The all-knowing Player (Solo Leveling)

Geuhmo Station (2)

The salamander is staying in the fire. If we want to attack it, we will have no choice but to attack from afar or be so fast that the flames don't touch us for too long. Otherwise, we will burn. And I am not even taking the fire spitting into account. Since our only weapons are his dagger and my hands full of poison, we have to opt for the short distance attacks. The most dangerous solution. But also the only one.

I point to the left and then the right and Jin-Woo nods, understanding my signals. The both of us start running in opposite directions, dodging the fire columns that the monster spits in our direction. Arriving at the beginning of the furnace, we jump as high and as far as possible to land on the boss. I grab its tail- and let go immediately, rushing back where there is no fire.

The scales are cold as ice. Is it even possible? Oh, well. At this point, it does not matter. I need to kill it, then I'll be allowed to ask myself questions. Useless questions that don't have any answer.

I hear the salamander growl angrily and Jin-Woo lands right next to me. I don't waste a second and jump in the fire again, trying to rip off a scale with my bare hands, but they slip between my fingers. The monster turns its head and tries to reach me with its fangs, I dodge difficulty and catapult myself out of the furnace again. The fire burns my skin slightly as I fly through it. I grit my teeth, not letting the pain overwhelm me. Compared to the cuts on my hands from last time, those little burns are nothing.

The hunter, who tried to join me not long after, jumps back next to me, panting and sweating as much as I do. The skin on his hands is red.

"It won't take any damage!" he declares.

I don't have the time to answer. With a movement of its tail, the salamander throws pieces of burning wood and coal in our direction. A rain of fiery projectiles falls down on us, forcing us to split up and dodge them all, when it starts spitting fire again.

With a short warning scream, I cannot avoid the pieces of coal anymore in order to jump out of the fire column's reach. Projectiles hit me, burning my skin where they land, and I know that Jin-Woo is in the same situation without having to glance in his direction.

"We have to do something!" I yell at him over the distance.

"But what?"

I don't answer. Instead, I jump into the fire again, materializing a knife in my hand and attempting to dig it between two scales, but it doesn't work and I am forced to retreat without the blade, feeling it melt between my fingers. Jin-Woo jumps on the monster's forehead and plunges the dagger into one of its eyes, blood splashing around it. The salamander screams, shaking its head until the hunter is thrown off it.

I rush over to the direction where he is flying to and try to catch him during his landing, but he only crashes harshly into me, sending the both of us to the ground in a mess of arms and legs. We stand up swiftly as the salamander starts spitting fire in every direction in a fit of anger, having trouble seeing us.

"The dagger is still stuck in its eye!" Jin-Woo panics.

"At least you landed some damage. Can't you call it back?"

"Huh? No, how could I?"

I bite my tongue. That's right, he doesn't have that skill yet. But my blunder isn't the problem. It's the fact that, now, we don't have any weapons left anymore. Sure, I have two knives, but they are useless, like every attack we tried on the monster. We need to find something else. But how could we be able to defeat such a powerful creature? Is it really the boss of a D-rank dungeon? Or are we simply still too weak?

While trying to escape the fire, I stare at the salamander, trying to find a weakness. But I can't find anything, apart from its wounded eye. We can't kill it like we did with the kasaka, either, unless we are willing to burn ourselves. Is there really nothing we can do? No, there must be something. The system would never let us face a monster that we can't overcome. It would make no sense.