The temperature rose as we got closer to the volcano, and the earth melted from the unnaturally high temperature. Ina, Hwaya, and I were fine as we had methods to deal with heat, but Ye-Eun seemed to be holding on barely with just her monstrous willpower, and Daisy didn’t seem to be doing any better.

Daisy panted, “Hot… Clothes off…”

I sputtered, “Don’t, Daisy. You’ll hurt my eyes.”

She glared at me. “Kang Shin, rude man. My body, pretty decent.”

No, I meant that Hwaya would poke my eyes… But Hwaya would really poke my eyes out if I said that, so I stayed silent. Hwaya said in my place, “Daisy, the reason I like you is that we don’t growl at each other about Shin. Don’t try to make an enemy out of me.”

Daisy gave her a confused look. “…? Not sure, what you mean.”

Hwaya humphed. “Good.”

Suddenly, the surrounding heat became even more intense, and an ominous smoke began to spew out of the volcano.

Lotte interjected, [Hero, it’s him. The king is inside the volcanic crater.]

I nodded. “Got it. Everyone, it’s time. It’s good that you’re all doing your best to relax a bit, but that’s enough joking around.”

Hwaya rolled her eyes. “Shin, I’m not joking. This is more important than this so-called Lava King.”

I rolled my eyes back at her. “Well I’m sorry, but us surviving is much more important to me.”

She bit her lip. “Y-Yeah… I got it.”

Hwaya’s face reddened and she turned away. I might have been a bit harsh, but I didn’t regret it.

We were getting closer to the crater. The atmospheric mana vibrated, the earth trembled, and an overwhelming pressure descended on us. I stuck out my tongue and licked my lips. Even though I knew my life was at risk, my heart shivered in excitement as it always did before fighting a powerful opponent. Exhilaration dominated over fear. Even I thought I was a bit perverted.

“Whew…”

I took a slow breath and calmed myself. Although I asked Ye-Eun to call Duca to fight, I planned on fighting the Lava King without the help of Peruta.

If I used Deific Manifestation and couldn’t defeat the Lava King, I would be leaving myself open to attack. More importantly, Peruta couldn’t use my class-specific skills and the skills I stored within the Collector’s Pocket Watch. Unless Peruta came in his real body, he was far weaker than me when I used Overlord. That was how much I’d grown.

Though, that also meant that I was much weaker without class-specific skills and the pocket watch’s skills.

“Daddy, I can’t use Deific Manifestation,” Ina piped up.

That was odd. “Hm? Did it fail?”

“Mhm. So I can’t use it.”

I gave a pat. “That’s okay, Ina’s strong even without it.”

“Mm!”

The others also took out their weapons and raised their spirits as they checked their health and mana. The moment we arrived at the mouth of the volcano, Lotte suddenly shouted, [It’s erupting!]

Lotte immediately turned and flew away. At the same time, a colossal heatwave swept over us. I inserted mana into my eyes to withstand the light and heat, and when I checked the surroundings, a giant tree of lava was sprouting up. Dear god…!

I shouted, “This isn’t ordinary lava. It’s an overwhelming lump of mana…!”

[Kuhahaha! Why have you come all this way? You have killed all of my subordinates. You are the first to have ever done so! Kuhahaha!]

The hearty laugh of a man rang out. None of the lava that had been spewed out fell. Instead it covered the sky before gathering in one point. Then, easily absorbing all of its mana, he appeared.

Elegant red scales covered his giant body, and two crooked horns rose above his head. He had yellow reptilian eyes, a long and thick tail, and a pair of bat-like wings that stretched out towards the sky.

Simply put, he was a dragon, a giant dragon that easily reached almost five hundred feet in length.

[The ‘Lava King’ Grand Raid has commenced! You have met one of the enemies aiming for the world’s power! The dungeon’s power is not fully effective against a world's enemy. The Grand Raid system exists to give what little support it can to explorers who are fighting against the world's enemies. The Lord’s blessing converges on your party. As a result, the enemy can only ignore up to 30% of your party members’ skills and levels!]

[Absolute Soul has nullified a part of the enemy’s power. Your skills and levels will be 90% effective against the enemy!]

[Remember that you will not be able to bring out your items’ and skills’ full power. We wish you luck! You will receive a huge reward if you defeat the Lava King!]

The boss droned, [Why have you come to disturb my sleep? Until ‘he’ arrives, I planned to simply sleep, but you all have ruined it. Now there are no more monsters to serve as materials for my army, so I’ll have to relocate too.]

Even as I felt his overwhelming presence, I smiled with effort and retorted, “Don’t worry, I’ll make it so that you don’t have to.”

Inside my head, I was busy flicking the abacus beads and calculating his league. He had to be level 90 at the very least, and he could even ignore everyone’s skills and levels. Wasn’t that too much!? I was thankful that I had learned Absolute Soul.

However, his scale armor and the endless pit of mana within him could only make me sigh. He must have reached the limit in both physical and magical defense. It was likely… that he possessed the so-called EX ranked power, or one that was only a step below it.

He observed me before saying, [Mm, as expected of a Hero. You can carry such a large amount of strength in that tiny human body. Tsk, really, killing you would be such a waste. If only you weren’t a Hero, I would have taken you in as my subordinate.]

I shrugged. “Sorry, but I have no plans to bathe in lava.”

[Kuhaha! I like your character too! Truly a waste!]

His giant eyes were solely focused on me as if the others weren’t worthy of even talking to him. At that moment…

“Kana, might melt… I’ll use Deific Manifestation.”

“Deific Manifestation!”

Daisy and Ye-Eun both used Deific Manifestation at the same time. Ye-Eun’s master, Duca, was the first to descend. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the giant dragon and screamed, “Whoa, what’s this!? It’s so strong! Is this the world’s enemy?”

I corrected her, “No, he’s the one right under him.”

Duca then looked at Hwaya. “Oh, Dear! We meet again. We must be fated!”

Hwaya silently ignited a fireball above her palm. Someone else then smacked Duca’s head. Surprisingly, it was Daisy!

“You! Duca! To think I’d have to see you even after death, I’m appalled.”

Duca grinned. “Oh, Hecate!? What are you doing here?”

“My disciple called me. Focus on that giant turd, would you!?” Hecate/Daisy snapped.

Daisy’s master and Duca knew each other!? I wasn’t the only one shocked. The Lava King also seemed surprised as he exclaimed, [You two are… gods! I can smell the stench of gods!]

“I’m surprised you noticed us,” Daisy’s master, Hecate, snorted as she talked back to the Lava King. Then, she approached me and whispered, “Child, you have Zeus’ power. Can you use it?”

I whispered back, stuttering slightly, “N-No, not yet… Do you know Zeus?”

Hecate pursed her lips. “Oh, how unfortunate. Also, how could I not know Zeus? I’m Hecate after all.”

I had no clue what she meant, so I told myself to look into it later.

“You must have heard from Daisy, but we have to defeat him! Please help us!” I pleaded.

Hecate nodded. “Of course. Duca, follow me.”

Duca whined, “I want to play with Dear a bit more…Chet.”

With Hecate’s power, undead monsters began to appear in the air. Although they were monsters Daisy normally controlled, they seemed to be blessed with a special power. Duca also seemed to have received Hecate’s power as she floated in the air while grumbling.

The Lava King guffawed. [Kuku, this is getting exciting! I didn’t think you’d be hiding this much power! Kuhaha! Kuhahha… Die!]

This sly bastard! The Lava King suddenly sent a fireball towards us while he was in the middle of laughing. Because of its incredible speed, I was about to use Divine Speed, but Lotte quickly turned around with a sneer and dodged it. Meanwhile, Hwaya and Ina both flew up into the air.

However, Hwaya’s attack surprised me as she flew up. The flames she shot out from her hands were gently enveloping the flames shot out by the Lava King. She could receive his flames head on! Hwaya murmured as she smiled provocatively, “Your flames sure are tasty.”

The Lava King’s eyes flashed. [Hm? A human? A human who can wield flames so freely… Who are you? Truly an interesting bunch! Kuhaha!]

He shot out more flames. This time, the flames didn’t just come from him. The volcano also erupted and spewed out a lava that was filled with mana. It then broke into dozens of blobs and rained down on us.

“Shin, I can’t block them all!” Hwaya yelled frantically.

I grinned. “Don’t worry about the ones coming my way!”

[Kuaaaaaaa!]

The moment the words left my mouth, Lotte breathed out golden flames. Her flames clashed with the eight streams of flames that were flying towards us before swallowing them and disappearing.

The others dealt with them in their own ways. Ina’s ice froze the lava, and Duca easily evaded the attacks coming her way. As for Hecate, she swung the whip in her hand, and a blue barrier appeared around her and the elite squadron of undead monsters to protect them.

[Good, good! It would be boring if it was so easy! Kuhaha!]

The Lava King only laughed even though his attacks were blocked. It could only mean that he hadn’t used his full strength. Immediately afterwards, the surrounding temperature shot up once more to the point that average ability users would be burned to death just by being in this space.

His eyes glinted. [But to pick a fight with me with just this much strength, truly foolish!]

Giant fireballs appeared in the air. The pure and oppressive essence of fire blazed as they danced. Ina frowned and held her arms out, creating numerous crystals of ice. However, even Ina couldn’t completely cancel out the fireballs.

She shook her head in disgust. “It’s too hot. I hate sweating.”

The Lava King laughed and laughed. [Kuhaha! A little kid with such an overwhelming magic power! It seems I might have come knocking on death’s door! Kuhahahaha, life should always be blazing! In front of this king, set your lives ablaze!]

[Foolish brute, you’re destined to burn yourself to death!]

The voice was undoubtedly Daisy’s, but Hecate’s tone gave it a mystical, silvery feeling. She swung her whip, and the undead monsters charged towards the flame dragon. They all dodged the oncoming fireballs as they each attacked the flame dragon.

[Kuhaha! Dead beings can actually injure me, the Lava King. Truly interesting!]

The Lava King exploded with an enormous amount of mana. Even with protective barriers surrounding them, half of the undead monsters were instantly annihilated. Hecate growled in annoyance and swung her whip, strengthening the undead monsters again. However, the Lava King had just got started. He flapped his wings once and the undead monsters were all pushed back. Then, he immediately charged towards us.

He yelled out, [I’ll annihilate everything! You will pay the price for looking down on me! Kuhaha!]

“As if!” Duca shouted and instantly disappeared from my sight. Immediately afterwards, the Lava King stopped charging. Shockingly, a streak of blood shot out from his neck. Duca had successfully injured him!

“Ugh, this guy is too big! It feels like I only poured a bucket of water on a sandy beach!” she shouted in dismay.

[Kuhuhu, it’s been awhile since I’ve felt pain!]

His howl shook the earth and raised the surrounding temperature once more. I was dumbfounded. He was trying to steam us to death with just his existence and his overwhelming mana!

He announced gleefully, [This is what is known as ‘absolute!’ Absolute Fire!]

The volcano erupted once again. To my utter surprise, he jumped into the lava, and when he reemerged, the wound on his neck was gone.

[Tiny human, how will you extinguish an inextinguishable flame? As long as fire exists in this world, I will never die! That is why I, Lava King, reign as a king!] he declared pompously.

“You’re too noisy, you damned lizard!” Hwaya shouted and reached out with her hands. A part of the lava being absorbed by the Lava King changed direction and flowed into her. She threw her Cyclops Lord’s Golden Eye into the air and exclaimed, “Hey, everyone get ready to attack! Golden Pupils, curse him!”

Eh? The Cyclops Lord’s Golden Eye had another effect? While I stood, stunned by all of this, the Golden Eye fiercely rotated, seemingly compressing its power. Then, in an instant, it shot out a beam of light toward the flame dragon. The result could only be described as astonishing. When the Lava King was hit by the golden laser, the Golden Eye shattered!

[Whoooaaaaa! That one hurt quite a lot! Impressive, impressive!]

Hwaya snapped, “I lost an Epic grade item, so it better have! What are you all doing!? Attack him!”

I didn’t know how big of an attack that was. However, it could deal a great deal of pain to the Lava King, who could ignore a portion of items’ effects, so it was understandable that the Golden Eye shattered. I looked away from Hwaya who looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears and tightened the grip on my spear.

I said regretfully, “Lotte, sorry, we’ll have to fight separately.”

[I can’t injure him alone. Hero, you should do what you need to do.]

Lotte’s fierce wingbeat smashed away the heatwave. I grinned at her and jumped off her back. The Lava King then shouted, [Oh? You’re fighting me yourself? Outstanding! Truly a blaze!]

“Sorry, but I’m no blaze!” I retorted.

[Then what are you!? Kuhaha!]

“I’m an Overlord!!!!” I screamed.

In that instant, I became a giant covered in black armor.

[You have used Overlord! While the skill is active, your HP and MP triples, and all stats double! When attacking the enemy, you have a 10% chance to afflict a random top rank status effect. When attacked by an enemy, you have a 20% chance to afflict a random top rank status effect.]

Through my body, the power of an absolute destroyer had descended on Earth!