Fireballs, it turned out, had almost no physical mass. Surely if the Smith had been unarmored, his skin would have been singed and he would have taken heavy damage from the compressed, magical flames.

But the Smith was wearing the best Fire Armor he had been able to produce.

Still, a wave of heat washed over the Smith as the fireball collided with the back of his cuirass. Sheer discipline kept his shield raised to reflect the fireball the serpent in front of him was spitting at him, but instantly almost all of his thoughts had shifted towards retreat.

Ping!

As the second fireball was reflected, James swapped the hammer in his right hand for a shield he hadn't used in quite some time: his Green Iron Tower Shield, enchanted with [Reflect].

There was no point in saving it if it cost him his life.

He put the lava-dwelling serpent monsters out of his mind and focused entirely on his footing and quickly, but carefully, retreating back to the labyrinth tunnels.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

Over and over fireballs were reflected by the shields, small chunks of his mana being drained instantly while the heat the fireballs left behind put further strain on his cooling system.

Sweat dripped down his brow, his cleated boots pounded the dirt, and then he was out.

As soon as he was in the tunnel, he stowed the Green Iron Tower Shield back into his bag and whipped around, putting his Red Iron Round Shield between himself and the cavern.

Pingpingping!

And then silence fell. Panting heavily, and keeping his shield pointed towards the cavern, James scanned the tunnel behind him, saw no monsters, and retreated deeper into the labyrinth. Once he made it around a corner, he put down his warding stakes and relaxed somewhat, turning up the output on his cooling system.

He had taken a direct hit.

He had survived.

He couldn't check his gear, not here and now, but he was done exploring for the day. He had found the exit, and now was the time to prepare.

Once calmed, he made his way back to basecamp and packed up most of his things. A quick check of his armor found it totally unscathed from the direct attack of the fireball, and even his Green Iron Tower Shield was undamaged from the minute or so it had been out in the heat.

A night of rest and a hearty dinner of crab meat and some of his sauerkraut, which was dwindling, and then a breakfast of bread and James was ready.

So far, the monsters of the floor had been less troublesome than the simple heat. The Fire Lizards mainly attacked by tackling, scratching with heated claws, and biting. A double tap with [Heavy Blow] was always enough to finish them off. The bat monsters, though flaming, were no more difficult to dispatch than their cousins on the first floor. The spider monsters… thinking about it objectively, they weren't that dangerous. Their fangs couldn't penetrate his armor. And James was always looking for monsters, so they never managed to sneak up on him, despite their ambush tactics. The biggest problem was himself, James realized. If he just kept a cool head…

Easier said than done, on this floor.

In any case, the feeling James got was that the boss of this floor, if the monsters were anything to judge by, was likely to be on the weaker side.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

So reasoned the Smith-Enchanter, with no adventuring experience, with no formal education, with no training in his classes, with no combat classes at all.

As for the fireball-flinging lava-dwelling serpent monsters, James decided to rely on his Red Iron Round Shield and Fire Armor. Better to keep a hammer in hand in case a serpent decided to get close and attack him directly, than to have two shields and turtle his way through the lava cavern with no way to strike back.

He hoped the next floor would be a better place to set up a forge. He sorely missed his little alcove on the second floor.

Still, soon enough, he found himself through the labyrinth and ready to brave the path through the lava.

He moved forward at a brisk pace, minding his footing, keeping his shield up, but relying mainly on his Fire Armor and cooling system to tank the fireballs.

What he hadn't expected was how hot it would get, being struck by so many fireballs.

It was still within the realm of his expectation at the halfway point. But soon after he found himself reflecting less than half of the fireballs that flew at him, and the heat was building up. For the first time ever, he found himself using his cooling strips at maximum output.

Smith Class Skill [Heat Resistance] has reached level 6.

James gulped even with his dry mouth. That wasn't a good sign.

Still, he pressed on, and as soon as he reached the semi-circle of dirt and stone at the end of the cavern, he turned around and swung his shield up.

Pingpingpingpingping! ...Ping! ...Ping!

Ping!

A barrage of fireballs was reflected back at the lava serpent monsters, and with a chorus of hisses, they descended back into the lava.

Sweat dripped into James' eye as he panted, and he shook his head lightly to focus himself. Carefully, he scanned around, but as far as he could tell there were no threats ahead in the carved tunnel. He advanced into it and found a small room, featureless save for the typical iron door.

James took a moment to cool himself and catch his breath. He raised his visor and wiped the sweat from his brow, then clanked it back down. He set up a ward covering the entire room, just in case, though he didn't know how effective it would be against fireballs.

And he pulled open the iron door, to gaze upon the boss monster of the fourth floor.

It was a dragon.

James squinted his eyes and forced himself to scan the entire room rather than just focus on the boss monster. Unexpectedly, there was no lava that James could see. It was a large cavern lit by flaming mushrooms, similar to the boss room of the first floor except there were a lot of the flaming mushrooms, and visibility was decent. As far as James could tell, the heat in the room was the same as the rest of the floor. The ceiling was high and also covered in flaming mushrooms, and the ground appeared to be hard packed dirt, perfectly flat, no boulders or cover anywhere.

Just a simple room with a dragon in it.

James gazed upon the dragon. It was roughly the size of the pangolin boss monster, by his estimate from a distance of some fifty yards. His head probably came up to its shoulder, and it had a long neck with a fearsome looking head covered in spikes. It had four legs, as of course dragons do compared to wyverns, and its wings were tucked against its side, probably necessary in a cramped boss room like this. Its tail stretched out behind and slightly to the side, revealing nothing special, and its scales gleamed red in the constantly flickering light of the 'shrooms.

James took a moment to think, and decided he could take it. Even the pangolin with its armor scales hadn't been able to withstand a [Heavy Blow]. In fact, none of the bosses had.

With a deep breath, he stepped forward, wearing his full Fire Armor set, with his Red Iron Round Shield in his left hand and his Terra Rosa War Hammer in his right. Step by step he descended the staircase, and with no hesitation he stepped forward, bringing up his shield.

The door behind him slammed shut, and the dragon leapt forward, covering over half the room in a single bound.

That was fa- James barely had time to think before the dragon opened its mouth and breathed a wave of fire which raced at him faster than he could react.

Rather than a ping, there was a high pitched whining sound as the flames which struck his shield were reflected, pushing back on the incoming flame breath and parting the wave around the Smith.

But the wave continued, spreading around his shield, and some of the flames reached his armor from the sides, and the wave of heat spread unimpeded.

Slightly startled by the dragon's speed, the Enchanter still managed to respond nearly instantly by increasing the output of his cooling system.

For five long seconds, he endured the dragon's breath.

The attack ended, and several intrusive thoughts struck.

Smith Class Skill [Heat Resistance] has reached level 7.

Smith Skill [Product Testing] has reached level 3.

Smith Skill [Product Testing] has reached level 4.

Smith Skill [Product Testing] has reached level 5.

Enchanter Skill [Enchantment Testing] has reached level 5.

Synergy Skill [Product Testing] has reached level 5.

James' moment of distraction went unpunished as the dragon seemed almost confused as to how the creature before it had survived a direct attack from its breath.

The both refocused at the same time, and the dragon, being the faster of the two, leapt forward and swiped at James with its claws, knocking his shield aside.

Clang! Screeeeeech!

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