Paragon of Skills

"I don't want to spend too long waiting for them to make their way through The Tomb of Fate," Malrik says.

He's summoned the Regional Boss of the basin. There are many more Stone Wolves he could have summoned to pit them against the Champions, but he knows that the real Champions could have destroyed them easily. This, instead, is a real threat.

Regional Bosses are a common occurrence in Colossal Dungeons like the Tomb of Fate. Every major area develops one monster that rises to the top of the food chain and becomes a Regional Boss. Unlike the actual Boss of the Dungeon, it's not the strongest monster in absolute terms, but one can think of Regional Bosses as the lieutenants of the Boss.

Normally, an Alpha Stone Wolf would have been around Level 350, still in the Platinum Rank, which spans from Level 200 to Level 400. But with the interference of Malrik and the overcharging of Mana that was already developing naturally, the monster has been transformed and evolved into an Early Diamond Rank monster. Plus, this is not a common Early Diamond Rank threat. This is a Regional Boss, just one rung lower than a Boss.

"We'll see how strong these arrogant bastards are," Malrik smirks. "Without a proper Guide, they won't be able to actually bring out their real potential."

* * *

Zibrek adjusts her goggles and squints at the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf.

He has to tell Iskara to empower Asterion and have him solo the monster while Vyrrak runs interference. This is a Corrupted monster, therefore its defenses might be on par with a strong Intermediate Diamond Ranker.

"Fall back!" Jacob shouts. "Do not engage! Sabrina, step forward!"

The three at the front frown but start backpedalling.

"Cloud, are you sure?!" Vyrrak asks. "We can easily—"

"It's got a very strong poison on its skin, Vyrrak!" Jacob shouts. "It's invisible! It's also Cursed!"

As Vyrrak, Asterion, and Iskara step back toward the group, Sabrina Margrave advances with a sardonic smile on her lips.

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"Let a real Champion take care of this," she says.

"Contain the monster, Sabrina, do not attack directly!" Jacob shouts, moving behind the Margrave Princess. "It will otherwise trigger a curse upon contact! Instead, I want you to restrain it at the best of your abilities!"

Sabrina Margrave clenches her teeth, feeling like she just lost an occasion to showcase her power, but the precise instructions are enough to convince her that Jacob, despite being so weak, knows what he's saying.

"Well, you can still see half my power," Sabrina roars. "BLACKWATER!"

Suddenly, dimensional gates open all around the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf, who now pounces toward the woman.

But before the Regional Boss can reach her, the dimensional gates erupt with a terrifying amount of black waters that look like pitch black tar and immediately swarm the monster's legs and root it to the ground.

"COMPRESS!" Sabrina shouts, moving her hands forward to control her magic. The Water seems to become even denser and it stops the monster dead in its tracks, slowly reaching all over its body like black tentacles and restricting its movements. "This bastard is strong!" She shouts. "It's draining my Mana! It has some weird—"

"Orrivane, Boomgar, step forward! FULL POWER!.."

Orrivane, who usually looks dishevelled and slow on the uptake, slowly levitates in the air as his eyes turn full-black. A gigantic lance of Void Magic appears above him.

Boomgar, instead, summons a sphere barely larger than his hand. "Void Mage, put a hole in the bastard, will ya!"

The gigantic lance made of Void Magic shoots forward and the Regional Boss, who has started regaining some of its movements, manages to avoid a headshot. Still, Void Magic is the most destructive form of magic around. The lance puts a gigantic hole in its chest.

Everyone's impressed by the destructive power of the attack, but they're soon dismayed as they see the Regional Boss's flesh knitting back in real time.

"Iskara, on Boomgar!"

Iskara channels her Infernal magic and a reddish aura suddenly appears around Boomgar.

"Chug this, pup!" Boomgar laughs out loud. Then, his body glows red and he makes a throw that creates a crater below his feet as all his muscles swell in size. The sphere lodges itself in the healing wound, curving unnaturally when the Regional Boss tries to dodge it.

"SABRINA, DROP THE BOSS! BARRIERS!"

Sabrina Margrave clenches her teeth and releases the control on the Boss, using all her mana to create a massive barrier between them and the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf.

There's a small red flash and a hissing sound in the next two moments while the Regional Boss just looks at them confused.

Everyone turns toward Boomgar, who just raises a finger gun and says , "Boom."