Another monster standing in ten meters appeared. Its head was burning with yellow flames, covering most of its face. The top of its head was a few feet away from the ceiling and thick lava flows throughout it's body as it's hand and feet are burning with hot flames. It's size made them feel like an ant as they had to look up just to meet its gaze. This monster is different from those they've faced before and Jurgen knew that because this monster is recognizable by its strength.

"An emberman?" Grey also recognized the faceless monster. He read it from reference books. This monster is known for its incredibly tough body that can survive even against blue fire magic.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?" Jagger who was unconscious until just a moment ago asked Mira who's still trying to wake up Rose.

"I thought embermans can only be found in the monster continent?" Edward was also surprised to see the giant creature. "... Or am I wrong?" He asked, looking at Reynold.

Reynold just shrugged his shoulder and slightly tilted his head in response.

"Well, seems like the boss escaped." Jurgen stared at the bigger problem in front of him with disappointment.

"I tried my best to tell you not to make a move. Why would you hit it when you don't even know what it is?" Ryner hopelessly looked at his old master before letting out a long sigh.

Jurgen glared at him with his piercing gaze and said, "And I can't believe you tried your best dragging me in this mess because you failed the raid." The old geezer sneered.

"If not because of those guys, I can handle this without your help." Ryner whined, stubbornly crossing his arm and looking away from the old man.

"Those guys?" Jurgen looked like a confused puppy after hearing his words.

"I'll tell you the unbelievable story after we finish this thing up so just sit back there and watch." The disciple tightly held his sword in his right hand. "Anyway, that thing really looks strong." Ryner proceeded to recklessly approach the new monster that appeared in front of him.

"Hey, don't go changing that subject!" Jurgen annoyingly pointed a finger at him, stomping his foot on the ground.

On the other hand, Grey was fixedly staring at the monster with his fierce eyes, unimpressed. 'This flaming monster really reminds me of those demons that I encounter when I first stormed the demon king's territory. They were huge.' Just thinking about it made his heart beat faster, adrenaline cursing through his veins from excitement.

'I wonder how long would it take to kill that thing with this body.' The young wizard took a quick glance at himself before gazing back at the monster. The thought of fighting that monster was insane enough to drew a grin on his face. He was eager to find out his power ceiling to the point where he wanted to solo kill that creature.

On the other hand, the furious monster looked down at them unbothered. It seems like the gigantic hot blooded monster was underestimating the humans below him and waited for them to strike first. As if giving a chance for a little kitty to attack or to run away.

"What are you looking down for?" Ryner spoke, suddenly appearing from behind Grey, looking up at the gigantic monster. "You want to fight that monster, correct?" He asked Grey with a smile of excitement.

"Yeah," Grey confidently replied before cracking his neck. Then, he pulled the short dagger from his right hand side and exhaled sharply.

"Then let's team up," Ryner suggested, shocking Grey with the idea. "You go in first, I'll back you up. How about that?"

Grey didn't even need to hesitate since his true aim was to test his current strength against that monster and Ryner will be just a back up just in case he fail.

"Alright," Grey replied, walking forward to bravely face the lava monster.

Ryner just smiled and looked back to sneer at Jurgen who's annoyingly clenching his fist after seeing him together with his only grandson.

"Hey, are you sure you're going to let him fight?" Jagger asked Edward with a worried look.

But Bernard quickly placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "If you saw that kid earlier, surely you're not going to say that."

Jagger just gave him a confused look before glancing back at Grey and Ryner who're ready to fight toe to toe against the monsters.

"You know, normal childs should be protected by their fathers. And unfortunately, Grey isn't just a normal child." Edward responded, watching his son with a smile all over his face.

"BOOM!"

All of a sudden, the gigantic monster stomped on the ground annoyingly, creating a huge explosion that shook the ground. It seems like the lava humanoid has a very short patience and has been eager to witness the human's power.

After seeing the monster lost its patience, Grey swiftly emitted lightning and covered his body with it, creating the 'Lightning cloak' to protect his young body and also to increase his reaction time. "Here I go!" He let out a grunt before jumping vigorously at an incredible speed, piercing through the air with a whooshing sound, going towards the monster's head.

The sound alone caused the monster to slightly panic, raising it's large burning arm to defend while increasing the amount of flames being released from its hand.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Grey quickly see that coming and diverted his movement to the left side of its hand using wind magic at lightning speed and swung his dagger filled with sharp air that went off upon swinging it.

"Swiiish!"

The wind traveled with a sharp sound before it almost reached the monster's left arm but was parried by the emberman's burning right hand hand. And instantly, the air in front of Grey was filled with yellow flames, rising from the monster's entire arm to consume the already-thin air in the atmosphere.

Grey quickly backed off in the air upon seeing the masses of flames that might burn his young skin if not because of the mana cloak protecting him. 'Woah, this thing can't even compare to the demons I fought.' He paused for a second to commend the monster. "This is interesting."

After awhile of waiting for the flames to went out and realized that it'll most likely won't happen because it's seemingly being released endlessly, Ryner suddenly appeared in front of him in a blink of an eye. His sword was lifted above his head, preparing to swing while his purple spirit mark glows wildly. "Excalibur vacuum!" A chant escaped his mouth, before vertically swinging his sword. In an instant, the flames was cut in half, extinguishing it without a trace, causing the lava creature and Grey to stare in awe.

Grey was shocked to see Ryner using vacuum magic, a higher form of wind element and an Arcane attribute just like his lightning magic. But his thoughts were interrupted by a loud call coming from Ryner.

"Keep going!" He shouted on his breath, before slashing the spared flames horizontally, causing it to vanish entirely.

This actions gave a chance to Grey to go in and get closer to the monster. He swiftly flew in the air and closed the distance between them, positioning above the monster head who managed to follow his with its hidden eyes. Grey hastily channeled the lightning protecting his body to his sword and then wildly swung it to the monsters burning head.

A rumble echoed inside the room as everyone watched the lava monster's head being pushed back by lightning strikes, one swing after another caused the lightning to strike its head continuously. The emberman violently shook its head to escape and get rid of the lightning and finally raised its hand to grab the foolish young man above him.

"Swoosh!"

But Grey was quickly grabbed by Ryner by the shirt and moved him away. And before the monster could even command his arm for its next move, Ryner threw his sword and pierced the emderman's hidden left eye.

"Raaaaaaaaah!" Emberman let out a loud groan while stomping and shaking its head violently, hitting it's head on the ceilings and onto the wall, causing the room to shake uncontrollably.

That brought a lot of time for Grey to finish visualizing and casted 'Blazing rainfall', firing a few volleys of fire ball at the monster's face just enough to distract it while Ryner flew to it's head and punched it hardly, shoving the monster's head on the nearby wall, causing the flames that burns on its head to vanish instantly. The sword buried in its eye eventually fell on the ground after the impact.

"Hey, old man... and everyone!" Ryner hastily shouted between pants before dodging the monsters arm that attempted to grab him and landed on the ground to pick up the excalibur.

"What?!" Jurgen shouted replied, cautiously watching the rocky ceiling above as the surrounding shakes.

"Go and find the boss inside, all of you... Grey and I will take care of this." Ryner hastily ordered, pointing at the gigantic hole on the wall beside the monster.

Another room is located inside that hole and Ryner instinctively know that the boss escaped to that room since this lava monster came inside so he told everyone to follow it.

"Okay!" Jurgen stubbornly replied with his hand crossed.

"Let's go in everyone, Mira, get out of here, bring Rose with you.." Reynold spoke to Mira who's still trying to wake up the unconscious Rose.

Mira just nodded her response and said, "You can count on me.", before carrying the unconscious Rose on her back and running through the exit tunnel.

"Alright, let's go." The elderly man once again lifted everyone with his wind magic and threw them one by one through the large hole to another room. Once the last person was thrown, Jurgen flew inside, following them and carrying his sword on his waist.

Meanwhile, the emberman on Grey's end once again stood back on its feet, head slightly burning with faint yellow flames while angrily staring at Ryner. Then, it moved and lifted its awfully large hand and then slamming it onto the ground with pure intent to crush Grey and Ryner.

However, Grey's reaction time was quicker as he managed to dash out of the way with a little help of Ryner's superhuman speed.

"Raaaaaaaaah!"

The emberman was demonstrating its wrath as it stomped wildly onto the ground causing the tunnel floor to slightly crack.

"This monster..." Grey stepped out of the cracking ground and flew using a wind spell.

After some furious stomping, the lava monster ignited a pillar of lava that emerged from the ground and was soon shaped into a sword. The emberman grabbed it using its large hand before opening its giant mouth and let out a loud scream of anger. Along with the scream was an extremely hot air filling the entire room, enough to send shivers down their spine as they looked up to see the monster ready to strike them with a sword.

"Vacuum push!"

Ryner chanted followed by a sudden drop in temperature. It was like the hotness vanished all of a sudden and the atmosphere returned to its normal warmness. And the only word that escaped his mouth was, "Move!"

Upon hearing this, Grey swiftly flew out of the way to avoid the giant sword that was swung by the monster. He was already gasping and catching his breath when he landed on the ground and pushed his palm onto the tunnel floor. Soon, his gasping was followed by low-pitched rumbles and tremors as two stone pillars emerged from both side of the sword, pushing against each other to hold the gigantic magma blade on the ground. Grey cunningly casted the two stone wall spell to restrain its sword and proceeded to confront the monster with his dagger, jumping above its arm and slashing it using 'Severing wind'.

But even with the wind magic, he couldn't even leave a scratch on its thick molten skin. Moreover, he can already feel his mana depleting faster than expected because of the lighting cloak. "I can't even slice through its skin." Grey knew that this could be troublesome for him and was eager to end battle quicker so that he can rest and meditate to regain his mana. But before he could even make a move, the monster vigorously swung its hand, throwing him off of his feet and crashing to the nearest wall.

Luckily, he survived because of the lighting cloak protecting his body but that wasn't enough to leave his body undamaged. Soon, he tasted blood in his mouth before he started coughing with the red thick liquid. After a while, he came into realization, 'Aww, crap... this body is still weak to use against monsters like that. How naive of me to compare this to my previous adult body?' The foolish thought draw a smile on his face as his own blood tainted the ground below him. Excitement, that's the only thing he felt in that life and death situation.

He soon heard some heavy steps that shook the ground everytime it occurs. When Grey angled his gaze above him and saw, Ryner forcibly stopping the monster on his own, slashing it as much as he could while occasionally looking at him.

"Hey, kid... hold yourself together. We won't survive here if you'll just sit there with that pitiful smile of yours!" Ryner loudly yelled, kicking and punching the emberman with all his strength.

Hearing this dragged Grey out of his pitiful thoughts and snapped back to reality, he rose up on his feet, eyes closed while trying to stabilize his breathing. Suddenly... all at once, he released almost all the mana left from his mana pool and filled the air with nothing but his magic. He menacingly stared at the monster and coldly said, "You're dead!"