A strange smell permeated the air, like a mixture of sulfur and burnt food.

It was clear that Chaotic Firestorm had taken a heavy toll on Anderson, who now had to lean on his staff just to barely stand up after casting the spell.

But despite his physical exhaustion, Anderson was very excited at this moment.

"Ha... As expected, it still takes me to get things done. Any monster will be crushed like ants with one blow from me."

His fangirl Mia also complimented very timely: "Master Anderson is so amazing. He took care of the monster with just one spell, unlike some people who just cower in the corner."

Although Mia didn't say it directly, everyone present knew she was implying Ronald and Hathaway.

Ronald didn't explain himself - a lion doesn't need to boast of its might to stray dogs.

In the earlier fight, Ronald had actually dealt the most damage. It's just that, not wanting to reveal his full strength, Ronald had used modified spells with elemental oscillations close to zero.

If there had been a formal mage present, they would have noticed Ronald's peculiarity for sure. But unfortunately there wasn't, so in the eyes of Blazing Rose members, Ronald had been like a coward, hiding behind and slacking the whole time.

Hathaway had performed much better in comparison. She hadn't been completely idle - her efforts had been focused on treating the injured.

As soon as the fight broke out, Hathaway had rushed to the dwarven shield warrior, and dragged Hammerfist to a corner to treat his wounds.

Mia didn't actually harbor much malice towards Ronald. She only singled him out because of Anderson.

Anderson had been at serious odds with the team recently, to the point where clear rifts had formed between them.

To get Anderson re-accepted by the team now, they had to recognize his importance, while also finding a scapegoat to deflect attention.

And Ronald's performance gave Mia the opportunity she needed, so she decisively turned her criticism towards Ronald, hoping to stir up new conflicts and make the team members forget their earlier disagreements with Anderson.

Mia's plan was clever, but she overlooked one thing - Anderson's performance had to be sufficiently dominant.

The ideal script would be Anderson one-shot killing the tiger, contrasting him against the coward Ronald and making the others doubt Ronald.

But clearly things weren't going smoothly.

A tiger's roar came from the smoke.

ROAR!!!

The angry roar blew away the thick smoke, revealing a huge shadowy figure.

The giant tiger that appeared before the Blazing Rose members no longer looked as majestic as before.

Its seemingly sturdy fur was now charred black in patches, some areas even had sparks flickering.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Its magnificent bulky frame was also covered in injuries, with numerous bloody gashes flowing freely.

Most serious was its left eye - it had been corroded through by the negative elements in the firestorm, leaving a large sunken cavity where the eye used to be, with black-red fluids constantly oozing from the wound.

Seeing this injury, Ronald breathed a sigh of relief internally.

Even with the tiger's massive physique, such an injury would be hard to take. Although it still looked fierce externally, its combat power must have decreased tremendously.

Ronald also gained some understanding of his fellow mage.

Once a mage apprentice reaches this advanced level, they can wield power unimaginable to ordinary professionals.

The injuries on the tiger's body would normally require twelve experienced adventurers working in unison, possibly even requiring sacrifice from the shield warrior...

Yet Anderson had achieved this level of damage with just one advanced apprentice spell, although it did seem to take a lot out of him. Such decisive one-hit, battle-winning power was really overpowered.

Ronald was genuinely glad to have command of such might as well.

Of course, there are pros and cons. Ronald also observed some weaknesses in Anderson's spellcasting:

Firstly, the casting time was too long. Just the incantation took close to twenty seconds - enough for a peasant with a hoe to kill you several times over.

Secondly, the mana consumption was extremely high - a single spell used up two-thirds of the caster's total mana reserve at the same level... that was highly abnormal.

As a fellow mage, Ronald had very keen senses regarding the elements. He found a lot of inspiration in Anderson's spellcasting.

Chaotic Firestorm leaned towards the chaotic pyro element - this kind of spell is crude and simple, just smash and blast away forcefully.

But Anderson was overly focused on the visual effects, deliberately guiding the elements during casting to form brilliant rings of fire around him...

That was completely unnecessary, resulting in severe elemental dissipation.

Most of Anderson's mana was wasted this way.

If it were Ronald casting it, he would remove all the complex steps that wasted mana, then add an Oil Slick spell to make the firestorm even more torrential, or infuse it with netherflame properties, so the flames would never stop even as it burned through bones.

* * *

For Golden Flame White Tiger, boss of the labyrinth first floor, the nightmare was only just beginning.

Before the tiger could react, Lagren suddenly stomped the ground and activated the swordsman Charge skill.

With a swoosh, Lagren rushed before the tiger, his shortsword stabbing swiftly towards its right eye.

The tiger swiped its paw trying to bat away the insolent ant in front of it, but due to its heavy injuries, its speed was much reduced. Seeing the opening, Lagren decisively abandoned the eye and slashed hard into the paw pad instead.

Splurt!

Blood sprayed as a deep bone-exposing gash appeared on the tiger's front paw pad. Landing heavily, the tiger let out an agonized wail, slowly retreating - it seemed to have lost its nerve...

Still dashing forward with sword in hand, Lagren prepared to finish off the white tiger in this chance!

But Lagren underestimated the labyrinth guardian's intelligence. As she charged in for a repeat attack, the tiger opened its gaping maw and unleashed an ear-splitting, deafening roar.

This was no simple tiger roar, but one carrying a mental shock effect!

The nearby Lagren was immediately thrown off-balance, swaying unsteadily as if drunk.

The other team members further away were slightly better off, but still clutched their ears with pained expressions.

Hidden in the shadows pretending to slack off, Ronald was also affected, losing his connection with the silver stiletto in the tiger's body.

With the unknown threat gone, the tiger's aura surged once more.

Harboring extreme hatred for the human who dared challenge its authority, the white tiger disregarded the more threatening Anderson who had blinded its eye, instead opening its bloody jaws wide and biting straight for Lagren.

Still disoriented from the roar, Lagren's mind was hazy and she couldn't regain her balance at all.

The gaping maw snapped viciously towards Lagren's waist. The two protruding saber-like teeth glinted with metallic shine - if Lagren was bitten, the outcome would be too gruesome to even imagine.

Just as it seemed Lagren would meet her end in the tiger's jaws, an extremely slender mage hand snaked out from behind a pillar, grabbing Lagren's belt and rapidly pulling her back.

The tiger was eager to feast on the flesh and blood of the arrogant human who dared challenge its authority. It would chew the insolent ant into mincemeat!