Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

 Finding Belphegor turned out to be a far more difficult task than Ryan expected. As if that wasn't enough, Ryan and Femradiel didn't find any demons either. As expected, those powerhouses acted differently than the small fries. If Ryan were targeting an ordinary dungeon master, they would try to block his path with an army of monsters.

"All right… if after six hours we don't find him, I will burn down this entire forest," Ryan nodded to himself. "A few concentrated attacks from above should do the job. It is a pity that I can't start a massive fire attack from space, but oh well…"

"Maybe the corruption is affecting you more than we anticipated," Femradiel said. "Your patience has been getting a lot shorter lately."

 Ryan was fully aware of that, but he couldn't help it. While he didn't want to be recognized by his enemies, being ignored was unnerving. There was a small possibility that Belphegor was preparing a trap for him. Still, considering what Ryan heard of the demon, that possibility wasn't high. The chances of the other demon generals joining the fight were also pretty low.

"Maybe he is just too lazy to attack us," Femradiel said. "That would fit the intel we have about Belphegor."

 That wouldn't even be funny if it were a joke. Still, Ryan had a bad feeling about all that… In any case, after three hours, Ryan decided to burn down the entire forest, even though he said that he would only do it after six hours. Fortunately, it seemed that he wouldn't have to waste time with that.

"I can feel a powerful presence twenty kilometers away in that direction," Femradiel said. "Most likely, it is Belphegor."

 In the end, Ryan and Femradiel tried to check the terrain ahead by using Clairvoyance. Still, they found a massive area covered in mist. It was weird. They were exactly twenty kilometers away from the mist. So, Femradiel didn't feel Belphegor's presence but the mist.

"It looks like you are getting rusty, Femradiel," Ryan said.

"You can complain once you can do better," Femradiel said.

"Oh, well… can you say if the mana in the mist and the mana of the smell that this forest is emanating are the same?" Ryan asked.

"Yes… now that you mentioned it," Femradiel frowned. "It's basically the same, but the concentration is different."

 After that, it became obvious that the mist and the scent weren't just natural phenomena in that world. Belphegor definitely created them. Still, it seemed like a pretty sloppy defense system. After all, Ryan could blow everything up by using an attack from above. Even if it was something created by magic, it needed certain conditions to keep working, and the forest and the tropical climate certainly were an important part of it.

"All right, it is time to burn everything down," Ryan said.

"In the end, it only looks like you want some stress relief," Femradiel shrugged. "That certainly doesn't fit the style of someone who inherited the powers of an ice dragon."

"Nah, I just want to test the powers of my newest class and make it level up as much as possible," Ryan said. "Anyway, if you have any better ideas, I am all ears."

 Femradiel considered their options. In the end, the best plan was to use Dark Ice Breath and catch Belphegor off guard. Since it worked against Thanatos, there was no reason that it couldn't work against Belphegor. Still, there was no telling what might happen to Ryan, considering the level of corruption on his body. Femradiel realized that she should have asked him to use Draconic Transformation after defeating Thanatos. Ryan's anger was one of the things that fueled his corruption, so the fact that he recovered his parents' souls probably would have helped him calm down. Still, that could only be confirmed in his draconic form.

"All right, let's go with that arsonist plan of yours," Femradiel said. "I don't think things will be that smooth, though."

 When Ryan and Femradiel prepared to attack the misty area from above, they flew as high in the sky as they could, and they couldn't help but frown when they reached the boundaries of that world's atmosphere. That whole area was as big as a massive country. Unless they move away from the world a little bit, they won't be able to see the entire area. Regardless, Belphegor was somewhere inside the mist, but that area was just too big.

 Instead of letting the headache get the better of him, Ryan began to create a massive fireball. Even though he wasn't that good at using fire, Draconic Transformation solved that problem. Femradiel was helping him by using mana and INT potions, but she still had the chance to check the effects of the corruption on his body. His body wasn't as dark as it had once been during the fight against Thanatos. However, more than eighty percent still was completely dark, and here and there, Femradiel could see that same miasma.

"Things aren't as bad as they could be, but you shouldn't get worked up during the battle," Femradiel said. "It looks like the corruption level inside you isn't changing, but until we find a way to control your anger with magic, we should be more cautious."

"I doubt that I will get angry in this fight, I don't have any reason to," Ryan said, and then he clenched his teeth when the two kilometers wide fireball was starting to make him sweat.

 In the end, nothing coming from the mist stopped Ryan, and then he fired. The projectile hit the ground after two seconds, but much to Ryan's surprise, he felt like the attack had been weaker than it was supposed to. The fire made the humidity spread a curtain of steam in a vast area, but despite that, there were no changes in the mist itself. At the end, when the curtain of steam disappeared, Ryan noticed that his attack didn't change anything.