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[1200m]

[Lv. 559]

Active Items:

Heavy Armor Set of The Blue Ogre King [+95% Defense]

Dual Axes of The Blue Ogre King [+95% Strength]

Platinum Ring of The Blue Ogre King [+100% Mental Strength]

Active Skills:

Extreme Strength [Legendary Grade]

Body Hardening [Special Grade]

Buffs:

Ultimate Defense of The Blue Ogre King [Hidden Ability]

King's Summoning Call

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I finish scanning my surroundings and pause on the Boss' status that waits for us on top of the tower above.

"Level... 559..."

A sound similar to thunder cracks throughout the boss room, but there isn't a single dark cloud or flash of light in the sky.

Its source is the top of the mountain, but even with my perception skill, I can't make out the exact shape or cause of this odd phenomenon.

All of the mana that's being transported from the main dungeon is clouding the view. It's all consolidating to make a massive blue ball of energy. The orb is impossible to make sense of from this distance.

That isn't my primary concern at the moment, the hordes of Blue Ogres running towards us are.

I charge up MP into my blade and send a shot off in the direction of one of the approaching monsters while Ember breathes a wave of dark flames straight at another.

My recent level-ups, along with the nearly 25% increase in my overall mana control consumption has buffed my abilities a considerable amount.

My high power slash slices through the front side of a mutant armor, cutting the beast in half with a single strike while the plume of black fire desolates the Ogres Ember attacks. Earlier today, an attack like that would have taken 2 or 3 hits.

Although the opponent above is at a higher level than any monster I've faced before, I'm tingling with excitement at the opportunity to try out my new power.

Maybe it will drop some interesting loot too.

I decide to be as efficient as possible, taking off my griffin's talon necklace and throwing on the dark Red Salamander King's Cloak. It gives me an 80% boost in mental strength, rather than the talon's 40%. I have a feeling I'm going to need every advantage I can get.

With all these thoughts racing through my mind, Ember and I continue taking out mutants that stand in our path as we approach the mountain. Their shards are left behind for now. I'm focused on defeating the boss, nothing else.

I attempt to use my plunderer skill to absorb MP from the environment like I did back in the blue-clouded dungeon, but it doesn't work nearly as well.

Without the dense atmosphere of available mana, I'll have to rely on my remaining MP potions for now or the monsters I can directly drain mana from in a physical attack.

I manage just fine. It's just a minor inconvenience.

There are mutants that run down the mountain straight toward us from all directions. Most are very agile and powerful, but there's occasionally one or two in such a rush they fall or jump from unreasonably high ledges.

This injures them even before making their way towards us. It doesn't seem to matter much, the steady stream of them isn't showing any signs of stopping anytime soon.

Easily one-hitting each of them, but not flaming the rewards isn't doing anything very productive I decide to stop firing off shots. It's best to save my energy for the fight above.

Ember on the other hand keeps sending off his nearly endless supply of flames down at the roaring Blue creatures.

We start our ascent.

Flying past crystal clear water and rocky cliffs, the mountainside gets steeper and steeper. We fly further from the ground and my eyes are locked on the growing cloud of blue-tinted mana above the whole way up.

It seems to all be consolidating in a sphere at the monitions top.

Less than a minute later, I see with my own two eyes.

Over 30 more Ogres lose their lives while the trails of burning rocks and trees left behind from Ember's flames. Tell the full story of our joinery up the mountain. We finally make it to the peak.

It's a classic boss room style battlefield, with a 100-meter wide shallow bowl shape to the top of the mountain.

Possibly, the remnants of an old dormant volcano.

Near the far side, the massive glowing blue ball of mana can be seen. The orb is dark blue with lighter wisps of dust and pure white mana curling it. A loud ground-shaking buzz fills the air as hordes of Ogres run out from it.

My eyes open wide and I whisper under my breath.

"The King's Summoning Call."

This is one of the Boss' hidden abilities. Taking in the sight before me, it seems like it's able to summon endless waves of Ogres.

We fly forward, just over 20 meters above the battlefield. I stare deep into the glowing blue ball of mass, but can't see a thing. Just like before, the Boss Monster's status stats and level pop up, but I can't see its physical body.

I charge up a fairly high-powered strike and send it flying in the direction of the royal blue, slowly spinning, 10-meter-wide ball.

The moment my strike hits its outer wall, there's a light buzzing sound and a miniature white flash before the black blade of fire completely disappears into the spinning mass of energy.

Ember and I glide down, closer to the floor and begin taking out the mobs that are being spawned and sent our way.

Each and every one of them explodes into flames or gets decapitated on sight.

They fall to the arena floor behind us as we make our way toward the ominous orb that took one of my attacks without budging one bit.

Now that we're closer, I activate my All-Seeing Eye again and try to peer inside. It's still incredibly thick. Possibly almost 2 meters thick actually, made of pure swirling mana.

This time as I look deep into the barrier there's the faint outline of a monster sitting down with its legs crossed inside.

I almost do a double-take.

The ground beneath it has sunk in half a meter, and even while sitting it's much taller than the mutants that are continuously spawning out of its spinning dense mana.

It's at least 5 or 6 meters tall while sitting down, so whatever is inside there must be a 10-meter or taller monstrosity.

It's hard to make out exactly what it looks like, but the faint glimmer and mana output of its heavy metal armor can be sensed. Two massive silver axes lay on either side of it as well.

I grit my teeth, squint my eyes, and look closer.

I have to drink another MP potion just to burn through enough mana to see the creature in its entirety.

With eyes closed, legs crossed, a back straight, and the calm smile of a monk in meditation, the Mutant Blue Ogre King sits atop its mountain collecting mana and waiting for a worthy opponent to arrive.

My first attack was a complete failure so I'll have to try something different the second time around. To be honest, I'm not sure if the Boss even noticed.

Ember flies over the slowly spinning blue sphere and we begin circling it.

"Time to devise a plan."

Ember nods. We glide around in a circle 10 meters or so above the Dormant King of The Mountain.

More and more mutants attack as we circle the Boss. They're all dispatched in seconds by either dark red flames or a fiery black slash whenever they get too close.

The ball of energy doesn't move at all.

I'm almost at a loss for words. Usually, monsters are the first to make their move.

I open up my link with Ember.

"Is this Tier 2 mana control?"

"Yes."

There's a long pause as the wind passes by my face and long black wings flap on either side of me in a slow rhythmic fashion.

"...but that barrier may not be as impenetrable as it seems."

I squint at the loud buzzing sphere of mana below as Ember points his head toward the blue cylindrical cloud of mana that's still being sucked into the Boss' defenses.

"This ranked-up Ogre is definitely using Tier 2 mana control. It wouldn't be able to move mana around and use it for its own so freely without it."

I tighten the grip on my sword.

"So then where's its weakness? You must have found a break in its barrier, right?"

The black-scaled dragon lets out a thick dark crimson plume of flames down at the Boss in response without a second of doubt.

The eruption of flames engulfs the entire dome, creating the illusion of a 10-meter-wide fireball sitting on the mountain's peak as it flows off the sides onto the rocky floor.

We rise higher in the air to avoid the residue and debris.

Mutants are burned to ash in the process on all sides, but when the flames begin to clear the barrier is completely unharmed.

Well... almost...

The monster inside sits still. The outer layer of the blue sphere begins to melt away as the fire dissolves into it. The barrier itself is putting out the flames of Ember's advanced fire magic, but it's using its own mass to do so...

I let out a laugh, then begin to charge up my sword to its full power.

"You're right, the barrier has a weakness. It looks like we have an in."