The crimson fire salamander raised its head from its slumber after it detected a familiar presence.
With a sword and a round gray shield in his hands, the young man stood several meters away from it.
The two stared at each other for nearly half a minute, but there was a hint of disdain in the monster’s gaze.
"I came here for a revenge match," Alex declared, pointing his sword at the monster that was eyeing him with contempt. "Do you dare to fight me one-on-one?"
The crimson fire salamander’s reply was none other than a barrage of Fire Bullets, each of which was the size of a volleyball.
Alex smirked as he evaded the attack, testing his speed and reaction time.
’Not bad,’ he thought as the Fire Bullets flew past him. ’I can do this.’
Gaining confidence from that exchange, the young man charged at the crimson fire salamander, dodging the attacks he could and tanking what he couldn’t.
The two fire salamanders that served as the Mini Boss’ bodyguards also attacked Alex.
But before they could unleash a barrage of flames at their target, two rocks the size of the crimson fire salamander’s fire bullets hit their bodies, sending them skidding off the ground.
This sudden turn of events surprised the larger fire salamander, forcing it to stop attacking Alex and look at his helper instead.
The Dim Sum God raised its little hand as if telling the two bodyguards to stop interfering with Alex’s revenge match.
Dim Dim was currently perched on the head of a guardian golem, whose role was to deal with the two normal fire salamanders so Alex could fight the Mini Boss without worries.
"What are you looking at?"
Alex’s voice snapped the Mini Boss from its daze, and it turned to look at him once more.
But what it saw wasn’t the young man but the surface of an old, cracked shield only a meter away from its face.
Alex slammed Everguard against the crimson fire salamander’s head, making it screech in pain.
The Stun effect of Shield Bash activated, rendering the monster unable to react for Alex’s follow-up attack.
Without any hesitation, he used the sword in his right hand to stab one of the monster’s eyes, drawing blood.
Another scream reverberated through the surroundings as the crimson fire salamander twisted its body to use its tail to attack Alex.
With his feet firmly planted on the ground, the young man simply raised his shield and blocked the attack.
Alex’s body shuddered from the impact. However, thanks to Everguard’s skill, Knockback Immunity, he wasn’t pushed back by the monster’s desperate attack.
Alex forced himself to charge forward and bashed the head of the monster with his shield once more. Unfortunately, Stun didn’t activate this time, and the monster retaliated with a swipe of its claws.
Although the crimson fire salamander was stronger than a normal salamander, its attack patterns were the same.
Alex deftly dodged the incoming strike before swinging his sword to attack the monster’s face.
The blade cut through its scales, and a streak of blood dripped down its cheeks like tears. Alex had destroyed one of its eyes and left a shallow wound on the Mini Boss’ right cheek, angering it.
Since he had successfully blinded the monster’s right eye, Alex focused his attacks on the monster’s right side, making full use of its blind spot.
The two other fire salamanders could no longer stand by and watch their leader suffer, so they didn’t hesitate to lunge in the young man’s direction.
However, two boulders smashed into their bodies, as if already expecting their move. They cried out in pain as they rolled several meters away from the force of the impact.
Alex gave the two bodyguards a sidelong glance before resuming his attacks on the Mini Boss, which was desperately using its claws, tails, and entire body to fight him.
The sound of dull clanging could be heard as Alex used Everguard to block the blows he couldn’t dodge.
Clearly, the Mini Boss and the young man were locked in a battle of attrition.
The first one to back down would be the loser of the fight, so both sides fought tooth and nail with each other.
"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim pointed at the two fire salamanders, which had regained their footing.
Immediately, the guardian golem no longer held back and unleashed its Rock Blasts at the two bodyguards to end their misery.
Since the both lizards were already seriously injured, the Rock Blasts were enough to annihilate them.
Now that the two fire salamanders had finally turned to particles of light, Alex no longer feared getting attacked from behind.
This made his movements faster and his attacks bolder and more precise.
Still, the Mini Boss wasn’t going down so easily, so the two clashed over and over again.
Alex used his magic skill, Shield, at point-blank range, using it to block the monster’s vision.
The crimson fire salamander bit the shield, shattering it completely.
But Alex’s gamble paid off.
With a sword thrust aimed at the monster’s remaining eye, the young man put the entire weight of his body in that single strike.
His timing was perfect, preventing the remaining fire salamander from reacting on time.
A hiss filled with anger and frustration reached Alex’s ears, but he paid it no heed.
His strike had landed exactly where he wanted, but instead of pulling his sword back, he thrust it deeper, roaring at the same time to empower his strike.
The crimson fire salamander evidently thought that enough was enough. It started to do a death roll, intending to drag its enemy to mutual destruction.
Alex’s sword was deeply embedded in the monster’s eye, but that didn’t mean he was spared the monster’s body slam. Upon impact, he could taste blood.
Although having the Knockback Immunity was a good thing, there were times when getting pushed back would allow someone to mitigate their attacker’s blows.
It was at this moment that Alex felt the frustration of not having enough strength to deliver a killing blow to his enemy.
The Mini Boss was already blind, but its death roll was still very dangerous to face head-on.
Because of this, Alex distanced himself a bit to avoid the monster’s rampage at close range.
Suddenly, a thought hit him.
If he couldn’t fight the Mini Boss up close because it was rolling like a madlad, then what was stopping him from attacking it from far away?
The monster was already suffering from Bleed Damage, which meant its health was slowly, but surely, decreasing from blood loss.
Alex deposited his sword and Everguard in his storage ring before taking out a bow and arrow. Hitting a target only ten meters away wasn’t a problem for him, so he fired one arrow after another, aiming at the monster’s head and body.
The way he fought filled the crimson fire salamander with helplessness, and it could no longer do anything but accept its fate.
After Alex fired over forty arrows, the lizard’s bloody body finally stopped moving.
The moment Alex heard the notification, he became certain that the monster was indeed dead.
As the Mini Boss turned into particles of light, a treasure chest appeared in its place.
Alex didn’t open it right away. He first exchanged a high five with Dim Dim, who had already closed the gap between them.
"Thank you, Dim Dim. I wouldn’t have done it without you and Sir Leo."
The guardian golem chuckled after hearing the young man’s words.
Leo’s will had decided to fight alongside Alex against the Mutant Boss Monster as his last service to the Clawford Tribe.
But since Alex asked him for help to deal with the crimson fire salamander, Leo agreed to deal with the two Rank 2 Monsters so Alex and the Mini Boss could fight a one-on-one battle.
"An Oathkeeper using a bow and arrow... Well, that’s something you don’t see every day," Leo remarked as he patted Alex’s back lightly. "But since you are already learning the ways of the sword, make sure to learn some powerful attacks aside from Slash, okay?"
Alex had used the Slash Skill against the crimson fire salamander.
But since his stamina was limited, he couldn’t use it many times and had to rely on Shield Bash to Stun the monster, giving himself some breathing time.
"Now then, open that chest, and we’ll be on our way to the second floor," Leo said. "The kids still need our help."
Alex nodded and placed his hand on the lid of the treasure chest.
While he didn’t show his excitement, he was actually looking forward to the items he would get from defeating the Mini Boss of the fourth floor of the Etherion Domain.