Chapter 140: [140] Testing The Waters

Considering that the obsidian giant was a boss level monster, rushing out to fight it would have been foolish, so although Ark was itching to see what it was capable of, he had to restrain himself.

With his skills, he was at the point where he could escape the grasp of most monsters if he really wanted to, but he could not say the same thing about his party members.

He stared at the warning screen that had appeared in front of him.

"Charged, huh?"

Ark already knew the general abilities of an obsidian giant. But he had no idea what a charged obsidian giant could do...

’Why is it even still in the lava pool?’

Since the monster was done with its upgrade, wasn’t it supposed to step out of the pool?

"This is highly suspicious behavior..." Ark muttered as he stared at the monster.

"What are we waiting for?" Olivia sharply hissed way too close to his ear holes.

Ark clasped them shut and glared at her, although his face was likely as plain as it always was.

"I want to see what it can do..."

"Huh?" Her eyes narrowed. "It’s not like something is just going to walk up to it and challenge the monster to a fight, do you want us to wait here for days?"

"..."

"Fair point..." Ark confessed. Then he snapped his finger, summoning Mountain right outside the safety of the large rock.

"Hey Mountain, how are you doing?!" Ark asked in a friendly tone. The summon stared at the giant looming in the distance, and then at Ark.

Ark could swear the summon had tiredness in those azure blue eyes.

"Come on, don’t be like that. Just do me a favour and feel out that monster, I’ll make it up to you somehow."

The summon bowed, raised his shield, and without a moment of hesitation, he charged forward.

"You’re really evil, you know that?" Olivia gave him an irritated look.

Ark waved his hands dismissively. "Be quiet or I’ll send you next time."

Her face turned pale as she mechanically turned her attention back to the giant.

The first person to spot Mountain was the winged basilisk that was still drinking out of the lava pool, but they all ignored him as though he wasn’t even there.

And then the giant fixed its eyes on him...

It raised its gleaming black hands out of the pool and pointed them at Mountain, and they all watched in awe as its fingers vanished, and a large hole appeared in the center of its hand...

Ark felt his heart sink. He had fought enough golems to know what that was, and since obsidian giants were basically shiny, black golems...

"A blaster..."

Bang!

A flaming ball surged out of its hand, flying right towards Mountain at breathtaking speeds.

The ball itself was about the diameter of a grown man’s torso, and it was not only covered with fire, it was covered with magma as well!

"Are you happy?! You practically sent Mountain to his death!"

But even in the face of a crippling attack, not once did Mountain slow down. Because—

The fire reflected in Ark’s face as he opened his mouth. "It is too predictable..."

Unlike normal projectiles that moved in a hyperbolic path, there was no curvature to the attack, nor was there any degree of randomness to it.

The flaming ball moved in a perfectly straight line with no bends or even the smallest dips.

Meaning for someone like Mountain...

Just as the ball of fire came inches away from his face, Mountain suddenly slammed his shield into the floor, using the momentum to blast himself to the side.

"...It is easy to dodge."

Swish!

The fire raged past him and Olivia suddenly screamed out in joy. "Yes! He did it—mm!"

Only to have her mouth clamped shut by Thalia a second later.

"Please don’t forget we are hiding, Olivia!" She sharply whispered, causing Olivia to frown.

Ark on the other hand kept his eyes on both the flaming ball and on Mountain. That was when he realized another strange thing about the ball...

Despite how much it had traveled, the ball had not slowed down, it was almost as if it had not lost a single ounce of the momentum it originally had.

And a few seconds later, Ark realised why. Just as Mountain was about to breach the horde of basilisks and attack the giant...

The ball suddenly turned around.

It moved in perfectly straight patterns, changing its direction as though it was alive.

"Mountain, get out of there!" Ark screamed out mentally, but Mountain had leaped into the air, and in the short time it would have taken for him to land, the fireball slammed right into his back, ripping him to shreds.

[Your summon has been destroyed]

Silence...

For a few seconds, Ark sat still, trying to comprehend what he had seen.

Mountain had completely dodged the ball, and yet it had come back to him, just like a homing missile.

There was only one difference between the homing missile and the ball of fire... and that was that the ball of fire only seemed to move in perfectly straight lines.

’The speed of the ball definitely increased at the end too, there was no way it would have landed a hit on Mountain if it was moving at its original speed!’

Ark suddenly let out a loud, maddening laugh.

"Momentum control and vector manipulation! What the hell is such an op skill doing in the hands of a monster—mmm!"

Thalia pinned him to the ground, wrapping up his mouth tightly.

"W-what are you doing? You’re going to get us exposed."

Ark gave her a blank stare.

"Mmmm... mmm mmm!"

(Translation: I think it is a little too late for that.)

"Huh?"

A bright orange light suddenly washed over them, just as a large flaming ball appeared in front of their rock.

"Damn it!"

Olivia was up on her feet and on top of the rock in seconds. Her hands were coated with yellow lightning, her orange hair flailing wildly around her as she swung.

Slice!

She groaned in pain as the fireball was split in half, sending two chunks of flaming rock flying to the sides.

"Ouch!" She hissed, nursing her burning hands. "That thing packs a punch..."

Her voice slowly trailed off as she stared up, only to see the basilisks hovering in the air, and the rain of lava that was sent pouring down...