I use my telekinesis skill to lift the Firestone from the bubbling pit of molten rock.
Its crackling and flaming with intense heat, but not nearly as powerful as the two stones I've encountered in the past.
There's also a bright pink mana crystal floating by its side. I've never tried melting one since I was a much lower level, but it appears they're heat-resistant even to molten rock. I chuckle and lift it out of the small lava pool with my skill as well.
I place the flaming stone along with the pink gem into my item storage then turn to see Maria running my way. Her royal blue tint is giving on an intense low-pitched hum and she drinks another MP potion on the run over.
The Ice Mage is definitely exerting a lot of energy to combat this heat.
I'm profusely sweating and the air burns my skin and lungs, but it's only mildly irritating. I'm used to the heat and have been through much worse.
My mana-imbued flames ward off the natural heat in the air, pushing outside and fire magic residue away. The minor burns I'm receiving are healed with self regeneration magic.
I can handle this all day. Maria's mana-imbued protective layer of Ice magic seems to be holding up fine in the meantime as well.
We continue to climb the volcano, passing wide gaps in the stone floor that leads down to bubbling pits of lava and fire below.
Many base-level and mutant mobs come at us, spewing flames and throwing hot and melted rocks from their bodies. Some even use the dungeon's surroundings as natural weapons.
The level gap between us is too great, they're all taken down in an instant.
We make our way upwards for about 30 minutes straight, winding through portions of the fiery mountain that aren't covered in lava.
I air-step over larger pools that can't be avoided, while Maria freezes solid pathways to walk across when necessary. Her ice melts quickly, but it stays in a crystal state for long enough that she can make it across with ease.
The air up here is thicker with hot steam, forcing me to use more of my fire magic to block out the heat. I even activate mana manipulation to imbue my own makeshift mana shielding.
It's been something that's been itching at the back of my head for a while, and now is the perfect time to try it out.
I let pure mana seep from my body, similar to the way I've watched monsters activate their shielding.
In doing so, it creates a thin, yet dense layer of pink magic underneath my blanket of dark red flames.
Instantly, the hot pressure from the outside world vanishes. I almost feel cool... The heat hardly makes it through.
With a clearer mind, I activate my All-Seeing Eye to scope out the environment in much greater detail.
Dense magic fills the entire dungeon, and it all seems to be coming from the top of the mountain.
We continue towards the source of the power.
Mobs aren't the problem at all, they're quite easy to fend off actually. I've collected 4 Firestones in total so far.
Every 20 seconds or so, I see Maria drinking another MP potion. Her ice is sizzling away into steam seconds after its summoned.
She doesn't have the advanced mana control and extra abilities that I do. This isn't sustainable long-term, but she isn't complaining.
The tunnels of from downward-flowing lava streams have carved out tube-like paths down the mountainside making oddly shaped winding trails down the volcanic rock face.
Steam from above has a harder time settling in these crevices, but monsters love them.
There are more item drops and less heat, it's the best of both worlds. We travel through these tunnels for the last portion of our trek.
After another 30 minutes of climbing and farming monsters pass I collect 3 more element stones and a large pile of mana crystals.
We finally break through the thick layer of steam-filled clouds to reach the flaming mountain's peak.
The sounds of crackling fire and bubbling molten rock pits are no more. The crumbling stones and slithering monsters are completely out of sight and mind.
I step onto a narrow flat surface, then gaze down into a deep pit below... It looks as if it falls all the way to the Dungeon floor.
An incredibly large pool of liquid dungeon mass glows dark red below. Hot air flows up, making it hard to look over the edge for too long.
We stand on a thin ring of black stone that stretches all the way around the mouth of a silent volcano.
From edge to edge, the mouth of this volcanic mountain looks to be about 50 meters wide. On the far side, I can see exactly what we came for.
"The Boss Room Portal...."
Spinning slowly on the far side of the massive gaping hole, I see a jet-black portal."
When my eyes meet with it, and my perception skill examines its contents. The mana density rating is much higher than it should be...
Most boss rooms tend to be tinted light grey, and some breaks or mutant bosses have been darker grey in the past, but this one is as dark as night...
"It's Black."
The monster behind that portal is going to be a lot stronger than the monster out here.
I was confused as to why this break was rated a higher danger level than the first, now it's starting to make much more sense.
I grip my blade and turn to the right, starting to carefully make my way along the narrow edge of the volcanic rim.
Maria follows close behind.
No steam or visible magic comes up from the hot pit of molten rock below. It just sits in silence.
Every time I peer down into it, the entire dungeon feels like it's staring back at me.
Magic fills the air, but I hardly hear a buzz.
All I can really seem to focus on is the twisting Black mass of mana at the other side of the volcano's mouth.
We inch closer.
The only sound that reaches my ears is Maria's footsteps a few paces behind me.
We completely circle the entire volcano's pit without speaking a word and make it to the other side.
The portal ominously spins, letting out waves of invisible, non-detectable magic by any normal sense. It's only perceivable to me.
It doesn't let out a sound, and there's no Dungeon matter being spewed from it like the entrance to this break. It's just a dense black hole of mass, waiting for us to step through.
The closer we approach, the more I expect to feel extreme heat come off of the portal, but it never does. It just slowly spins and waits for us to enter.
We come to a full stop 5 meters away.
I speak up while strengthening my makeshift mana manipulation-fueled shielding and gripping my sword.
"You ready?"
The Ice mage gulps behind me, responding in a low tone.
"I think so.... There's only one way to find out."
On that note, we both jump through.
The eerie silence put us both on high alert, but there's no reason not to enter. We came here to face the mutant boss and clear the break, so that's what we'll do.
The moment my hand touches the dark black portal I feel the temperatures rise to an alarming degree, even through my shielding.
Out of instinct, I instantly increase the output of my mana manipulation to nearly full blast but continue to jump all the way through and let the white transfer magic light take me in without hesitating.
The pressure of incredibly hot and dense fire magic fills all of my senses.
I have to concentrate with a large portion of my mana control to keep this thin pink layer of mana around me beneath my flames.
Heat seeps through, burning the skin on my arms and legs, but I adjust the thickness of the mana that seeps out to counteract the breaking points.
The Boss room finally comes into view as I get better control of my defenses.
I look around and confirm it's just like most other boss rooms. A flat rocky surface with walls around the far edges a few hundred meters out in all directions.
The only difference here is that it seems we're on a melting island of rock. The center is made of the same black stone material as the volcano we just left.
The further out that I look onto our new battlefield the lighter and lighter the rock's color becomes. It turns from black stone to red, then orange, and eventually melts completely yellow and white.
All of the outer edges are melting away, slowly dissolving the platform we stand on.
The floor rumbles, then I see half a dozen 7-meter-long Mutant Salamanders crawl out from the bubbling pools of magma from all sides.
Our Boss Room battle has begun.
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Author's Note:
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