Chapter 183: The S-rank Salamander
The horde soon reached the group, and the representatives, save for Lucian and Renelle, moved to intercept.
Darius, naturally, was the first to reach the horde, and he launched himself into the air before coming down like a meteor.
His fist, still coated in void flames, slammed into the first beast. Before it could even let out a roar of pain, the flames spread across its body and completely engulfed it.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The flames suddenly spread to the surrounding beasts, engulfing them just as quickly.
The black flames paid no heed to the fact that the creatures were resistant to fire; they burned through them all the same.
The beasts that hadn’t yet been touched by the flames instinctively recoiled, their natural fire resistance meaning nothing against something like the void flames.
Orion watched from a short distance away, his expression unreadable for a few seconds before a smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Looks like you’re an even bigger monster than Father," he said with a chuckle, "honestly, that’s good news for me. The stronger you are, the less likely it is that I’ll end up inheriting the title of Grand Duke."
His dream was living an easy life, preferably close to a beach with a beautiful Southern woman, and so far, the chance of him becoming a grand duke was what stood in the way of that dream.
But now, perhaps, that dream was achievable after all.
Orion calmly dodged one of the lava beasts that had thought it wise to avoid Darius and go for something weaker.
Unfortunately, it chose the wrong target.
He lifted a hand towards the beast’s face, and then in the next second, an explosion of blue flames completely engulfed it.
Surprisingly, despite its fire resistance, the beast was completely charred.
But then again, it was just as their father used to say,
If something was resistant to flames, then the flames being used against it simply weren’t hot enough.
Hence, the reason Orion strived for hotter flames, and fortunately for him, his contracted spirit was perfect for that.
On the right flank, Linda held her ground with Seth covering beside her.
"There’s an A-rank coming through on the left," Seth said without looking at her.
"I see it," Linda replied, already creating vines in that direction.
Noelle, meanwhile, was switching between water and ice spirits as the horde rushed towards her.
Though she was still worried about Lucian and Renelle being the only ones to face the S-rank beast, she knew to remain focused on the task she was assigned by them.
Conan, on the other hand, had gone wide, drawing the A-ranks at the back toward him specifically.
Three of them had taken the bait and broken from the horde entirely, following him away from the group.
That left the main body of the horde considerably thinner, though not thin enough because soon enough, a second horde joined the first.
And behind that horde was the lava salamander.
Even from this distance, the group could feel the heat being released from it ....or perhaps that was just due to the sheer amount of beasts surrounding them.
"I suppose you have a plan?" Lucian asked as he looked at the fat approaching beast.
"I do," Renelle replied as a sword made of ice formed in her hand.
"Care to share it?"
"Not particularly."
Lucian looked towards her before letting out a sigh and turning back to the salamander, "Then I’ll try and create openings for you."
A sword made from hard light also appeared in his hand, and the next second,
BOOM!
A large crater formed where he had stood as he vanished.
The next second, Lucian reappeared in front of the salamander, his sword already swinging toward it.
Unfortunately, for all his strength as an A-Rank, the gap between him and an S-Rank remained vast.
His sword slammed into the creature’s scales as if they were some sort of armor, barely doing any meaningful damage.
"..."
The salamander looked down at the pest that just stung it before it suddenly opened its mouth,
Without warning, a stream of lava was suddenly launched at the prince, forcing him to pull back.
"This is going to be a lot harder," he muttered before looking towards Renelle, who was also looking at him with a blank expression.
Lucian awkwardly scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed, especially after being so confident that he would create an opening for her.
"Let’s try this again, shall we?" he muttered as his expression changed and suddenly extended his hand.
Behind him, multiple weapons made of hard light were formed, and on his command, they were all launched towards the salamander.
The beast, as fast as it was, wasn’t quick enough to dodge the weapons, so they all landed directly on it.
A cloud of dust and smoke engulfed the Salamander as the weapons continued landing almost endlessly
ROAR!
The creature let out a roar within the smoke, but Lucian didn’t let up as he was determined to continue until the creature stopped moving.
Even if his attacks were only as dangerous as an ant’s sting, they would accumulate and do proper damage when enough landed.
And the salamander’s roar was proof of that.
But while focused on creating more constructs, he failed to notice the sudden glow within the smoke.
The next second, the smoke suddenly gave way to a stream of lava, and before Lucian could notice, it was already too late.
Time seemed to slow down as his blue eyes took the glow of the lava as it got closer by the second.
But just before it reached him, a massive ice wall was suddenly erected before him, stopping the attack from reaching him.
"Move," a voice suddenly brought him back, and he immediately moved to safety before the lava pierced through the ice.
"Thank you," Lucian muttered as she regrouped with Renelle.
"You’re getting in the way," She muttered plainly.
"I apologize," he said with a smile, "I seemed to have overestimated myself."
Renelle looked at him for a while before saying,
"Focus on drawing its attention. I have a way of taking it down."
