168 Chapter 114: Dungeon on the Prairie Final

The gate before them was larger than the one for the entrance to the sub-boss room so Joshua had a feeling that whatever they were about to face was probably far larger and more problematic than the sub-boss. Of course he expected the boss class monster to be more powerful, but he had already come across a situation where the sub-boss was more unique than the boss was, like in the town dungeon of his territory.

Joshua put those thoughts aside as he made his way over to the gate. This time around there wasn't any sort of key or puzzle pieces necessary to open the massive gates. All it took was force and he had to push as hard as possible for them to start moving. At first it was difficult but after he had moved them far enough they started to open up on their own as if it was some sort of check to see if the members of the group were strong enough to enter. Even if Joshua wasn't strong enough on his own he could have just as easily had Tank and Cinder help him if it came down to it.

When the gates had fully opened and Joshua was able to get a good look on the inside of the room he was surprised at how enormous the place was. Unlike any other room in the dungeon this place didn't have any structure to it or design that showed that it was a massive dungeon that had existed for a long time. Instead of that it was like a large crater had impacted the inside of the dungeon in some way and the area was nothing but the blast zone of the impact. Of course there was still dirt and stone that covered the ceiling above, but the space inside was a good twenty or so stories tall which made it clear to Joshua that the room would be more than big enough for just about any enemy at this level to be able to fight around in without any problems.

The place was clearly a dream for these prairie dogs since it was nothing, but dirt and stone which made it incredibly easy for those abominations to move around in. In the center of the enormous room was their target. The moment Joshua had taken notice of the creature he wasn't all that surprised by how it looked. It was clearly a prairie dog like anything else they had come across in the dungeon, but it was even bigger than the sub- boss. It was as if the sub- boss was a teenage version of the boss. The main difference Joshua noticed between the two was the fact the boss seemed to be a bit smarter than its counter parts. It didn't roar the second it took notice of them or try to attack them right away, instead it seemed like it was sizing them up to a degree. Half its body was still in the ground, but the half that was out of it was already bigger than Tank which meant they would have a hard time taking on the massive creature head on.

Joshua also noticed several other smaller holes around the room which meant the boss probably had some minions inside the room as well. He didn't want to use his aura pulse to check that fact since it would probably get the boss to start attacking him right away and that wasn't what he was after. So Joshua decided to observe the big guy instead. He wasn't too surprised to see that its level was fifty and it had five stars by its name. It was the strongest thing in the dungeon so it probably had a few tricks up its sleeve. At the same time they were going to have to deal with any subordinates it had that tried to help it out during the fight. Since it looked so similar to the other prairie dogs that they had come across outside of the one that Lilly had tamed Joshua was expecting the creature to have a similar move set along with something a bit different that made it stand out from the rest of the creatures in the dungeon.

Before Joshua could finish going through all of the ideas that were currently flying around in his head he noticed that the boss started to move as if it was preparing to fight. Instead of just glaring at them it opened its mouth wide before letting out a loud challenging roar towards them. In the next moment all of the rocks and dirt nearby the creature started to surround it and form an armor around it like with the sub-boss. Joshua knew they wouldn't have too much trouble getting through the rock armor since he already knew that all of them had the capability of breaking through it, but it would still be a hindrance that would get in the way at times.

After the roar about a dozen other smaller prairie dogs started to appear from holes around the room and they shrieked as well trying to make their presence known. That's when Joshua knew that the large prairie dog was probably commanding them because with another short roar all of its little followers dove back underground and started rushing towards Tank since he was out front. Joshua knew they were going to have to take out the little guys first and do it fast before the boss itself got involved. He didn't want to have to deal with both at the same time and at this point he had a pretty good idea of how to quickly take care of the little ones in an efficient manner. All he had to do was knock them out of the ground and they'd be ripe for the pickings. Luckily he had the perfect plan to do just that.

"Tank shrink down to a size where you can sit on my shoulder and then grow back when I tell you to." Joshua said getting a simple nod from Tank in return. He then turned towards Lilly to tell her what to do for his plan to work. "Get on the back of Cinder and jump into the air when I tell you to, for the moment she'll be the bait for all the little prairie dogs. We're going to take them all out in one fell swoop."

Tank shrunk down and Joshua picked him up and put him on his shoulder. Now that the prairie dogs no longer had him as a target to go for they aimed for the next biggest thing nearby which was Cinder who stayed in her largest form to attract their attention. When all of the creatures started getting close to them Joshua jumped up into the air with an aura blast to get as high as possible. He then took Tank off his shoulder and used his scarf to hover in the air for a moment. When the creatures were about to surround Cinder Joshua initiated his plan. "Move now Lilly!" Joshua shouted before he let Tank go from directly above them.

Cinder leaped backwards and left a few traps of flame around the ground wherever she landed. Since she was able to move around so lightly even with her large frame the prairie dogs had trouble locating her and they all stood frozen in the same spot. The boss was about to order them to move, but at that point it was already too late. Tank was falling directly towards them and he had grown back to his full size. The impact on the ground caused a small earthquake that shook the entire room and all of the prairie dogs that were so close to the impact were either knocked out of the ground or squashed directly beneath Tank. Before they could react and do anything Tank immediately started his whirl pool ability trapping all the confused prairie dogs and Cinder activated her traps causing the water to boil and burn them alive. The creatures never stood a chance.

The boss looked at the scene in surprise and roared in outrage. It pulled itself fully out of the ground showing that it was about twice the size of Tank when completely on its own feet. It looked like it was going to do something, but Tank sucked up some of the heated water and shot it over in a torrent from his mouth. The blast hit the creature hard in the face and Joshua could see the rocks around it were steaming a bit from the heat. Even so the incredible force behind the torrent of water wasn't even able to push the boss back at all. It glared towards Tank as the whirlpool around him drained away. Then the boss dived back under the ground creating another massive hole.

Joshua immediately noticed a major problem when the creature started burrowing towards them and that was the fact that it didn't leave any signs of where it was going when underground which was completely different from all of the other prairie dogs in the dungeon. Joshua couldn't even sense exactly where it was and he knew that was going to be a major problem going forward if things kept going the way they were. "Tank shrink back and get out of the way!" He shouted as he dashed towards the giant turtle.

Tank didn't waste time and followed Joshua's orders to the letter. He shrunk down as Joshua got to him just in time and picked him up. The moment he did he could feel the ground beneath him start to erupt and he leaped up into the air with full force. The large boss exploded from beneath them with its mouth wide open. Its massive teeth were poised to rip into the bottom of Tanks shell if given the chance and the force of the attack would have sent Tank sailing off his feet with grievous injuries. In fact the thing had come so far out of the ground that it was only a couple feet away from being able to swallow Joshua whole.

The attempt had left the boss exposed as it still hung in the air and was slowly falling back to the ground, but Joshua wasn't going to let the opportunity pass. He blinked to its face and smashed his scale blade directly into the rock covering near its eyes. The force of the blow shattered the rocks and gave him a bigger opening. He tore into one of the eyes with an energy slash while the Tails from Jade grew out of his shadow and started drilling into the other eye. The attack sent the creature off balance as it crashed into the ground whaling in pain. Even though it probably didn't rely on its eyes all that much it was still painful for it and a small hindrance.

With its belly now exposed Joshua dropped Tank who once again grew to his full size and smashed into the creature's stomach cracking and breaking all of the armor that was protecting it. Cinder rushed over as well and started shooting flames at the exposed skin while also tearing into the creature with her legs and fangs. Lastly Lilly summoned Mr. Hoppy to poison it before shifting over to Flutter so that she could boost everyone. The large boss was in a lot of pain, but it wasn't going to go down that easily. It roared and knocked both Tank and Cinder off of it as more rocks started to cover its body. Joshua noticed that it looked like it was about to vomit something towards Tank and remembered one of the prairie dogs abilities. If Tank got trapped in that cement like stuff then he'd be a sitting duck for the rest of the boss's attacks.

Just as it was about to spew the stuff towards Tank, Joshua created an aura shield around himself and dashed towards the creatures head. He slammed the shield into the side of its skull twisting its head to the side as it spewed the cement like vomit all over the place. The vomit not only hardened quickly, but also seemed to be making a hissing sound which probably meant it was acidic. It was probably the boss's trump card since it looked at Joshua with anger after it composed itself, but before it could do anything it was met with a fireball to the face that destroyed all of the rocks covering the area.

Now that they knew how the boss worked it didn't take very long for them to tear it apart. Tank would keep its attention most of the time whenever he slammed into the massive creature and knocked it over. He also bit off large chunks of its flesh wherever the rock was torn away and that always caused the overgrown prairie dog to shout in pain. When it would try to dig back in to the ground Tank would fill the holes it created with water forcing it right back out and usually right into the waiting hands of both Cinder and Joshua.

Cinder would constantly tear into it up close and she was too fast for it to react to her in time. Joshua would go for the large exposed injuries and worsen them even more. The poison in its body from both Cinder and Mr. Hoppy was keeping it from being able to regenerate properly and made it to sluggish to react In time. The more it fought the weaker it got, and by the end of things Joshua had torn his way inside a wound on its back and severed its spine with the help of Jade. The poor creature collapsed and was slowly killed by Cinder as she tore into its face without it being able to do anything. Finally their dungeon run was complete.