SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

Chapter 166: Fighting the Magma Queen

Moon gripped his staff tightly, mana already channeling and building for his next devastating attack sequence.

“Selene! Yara! Gratis! Stay back at maximum safe distance and only attack any young magma spirits if more emerge from the Queen! Do not engage or strike the Magma Queen directly under any circumstances!” Moon commanded with absolute authority, his eyes never leaving the approaching elemental titan.

The Magma Queen’s massive body began advancing toward them with terrifying speed despite her enormous size, each thunderous step leaving a trail of molten destruction in her wake as the very ground beneath her liquefied.

It didn’t take long for the Magma Queen to initiate her terrible assault. Magma began forming and spreading from her body like blood from a wound, gathering into concentrated spheres of destruction.

A large molten core of compacted rock and flowing lava was hurled toward Yara and the others. The Queen clearly recognized them as part of the group that had slaughtered her offspring.

Moon’s eyes immediately hardened with focus. He formed a pressurized water lance that intercepted the attack mid-flight.

HISSSS!

Selene’s own water lance joined his defensive technique a fraction of a second later, the combined liquid attacks stopping the molten rock before it could reach their more vulnerable companions.

Both Yara and Gratis visibly gulped, swallowing large chunks of nervous saliva that had formed within moments of witnessing how close they’d come to being incinerated alive.

Moon didn’t allow the Magma Queen any opportunity to continue her aggressive assault unchallenged. Lightning began crackling intensely in his left hand while simultaneously water began forming and gathering above his staff in his right hand.

One of his strongest attacks—the strongest against the Magma Queen since Ignite wouldn’t deal much damage to a beast made of fire essentially.

He launched both spells simultaneously, immediately capturing the Queen’s undivided hostile attention as the attacks streaked towards her.

The Magma Queen, recognizing the same deadly combination that had injured her and killed dozens of her children moments earlier, immediately understood not to catch the attack head-on with her body.

She formed another massive magma rock defensively and launched it to intercept the incoming techniques mid-flight.

The water component was immediately vaporized upon contact with the Magma Queens attack, spreading thick steam clouds across the entire summit area.

Black fumes and white mist began to intertwine in the air. Amidst the chaos, the lightning spell it burst straight through the remaining molten mass and continued traveling toward the Magma Queen.

CRACKLE!

CRACK!

The electrical discharge struck the Queen’s body directly. A few inches away from the glowing core on her chest.

Her entire massive body shook violently for a quick second as the electrical current coursed through her body, causing pain despite her tremendous durability. An earth-shaking roar of pure rage escaped her mouth as she became even more furious, her complete attention now captured and fixated exclusively on Moon.

The ground beneath Moon shook for a brief moment, as if sharing the same anger as the Queen herself.

“Oh no… so ferocious, so formidable,” Moon said with obvious sarcasm, his grin widening a little. “But if you’re trying to intimidate me into surrender, you’ll need to put some more energy into that purring.”

More spells began forming in both of Moon’s hands as he prepared his next attack. But the Magma Queen had her own plans.

The volcanic rock beneath Moon’s feet began glowing ominous orange-red as magma began rising from deep within the mountain’s core. Suddenly, molten lava erupted violently from the ground directly beneath his standing position, attempting to incinerate him alive from below.

Moon’s eyes widened briefly as he felt the danger approaching from beneath him. The ground had gotten much hotter instantaneously.

Luckily, his high agility allowed him to leap desperately away just in time, his exceptional reflexes and fire resistance barely sufficient to avoid being completely consumed by the erupting magma that didn’t seem to cease pouring.

Although he avoided the main attack, Moon wasn’t fast enough to avoid all contact.

“Hiss!” Moon sucked in a sharp pained breath as glowing molten liquid splashed onto his exposed arms, instantly melting through his sleeve fabric and searing his skin.

His skin began to bubble upon contact. The pain was absolutely excruciating, far worse than any burn he’d experienced previously. Moon immediately used his water element and wind to get rid of the magma on his arms, relieving him of the immense pain, but still keeping a constant throbbing that didn’t seem to go easily.

Simultaneously, a notification flashed across his vision even through the agony.

[Elemental Body proficiency increased to 45%.]

’That shit really hurts…even with an element resistance.’ Moon thought through gritted teeth, his eyes landing on the terrible burn mark the lava splash had left across his forearm, the flesh was charred black with the wound still smoking and the edges glowing faintly orange from the residual heat left.

The injury was painful but not immediately debilitating. Moon’s high constitution attribute and his partial fire resistance had prevented the damage from being instantly fatal or crippling to his arm.

Moon had come to a crucial realization: the Magma Queen wasn’t merely powerful in direct frontal combat. Rather, she controlled the entire battlefield itself, able to weaponize seemingly mundane parts of the volcanic environment against any opponent brave or foolish enough to challenge her on her home territory.

He had intelligently expected her to possess direct control over visible magma and lava flows in the immediate vicinity, which was precisely why he’d deliberately avoided positioning himself near those obvious hazard zones. But he hadn’t anticipated her ability to manipulate even apparently normal, solid volcanic rock and cause fresh lava to erupt violently from beneath supposedly stable ground.

That environmental control dramatically expanded her effective attack range and made safe positioning nearly impossible.

The Queen roared again, already preparing her next devastating attack.

Moon forced himself to completely ignore the searing, excruciating pain radiating from his severely burned arm. His gaze. filled with hatred, remained locked on the Magma Queen with intensity despite the fact that additional small Magma Spirits had finally begun emerging from various points around the summit, leaping and bouncing like aggressive rabbits made of stone and fire.