388 Dragon’s Roar (1/2)
Thirty Wildfire Foxes roamed the slopes of the volcano, in five separate packs.
After wiping out the first pack, Qin Ruo had learned a new trick from the Wildfire Foxes: attacking pockets of lava with a flurry of Darkfrost Stings, he was able to create new lava streams of his own. With that done, he instructed Poochie to draw more Wildfire Foxes over, and then toss them into the soup.
The lava allowed them to make short work of the Wildfire Foxes!
Having easily completed the second task, Qin Ruo wondered if he could keep repeating the same technique on the rest of the monsters somehow. He looked up through the endless black smoke, wondering if he would be able to ascend to the volcano's peak just by drowning everything in lava like this.
But when he encountered the next foe—the Lava Giants—he finally understood that it could not keep being so simple.
The Lava Giant was an entirely different kind of creature from the Flametongue Toads and Wildfire Foxes from before. Not your typical beast of flesh-and-blood, they seemed to be made up entirely of living fire and rock, Elemental Creatures spawned from the volcano itself.
Their most notable abilities were being able to wade through the scorching volcanic lava and, furthermore, being able to control it.
Even the absolute destructive power of the lava was nothing at all to the Lava Giant. Qin Ruo learned this during his journey towards the peak, when he just happened to pass by a small pool of lava, from which a couple of Lava Giants suddenly emerged!
***
”Oh, hell!” Qin Ruo leaped in shock, realizing his wishful plans were not to be.
The Lava Giants that were rising out of the broiling lava were gargantuan in size. Just the visible upper half of their bodies alone already exceeded four meters in height. They were solid red and seemed to be made of stone, with sharp corners and angular edges, and piercing scarlet light winking and roiling from within their translucent forms.
Leaving the warm hearth of their birthplace, the Lava Giants nearest to Qin Ruo scooped out clumps of liquid lava half a meter across. As Qin Ruo watched in horror, they hurled these at him, striking his Frostbarrier!
Wham! Wham! Wham!
These attacks from the Level 58 monsters scored direct hits against Qin Ruo, not that he would have any chance of dodging such high-speed missiles suddenly flying at him from long range. Instead, he stood his ground and bet on his Frostbarrier, waiting to get a taste of what kind of damage a Level 58 monster could do.
Qin Ruo wasn't without his own legs to stand on.
With all his equipment, any incoming Fire damage would be lessened by as much as 25%, and this was in addition to his fully Mastered Frostbarrier cutting all Magic Damage down by 15%.
With incoming Magic Damage being reduced by 40%, and his dual defenses providing a whopping 184 Magic Resistance, Qin Ruo basically need not pay heed to any fire-elemental magic attacks from anything beneath Tier 6, especially if it was not even a Boss.
However, the sheer destructive might wielded by the Lava Giants had Qin Ruo's hair standing on end.
The slew of magma missiles hurled by the lumbering Lava Giants tore down his Darkfrost Shield. His Frostbarrier buckled dangerously, on the verge of collapse, with the Defense dropping rapidly, fifty points at a time!
”No way!” Faced with this withering onslaught, Qin Ruo fled from the attack range of the Giants, heart racing. For goodness' sake, this Tier 5 monster was no laughing matter!
That was a solid two hundred damage!
So the Lava Giants had an attack that could penetrate his basic Magic Resistance… Damn! Cursing as he continued to run, Qin Ruo hurried to cast another Darkfrost Shield as though his life depended on it.
There were fifteen Lava Giants in all, and now that they'd found him, they weren't eager to let him go. Holding a massive blob of lava at the ready in each hand, they clambered ashore and gave pursuit with long, loping strides.
Although not as quick as the Wildfire Foxes had been, they were certainly a lot faster than an Aquamancer like Qin Ruo, and caught up within moments.
Qin Ruo was still working on his Darkfrost Shield—the situation was dire!
In a crisis like this, who else could save him but Poochie?
The hulking Lava Giants seemed confounded by the appearance of diminutive Poochie, and paid it no heed. When the Lava Giant at the head of the group suddenly got knocked away, as though hit head-on by a speeding train, it was already too late for them.
Bang!
The Lava Giant crashed into two others following close behind. Tangled together, they stumbled about for a moment, before all three of them toppled over in a heap. This caused the entire troop of Giants to have to halt for a while.
This momentary pause was the opening Poochie needed!
Shadow Form! Shadow Dash!
Swift as lightning, Poochie bounded into the midst of the towering Giants, using its unstoppable physical attack to bring down the clumsy leviathans. In this way, it caused so much chaos and pandemonium that the Lava Giants were unable to continue their pursuit of Qin Ruo, thus buying him precious time to cast his spells.
***
At last, the Darkfrost Shield was back up.
Having restored that essential element of his defense, Qin Ruo felt a little of his courage returning to him, and decided not to waste any more time renewing his Barrier, despite it being down by two hundred Guard. Watching Poochie knock the fifteen Lava Giants about, he boldly began casting a Lycan Barrage.
The unusual nature of the Lava Giants made them tough opponents. However, it also suggested a fatal flaw.
Born from the molten magma itself, the Lava Giants had probably never encountered any water at all. Therefore, when the icy Lycan Barrage slammed into them, they immediately let loose an earth-shaking howl of pain!
Target hit: Dealt 2,102 damage to Lava Giant!
Target hit: Dealt 2,384 damage to Lava Giant!
Target hit: Dealt 2,401 damage to Lava Giant!
At first, Qin Ruo was taken aback by this, but then a grin of delight spread across his face.
Haha! The Lava Giants were just like Snow Giants, with not a shred of Magic Resistance against pure Aqua Magic! These damned Lava Giants, with their natural ability to bypass their target's Resistance when attacking… but it was far worse to have a weakness like this!
One complete Lycan Barrage, and a Level-58 Lava Giant was instantly slain!