Chapter 59: The Dungeon Boss

Ethan continued down the path as the monsters became less common the deeper he went.

The heat, however, increased by several notches, becoming unbearable.

The stone beneath Ethan’s feet was glowing red, and molten rock flowed through the cracks in the ground.

The Solar Elementals followed him, completely unaffected by the increasing temperature.

After walking for a while, Ethan noticed something ahead.

The path had come to an end.

A massive stone gate stood in front of him, covered in strange patterns with a faint red glow coming from the gaps between the stones.

"The boss room."

Ethan reached out and touched the gate. The moment his hand made contact, the entire gate began to shake.

Boom!

The massive stone doors slowly opened, and a wave of heat rushed out from inside.

Ethan’s expression changed.

The temperature was far higher than anything he had felt in the dungeon so far.

He stepped through the entrance, and the heat immediately became unbearable. His clothes began to smoke before parts of them caught fire. Ethan quickly tore away the burning sections and threw them aside.

Soon, almost nothing was left covering his body.

He ignored it and continued forward as sweat formed on his forehead.

The moment the sweat rolled down his face, it disappeared into steam.

Ethan gritted his teeth and kept walking.

He wasn’t immune to fire or extreme heat like the Solar Elementals.

Even with his high Constitution, this temperature was difficult to withstand.

Ethan looked at the Variant Constitution Essence Orb in his hand.

The transparent orb contained a stone heart covered in cracks, with flames burning across its entire surface.

He tightened his grip.

Crack!

The orb shattered in his hand.

The cracked stone heart inside suddenly turned into a stream of energy that entered Ethan’s body.

[Variant Essence absorbed.]

[Constitution +1,800]

[Variant Effect Activated.]

[Flameheart]

[Variant Effect: Flameheart]

[The user’s body gains greatly increased resistance to fire and extreme heat.]

[One Mind, One Legion activated.]

[Constitution +1,800 shared with all Shadow Wraith Soldiers.]

[Constitution +1,800 shared with all Solar Elementals.]

[Flameheart has adapted to the physiology of the Shadow Wraith Legion.]

[Shadow Wraith Legion can now survive in extreme heat and flames without their Shadow Body being affected.]

[Flameheart has adapted to the physiology of the Solar Elementals.]

[The Solar Elementals can now absorb surrounding heat to restore their Solar Energy.]

[Duration: Ten minutes]

The moment Ethan crushed the orb, a layer of dark stone covered his body, with cracks glowing like molten lava between them.

The unbearable heat suddenly became much easier to withstand.

Ethan looked down at his transformed body.

"I have to reach the boss before the ten minutes are up."

He stepped into the enormous room beyond the gate.

Unlike the rest of the dungeon, there were no paths or smaller chambers.

It was one massive open space.

The room was enormous, with a large pool of lava at its center.

Ethan had barely taken a few steps when the lava suddenly erupted.

A huge beast rose from the pool and landed on four massive legs. Its body was covered in black volcanic rock, with bright orange cracks running across it. Molten lava flowed through the cracks, and two large horns curved backward from its head. A bright magma core could be seen inside its chest.

[Level 20 Inferno Core Beast]

[Fire Resistance: 40%]

[Skill: Inferno Core]

[Description: Absorbs heat from the surroundings to increase the user’s strength and firepower.]

The Solar Elementals attacked the moment the beast appeared.

Hundreds of golden beams struck its body.

The beast’s volcanic armor began to glow as the Solar Rays burned into it, but the damage was much lower than Ethan expected

"So it has high fire resistance."

The Inferno Core Beast opened its mouth and released a huge stream of fire.

The flames swept across the Solar Elementals.

Nothing happened.

The Solar Elementals remained within the flames without taking any damage.

The beast roared in anger and released another stream of fire.

Still, nothing happened.

Ethan watched the scene.

"They’re completely immune to fire, but this thing only has fire resistance."

A small smile appeared on his face.

"Then let’s see if it can resist this."

Ethan reached into his inventory and took out the Mana Reservoir.

He had chosen this dungeon for this exact reason.

He wanted to know what would happen when Divine Flame was used against a powerful fire-type creature.

The Solar Elementals had already shown him what normal fire resistance looked like.

Now it was time to test Divine Flame.

Ethan took the Mana Reservoir in his hand and activated the skill.

"Divine Flame."

A tiny golden flame appeared in his palm.

It was no bigger than his fingernail.

Ethan stared at it.

The flame didn’t flicker like normal fire. It remained perfectly still, burning quietly in his palm without giving off any smoke.

Even the heat around it was strange. There was no wave of heat coming from the flame, yet Ethan could feel an intense power contained inside it.

"Is this really Divine Flame?"

Ethan had expected something far more impressive.

For a skill that required 1,000 Mana just to activate, this tiny flame looked almost ordinary.

Ethan moved his hand toward a nearby stone.

The moment the golden flame touched it, the stone began to melt.

Within seconds, the entire stone had turned into molten rock.

Ethan looked at the tiny flame in his palm.

"It really is powerful."

The strange thing was that the flame wasn’t hurting him at all.

He could feel its power, but there was no heat coming from it.

"Maybe it needs more Mana to show its true power."

Ethan casually moved the flame between his fingers, watching it dance across his hand.

Then he looked toward the Inferno Core Beast.

The boss was still fighting the Solar Elementals.

It roared as golden beams struck its body, swinging its massive claws and sending Solar Elementals flying. Each time it moved, molten rock splashed across the ground.

Ethan watched for a moment.

"Let’s see how much power it needs to kill something like that."

He raised his hand and flicked the tiny golden flame toward the boss.