Elemental

Have you ever played a game where you have an overpowered ability or character that generally only appears at the late stages of the game, but for some reason, you got it at the start?

Like when you are super lucky and get a legendary character in the first draw of a gacha game.

Then you use that legendary character to mow down the initial levels of the game easily.

Well, that is how I feel right now.

Once I started to use [Lightning Beam], I was like a high-leveled player crushing low-level monsters.

Lightning Beam was so fast and deadly that monsters in the fourth tier could not avoid or stop it. I only needed to attack and my victory was decided.

Well, that result was reasonable considering that [Lightning Beam] was a trump card-like move that burdened my body every time I used it.

The only reason I could use continuously was that I was basically cheating.

'Wait, they won't discover that I'm cheating, right?'

[They won't. In theory, you are not really cheating. You are just using one of your skills to manipulate the dreamland.]

'That is good.' I sighed in relief.

I can't deny that I feel a bit bad for cheating, and I hesitated briefly about if I should do it or not, but in the end, I didn't let it weigh on my consciousness.

The fact that I can cheat without being discovered means that I'm skilled enough. It's part of my ability.

... Probably.

After defeating the enemy in level forty-nine, a peak tier-four eagle with a wingspan of around three meters, I finally reached level fifty.

The environment in level fifty was the complete opposite of level forty. Instead of the peak of a mountain, it was a deep underground cave. Instead of cold winds and white snow, it was filled with red magma and hot gases.

Just stepping on the ground caused sizzling sounds. I hurriedly clad my shoes with mana to protect them from the heat.

I then looked around in search of the monster. However, I failed to find it.

Instead of relaxing, my body became tenser.

The monster in this level should be a Tier-Five monster. That was two tiers stronger than me.

Even if I'm cheating, it is not a monster that I can underestimate.

At that moment, a soft noise reached my ears.

It was a strange noise, as though something was digging on the earth. And it came–

From below me!

Without any hesitation, I jumped up, only to see the ground under my feet explode and a giant creature appear with its mouth wide open.

The creature was very strange. It was fat, with a brown slime-like body, a giant mouth filled with teeth, and two beady eyes.

It did not seem to have legs, only two small arms, and its height reached three meters.

Moreover, its skin was filled with burning lava. Just being touched by it was enough to injure a normal person.

When the creature saw that I avoided its attack, it opened its huge mouth and roared at me.

*ROAAAARRRRR!!!*

I felt a chill on my spine, and my eyes shrunk in alarm. Not hesitating, I kicked a nearby stalagmite and used it to jump away.

One second later, a torrent of hot lava attacked the place where I was just now.

'Fuck! It can breathe lava!'

I cursed in my mind as I landed on the ground. However, I did not dare to remain in the same place for longer than one second. Without any hesitation, I jumped again, only to see another torrent of lava hit my previous location.

The monster remained in the place where it first appeared. It seemed to be slow, and its main mean of attack was to shoot lava.

'Good. I can do it! Just a blow to its head!'

After avoiding the third torrent of lava, I called upon the lightning inside my body and focused it on my spear.

Soon, my spear started to glow as violent arcs of lightning circled around it.

Then, I thrust my spear in the monster's direction.

[Lightning Beam]!

The powerful ray of lightning cut through the dim underground. It was so fast that there was no way for the monster to react.

*Boom!*

With a thunderous sound, the lightning hit the monster's head.

But–

"You have to be kidding me."

The lightning left a huge wound on the monster's head, but it failed to kill it.

Moreover, the wound regenerated at a visible speed.

*ROAAARRR!!!*

The monster screamed in pain. It glared at me in rage and released another torrent of hot lava towards me, forcing me to roll aside.

But the fact that I continued evading its attacks made it angrier. It continued roaring in my direction, shooting hot lava constantly, and forcing me to run away tragically.

But just then, I noticed something that made me want to curse.

The places that the hot lava hit had been destroyed, creating pools of lava and slowly reducing the places where I could move to.

"What kind of hellish difficulty is it!?" I groaned in my mind and decided that I could not continue like this.

With a grunt, I avoided the next attack of the monster, but this time, I did not run away, instead, I rushed toward it.

After the previous failed attempt to kill it, I already got an idea about this monster's characteristics.

If I'm not wrong, this monster should be a kind of elemental, just like slimes or fairies. These kinds of monsters are very resistant to physical and magical attacks, can easily regenerate lost body parts, and can survive even if their bodies are destroyed.

Their only weakness is their mana core, and to locate it, you must feel the flow of mana inside their bodies and find the place where their mana comes from.

I already did that, and if I'm not wrong, the core is just below its head, on its neck.

The monster noticed my intentions and roared in anger. It breathed hot lava in my direction, forcing me to reposition every second, but it failed to make me retreat.

In less than one second, I appeared in front of it.

The monster glared at me hatefully and used its arms to attack me. At the same time, the lava on its skin surged towards me, attacking me from different directions.

At that moment, my eyes gleamed coldly.

[Killing Aura]!

Activating the derivate skill of Confidence, I froze the movements of the elemental for an instant. Then, I kicked the ground and twisted my body to avoid the lava before thrusting my spear toward its neck.

The lightning from the lightning seed filled my spear, and my body was pushed to the limit. This spear thrust had used all my abilities.

Just like that–

*Spurt!*

The spear punctured its neck and pierced the core inside.

The monster let out an unwilling roar, but its eyes quickly lost light.

The next instant, the body of the elemental crumbled down.

I pulled my spear out and let out a sigh of relief.

Sigh, this one was hard.