Once my mana regenerated enough to join in on the fun again, the fight was almost over.

  Lavapup's hair was still burning in those peerless white fmes as she danced through the bugs. Some of the beasts had been dead long enough already that they began disintegrating into yellow pearls of light, drifting upward like stars reaching for the sky.

  Despite all the blood and viscera on her—and around her—she was ughing. Enjoying herself a little too much.

  "There really is nothing for us to do!"

  Austin whispered, watching her while patting my back.

  I only nodded, sitting down on the wet sand and waiting for the st spider to get demolished by her fming fist.

  "She's my frontline after all," I said after staying quiet for a while, a soft smile creeping onto my face. "Of course she's capable of something like this."

  She deserved a little fun after grinding a quest she didn't even want to do.

  When the st monster finally fell, I stood up and headed over, pcing a hand on her shoulder—green monster blood staining it instantly.

  "Now since this has been dealt with... mind expining how you got here?"

  I asked, genuinely curious. Direct teleportation shouldn't be possible—at least I hadn't heard of it. Cssic Adventure didn't have anything like that either.

  "Oh that's simple!"

  She said smugly, raising a finger like she knew everything better. Typical Lavapup.

  "I just told this blue genie dude that you were in danger, and then he teleported me to you—said we'll put the training on hold for now!"

  I raised an eyebrow, letting my hand slide off her shoulder.

  "It was that easy... really?"

  But I didn't wait for an answer. I just walked past her and deeper into the cave.

  With the swarm wiped out—like ninety-nine percent at least—this pce was honestly uninteresting.

  Aside from a few traps like fake floors and falling spikes from the ceiling, the only real threat left was the dungeon boss.

  "So how long until we get to the boss room?"

  Austin asked—then immediately stepped on a pressure pte hidden beneath the sand.

  Click.

  My head snapped around. Without thinking, I swung my wand.

  "Ice wall!"

  A thick wall of ice erupted between him and the jet of fire that smmed into it a split second ter.

  "You should be careful with your steps, bro," I told him. "Me and Pup walk casual because we already know the yout of this cave."

  I kept moving, ignoring the clouds of steam forming behind us.

  "And to answer your question..."

  I came to a halt.

  Hundreds upon hundreds of torches ignited one after another like a chain reaction, revealing a wide open chamber.

  Rusted metal statues stood in each of the four cardinal directions, and at the far end of the hall—

  Right between two statues—

  A massive sarcophagus made of old stone and rusted metal loomed even higher than the statues themselves.

  I turned back toward Austin just in time to see the exit behind us fall shut with a heavy rumble, the ground beneath our feet shaking.

  "We're there."

  I tipped my overly rge hat at him.

  The coffin creaked.

  Then a skeleton cd in heavy, rusty armor stepped out, its hollow eye sockets igniting with the same ghostly green as the jewelry on its broken crown.

  Nails had been hammered into its bones all over—desperate attempts to keep the thing from falling apart.

  Its chest pte had a rge hole right in the middle, exposing where its lungs should have been...

  Except there were no lungs.

  Only a raging green fire burning bright inside its ribcage.

  "May I present to you... Vahrok, the Monarch of Scraps."

  As I said it, a giant red bar appeared at the top of my vision.

  The boss let out a harrowing shriek—turning the orange torchlight into that same vile green.

  In an instant the room grew darker, tinted in sickly emerald, and the music in the background shifted into something ominous.

  "Get ready, Austin," I warned, wand already drawn. "This one is nasty."

  Pup activated Soulfire again, igniting the tips of her hair and fists. The orange of her fmes mixed with the green torchlight, staining the air around her into a weird greenish-brown.

  Then she did it again.

  Her fmes grew brighter—brighter—until they turned almost fwless white.

  But I got distracted watching her change and lost track of the boss—

  Only noticing the magic circle beneath me a heartbeat before it fired.

  "Uh—dayum!"

  I jumped out of the area just in time.

  A massive green beam erupted from the ground, made of countless tortured souls twisting together like smoke and screaming light.

  I stood close, staring as one soul drifted past me so near I could feel its cold slide through my skin.

  "Ew!" I shivered, my whole body tingling uncomfortably.

  But while Vahrok was focused on me, Lavapup was already on the move—swiftly stepping into the blind spot of that lich-like creature.

  Raising a fming fist with that smug expression on her face, she drove it into the broken scrap armor, bending it slightly and sending the Monarch sliding back a bit.

  Austin—barely any help in this fight, but still trying—raised his stone staff and smmed it into the ground, causing the sand beneath us to shift.

  "Stone Pike!"

  He shouted. The sand began to vibrate, like something was moving underneath it—shooting straight toward Vahrok.

  I adjusted instantly as well, raising my wand to support Austin's Stone Pike with one of my favorite spells.

  "Icicle Impale!"

  I shouted, watching the air above the boss chill and condense—freezing into a rge, crude icicle that immediately crashed down toward the skeleton.

  At the same time, Austin's Stone Pike shot out of the ground, piercing him from underneath.

  For a moment, we had him stunlocked.

  But watching the health bar barely drop was sad—predictable too. The Monarch of Scraps wasn't a boss you could really "pierce."

  What worked wonders was blunt force.

  And we had a very reliable source for that kind of damage.

  "Spirit Strike!"

  Pup shouted, the ball of fire around her fist swelling significantly as she smmed her hand into the boss's back, sending him flying forward.

  "Ice Shield!"

  I followed up instantly, forming a thick ptform of ice right in front of him so he crashed into it—adding a clean chunk of extra damage.

  And just like that, we shaved off a full third of his life.

  Vahrok staggered back, then screamed—so loud it made my teeth itch.

  Souls poured out of him, some getting snagged on the jagged edges of his armor and bones like smoke caught on barbed wire.

  Phase Two began.