We got out of the Volcanic Ape General's lava pillar forest today -- We decided to hunt a field boss that lived in a huge lava lake.
While checking it out yesterday, I didn't feel its presence moving around in the center of the lake. It might have been battling with the Volcanic Ape General about claiming it's home territory. Since the latter has disappeared now because we hunted it, it might have been easier for him to claim it.
So the lava lake will become the next battlefield, it's located at the bottom of a steep, depression in the terrain.
It's a huge, circular lava lake of around 8 kilometers in diameter. Most of the lava on the surface has cooled and became black. A countless amount of red cracks had appeared on the black surface in a fluid pattern.
From afar, it's an extremely beautiful place. When the sun goes down, it looks like hell's kitchen. I find it a fantastic spectacle.
However, fighting there won't be something simple.
The lava lake isn't only a place that has such a high temperature that it's even difficult to approach it with fire and heat-resistant equipment; but it's also dangerous because it sometimes blows out lava like a small geyser, making it rain down. On top, it generates fatal volcanic glasses and high temperature steam everywhere.
If you want to get to the center of the lava lake, you need to travel over a countless amount of floating islands. Because the islands are floating on the lava, they lack stability a little bit. When the balance is one-side too much, it'll sway in a big way. In a worst case scenario, it would even topple.
On top of these circumstances, we'll have to fend off a countless amount of dungeon monsters attacking us relentlessly. It's not something insignificant.
Did most of the challengers give up when arriving here, or did they already die before that?
Only 3 demons went forward, Minokichi-kun, Asue-chan and I.
Because I judged that fighting in the lava lake is too severe for the others, I have them knock down the dungeon monsters on the edge of the lake. This way, they can do their due diligently by collecting valuable item drops.
In a normal situation, it'd be sheer madness to spread out your battle assets like that.
However, with Burasato-san acting as the vanguard, Kanami-chan, Irofu-chan in the middle and Seiji-san Supesei-san and Kugime-chan in the back; I'm not worried because they have enough battle potential on their own even if we're not around.
Each going our own way, we concentrate all our effort to our tasks ahead.
We safely arrived at the center of the lava lake while having a hard time on the floating islands in a lot of different ways. And with that, the battle begins.
The boss here is "Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir". It's a huge ammonite[1] that is easily 100 meters in length.
Its main body is usually concealed in the seething lava. It's basically a coward with a huge overwhelming big frame. It uses a countless of snake-like tentacles to attack troublesome challenger parties that arrive on the floating islands within a 50 meter diameter.
I can distinguish at least 100 snake-like tentacles that are apparently divided in 2 types. They each dish out different attacks. On one hand, there are long, thick tentacles like trees that aim to wrap around people and apply strong pressure. On the other hand, there are small, thin tentacles around the size of woman's body that shoot out lava cannonballs from the snake's mouth.
It sets off a multilateral, synchronized attack. While it's aimed at the entire region, we cope by compensating for each other's flaws.
While Minokichi-kun defends most of the attacks with his shield and counters with a strong attack to cut off the tentacles. Furthermore, Asue-chan and Minokichi-kun join up together and dish out wide area attacks and smash attacks with high maneuverability. While supporting both demons, I also do some damage here and there.
Because we understood each other's habits, we were able to fight without receiving too much damage.
However, Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir seems to have strong regeneration abilities. New tentacles grew from the ones that were cut off.
With [Unhealing Cursed Wound], I was able to delay to regeneration somewhat. It was as tedious as expected.
I want to fell its body in one swoop, because over time we will be gradually weakened. But I'll have to reluctantly slash and cut off an infinite amount of tentacles because its main body is hidden in the lava at the moment.
We repeated it for a few minutes, but there wasn't any changes. I cut and cut, but it keeps on regenerating. And that's it. There isn't a single sign that the main body will come up.
The way things were going, I judged that it would take too much time. So I use [Exoskeleton] and take out [Thundershark Dragonlord's Scales].
On top, I use [Magma Migration] in parallel and dive into the lava.
Thanks to that ability, I was able to smoothly swim in the lava.
Swimming in lava feels mysterious. While it's somewhat stickier than water, but it's not bad.
After getting accustomed to swimming in lava to some degree, I used [Illogical Adamantine Strength] to forcefully pull up the hidden body of Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir.
After being raised for about 20 meters, its real body comes out of the spiral shell like a spiral-shaped snail and starts biting. I took a sip while it's alive *slurp slurp (sfx)*
Of course, Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir's body immediately reacted to that simple bite with a jarring shriek and gets into a [Frenzy]. It starts attacking relentlessly with its tentacles.
It's a fierce attack that assaults a wide area with no break in between. I apply [Black Demon King's Laminated Dragon Armor], [Endure], [Black Undead Knight Cloths] and [Physical Attack Tolerance] on top of the [Lightning Shark Dragon Lord's Placoid Scales] that I'm wearing. I'm not sure what would have happened if I didn't use all of this.
If the field bosses are like this, what will the dungeon boss be like?
I did expect it, but it still feels a little uneasy.
As I'm eating the main body of Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir I experience a entirely new taste and texture, so I decide to thoroughly enjoy it.
However, as I'm excitedly eating, Minokichi-kun's jealously stares at me with a painful gaze.
He's drooling as he's staring. It was somewhat reminiscent of our lives as goblins.
I've eaten more than half of Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir, but I enthusiastically kept on going because I felt that there's still more than enough to share with the others. One of the tentacles I chopped off was still moving energetically as I roasted it in the lava in order to reluctantly let them have a bit.
Since they're still staring at me while eating *munch munch (sfx)*, I mentioned 『These tentacles are as delicious as the main body』. They should let it go, as I do intend to let them eat it as well some other time.
[Field Boss ［Magma Ammonoid ・ Sirpendir］ successfully eliminated]
[Achiever Yatendouji has been awarded the [Spiral-shelled King's Gravekeeper] as a first time subjugation bonus]
[Ability learned: [Shut-in Structure]]
[Ability learned: [Lava Lurker]]
[Ability learned: [Wild Spree of Snake Tentacles]]
After we stop eating excitedly, only the huge spiral-shaped shell where it hid itself in remained.
Because there are a countless amount of different gems embedded in the spiral-shaped shell, it was very valuable. Since it's useful as material as well, I stored it in my item box along with the treasure chest that appeared.
With this the subjugation safely ended. We returned with dozens of tentacles that I cut off as souvenirs. Kanami-chan and the others were waiting with a triumphant look on their faces, as they displayed a large amount of loot.
Since they're all in high spirits, I share the tentacles with them. While its taste and texture is inferior to that of the main body, which is the best, they do still have a particular flavor.
Like that, everyone had a delicious meal.