Adam scrambled backward, the searing pain in his wing a stark reminder of his miscalculation. The Magma Lord's heavy footsteps sent tremors through the obsidian ledge, each one a countdown to being crushed.

"Alice! The red potion, now!" he mentally yelled, desperation edging his thoughts.

A flicker of violet light, and one of the Basic Health Potions appeared in front of him. He snatched it up, crushing the vial in his jaws and swallowing the bitter liquid. A faint, warm energy spread through him, knitting the most superficial of his wounds and stemming the bleeding, but the deep burn on his wing and the ache in his bones remained largely unaffected.

"Cheap garbage!" he cursed. It was a paltry restoration, bought by poor adventurers for a pittance. It had barely brought him to 120 health.

But it was enough to move. The Magma Lord was almost upon them, raising a colossal fist to smash them into paste.

"We fight back! Now! Aim for the mouth when it opens!"

Adam pushed off with his good wing, using Phantom Onslaught to dart between the monster's legs. The heat was intense, singeing his scales. As he passed underneath, he unleashed an Earthshaker. The shockwave erupted beneath the Magma Lord, not to damage it, but to unbalance it. The behemoth staggered, its punch slamming into the ground harmlessly beside them.

This was their rhythm. A desperate, deadly dance.

Adam was the ground-bound distraction, his speed and smaller size his only defense. He'd lure a swing, dodge at the last second with Phantom Onslaught, and score a Mantis Slash on the back of its knee or ankle. The attacks did little real damage, but they kept the monster's attention.

Alice was the scalpel. She teleported around its upper body, a violet phantom. When the Magma Lord opened its maw to roar or gather energy for another plasma beam, she was there. She couldn't damage the rock, but she could disrupt it. A Void Bind at its jaw would force it to snap shut. A well-timed Mana Siphon as it charged its attack would cause the energy to fizzle and sputter, buying Adam a crucial second.

It was exhausting, nerve-wracking work. One mistake meant death. A glancing blow from a stone fist sent Adam flying, his health dropping again. A splash of molten rock from the creature's body seared Alice's flank, causing her to cry out in pain before she teleported to safety.

Slowly, agonizingly, they were wearing it down. Chunks of basalt were being chipped away. The glow from its fissures seemed to dim slightly. Adam landed a particularly powerful Mantis Slash across its chest, creating a deep, smoking crevice.

"It's working! Just a little more!" he thought, hope flaring.

The Magma Lord stopped its relentless advance. It took a step back, then another, retreating towards the lava river from which it came. A low, grinding laugh echoed from within its stone body.

"It's retreating! We have it!" Alice projected, a surge of triumph in her voice.

But Adam felt a cold dread instead of victory. A Boss didn't just give up. This was a tactical withdrawal.

The Magma Lord reached the river's edge and plunged its arms into the molten rock. The dimmed fissures on its body blazed with renewed, violent intensity. The lava around it began to swirl, flowing up its arms and across its body, repairing the damage they had inflicted in moments. The cracks sealed, the chipped stone was replaced, and it grew even larger, its form now wreathed in a permanent, dripping mantle of liquid fire.

The creature turned back to them, no longer a slow, plodding giant, but a furious avatar of the volcano itself. The air around it shimmered with blistering heat, and the ground at its feet began to melt.

Adam's heart sank. "You have got to be kidding me..."

The real fight was over. The true nightmare had just begun.

"Of course! Why would anything ever be simple?!" Adam's mental scream was a raw thing of pure frustration. The Magma Lord, now fully healed and radiating an aura of incinerating heat, took a ground-shaking step forward. The very stone beneath its feet turned to slag.

There was no more strategy, no more clever tricks. It was a battle of pure attrition, and they were losing. Adam poured everything he had into the fight. He used Gale Slash after Gale Slash, the wind blades doing little more than scattering the surface lava.

He followed up with Mantis Slash, chipping away tiny fragments that were instantly regenerated. Alice darted in and out, her Void Binds now lasting only a second before the intense heat burned them away, her Mana Siphon a mere drop in an ocean of fiery energy.

It was during one of these desperate, futile assaults that tragedy struck. Adam lunged in for a strike, drawing the monster's attention. As he dodged a sweeping arm of molten rock, the Magma Lord's other hand, moving with its new, surprising speed, shot out and backhanded Alice in mid-teleport.

The impact was sickening. She was sent flying like a discarded toy, crashing against the far wall with a brittle sound no living creature should make. She slid to the ground and did not move.

"ALICE!"

The roar that tore from Adam was both mental and physical, a sound of pure, unadulterated terror and rage. He forgot the Boss, forgot his own injuries, and used Phantom Onslaught to get to her side. Her body was limp, her breathing shallow and ragged. A massive burn marred her beautiful silvery fur.

"The potion! Drink it!" he commanded, using his tail to nudge the last red potion toward her mouth. She managed to lap at it weakly, the meager healing magic stabilizing her, but she was out of the fight.

The Magma Lord saw its opening and charged, its goal to crush them both.

A cold, terrifying calm descended over Adam. This was it. He would die here, protecting the only thing that mattered. He turned to face the charging behemoth, a look of utter, hopeless defiance on his serpentine face.

He coiled and unleashed everything he had left in one, final, simultaneous burst. A Gale Slash with his right wing, a Mantis Slash with his entire body, pouring all his mana, his stamina, his very will to live into the attacks.

And in that crucible of absolute desperation, something broke... and then fused.

The two skills, both expressions of cutting force—one of air, one of pure energy—did not fire separately. They merged in the space before him. The Gale Slash became a conduit, a focusing lens that sharpened and amplified the Mantis Slash a hundredfold.

A new notification, blazing with golden light, overwrote his despair.

[ Skill Fusion Achieved Under Extreme Duress! ]

[ Gale Slash + Mantis Slash = Cyclone Cutter ]

[ New Skill Acquired: Cyclone Cutter (Active) - Cost: Extremely High Mana/Stamina ]

Effect:Unleashes a devastating, swirling vortex of concentrated cutting force that travels forward, shredding everything in its path. Ignores a significant portion of physical armor.

A vortex of shimmering, silver-green energy, howling like a tempest, erupted from Adam. It wasn't a blade; it was a localized storm of annihilation.

The Magma Lord, mere feet from crushing him, had no time to react. The Cyclone Cutter hit it square in the chest. There was no loud impact, only a terrifying sound of grinding, shearing, and dissolution. The vortex tore through its molten armor, through the basalt core, and out the other side.

The Area Boss froze mid-stride. A clean, perfect hole was bored straight through its torso. The light in its fissures died. Then, with a sound like a mountain collapsing, it crumbled into a massive pile of inert, rapidly cooling rock and slag.

[ Defeated: The Magma Lord ]

[ +330 EXP | +450 EP ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 31! ]

[ Next Level: 175/160 ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 32! ]

[ Next Level: 15/165 ]

[ Skill Points: +2 ]

[ Evolution Points: 2357 -> 2807/2500 ]

[ Evolution Available! ]

Adam didn't even register the level-ups. He was at Alice's side in an instant, nudging her gently. "Alice! Alice, talk to me!"

She stirred, her amber eyes fluttering open. "Adam... the monster...?"

"It's gone. You're safe." The relief that washed over him was more potent than any level-up energy.

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