449 Dungeon Cleared! (1/2)

Waves of scorching heat spread over the platform, forcing both groups of soldiers and adventurers back. Turok gritted his teeth as he braced against the heat of the Fire Elemental and growled at the support mages. ”Up our resistance to heat more! More! MORE!”

The mages quickly switched their spells, and blue aura shimmered over the adventurers. Turok raised his double bladed ax and pointed towards the Fire Elemental. ”Chargeeee!”

The adventurers with their fire resistance upped, rushed forward, following the footsteps of Claymore One as they desperately tried to grab the attention of the Fire Elemental. The weaker adventurers could not approach nearer while Turok and Leon with their stronger abilities managed to come with melee range of the Fire Elemental.

With a mighty roar, both Turok and Leon swung their great axe and sword at the leg of the Fire Elemental. Their weapons hammered hard against the cherry red surface causing liquid rock to spray out everywhere. The Fire Elemental bent down and swung its mighty fist down to swat away the irritating creatures at its feet.

Both Turok and Leon dodged the attack, but the heatwave followed behind the swing caused their exposed skin to blister and turn red. The Fire Elemental raised its arms up again and slammed down towards the running adventurers.

Tyrier seeing the Fire Elemental had turned its back towards the support troops, turned and quickly ordered, ”Go for the knees!”

The support troops in their silvery suits and heavy tanks rushed forward and they hosed the back knees of the distracted Fire Elemental. The spray of the liquid nitrogen instantly started boiling when it exited the nozzle turning in clouds of white vapour.

The freezing cold vapour blasted against the flaming surface of the Fire Elemental caused its surface to blacken and the flickering flames disappeared as the lava crusted over quickly. The Fire Elemental sensing the attack from behind switched its attention around.

As it turned its huge body around, the formed crust around its knees crumbled and flaked away. The support troops in their cumbersome gear started to retreat in panic as the Fire Elemental raised a mighty fist and hammered down, crushing an unfortunate soldier who was too slow to run.

The tanks of compressed liquid nitrogen wore by the crushed soldier burst from the impact and a cloud of vapour burst out and the flames on the hand of the Fire Elemental dimmed. It reared back as if in surprise and shook its hand in confusion.

Tyrier seeing it had paused, turned to soldiers manning the heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. ”Aim for its knees now!”

Almost instantly, tracers popped from the heavy machine guns and converged towards the knees of the Fire Elemental, causing the formed crust to shatter into shards, leaving behind a thin mass of burning lava. The mages seeing the opening renewed their ice magic, aiming at the exposed portion of the knee while the support troops carrying the liquid nitrogen tried to flank the enraged Fire Elemental without getting its attention.

”Come on!” Tyrier yelled to the rest. ”Get its attention so that the cryo boys can do their work!”

Gunfire resumed as the soldiers tried to get the attention of the Fire Elemental while the adventurers with only melee weapons waved and yelled at the sides. The Fire Elemental became confused with the yelling and the pinpricks of bullets hammered its body and its legs did not seem to work well.

Its turned its featureless stubby head together with its whole body left and right as it could not make its choice to attack who for the moment. Its moment of hesitation allowed the support troops to reposition themselves behind the Fire Elemental and they repeated their attacks at the knees again.

This time, the support soldiers were smarter as they gave the triggers of their spray guns a good squeeze of a couple of heartbeats before they scrambled back away in retreat. Predictably, the Fire Elemental turned around again. swinging its flaming arms, but the soldiers had already retreated to a safe distance.

The Fire Elemental tried to chase after the running soldiers but it suddenly paused as it tried to raise its legs forward. Shards of basalt and tiny crystals broke off from the hardened crust and after a short pause, the Fire Elemental ignored its damaged legs and stormed after the running soldiers.

Tracer fire and trails of rockets chase after the Fire Elemental, as the gunners tried to destroy its legs. The Fire Elemental only seemed intended to attack those closest to it as its attack patterns started to become more predictable, allowing the adventurers and soldiers to work together, distracting and flanking it.

Suddenly with a loud crack, the knee of the Fire Elemental broke and its upper body appeared to hang in mid air for a second before it dropped heavily down and snapping its other weakened knee. Flames and smoke erupted from its body as it slammed face down and the adventurers and soldiers cheered.

Without its mobility, the Fire Elemental could only crawl about with its arms as it tried to destroy those who torment it. Working together as a team, the adventurers taunted and attracted the Fire Elemental's attention while the support soldiers spray clouds of liquid nitrogen over its body.

Turok and Leon would then rush in and smash apart any areas that had turned into black basalt and bit by bit, the Fire Elemental was broken up into chunks of hot rocks. Finally, what remained of the Fire Elemental was just a large lump of hardened crust the size of a small wagon. The flames had all disappeared and bits and pieces of cooled basalt and rocks littered the platform.

”HAAAH!” Turok yelled as he swung his axe down and cracked the hardened remains of the Fire Elemental in half. A piece of flaming orange crystal the size of a football rolled out and the last embers of fire faded away from the lifeless rock.

”It's dead right?” Hitsu asked as he took a sip of warm water from his canteen. ”That's dead right or do we need the ice boys to spray more of their white stuff at it?”

”Orcs smash!” Turok growled as he raised his axe over his head to chop down at the burning crystal.

”No!” Ciel cried out as she rushed over to stop Turok. ”T- That's the heart of a fire elemental! I- Its... priceless!”

Turok paused in his actions and stared suspiciously at the crystal which had flames coming out. ”Priceless?”

”YES!” Ciel repeated as she leaned close to the burning heart. ”I read about it before! It can grant a fire Elementalist great control over fire and its flames will never extinguish even in a thousand years!”