Arthur resolved himself internally.
He had to see how far he had come!
He had to know whether he could clear an E-rank dungeon all by himself!
With that in mind he brandished the sword in his hand and took a fighting stance, waiting for the Fire Lizards to approach his location.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of the Fire Lizards landing on the ground with a loud thud after jumping from the volcano resounded, echoing into the dungeon walls.
Their dark eyes gleamed with ferocious light as they ran, their claws digging into the ground with full force.
Gravels erupted into the scorched earth as the Fire Lizards continued on their way.
Finally, they reached Arthur's location.
With a calm expression, Arthur swung his sword forward with precision, the sword slightly grazing the tough back of the Fire Lizard.
Noticing that the attack didn't do much damage to the Fire Lizard, Arthur frowned.
It seemed their back was far tougher than he anticipated.
Casually, he flipped backwards dodging the strikes of the two Fire Lizards that were attacking him from the sides.
Through the corner of his eyes Arthur noticed more Fire Lizards coming out from the volcano.
His expression changed subtly and he knew he couldn't delay any longer.
'Fireball!' Arthur muttered in his heart and stretched his left hand towards an approaching Fire Lizard.
Bang!
A resounding explosion occurred from the collision of both as the Lizard was sent stumbling backwards.
Taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him Arthur, using his increased Dexterity over the past few days, immediately leapt towards the Fire Lizard before the others could react.
Squelch!
His sword pierced through the air and plunged headfirst into the Lizard's neck where the scar from the fireball had formed.
Seeing the destruction caused, Arthur smiled faintly as the light in the eyes of the Fire Lizard faded.
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped.]
A brief flash of golden holographic light appeared in Arthur's line of sight but he quickly placed it at the back of his mind, more Fire Lizards were coming after all.
Arthur stretched his hand once more, repeating the same process to another Fire Lizard he had spotted at the corner of his line of sight.
The attack came unexpectedly towards the unsuspecting Lizard and before it could realise what was happening, Arthur had killed it.
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped.]
Thankfully, Arthur's Fire Element was vastly different from that of Mages.
Normally, Mages had to rely on a skill relating to their element in which they had mastered before being able to cast techniques like Arthur, but he was different.
Due to his affinity with Fire, he could shape it as much as he willed.
Of course, this was limited to a certain extent as Arthur's Fire Element was still of a low grade.
Still, he was certain that as his element grew in rank, the range at which he could control it would also increase as well.
The brutal fight between Arthur and the Fire Lizards continued and within a few minutes Arthur was already struggling to deal with the Fire Lizards.
More than ten Fire Lizards were ganging up on him and from afar he sensed that more were still coming, giving him a hard time.
Nevertheless, he decided not to summon Titan until the last moment.
A searing wave hit Arthur's right hand and he winced in pain before dodging the rapid succession of strikes from the Fire Lizards.
Brandishing his sword in the process he attacked the Fire Lizard in the location he had landed while dodging, successfully killing it.
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped.]
[Warning! Mana is running low.]
A red notification flashed instantly after the brief golden one causing Arthur to furrow his brows.
'Because of using Fire Element my mana is being drained at a far rapid pace than normal.'
Arthur analysed internally and retrieved the Mana Recovery Potion in his system space before gulping it and noticing that more than fifty percent of his mana had recovered, bringing it to roughly 80 Mana Points.
With his renewed mana, Arthur fought more cautiously, at times exchanging injuries with the Fire Lizards.
Arthur could also feel a slight trill enter into his body, after all this was the first time he was actually facing a life and death battle and was being tempered by it.
His attacks grew more precise, and a few wasted moves he made while battling the Fire Lizards at first were silently eliminated.
Arthur's movements became more fluent and soon, he could perfectly control his strength, handling two Fire Lizards at the same time, while using the lowest fireball he could muster to keep the others at bay.
Gradually, the Fire Lizards began dying off to his attacks.
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped!]
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped!]
[Killed Fire Lizard. Loot dropped!]
A series of glowing golden lights began appearing in Arthur's line of sight, and finally a smile appeared on his face upon noticing that the Fire Lizards were finally thinning in number.
He raised his eyes to stare at the top of the volcano the moment he finished dealing with the remaining Fire Lizards.
At some point in time, a massive Fire Lizard had appeared there, its size more than two times that of the others.
Even as it stood atop the volcano, the volcano seemed as though it might crumble at any time.
"The boss…" Arthur whispered in dread instinctively, clutching his sword tighter.
This was the moment that would decide if he would clear an E-rank dungeon all by himself, and he couldn't be careless about it!
His eyes scanned the surroundings briefly one last time.
Good. There were no ambushes around.
Then, his eyes remained fixed on the Fire Lizard.
Crash!
The Fire Lizard took a step forward and began approaching Arthur, its figure looming over him and radiating an oppressive might that caused Arthur to want to retreat.
However, he held his ground, his gaze meeting that of the Boss Fire Lizard as though he could kill it instantly.
Arthur looked like a peerless knight at this moment and finally the Fire Lizard came to stand in front of him.
As soon as the Boss Fire Lizard left the towering volcano, it let out a dull sound and crashed with a loud bang, exploding violently and spilling magma flying around the dungeon.
From the middle of the volcano, a river of magma began sweeping through the surroundings.
Arthur took this as a cue that the battle had begun.
The moment that would decide everything was finally upon him.
Clutching his sword with all his strength Arthur let out a fierce howl and lunged at the Fire Lizard!