New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 1018: Reaching The Inside Of The Volcano

"What is it with this heat? I thought it was supposed to be a dormant volcano..." Alex complained.

"Remember when I said it was becoming active again? Or were you not listening during the briefing?" David replied, looking at him with exasperation.

"I know, but still... I\'m sweating all over. It\'s hotter than Satan\'s ba-oof!" Alex started saying before Kary elbowed him in the ribs.

"There are kids with us. Mind your choice of words," she admonished him with a glare. "Sorry," he replied with an apologetic gaze, rubbing his side.

David chuckled as he kept walking, well aware of the landmine he evaded by keeping his mouth shut.

"In any case, this can only mean one thing," he said, looking at a bend in the tunnel ahead, where he could see a bright orange glow.

With the tunnels up to now having been dark from the start, seeing this glow was the cue for them to get on high alert.

"We\'ve reached the epicentre of the dungeon," he declared, turning the corner and entering a vast open space.

He had to halt abruptly, as the tunnel ended on a narrow ledge, with a drop of several hundred feet leading into a small lake of magma below. The ledge extended to both his right and left, leading to bridges leading down to an elevated platform in the cavern\'s center.

On this platform, a semblance of a settlement was erected, with huts made of volcanic stone, all amassed around what looked like an altar in the center.

The construction looked like a dragon\'s head, sculpted in stone and adorned with bones, made to look down on the ones worshipping it below.

In its eyes sockets, two glowing orbs of vivid red shone in the already orange glow of the magma reflecting off the walls, making the statue look like it was watching everyone.

"That\'s creepy," Cory said, shivering as he saw the statue from afar.

Behind the settlement, opposite the ledge they stood on, a path carved in stone disappeared into the far-end wall. But by the dragon carving over the crack in the wall at the end of the path, Alex knew where this led instinctively.

And he wasn\'t the only one.

"Seems we have our objective just ahead of us," Kary said, pointing at the crack in the wall. Everyone\'s previously calm facade cracked a little as they realized the hardest fight was just ahead of them, past this village in which they were sure were still plenty of foes and beyond a dark crack in the stone that led to the unknown.

They could feel the tension inside them reach a new peak, ready to burst their bubble of courage. But Kary wasn\'t going to let self-doubt ruin their chances.

"One last push, then," she said, stepping near the ledge.

Everyone\'s attention snapped to her, and she looked at each person present with a confident smile, even though her hands, which she brought behind her back to hide them, were shaking just as much as anyone else\'s.

"The end of this dungeon lay just beyond what our eyes can see, but I know you can all feel its intense pressure. But now is the time to steel ourselves for a last confrontation. Whatever lies in that small village will only distract from our true purpose.

"Whatever lay beyond that tunnel over there is what we came for," she said, pointing at the crack beyond the kobold settlement.

"Once we deal with whatever remains of the trash mob, only our true objective will remain. And with it, the end of this ordeal and a welcome trip back home, where we all relax."

Her gaze scanned over everyone, and she could tell the tension was at its peak, but it was now contained in renewed confidence.

"Let\'s go kick some lizard ass; what say you?" she asked, pumping a fist above her head.

"Aye!" Alex shouted before the others followed, courage flowing through them again.

But the sound of leathery hands clapping resounded in the cave, interrupting their pump-up ritual.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"What a touching speech, human. Too bad it was all for naught. Did you think I would let you guys reach the great one\'s antechamber without blocking your path?" a familiar voice mocked.

From high above, descending slowly above the pools of magma in a controlled flight, using the ascending thermal winds, a single kobold glided down, wings on his back fully open. Kary instantly recognized him as the sorcerer kobold from earlier, who had fled the battle. "Actually, I was hoping you would come and fight, you coward. You and I aren\'t done seeing who the strongest flame user is," Kary mocked back, trying to taunt him.

The kobold spat at her attempt to taunt him and kept gliding safely away from them. "Your words are wasted on me, human. You do not scare me more than the great one does. My kin\'s fate lies in his hands, not yours. And I would rather blow this entire place up with you inside than let the great one choose their deaths for them."

Kary frowned at the lizard\'s words, something not adding up.

"Are you fighting under threat? Is that truly your motivation? Why don\'t you just let us through, and we can deal with him for you?" she asked, confused.

Spitting toward Kary, the lizard glared at her.

"As if your kind would ever have the power to contend against something as powerful as the great one. Don\'t mock me, human."

Alex wanted to interrupt the conversation and be done with the kobold, but when he stepped forward, Kary glared at him from the corner of her eye.

"He\'s mine," she growled.

Alex immediately backed off, raising his hands in surrender.

"Okay, don\'t bite my head off, jeez..."

"Just deal with the rest of the kobolds. I\'ll deal with this one," she replied, locking her eyes on him.

The sorcerer could tell the humans were about to split up, but he couldn\'t care less. He was already reaching deep within himself to prepare for a spell that would end them all, and hen/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

couldn\'t be bothered to try to hold them together.

They would all burn equally.

Looking down on Kary, he opened his arms wide, the mana inside him welling up abruptly.

"May the wrath of fire devour your impertinence and teach you the meaning of power."

As he erupted with power, one last phrase escaped his lips.

"Volcanus Iram: Rain of Death."