Emily’s POV
Emily could feel the tension in the air as the group moved deeper through the marshes.
The deeper they went, the quieter the surroundings became.
Even the constant croaking of swamp creatures had faded away. Only the sound of muddy water shifting beneath their feet remained.
The poisonous waters lingering over the marsh had already moved away because of Avery’s purification.
Pale streams of clean water spread outward wherever she passed, weakening the corruption in the area. Without that support, moving through this place would have been exhausting even before fighting the monsters hidden inside it.
Emily stayed near the middle of the formation while her summons moved around the group.
The Crimson Sky Wyrm flew above them in wide circles while the Blazing Pterodactyls occasionally descended to tear apart wandering undead creatures hiding inside the fog.
Then they saw it.
The Bone Hydra rested in the center of a giant pool of black water.
Its enormous decaying body looked like a mountain of rotten flesh and exposed bone stitched together.
Nine long necks extended from its body, each ending in a skull-like head with burning green flames inside empty eye sockets.
Pieces of flesh hung from its ribs while necrotic liquid dripped continuously into the swamp beneath it.
The moment the monster noticed them, all nine heads slowly rose.
"We will need to destroy all nine heads together to bring it down. Averon, use your skill to connect us. Alice, use your skills with holy fire attribute. They won’t be enough to kill this Mini Boss, but they will weaken and injure it greatly," Eleanor said immediately. Her voice remained calm despite the pressure coming from the Mini Boss.
Emily glanced at Eleanor briefly. She had recovered enough to move and fight again, but Emily could tell she still was not fully healed. Whether she could still unleash attacks powerful enough to injure a Boss Monster was uncertain.
The Bone Hydra suddenly roared.
The battle started instantly.
Necrotic breath exploded from multiple heads at once, covering the battlefield with black-green streams of death energy. At the same time, the swamp around them erupted as skeletons and undead lizards crawled out from beneath the water.
Averon immediately activated his skill.
Emily felt a strange connection spread through the entire group. Their senses synchronized together. She could suddenly feel the timing of Alice’s movements, the direction Eleanor intended to attack from, and even the positioning of Sera behind her.
The skill looked simple at first glance, but its effect was terrifying. No one needed to speak. Everyone already knew the timing of the others’ attacks instinctively.
Alice moved first.
Golden flames exploded outward from her body as she activated Solar Dominion.
A giant wave of holy fire spread across the marshlands. The undead creatures screamed the moment the flames touched them. The weaker skeletons collapsed instantly into piles of ash while the stronger undead lizards began crumbling apart piece by piece.
Even the swamp water hissed violently under the burning purification effects.
The Bone Hydra roared furiously and all nine heads turned toward Alice at once.
Emily reacted immediately.
"Go."
Her summons surged forward.
The Crimson Sky Wyrm descended from above while the Blazing Pterodactyls intercepted several necrotic breaths before they could reach Alice. At the same time, the Thorn Tyrant slammed its roots deep underground.
Normally, this poisonous marsh should have been the worst possible environment for a plant-type summon like the Thorn Tyrant. But Avery’s purification had already changed the battlefield enough that the summon could still function properly.
Massive roots burst through the swamp and wrapped around several undead creatures, crushing them apart.
Meanwhile, Averon moved through the battlefield like a streak of light.
He moved directly around the Bone Hydra itself, narrowly avoiding snapping jaws and necrotic breaths while placing glowing markers on each of the nine heads. Every marker pulsed faintly with silver light.
Those markers could massively amplify the damage of the next attack that landed.
Going that close to the Bone Hydra should have been suicidal for someone like Averon, but he looked completely exhilarated instead.
Avery stayed near the rear while continuously launching attacks to intercept stray necrotic blasts. Whenever one of the Bone Hydra’s attacks slipped past the frontline, her barriers and purification spells immediately blocked them.
Eleanor and Sera meanwhile focused on cleaning up the remaining undead monsters that had survived Solar Dominion.
Then Alice activated another skill.
Daybreak Incarnate.
Since she was already partially transformed, her appearance barely changed. Her black horns remained visible while dragon wings extended behind her. A tail of draconic scales swept through the swamp water as overwhelming mana erupted around her body.
Emily could feel the difference instantly.
Alice’s physical and magical strength surged dramatically.
Alice dashed forward.
Every step she took caused explosions of solar fire beneath her feet. Golden shockwaves spread outward across the marshlands while nearby undead monsters burned apart under the purifying flames.
Then she raised one hand.
[Flame of Judgment.]
Golden fire condensed into a massive spear floating above her palm.
Alice hurled it.
The spear crossed the battlefield instantly and slammed directly into one of the Bone Hydra’s central heads.
At that exact moment, Averon’s markers activated.
The explosion that followed shook the entire marsh.
Three heads were blown apart instantly.
Emily reacted together with the summons without needing any commands.
The Crimson Sky Wyrm released a massive crimson breath attack while the Blazing Pterodactyls fired concentrated streams of blazing wind. The Thorn Tyrant also unleashed a storm of corrosive spores and roots.
The combined attacks destroyed three more heads.
The Bone Hydra screeched violently from its remaining three heads. Rotting flesh immediately began writhing as regeneration activated.
But Alice activated yet another skill.
[Voice of Seraphim.]
A strange pressure descended over the battlefield.
The Bone Hydra froze completely.
Every undead creature nearby stopped moving. Even the regeneration on the destroyed heads halted instantly.
Then the Colossus Grazer finally moved.
The massive summon lowered its body slightly before launching three giant cyclones horizontally across the battlefield like enormous spears.
Each cyclone pierced through one remaining head.
The heads exploded apart simultaneously.
The Bone Hydra’s enormous body finally collapsed lifelessly into the swamp.
For a few moments, the battlefield remained silent.
Then the remaining undead creatures—no longer boosted by the Mini Boss—rapidly disintegrated under the lingering effects of Solar Dominion.
Eleanor exhaled slowly before speaking.
"Okay, everyone, rest. We will only move when we have recovered. Emily, go and feed your summons. Averon, go and collect the rewards."
Emily nodded immediately.
She carefully collected part of the Bone Hydra’s blood separately. Afterward, she asked the Colossus Grazer to split the corpse into three large sections.
One portion would later be used for weapon crafting.
The other two were fed directly to her slime and the N’theris Serpent.
Both summons reacted immediately the moment they started consuming the flesh. The amount of death energy inside the Mini Boss corpse was massive.
Meanwhile, Averon practically looked happier than he had during the fight itself while collecting the rewards.
"Jackpot," he muttered under his breath.
The loot pile was honestly absurd for a Mini Boss.
Because of Isaac’s Lord Talent, the rewards were nearly two and a half times better than normal.
They obtained a Bone Scepter capable of amplifying necrotic spells by 240%, a Gravekeeper Armor Set with extremely high resistance against curse attacks, nine Necrotic Core Crystals, several advanced-grade evolution materials, and a Death Marsh Rune that could temporarily corrupt terrain during battle.
There was also a massive pile of mana crystals and Silver Coins.
Averon continued collecting everything with a huge grin on his face before suddenly stopping.
He looked toward Alice.
"Can I ask something?"
"Ask," Alice replied calmly.
"I’ve heard dragons are greedy for treasure. Why are you so uncaring about these rewards? Even if you already have good weapons, I thought someone like you would still want more."
"You said it yourself. Dragons care about treasure. I already have a treasure that is much better than these things. They might as well be stones in comparison to my treasure," Alice replied.
Averon’s lips twitched immediately.
Avery smiled seeing his expression.
Inwardly, Averon clearly wanted to ask whether she really had to phrase it like that.
If these rewards were merely stones, then what did that make him while happily collecting them?
Still looking slightly defeated, Averon continued organizing the loot before eventually bringing another item toward Eleanor.
"I also found this."
He held up two slips of paper.
Eleanor checked their information immediately.
[Special Monster — Chaldea — Summoning Ticket]
[Works on Area 4 only.]
[2/4 tickets collected.]
Eleanor raised a brow slightly.
"Special Monsters."
Even Emily knew about them.
Special Monsters inside the Great Dungeon gave rewards even better than Boss Monsters, but their summoning conditions were notoriously strange and difficult.
This one, Chaldea, likely had all four tickets scattered randomly across the dungeon. One ticket could appear inside a treasure chest while another might be hidden inside a corpse, obtained from a Boss Monster, or hidden somewhere inside a maze.
Collecting all four should have been incredibly difficult.
Thankfully, Isaac’s Lord Talent had already proven terrifyingly effective here.
They already possessed two tickets.
"Let’s keep this stored away for now. The competition only goes up to the Third Area, and this ticket can only be used in the Fourth Area," Eleanor said.
Everyone agreed immediately.
After resting long enough to recover, the group finally started moving again.
Nobody lowered their guard.
They all knew the other teams could ambush them at any moment. Most likely, enemies would wait until immediately after Emily’s group finished fighting a Mini Boss or while they were already fighting a Boss Monster.
Because of that, Eleanor ordered them to preserve strength carefully and only advance once everyone had recovered properly.
The group continued moving through the marsh while killing wandering monsters along the way.
Eventually, they reached the next Mini Boss area.
Emily narrowed her eyes slightly the moment she saw it.
The Swamp Oracle stood on top of a giant stone ruin half-submerged beneath the marsh water. Its body was tall and unnaturally thin, covered in dark green scales mixed with decayed flesh. Long bone ornaments hung from its neck while six pale eyes glowed faintly across its face.
Its arms were far too long for its body, almost dragging across the swamp water beneath it.
The creature suddenly tilted its head toward them.
Then it vanished.
Emily’s eyes widened slightly.
The Mini Boss reappeared dozens of meters above them instantly. It swung down its large arm.
Sera blocked the attack with her weapon, her knees bending slightly under the pressure.
"It’s fast," she muttered.
Eleanor’s expression became serious.
"Be careful. This thing can divine five seconds into the future."
Emily immediately understood how dangerous that was.
The divination was not all-powerful. It could only predict enemy attacks and movements for a short time.
But even five seconds was overwhelming during battle.
Especially against an enemy fast enough to fully capitalize on it.
The Swamp Oracle slowly smiled. Its pale eyes moved across the group as if it had already seen every attack they intended to use.
Then the battle truly began.
The swamp water exploded upward as Avery moved first. Multiple chains made of compressed water shot toward the Mini Boss from different directions. The Swamp Oracle instantly tried to evade, but the chains kept following it as it attacked and dodged and finally wrapped around its limbs.
For a brief moment, its movement stopped.
That moment was enough for Alice.
She raised her hand and activated Divine Retribution.
The skill was unlike normal attacks. It required permission from the god connected to it.
Alice received the response almost instantly.
[Calm down, my mad princess. You will tire yourself out again if you fight like this.]
A small smile appeared on her face for only a split second.
What she received was not truly words. It was more like a feeling transferred alongside the permission itself. A familiar sense of helpless amusement mixed with concern.
The next second, the sky split apart.
A massive golden beam descended from above and slammed directly into the Swamp Oracle.
Divine Retribution was a terrifying skill whose power increased depending on how many enemies the target had already killed. Since their party was the first to reach the Boss areas, the Mini Boss had not accumulated much kills except the stray monsters.
Still, it remained a giant beam of holy fire.
And holy fire was the natural enemy of undead creatures like the Swamp Oracle.
The Mini Boss screamed as nearly half of its body burned away under the attack.
Before it could recover, the Crimson Sky Wyrm opened its jaws and summoned a massive lightning bolt from the dark clouds above. The strike crashed directly into the injured Mini Boss and blew apart the stone ruin beneath it.
Then the Colossus Grazer finally attacked.
The giant summon raised its head slightly.
A moment later, the air above the battlefield compressed downward with overwhelming force. It felt as if the weight of the atmosphere itself had increased several times over.
The Swamp Oracle had already lost its mobility from the previous attacks.
Now it could not even stand.
Its remaining body was crushed flat into the swamp before it could escape.
Then it stopped moving completely.
The group didn’t waste time after defeating the Boss Monster. They rested and collected the loot.
Averon was happily checking the loot when he noticed somethings strange within it.