"It's coming!"
Neia's eyes widened as she cried out in alarm.
Before the words had even left her mouth, a giant fish more than fifty meters long burst from the river of lava.
The strange creature was entirely red, its body covered in bizarre scales that blended seamlessly into the magma, making it resemble a lantern engulfed in flames.
It looked much like a lanternfish, only many times larger. Its head alone measured nearly twenty meters, and the enormous mouth occupying most of it was enough to inspire terror at a glance.
At that moment, its maw hung wide open as it continuously spewed scorching lava, as though announcing its presence to the world.
A long tentacle extending from the top of its head was especially conspicuous. It could expand and retract freely when hunting prey.
The moment the strange fish appeared, the squad members could not help crying out in amazement.
"It finally showed itself! The Lava Lord, one of the three legendary overlords of the Azerlisia Mountains?!"
"La-Angler, one of the World Bosses marked on the Magic Academy's world map...!"
A Crabwoman in the squad exclaimed in astonishment.
"If we defeat it and complete the hunt, every one of us should earn a huge number of credits."
Another member, a Quagoa Beastman, licked his lips and added excitedly.
Everyone stared intently at the Lava Ruler below, their eyes filled with anticipation and desire.
Abedo in particular clenched his fists, his eyes shining with eagerness.
For him, successfully completing this hunt would leave a brilliant achievement on his personal record. He was willing to pay any price for it.
"Follow the plan! Everyone, stay calm and make sure the hunt proceeds smoothly!"
At the command, the entire squad immediately entered combat formation.
Each member took up their assigned role, coordinating closely as they prepared to face the challenge ahead.
As the La-Angler rose above them, its enormous body was truly staggering.
It released a deafening roar, as though warning off these overconfident Adventurers.
Then it leaped high into the air like a fish crossing the Dragon Gate and hurled itself toward the group with overwhelming force.
Faced with such a colossal creature, the squad showed no fear.
Following the strategy, the Magic Casters maneuvered their Floating Platforms out of the way while unleashing various spells in retaliation.
Multicolored lights intertwined, forming a dazzling spectacle.
However, against the La-Angler's immense strength and massive body, those spells were little more than a light drizzle.
The attacks failed to hit their target, but that hardly mattered.
The La-Angler dropped from the air and slammed heavily into the ground.
The platform below, formed from cooled and solidified lava, shattered instantly.
Scalding magma surged like raging waves, exploding outward like a waterfall and sweeping through the cavern.
The squad members who had just avoided the attack were immediately engulfed by the splashing lava.
[Holy Light Shelter · Shield]
Neia hurriedly cast a spell to protect several people around her.
The rest of the squad also raised their defenses, but when caught off guard, someone was bound to make a mistake.
The Crabwoman was swept away.
Her race possessed an instinctive fear of fire. Although she had prepared a certain degree of protection, being enveloped by the scalding magma still brought unbearable agony.
The pain was so intense that she nearly forgot everything else and wanted only to scream.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, she could not produce even the faintest sound.
Under the La-Angler's control, the thick magma clung to her like solid amber, enclosing her in a merciless prison.
The Crabwoman struggled within the lava, only to discover that she could not cast any spells at all.
Her hard exoskeleton, which normally protected her, had become the source of her torment. Under the extreme heat, it subjected her body to repeated waves of tearing pain.
Suddenly, a powerful limb seized her.
It was not the rescuing hand she had hoped for.
Greed gleamed in the La-Angler's eyes as it fixed its gaze upon the pitiful Crabwoman, seeing her only as a sumptuous meal.
The tentacle on its head extended rapidly and wrapped around her entire body like a net.
Its tremendous grip instantly crushed her bones.
She was dragged mercilessly through the magma and into the creature's gaping mouth, between rows of densely packed, razor-sharp teeth.
The other squad members watched their companion disappear into the lava and struggled desperately to escape the searing hell around them.
They quickly realized, however, that only lava creatures adapted to extreme heat and capable of merging with molten rock could move freely in this environment.
The magma churned like a savage beast, swallowing everything in its path.
The squad members above were frantic with worry, but they could do nothing. They had no effective means of carrying out a rescue.
"Execute Plan B!"
At that critical moment, Abedo, who had been closely observing the situation, issued a decisive command.
He knew perfectly well that in an arena filled with lava, they were at a severe disadvantage.
Although they could fly, the Magic Casters in the squad did not possess enough mana to maintain that state for long.
Their original kiting strategy was no longer viable. Simply evading the La-Angler was difficult enough, much less launching attacks. At this rate, their mana would soon be exhausted.
They had to change tactics immediately and switch to another plan.
"Huff! Huff! Damn it! Let's do this!"
"For the credits!"
The Quagoa Beastman, who had been scrambling desperately across chunks of lava rock, immediately hardened his expression and stopped in his tracks.
With a quick leap, he landed on a floating slab of lava, pulled a bottle of pale-purple potion from his waist, and drained it without hesitation.
After drinking it, he stopped running and went on the offensive, swimming with all his strength directly toward the La-Angler.
Naturally, the La-Angler had no intention of passing up a meal that had delivered itself right to its mouth.
By then, the Quagoa Beastman had already accepted that he would die.
He clung tightly to its closed teeth and activated the Martial Art [Invulnerable Fortress], enhancing his defenses to their absolute limit.
Even so, he could not escape his fate of becoming food for the La-Angler.
As the creature gradually increased the pressure, the Quagoa Beastman's body finally gave way with a series of crisp cracks.
Crack... crack. Crack... crack!
The sound resembled a shell breaking apart. Immediately afterward, tender pieces of flesh were mercilessly squeezed out.
In only three seconds, every bone in the Quagoa Beastman's body had shattered, and his limp remains slid down the La-Angler's throat into its stomach.
But... that was enough!
The remaining squad members seized the opportunity and quickly pulled out bottle after bottle of strangely glowing potion.
"For the credits!"
After shouting together, they voluntarily leaped into the scalding magma and swam rapidly toward the La-Angler.
?
The La-Angler watched what was happening, confused.
It could not understand why these creatures were charging toward it so fearlessly.
Its instincts, however, told it not to let such delicious prey escape.
The La-Angler opened its enormous mouth, ready to welcome the approaching feast, Greed gleaming in its eyes.
Eat! Eat! Eat them all!
The La-Angler let out a low growl and excitedly swung its massive body.
With each successive bite, its stomach gradually swelled.
Burp.
It released a satisfied belch, experiencing a fullness unlike anything it had ever known.
After this baffling series of actions, only Neia, Nemu, and Abedo remained.
"I'm going down too. The rest is up to you!"
With those words, Abedo jumped into the magma.
The La-Angler had been preparing to leap through the Dragon Gate once more, but when it saw food voluntarily dropping toward it, it naturally opened its mouth again.
One clean gulp.
So full, the La-Angler thought.
Then two more figures descended from above.
More?
Burp. I really can't eat any more.
It instinctively opened its mouth, but this time it was met by a sharp, decisive strike.
A horizontal flash, followed by a vertical slash.
[Roar—!!]
The La-Angler released a furious roar that echoed throughout the cavern, causing the surrounding magma to boil.
Its tentacle was struck at full force through the middle and severed halfway through. At the same time, the other side of its head was deeply cut, sending blood spraying like a fountain.
The blood was incredibly hot, even hotter than magma, and filled the air with suffocating heat and a pungent, fishy stench.
"How does that feel, you stupid fish? You were enjoying yourself just now, weren't you?!"
Nemu's taunting voice echoed through the cavern, filled with contempt.
She brandished her weapon, its blade gleaming coldly as though flaunting her victory.
A vicious light appeared in the La-Angler's eyes.
It swiftly submerged itself in the magma, then violently swung its tail, sending a wave of scalding lava crashing toward Nemu.
Just before the magma struck her, however, Nemu vanished from midair, leaving only a faint afterimage behind.
The next instant, she appeared atop a massive chunk of lava nearby and landed steadily.
[Third Tier: Dimensional Teleportation]!
"Bleh! You can't catch me! You can't catch me! Small fry! Small fry!"
Smug satisfaction filled Nemu's voice.
The spell allowed its caster to teleport instantly to any location within a certain range, making it extremely practical.
Although it could not transport someone very far, it was highly effective for creating distance or evading lethal attacks during battle.
It was one of the most coveted spells among Magic Casters. However, because it involved the nature of space, very few students were able to master it.
Even those who barely managed to learn it often found it difficult to cast successfully in actual combat.
Because they had consumed the "human blood", Neia and Nemu were among the few students capable of using the spell with ease.
Nemu moved nimbly across the scorching lava blocks, her steps light and agile, as though she were dancing across a sea of fire.
While taunting the La-Angler to provoke it and draw its attention, she cast the Third-Tier spell [Dehydration] to interfere with it.
The La-Angler angrily lashed out with its tail, but failed to hit her.
Realizing it had fallen into a difficult situation, it spewed columns of compressed magma from its mouth, attempting to destroy the irritating fly before it.
At that moment, however, intense pain suddenly erupted from its stomach.
It felt as though countless steel needles were churning through its body, forcing an agonized cry from its throat and interrupting its attack.
Its body began to weaken. A purple glow gradually spread over its previously fiery-red form, making it appear as though it had been poisoned.
Clang!
Neia, who had been waiting for this opportunity, immediately swung a sword radiating holy light. She cut in from the La-Angler's side and brought the blade down heavily upon its back.
The sword collided with its hard scales, sending sparks flying with a metallic crash.
The enchanted blade easily tore through the defenses of the La-Angler, which had already fallen into an abnormal state, and sank deep into its flesh.
The La-Angler released an agonized wail and sent up a massive wave of lava.
[Fourth-Tier Magic: Charm Species]
A mind-control spell activated.
The spell caused members of any race to regard the caster as a close and trustworthy friend.
The struggling La-Angler froze for an instant, but quickly regained its senses.
Unfortunately, by then a sword had already plunged into its eye.
[Splatter!]
Its eyeball burst, and an agonized roar shook the cavern.
"Waaah!"
Neia gripped her sword in reverse and tried with all her strength to cut horizontally through the creature's head.
She lacked the necessary power, however, and the blow only carved a hideous wound across its skull.
The La-Angler thrashed wildly, attempting to shake the figure from its head, but could not dislodge her.
The pain in its stomach grew more intense, as though its body were being torn apart from within.
To its horror, the purple light across its body continued to flash. Each pulse brought another surge of excruciating pain.
After several rounds of violent struggling, the La-Angler had suffered tremendous damage and was overwhelmed by fear.
It decided to dive to the very bottom of the magma river.
As long as it hid deep within the burning lava, no one would be able to find and kill it easily.
Just as it prepared to flee, however, a voice rang out.
"Hmph! Don't underestimate us!"
Six red-and-black laser beams immediately shot forward at astonishing speed, racing toward the La-Angler.
The moment it opened its mouth to roar in pain, all six beams pierced directly inside.
If its exterior was too difficult to break, then they would attack it from within.
Nemu watched with a pale face, so nervous that she nearly forgot to breathe.
Her gaze remained fixed on the La-Angler.
The instant the attack struck, its frantic struggling suddenly stopped.
Neia did not hesitate.
At the cost of tearing her own muscles, she exerted every ounce of strength and forcibly sliced away half of the La-Angler's head.
Using the momentum of the strike, she leaped away and returned to Nemu's side at tremendous speed.
"Are you all right?" Neia asked worriedly.
"I'm out of mana and a little dizzy, but something this minor won't bring this young lady down."
Nemu murmured weakly, though a faint smile appeared on her face.
"Finally, it's over," she said softly.
At that moment, a thunderous boom erupted from within the La-Angler's body.
Its entire form trembled.
Then it rolled over, exposing its white belly, and stopped moving.
"Yes, it really is over. That was insane. If our expenses weren't fully reimbursed after a successful hunt, we would have suffered a massive loss."
Neia looked at the La-Angler's corpse, then lowered her gaze to her blood-soaked arms, which had already gone numb.
She shook her head with a sigh.
"Next, we just need to..."
Before Neia could finish speaking, a piercing and mournful cry suddenly came from directly above them.
In an instant, the cavern ceiling shattered.
An immense figure gradually appeared beneath the dazzling sunlight.
It was a gigantic phoenix soaring with its wings spread wide.
Scorching flames covered its entire body, as though it could set heaven and earth ablaze.
This phoenix was one of the World Bosses marked by the Magic Academy, the Phoenix Lord, Ruler of the Sky!
Neia and Nemu realized what was happening, and their eyes widened in shock.
Was this... a hidden side quest?!
It was already too late to react.
The Phoenix released a long cry, and an overwhelming force swept toward them like a storm, completely engulfing Neia and Nemu.
Before they lost consciousness, the final thought that passed through their minds was the same.
It's over...
***
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