The four cores immediately went into my inventory, all that is left for me to do is clear the final area which is the boss room as well. I could just quit the dungeon there but I am still curious as to which monster is making those webs. I am a very curious person by nature so it's natural that I want to check out what was all that thing about.
Making my way to the boss room, I slay a few more ants that are not a challenge anymore after killing a lot of them on the way. But I didn't mind as that also means more cores. My only gripe is that I am not gaining experience here, after all, the level cap has yet to increase so all the experience I gain is just thrown out the window. The rewards though are pretty meh. Even the rewards from beating the four ants are pretty meh. It dropped an armor that has a high resistance against Fire, Water, Wind, and Electric elements. It has decent stats for defense and raises max hp to 1000. Not only that but it was a level 100 armor, meaning, it's pretty accessible to players who already reached level 100 not only that but it is an all-around armor so any class will be able to equip it... Will be selling that though as I can see potential buyers for this. Too bad that no one from my group needs it.
My Versatile Weapon won't benefit from eating it either since it is now becoming picky as it will only gain stats from items that are level 300 or perhaps above that level now. Below that level and the Versatile Weapon just eats the weapon but does not offer any additional perks aside from gaining the ability to shift its form to that weapon it ate, as for armor and other things, nothing happened and it was like you just throw away something into the trash.
Alright back to business though. Traversing the path to the boss room, the pathway towards the boss room gets really tight now with all the web around the walls and traversing it was a pain. After a few attempts trying to squeeze myself inside on most obstacles, I gave up and blasted the webs in flames instead. Thankfully, it is still pretty flammable so it caught fire quickly.
I repeated it again and again once the web once again tried to interfere with my progression. Thankfully, with the web burning quite well and extinguishing quickly enough, I didn't have any problem traversing and worrying about flames burning me up. However, not all are happy about me burning the webs as the remnant of the ants I have yet to kill are pretty angry at me. Of course, they are not even a big problem so they died and their core is mine.
Anyways, I continue to move toward the final boss room. Soon enough, I arrived at the final part of the dungeon. It's a big entrance filled with webs. Entering it is impossible in normal ways and cutting it takes a long time to finish so just like before, I use the flames again to burn the webs to cinders.
It's very satisfying to see the web burn but it ended too quickly as the web is too flammable and easily caught in flames. But with the web gone, entering the boss room is now easy enough that all I have to do is step inside.
The room is also filled with webs. No scratch that, the room isn't filled with webs, the entirety of the room is now covered in webs that you won't even see any of the natural wall, floor, and ceiling of the room, and only the ceiling, wall, and floor made of the web are left.
I checked the surroundings but I couldn't concentrate when the smell of the room is quite pungent. It's like the smell of a dead rat has been rotting there. Although it's not as bad as the smell back in Luminous Continent's church that has been taken over by the enemy, the smell is pretty bad, and it's not something I would get used to smelling.
Exploring the boss's room allowed me to see that the place is very big and wide. It's pretty much as big as the interior of a mega mall but that is not something I should be happy about. A big room means a big boss and messy big attacks that will take you out if you are slow.
Then, my eyes locked in contact with the strange thing in the middle of the room.
"F*CK, I knew it."
Before me is a giant cocoon. It's an understatement when I said it is a giant, it's pretty big and even the room which is pretty much as big as an interior of a mega mall looks pretty small due to its massive size. It's quite towering to see.
Since the cocoon has yet to open up, the creature is still inside the cocoon and has yet to emerge. This is basically still a pupa. If that is the case, perhaps the good old reliable fire will do the trick and burn the boss before it awakens.
I pulled out the [Hellfire] scroll and tear it to pieces, conjuring a very hot flame that burned the webs to cinders so quickly. I have to shield myself with the Versatile Weapon to stop the flame from burning in my direction.
As soon as the flames have spread out and the cocoon is now catching in flames, the monster inside started squirming and the howls of pain from a monster can be heard inside it. It's definitely hurting as the flames have been burning the whole place but before the flames of the [Hellfire] can engulf the whole cocoon up into flames, the creature inside the cocoon breaks out, tearing off the web.
There, an incomplete butterfly appeared before me and roared in pain as the cocoon has been engulfed in flames. The butterfly managed to escape but as a result, the transformation didn't go well and the form of the butterfly is now incomplete. As a result, the monster didn't like the outcome and decided to attack. At that moment, I got a glimpse of its name.
[Failed Evolution] (Boss)
HP: 500,000/ ????????
Traits: Insect
Perhaps because of my interruption, the boss failed to even develop a good outcome for its body that even the boss name registered is now called Failed Evolution. Its HP has been reduced to 500k as well though seeing the multiple question marks on the health bar, if I let the butterfly commence the evolution, then perhaps the HP of this guy is also massive. But after the failed evolution attempt, it's now too damaged and the only remaining ability left is its desire to fight.
I wasn't expecting much since it was a failed evolution but I didn't expect the evolution of the monster is something I didn't like to see. The butterfly lunges, using its deformed wings, and opened its mouth, revealing its thousands of razor-sharp teeth, and was about to devour me. I immediately dodged away and fired [Fireball] at its wings. Noticing the balls of fire incoming, it darts away, successfully dodging my attack.
As an immediate follow-up, I changed my weapon into a cannon and shoot out the [Grapeshot], shooting multiple cannonballs with a small size, releasing it simultaneously in one blast. Even if the butterfly tried to escape, the cannonballs are small and swift, easily destroying its wings like nothing and preventing it from moving faster. It's sad though that the boss was able to escape from any fatal attacks though it is now on its in a very tight situation.
Seeing it was a very big disadvantage for the monster, it tried to flee by skittering fast. However, I already assumed it will escape so when it started to make a break to escape, I immediately deployed a [Kekkai], encasing the Failed Evolution inside. It tried to break free but I didn't want it to escape so I strengthened the [Kekkai] again by casting another layer to it.
Compared to the ants, this battle is pretty much the easiest I have done. Might be because I managed to cheese it out and activated a feature I didn't know would trigger the boss. As a result, the boss is too easy to kill and is now basically just a weak monster that can't fight anymore.
[You have cleared the dungeon]
[Rewards distributed based on the contribution]
[Special reward for triggering a unique condition distributed as well]
The rest of the announcement comes from the obvious. As for the unique condition, I can easily tell that it was the act of me burning the pupa before it develops fully, allowing me to kill the boss before it even manifests. Of course, that is no longer a problem. With the dungeon cleared and with the cores I needed are all now with me, its time to aid Cotton on her own evolution as well.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l