"That's because we are using the wrong methods," William was watching these monsters all the time, "we can't harm them using the opposing elements of fire."
"Then what do you suggest, genius?" Sloth didn't like that William didn't directly say the solution.
"They are fearing fire, and so we need to use fire and lava elements in our attacks."
"You are crazy, right? Can't you see? They bathe in lava!"
"No, they are shielding themselves from it," William pointed to the glaring weakness of these monsters, "these shields are their strongest trait, and weakest soft spot as well. We need to use concentrated techniques of lava and fire, and you'll see how these shields are going to melt down."
"They won't die…"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"The lava underground will take care of them for us," William winked, "and if they have little intelligence, then they won't return back. So we can continue fighting them until they are down."
"Let me test it then…" Sloth didn't trust this plan. But when he executed a few tests around, he was shocked to see it working!
"Told you, hahahaha!" William laughed, shaking his head while feeling like he was speaking to a kid who thought himself the king of the world, "spread the news and let those fire and lava based masters spread out and cover everyone else. The moment these monsters get their shields ripped off, others can join the fun."
"Ok… But this will greatly slow us down…"
"At least we won't lose many masters… So far we lost a few hundred, and if this continues, then we'll lose thousands before finding that damn monster."
William was frustrated because that bear monster was nowhere to be seen. He asked Sloth and other high end masters to spread their spirit senses, and they covered almost one fourth of the entire zone, yet didn't find a trace of that gigantic ball of storm.
There were still lots of areas to cover, but with all these dangers it was pretty impossible to arrive there with the main bulk of the entire army intact.
Yet things started to go for better when the new strategy spread. The masters started to hit monsters hard, and their shields melted down like ice facing fire. Many monsters didn't return back to the ground after losing their shields, and these ended up dead in the hands of the rest of the masters.
As for the foolish ones which returned back to the ground, William knew he didn't need to worry about them. The lava underground would take care of them. Few even hurried back to the surface with tons of deep wounds and fierce and painful roars, before they got killed by masters in no time.
Things were going smoothly for them. But for the masters who followed the army, it was a hellish nightmare! Soon enough, everyone retreated fast, returned to the edge of this area, watching how the small army of masters was bravely facing all the odds and crushing them!
This made everyone watching feel more awe towards these masters. And soon enough, many more people gathered to watch such a legendary performance with their own eyes.
Masters valued strength, and admired the dauntless. These masters down there were fighting against the impossible, and the most impressive thing was that they were winning!
The monsters coming from underground looked endless, but masters started to rule over them. The big losses declined, and many masters ended up having fewer wounds than deadly ones.
At the same time, William's vices and two teams started to collect loot. They grew such a habit that would never die. Even in the middle of all this, they were too focused on grabbing the loot and taking anything they could.
This attitude grew old for the masters who interacted with the Fox guild. William didn't bother with any weird looks from those old masters, and kept moving forward.
He knew his fire element and techniques weren't enough to take down monsters, but he was fast enough to evade any incoming danger. Yet as he progressed forward, the number of monsters coming kept increasing, without showing a single sign of stopping or decreasing.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Where the heck is this damn bear?!!" After twenty hours of such a crazy and hectic run and fight, William started to grow tired of this, "we should have crossed a great part of this zone, and yet you can't find it?"
"It's not in any place we looked at," Sloth didn't like how William talked to him, but he could understand why he was so frustrated about it.
They kept killing and fighting tons of these monsters. And as they progressed deeper, it wasn't just the number of monsters that grew up, but also the frequency of lava fountains as well.
They could handle the monsters, but a sudden surge of lava from the ground was something they couldn't tolerate. They lost good masters thanks to this, and many were part of William's two teams.
Luckily not a single one of his close up circle got killed, or suffered heavy casualties. But he couldn't be certain if such a thing would persist until they'd find that damn bear.
"Is it hiding perhaps?" one of the old masters asked, and Sloth sighed.
"I searched, but couldn't find anything except for the deep hole that was situated in the centre of the zone."
"Deep hole?" William turned to Sloth the moment he heard these words.
"There is a big hole in the heart of this place," Sloth said as if it wasn't a big deal, "I heard back at that war, it was created from the academy it was here."
"Let's go there then," William felt like this was something important.
"There is nothing there," another old master said, "we already scanned it with our spirit senses… There is nothing but lava out there, nothing else at the rock bottom."
"Let's go there then," the more it looked normal, the more William wanted to go there. He started to link the dots, thinking about something unbelievable.