[Chapter 308. Concentrated Fire]

After Carmen was finished healing the minor wounds and burns they had sustained, her golden staff glowing with a soft white light that sealed open flesh and soothed scorched skin, they ventured deeper into the tunnel. With Iris and Searanox taking the lead, the remaining fights were over quickly. Iris moved as a blur of dark metal and turquoise energy against the volcanic gloom.

The beasts inside these tunnels roamed in small groupings that never exceeded five—their aggression was simply no match for the combined might of the Progenitor and his companion. Each encounter ended with swift, brutal efficiency: Magma Turtles were shattered by her frost-tinged blade, and Salamanders were dispersed by concentrated drone fire, their shrieks echoing briefly in the stone corridors before being swallowed by the dungeon's constant rumble.

With the last group cleared, Searanox halted his advance. The faint hum of his hovering drones was the only sound breaking the silence following the violent skirmish. The four women behind him instinctively formed a defensive semicircle, their weapons held at the ready despite the absence of immediate threats.

"You four will stay right here," he commanded, his voice cutting cleanly through the cavernous space. "If any enemies respawn, take them out. One of us will come get you once the boss is dead." He turned around and locked eyes with Sarah, his gaze piercing through her confident facade. "And no taking a peek, either."

A faint flush colored Sarah's cheeks, visible even in the dim, ruddy light of the tunnel. She looked down at her boots, her usual swagger momentarily replaced by a hint of embarrassment. "I wouldn't do that," she mumbled, unable to meet his stare.

"We both know you would have," Searanox countered, a rare hint of amusement in his tone despite the seriousness of their situation. "Just stay back and wait for us to clear it."

His eyes lingered on Sarah for a moment longer before shifting to the other three. Lana's knuckles were white around Wavebreaker's grip; Vanessa wore a careful mask of professional detachment; and Carmen offered him a small, reassuring nod, acknowledging his wisdom in keeping them away from the boss chamber.

With that, Searanox and Iris headed down the remaining stretch of the tunnel, their boots crunching on the volcanic gravel. They exited into a vast, open caldera, the sudden transition from narrow confines to open sky creating a momentary sense of vertigo. The bright, glaring light from above contrasted harshly with the dim, magma-filled tunnels. The cloud-covered sky looked just as surreal as it had during his previous run—a breathtaking vista of an alien planet partially obscured by the clouds that reminded him of how far from his old world he truly was.

"What is the boss?" Iris asked as she walked beside him, her Zweihänder resting casually on her armored shoulder. Her silver eyes scanned the caldera methodically, cataloging every hazardous feature of the terrain.

Searanox didn't answer immediately. Instead, he pointed towards the central platform suspended over the churning molten pit, where the lava actively bubbled like a massive cauldron of destruction. A gigantic shape was partially visible through the heat haze—scaled, heavily armored, and radiating an aura of immense power. Iris moved ahead, flanked by two defensive drones that glided with silent efficiency, their metallic hulls reflecting the ominous orange glow below. Four additional drones hovered directly above Searanox at strategic angles, preparing for the battle ahead.

The further they walked up the sloping stone bridge, the more red scales came into view. Their metallic sheen rippled with an inner fire that pulsed in rhythm with the earth itself. First came the tip of a massive wing, its crimson membrane stretched tightly between bones as thick as tree trunks. Then came its flank, each individual scale the size of a dinner plate, arranged in overlapping natural armor. As they reached the edge of the central platform, the heat intensified, washing over them in stifling waves that made the air shimmer.

Iris turned toward him, whispering in a low voice that barely carried above the low rumble of the caldera. "Is that... a small dragon?"

"A Greater Drake, yes."

"And you fought it by yourself... and killed it?"

"Yes, I did."

`Technically the lava did, after I blinded it and cut off its wing...`

He corrected himself silently, suppressing a shudder at the memory of nearly being incinerated and tossed around like a ragdoll during his first attempt.

"My drones can damage it, but they need about thirty seconds to charge up a full salvo," Searanox explained, keeping his voice measured despite the tension coiling in his gut. "The barriers can block its flame as well as most of its claw attacks. If it behaves like last time, it won't get serious right from the start." He checked his TP counter in the corner of his vision.

`I'm completely full. I can go all out without holding back at all this time—`

The thought was a cold comfort, given how dangerously low his energy reserves had been during their previous encounter.

"So how do we attack? What did you do last time?" Iris asked, breaking his train of thought. Her grip on her Zweihänder tightened slightly.

`I almost died...`

Instead of admitting the truth and potentially undermining her confidence, he looked over at her, their whispers drowned out by the rumbling snore of the sleeping beast. "My previous strategy won't help you much. I attacked from a distance and fought the rest of the battle in the air. All you need to know for now is that its scales are hard—extremely hard."

"Where else should I attack if not its scales? Its entire body is covered in them!" Iris noted, her silver eyes narrowing as she assessed the creature's defenses.

In a flash of blue light, his two Intermediate Assault Drones vanished, replaced immediately by four additional Intermediate Offensive Drones, bringing the total to six. Six more flashes materialized beside him as basic Offensive Drones filled out his formation. At the same time, his gauntleted hand made contact with Iris's back, initiating the system deployment.

"Don't worry, I'll make an opening for you to attack... Just shield your eyes." His voice was barely above a whisper, yet the intensity in his tone cut through the drake's snoring and the distant gurgle of molten rock.

He pulled his hand back from her armor and materialized his rifle. The defensive drones glided forward in perfect synchronization, positioning themselves directly in front of the pair, their barrier generators humming with surging power. Around his rifle, twelve offensive drones swarmed into a tight firing ring.

With a flick of his will, the barrier of D2 expanded, its translucent surface shimmering before stabilizing into a deeper, reinforced blue. At the same moment, he channeled his energy into an regular Overcharge, watching power course through every connected drone and directly into his rifle. The violet light intensified, becoming almost blinding as the stored energy reached critical capacity.

`Let's see if fifteen TP is worth the thirty percent increase.`

The calculation flickered through his mind, cold and detached even as the surrounding air began to thrum with raw force. His interface displayed his TP counter dropping rapidly.

`More than four hundred TP in one shot... a quarter of my total reserves...`

Searanox closed his eyes as the violet luminescence pushed back the orange glow of the caldera, bathing the platform in brilliant light. The sound of crackling energy filled the air right before a blinding flash erupted.

Nineteen thick, bright violet beams merged into a single cohesive torrent of pure destruction. The released energy created a vacuum in its wake, burning through the atmosphere, separating air molecules, and liquefying the stone floor into molten slag in an instant. A fraction of a second later, a deafening explosion tore through the cavern, followed by a kinetic shockwave that knocked both Searanox and Iris back a step despite their protective barrier.

The blast was immediately met by a thunderous, earth-shattering roar as the dragon awoke—enraged, agonizingly wounded, and instantly aware of their presence.

As the blinding violet light faded, leaving purple afterimages dancing in his vision, Searanox blinked repeatedly to clear his eyes. The residual thermal energy still tingled across his skin. Beside him, Iris stood like a statue carved from stone, the tip of her massive blade resting millimeters above the rock. Her silver eyes were wide, fixed on the scene of utter devastation before them: a grotesque trench of glowing slag extended from Searanox's position all the way to the drake's roost.

The wound on the drake's body was immense. Its scales had been completely vaporized at the point of impact, while the surrounding armor was curled and charred like burnt paper. The exposed flesh beneath was blackened, smoking and sizzling with a sickening smell that mingled with the sulfur-laden air.

An instant later, with a roar that shook the very foundations of the mountain, a colossal wall of fire erupted from the injured boss. The torrent bathed the platform in a blistering hellscape of incandescent orange and red, consuming all sound in the crackle of superheated air.

The thermal assault crashed violence against the wall of shimmering hexagons projected by Searanox's defensive drones, creating a pocket of relative safety behind the barrier. One of D1's layers flickered violently before shattering like glass, dissolving into motes of blue light under the onslaught. While D2's overcharged barrier stood strong, its surface glowing and flickering, holding firm against the full fury of the dragon.