Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

The [Overloding Fireball] was like a heart of heat and fire, drawing in mana with every pulse while both of Ethan's Lesser Arcanum and [Mana Heart] began to struggle as the needs of the fireball grew. At first it wasn't too difficult to reach the potency of the first spell he'd thrown, but the more the spell grew in power, the more the cost was accelerating. The fire was growing denser, and hot, scorching wind was buffeting away from the spell as it quickly reached the size of a beach-ball and began pushing past that, and barely a couple of seconds after, he had to let it go. He wasn't at his utmost limit, but he knew that if he let it grow further, he'd definitely put himself at risk of mana-exhaustion, while the fight had not even begun.

Gritting his teeth, Ethan mentally ordered the spell to fly and shoved, and it was like a cannon just went off.

Ethan stumbled backward as the fireball flew in an arc, like a roiling, incendiary projectile thrown out of a catapult. It was even slower than the first one, but while it lost quite a few grades when it came to speed, it gained plenty more in potency and weight, and like a setting miniature sun, the fireball illuminated the lagoon, giving the whole bay a reddish, orange glow for a few seconds before it touched the water.

Then all hell broke loose. In a fraction of a second, the fireball expanded until it was at least sixty feet in diameter. Ethan couldn't tell exactly how wide the resulting deflagration was because of how blindingly bright everything had become, and a second later, a deep, reverberating, wooshing boom passed over him, but by the time the sound reached, the fire was already extinguishing and rising in the air in a massive swirl of flames and vaporized water. A few seconds later, the droplets rained down on both of him and Ember who briskly got up and jogged away to cover.

Ethan looked back toward the lagoon and noticed the sizeable wave coming toward him. Not really a tsunami, but it would reach him in a short moment so he elected to hop in the air and wait for the boss to show up, and just as he did, a large, blue-scaled head slowly rose out of the water.

[Lord of the Lagoon (II) - Level 75]

First were the sharp ridge of the eyes and the long flow neck-spines, quickly followed by an open maw and sharp teeth as the pissed off lord came up to see who had dared challenging it. In response, Ethan pointed with his scaled palm and shot another fireball and this one, he kept it simple and small, so it was really fast. The fireball flew at the lord, a bright trail behind it, only for the monster to tilt its head for a second before it spat out a round blob of water and intercepted the fireball. Both projectiles met in the air in an explosion of fire and vapor, then the lord resumed the glaring contest.

"Come out, you stupid thing," Ethan called out as he hovered above the shore. The lord's eyes narrowed, and Ethan dropped to shore once more to emphasize his point. "Come here so I can kill you," he called out, then pointed at the crisped chunks of monitors still floating nearby. "Just like your kids, see?"

Ethan had no idea if the creature was understanding anything, but as long as he maintained its attention, there'd be a higher chance for it to come to him.

The creature glared from afar, and then it dipped underwater. Ethan cursed and readied himself to jump and pepper the surface with more fireballs, but then he noticed the large but still barely visible curved ripple coming toward him across the surface.

The lord was coming.

He flared his wings and crouched as he began urgently charging another [Overloading Fireball] between two palms and curiously, he could empower it faster. Ethan was ready to shoot then immediately leap away. Eyes still on the water, he noticed when the ripple faded, and he stopped breathing. There was a second of quiet, where Ethan didn't dare move, where only the haze of the growing fireball shone and danced on his red scales, and right as the world was its quietest, there was an explosion of water and surf as the bus-sized head of monitor flew out of the sea, jaw wide open as it fell down toward Ethan, fully intent on gobbling him one just one bite.

Instead of Ethan, it was fed a nice, well-charged fireball right in its gullet.

Ethan leaped in the air as the fireball detonated in the lord's mouth. The monster went skidding in a shower of upturned stones, boulders, and fire, and from up high, it almost looked like the creature was breathing flames for a moment. Ethan summoned the lance and began dropping down again. But while the flailing and screeches of pain made it clear that the lord was not a big fan of fire, it didn't take it too long to recover and by the time he was halfway to it, it was already looking up as he fell toward it, lance pointed down. Then it opened its mouth.

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Shit.

The jet of water took no time to materialize, and before Ethan could adjust his trajectory, his whole body was violently uppercutted back toward the clear blue sky as he was sent flying by the unrelenting pillar of pressurized water, and it only stopped when he was nearly a couple of hundred feet above the surface.

"Fucking ouch," he grumbled as he tried to stabilize himself. Not even his greatly increased weight had been enough, though the damage was minimal as he glanced downward. The lord was glaring at him from below, jaw still smoking while Ethan took stock of the damage. It wasn't too bad, everything hurt a bit, just like that one tail slap he'd gotten from the other lord though this time, he had not used the Zenith State to defend himself.

Not that it would have prevented the damage, just wouldn't have let me be shoved away.

Either way, he was saving that one ability for later. He had refrained from using it back in the swamp, fully intending on saving it up for this fight, but he knew this bout had just started and anything could happen, so he'd better play it a bit safe.

Well, safer than usual at least. I wouldn't call facing this thing alone safe.

A second set of glowing scales rippled into existence across the lord's body, and when they were fully materialized, three intense blue orbs began spinning above its head, almost like a crown. The orbs contracted, growing brighter, and Ethan had a bad feeling, all of a sudden.

Tucking his wings to his sides, he dropped out of the sky fast, and with a snap, he reopened them and flew in a circle, eyes on the lord and the three ever-shrinking balls of blue lights. Then one of them shot toward him.

It was as if someone had instantly drawn a line between the lord and where Ethan used to be only moments ago, and as the line of intense blue faded into non-existence, Ethan felt a soft spray of water reach his wings and he gulped.

It had barely missed him and to his estimations, that attack had a decent chance of punching right through his scales. He didn't even think the sapping effect could do much considering how fast it was. His incredibly high Toughness might prevent any serious damage, but he didn't feel too hot about testing that right this second.

Logically, he should aim to end the fight fast as the more times he gave it a chance to hit him, the more likely he'd get tagged. But the juggernaut part of him just wanted to challenge the attack. Go headfirst and see who'd come on top. His scales, or a water nozzle.

Oh what the hell. Why am I even stacking Toughness if I'm not willing to take some risks.

Ethan swerved as he began charging a fast fireball through the Prime wand and as he did, he activated the wand's special ability.

A trickle of essence flowed down into the wand, adding a soft, reddish hue to the ever growing fireball and once it was ready, Ethan veered lower and headed straight toward the monitor. One of the blue orbs shone and began to contract, and Ethan shot the fireball ahead of him and followed suit, flying in a straight line after his own projectile.

Please work.

He couldn't see the lord from beyond the fireball, but he hoped he'd notice if the two projectiles impacted each other and as for what'd happen then, he would be happy either way. Whether the fireball went off prematurely or whether it managed to punch through, he'd be in business as long as it cleared the way for him.

As he flew in a straight line behind the bowling-ball-sized orb of red fire, he saw the moment the water impacted his spell and just like himself when under the effect of the Zenith state, the fireball didn't even stutter when it was hit, though it certainly lost some of its luster. Still, it allowed him to approach much more easily, especially considering the screen of vapor that resulted from the fire meeting the intense flames of the fireball.

Spells get pushed aside, just like the description had said, he thought as he summoned his lance and primed it.

The fireball reached its target and exploded in a swirl of fire, but unlike the earlier one, this one had been weakened severely and it only annoyed the lord. But it bought him enough time.

With his whole massive weight behind him, Ethan roared as he stabbed down with the lance pointed down between both hands. The tip pierced through the lord's neck, sinking nearly all the way through the tough scales, and the charge detonated.