Frostfire Legacy

With Aster's words as the signal, the three of them started walking forward, heading closer to the large portal ahead of them. Its size was disorienting their sense of distance, but they should be around 200 meters away from it.

After shortening the distance by half and reaching 100 meters away from the portal, something finally happened. A large orb of light appeared ahead of them, slowly turning into a monstrous figure.

"It's coming! Be careful, you two!"

As soon as the orb of light appeared, Aster quickly lowered his stance and aimed his gun forward, ready to fire at any given moment.

Cassy and Kali moved forward, distancing themselves from Aster, and were warily watching over the big orb of light. Soon enough, a gigantic figure, about two meters tall, stepped out of it and raised a powerful roar.

*GRAAAAAAGH!*

The monster had a large, muscular build, and its entire body was covered with green skin. It had a foot-long horn on the middle of its forehead and was holding a large club in its right hand.

Kali let out a soft sigh, announcing the identity of the enemy.

"It's a Hobgoblin! We're in luck!"

Although a hobgoblin wasn't as powerful as a Dire Wolf, it was still a boss-class monster. They wouldn't be able to damage it with half-assed attacks!

"Good! Then, let me go first as a greeting!"

Aster raised his pistol, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A short explosion echoed, followed by a bullet cutting through the air, heading right toward the Hobgoblin's chest. At the last instant, it was able to move a bit, causing the fired bullet to miss the monster's heart... but it still started to show its effect right after.

*AAAAARRRRGH!*

A scream of pain echoed from the hobgoblin as the wound on its right chest started to spout flames. The bullet was loaded with a special combination of thermite and white phosphorus (WP), which gave it the "stickiness" of WP along with the high burning temperature of thermite.

Normally, it should burn through any living thing, but as expected of a monster, it could still stay standing despite receiving the TWP bullet head-on.

"HAAAP!"

But the attack didn't end there. Cassy, as quick as lightning, arrived on the right side of the hobgoblin and let out a powerful kick. Even from afar, Aster could hear the sound of bones breaking, telling him how powerful the attack was!

"It's softer than the Dire Wolf...!" She commented in surprise. "We can do this!"

Just as she was about to let out another kick, a figure suddenly appeared behind the hobgoblin, standing on top of its shoulders as if to exert dominance.

Of course, it was none other than Kali!

"Assassinate!"

With a casual comment, her twin daggers danced, piercing the boss monster's neck from either side. With a crisp sound, the spine broke into three sections, turning the monster into a vegetable. It was no longer able to move, even if it wanted to!

As soon as it fell, Kali and Cassy rained down attacks on its vitals, making doubly sure that it was dead. Then, they jumped away and watched it for a few moments, seeing its convulsions quickly come to an abrupt stop.

"... It's over?" Cassy whispered, a little underwhelmed. "That was easier than I thought."

"Heh, if you think it was easy, thanks to that weakling over there." Kali sneered. "He just fired a 50,000 Tels bullet at the boss, robbing it of rational thoughts right at the start."

"F-Fifty?! That's too much! Star, why did you use that?!"

A preemptive strike, followed by two quick finishers. It was simple for them, but usually, when the Hobgoblin reached critical health, it would raise a powerful cry that would call all goblins within the nearby forests, causing a stampede.

Without realizing it, Aster got lucky when he decided to use a TWP bullet, robbing the monster of its ability to call for backup!

"Anyway, go and collect our packs; we'll be entering the second floor now."

"Alright, alright. I'm the pack mule, anyway..." He sighed as he holstered his gun, turning around and walking back to where they left their bags.

While he went away, Kali and Cassy were standing in place, waiting for his arrival. They got complacent after finishing off the floor boss and forgot to be vigilant of their surroundings.

"Huh?"

Aster saw a shadow moving toward them from a short distance away, hidden among the tall grass, and lurking like a predator. It was big and shaped like a dog, making him have goosebumps at the sight of it.

"The Dire Wolf...!" He gasped.

His short shout alerted the other two, but since they were a hundred meters away, at least they couldn't reach Aster's side in time, even if they rushed. The Dire Wolf would arrive first!

He has no other option but to fight it!

Aster pulled the gun and aimed forward, pulling the trigger three times in one burst. Three bullets, costing a hundred and fifty thousand Tels, flew across the air and ricocheted off the wolf's thick fur.

Aster cursed, seeing that his bullet wasn't even able to pierce its hide. Now that his Trump card was useless, he was left with only one option. And no, it's not his sword, as his strength didn't even reach the minimum requirement to inflict a scratch on it.

'Time to show the fruit of my practice!'

He had two hours to fully practice his control of his Legacy Level Magic Carved Seal against monsters, after all. During that time, he managed to grasp a new detail that he hadn't noticed before, thus increasing his control of it.

And now was the perfect time to use it against a powerful opponent!

"Phew...!"

He took a deep breath, lowering his stance, with his right hand moving like a claw. Blue and red lights danced around his palm as if a weird flame were raging on it. Then, a second later, he created the image of the phenomenon he wanted to achieve in his head.

Freezing wave, rising from the ground, and catching the pouncing Dire Wolf mid-air!

"GOO!"

He waved his right hand as if clawing something diagonally upward. At the same time, ice grew from the ground like a surging wave, and just as he imagined, it caught the wolf within its frozen grasp.

"...!"

*GROOOOWWWWL!*

But the wolf was still alive, despite only being able to move its mouth!

"DROP DEAD!"

One last time, Aster aimed his gun, pulling the trigger. The TWP bullet flew and landed right in the monster's eyeball, the softest part of its body, and pierced right through. Powerful flames soon raged out of the bullet wound, its nose, mouth, and even its ears. Without a doubt, the Dire Wolf's brain was cooked!

At the same time, Aster's body got covered in bright light. He was slightly shocked, as it was the first time he gained experience after killing the field boss.

"... A level up?!"