He was afraid the others wouldn't hit it. That they would hesitate and lose precious time. But he breathed a massive sigh of relief as everyone took one look back at him--then sent everything they had towards the roof.
"Foolish Marked," the Draconian growled as it watched them without doing anything to stop them. "Trying to break the rock, are we? That won't kill me."
Good. It doesn't realize our true objective.
"But it will kill you," it said lazily. "Humans are so interesting. Choosing suicide over defeat?"
It didn't seem to be looking for an answer. The thundering sounds of attacks filled the air, and Julien focused on helping by sending several bright firebursts upwards. The cracks grew larger, becoming deeper, and dust rained down on everything.
The monster continued talking as they kept at it. "No matter how hard you try, you can't break it. In fact, you're so laughably weak--"
A rumble interrupted it.
"Huh? Surely not--"
There was no time for the Draconian to finish its sentence as a resounding crack echoed through the cavern.
In an instant, massive shards of rocks descended upon everyone. Linda guided them with a grunt, using her earth skills to deflect them away from.
Julien distantly heard the Draconian curse, before the sound of boulders masked all else. The world above them was cracking apart, but Linda kept them safe.
When the dust cleared, he saw the open sky above them. Blindingly blue, cheerful and clear. He was dazed for a short moment, then snapped back to reality when he saw the place where the Draconian had been standing.
There was a giant mass of debris in a large pile. Something was stirring under it. The Draconian's still alive. Shame.
"The Draconian's trapped under the rock!" he yelled across the battlefield. "Find its core, and use everything you've got!"
Everyone nodded in unison, rushing over to the pile. Metal, vines, ice, lightning, light--everything flashed across in a dazzling array of colors, while Linda cautiously removed some of the rock around the core.
Julien stayed where he was--he wouldn't be able to do anything against it anyway. But he felt uncomfortable.
I don't remember the last time I've been this helpless against an enemy.
Back in his past life, light-immune enemies were few and far between. But on the odd occasion he'd encountered them, they were defeated swiftly by sword strikes.
But he'd done plenty, so far.
The pile shuddered violently under the barrage. Cracks of an orange body were visible here and there: it was certainly still alive, just as it had said.
The Draconian's muffled roars seemed to pound at the rock with their soundwaves. It was trying to escape its stone jail. The floor was vibrating underneath them, almost causing some of his teammates to lose their footing.
He watched on as a single massive arm freed itself from underneath a boulder. It swiped around violently, simultaneously trying to kill them and push the rest of the rocks off the monster's body.
Julien looked toward the exposed core. The group was using all their might to chip away at the hard scales protecting it, but progress was very slow.
Linda gritted her teeth, trying to reposition the rocks that had fallen off the pile. But Julien could see her arms shaking--she had to be approaching the limits of what she could control.
Ray hammered it with chunks of shining metal, and Haley suddenly switched weapons to a brilliantly blue sword of ice. Her form was impeccable, and steam hissed as the icy sword met the monster's hot scales.
I haven't seen that sword since I was a first year…
Suddenly, the monster's head burst through the dust. "This was your plan, all along?!" it screamed in rage. It struggled even harder, shaking the half-collapsed cavern. It had lost every last ounce of smug calm it had left.
Finally, Little Julien drove his sword deep into the monster, going as deep as he could possibly go. A loud crack reverberated throughout the area.
"I've breached the core!" Little Julien yelled.
"NO!! You fucking pest–!" the Draconian screeched in an ear-splitting response.
We're gaining the upper hand! This is our chance--I can use [Mana Ignition] again.
He finally had the opportunity to do something. Though pain filled his body, and every movement left breathing hard, he ran closer.
His boots pounded across the dust-covered floor, and Little Julien pulled his sword out of the flickering red core, continuing to attack it over and over, along with the attacks from everyone else.
But they had seemed to hit a plateau. Apart from the crack dealt by Little Julien, their attempts did little to damage the core further.
"Get back," Julien barked. "I'm going to use an explosion spell to break it!"
Everyone complied, leaping away from the chaos. No one doubted Ian's abilities--if anyone could break the core, it would be him.
[Warning: You have less than a third of your total mana remaining.]
Shit… this better work. My mana is draining too fast to try and heal my wounds, and it won't stop, because the healing isn't working.
[Health Points: 4257/6300]
He fought to keep on moving--and just as he thought he wouldn't be able to go any further, he reached the core.
He reached out, putting one hand to the core. With a deep breath, he reached to channel all the mana he could--
The ground he stood on exploded beneath him.
Without warning, the Draconian tore itself free from the pile on top of it. Dust and rocks flew in every direction and it shook everything off. Julien was thrown from where he was, barely catching himself.
Its eyes blazed with anger, and red was spilling from a few spots around its chest and exposed core.
"YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"
Its head snapped towards Little Julien--the one who had dared pierce its core. It opened its mouth, and Julien's heart sank as he realised what it was about to do.
"No--!"
The boy didn't move fast enough.
[Flame Shield]!!! Come on!!
A barrier of fire snapped into place just in time, and for a fleeting moment, it looked strong enough.
But then the true effect of Gate Amplification surged.
The gate warped his power, twisting it into something uncontrollable. The shield destabilized, fracturing like shattered glass.
Julien hissed, pouring everything he could into keeping the skill from breaking, but the shield couldn't hold.
It broke apart in a single moment that seemed to last for eternity.
There was nowhere for Little Julien to go--the radius of the fire was just too big.
So older Julien did the only thing he could do.
He threw himself into the blaze.
He grabbed Little Julien tightly, using his own body to protect the boy. Fire consumed his vision, orange pouring over him.
The inferno clawed at his skin, his hair, his clothes--except it couldn't. His body, Ian's body, rejected the flames. Fire couldn't hope to hurt him.
The firebreath raged on. Although it felt like hours, the Draconian could only continue on for another five seconds--even the most powerful monsters had their limits.
Its heat faltered, and the immense pressure faded.
Julien loosened his grip on the boy, who was looking up at him with a shaken expression, face red and sweaty, though thankfully unharmed.
"Y-you--" he began, but Julien just shook his head.
"Thank me later," he said shortly, glancing back up at the monster. Its body was beginning to heal as its core pulsed, but it was slower this time.
Thankfully, cracked cores stay cracked. That part won't fix itself--but before I need to get it before the scales cover it again.
Little Julien had created a hole where he'd exposed the core. It wasn't particularly big, and now it was slowly growing smaller. He had to move fast.
He saw the description of the skill in the corner of his eye as the system pinged.
[Warning: Health Points are below half. Internal Bleeding has gone untreated, and will continue to damage you even more.]
[Mana Ignition Lvl.76]
[Description: There are three different intensity levels of this skill. Level One: consume 500 Mana Points for a normal blast that will shatter stone. This is the default level used. Level Two: consume 1000 Mana Points for a strong blast that will shatter the cores of A-Tier monsters and below.]
Through his pain, he ran closer to the Draconian, dodging swipes and plowing straight through short puffs of fire.
But Wingless Draconians are S-tier monsters…
[Level Three: consume 7500 Mana Points for an extremely powerful blast. A direct hit to the core will shatter those of S-Tier monsters and below.]
Are you kidding me?! 7500 points? That's too much…
[Mana Points: 8890/31000]
He had enough for one level three shot, but it would throw him into a dangerous level of mana exhaustion.
It would leave him with just 1390 points left. Normally, a mage would faint at 1000 points left, and they would die at 0 points. If the remaining points were to keep trying to heal him until he had nothing left, then…
That means I've only got one chance. If I fail, we all die here.
His chest heaved, pain flowing through. He was at the monster's feet now, and it looked down upon him with suspicion.
"What do you think you're doing, little fire mage? You can't burn me."
"Fire isn't the only thing I can do," he said with finality, voice barely above a rasp. He dove forward, hand reaching out towards the flashing core.
[Mana Ignition (Level Three): Activated]
Mana tore out of his palm at lightspeed, like a tsunami crashing over the Wingless Draconian. Scales and stone fractured instantly. The monster flinched and shook violently. "NOOOO--!!"
The air itself seemed to be trembling from the tremendous force of the skill.
The monster's roar turned into a grinding, hollow scream as the energy of the blast ripped through its core. The glowing sphere flashed rapidly, and it split into thousands of shimmering fragments like grains of sand.
From the corner of his eye, he caught his team standing in shock far behind. His friends were moving desperately towards him, and the others looked on in horror.
There were now only seconds left until the Draconian was turned to dust. It thrashed, screeching vicious words only it could hear. Julien was flung away violently, and he heard someone screaming Ian's name.
With no energy left to save himself, he slammed into the ground hard on his back. Pain seared through him, but he couldn't really process it anymore.
Ahead, the Wingless Draconian cursed one final time. It glared straight at Julien with unfathomable anger--and vanished, leaving the bright morning sky peaceful.
As he lay there, unable to move, darkness inched its way into his vision.
[Gate Boss: Wingless Draconian (S-Tier) Defeated]
He closed his eyes.