novelraw Chapter 252: Time To Loot
Chapter 252: Time To Loot
Seraphyra tightened as hard as she could, locking its wings, its arms and its torso in place as it struggled violently.
"Now, Master!"
West vanished and reappeared right before the creature.
[ Cataclysm Burst Activated ]
The first strike hit with a low boom and the second came just right after.
West was swift with it, landing each blow faster than the last as his body moved in blinding succession.
He hammered the same cracked point on the creature’s chest over and over again. The sound of impact echoed like repeated explosions until the armor finally began to give under the relentless assault.
Boom!
Fifth blow...
Boom!
Sixth blow...
Boom!
Seventh blow...
Boom!
Eighth blow...
After the ninth blow, Seraphyra released it.
The creature was about to swipe its claws at West in rage when the tenth strike landed.
A massive burst of energy exploded outward, tearing through the creature’s chest armor completely and blasting it backward through the air.
For the first time, its real body under all the upperlayer was visible.
Intensely bleeding flesh became exposed.
It was quite surprising that it wasn’t dead due to the power of Cataclysmic Burst but that was proof of just how durable the boss was.
An icy katana shot forward, piercing straight into the exposed bleeding area.
Frost spread violently from the point of impact, clashing with the creature’s internal heat as the two forces collided.
The creature screamed before falling as its massive body crashed into the basin with lava splashing outward as it lay still.
Jax dropped to one knee, breathing hard. "That... sucked."
West exhaled slowly, lowering the Guardian Sword as the dark mist faded.
"It’s over."
Seraphyra shrank slightly, coiling beside him. "That one was annoying."
Gor’thala stood again with her injury partially healed, though she remained quiet.
West turned. "Time to loot."
The focal chamber of the ruin looked almost peaceful after the boss finally collapsed. The lava streams still flowed across the basin in slow glowing ribbons, but without the creature commanding them, they no longer lashed out with violent intent.
West walked toward the massive corpse of the four-winged lizard boss with the Guardian Sword resting against his shoulder while dark mist curled faintly from its edge.
Jax stood a few feet away, leaning on his ice katana as steam drifted from the blade.
"This thing better have something valuable inside it," Jax muttered. "Because I swear I lost at least three years of my life sweating in here."
West crouched beside the shattered opening in its chest armor. "You’ll live."
"That’s not the point. I suffered artistically."
Nina laughed weakly as she joined him. "You complain too much for someone who helped kill the boss."
"I’m not complaining. I’m giving an emotional testimony."
West ignored him and reached into the cavity where the boss’s core should have been. His fingers closed around something hot and smooth. When he pulled it free, a crystal the size of his fist emerged, glowing with swirling red and gold energy.
[ ITEM DETAIL ]
Name: Molten Monarch Core
Rarity: High
Type: Boss Core
Description: The condensed elemental heart of a fire-aspected ruin boss. Contains highly concentrated lava and flame authority.
Uses: Can be used to craft high-grade fire weapons, heat-resistant armor, elemental catalysts, or as a power source for flame-based artifact systems.
West smiled slightly and stored it in his inventory. "Good start."
That was only the beginning because the chamber was loaded.
Along the walls, clusters of fiery crystals grew from the black stone in elegant spiky formations. Some glowed deep orange, others crimson, and a few rare ones shone with a pale golden light that felt hotter than the rest even from a distance.
Gor’thala ripped several from the walls with brute force, while Nina used construct tools to pry out the more delicate ones without damaging them. Jax, despite his complaints, collected anything that looked expensive, muttering about how "fire money was still money."
Seraphyra found several strange oval stones embedded near the lava streams, covered in smooth black scales that seemed to move slightly when touched.
West inspected them and the system revealed they were called Infernal Scale Seeds, materials useful for crafting armor that could adapt to heat-based environments. Near the boss’s resting platform, they found several black metallic fragments half-buried in cooled lava. They were dense, heavy, and carried faint thermal resistance.
[ ITEM DETAIL ]
Name: Emberforged Blacksteel
Rarity: Medium-High
Type: Ruin Metal
Description: A black metallic material tempered naturally within flame-aspected ruin environments. Highly resistant to heat and pressure.
Uses: Crafting component for durable armor, reinforced weapons, heat-resistant structures, and fire-compatible battle equipment.
"Aria will like this," West said as he stored the fragments. "Base expansion material."
Jax looked offended. "We risked death and you’re thinking construction?"
"I’m thinking long term."
"You’re thinking like a landlord with superpowers."
"Successful landlord with superpowers."
They kept moving and beneath the boss’s throne-like stone rise, West found a peculiar shard that looked like glass but burned internally.
It wasn’t hot to touch, but the energy inside moved like trapped flame. The system identified it as a Lavaflow Memory Shard, something that could store fire-based attack patterns and possibly be integrated into a battle art simulation system. Nina claimed a few smaller crystals for experimentation with her constructs, while West kept the largest valuables in his inventory.
By the time they were done, the focal chamber had been stripped of everything useful. West even had Gor’thala break off parts of the boss’s armored chest plating, since its durability had been ridiculous enough that Orion Voss would probably drool over it at Divine Forge.
Finally, West walked toward the central anchor of the ruin which was a red ember-red stone suspended above a cracked pedestal. It rotated slowly, feeding faint energy through the chamber. Once it was destroyed or removed, the ruin would begin collapsing. West stared at it for a moment, then reached out and gripped it.
The energy resisted at first before shattering.
The entire ruin trembled, marking the start of a countdown.