coming towards me. What emerges from the flaming forest, was a large bear completely engulfed in fire. It stands on its two hind legs, the height of the creature well above four meters. This thing was larger than the Alpha Wolf I killed earlier which only sized to 3 meters.
If I recall correctly from my [Adventurer Studies], bosses were a completely separate league from the rest of the monsters in the dungeon. They were known as [Dungeon Masters], and they resurrect exactly a year after they are slain. Even the weakest D-rank dungeons contained [Dungeon Masters] that requires several B-ranks to take them down. Now, there was only one other being that was stronger than the [Dungeon Masters], and those are the [Hidden Bosses]. These creatures required strict conditions to summon them, and very few of them have been discovered. As far as I know, no one has discovered the [Hidden Boss] of the [Forest of Fire], so I guess I was the first to do so. I don’t know what I did to fulfill these conditions though.
Well, then, what should I be doing now? Obviously, beat down this bear. Am I going to use magic? Nope, still no abilities. How am I going to kill it? I’ll improvise during the battle. Now then, I’m going to be locked into melee combat with an opponent I can’t directly touch, without using any of my skills. What’s the first thing I do? I sprint to the nearest corpse, which was a wolf, and swing it by grabbing its legs, throwing it at the bear.
The bear caught the body mid-flight with its mouth, and bit into the corpse, crushing the bones in a single chomp. Well, now I know that it’s jaw strength is insanely strong. This also lets me know that the bear is not completely made of fire, and has a physical body under all those flames. My little experimenting also marked the beginning of the fight, because when I turn to run again, the bear chased after me.
I head towards the body of the deer, yet again, and snap off the longest part of the antlers I could find. I feel sorry for the poor deer’s corpse, but I really need to use its antlers as weapons against this kind of opponent. They were very durable, and fire resistant because, well, they were originally fine even when on fire. Although they seem weak because I’m able to snap them off easily, that’s just because of my strength stat.
I turn around after snapping off a long portion of the antler, and held it like a sword, facing the bear that was behind me. It swings its massive right arm at me, but I step back so it barely misses me. After dodging the swipe, I jab the antler-sword in my hand as hard as I can into the elbow, and I can feel it piercing through the skin. Along with that, I hear a loud snap from its arm, and I pull back immediately.
Great, so I was able to harm it using this poor excuse for a sword. The bear groans while it takes a few steps back, being a bit more cautious of me now. This time, I took the offensive, and dashed forward, making an overhead swing aimed at its head. This time though, the bear reacted quickly and stopped the antler with its left arm. Surprisingly, it’s strength is equal to mine, and the antler snaps under the pressure. I leap to the side, letting go of the shattered weapon. Now I’m disarmed, I have no choice but to punch and kick him.
Why can’t I just snap off more antler parts? Well, currently, he’s in the way of me and the body, so I can’t exactly do that. So right now, I’m going to try and kill him the same way I did to the Alpha Wolf; neck snapping. I sprint towards the bear, who roars at me and lunges forward with its left arm swiping out at me. I dodge the attack by jumping over it, and landed on the arm. Before my shoes and bandages caught fire, I jump off quickly and try to grab the head of the bear.
It realizes my intention though, and dodges to the right just before I was able to do it. Now I’m in mid air, completely vulnerable, and I can see its left paw coming in to hit me. I raise my arms in front of me to block it, and the heavy hit from the bear sends me flying a few meters away straight into a tree. The force of the blow makes me cough a bit of blood out. This is not good at all, it was getting hard to breathe. I stand back up slowly, and the bear begins rushing straight towards me.
It attempts to tackle me with its body head on, but fortunately for me, this thing is stupid. It just launched me into a tree, and now it’s rushing straight at me. Just before the tackle hits, I dive right with all my might, and managed to just escape the range of its attack. I hear a loud snap, and I turn to see the bear rolling back from the impact. The tree was on the verge of falling over, and I decided to give it the last blow needed to do so. This was my last chance of killing the bear without touching it directly.
I run towards the tree with my remaining strength, and punch the shattered part of the trunk as hard as I can, making the tree fall. It wasn’t going to land on the bear though, so I hugged the base of the falling tree and try to change its falling direction onto the bear myself. My back feels like it’s on the verge of completely snapping in half, but I still try shift the tree’s landing point.
As the bear recovers from its shock, it looks up to see a giant tree landing right onto it’s face. It dies immediately from the weight of the tree, and victory is mine. The voice of the system confirms this for me.
"Regional Announcement: [Inferno Bear] has been slain. Rewards have been granted to the slayer."
“[Inferno Bear] has been defeated. Received 75,000 experience.
Received [Cloak of Immolation].
3,018,412,500 experience needed until level 32.
New title has been received: [Inferno Hunter].”
Oh, the teacher did mention something like this. Upon defeating a [Dungeon Master] or [Hidden Boss], a reward was given for it. I wonder how we receive it though?
As that thought runs through my mind, a white light shines in front of me. It flashes brightly, and when it finally fades, I see a well-decorated chest in front of me. I open the chest, and inside, as the name of the item implied, a red cloak in the chest. For now, because it was empty anyway, I throw it into the extremely limited spatial pocket.
Well, I'm far from becoming the previous warrior I was, but this helped a bit. I can feel some of my combat instincts returning, so it won't be long until I return to my former self. I create the [White Zone] again, and heal myself using light magic. Thoth told me to leave after reflecting myself, but I'm going to do the opposite and follow her into the dungeon. We came here together, after all, so we'll leave together as well.
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Author's note:
Thanks to ArchmageNaoki for proofreading (More like editing, but that's fine too)!