Chapter 735: Rank B Dungeon, Ice Lord’s Snowy Mountain (3)

Moving along with the igloo that wrapped the three of us, we took steps for about 20 minutes.

The process of moving towards the boss monster’s location wasn’t that difficult. The Level 2 Search skill I obtained from Min-ah was quite useful.

If it were to search all the monsters in the area, or to find hidden traps in a complex labyrinth, the level of Search would have needed to be higher.

However, finding the magic power of the strongest monster among those in the area was sufficient even with Level 2 Search.

Thus, as we moved towards the place where the strongest magic reaction was felt, the three of us arrived at the dungeon’s boss monster’s location before we knew it.

For the time being, I quietly observed the form of the Snowy Mountain’s boss monster, encountered for the first time.

“Frostheim… right?”

“Yes, it seems so.”

“As far as I know, Frostheim is an S-rank monster.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Besides, since it’s a snowy mountain with blizzards raging, its durability would probably be higher than usual.”

“It won’t be an easy opponent then.”

The Ice Lord, Frostheim.

At first glance, it was a monster that appeared to be several giant ice chunks floating gently, but in reality, all those ice chunks were a solid body filled with magic power.

Naturally, as befits an S-rank monster, its hardness wasn’t just ordinarily hard; if one were to recklessly thrust a sword or spear, there were frequent cases where the blade would break instead. Moreover, since it was a snowy mountain, it would be frozen much harder.

If it were before, it was at a level where all members of the Sky Blue Shield could barely kill it even if they all charged in. Just like how we barely managed to catch the White Crystal Spider Queen together in the Crystal Spider Cave.

Of course, compared to those days, I and the other members of the Sky Blue Shield had achieved considerable growth.

Especially compared to the other members, I, who had become several times stronger, thought that it would be quite manageable even against an S-rank monster.

‘Perhaps I could defeat it sufficiently on my own.’

Raising Flame Magic to the highest level using Awakening Points was something that happened just recently.

Although I didn’t have a Mithril Greatsword, I had a Damascus Greatsword, and besides that, I always carried auxiliary weapons like spears or bows prepared.

Judging that it would be a fairly decent test of skill, I wrapped myself in a protection spell and prepared for a one-on-one battle.

“Still, at that level, the three of us should be enough to handle it. If you have a way to finish it off while Seolhwa distracts it with her shadow and my Earth Golem blocks a few attacks…”

“No, I’m going to defeat that one alone.”

“…What?”

“I’ll try taking down Frostheim alone as a test, so Yehee, you and Seolhwa-ssi, don’t interfere and just wait.”

“You’re going to face an S-rank monster alone? What on earth are you talking about…”

Do Yehee muttered while looking at me with a momentarily dumbfounded expression, but my body had already come out of the igloo and was rushing towards the monster.

While appropriately ignoring the questioning gazes coming from behind, I quickly closed the distance towards the Ice Lord.

‘First, let’s see how well Flame Magic works.’

To find out how much durability it had, there was nothing quite like this.

Picking up a throwing spear taken from my subspace pocket, I flowed magic power into the entire spear.

The moment right before it fell from my hand, the fire spear, ignited by Flame Magic, flew towards the giant ice spirit, cutting through the wind.

-Kkwadeuk!

‘Gugeugeu….’

Suddenly, as soon as the burning spear pierced one side of its body, Frostheim noticed my presence and slowly turned its body.

The sound of wind passing through the spirit’s body, and the sound of giant ice chunks making noise along with friction, were audible like a deep, solemn cry.

In time with the tension-building sounds, I also struck the monster with the second fire spear I had prepared beforehand.

-Kkwadeudeuk!

‘Gugeugeu….’

…Still, as it was Flame Magic, I thought it would have some effect, but the power wasn’t as good as I expected.

After all that effort, even though I tried using an attack mixed with Flame Magic, which is its elemental advantage, it didn’t seem to inflict significant damage. As expected, being an S-rank monster, it seems to shrug off this level of attack easily.

In the first place, this environment itself wasn’t a very good terrain for using fire spears either.

Once a fire spear left my hand, it couldn’t be supplied with additional magic power, so it had no choice but to burn with only the magic power already imbued.

In this snowy mountain, no matter how many burning spears I threw, they would quickly cool down, meaning they couldn’t inflict significant damage in the end.

‘Perhaps getting close for melee combat is the best option.’

That approach too had its own merits and wasn’t bad. After all, my main weapon was a sword, not a spear.

With that thought, the moment I tried to take out the Damascus Greatsword from my subspace pocket, Frostheim’s giant ice fist flew towards me at incredible speed.

Fortunately, thanks to not letting my guard down, my body wasn’t crushed by its arm.

-Kugugung!

“…Phew.”

…I had expected it to attack, but its fist was much faster than I anticipated.

Seeing the ice chunk that flew at a speed completely unsuited to its massive size was the natural impression.

It seems this attack was possible because its entire body wasn’t a single mass but rather scattered ice chunks.

It could simply launch only the ice chunks corresponding to the hands with magic power, without needing to twist its entire giant body.

The Ice Lord’s hand, having failed its attack once, returned to its place, and this time, a sharp cold wind immediately flew towards me from its body.

-Geuhuwung!

A fierce blizzard, mixed with cries and wind sounds, approached to engulf me.

When expressing harsh cold to an unbearable degree, it’s commonly called ‘sword wind’ or ‘flesh-piercing cold’.

In that regard, Frostheim’s cold that rushed before my eyes was literally the flesh-piercing cold itself.

Sharp ice blades mixed within the cold and biting wind were approaching with the momentum to truly tear me apart.

-Hwareureuk!

-Chi-ik, chi-ik….

Fortunately, the Flame Citadel that was created before the monster’s blizzard reached my body protected me as if embracing me, and the ice blades flying towards me were blocked by the wall of flames, sublimating and disappearing with the sound of boiling water.

For now, with this, I’ve blocked the monster’s attacks themselves, but how can I approach the monster again in this state?

The Flame Citadel is a stationary spell, so it cannot move with the flames.

To move together, I would need to repeat the deactivation and activation of the Flame Citadel spell blocking my front several times, which takes a long time and wastes too much magic power.

Besides, if I were to try and endure against an S-rank monster, my magic power would naturally be depleted first, and at that moment, Flame Magic and everything else would become meaningless.

There was only one way: to end the fight as quickly as possible, before my magic power dropped any further.

The moment I made that decision, I began chanting another large-scale Flame Magic spell from behind the Flame Citadel.

A spell of giant Flame Magic, capable of inflicting direct damage to its main body.

“Flower of flame, majestic energy of fire blooming from the depths of the mind….”

It had already been confirmed to some extent with the previous fire spear that Flame Magic had some effect on the monster before me.

However, the magic power that could be imbued into the spear itself was limited, so sufficient power wasn’t produced.

Conversely, if sufficient magic power were given, its power could surely be increased more than double, so what I was preparing now was precisely that magic imbued with sufficient magic power.

Flame Blast.

It was a type of magic where a significant portion of the magic power within my body was gathered into a giant sphere of magic power, then exploded with Flame Magic.

Right away, as if shooting it, I threw it with all my might towards the monster before me.

“…Burn, and explode! Flame Blast!”

-Hwi-i-i-ing!!

A giant fireball, pulling a massive gust of heat along with it, flew towards the monster.

That giant ball of fire flew towards Frostheim, cutting through the blizzard and ice blades.

-Kugwagwagwang!

‘Geugeuk! Geugeugeugeuk…!’

Its giant body tilted momentarily along with the heavy explosion.

It was not a bad attack, but it was still insufficient.

Even though Flame Magic was the elemental advantage against an ice spirit, the opponent was an S-rank level monster. It wouldn’t fall just by landing one powerful Flame Magic attack.

Furthermore, this snowy mountain had been the Ice Lord’s domain from the beginning, so any damage inflicted by my attack would surely be recovered quickly.

If I couldn’t finish it decisively here, my magic power would end up being wasted on a large scale.

‘Now, when I can close the distance, is the only chance.’

To finish it decisively, this time for sure, I charged forward along with the greatsword taken from my subspace pocket.

As the Flame Blast passed, thanks to melting the snowfield, a somewhat straight path had been created.

My body, with its movements becoming much freer, followed the exposed dirt path and approached the Ice Lord.

-Tadadak!

‘Geugeut, geugeu….’

Meanwhile, Frostheim was regenerating its body not long after being hit by a Flame Magic spell of that scale.

The shattered ice fragments were fitting together, and the melted and scattered parts were being filled with new snow and ice.

Just before it completely returned to its original body, I wrapped a maximally compressed magic barrier onto the surface of my greatsword.

-Hwareureuk!

And, in that state, a greatsword of giant flames powerfully rose.

The highest level swordsmanship and the highest level Flame Magic were combined into a linked technique.

In addition, it had been a year of learning under the best teachers, so now it was time to check the results of that training.

Speed: fast. Sword: heavy.

Calculation: careful. Result: hot.

-Pa-at!

Just before the giant S-rank monster’s body fully regenerated, my body, wielding the flame greatsword, leaped into the air.

With a single action, without any wasted motion, I sliced the Ice Lord’s body from top to bottom.

-Seo-geogeogeogeok!!

‘Geugeuk…! Geu, geugeugeugeuk…!’

The sound of the giant ice chunks splitting, the sound of ice fragments being cut with friction, and in between, a mix of what might have been the ice spirit’s cry or some unknown wind sound tickled my ears.

Frostheim’s body, which had been a giant ice chunk, was split right down the middle, left and right, by my flame greatsword.

-Kugung, kugugung….

And, with a loud noise, the ice spirit fell to the ground, completely ceasing to function.

Before its body could regenerate around its core again, I hastily extracted the core from the center of its body and put it into my subspace pocket.

All that remained was just a large chunk of ice, having lost its core.

“…Phew.”

It was the first S-rank monster I had defeated in a one-on-one battle.

…Considering the remaining amount of magic power, it might have been a bit close.