Through the four floors with the normal monsters I went without any trouble at all. I spent slightly longer on the forty eighth floor as I was studying the Fomoires since there was very little information available on them since they rarely were seen. They were level four monsters and stood three meters tall with their almost satanic forms. They weren't anything special though as besides their ability to shrug off high temperatures they relied on their fists and numbers for attacking. I refined a dozen of their hides to turn into heat resistant armor later but otherwise paid them no special attention.-
Finally I stepped onto the forty ninth floor that was just a massive wasteland of empty volcanic rock. The heat was quite high but nothing I couldn't handle easily. In the distance oddly off to the side of the chamber was a massive protrusion of jagged red rocks circling an area that I knew to be the location of my target for this delve. I didn't rush to meet the monster rex in glorious battle but walked the way there so I'd be in peak condition when I arrived.-
It took me a couple hours given the sheer size of the floor but I arrived as the jagged passage leading to the Balor that radiated an intense heat much higher than that of the floors ambient temperature. The "arena" of the Balor was a set of circular spiked stones curled inwards like cruel "seats". In the center was the black scorched rock that the beast stood upon waiting for it's challenger. The Balor itself stood twenty meters tall with a body not much different from an Imps. It's legs were reverse jointed. It's torso and arms humanoid and rippling with powerful muscles.-
It's head with two demonic slitted eyes with black sclera and red irises and smooth curled horns and pointed ears. A mouth with thin sharp lips that concealed rows of razor sharp teeth. On it's back two wide powerful bat-like wings lay folded neatly. When I walked into the "arena" the two eyes of the beast lazily focused on me and then narrowed when I didn't immediately try and flee. It snorted through it's narrow nostrils before unfolding it's arms to ready itself for battle. I just grinned under my helm/mask and stomped my foot launching myself at it.
Credit where it's due the monster immediately turned serious and reacted by sending out a full on haymaker right towards my form.
"BOOM!"
The impact shook the air and cratered the ground slightly as my weapon clashed with the beasts fist, and lost. It wasn't a terrible loss but it reminded me of when I tried to match Ottar previously. My body simply wasn't at the same level as the beasts and so it won that clash. It wasn't as arrogant as it first appeared though as it immediately went on the chase as I slammed into the sharp hard stone of the arenas wall and went through it.-
Expecting a couple of level seven threats to limit their fight to that small arena was simply not going to work. I flared my flames to stabilize myself mid air as I tumbled across the chamber right as the Balor burst out of the arena violently sending stone flying in all directions.
"Hellfire!" I yelled and fully unleashed my flames that filled the chamber eagerly and roared as they tried to consume the Balor.
As expected however the flames proved not very effective against the beast as it's own body instead seemed even MORE energized by them instead of damaged. I quickly retracted my flames as I knew better than to buff my enemy and switched to my ice.
"Helheim!" I roared as I held my arms at the ready.
The air strained and crackled with tension as the frigid cold of my ice clashed with the scorching heat and moved to push it away. This clash became particularly intense when my cold met the Balor's heat. Wind blasted every which way as the two elemental forces competed head to head for dominance.-
The Balor and I met in the center of this clash of opposites and we both roared out as we threw our attacks. Mine an erasure coated hammer blow and it's a series of punches. It's fists bled as it lost a small amount of matter on contact with my weapon but it's sheer size made this minor damage at best. It also regenerated between punches so I was getting pushed back step by step in this hurricane of destruction we created.
"Peccatum Superbiae!" I shouted and my ice finally gained traction to push back the heat slowly but firmly and strength filled my body as I started losing less ground.
The Balor was no slouch though and with a fierce bellow spread it's wings and burst into burgundy flames as the heat coming from it intensified by several notches. Once again my ice failed to overcome the heat of this monster and I was being forced back once more. This was unacceptable for me however and I narrowed my eyes to focus as much as I could. I forced all thoughts from my head and focused my very existence on the Balor and reacting at the perfect moment. I ignored the pain, the struggle of my power pressing against the beast's own, everything but my enemy.-
The Balor failed to realize something was wrong and threw a powerful punch as it had been only to suffer as black cursed energy erupted as my weapon clashed with it.
"Black flash!"
Space tore at the edges of the cursed energy and the fingers of the Balor's fist twisted and snapped in unnatural angles as it's arm for the first time this entire fight snapped back at a loss. My lips split in a feral mad grin as I felt the entire world seem to tighten and my cursed energy flow smoother and more perfectly the moment that change appeared.