The Divine Wolf... or?

Whilst Ark was sitting and pondering on his own, Ephine walked over and sat down next to him. As she leaned her head on his shoulder, Ark felt at peace. Eventually, the night grew closer and the sky darkened. Ark didn't feel particularly tired yet, so he headed into the dungeon once more, leaving Mado to protect everyone in his place.

The cute little cat had become quite popular with all the children, and he was excited at the prospect of being able to protect them. At the same time, Ark knew that it would take a lot for someone to break through the reinforced walls he had made, as well as the large defensive magic circles. Mado was more like a last line of defence to reassure Ark's mind a little.

Whilst everyone else was having a good time, Ark was off to fight once more. After entering the Inferno level once more, Ark was met by the same sea of fire as last time. But this time it was a little different. As soon as Ark entered, he could feel a very fierce heatwave hit him straight in his face. The heat singed him slightly, but it didn't damage him.

Feeling the scorching aura, Ark had a slight frown on his face. As he looked at the sea of fire in front of him, he noticed that it seemed a lot more fierce than the last time that he came.

If anything, it seemed... angry? It was a strange thought for sure, but Ark had a feeling that this fire had maybe awakened some sort of intelligence. The roaring waves of fire swept around the surroundings, and within them, Ark could see multiple creatures rushing about. As he realised the predicament he was in, Ark took half a step back and raised his spear into an offensive posture.

This seemed to provoke the fire even more, and as a strange sound entered Ark's ears, he could see the fire in front of him part slightly.

Out came four creatures clad in fiery armour. These beasts were similar to boars, but Ark could feel a slightly oppressive aura from them. If he wasn't a Sovereign, this might've been a hard fight for him. However, with all of his new affinities and skills, it would be hard to find an opponent that could match him.

Especially since he had partial immunity to attacks that came from opponents who were not sovereigns.

As the boars rushed towards him, the deafening sound of their hooves striking the ground was deafening. The fiery armour that covered their bodies surged and combined together into a small dome of fire that covered all four of them. As they came closer, this dome changed slightly into a more pointed shape that was aiming straight for Ark.

Ark was surprised by this sudden combination attack, as he hadn't really seen any monsters that did anything similar before. That being said, Ark didn't think much of it. The attack had great momentum, and a normal adventurer might be doomed after facing it, but not Ark.

Raising his spear above his head with one arm, Ark leaned back slightly and tensed his muscles to the limit. Taking a small step forward, he threw the spear with all his might. With the mana imbued in the spear, it tore straight through the air as if it didn't exist, creating a sonic boom.

The boars had no chance to dodge the spear that was enhanced by Ark's wind magic, and could only collide with it head-on. The sharp tip of the spear shone with an icy blue glint as it collided with the barrier of fire around the boars, and an earth-shaking explosion occurred at the point of impact.

Ark didn't give the boars any time to recover and simply rushed forward at a staggering speed. Whilst he was running, he resummoned his holy spear and held it in front of him. At the tip of the spear, the wind elements started surging and created a barrier of wind in front of Ark, recreating the scene of the fire boars from just now.

In this green wind barrier, glittering holy light suddenly started appearing, merging into the wind.

As Ark ran, the pressure grew stronger and stronger, and soon he arrived in front of the injured boars. In the earlier explosion, one of the boars had almost died, whilst the rest were injured to different degrees.

Because of their confusion, as well as Ark's immense speed, they had no chance to react to his attack, and they could only watch as the magic barrier of wind and light suddenly surged back into Ark's speartip, before exploding out into a glittering green beam with unstoppable momentum.

The beam of wind and light eviscerated the boars on the spot until there were practically no traces left of them at all.

Ark looked at the aftermath of his attack with some slight pride. Combining magic with physical strength was actually pretty effective, and he was more than satisfied with the effects of magic fusion. So far, all the elements he had tried combined together pretty well, making cost-effective attacks that were more than devastating enough.

Whilst Ark was admiring his own handiwork, and lamenting at the loss of meat from the boars, the sea of fire in front of him seemed to roar with rage at the loss of life.

As Ark was closer this time, the heatwave that hit him actually hurt him slightly, and he couldn't help but be surprised. This mysterious sea of fire was getting more and more interesting the more he saw it. It seemed like it was control of the life in the dungeon, sending out attackers after him. Would that make it the dungeon master? Like the dungeon boss or something?

Ark wasn't sure, since he felt like it was a pretty weird phenomenon. Normally, the dungeon boss wouldn't interfere with a dungeon, and would only wait for challengers.

He had never heard of a dungeon boss that would take up an entire floor of a dungeon, especially since some dungeons didn't even have bosses in the first place. As Ark was lost in thought, he could feel movement from the sea of fire in front of him. He decisively retreated back to where he had been when he had been attacked by the boars and raised his spear in defence.

Whether this sea of fire was the boss or not wasn't important right now. It could send as many opponents as it wanted!

However, unlike before, the fire didn't part this time. Instead, a large pillar of fire quickly appeared before Ark, bringing with it a strange pressure. As the pillar of fire started spinning quickly, Ark felt like he could see a large silhouette amidst the fire, and he was a little confused. The pillar of fire started spinning faster and faster, and the fire burned brighter and hotter.

Ark looked on with apprehension, and the pillar suddenly shook and exploded brilliantly. From the flames, Ark could see the same large silhouette again, and he watched on with great interest as an imposing presence showed itself to the world.