378. Magic Metal Heart

The silver puddle with a grayish core embedded inside moves itself over the cave floor and heads towards me.
I-It’s fast.

On our side, we have Alo (RankＢ＋), Treant (Ｃ＋), and Nightmare (Ｃ＋).
Their levels aren’t that high yet, but maybe they can fare well against the Ｂ- Magiatite Heart.
They should be able to at least fight on equal grounds, right?

Then, the Magiatite Heart turns and moves to the side.
…… Just when I thought it’s here to battle, it’s trying to run away?
Or, maybe it’s a trick.

The Magiatite Heart then fires its body at astonishing speed.
It took me a split-second just to react with my claw, but instead of repelling it, it stuck itself onto the surface of my scales.
An intense burning sensation overwhelms me. It’s melting hot.
I forgot that it uses the heat in its core to melt its body and control the melting point to enable movement.

Ow, ow…… I may have underestimated it a little.
Even just making contact inflicts severe damage.
I lean back, flap my wings and release a〖Wind Slash〗.
Magiaite Heart attempts to parry it with its body and it simply slides over its body surface, breaking the wall behind it.

I-Its body structure is slippery……
This’ll be hard to hit.
Then, the Magiatite Heart extends one part of its body and whips it at my foot.
Ouch! The high temperature makes the whip sting even more. It left a scorch mark on my scales.

Does Magiatite Heart have a high status or something?

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Magiatite Heart
Status: Normal
Lv: 52/70
HP: 96/112
MP: 373/410
Attack: 121
Defense: 456
Magic: 332
Speed: 390
Rank: Ｂ-

Characteristic Skills:
〖Magiatite: Lv—〗〖Poison Sash: Lv7〗
〖Automatic MP Recovery: Lv6〗〖Grisha Language: Lv2〗

Resistances:
〖Physical Resistance: LvMAX〗〖Magic Resistance: LvMAX〗
〖Unchangeable Status: Lv—〗

Normal Skills:
〖Magic Metal Generation: Lv7〗〖Liquid: Lv7〗〖Corona: Lv6〗
〖Transformation: Lv6〗〖Telepathy: Lv5〗〖Fireball: Lv8〗
〖Clay: Lv5〗〖Clay Gun: Lv5〗〖Self-Regeneration: Lv6〗
〖Metal Breath: Lv4〗〖Shock Killing: Lv5〗〖Parry: Lv4〗
〖Poison: Lv7〗〖Human Transformation: Lv1〗

Titles:
〖Final Evolutionist: Lv—〗〖Steel Sage: Lv—〗〖Coward: Lv—〗
〖Rare Monster: Lv—〗〖One With Ancient Knowledge: Lv—〗
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

W-What a not-so impressive status……!
Its attack stat isn’t even high enough to pierce through my defense.
Is causing slight burns on me the best that it can do?
Those〖Shock Killing〗and〖Parry〗skills must be the reason as to why it’s still standing after getting hit by my attacks.
If I want to deal big damage to it, I need to catch it and hit it at point-blank range.

…… Still though, this guy’s intelligence is quite high.
Not only does it have〖Telepathy〗, but it has〖Grisha Language〗too.

Its rank is also high, and if it really has intelligence, then I kinda wanna ask it about information regarding the other monsters in this mine.
It even has the〖Coward〗title.
I guess the reason it’s fighting me is because it wanted to escape outside the mine instead of heading deeper into the mine.

Alright, change of plans.
I shall have him be our guide.
Its rank alone should make it one of the strongest in this mine.
But…… since I don’t have〖Telepathy〗, I’ll need to end this fight by capturing the Magiatite Heart alive.

Partner, Alo, Nightmare, Treant, let’s catch us a guide.

Upon saying that, Treant takes a step forward.

【“What, ya want ta drink that?”】

I’m not gonna drink that, it’s molten iron.
Did you not hear anything I just said……?

Looking back at the Magiatite Heart, there was a small dent on its body surface facing my direction.
It’s trying to suck in air, causing its body to swell.
Then, it spews out silver ash.
Is this its〖Metal Breath〗skill?

I attempt to block the attack with my wings.
Upon contact, severe pain courses through my wings.
And the pain only starts to hurt more.
It’s getting hard to move my wings, like it’s stiffening or something.

Grah! It’s spitting its molten Magiatite body parts at me!
And after they're hurled at a certain distance in the air, it solidifies upon contact on my wings.
I didn’t expect this. For such a small monster, it’s got quite the potential for turning big creatures into Magiatite statues.

The Magiatite Heart makes use of the recoil of its〖Metal Breath〗and moves towards the exit.

“Gru~uoooooo!”

I let out a powerful〖Roar〗at the Magiatite Heart.
Combined with its title skill〖Coward〗, it was enough to force the Magiatite Heart to jump in fright.

“〖Clay〗!”

Alo extends her hand towards the Magiatite Heart.
With Alo’s speed, it’s almost impossible for her to hit the Magiatite Heart without stopping it first, but it’s a different story if she aims for the ground.
Bits of soil begin to shift and reshape into an irregular platform like a rat’s trap.

This is looking good.
Altering the ground will definitely work against the Magiatite Heart’s favor.

But then, the Magiatite Heart also reshapes its gooey body, extending one part of it forward and solidifying it like a spear.
The spear strikes Alo’s earth traps and destroys them.

When the Magiatite Heart was about to fire itself again, Treant takes this chance to stop its movement using〖Gravity〗.
A black circle of light envelops the battlefield.
Caught within the range of the black light are the Magiatite Heart, me, Alo, and Nightmare.
…… This skill needs improvement.
Thanks to my high stats, I’m able to move within Treant’s magical gravity field, so it still serves as a support for me, but I can’t say the same for Alo and Nightmare who are both struggling to stand, and even Nightmare is glaring at Treant, half-deciding to view him as an enemy or an ally.

I shake off the gravity’s effect and thrust my claws at Magiatite Heart.
The metallic blob responds by desperately trying to avoid my attack.
It also simultaneously extends a part of its body like a spear at my claw.
I couldn’t stop the force of my claw thrust in time and took the hit.
The spear pierces through my scales and burns through my flesh, but other than that, it didn’t really take away much of my HP.
I just held in the pain and continue thrusting my claw towards the Magiatite Heart.

The Magiatite Heart does its best to get out of reach from my claw.
With its molten liquid-like state, it penetrates through Alo’s earth walls.
Now’s my chance!
I swing my claw at the earth walls.
The earthen walls shatter from my claw swipe as the tip of my claw pierces through the Magiatite Heart’s smolting body, hitting its steel core.

The tip of my claw pushes its steel core out of its body, hurling it to the other side of the cave wall.
The battle is over.
When I saw the Magiatite Heart try to pass through Alo’s earth wall earlier by using its high-temperature body to melt it, I came to the assumption that maybe it would be unable to use its skills while it’s doing that.
And so, I aimed for that and pried out its armor.
Since its body was busy melting through the earth wall, it wouldn’t be able to use〖Parry〗and〖Shock Killer〗.
If I wanted to capture it without killing it, prying out its armor was the first thing I should do.

I put my face closer to the Magitite Heart’s core stuck on the wall.
Hey, I know you have〖Telepathy〗.
You’re going to tell me everything you know about this mine.

【“I didn’t expect a high-rank dragon to come here at this timing……”】

The Magiatite Heart’s core emits a red glow, as if blinking, when it’s using〖Telepathy〗.
O-Ohh…… it’s working, we’re communicating.

【“You’ve caught me. Stew me or cook me, I don’t care anymore”】

…… No, we won’t eat you.
Did you think you were delicious or something?