Chapter 103 - Trial (4)

I looked toward the central volcano from a safe distance of more than three thousand feet, far out of the reach of the Lesser Fire Elemental.

Each day, for the past whole week, I had fought three battles with the Lesser Fire Elemental. And I could only smile at the result of these fifteen battles.

The central volcano was now the smallest out of the five volcanoes. I had flatten it by more than two thousand and a half feet. The central volcano was now a mere shadow of its former height. It was almost gratifying to see the result.

The time was a little past afternoon now, but even if day had turned night, and the sun had gone down, the lakes of fire, the streams of fire, and the lighting from the volcanoes would have beaten back the darkness. This was an island of fire, one of the hidden territories of the Fire Elementals.

Navra had told me that this Lesser Fire Elemental bound to the central volcano was trapped and unable to go back to its realm.

Then after disappearing for two days, and coming back afterward, Navra had found out that this territory had been long abandoned by the Fire Elementals. This was the reason why such excessive use of magic had not alerted the Greater Fire Elementals. The island of fire was no longer bound to the Elemental Planes.

A sad thought.

The Lesser Fire Elemental had been abandoned by all that it knew of.

And ironically, I was now shattering the only place left to the Lesser Fire Elemental into thousands of pieces.

I stood up from the ground I had been resting on. It was near a fire of lake and the ground was quite warm. My magic had fully recovered.

The afternoon sun would witness the third battle of the day.

“Virdus Vict Sangius.”

At those Ancient words of the dragons, which somehow shaped and influence magic more effectively, I formed a crystallized blood armor, including gauntlets, a helmet with two small visors, and armored boots.

It was time to further beat the Lesser Fire Elemental into submission. There was no one else on this island. Only the Lesser Fire Elemental and I were here.

Navra and Aqua were getting some food at a nearby place, so there was still time before they would come back.

Using magic, I sprouted black, leathery dragon wings from the specially made holes in the back of my Dragon Living Blood Armor. They spanned over eleven feet and could have wrapped around two human bodies easily.

I took flight, ascending more than a thousand feet, before finally stopping in midair, and flapping every few seconds to maintain my altitude.

Taking a small breath, I started flying toward the central volcano. And as soon as I was within a three thousand reach of the central volcano, the ground suddenly cracked open, shooting out molten fire and pieces of rocks that were still melting.

It was a nice try, but I had been expecting such surprise attacks. I formed enormous shields made of earth out of thin air and dropped them downward the multiple rising streams of molten fire. The few pillars of fire that had gotten past the earthen obstacles I created, I quickly dodged with ease. I sped up, and didn't even need to look back to know that the molten fire would now begin its chase.

Up ahead, from the diminished craters of the volcano, jets of molten fire burst out of them, mixing together to from one large mass. The mass of crackling flames and melting rocks came straight at me. It was the largest mass of fire I had seen by far.

The Lesser Fire Elemental was no doubt angry beyond reason.

I smiled a little in amusement.

During the past week, I had realized that as long as I was not in contact with the region the Lesser Fire Elemental was bounded to, the elemental could not mentally communicate with me.

As I charged toward the incoming torrents of molten fire while other torrents of molten fire and mixed rocks chased my back, I formed a half spherical shield of black flames to cover the front of my entire body. Then I folded my wings to maximize the efficiency of magic consumption.

No longer supported in the air by my wings, I instantly fell toward the ground at a breakneck speed. I fell diagonally and went through the incoming blanket of molten fire and rocks. The air and molten fire rushed around me, but I could feel nothing. Everything, except for myself and my armor, were all devoured by the black flames that shielded me.

A few seconds passed by before I was finally out of that blanket of molten fire. I unfolded my wings, stopping my free fall, and instantly started flying toward the central volcano. There was only about a thousand feet or so left before I reached it. I was also far in the lead, so there was still time left before the chasing streams of fire caught up with me.

I turned my head a little and was surprised to find all of the molten fire drop to the ground harmlessly, no longer chasing me. Everything became silent.

I wondered to myself what was happening.

My wondering was soon answered.

Suddenly, the whole volcano and the region it stood on, started shaking. The ground rumbled, pieces of earth were torn, and rocks grated against each other.

Cracks, tears, and all sorts of fissures formed near the ground of the volcano. Jets of magma and fresh molten fire from deep underground sprouted from these holes and fissures, pouring forth like a flood. Then the top of the volcano erupted, along with half of its whole mountainous body. Smoke rose up from the summit of the eruption, covering the sky and clouds for a good distance around. Boulders formed from the explosions due to the eruption, and they went flying for more than a hundred feet before smashing into the ground, becoming swallowed up by the flood of fire.

All of the magma and fresh molten fire started congregating toward the central volcano. When most of the fire and melting rocks were gathered, a vaguely humanoid shape rose up from the combined pool of molten fire.

The shape had no face, nor any distinctive marks. It was just half of a body with two huge, long-reaching arms made partly out of melting rock and molten fire.

“Ashes, I think I made it a little too angry...” I said softly to myself, while staring at the Lesser Fire Elemental. It was most likely more than six hundred feet tall, and far overshadowed me.

The fiery masses of molten rock turned toward me and a primal roar was emitted from the hole where its mouth should have been, Except it did not sound like a roar—the Lesser Fire Elemental had no voice.

No, instead of a roar, it shot out a crackling burst of molten fire that was more than twenty feet tall and twenty feet wide.

I instantly swerved to one side, barely dodging the stream of molten fire. Some large pieces of melting rock smashed against my armor, but there was not much harm done.

A cold state came over me, like cold fire mixed with anger running through my whole body and mind.

The cold state happened frequently when I was in a life-threatening situation or I was severely wounded. But it was still an unpredictable ability like my gift for sensing danger—both abilities came and go, entering and leaving without notice.

For example, my fight with Eden in the Dragon's Duel of Dominance was one such time the ability did not activate. And another time was when I met the Midling Ethera, the four-horned woman.

It was only later on in my life that my suspicions of this cold state, this cold anger, which seemed to enhance my magic and strength slightly, were confirmed. Likewise, my unpredictable gift for sensing danger was no exception.

With this cold state I was in, my physical abilities and my magical abilities became slightly enhanced. My surroundings became sharper and more focused. I became more aware of time passing by and the flames the Lesser Fire Elemental emitted from its body turned a more intense color.

I transformed my hands and feet into their dragon form, the Dragon Living Blood Armor instantly stretching and covering the growth. My talons were now covered in crystallized blood armor, sharpened into deadly points.

“Sangius!”

With my right dragon hand, I held a weapon that could not even be called a sword anymore. The blade was more than ten feet long, three feet wide, and just thick enough to support the weight. The hilt of this weapon was about two feet long and a huge spiraling guard covered more than half the hilt, as if some great beast had swallowed my hand and wrist.

At the same time Sangius finished forming, I felt myself weaken due to infusing blood into the weapon. With my dragon strength, the heavy weapon, somewhat lighter than steel due to its nature which was related to my blood and magic, was lifted easily with just one hand.

I took up the sword stance of the Wandering Flame and started charging through the air toward the Lesser Fire Elemental.

Pockets of molten fire exploded outward from the elemental's body, all of them coiling like snakes and eager to swallow me whole. At the same time this was happening, the elemental moved its enormous, vaguely human arm, which could have flatten a small mountain.

As soon as the surrounding molten fire and the arm and its hand were about to slam down on me, I coated Sangius, my weapon, with thin black flames. Seeing the hand coming, I did not retreat, but instead dodged toward my right and went forward. Then I lengthened Sangius into twice its length, cutting into the arm of the Lesser Fire Elemental. My sword pierced into its gigantic arm, I started accelerating up into the air, ascending and ascending as the molten fire roared and relentlessly chased me. I climbed for more than three hundred feet before stopping.

Having stopped, I quickly shortened Sangius back to its normal length, and coated both my wings and my entire body with black flames. I held it for a few seconds until all the molten fire that was chasing me slammed into the coating, becoming food for the black flames.

Canceling the black flames, I briefly glanced down just in time to see half of the enormous magma-like arm of the elemental split into two. Half of the molten fiery arm studded with melting rocks slammed into the ground, creating shock waves and blowing up dust and small pieces of boulders everywhere for more than a two hundred feet distance. The sound was earth-shaking, as if multiple thunder bolts had struck the ground.

Having glanced at the result for less than a second, I flew toward the head of the Lesser Fire Elemental. It was giving out a roar of crackling molten fire, as if it had been hurt by the severance of its left arm. From the hole where its mouth was, a stream of molten fire came bursting out.

I cut through the entire thing like a sharp knife would to butter. With its more than ten feet length of blade, I slashed across the entire face of the Lesser Fire Elemental.

A few minutes passed by as I dealt similar slash wounds across the elemental's entire body from Sangius coated with brief half seconds of black flames. These few minutes, I conserved my magic reserves like a beggar would for precious gold, only using shields of fire and blood when absolutely necessary.

The rest of the time, I dodged and flew around, dealing slashes and mainly relying on my physical abilities.

As the minutes passed by, I noticed less and less molten fire bursting out and chasing me around. I also noticed the Lesser Fire Elemental moving around less and less, as if it was getting weaker. At the same time, I was also over-exhausting my magic reserves. I had most likely already used more than thirty seconds of black flames, which were separated by brief, second intervals of uses.

It was only due to the cold state I was in that I was even barely able to continue on. A headache was coursing through me, and pain wracked my whole body, but these pains were dampened by the cold state.

I dodged a pillar of molten fire that had suddenly shot out from its shoulder. Then I spun around, charging toward its face and dealt another slash toward it. I flew down, and pierced Sangius into its vaguely shaped neck. With Sangius still pierced into the neck, I started flying across sideways while bursts of molten fire attempted to pierce through my armor.

The first initial barrage of molten fire wasn't very effective, but through repeated attacks and long contact, some areas of my armor broke down, only to instantly consume my blood and replace the damage.

By the time I reached the other side of its neck, which was made out of melting rock and molten fire, my vision had turned dark and blurry. My cold state left me and my armor and sword instantly disappeared as I canceled the small drain of magic my armor and sword fed upon.

I had used too much magic and lost too much blood.

I was exhausted both mentally and physically.

A few burnt marks and spots of blood were on my wings and half-naked body.

I turned my blurry vision toward the Lesser Fire Elemental. It had stopped moving for some time now with its almost severed neck. Most likely, the elemental had also run out of power.

Surrounding the both of us were scenes of destruction, upturned areas of ground, small hills created from the elemental slamming its arm, and pools of molten fire. The whole region the elemental was bounded to could not longer be recognized. Even the central volcano was a scene of destruction. It could not even be called a shadow of its former glory.

With my last remaining strength, I flew toward a relatively safe ground which was not surrounded by molten fire. I landed on a piece of upturned earthen ground, before dropping down onto it face-flat.

“You have destroyed my land, my binding site, and with it...my life,” a weak mental voice resounded throughout my mind. It was from the Lesser Fire Elemental.

Ah, right...I thought to myself. I was in contact with its region.

“You should bind with me then...I will accept you as a partner, and friend,” I said, my voice trailing off as I tried one last time to convince the Lesser Fire Elemental.

I felt so weak. So sleepy.

My vision was becoming darker and darker as each second passed by.

I closed my eyes, hearing a voice coming from above. “I shall bring you toward the dying elemental,” the voice said.

It sounded familiar.

Navra?

I felt my body being lifted.

The last image before consciousness left me was of a shapely form of a woman with two bare breasts. She was entirely made out of bright yellow and orange fire.

Her fiery orange hand stretched toward me, as if trying to reach for me.

“We shall be bound then....now and forever...”