Chapter 174: Manticore's Wrath

"You. Bastards. Dare. To. Steal. The. Treasure. Of. My. Home!? I. Was. Going. To. Show. Mercy. By. Letting. The. Both. Of. You. Leave. Here. But. That. Isn't. Possible. Now. YOU!? THAT. BOOK. WAS. THE. CULTIVATION. OF. MY. FIVE. HUNDRED. YEARS. ON. THIS. DAMNED. PLANET!" As the manticore roared in rage, shockwaves of his bloodlust was felt throughout the entire dungeon.

Debris came falling down from the worn out ceiling and the ground rumbled as he stomped his feet in anger.

"What book is he searching for!?" I asked Neco.

"I don't know. I only have the Deep Dark book that gives me assassin skills." Neco replied.

"But he said Book of Res- and then he just lost sanity... Are you sure that those only two items you got were the only ones there?"

"Y- yeah. These are the only things I got."

"Then that means that someone got here before us. It's one of four things, they're dumb that they left two precious artifacts, they don't want the other two since it's soul bound artifacts, they left these two artifacts for a bait for this manticore so that more people would come or they just came here to get that book and just ran away after seeing the manticore. There's more possibilities but these are the most reasonable ones."

"So, what do we do now? That's the only exit we have. But we could try to break through above and fly away."

"Absolutely not. We need to learn everything about this artifact dungeon. That's why, we're gonna need to protect this place. Free Form Barrier!" The barrier I casted acted like rubber and expanded and covered the whole interior of the dungeon. This way none of our or his attacks will reach the walls of the dungeon so that this place won't crumble.

"Hellfire's. Mantra!" The whole area of the dungeon suddenly lit up in flames but disappeared by the time we could react. It was just milliseconds of the floor burning.

I took a look at my status and I couldn't see any negative effects or anything. Did the spell... fail? No, that isn't possible. How can a strong creature like this fail a spell. There must be something weird about it.

Without warning or any signs, the manticore thrusted with his scorpion tail in which I was caught off guard so I fell on my back as I tried to dodge it. Flames went up like a pillar rising up to the very top of the dungeon's ceiling. I stood back up and saw that my normal clothes were burnt. But the manticore didn't cast anything.

I looked at Neco and waved his head like he's saying he doesn't know what happened.

I took a step forward and my feet went up in flames as another pillar of fire came rising from the ground. "Gazer Form! Co-" Pillars went up again through my whole body as it lit up in flames. But this time the damage wasn't that damaging since I have elemental resistance when my whole body is covered in one. It seems that something weird is going on.

I raised my hand at Neco and he understood immediately to not take a move or make any noises.

"Hellfire's. Mantra. A. Skill. That. Covers. Any. Surface. With. The. Flames. Of. Hell... As. Hell. Is. Famous. For. Torturing. Its. Inhabitants. For. Every. Move. That. You. Make. You'll. Burn. For. Every. Sound. You. Make. You. Burn. If. You. Don't. Do. Anything. After. A. Couple. Of. Seconds. You'll. Burn." So the skill this manticore put earlier was that?

"Cooldown Reset!" I casted and flames went up again damaging me whole. I ran and ran bracing through the impacts of the flames that was rising. I reached out for Neco and grabbed his shoulders. "Mass Teleport!"

"Useless. This. Artifact. Dungeon. Is. Implemented. With. Dimensional. Lock. No. One. Can. Teleport. In. Or. Out."

"Damn it... Barrier!" I casted on Neco.

"What are you doing!?" He shouted at me as he tried to break the barrier.

"You won't be useful here, you're purely around utilizing your speed and movements. You can't touch the wall or anything at all. Just stay there for now. I'll think of something."

"Damn it..." He couldn't say anything. I guess he accepts it himself.

"That. Is. An. Unwise. Choice. Human. Do. You. Remember. What. I. Told. You? Hellfire's. Mantra. Activates. On. Any. Surface. Near. Me. The. Hell. Doesn't. Let. Its. Inhabitants. Get. Away." The manticore said menacingly.

"What the hell are yo-" Flames went up as soon as I was about to ask something. I stepped back and stopped moving.

"The. Hellfire. Choose. Your. Friend. As. Its. Inhabitant."

"What!?" As soon as the fire pillar in front of me was gone, the barrier that I surrounded Neco with has the inside swirling around in a hellfire of flames. It was like hundreds of flamethrowers being shot at.

"ARGHHHHH!!! AHHHHH!!! NO!" I could hear Neco's cries and pain as he shouts as he tried to break the barrier that I casted on him.

"DISPEL!" Flames went up through my whole body but I didn't care at all. I rushed over to Neco's aid but it seems that the fires already dealt way too much damage.

His body was charred, burnt and his arm was about to fall off. His whole body turned into a pile of burnt flesh. It was a horrific sight to see. In that five seconds of hell that he went through, he was blasted with tens of those fire pillars. I couldn't believe it. My bad judgment led me to this horrible outcome. But it's still not the end.

I could still feel him breathing as his chest still contracts and expands. He still has a chance to live. " Za Fa Rah Ma Ga. Turn Neco, into a fish." Using the shapeshift spell, I turned Neco into a fish. Even the fish is black since he's completely burnt by the spell that manticore casted. "Water Bubble!" I encased Neco into a water bubble as he's turned into a fish. So I'm pretty sure he can breathe while in that form. I think.

But this is the best chance I have so I don't need to worry about him. "Barrier." I know I have a bottomless container that I got two years ago. So I brought that out and put Neco in that container. "Barrier." I put another layer of a spherical barrier on the barrier that I casted before. And for safety, "Barrier." A three layered barrier. I placed it on the ground and flames went up through my whole body and the barrier but this time Neco won't get damaged. Since he's a fish, he can't create sounds that will trigger the flames to activate.

"Clever. I. Have. To. Admit." The manticore suddenly said.

"I don't need your praises." Flames went up everytime I tried to talk. I've been burnt to the point that my life dropped down to 40%. To further reduce the damage, this is all I can do. "Fire Resistance UP, Damage Resistance UP, Elemental Resistance UP. TORCHED BODY!" Everytime I casted a spell, his spell began throwing flames of pillar at me. But I just braced through it. "

I flew above so that my steps won't generate sounds. I rushed at the manticore with my fire whip. As soon as I raised my hand to swing my whip, his scorpion tail came flying at me. I dodged to the side and entangled his scorpion tail with my whip. The flaming attributes of my whip managed to char a part of it. But it's barely noticeable since it's already black. But that only dealt a miniscule amount of damage.

He broke free of my bindings and opened his mouth. "HELLFIRE BLAST!" A concentrated amount of mana was being generated by his mouth. And just a second after, a laser ray blast of his skill came flying at me. As soon as it hit me, I phased through it and managed to avoid the attack. But the barrier that I casted on the whole dungeon began to break. The whole area around us shaked with just one of his attack.

I will never be able to take at least one of those hits because that would just be plain immpossible. I didn't know that he was that dangerous. What's his status... "Analyze!"

[??? Level: ???]

[Strength: ???]

[Agility: ???]

[Defense: ???]

[Stamina: ???]

[Speed: ???]

[Magic: ???]

[Speech: ???]

Nothing appeared. This can only mean one thing. His level is hundreds above mine... I can't win this by myself. "Telepathy, connect me to Feran."

"Calling. Reinforcements? How. Cowardly. Hellfire. Blast!" The manticore sent out small fireballs all around the arena.

"Feran!" I ignored the manticore and focused on Feran. "Are you there?"

"Woah! Zieglind? What's up?" I heard Feran on the other side and I was so happy to hear his voice.

"Alright, I need reinforcements here. Bring Rize and Helga with you."

"Where?"

"Wait a minute."

The manticore charged up another one of those Hellfire Blast but I just phased through it with ease. "Imagery Intensify!" I began to think of the path me and Neco took. "Perfect Imagery!" I casted again to store them in my mind. "Telepathy, pass on Perfect Imagery images!"

"WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! What's happening!?" I could hear Feran panicking on the other side.

"Go to that place. We need you."

"This... place? Got it. Give me a minute!"