Chapter 241 Volcanic Dungeon

With Luna now temporarily joining the group, it was time to take on the dungeon. Himeko took the lead while Luna stayed in the back. Everyone else was between them, making them feel like they were being escorted.

"Hey Luna, is there anything we should keep in mind?" Shaman figured Luna had done the dungeon before, so surely there was no harm in asking.

"Most enemies here are made of molten lava so any cold elements will work, like water for example. I don't know how ice will fair since I've never seen someone use ice, but I know fire doesn't work at all. Other than that if your weapons are good enough, physical attacks should be enough to destroy the cores." Luna didn't mind explaining as she enjoyed herself playing the mentor. Most of them may not be demons, but that didn't matter to her anymore.

She always liked helping lower-tiered adventurers which she even used as a pass-time when there was nothing else to do.

"Looks like you have to use your spear, Eli." Shaman nudged Elysia since she could only use fire and hadn't learnt any other elements yet.

"Tsk, maybe I should try to learn water or something." Elysia didn't like hearing she couldn't use her fire, so she considered using her skill select to cheat her way to a new element.

"Haha, as much as learning water would be useful, beginner level water magic would be useless here." Luna liked the enthusiasm for learning a new element, but without being an expert with it, the magma would evaporate it.

"Well, at least I'm not the only one." Elysia was instantly discouraged, but she found comfort that she was in the same boat with Himeko who also was a fire user.

"If you're thinking of me then you are wrong. Fire may be ineffective here, but my own fire is an exception to that rule." Himeko smirked, clearly indicating she had a trick up her sleeve.

"Oh? Now you have me curious, from what I can tell you are quite strong for a hu-.... human?!" Luna hadn't realised it since everyone else was a half-beast, but Himeko herself had no animal features. There was also Elanor who wasn't a half-beast either, but her pointy ears clued Luna early on to her being an elf.

"You just realised?" Everyone looked at Luna like she was dumb for not noticing sooner, which was only fair as she just assumed whatever she wanted to believe without really looking.

"Don't worry, my name is Himeko and I want to kill that bastard pope just as much as any of you. After the torture he put me through that's the bare minimum he deserves." Himeko didn't want to cause problems so she kept quiet up till now, but that plan went up in flames.

"I would normally be skeptical, but seeing as you are with everyone else, I can't really doubt you." Luna's initial warning sirens fired off, but then she realised how stupid it was since Himeko was following a group all of which are non-humans.

"Glad that you didn't jump at my throat." Himeko was relieved that Luna didn't get angry or jump to a random conclusion.

"Oi, I'm not that short-fused. I'm just on edge! Especially since I can't get back out." Luna didn't want to show it, but she was under a lot of stress. A lot of the members rely on her for support, so she was worried sick that something horrible would happen.

"Anyway, what are everyone's names? We are close to the first area and I haven't learnt any except Himeko and Clara's." Luna saw they were approaching the volcanic plains where the first enemies should appear.

"Oh, I'm Shaman, these are my girlfriends Elysia and Clara. Silver is my son and the Elf is Elanor." Even though Luna already got Clara's name, Shaman still felt the need to reintroduce Clara as her girlfriend. Shaman also wanted to see Luna's reaction to her having 2 girlfriends.

"Hold up, did I hear correctly? Girlfriends?" Luna stopped walking to process what she just heard.

"Yes, you did hear correctly." Shaman pulled in Elysia and Clara by their waists as actions speak louder than words. It was also apparent on Luna's face that she didn't believe it.

"Oh no, what has Freja done to you." Rather than being confused, Luna was more worried about their wellbeing.

"Are you all okay? Are there any injuries or mental scarring? I know someone who is good at dealing with trauma." Luna ran up to them and began to inspect them for any issues.

"Woah, don't worry we are not Freja 2.0. We are all happy with each other and I'm not on a quest to gather more." Shaman understood the misconception which made her shiver at the thought.

"Phew, I was really worried there." Luna, hearing the explanation, backed away glad that there wasn't a mini Freja roaming around. It was bad enough that Freja attempted to court Luna which is where the trauma stemmed from.

'Rather than the shock I was hoping for, that completely backfired.' Getting directed to a psychologist left Shaman flustered as she somewhat regretted introducing them as her girlfriends.

"Good thing I'm not in that entangled mess." Elanor shook her head as she couldn't imagine how annoying it might be.

"You're not with the wolf boy Silver here?" Luna assumed they were partners since they were stuck together like glue. Every time Luna looked at Elanor, Silver was always there, never a moment apart.

"W-what no!" Elanor, having been paired with Silver again, was wondering why the hell everyone assumed that. She knew they were together a lot, but it couldn't be helped since Elysia and Clara were always stuck to either side of Shaman.

"Okay enough playing, we got enemies." While everyone was playing around, Himeko walked ahead to attract some monsters.

Everyone focused ahead where one molten monster was approaching them. The creature itself was made up of rocks forming a human figure. And from in between the rocks themselves came a slow stream of molten lava. Lastly, lodged within its chest was a visible red core making a clear target.

Luna instantly got to casting buffs for everyone which was a common procedure for her. A blue light encased everyone making them feel empowered. It was an odd feeling for them, but a good one that they couldn't complain about.

"Alright girls, just watch how I tank." Himeko now had her chance to prove her worth as a tank using her greatsword.

The molten creature lunged at Himeko while spewing magma out of every crack in its body.

Himeko held her greatsword up, covering most of her body to block the both lunge and the ensuing magma. Just before anything touched her, magma erupted from her sword creating a shield. She then shoved the molten shield forward pushing the creature back and temporarily stunning it.

"Now!" Calling for either the girls or Silver to attack, Himeko jumped back to get out of harm's way.

Shaman was the first to respond by jumping over Himeko and right towards the molten monster.

Just before she landed, she covered Kotetsu in ice to see how it would work in this dungeon. Slashing down across the monster's chest, ice formed where she hit. The core was struck, but it wasn't enough to break it.

However, they expected this, so Clara came running past swinging her blade whips around the molten monster's legs. Sliding on the ground while tugging on her whips, Clara forced the monster to the ground.

With its back exposed, its core was clearly visible from its back, which worked out well for Elysia who was coming from above with her spear. Using her raw strength she stabbed into the hole where the core resided, splitting it in half.

The fight was thought to be over, but suddenly the molten lava inside the creature rapidly pulsated. 'self-destruction' was the first thought through everyone's mind, but Elysia hit the ground so hard that her spear got stuck.

She desperately pulled on it, but the spear wouldn't even budge. Shaman and Clara tried to help, but there was no sign of it coming out.

"Shit just run." Shaman knew they had to abandon it, so she pulled Elysia and Clara off into a stardust portal. After waiting a few seconds, they realised nothing happened, which was rather confusing as they were sure something was going to blow.

Opening up another portal a little further away, Shaman poked her head out. Spotting the monster which now looked like a bunch of rocks, she realised there was nothing pulsating anymore.

Luna, Himeko, Elanor and Silver were giggling to themselves as what they thought was an explosion turned out to be nothing of the sort.

ITurns out that the magma inside the monster was so condensed, it would force its way out once the latter expired, but once enough came out it stopped pulsing altogether.

Elysia and Clara poked their heads and noticed the end result. They all had long faces while looking at their giggling fiends.

Coming out of the portal, they tried to ignore the fact that they ran away by pretending it never happened. Elysia shamefully walked to her spear and ungracefully pulled on it with all her strength. This time around it came out with little to no resistance.

"Ahem, well good job on killing the monster. Ready for more?" Himeko collected herself and tried to hold a straight face while speaking.