Chapter 271 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (X)

It looks like we are not done yet with our job. I thought killing the Undying King would finish things but it seems we are still far from over.

"Job's not yet over guys. Let's get inside the cave after the flames die down. The enemy might be still alive and our target item is not dropped by the ones we just killed," I announced to everyone.

"I see. No wonder it was too easy, we are not yet done with the battle against the boss. Understood Master, should we just remove the fire for now?" Atlas asked.

"No, keep it lit up until it goes out on its own, in case of things that are still alive inside the cave, the flames can weaken or maybe kill the enemy. There is a bigger chance the enemy is still trying to escape so this will help us a lot."

Leona and Lucia also came down from the sky after bombarding the cave with [Hellfire]. With the hotness of the flames being released, it is not a wonder the brain of the undying king escaped to protect itself. It can save itself from harm instead of enduring the flame with the host he latches on. Too bad, it ended up as one of the routes for his dead end.

We waited for a few more minutes before the flames slowly died down and disappeared, leaving the area scorched from flames to be a little hotter than normal.

"Get inside in the summons area everyone. We need to minimize the number of people entering. Lina, do you also want to go inside the summons area?" I asked.

"No need Master. I will see this through since this is also my class quest, I can't botch this quest just like that without experiencing everything. That might cause me to fail in this quest."

"Hmm, you have a point. Well, that's what should everyone do, lets get going."

My summon and followers entered the summon's area while Lina entered with me. We looked into the walls and all the weird writhing masses of flesh before are now dried up and seem to lack the life it once had.

"It seems the [Hellfire] of Miss Lucia is too hot for them to endure it, they died from the heat!" Lina said as she observes the lifeless mass of flesh.

"Of course, they should! Not dying from my flames is not a good thing for me. Unless they are invincible against my flames, they should die more or less!"

We ventured deeper and all of the menacing tentacles before has been turned to stretchy material that still looked disturbing. Thankfully, they are no longer showing signs of moving again so we safely entered the place without their interference.

When we arrived, in the cavern where we previously meet the main body, all we see is the goop and the red gem above the cavern. It was glowing brightly that it is the first thing you would notice once you arrive in this particular area.

"I can sense the dark mana revolving in this area. It seems it was the source of energy for the creature that is living here before," Lucia said as she observe the situation inside the summon's area.

"Master, did the main body melt here? I am quite sure the place where the goop of disgusting liquid should have been the place where the Undying King's main body is located. But I don't think Lucia-san's ability can cause an enemy or any entity to be reduced to this state. Shouldn't they turn into a lifeless being or dust already just like how we see those walls of flesh?"

She has a point. The [Hellfire] is quite strong that most of the cases, it should be a charred meat lump like how we see the wall of flesh on the wall. And if they are burned too much, it should have turned into dust instead of a goop since the Undying King's body doesn't seem to be made from plastic or candle. Even those two don't become a goop like this once they are burned so what is this goop?

"[Fireball]!"

I throw a small fireball into the goop and the goop just swallowed the fireball like nothing. There wasn't even a reaction. If it was water, a reaction would be expected but here, it didn't even give out a single smoke, it just...got swallowed.

Then, all of a sudden, the goop started to move. I thought I was just mistaken at first but then, it turned out, it is indeed moving. I quickly reacted and transformed my weapon into a shield and blocked the surprise attack. It was only a split-second decision but that decision I made is right as I managed to block what was going to be an attack on us.

"HA!"

I deflected the enemy with my shield with [Shield Bash] but it felt like I didn't push anything. In fact, it was like I am pushing my shield into the water and splashing it somewhere.

Lina and I immediately backtracked and I prepared my weapon. Lina also pulled out her weapon and is ready to strike.

The goop that was settled on the big hole in the cavern like a lake turned into a living creature. It looked similar to slime, but at the same, it doesn't. It looks more like a formless gelatin monster. It slowly moved but it didn't attack us, instead, it went up to the big gem that is attached above the cavern. It covered the gem in a few seconds and a red light suddenly enveloped the goop.

As soon as the glow appeared on the goop, I saw a hovering HP bar above its head. When the glow disappeared, it detached itself from the ceiling but now, the gem is no longer attached to there, leaving only a shallow crater, signifying that there was something placed in there before. 

Of course, the red gem didn't disappear completely, the goop that "absorbed" the gem slowly moved and its "head" is starting to move. It didn't take long before the red gem that was resting above the cavern is now part of its head. As soon as the red gem appeared, the status of the monster and its name appeared.

[The Undying King's Heart]

Level: ???

HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000

MP: ???????/???????

Trait: ???

The Undying King's heart!? So this is the main target all along?! Then this is the real boss!

"The boss has finally appeared!"

"Should we go out now, Master?" Goro asked.

"Don't go out yet, I need to determine whether you guys are safe to go out and fight this thing or not."

I am hesitant to fight against this thing. Although the HP of the boss is a measly 3 million and cannot be compared to the boss I slew before, what I am worried about is the real level of this monster and the reason why the mana bar of the boss is displayed as question marks.

Usually, a monster with Question Mark life bars or mana bars is because they are too big to measure. I won't panic if the monster has an HP with question marking but I would be troubled if I see a creature that has the MP bar shown but it was also hidden with the question marks. That only means one thing and that is the endless mana it has.

There is another thing. The trait of the boss, just like many bosses before, the affinity sometimes dictates what a monster's weakness will be, allowing you to know whether a boss can be easily killed with this element or if it is possible to kill it with physical attacks alone. Not only that but you can also see if they have the status of Invincibility or Immortality.

Seeing the [Undying King] has a question mark traits is obviously showing a big disadvantage.

"Carefully tread against this monster, Lina. As much as I want to unleash my spells and other things but I am worried we have to go blind in this one and experiment which things would help us kill this boss faster."

"No worried Master. We can do this. We don't need to rush and kill this boss as soon as we can."

Okay, the first thing that we need to remember, is that this creature absorbs flames. Maybe due to the attacks of Lina, the monster is now capable of absorbing flames. It is a normal thing seeing when I blast it with a [Fireball], it just absorbs it like it was eating the attack. Also, if it was weak to fire, it should have been burned to dust a long time ago with Lucia's bombardment of [Hellfire].

The goop's hands begin to move and quickly divide themselves to attack. It was like the tentacles, but this time, it is made by a slime substance. It was quick that I have to parry and cut off a few. However, this is getting troublesome now.

"F*ck...." I muttered when the slime goop suddenly uses a tier 7 magic based on the form of the magic circle on the ground.