SOE 0022: Final Trial

"Yeah, this looks much more like something that I expected to see in a dungeon." Leo nodded as he looked around the new environment filled with obsidian rocks and flowing magma. The structure of the floor was similar to the previous ones, with an endless expanse of white behind the portal that they entered from, the same as the sky.

The party continued moving forward as usual and within moments, they ran into the first monster. From the river of lava, a monster burst out with a roar as it threw burning lava all around itself, some of it splashing toward the party. The heavyweight stepped forward before letting out a spirited shout, releasing a blue field of aura all around himself preventing the lava from reaching the party as it slid off the membrane of aura that he'd released.

The monster roared at them once again as the lava slid off, revealing its demonic form that seemed to be composed of the same obsidian ground that the party was standing on. It had two red horns composed of compressed lava that complemented its crimson eyes that were releasing flames.

When its mouth opened, a fire started gathering on the inside, Lyra shouted, "Hold!" She instructed both the archer and the tracker who were ready to attack it.

Within a second, the fire had grown to the size of a human head and the monster was about to fire it at the team. Lyra shouted, "Now!" With her instruction, the archer and tracker both threw their respective ranged weapons at it after imbuing them with as much of their aura as they could without exhausting themselves

"Shield," Lyra quickly instructed the buff man as both weapons were shot at the monster. He quickly reacted and formed an aura shield around the party once again.

Both the arrow and the throwing dagger entered the monster's mouth and shot into the fireball, destabilizing it and making it explode within the monster's mouth. The resulting explosion was strong enough to blow off not only the monster's head but also destroy a chunk of the platform that the party was standing on.

"Holy, fuck…" Leo couldn't help but comment with a frown as she saw the sheer scale of destructiveness that the monster showed.

"These Lava Wyrms are especially destructive if you don't know their weakness. As long as you know how to deal with them and have the correct timing, they are not that dangerous." Lyra explained as the party continued moving forward before most of those Wyrms appeared.

As they kept moving forward, they encountered a few more of those Wyrms that were swiftly dispatched. Soon enough, they reached the next section.

"Are these even stable?" Leo asked as he looked at the sea of Lava that both the rivers had let to. They would have to jump around on the various platforms that were floating above the sea of lava.

"The stability is going to be the least of our concerns," Lyra commented and Leo saw the lava spontaneously splashing up between two of the platforms and covering half of both of them, reducing the surface area to barely enough for two people to stand side by side.

"No shit…" Leo gulped as he realized that he was kind of on his own for this. At best, he could tag along with Ingrid and jump across the platforms.

"We'll be moving in groups of two. Mr. Leopold, you'll move with me, while your companion can move with her counterpart archer..." She continued assigning the teams, putting everyone in two-man cells.

Ingrid and Leo shared a look before separating and joining their respective partners.

"Let's go," Lyra said before grabbing Leo's arm. Leo couldn't even say anything and felt almost weightless as he saw a blue glow appearing on Lyra and extending toward him through their point of contact. She covered him in her aura and jumped to the first platform.

Leo didn't really have to do much and only had to follow her movements as she started moving at a speed that was difficult for him to keep up with. Eventually, she started skipping a platform or two and before Leo realized it, they were on an island in the middle of a sea of lava. The only way to reach this spot was to pass through those dangerous platforms.

"Thanks… I guess," Leo said as he looked around to look for any dangerous monsters that might be there. The entire island was completely barren as far as Leo could see. But he could see some sort of distortion in the air at the center of the island. It was the kind of distortion that appeared when one looked at the hot air above a fire, but it was much more pronounced, allowing Leo to discern it from a distance.

"No need," Lyra said to Leo, "I'm merely doing my job."

Leo didn't say anything further and started approaching the center of the island, "I presume that the final trial I was told about is that membrane?"

"Yes," She nodded, "Once you pass through the membrane, you will come face to face with an appropriate opponent that's on the same level as you. You need to have greater skill than your opponent to emerge victorious and get the treasure."

Leo nodded at her words and continued walking toward the center of the island. The membrane that was creating the distorted view got clearer as Leo approached the center and he saw solid ripples appearing on the membrane as he continued stepping toward it. He could still see through it like some sort of transparent glass, but the disturbances kept increasing with each step that he took toward it.

Finally, moments later, Leo saw ripples appearing right in front of him. Instantly, he saw an abomination appearing right in front of him. Behind the abomination, Leo could see a seven-petaled gold flower, reminiscent of the gold aura that he saw Richard releasing hints of.

'This thing should be guaranteed to get one to Master rank. How in the world am I the one getting it? Especially when this dungeon is not even a part of my territory…' He inwardly questioned while drawing Bloodrender and getting ready to fight the huge ten-foot-tall creature. It had two large tusks coming out of its mouth as it drooled all over its chin while one of its arms was much larger and thicker than the other.

It took a lopsided gait toward Leo and roared at him. Meanwhile, Leo only had one thought, "That's the worst breath I've ever smelled in my life…" He almost gagged at the disgusting smell, "This has to be some kind of innate attack…" He mumbled while raising his sword and charging at the abomination's head, wanting to get rid of it as quickly as possible. It shifted its mouth and made Leo's sword collide with one of its tusks, the recoil pushing back Leo's sword as the abomination swung its larger arm at him.

Leo had to step back to prevent the arm that was as thick as his head from hitting him, but he didn't waste the opportunity. Just as he stepped out of the arm's range, he raised Bloodrender and slashed it at the swinging arm of the abomination. Instead of the slicing sound that he expected, Leo heard a somewhat muffled sound of metals colliding and saw that the arm was covered in scales that blocked Leo's slash.

As Leo's sword was pushed away, the abomination swung its arm at him once again, forcing him to duck from the attack. Leo sliced at the Abomination's abdomen and found that the force that he used wasn't enough, barely cutting into its skin. Leo had to jump back after leaving a shallow cut as the abomination slammed its arm at the spot where Leo was ducked.

"Killing humans is much easier," Leo mumbled to himself, "At least I know how they will be resisting…" He stabilized his footing before approaching the abomination once again. As it swung its arm at Leo, he sidestepped the attack and lightly swung his sword at its other arm that it had raised to shove Leo away. As the light gash appeared, it roared at Leo, but he wasn't done yet. As the abomination swung its dominant arm at Leo once again, he ducked under its legs and emerged from behind him. Just as Leo tried to stab its neck, the abomination's neck turned around completely and faced Leo, blocking the sword attack with its tusk. Leo had lost the opportunity and had to step to the side as the abomination swung its entire body around.

Leo wanted to grab the flower while ignoring the abomination but noticed a membrane similar to the one that he'd entered through. If he attempted to grab the flower and was repelled by the membrane, then Leo would be giving the abomination a large opening to exploit. Deciding not to risk it, he lunged at the abomination once again.

It swung its arm at Leo who barely dodged it while using his momentum to slash at the dominant arm. This time he was able to leave a large gash on the monster's dominant arm even through the scales. He moved to the side when it roared at him once again and dodged its disgusting breath attack. From the side, he was able to slash the tendons in its shoulder, weakening the dominant arm's strength by a large margin. With the abomination's main method of attack significantly weakened, Leo could continue to dominate the abomination that had mediocre intelligence.

Soon enough, Leo's sword was stabbed through its throat. He pulled it out, allowing the green blood to gush out of the abomination's body as it fell to the ground.

As for Leo, his gaze went back to the seven-petaled gold flower.