Author Artemis
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Chapter 097 - Lava Serpents
🕑 Added 2025-07-28 18:00:05 +0000 UTCHow long had that treasure chest been there?
James’ heart was still pounding so he made no move to suddenly investigate the windfall. It was possible that the Dungeon had made the treasure chest appear suddenly, and it hadn’t been there before; but that was only in the sense that a Dungeon could do basically anything for whatever reason.
The other explanation was that James, upon seeing the spider monsters, had lost track of his surroundings and simply didn’t notice the treasure chest while distracted.
Gradually James’ breathing slowed, he stopped trembling, the adrenaline filtered out of his blood, and he stood back up. Hurriedly he put his Earth War Hammer back in the magic bag. A split-second [Appraisal] indicated it hadn’t taken any heat damage yet.
As always, James did his best to check the treasure chest for traps, looking all around it and poking it with a shovel from a distance, but it seemed fine. He knelt down and opened it, revealing…
Emptiness.
James made a point to leave the chest open, in case he got lost and stumbled back here, maybe it would help him reorient himself. He took another few minutes to scratch his discoveries into map, and then headed home.
Fighting two spider monsters at once was more than enough for one day.
And so the days continued. The Smith would awaken, eat a light breakfast, explore the labyrinth, fight monsters, add to his map, return to basecamp, eat supper, and then sleep. Almost all the monsters on this floor so far dropped Red Magic Stones, for Fire Enchantments, save the spider monsters which always dropped Black Magic Stones. Thankfully, they weren’t common within the labyrinth, and he didn’t encounter any other pairs. Just lone spider monsters lurking on the ceilings.
James simply turned around and avoided those passages whenever possible.
He estimated that he had explored some three-quarters of the labyrinth when he found the exit, during which time he had fought several more spider monsters and collected six more Black Magic Stones. First right, third left, first left, second right, first right, third right, first left, third right, first left, second right and then a long passage led to another open cavern.
Where the first cavern of the floor had been mostly ground with a smattering of lava streams and pools, this cavern was mostly lava with a smattering of islands and narrow paths of stone and dirt, barely two yards wide in some places. The cavern walls were rich in Red Iron and brimming with salamander essence, but most of the ore was blocked by lava.
James had plenty of Red Iron by this point. In fact, he had plenty of most kinds of iron he had encountered so far, and the associated essence, save Earth. He had managed to collect some Fire Lizard Blood with Earth Essence in it, but it wasn’t nearly as much as the mole monsters had had on the first floor.
The cavern was some thirty yards wide and perhaps eighty yards long. As far as James could see in the dim light, there did seem to be a path that meandered through the lava all the way to the far end. On this end, there was a largish semi-circle of hard packed dirt and stone before the path started. James hefted his shield, checked to ensure he had his mana warmed up and ready to go, gripped his Terra Rosa Hammer in hand, and stepped fully into the new cavern. He kept his guard up, scanning for monsters, and was fortunate that he was looking in the right direction when, with barely a small glooping sound, a serpent’s head rose from the lava nearby, its matte scales nearly the exact same shade as the glowing dark red lava.
They gazed at each other for the span of a breath, then the lava serpent opened its mouth and a fireball formed with a small fwooshing sound. James had only enough time to raise his shield and actively push mana into the [Reflect] enchantment before the fireball was hurled at him, slower than an arrow but somewhat faster than a person can throw a stone.
Ping!
With a characteristic sound, his shield reflected the fireball back at the serpent. James felt only a slight drain on his mana, roughly on the same order as what he was using on his cooling strips, which was a nice surprise, but the real surprise was what happened to the fireball. Unlike the water spears from the lake on the second floor, which were simply reflected back as they were, the fireball swelled and accelerated, striking back with almost twice the force it had been launched.
Hisssss!
The serpent recoiled in pain, startled to be on the receiving end of its own attack, although as far as James could tell no actual damage had been done.
The thing lived inside the lava after all.
After hissing at James for his counter-attack, the serpent descended back into the lava, maintaining eye contact all the while.
James was sure it hadn’t given up.
He gulped, and retreated back into the labyrinth tunnel.
[Appraisal]: Red Iron Round Shield, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 16/16, Enchantment: Reflect (40)
Just to be sure, he checked over his shield, but it was perfectly fine. It didn’t even feel any warmer than the rest of his armor, even after reflecting the fireball.
Once again he stepped into the cavern, his head on a swivel looking for lava serpents. His shield was up, and each step was taken carefully, ensuring he had good footing in case of sudden attacks. A serpent arose from the lava almost silently and once again fired a fireball at him, which he reflected right back. With a hiss, it retreated, and another fire serpent arose on the other side of the path, but James saw it and reflected its attack as well.
He continued on, some twenty yards along the path. By now he could see that the far end of the cavern also had a semicircle of open ground before a carved tunnel leading out of the cavern.
Probably the exit to the boss room.
Glorp
James turned and raised his shield in the direction of the rising lava serpent, and was caught off guard by a sound from behind.
Fwoosh
