Chapter 644: Lethal Aurora
Even with bodies that could withstand entire mountains collapsing on them, they dared not let the magma touch them as this magically infused magma could deplete their durabilites in seconds.
However, while it was hard to clear, the rewards were also higher.
Remember when Evan was talking about getting to Level 785? Yeah, he hit that shit twenty floors ago.
"I’m guessing this dungeon doesn’t go much deeper, I can’t sense any more floors below us."
"Finally! We’re done!"
Such was the conversation between Arthur and Crim as he flew through the air while Crim ran along the walls.
At floor fifty, the challenges took a brutal turn as they no longer had the luxury of solid ground.
Instead, they found themselves navigating a vast river of molten magma that carved its way through the dungeon.
With no platforms to walk on, they were forced to either run along the walls or fly, their movements balanced on either side of the molten flow.
The ’heat’ also seemed to increase and the magma below bubbled ominously, just waiting for one misstep.
Besides Crim, everyone else could fly, so she was the one who got stuck on the wall. Not like flying gave any advantage since the monsters could do the same as well.
Soon, the river of magma began to widen, and they realized they were nearing its end. It didn’t flow into any safe exit but instead transformed into a massive magma waterfall cascading into an ocean of molten fire below.
"Oof...this looks like it could turn someone to ash in seconds."
Evan remarked as he flapped his wings to stay afloat and Arthur was about to agree with him when the river behind them suddenly surged with violent force.
The molten waves rose like a towering tsunami, crashing toward them with devastating speed. Without hesitation, they leapt out of the tunnel diving into the vast magma ocean below.
Arthur and the others managed to land on a series of jagged rocky footholds that jutted out from the magma sea. Their feet barely touched the ground before the next wave of danger appeared.
A flock of magma bats swooped down from the darkness, their screeches piercing the heated air.
At first glance, they didn’t seem like much. The bats could fly fast and hurl magma fireballs, but individually, they were no match for Arthur or the others.
However, where there was one bat, there were always more. Dozens, then hundreds, poured out from every crack and crevice in the walls, swarming like a mass of fiery cockroaches.
"Uh-oh... I think we’re in a monster room."
Evan muttered under his breath, already preparing for battle.
And just like that, the fight was on.
For thirty long, gruelling minutes, the group fought off wave after wave of the magma-infused creatures.
Evan’s Harbinger of Ice worked on overdrive, freezing monsters mid-flight before shattering them. Beatrix accelerated the group’s speed while slowing the monsters and freezing them in space, occasionally tossing out her spatial slashes. Artemisia hurled lightning bolts that arced through the swarm, frying them in rapid succession, while Crim’s blood spears pierced through the creatures and blasted their bodies to bits.
Hibiki used illusions to confuse the creatures, sending them crashing into each other, while Arthur, used his destruction law energy to turn clusters of the creatures to dust.
Yet, despite their combined strength, the sheer number of enemies became overwhelming. Even Arthur, with his destructive abilities, found the constant onslaught to be an exhausting headache.
"There are just... so... many of them."
But, as with all things, this annoying battle eventually came to an end.
When Evan finally sliced through the last bat, a heavy silence fell over the cavern. The volcano shook violently, rumbling as though it had recognized their victory.
Beneath them, the vast magma sea began to drain away, leaving behind a solid rock platform that formed above it.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and in that moment, they each felt their clear reward.
Five levels’ worth of EXP, regardless of their current level.
As they caught their breath, a small, elevated platform appeared in the centre of the hall, a glowing magic circle etched into its surface.
It was unmistakably the magic circle at the dungeon’s end that Crim had spoken about.
Arthur tapped the ground and saw that it was sturdy enough to withstand their weight, so he stepped forward and headed to the circle.
Unlike the others, he was a lot less tired since he had more stamina and energy.
"Dude, how can you still walk after all that?"
Evan asked and Arthur turned around and laughed as he responded.
"I’ve got Stamina!"
Getting the song reference, Evan chuckled and was about to say something when his blood instantly turned cold.
For a moment, he couldn’t hear anything. Then, he realised that all other sounds had been blocked by the overwhelming alarm that his Danger Sense skill blared.
Arthur also froze for a second. The ambient laws of time thrummed, and his expression contorted.
Someone had just tried to interfere with his time powers, to block his control of the law.
But as Arthur had higher comprehension, it did not work. What’s more, his Pseudo-Authority of Time alerted him of the attempt...and told him where the person who did it was.
An aurora of light poured down from above.
"Ab-!
The sound couldn’t fully escape his lips.
His hastily created gravity shield couldn’t do anything.
The light of destruction swallowed Arthur whole, and he vanished without a trace.
◇ ◇ ◇
***KAABOOOOMM!!!!!
The beam of dark light descended from the heavens with an apocalyptic roar, crashing into Arthur with such intensity that the fabric of space-time screamed in protest.
It was like the sky had opened to unleash heavenly retribution.
A massive explosion erupted from the impact point, law energies clashed in a violent burst before spiralling out of control.
The explosion tore through the ground beneath Arthur, the hardened volcanic stone caving in as if it had been nothing more than fragile glass.
The shockwave shattered everything in its wake, rippling out with enough force to flatten the landscape.
The ground crumbled, and in an instant, Arthur’s body was swallowed by the gaping hole in the earth, plummeting into the molten sea of magma below, vanishing from sight.
Artemisia, Beatrix, Crim, and Hibiki were hurled back by the shockwave, their bodies flung through the air like ragdolls.
Artemisia’s body twisted unnaturally mid-flight, and with inhuman movement, she regained balance before she hit the ground. Beatrix reacted just as fast, having used her spatial power to orient herself.
Instantly, her divinity surged and she activated her Unique Skill.
"Chrono-Space Dominion! WORMHOLE!"
Space distorted and a massive brown portal opened above her, and the twin beams of destructive dark light, aimed directly at the four girls, were sucked into the wormhole.
Evan, however, had no time to even glance at the others. The very instant Arthur was hit, a beam of dark destructive energy also targeted him.
"Gazebind!"
His eight-sided shield materialized above his left hand just as the two beams crashed into it. The impact sent him flying, his back slamming into the cavern floor with a bone-shaking thud.
The force of the blow knocked the breath out of him, his vision momentarily going black from the sheer intensity of the collision.
The ground beneath him cracked, and streams of magma spilt out, sizzling as they spread toward him.
But Evan didn’t lose consciousness.
"MESARTHIM!"
His shout ignited the air as his prismatic flames erupted with the brilliance of a newborn star. His Blessing of Destruction was activated and a crimson-gold aura engulfed him.
Thousands of Frostfire weapons manifested in the air around him and shot towards the source of the beams above.
Simultaneously, a crimson-gold portal opened above his head, unleashing a torrent of pure destruction law energy.
But the danger hadn’t passed.
From the darkened sky above, countless beams of light rained down, miniature versions of the catastrophic blast that had taken Arthur.
Though smaller, their sheer numbers made them just as lethal. The cavern filled with the sound of crashing energy, the beams striking the ground like meteors.
Evan unleashed skills without hesitation.
Ambient unattributed magic power condensed rapidly into devastating bullets that ripped apart the space around him. Each bullet collided with the beams of light, disintegrating them on impact. Elemental energy swirled into a vortex around him, whipping the lava into a gale that scattered the incoming beams.
A giant armoured knight construct rose from the earth to defend him, but it barely lasted a second before the barrage tore through it, leaving it riddled with holes.
Blue esoteric lightning crackled from the Rogue Hero’s body, striking the beams out of the air. Random bursts of all the elemental energies he controlled scattered around him, pushing back the deadly rain.
Time bombs shot forward in rapid succession, while prismatic blades of light cut through the sky like the wings of celestial beings.
Space fractured, lightning and destructive flames poured out from Evan’s form, and the clash of elemental and law energies filled the air.
Just as the chaos in the cavern reached its breaking point, a True Voice boomed across the region, tearing through the air with such power that everyone’s heads rang in sharp pain, an overwhelming force pressing down on their minds.
|¬ENOUGH!!!¬|
