Under its orders, the other manticores threw their prey aside and followed the smell of the humans into the tunnel, flying as fast as they could. The further they went, the more concerned they became. The tracks of the humans seemed to be heading towards their hidden den!
The manticores were extremely worried and concerned now!
Finally, they picked up the scent of the young manticores at a major junction that led to their den.
And mixed with the smell of the manticore cubs was the burning odor of fire elementium and a faint trace of blood!
The former meant that human adepts were involved in this raid, and the latter caused the manticore to go into a furious rage.
In less than five minutes they had scoured every corner of their den, Yet they had not found a single trace of the enemy. However, their sharp sense of smell told them that the enemy had not left the cave. Instead, they had taken the manticore cubs along with them and headed even deeper into the earth.
The manticores were driven mad by anger. Under the leadership of the male and female elite manticores, they chased straight after the scent in the air. Eventually, they found the two manticore cubs in a dead end cave, where there was only one way in or out. The manticore cubs were bound tightly, and to their side was a large pile of clothes left behind by human adventurers.
As the manticores furiously tore away the ropes on the young manticores, Greem and the rest of the party positioned themselves right behind the monsters. The humans firmly held the most critical area of this place– the only entrance and exit of this dead end.
This cave was a real dead end. One exit, with no other paths leading to other areas. Such caves and dead ends existed everywhere underground. They were a type of geographical feature that was both loved and hated by all adventurers.
If you were an exploring adventurer that found such a spot when the party needed rest, this would be the perfect spot to set up camp. All you needed to do was seal the only entrance and set people on the lookout a little ahead, and you could rest without worry. There was no possibility of being ambushed by an enemy.
However, if a horde of underground creatures were pursuing you, such dead ends spelled the doom of you and your teammates. It was why their existence was both a blessing and a curse for all adventurers!
The cave that Greem had picked for the final battle had a funnel-like shape. They had investigated this place countless times and were certain that there was only one entrance. The only opening in and out of the cave was four meters wide and three meters tall. It was barely enough for an adolescent manticore to fly through with its wings unfurled, or two manticores to walk through, shoulder to shoulder.
When Greem saw that the manticores had entered his trap, he immediately blocked their only exit path. Greem summoned the Roaring Monster and the Decayer once he reached the entrance. The rocky Roaring Monster was responsible for sealing the opening, while he and the Decayer would attack the manticores from the side.
The other members of the party were spread around the area to secure the perimeter and prevent any other underground creature from interfering in their plan.
Gargamel was in charge of setting off the various traps that they had hidden in the cave.
They set large amounts of wormwood, and some ghost shrooms, on fire. The burning caused thick, stinging, and pungent smoke to spread throughout the entire cave. Plenty of ghost shroom spores also wafted into the air.
The burning of the grass and the smoke emitting from it rapidly exhausted the oxygen in the cave.
Greem and Gargamel had sealed all cracks and holes in the cave. The smoke and the poison gas had nowhere to go, and quickly engulfed the manticores in a cloud of black smoke.
Rumbling coughs and the sound of beating wings came out from within the thick smoke. The manticore leader even let out a thunderous roar.
The Roaring Monster was a massive stone humanoid four meters in height and thirty-five tons in weight. A thick stone armor covered its body. As the only tank in the party right now, it forfeited all means of attack. Instead, it gathered stone elementium together to form a massive rock that it held up as a shield; defense was its highest priority.
The Monster had barely moved into position when the smoke parted. A ferocious manticore slammed into the Monster's shield, sending violent gales blasting towards the adventurers as it did so.
Crack.
The one-meter-thick rock shattered!
The impact knocked the Roaring Monster's massive body backward. Sparks were sent flying into the air as its stone feet ground against the hardened cave floor. The adolescent manticore had injured its head as well. It stumbled near the entrance in a dazed state.
Greem immediately threw a magma fireball at the feet of the wounded manticore before either side managed to react. At the same time, the Decayer's acid ball landed on the manticore.
It was almost as if a large bowl of sulfuric acid had been poured right onto the manticore. It cried out in agony, even as it was still stunned from the previous impact. Its magnificent mane vanished in an instant, and the sizzling sounds of corrosion came from its leathery brown skin.
The next moment, the magma fireball exploded. The powerful shockwave sent the manticore flying into the air. The fire spell had severely bloodied its chest and abdomen. The ensuing magma splash and lava turned the ground into a sea of flame.
The wounded manticore had just been blown away, and already another manticore took its place. It lunged at the humans with all the fury it could muster.
This time, the Roaring Monster had no shield to guard itself with. It could only use its massive stone hands to block the manticore's assault.
Dong.
Another thunderous rumble.
The Roaring Monster's hands smashed to pieces in the collision. If it weren't for the Monster planting its legs deep into the stone ground, it would have been sent flying from the force of that clash.
What terrifying strength!
The chip's scans indicated that the manticore's strikes had reached a shocking one hundred and thirty-five points. This was already far above any damage that an ordinary adept could aspire to deal out!
This manticore possessed far superior Physique and Strength compared to the first manticore. Apart from a couple of teeth falling out, and a bloodied head, it seemed utterly unfazed by the impact. That wasn't all. It took advantage of the Roaring Monster's imbalance from the blow and lack of hands to strike again. Without anything to defend against the manticore, its scorpion stinger stabbed at the golem's stone armor, as fast as a flash of lightning.
The thick stone armor was pierced right through like it was made of butter. The sharp stinger quickly injected its paralyzing venom into the body of the Roaring Monster. At the same time, the Monster lifted its right leg and slammed it into the ground.
A tremendous shockwave rippled across the ground with the Roaring Monster at its center!
Every entity that struck by the shockwave was thrown into the air. Their bones and flesh rattled and trembled from the shockwave. The spell had caused them to lose their ability to react flexibly to any other situation that might arise.
This particular manticore was an elite-level creature. Both its Physique and Strength were equal to the Roaring Monster. Sadly, it had no choice but to take the Monster's Trembling Earth head-on. The manticore had never expected its paralyzing venom to be completely ineffective!
Any other manticore would have needed three to five seconds to break free of this detrimental effect. However, an elite-level manticore only required a single second.
Unfortunately for the beast, one second was enough for Greem to cast his spell!
Greem didn't intend to hold anything back. Without hesitation, he used the strongest single-target fire spell stored in the Scroll of Voodoo– Fire Core Explosion!
Under the effects of the Blaze of Destruction, Greem's Fire Core Explosion had been further enhanced. It now dealt a monstrous one hundred and twenty-five points of damag
e; a whole ten points more than before.
One shouldn't underestimate this difference of ten points. It was ten points of damage on a spell that already had powerful defense-penetration properties!
Most people tried to apply as many elementium and magical defenses as they could on themselves in a duel between adepts. Ordinary magical spells were not capable of penetrating these multiple layers of defense. They had no choice but to wear away at the durability of the spells slowly.
The higher the strength of a single instance of a spell, the less it was affected and neutralized by layers of defense, and the more likely it would simply shatter the protective spells. The opponent would have to take on every single point of what remained of the elementium damage!
An elite-level manticore like this one could only endure and ignore a maximum of ninety points of spell damage.
Anything below ninety points might be able to damage part of its body, but it would never be able to break through the forcefield formed by its powerful life energies. Consequently, weak spells weren't able to damage any of the manticore's vital organs.
And this was the foundation of its ability to continuously battle!
However, it was different when it came to Greem's Fire Core Explosion. Even with the damage reduced, there was still thirty-five points of fire damage that directly affected the manticore's flesh.
Chapter 401 Battle Against the Manticores
The elite-level manticore howled out in pain.
Violent elementium flames ravaged its body, burning and roasting its flesh. All the hair on its skin vanished in an instant. Boils of all sizes rose on the exposed areas, exploding and sending blood splashing all over the place.
The elite manticore frantically retreated into the cave and deep into the smoke. No one could see the creature, but they still heard its pained cries and howls.
It had been severely injured!
Truly, severely injured!
That blow might not have been lethal, but it had been excruciating. That elite manticore was not going to rejoin the battle any time soon.
The Roaring Monster took this small window of opportunity to absorb as much earth elementium from the ground as possible. It then compressed the elementium and formed it into tough rocks to repair the damage done to its body. Meanwhile, Greem launched a few more magma fireballs at the ground. He set the entire entry on fire and bought a little more time for the Roaring Monster to recover.
However, the next wave of attacks from the enemy quickly descended upon them.
The manticores no longer attempted a self-harming charge with their bodies. Instead, two adolescent manticores flapped their wings, blew away the fires on the ground, and approached the Roaring Monster by climbing across the stone wall.
The limited space in the tunnel made it impossible for them to use their large movements and attacks. Still, their sharp claws and piercing fangs remained a threat to the Monster.
On the other hand, the manticores had no space to dodge the attacks coming from Greem and the Decayer. They endured all the blows with their defensive forcefields and tenacious Physique.
Every time the Roaring Monster managed to repair its stone armor, it would instantly be shredded and torn apart by the vicious attacks of the manticores. The Monster's stone body had been severely damaged. There were wide cracks and piercing claw marks all over the front of its body.
The elementium core used to create the Roaring Monster was still of slightly inferior quality. It was at an absolute disadvantage against these manticores that were just as strong and resilient as it was.
The Roaring Monster still endured thanks to its powerful crowd control ability. Every so often, it was able to launch its Trembling Earth and disrupt the rhythm of the manticores. This bought it some time during the fight to regenerate. Its stone armor also increased the golem's defense tremendously. Without these abilities, it would not have lasted this long against the manticores.
If it had been the Decayer in its position instead, the fight would have ended in a matter of a few minutes!
Despite all its abilities, the Roaring Monster was at its limits. The two manticores retreated from the battle, having sustained wounds all over their bodies. Two fresh manticores promptly took their place and started attacking the Monster.
The rocks it had gathered around its body shattered, while its stone armor and body were shredded and in tatters. Soon its core would be exposed.
It would be difficult to keep the enemy contained within the cave once they destroyed the Monster!
Greem had no choice but to have the Roaring Monster retreat and regenerate its body. The fire adept strode forward to stop the manticores, his body swelling in size with every step.
Greem had activated his Flame Fiend Transformation without hesitation. However, he had yet to unseal the Flame Fiend's Heart.
The appearance of the powerful Flame Fiend was torturous to the two manticores crowding the chokepoint. Greem might not have the same Strength and Physique of the Roaring Monster, even after his transformation, but he did possess plenty of defensive magic to spare.
The flames from his own body were a protection of sorts. Anyone that sought to attack him took fire damage when they came into contact with his body. Apart from that, there was also the Magma Shields, the energy shields from the Ioun Stones, and the burning Ring of Fire. Even a man made of stone would be baked into clay if he stood before Greem. What were manticores of flesh and blood before such overwhelming might?
The two manticores recklessly struck at the Magma Shields, gritting their teeth and enduring the barrage of Magma Fireballs as they did so. Their flesh had been scalded and burned. The flames, lava, and streams of fire all came together like a giant oven, roasting and cooking them inside and out.
The two manticores fled the battlefield as fast as they could once they had broken through Greem's Magma Shields and scratched his massive body a couple of times. The one to replace them was an intimidating manticore far larger than any one of them.
An overbearing killing intent pressed against Greem's face. Even with all the might of his Transformation, he felt a chill in his heart. Greem's burning passion for fighting extinguished quickly.
The manticore leader!
An elite male manticore!
Greem didn't dare hold anything back when dealing with such a strong being!
The fires on the outside of his body started to roil and surge around chaotically. The Flame Fiend's Heart began to beat at a wild rhythm as wave after wave of pure fire energy coursed through his veins to every part of his body. The flames on Greem's body turned from crimson red to dark purple. Evil and twisted power of the utmost purity surged forth alongside the abyssal fires.
This fire could destroy the soul even as it burned the flesh away. It was a wicked and sinister strength!
The manticore leader stood proudly in the sea of flames. Its powerful life forcefield distorted the space around its body, preventing it from being harmed by the fire. Its magnificent and regal eyes trained on Greem. There was deep hatred in them, but there was also something more. Confusion and incomprehension, and even more than that, the light of wisdom unique to intelligent life.
"Human, why do you invade our home? We have never hunted or killed any adepts!"
"Your land!" Greem did not put on an adept's air of arrogance when faced with an enemy of equal power. He gave the answer the manticore sought, "I need this land! I need the volcanic energies in the depths of this underground cavern!"
The light in the manticore's eyes flickered. He immediately knew that today's matter was not going to end well!
As underground creatures, manticores couldn't divorce themselves from the unique environment here.
Further down in the underground abyss they would only find more dangerous magical creatures to contest them. Many were creatures they didn't even dare to cross.
If they went to the surface, they would lose to the magical creatures there. They had neither the power nor
the rate of reproduction to contest with those monsters.
In the end, only the uppermost levels of the underground world suited the manticores!
If they left this familiar land behind, they would fall from the middle ranks to the lower levels of the Black Forest's food chain. It wouldn't be them going out to hunt others. Instead, it would be their turn to run and hide from the pursuit of their predators.
The significance of this den to the manticore pack was clear and distinct!
The only way to have them surrender the land would be to step over their cold corpses.
The manticore leader no longer entertained any thoughts of negotiation once he understood their position. With a furious roar, he leaped at the massive Flame Fiend.
Greem lunged at the manticore with equal vigor and energy.
However, he had already swallowed a potion before he stepped forward. It was the antidote that Gargamel had specially concocted to deal with the manticore's paralyzing venom.
Greem pushed forward with both of his hands before he clashed with the manticore leader. A massive torrent of fire blasted towards the beast. The manticore took the flames head-on with its powerful forcefield, parting the flames and charged at Greem.
Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.
Frightening claws left deep marks on the Magma Shields floating in front of Greem. The fire singed the magnificent hair on the manticore leader's chest and instantly burned away.
His long scorpion tail abruptly struck at the Flame Fiend as the two held each other at bay. The hook-shaped stinger had some kind of armor penetrating effect. It immediately broke through the Magma Shield and embedded itself in the body of the Flame Fiend.
Aaaaaah!
Aooooo!
The two opponents let out screams of agony at the same time.
Greem felt his shoulder hurt and slowly become numb. By the end of it, he couldn't feel anything from his shoulder. The manticore leader's potent paralyzing venom also possessed the ability to cripple the soul. Greem felt himself losing control over parts of his body.
It was a slight and insignificant loss of control, but it did indeed exist!
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