Chapter 494 The Inverted Sea of Flame

“Dammit, this bastard’s racial ability is just plain broken!”

Laki clicked her tongue in frustration.

“There’s no helping it…… If we could seal off this lava, we’d be fine. With Lady Irus’s strength, she could definitely take him down. But regrettably, there are no ‘what-ifs’ in reality.”

“Tch, you just said nothing at all!”

Whoosh——!

A flame whip suddenly shot up from beneath the magma.

“Look out!”

Crack!

Laki shouted the warning at once, but Fulmir was too slow to dodge and took the hit square in the back.

Laki darted forward and caught him.

“Hey, you alright?!”

“Cough…… cough!” Fulmir spat up a mouthful of blood. “I’m fine. Not dead yet……”

“What are you doing getting this close, anyway?! You’re a long-range fighter!” Laki snapped at him.

“I had no choice……”

Fulmir said helplessly.

“If I stay too far back, he blocks all my attacks easily. I had to take the risk.”

Laki stared at him, speechless.

“……Says the man who hasn’t landed a single meaningful blow even at close range.”

“……”

Boom!

A deafening crash boomed ahead.

Once again, a gaping hole was blasted through Sugart’s chest.

Splash!

Amid a spray of churning lava, Sugart collapsed into the magma.

Still, none of them felt any joy from the strike—they had seen this scene far too many times.

Sure enough,

as the energy of the magma flooded into him wildly, the piercing wound in Sugart’s chest closed at a visible pace once more.

“Tch, how can something be this stubborn!”

Laki grumbled aloud, already bracing herself to defend. Whenever Sugart recovered from a heavy injury, he always launched a frenzied counterattack immediately.

But this time, the expected assault never came.

“Heh heh heh……”

A low, sinister chuckle rose from the sea of lava.

“At last——

I’ve waited long enough!”

Rumble!

The entire sea of lava erupted into a violent frenzy.

The molten rock surged upward, inverting toward the sky.

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The group in the air quickly climbed higher, narrowly dodging the attack.

“HAHAHA——my power!

I’ve finally returned to my peak!!!

You lot——prepare to die——”

Hum! Hum! Hum……

Sugart stood rooted in the lava, colossal energy pouring endlessly into his body. His form burned brighter and brighter red, until he radiated a blinding, searing light.

“This is bad! Retreat——now!”

Laki and Fulmir sensed the danger at once and scrambled to pull back.

But in the next moment,

BOOM——!!!

A raging shockwave of fire exploded outward in all directions.

Unlike Laki and Fulmir, who fled,

Irus did not retreat even an inch. She simply watched the onrushing inferno calmly……

then charged straight into the attack.

The flames seared her body endlessly, but the rate at which they wounded her could not keep up with her regeneration.

Bang!

Her strike landed solidly.

Sugart staggered, and the flame storm cut off abruptly.

He caught himself before he could fall, his blazing red eyes locking onto Irus with a vicious grin.

“Your attacks are useless now~!”

Splash!

The magma roiled.

Several flame whips shot up from the lava, lunging at Irus from every angle.

“Whether they are useless is not for you to decide.”

Boom——!

The green radiance blazing around Irus swelled once more. She blurred and evaded the assault with ease.

“Hmph! We’ll see how long your vitality can burn! Die——”

The sea of flame inverted upward, clashing violently with the green storm. The battle raged so fiercely that no one could tell where the sky ended and the ground began.

……

Beneath the ash-choked sky,

Hulim Heyerar drew closer and closer to the erupting volcano.

Pop~.

All at once, a strange, indescribable sensation welled up in her chest.

“Hm?”

Hulim halted her advance abruptly, staring ahead in confusion.

What…… was that just now?

“……”

……

On a mountaintop far from the battle’s center.

“Dammit……” Laki glowered at the distant clash, her face twisted with frustration. “We got pushed back again! If I could master that spell, a bastard like this…… ugh!”

The two beside her stayed silent, unwilling to provoke her while her resentment was boiling over.

But after a long quiet,

Fulmir spoke up anyway:

“……Laki, you’re already strong enough. The fact that you haven’t taken a single injury this entire fight is incredible, unlike me——”

He lifted his fractured right hand with a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

“Pathetic, isn’t it?”

Laki shot him a glance.

“Yeah, it’s pretty pathetic. Half your ribs broken, internal organs damaged, severe muscle tears…… But lucky for you, they’re only mildly fatal wounds.”

“……”

Fulmir’s smile froze solid.

He clamped his mouth shut and pulled out a healing potion wordlessly……

Watching the two fall silent again,

Aralond, standing off to the side, finally could not hold back any longer.

“Master…… I’m so sorry. I couldn’t be of any help at all.”

Fulmir looked at him with a grave, earnest expression.

“Aralond, you have a far more important battlefield waiting for you. Do not blame yourself for this!”

“Do not dwell on temporary weakness. You will grow strong one day, and what feels like an impossible trial today will be trivial to you tomorrow.”

“But……”

“You there, Hero—what are you moping about?” Laki cut in. “Did you not see both of us forced to retreat? If we’re being honest, we’re all equally useless…… tch! It makes me sick just thinking about it! I can’t just sit here and watch!”

Laki cracked her knuckles.

“Even if I have to bite him, I’ll tear a chunk out of that monster! Fulmir! When your potion kicks in, we’re going back in——”

Rumble!

A violent, piercing sound of cutting air suddenly came from behind the three.

They turned around instinctively,

and saw Hulim Heyerar land softly behind them.

“Hulim?”

Laki stared at her in astonishment.

“You’re here…… that means……”

Hulim nodded gently.

“The matter with Hena has been resolved.”

“I see……”

Upon hearing this, a massive weight lifted from Laki’s heart. She exhaled deeply, her voice soft with relief.

“That girl’s finally saved……”

She then looked at Hulim with a complicated, grateful gaze.

“Hulim…… I truly owe you all a debt this time.”

“There’s no need to thank me. It was not something I could stand by and ignore. More importantly…… can you bring me up to speed on the current situation?”

Hulim glanced forward, where nothing but a roiling sea of flame churned in the air. She could not see the battle within from the outside, and Irus was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, of course. In short……”

It did not take long for Hulim to learn everything from the three.

“I see…… A Fire Demon fully restored to his peak.”

Hulim stared quietly ahead, her expression giving nothing away—she did not seem particularly troubled by the Fire Demon at his full power.

“Hulim, I know your strength is extraordinary, but this Fire Demon is no ordinary foe. He is a Demon General to begin with, and now he stands on his absolute home terrain. He is all but unkillable. Do not act recklessly. We must plan our strategy first——”

Shwaa——!

Before Laki could finish her sentence,

Hulim’s figure blurred and vanished before her eyes.

When she focused again, Hulim was already charging straight for the heart of the battle.

“……” Laki’s words died in her throat. “That girl…… can you ever just listen to people?!”

Boom!

Fuming, Laki shot forward in pursuit.