'In my many years, I have made many shitty decisions. And they have all come back to bite me in the end. I am thrilled to add one more to that long list.' Alex thought while sitting on a rock.
He needs to replenish his energy to escape this hell hole quickly. So, he took out one of the golden mushrooms he had inside his inventory.
Although golden mushrooms are generally used in awakening rituals to make the mind more susceptible to the influence of the spirit guardians, this time, Alex was going to use it to recover energy.
It was a risky manoeuvre. If he failed in suppressing the hallucinogenic properties of the mushroom. He would just be a high guy that is just moments away from being a corpse.
But Alex believed that he can suppress the hallucinogenic properties of the golden mushroom before it can affects his mind. He believed the risk to be worth taking.
Certain death was enough of a motivation to not fail this task. So, he ingested a piece of the golden mushroom.
Meanwhile, Taka and Ethan used their shield skills to delay the monster. Ethan created a spherical ball of light and flame around the monster while Taka created a spherical space prison around the monster.
"BOOM!" The monster slammed its fist against the prison and shrieked in pain.
It felt like it was inside an oven and thrashed around trying to escape from it. Slowly, the inner shield that Ethan created cracked. Although flames made it harder for the monster to attack it. It was weaker than the space prison created by Taka.
"It won't take long for the monster to destroy the shield. Can you deactivate the shield when I ask you to?" Ethan asked Taka.
In his opinion, it was time that he did something crazy, like in his younger days. There is no need to hold back.
Hearing the preposterous words from Ethan, Taka replied. -"Why? The moment it is released. It will target us."
But Taka's question didn't bother Ethan. He returned the question with another one.
"My name is Ethan Solarion. Do you know what it means to be a Solarion?" He asked with a smile.
"No," Taka said nonchalantly.
"HA ha ha. Well! You are about to see it." Holding his hand above his chest, Ethan activated a rune formation engraved in his mana core.
Suddenly, the rune began to swallow all the mana inside his core. A suffocating feeling began to engulf Ethan. But ignoring that, he pushed his hands forward.
If someone was looking at his hand with mana vision, they would have seen a swarm of hundreds of thousands of runes condensing in his palm. It was slow in the beginning, but later, it began to form faster and faster.
"To kill a creature without a brain, you should use your brain." Ethan closed his palm. And from inside it, hidden from the view of Taka, a sun was born.
Raising his hand up, Ethan proudly showed the sun to Taka. One of the most powerful skills that he inherited.
"What is it? A candle?"
"No, Sir Taka. It is brighter than a candle. It might be torch magic." Alex returned after recovering his mana and said with certainty.
"Is this some kind of vague but thought-provoking message? Like the Solarions are the guiding light of the empire or something."
"It might be…" Alex agreed with Taka while nodding.
Ethan looked at them appalled. He couldn't grasp how they reached that conclusion.
"Don't worry anymore. Big brother is here to save you." The youngest of them, Alex said while looking at Ethan. He even let out a sigh in disappointment.
"YOU!" Ethan screamed.
But they did have any more time to joke around. The prison that surrounds the monster was about to break.
"I can teleport us about fifteen kilometres from here. So, do what you want with the monster. Go all out."
Alex knew Ethan had some kind of plan. Although he joked around initially, he was willing to let him try. He didn't know how long the monster would rampage or what will it destroy. So, if they could kill it, it would be for the better.
"What I have in my hand is a miniature sun. I won't be able to kill the monster by attacking it with this. But I can melt the ground with this." Ethan proclaimed with an evil glint in his eyes.
Alex almost jumped in happiness after hearing that. He was happy to see a fellow brethren. Like him, Ethan was also an evil trickster.
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Alex asked curiously.
Ethan nodded while looking at Alex.
Both of them giggled eyeing the monster inside the space shield.
After that, Ethan acted fast. He threw the miniature sun below the space shield.
The miniature sun was as hot as the real sun. It melted the ground beneath the space-bind and liquified everything that came in contact with it. And the space-bind prison began to slowly sink into it. But it was also taking damage. It wouldn't hold on for long. They realised this fact.
"Taka, I am going to melt the ground to up to fifty feet. Can you bury it in there before space binds breaks."
"Yes."
"Okay." Confirming it with Taka. Ethan swiftly moved the miniature sun downwards. And just as it reached Fifty feet in depth. Panting in exhaustion, he released the spell.
Thankfully, Taka followed Ethan and buried the monster with space skills. He followed suit in releasing the skill.
And a silence descended on the place. The thick viscous magma churned and the monster was nowhere to be seen.
"No, don't jinx it." Alex desperately said to ensure that no one asks if the monster is dead or alive.
Every time they did that, the monster came out unscathed. He didn't want to fight it once more.
"But what if…."
"Don't say it, Ethan."
"I didn't believe that even that couldn't kill it. After all, it was in a weakened state. Thankfully we killed it before it fully awakened." Ethan said ignoring Alex.
He was sure that the monster died under the molten magma. Or else it would have already jumped out from the ground.
"Crack…"
Just as Ethan thought that the solidified magma cracked. Everyone's heart skipped a beat.
"No… It might be due to the rapid heating and cooling. Just like a glass shattering, the magma is shattering." Ethan reassured everyone.
"Crack…Crack…" More sound began to come from the solid magma. It didn't just crack once or twice. It was more than that.
"You know that I liquified the ground to fifty feet, right? So, it would take some time for the ground to cool till the centre. That's why it's cracking like that. Don't worry about that."
"BOOOM!" A thick piece of solidified magma sprouted from the ground and began shaking.
"Ah…It's just…"
"Stop it." Before Ethan could complete his words, Alex interjected. "How long are you going to live in denial? That thing is alive and it's coming out. Fortunately, I prepared for this."
Hearing his words, the group calmed down. But they were curious to know how the monster had survived. So, they waited until it came out of the ground.
"Shatter…Crack…BOOM!" The top layer of magma broke off revealing a muscular figure. It was twenty feet tall and looked menacing.
Thick slabs of skin fell off from it revealing a new growth underneath it. So, it shed its skin to survive. Damned monster. They thought.
After escaping from the underground, the monster looked at Alex and the group. It was ready to tear them up with bare hands.
"That thing is in a berserk state, right? So, why is it looking like it's conscious?" Alex inquired. A chill went down his spine when he realised the monster was showing signs of intelligence.
"It was in a berserk state. Now, I think it has almost completed its transformation."
"What do you mean?"
"In the past, it wanted to kill and eat us out of instinct to survive. But now, it wants to kill and eat us for fun. Is that simpler to understand?"
"Simple indeed."
Alex was ready to teleport and leave the moment the monster took action. Before that, he observed the monster with mana vision.
The turbulent mana inside the monster had become docile. The monster was channelling it across the body to recover from damage. It also shed the dead skin and muscles in its body.
Suddenly, it began to shine like a lighthouse. A huge amount of mana was being released from its body.
"THUCK…RUMBLE" The world shook.
Before Alex and the group could grasp the situation. A giant tail appeared before them and smashed the monster into a paste. It was the giant tail of a flying white snake. It shook its tail twice to remove the remains of the monster before flying away.
After killing a monster that almost became a tier 5 being, it flew away nonchalantly.
Fear clutched their brain. Alex and the group stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
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