Chapter 47: First Boss Battle
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“Sunshine Halo!”
I channeled the spell and charged it with my blazing aura and spirit energy. A brilliant ray of golden light pierced the boss’s wound, melting more of its ice armor and dealing massive holy damage. A giant hole was left behind. The creature hissed, vomiting blood, then charged at me.
The monster thrashed wildly, shaking the ceiling and sending giant icicles crashing down toward us. I panicked and expanded my burning aura, melting the icicles before they could strike anyone. At the same time, once the beast’s icy aura had weakened enough, my family caught up and engaged it.
My father drove his axe deep into the monster’s flesh, striking it again and again with fury. His muscles bulged as he unleashed several potent techniques. My mother followed with a horizontal slash from her broadsword, and my sister attacked with her bone blade. All three of them together forced the giant catfish to stumble and roll over, slamming into the walls behind it.
CRAASH!
Looking exhausted yet determined, Kara charged a powerful Giant Flame Shot and fired it straight into the monster’s stomach, where the wounds had accumulated.
BOOOM!
“Was that enough?!” she shouted.
No. It wasn’t.
“Turn back!”
“GROOOOHHHH!”
The catfish let out a furious roar as its icy aura surged and its eyes gleamed with malice. Giant icicles erupted from the ground, aiming to impale my family. My father, mother, and sister roared back, reinforcing their bodies to the limit. Clad in armor and drawing on their barbarian sturdiness, they resisted the ice magic with raw determination.
From the back, my brother charged his arrows with innate Spiritual Energy and fired them at lightning speed. His arrow transformed into a giant tiger infused with the power of the beast he had tamed.
“ROAAARRR!”
The tiger slammed into the catfish, piercing its pressurized icy breath, slashing its face, and biting down hard before exploding into spirit flames that engulfed its entire body.
In that moment, I cast Shadow Clone and sent my clone forward. Fenrir leaped ahead at the same time, letting my clone ride him as they charged from the side.
The catfish hissed and launched a giant icicle at them. Fenrir dodged, but my clone exploded and vanished.
That bought us precious time. The distraction allowed us all to strike the beast from behind.
I activated Charge in combination with Guts, boosting my attack power the more damage I sustained, then brought both Atlas and my Divine Weapon—shaped like an axe—into a double Searing Cleave.
“Red Fang Axe Style – First Form: Searing Cleave!”
I roared and slashed in a cross-shaped arc, carving a massive wound into the bloated boss. I couldn’t see its health bar, but this time I was certain it was going down.
“HIT IT! DON’T STOP!”
We swarmed the creature like there was not tomorrow. Its magic began to fail as it ran out of mana from constant spamming. Now it could only rely on its already weakened physical body.
“Wrathful Evisceration – Fire Blast Attack!”
My father unleashed the power of his newly evolved axe. A single, powerful crimson burst of flames tore through the catfish’s fatty defenses, badly damaging its blob-like body.
“Magic Slash – Mana Burst!”
My mother followed with her broadsword, charging mana into the blade before slashing and unleashing a deadly explosion of blue mana across the monster’s surface.
“Bone Blade Spirit Call – Bone Blade Spirit Rampage!”
My sister activated the power of her bone blade. A giant skeletal monster emerged from spirit power and slashed the catfish with its claws, perfectly coordinated with her sword strikes.
“Red Fang Axe Style – Second Form: Tomahawk Boomerang! Third Form: Burning Crush!”
Finally, I infused Atlas with power and hurled him with Tomahawk Boomerang, triggering a massive explosion of red flames that sent the catfish flying.
“GRAAAHHH!”
It still fought back, opening its mouth to charge a massive amount of ice and firing it at near point-blank range the moment I closed in.
“Uuugghh?!”
Even with my bloodline burning at full strength, my body froze solid in an instant. I was dying to the first wandering boss of this cursed place.
Were its stats too high? Or was it because of the winter environment granting it boosts?
“Brunhild!”
I heard Kara and Ulf behind me. They fired a fire arrow together with the last of their mana, enhanced by Sigrid’s infusion. The arrow shot through and pierced the catfish’s stomach, causing it to burst.
BOOOM!
“Gwaaahahhhh!”
The catfish let out an agonizing scream, then unleashed an even more destructive wave of ice in every direction, burning its own lifeforce to kill us all.
I guess there’s no point holding back anymore.
“Holy Sun Phoenix’s Soul Transformation!”
The cry of a phoenix echoed as I transformed instantly. Burning wings blazed behind me, golden-red feathers surged across my body, and my red hair turned into constant golden-red flames.
I shattered the ice encasing me and quickly unfroze everyone around me with my fire, saving them from death. Then I charged the catfish with Charge Attack and doubled my damage with Shadow Clone.
And finally, Divine Weapon in axe form combined with Atlas!
“Red Fang Axe Style – Third Form: Burning Crush – Holy Smite!”
I unleashed a unique combination, merging my transformation, Burning Crush, Holy Smite, Shadow Clone, Spiritual Projection, Divine Weapon, and Atlas into one devastating strike.
I gave it a name.
“Phoenix’s Dawn.”
BOOOMMMM!!!
A massive explosion of golden divine holy flames erupted. The entire catfish was fried alive. Its fat and armor could no longer protect it as the creature was cooked on the spot. The ground below melted into a large pond, but it wasn’t deep enough to sink us—thankfully. The floor was incredibly tough, though it might have broken if I hadn’t reinforced it after my temporary evolution.
“Eugh...”
I dropped onto the icy floor afterward. My transformation faded quickly as complete exhaustion washed over me. That fight had been far harder than I expected, mostly because this environment empowered the monsters so much.
I was confident in my power, but not in how long I could sustain it. Using so many skills and techniques at once was incredibly taxing on both body and mind. My mana was already spent. Damn it—I had wanted to save it and use my strength more gradually.
I guess in a dungeon like this, you can’t really take it easy.
Fenrir and Huginn handled the remaining monsters, and the entire Floor 1 was cleared in moments. We had come expecting a slow crawl, but we ended up fighting them all at once. What a way to start the day.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked, spreading Healing Flames everywhere. The skill had grown far more effective as it leveled up.
“Yeah, just cold as hell,” my dad sighed. “But that giant fish smells freaking delicious...”
“These healing flames you conjure are perfect!” my sister said. “Brunhild, can’t you use them on us all the time?”
“That would drain all my mana!” I replied. “So no, sorry.”
“It’s fine. We did a good job, family,” my mother said. “We should rest, right? Is that okay, Brunhild?”
“For sure. We can’t keep going like this,” I sighed in relief. “If you want, we can take the rest of the day off too. No hurry. We could clear one floor a day to avoid overexerting ourselves.”
“We’ll see how we feel after resting and eating,” my mother said with a nod. “Alright, everyone up! Up, up! Don’t you all feel stronger? I feel more flexible already. I always felt like age had made my whole body stiff.”
“Yeah, me too,” my brother said as he walked over. “That must be from leveling up, like Brunhild explained. When we kill monsters, we gain experience and level up, raising our stats and everything.”
“Like how Spiritual Roots and Physique grow?” my father asked. “Makes sense... Anyway, good job everyone! That was awesome, hahaha! We almost died, but damn, it was fun.”
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