After a while, a faint light became visible in the distance.

I signaled to Sebastian to put out the fire. There was no need for confirmation; that light emanated from the UniQue's lair.

The light grew larger the closer we got, and the ground vibrated every so often, the pebbles dancing in rhythm.

At the end of the hall, a large gate-like entrance awaited us.

Inside, we were met with a sight far grander than the hallway.

The cave stretched, revealing a giant opening supported by colossal lava-like pillars that reached high in the darkness, looming like sentinels in the shadows. Occasionally, streams of lava flowed through them, briefly illuminating the dark, rocky terrain.

The ground's vibrations became more pronounced but still seemed somewhat distant.

Deep in the room, behind one pillar, something caught my eye. This particular pillar seemed to be both more illuminated and darker than the others, creating an almost palpable presence.

Looking closer, my eyes widened at the sight. Sebastian, not once but twice, had called it a nightmare, but this... this was more akin to a demon born from fire and darkness itself.

The massive creature stood well over eight meters tall, cloaked in an aura of shadows and flames. Its characteristics were hidden, but from its shape, it had a humanoid structure. The only identifiable thing about it was the tattered bat-like wings that hung like a mantle.

It breathed in and a fiery mane grew from its back and neck before retracting. In that fleeting moment, I stole a glance at its face.

Two curved horns extended from its temples, obscuring most of its facial features, like a helmet or a crown. That being said, there was one thing that couldn't be hidden. Two dreadful orbs of shadowy fire that seem to pierce through the darkness.

Its eyes.

As it turned to the side, for a split second, our eyes locked, and my blood froze in my veins. My feet turned numb as an overwhelming pressure emanated all over my body from these hellish, illuminating eyes. Despite the distance, in those eyes, I saw myself burning in them, alone, helpless, powerless to do anything.

Involuntarily I shook my head, but I couldn't break the eye contact. Time seemed to stretch, the single moment dragging to what felt like hours until the beast fully made its turn.

I breathed out, sweat outlining my forehead as I regained my senses. Immediately I hid behind a pillar and peeked at it again.

The creature continued on its way as if it hadn't seen me.

‘Something is off…’

We locked eyes. The dread I felt was proof of that, yet it ignored us...

Upon further inspection, my hunch proved right. The UniQue behaved strangely unusual. It moved in circles around a particular section of the room, and wouldn't step outside a certain radius.

‘Weird…’

Weird, but irrelevant. Did it matter if its behavior was unusual? Last time I checked, we could use that to our advantage.

With the element of surprise on our side, we moved closer to the beast, silently taking cover behind the massive pillars whenever it shifted in our direction.

Once close enough, I glanced at Seth and subtly motioned with my head to the right.

He nodded, already knowing what to do.

Turning to Sebastian, I whispered, "Charge your spell. Count to three and then release it."

Before he could even respond, I darted off in the opposite direction of Seth, starting the countdown.

Once the countdown reached zero, Sebastian unleashed a fiery tornado similar to the twin twisters from earlier.

Before the spell could fully form, the creature turned around, sensing the intense amount of quint converging.

A primal howl erupted from the beast, its body transforming into an ashen red color like magma, with shadows mixing with the fire, shrouding every part of its body except from the gaping maw that hid hellfire inside it.

A voracious blaze consuming everything in its path reached and devoured Sebastian's attack like it was a mere ember.

As the incinerating torrent drew closer, Seth, who had scaled a nearby pillar, propelled himself like a wind bullet, soaring through the air, his sword gleaming with deadly intent, aiming directly for the creature's head.

The UniQue smashed its foot to the ground, and with a swift shift, it redirected the inferno toward Seth.

Seth, guiding the swirling wind around him, used it as a barrier and cleaved through the fiery beam.

At that moment, I dashed beneath the creature, my blade infused with quint. All our attacks converged simultaneously, resulting in a violent collision that sent a shockwave rippling through the chamber.

Shadows swelled at the collision, and the beast hid itself within them.

Sebastian's attack was a bluff, with Seth being the actual attacker. Having already launched an attack, the force was weakened by the change in movement. With Seth manipulating the wind around him to sustain the force behind his attack, the UniQue had no choice but to defend. That's where I came in. With the beast distracted, I could find a clean hit and end it right then and there without the need for a prolonged fight, however, it turned out that the beast had detected my presence as well, and at the last moment, it splitted its focus to withstand both strikes.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Once the shadows shrank back, the creature's lava-molded body revealed two scars, one on its neck, the other on its torso. It stood still like a statue. A second passed, and then another, yet the beast remained unmoving.

Suddenly, an intense pressure erupted, Sebastian dropping to his knees, overwhelmed by the stifling intent.

The UniQue ignited, flames and shadows furring with renewed intensity.

What had initially been limited to its back and neck now grew to envelop its entire form and extend beyond. Flames and shadows swirled up in a fusion between physical and incorporeal, forming a blazing inferno reaching high in the vast abyss above. Within this inferno, the creature's features became apparent, revealing the full length of its imposing wings, menacing hands, and the demonic head embellished with its blazing eyes.

With a mere, seemingly effortless gesture of its hand, a weapon of shadowy flames materialized from thin air. A resonating roar reverberated through the cavern and the UniQue was upon us.

The fiery weapon transformed into something akin to a spear made of living fire and aimed straight at Sebastian, Samantha, and Daniel. As the spear was launched, the surrounding air was drawn into it, causing it to grow in size and intensity.

Daniel lifted his shield and augmented it like before, doubling it in size with earthen spikes at the front. As the spear hurtled towards them, Samantha finished her incantation just in time to envelop Daniel in a green aura.

The clash of the two opposite forces reverberated. From the risen dust, Daneil was pushed back, leaving drag marks behind and smoke billowing from his now clean shield.

With no more obstacles, the beast reached for Samantha and Sebastian, preparing another weapon of fire, a sword.

Sebastian summoned chains of fire and conjured a fire guardian attempting to slow down the beast.

The beast ignoring the chains, which had little to no effect, swung its sword and the guardian was cut in half, fiery sparks flying in the air.

In a victorious and intimidating roar, it spread its wings open and charged.

From its right, a blazing azure fire lit while on its left, the surrounding wind converged and expanded simultaneously.

There was no room to hold back. With the element of surprise out of play, we had to adjust to a full head-on confrontation.

As Seth and I reached closer, the beast noticed us. With a firm step, its wings flapped violently, and all its momentum was gone as it took a step back.

My eyes widened as I was face-to-face with Seth. With no time to react, I ducked down while Seth pushed a wave of wind downwards, narrowly avoiding each other's blades.

Seth's wind billowed, and dust rose, shrouding us in smoke. Orienting myself with a quick turn using my free hand as a guide, I leaped toward the beast, with Seth executing a similar maneuver and following close behind. Just before the dissipating dust could reveal me, he channeled all the wind he had conjured into me, combining our attacks and boosting my speed.

Propelled at a breakneck pace, I slashed through the beast's ribs, a trail of lava-like liquid oozing from the deep wound.

The beast roared in agony, the fiery weapon vanishing from its grip. Flames and shadows reached for the wound, obscuring it completely. Once the mix of shadows and flames dissipated, there was no wound to be seen.

‘Sigh, of course it could heal itself…’

Roaring again, its breath turned to raging flames. With the clenching of its fists, it jumped in the air at least twenty meters high and slammed back down to the ground with devastating force.

The ground rippled like a tidal wave and shadow flames followed in a spherical outbreak that slammed and toppled everything around them, dust and smoke rising.

Unable to react to the attack, I was lifted off my feet and thrown back, landing over one pillar that cracked and almost broke to the impact.

Standing back up, everything around me was dusted, and no one, not even the beast, could be seen or heard, my ears ringing, unable to pick up any sound for guidance.

As the ringing subside, a scream echoed. Rushing toward the cry, with a swing of my sword, the smoke in front of me gave way, revealing the UniQue crushing Daniel over a pillar. He clung to his shield, but the green aura surrounding him earlier had dissipated.

Nearby, Samantha was murmuring an incantation.

Suddenly, the smoke cleared, and Seth leaped to action, pushing the beast away, freeing Daniel.

I rushed to Daniel first. Seth could handle himself for the time being.

"I'm f -cough-cough- ine. Just -cough- let me catch m-my -cough-cough- breath." He choked on his words, coughing blood with each breath.

"I'll heal him, go help Ranger Seth." Samantha said quickly, returning to her chant.

My eye twitched. Something was amiss. "Where's Sebastian?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since that last attack." Samantha added and closed her eyes to focus.

Seth and the beast were locked in a fierce exchange of blows. The beast was bigger and covered a larger area of effect with its attacks, but Seth was faster, able to dodge and maneuver around them. That being said, if something didn't change soon, things would take a turn for the worse for Seth. While he could defend himself for now, he couldn't do so indefinitely. Sebastian could wait, he didn't matter in this fight anyway.

Channeling quint through my core, I could feel the drain.

Similarly to how Seth jumped to save Daniel, I leaped just in time to attack the beast as it prepared its own, catching it off guard and giving Seth room to breathe.

"Took you long enough." Seth managed a tired smile.

Roar!

"Oh, shut up." I said to both of them and jumped in action.

There was a reason I was confident in our chances of defeating the UniQue.

Individually me and Seth stood at the peak of a Master rank, however, combined, only the best of the Elite Rangers could face us. Our coordination was unparalleled, able to move and react to the other's thoughts and movements as if we read each other's mind.

While the UniQue was a formidable opponent that none of us could face individually, together, defeating it was more than feasible. Alternating between different vital spots, protecting one another when vulnerable, and combining our abilities at the most critical moments, we held the high ground.

Narrowly dodging, coming face to face with its fiery weapon, I slashed horizontally. The beast used its free hand as a shield, but doing so left it vulnerable to Seth's attack on its thigh.

Huff... huff...

Gritting my teeth and pressing through the pain in my chest, I launched for its head, aiming for one of its horrifying eyes.

With one hand wounded, it let go of its weapon and blocked once again, giving room for Seth to unleash a wind blast right at its exposed chest. The force was powerful enough to take the beast off its feat and sent it flying, crashing over a pillar that broke into pieces, falling over it.

We had a moment of rest.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

The debris shone with a dark light and the beast's wing opened fully, before breaking free of the pillars' remains.

A dark aura began emanating from the beast, darker than the shadows it hid itself in, and a scowl of pure hatred and malice radiated across its face.

"I knew I saw it! I found it! I found it!" Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in the distance.

It was none other than Sebastian, holding a rainbow-colored rock.

‘Are... you... kidding me!? We delved inside a volcano, battled countless beasts, escaped lava while losing Yena in the process, and are now facing a creature that makes you feel you're burning alive at a mere glance over a fucking rock!?’

The anger I'd been suppressing all this time because of his carelessness and idiocy was about to erupt, but before it could, a low cry came from the UniQue.

The beast was fixated on Sebastian, and, for the first time during this entire ordeal, those hellish, devouring eyes… showed fear.