Sheila's appearance served as a reminder to Allen that this world was far more complex than depicted in the anime. Whether it was the defunct Phantom Troupe or the Mafia syndicates, an unseen hand, or hands, operated them from behind the scenes. Now, these forces had set their sights on him and were urgently trying to make contact, or even bring him into their own camp.
But for Allen, this wasn't entirely a bad thing. At least after the Chimera Ant subjugation campaign ended, even if the V5 didn't seek him out, he would proactively approach them, using the rare resources he possessed to trade for navigation permits and detailed records from several Dark Continent explorations.
Of course, considering that now was premature. The most important task at hand was clearing the Molten Core!
His demands were not high; he just needed to defeat Bosses one through eight. As for Bosses nine and ten, he first needed to confirm whether the Runes of the Firelord could be destroyed without the Essence of Water. If it could, he would naturally attempt it. If not, he would have to stop there for the time being.
…
After a full night of preparation, the trio, fully armed, were transported into the dungeon early the next morning. Feeling the heat waves washing over them and the sight of the fiery red, hellish landscape, Baise subconsciously swallowed and asked hesitantly, "This... this is the Molten Core?"
"Yeah. That's right. Isn't it magnificent? Get ready. What we're about to face is not the small skirmish from the day before yesterday." Bodoro said this while pulling a metal ring to quickly put on his full set of heavy armor. He held two sturdy Skullflame Shields and stared eagerly at the two Molten Giants standing guard at the entrance.
Similarly, Allen made his normally concealed gear visible and smiled at his long-trained MT (Main Tank): "Let's begin!"
As soon as the words fell, he directly summoned Blinky and ordered it to extract all negative status effects. Soon, this strangely shaped vacuum cleaner immediately entered automatic mode, constantly circling the three of them. As soon as it detected someone was hit with a Debuff, it would instantly approach and suck it out of their body.
In addition, the Red Dragon Vaelstrasz also activated her ability, linking Bodoro and Allen. If the former suffered severe damage, she would draw vitality from the latter to replenish him. Simply put, this was equivalent to tying a lifeline to the Martial Artist MT, ensuring he wouldn't suddenly drop dead.
Since Allen had the protection of his Hunter class panel, the infinite regeneration ability of the Ghoul, plus a large stockpile of special healing potions, he didn't need to worry about his own life for the time being. Thus, the trio and the wolf began their first coordinated team raid into the dungeon.
"Shield Bash!"
Bang!
Bodoro leaped high, and using the acceleration of gravity from his descent, slammed the shield in his hand heavily onto the head of a Molten Giant, immediately splattering large fragments of rock and magma. Because his timing and angle were excellent, he instantly knocked one of them to the ground.
"Nice work!" Seeing this, Baise immediately raised her oversized, oddly shaped Grenade Launcher, pulled the trigger, and launched a metal canister filled with two liters of liquid air. The next second...
Boom! Crash!
The moment the canister hit the Molten Giant's body, it instantly burst open. Countless ultra-low temperature liquid air began to absorb the surrounding heat and rapidly vaporize. In less than a few seconds, the Molten Giant's magma-spewing body rapidly cooled, dropping down as lifeless black stones.
It went without saying that this Grenade Launcher was made by Allen. Using the Engineering knowledge in his mind, along with the optimization and modification of several large-caliber firearm designs, he had successfully created this steampunk-style ranged weapon.
The ultra-low temperature liquid air ammunition was based on the same principle. The only difference was that it required Transmutation Nen ability to liquefy the air, inject it into the canister, and seal it for preservation. Once one was created, the rest was simple: just use Gallery Fake to mindlessly duplicate it.
The most important thing was that this item was sturdy, abundant, effective, and didn't require advanced technique; as long as you could aim and pull the trigger, you could immediately enter combat, making it very suitable for a novice like Baise, who wasn't very familiar with firearms. After all, her Manipulation ability had little room for use in the Molten Core; rather than idling, it was better to provide some ranged firepower support.
"Watch out for that Core Hound behind you!" Allen shouted a warning after firing a "Big Bang Arrow" that pulverized a Lava Annihilator.
"Awooooo!!!!!"
Seeing the two-headed hellhound approach, Lupos let out an ear-splitting howl, instantly creating a dozen Shadow Clones, then controlled them to rush up and self-destruct.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the blink of an eye, a full-health Core Hound was heavily wounded, its body covered in decaying marks corroded by Shadow energy. Before it could even unleash its fiery breath, Bodoro slammed a shield down on it, forcing it to swallow the fire back.
Finally, under the attack of a whistling "Big Bang Arrow," its entire body instantly exploded, splattering large amounts of scalding, magma-like blood.
In this way, the team advanced at great speed. After successfully passing through the area swarming with Imps, they finally saw the first Boss, Lucifron. As the Boss with the lowest health in the entire dungeon, Lucifron only had 350,000 HP, and his primary damage relied on casting Impending Doom on everyone around him. With the assistance of Blinky the vacuum cleaner, eliminating him presented absolutely no difficulty.
After clearing two waves of Core Hounds, Bodoro decisively charged up to initiate the pull. Simultaneously, Allen decisively activated the Rapid Fire ability, aiming a charged Aimed Shot combined with a Big Bang Arrow at one of the Boss's followers.
The result was as expected. The follower collapsed dead on the way to the charge before he could even cast Mind Control. As for the other follower, he was pulled far away by Lupos's Shadow Pack to be dealt with last. Otherwise, if Allen was hit by Mind Control, the result would undoubtedly be catastrophic; Bodoro and Baise would likely be instantly killed.
Fortunately, he had anticipated this, standing far back in the furthest corner to ensure he remained outside the range of the ability.
After firing about ten to twenty Thorium Arrows imbued with Nen ability, the huge Fire Elemental Boss finally collapsed with a crash. After working together to eliminate the remaining low-health follower, Bodoro, who had endured the most attacks, finally slumped onto the ground, gasping for breath: "It's finally over! That was exhausting! This big guy was indeed much stronger than all the previous enemies! In just about a minute, he drained most of the Nen I'd infused into my shield."
"How are you holding up?" Allen glanced at the Martial Artist's face, which was almost entirely blackened and constantly sweating, and asked with concern.
"No problem! I can handle it! But I might need to rest for a while to recover some stamina." Bodoro grinned, quickly pulled out a large bottle of drinking water, unscrewed the cap, and drank deeply.
He wasn't the only one; Baise was also quickly replenishing her hydration. It must be noted that the terrifying aspect of the Molten Core was not just the various powerful monsters and Bosses, but also the harsh environmental temperature. If they weren't Nen users, ordinary people would show symptoms of dehydration and heatstroke after an hour at most, let alone engaging in high-intensity, fierce combat.