Chapter 21

Molten Cave (III)

As the gates slowly continued to open, the heat swelled in proportion -- so much so that Cain was forced to charge Frost into his fists and sprinkle it around him into a makeshift shield. Even though it wasn’t exactly a foolproof idea, it still managed to cool the group somewhat.

The first thing that came into their view was a set of grayed, banged up stairs, sloped in a sharp angle, surrounded by jagged and sharp-looking rocks with strange patterns of erosion. The rocks alternated between deep brown and carob shades with sharp turns around the corners that spilled into almost handmade-looking spikes.

They corralled the stairs and framed them, blocking the view to the side.

Cain glanced back and saw everyone’s pensive expressions; though the determination was there, it was difficult to dispel the demons of paranoia, fear, and uncertainty from the heart.

Everybody waited until the gates were fully open, split apart evenly, before slowly walking up to the stairs. They didn't appear to be made for humans, though, as each reached Cain's waist, causing them all to further exhaust themselves by climbing.

Nobody spoke, not for the lack of the things to say, but due to a combination of other factors, heat and tiredness among them. Even Cain found it annoyingly exhausting with his pathetic Stamina, which was why he began slowly using Mana to make the climb easier by charging Wind and making himself slightly lighter.

Rick and Emma continued to lead the ‘charge’ by being the first to climb and then helping others before moving on. Despite it being a slow process, luckily, the stairs only numbered in fifty or so. By the time they got to the last stair, Cain ordered them all to sit down and rest for an hour -- after all, there was a high likelihood of a fight waiting for them above as the stage implicated that.

It was a round platform with a slight dip in the center, handmade pillars surrounding it, mustard-colored, and a fog beyond it guarding what lied ahead. It was around two miles in diameter, and despite him seeing no creature or monster anywhere, that was hardly ever a guarantee in the Tower. Soon, people would come to realize that monsters had this uncanny ability to just spontaneously combust into existence right in front of them.

As even he found himself slightly out of breath despite the ‘cheats’ he’d been employing, there was little else to say for the rest, especially Emma and Rick who were both wheezing, their clothes plastered against their skin, wet as though they’d just dipped themselves into a pool.

"... go ham on the water," he said. "Little help conserving it will be if one of you passes out in the middle of whatever the hell is waiting for us."

He didn’t need to tell them twice as everyone quickly soaked one bottle after another, looks of heavenly pleasure streaking across their faces.

Surprisingly, the best-looking among all of them was Justin who, his cheeks appearing flushed and skin glistening due to sweat notwithstanding, looked wholly normal.

“... you play sports, kiddo?” Cain asked him with a faint smile, causing the boy to grumble and grunt.

“... yea, so?”

“Nothing. You just look used to this.”

“... you try doing suicide runs in the middle of August heat in California,” Justin said. “And you, too, will look used to this.”

“... thanks but I’d rather remain among the living.”

“... what’s the plan anyway?” he asked, causing everyone to look at Cain as well, awaiting.

“We proceed as before,” he shrugged. “Same formation, and then adjust on the fly. Stay relatively close together so we can jump in and help each other quickly should anything go wrong. That’s it, really.”

“...” silence fell over once again as the party focused on restoring however much stamina they could. After all, they couldn’t exactly take their sweet time. According to the notification, they only had 14 days to complete the challenge. As for what happens if they hadn’t cleared it in 14 days, nobody was quite willing to find out.

“... ready?” Cain asked as he stood up, everyone else slowly following after him, taking deep breaths. “Good. Let’s go.”

One by one, they climbed the last step and walked out into the clearing. Strangely, the air here was much cooler, rejoicing their lungs. While the temperature still remained extremely hot, at least it was much easier to breathe now.

Cain cautiously led them to the edge of the slight dip, half-a-man’s-size one, and stopped, looking around, searching for any potential ‘trigger’. Sometimes, places in the Tower that clearly should have something would require manual activation, usually either a lever of sorts or touching a statue or moving something. However, outside of the pillars and the rugged ground that appeared ancient, he saw little else. Just as he was getting confused, another notification window popped up in front of him and everyone else.

//Welcome to the Hall of Judgment!

During Rhymal's Reign, this is where the Heretics were burned for their sins!

However, their resentment remained within the Fire and continued to stew and ferment for countless years since!

Your first Challenge, thus, begins: Defeat the Heretics! Stepping back out of the Hall will be considered forfeiting the Challenge, upon which the deserter, as well as the rest of the party, will be promptly executed by the Flame's Judgment!

Good luck! //

Cain groaned inaudibly, glancing around and noting the ghastly faces of the other party members. Well, not surprising... when they spring something like this on you...

“Roll back,” he yelled out, startling them out of their stupor. “Maintain the formation as we create some separation. Wait until we see what exactly are we fighting before doing anything.”

Everyone slowly backed off, still maintaining their standard formation: Emma and Rick at the front, Justin and Jamal at the flanks, with Cain behind in the center and the other five tucked neatly behind him.

The air inside the dipped platform distorted suddenly as white silhouettes began appearing out of thin air, almost like ghosts, slowly shaping up into humanoid creatures. What made them most definitely not human was the fact that they all burned, kindling fire shooting out sparks and embers as the creatures began forming ranks.

There were over thirty of them, causing Cain to frown. Each appeared around six feet tall, their ‘faces’ featureless save for the pairs of pure-black eyes staring at their party, emotionless. All bore some sort of a weapon in their hands, similarly afire, ranging from swords to bows.

"--go with the three-pronged offense," Diya suddenly chimed in from the back, a hint of determination in her gaze. "There are too many of them to take on directly, so we need two people who will drag a third each away while we quickly deal with the rest."

“... I’ll go,” Emma called out. “Rick can stay here.”

"... go with her, Lamia," Cain said after brief thought. "Decker, go with Lamia and protect her. Sam should stand at the front to help rick. Jamal and Justin flank and deal as much damage as you can as quickly as possible. Don't spare your Mana. Jim and Gerald should stay near Diya and only help out if necessary, but one of you needs to be with her at all times. I'll take the other group. Despite them being made of fire, think as though they're made of flesh and bones. Likely, their weaknesses will be familiar."

“...” everyone nodded one by one as Emma, Lamia, and Cain broke off from the rest. They’re quite similar to Fire Giants, Cain mused as he moved slowly to the left. But far, far weaker...

//Burning Heretic Race: Humanoid

Level: 18

Traits: Unintelligent(S), Instinctual(S), Aggressive(C-)

Skills: N/A //

He charged his right hand with Frost and Wind, splitting the sphere of ice into several bolts that he shot as soon as he saw the rest get into position. His attack seemed to trigger them as they all collectively roared, a good portion splitting off and immediately lashing toward him.

Bolts landed squarely on several of them, slowing them down slightly. He also noticed that Emma had dragged a great portion toward her, activating Holy Shield immediately as she engaged with them.

Cain Blinked back and rapidly charged Frost, Water, and Wind, tripling down on elemental attunement, splicing the ground with ice while firing off lassos of water one after another. The creature chased after him relentlessly, a few nocking their bows and firing off as soon as they got in range.

He activated Elemental Shield and charged Body, the only way an Elementalist class can enhance their own body directly. Increasing his speed, he nimbly dodged the falling, flaming arrows while simultaneously charging several dozen bolts of ice, firing them off one by one.

In the distance, he heard Diya hollering commands, as everyone seemed to scream and roar as to dispel the fear running through their veins. Eh, as good a tactic as any...

He occasionally glanced at the rest to see if they were in a situation they had no means of escaping, but so far they all held their ground -- especially Emma, who even managed to kill two creatures all on her own.

Cain suddenly rooted himself in place and charged Earth into his right foot, slamming it down and erecting a slanted 'spike' of sorts that he immediately jumped on. The 'spike' shaped into a platform, elongating as Cain sprinted across it, quickly reaching the creatures, standing above them. Taking a deep breath, he'd already carefully charged the right concentration of Water, Wind, Ice, and Arcane, his body shining in a blinding combination of violet, cyan, and milky-white.

Jumping off the platform, he rolled forward in midair and slapped his hands together, causing a shockwave to ripple out of him as a series of violet-dyed bolts of ice akin to those of lightning ripped through space and landed amidst the creature, swelling chaos.

He quickly charged Wind into his feet, but still landed somewhat awkwardly, causing him to stumble back slightly. Just then, he saw the tip of the flaming blade inching closer to his throat, causing him to panic slightly and pull back, dodging it by a nick. Grunting, and finding himself falling backward out of control, he charged Body completely into his center of gravity and spun himself to the side, slamming the first charged with Frost into the ground.

Suddenly, over a dozen icicles burst out of the ground, spiking six creatures altogether and extinguishing their flames. The temperature cooled temporarily as he rolled onto the ground, vanishing into the steamy mist that quickly covered his part of the battlefield.

While inside, he charged Body into his eyes and ears, listening for the creatures' locations. As soon as he spotted one, he charged Arcane and Frost within his hands, summoning blades and using his arms' movements to guide them as they sliced and spliced across the creatures' bodies.

Eight blades in total left trails of violet and dashing-blue in the air as they moved, appearing erratic yet eerily precise in their attacks. At the same time, Cain was forced to charge his feet with Wind and Earth at intervals, dodging or erecting earthen walls to block the strikes.

The number of creatures on his end slowly began to swell down. As he was hidden within the mist, he allowed himself to be a bit more 'spectacular' than he'd otherwise been, charging elements at remarkable speeds and using a combination of elemental attunement and the fact that the fire was weak to them to his advantage. No strike managed to land on him, though he was burning through his now considerable Mana pool rather quickly, having spent just over one-third of it.

"BACK OFF, BACK OFF!!" Rick's alarmed roar startled him as he charged Earth into his feet and ruptured the ground around him, swelling it around like a reversed blooming of a flower, capturing the last creature within. Rapidly charging out of the mist, he lashed out into the view of the entire platform and noted a ghastly sight -- one of the creatures had managed to get past the frontline and was currently charging at Jim, Gerald, and Diya.

Jamal had broken off from the front and was chasing after, but it was clear he wouldn't make it in time. Gritting his teeth, Cain used Blink and closed some distance between him and the group of three, though there was still over three hundred feet of it.

He used Mana Burning, feeling his entire body suddenly surge with energy, and charged Nature, Wind, and Earth as he began falling to the ground in a faint arch. Right before landing, he clasped his fingers together and pulled his arms back over his head, slamming them down ferociously as soon as he landed, instinctively letting out a battle cry.

The ground in front of him abruptly inflated like a balloon before exploding out into a shower of debris and rubble, a singular sprout of vine-like plant surging from within the ground and out, nearing the speed of sound as it ripped through the remaining distance and slammed directly into the creature, causing it to explode into thousands of tiny embers.

The collision was so ferocious it frayed the ground around into a five-feet-deep crater in addition to a massive gash that traced all the way from Cain to where the plant struck.

Silence reigned momentarily as Jamal, Diya, Gerald, and Jim found themselves gobsmacked at what they were seeing.

“COME BACK HERE AND HELP!!!” Rick woke them up as he screamed at Jamal who rapidly turned, glancing at Cain briefly and shooting back to the front.

Diya, still shaking, too glanced to the side where she saw a panting figure in the distance turning around and heading back into the mist. She raised her arm to call him out but figured the time for gratitude was best saved after they finished dealing with the creatures.

Cain was practically limping by now, having not only spent three-quarters of his remaining Mana on that attack, but also overexerting his body, and likely tearing a couple of muscles in his legs due to the way he landed. Fuck, fuck, God, this shit hurts... he yelped inwardly, tears appearing on the corners of his eyes. I need to hit the gym more... what the hell is this?! Even after defending my body with both Wind and Body... goddammit, au, au...

He returned back into the mist relatively quickly and found that the tiny home he'd built for the creature had now melted off. Frustration swelling, he decided to lash it all out onto the last remaining beast on his end, slowly torturing it by first freezing its legs and using Wind to nearly extinguish it before using Fire to bring it back from the cusp of dying.

What the hell am I doing?! After venting a bit, he’d realized the implications of his actions and quickly killed off the creature, shuddering. I’m not a psycho... I’m not a psycho... I’m not a psycho... singing the solemn hymn inwardly, he turned around and began heading back, wanting to see whether anyone else was in need of a cool rescue that would cost him a few muscles.