Chapter 498 Diving Beneath the Lava

Irus’s figure descended slowly.

With a wave of her Staff of the Sacred Tree, the falling dwarves were lifted up by a gust of wind and set safely back on solid ground.

“Irus!” Charkin’s eyes lit up, and he let out a long breath of relief. “You’ve finally arrived!”

Thud!

Another heavy crash resounded as Laki landed in front of the crowd, her movements sharp and urgent.

“How bad is it?!”

She scanned the legion in an instant, and when she saw the soldiers were mostly unharmed, the weight in her heart lifted at last.

“Thank the gods, it looks like there’s no major loss. You two have fought hard......”

Thud!

Fulmir and Aralond arrived right on her heels.

“Lord Aralond! Lord Fulmir——!”

At the sight of them, the dwarves’ spirits lifted at once, cheers rising from the crowd.

“Everyone, quiet——”

Aralond raised his sacred shield to signal, his voice steady and firm.

“I’ll get you all out of here first!”

With that, he turned to Fulmir.

“Master.”

“Mm.”

Fulmir nodded.

The two stepped side by side to the edge of the islet.

“O Earth, converge!”

Rumble......

The land that had become an isolated islet rose up suddenly, and a wide stone bridge even extended from it, connecting to the distant solid ground.

“Everyone, cross at once!”

“Yes, sir!!!”

The dwarves replied in a single thunderous voice,

streaming across the stone bridge and fleeing the islet without delay.

Thus, hand in hand, Aralond and Fulmir led the Dwarven Legion to a smooth retreat.

“......”

“What’s wrong, Aralond? You look troubled.”

“Master......” Aralond lifted his head and stared around at the shattered plains, his eyes clouded with confusion as he sighed. “I just suddenly don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Coming all the way from the volcano, I finally realized this disaster’s scale is far beyond what I ever imagined.”

“This isn’t something I can overcome with faith alone. This is reality—and the harsh truth is, even if my power reaches its peak, I’ll never be able to subdue this volcano.”

“......” Fulmir fell silent.

For he knew Aralond was right.

Only when you saw the full scope of the destruction did you understand: this catastrophe had long since surpassed what any mortal could handle. It was a calamity that no one could resolve—unless the gods themselves descended to the mortal realm......

Understanding the helplessness in Aralond’s heart,

Fulmir spoke, his voice gentle yet resolute:

“Even so, do not doubt yourself easily...... You are the Hero. Countless lives will need your protection in the days to come. Take this as your mission—save the lives you can, right here, right now. The disaster may be inevitable, but there are still innumerable souls in the Northern Wastes. Do all you can to save them before the long winter arrives.”

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“You’re right......”

Aralond glanced back at the colossal volcanic caldera in the distance,

his eyes filled with bitter unwillingness—and a faint glimmer of hope.

If only the gods would descend......

......

“Roar——!”

High above the massive volcanic caldera,

the crimson dragon circled endlessly, his golden eyes scanning the churning lava below.

Yet after searching for a long while, he saw no sign of the figure he sought.

“There’s no trace of her at all! It seems she really has dived into the lava.”

“Why...... would Hulim Heyerar do something like this all of a sudden?” Prarlulu’s face was etched with confusion and worry.

“I don’t know either. She’s been acting strange ever since the volcano erupted...... Ignir, you’re the Flame Dragon King—can you go down and check?”

“......I am the Flame Dragon King, true, but I can’t stay in molten lava for long. And there’s nothing to see in there anyway—blind searching is useless.”

“Then what do we do now? Lady Laki and the others have left too......”

The two girls on his back fell silent, their voices heavy with dejection.

This left Ignir at a loss.

He was never any good at comforting others.

“Oh! We can go find Lady Irus!”

“Irus?”

“Yes! Lady Irus is the wisest person I know. She might understand what’s happening to Hulim Heyerar.”

“Hmm......”

Miko Kedar lifted her head and stared out at the endless sea of fire stretching in all directions. There was not a single sign of Irus and the others anywhere.

“Ignir, can you find her?”

“Of course I can!”

With that, Ignir beat his wings hard and changed direction at once.

“Hold on tight, you two!”

Whoosh——!

A fierce gust of wind blustered by, and Ignir soared away from the volcanic caldera.

At the very same moment,

far beneath the Red Mist Volcano.

Gurgle, gurgle......

The sound of boiling, searing lava echoed endlessly in her ears.

How far underground had she gone......

Hulim Heyerar had no idea.

She only knew she had been swimming through the magma for what felt like an eternity.

Her vision was filled with an unchanging sea of crimson—nothing else. She could only follow that faint, unshakable pull, moving ever forward along the shortest path to its source......

All around her, the pressure of the lava grew stronger and stronger,

yet it could not breach her defenses in the slightest.

And so,

she traveled on, for what seemed like an age.

Bang!

Hulim Heyerar slammed into a thick layer of solid rock, halting her advance.

“It’s beneath this......”

She could feel the call, clear and strong, coming from the other side of the rock formation.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she pointed her wand straight ahead.

BOOM——!

A deafening crash resounded through the underground chamber that had lain silent for untold millennia.

Huge chunks of rock broke off and fell into the lava river below, sending up plumes of scorching spray.

Shwoop!

Hulim Heyerar’s figure appeared in an instant within the vast underground cavern, her gaze sweeping across her new surroundings.

As far as the eye could see,

the entire cavern was lined with hard, black rock. Countless lava waterfalls—thin as crimson threads—tumbled down from the rock face, falling to the depths below to become the source of the countless lava rivers on the surface above.

From the traces left on the rock, this place had not been formed by the recent volcanic eruption. It had existed like this, since the very beginning.

Rush!

The sound of surging lava echoed from the opening above her.

Whoosh!

Hulim Heyerar darted aside in a flash, leaving her previous position empty.

A moment later, a massive crimson lava waterfall crashed down from the hole she had blasted open, slamming heavily into the ground below.

Boom!

With a constant, rumbling roar,

a lava lake slowly formed on the cavern floor.

Perhaps, before long, a new mighty lava river would be born here.

Hulim Heyerar tore her gaze away from the lava lake and fixed it forward,

toward the center of the vast underground cavern—the place where all the lava rivers ultimately converged.

In the middle of a circular lava lake, a small islet stood silent and solitary.

Upon that islet sat a temple—one clearly built by mortal hands, and one she had seen twice before.

Whoosh!

Hulim Heyerar flew high above the temple,

only to be stopped by a faint crimson barrier blocking her path.

She reached out and touched it gently, and a searing heat shot up her palm at once.

She glanced down at the circular lava lake below the temple.

“It’s drawing its power from the lava......”

Much like that Fire Demon Sugart.

If that was the case......

“First, I’ll cut off your power source.”

She gripped her Seven Luminaries wand tightly with both hands.

“Infinite Strike! Unleash all mana!”

Hum! Hum! Hum......

Dense, countless magic circles spread across the cavern’s sky, glowing with a cold blue light.

“Freeze—Ice Seal!!!”

Crack!

In the blink of an eye, the entire circular lava lake froze solid. A vast white plain of ice spread outward, inch by inch,

freezing the flowing lava rivers still and turning the tumbling lava waterfalls into towering ice pillars.

The ice spread until everything in her field of vision was blanketed in white—only then did the magic stop.

Pant......

Hulim Heyerar let out a slow breath.

The mana she had just exhausted was regenerating at a rapid pace.

Ordinarily, in a place where fire elemental energy reigned supreme, a mage with multi-elemental mana like her would struggle to regenerate their power.

But the mana restored by her Infinite Strike was born from nothingness, completely unaffected by the surrounding environment. Even in a place with no magical energy at all, she could unleash her magic without restraint.

“Now this should work......”

She pointed her Seven Luminaries at the crimson barrier before her.

BOOM——!

With a deafening crash, the barrier shattered into countless pieces.

Hulim Heyerar darted through the gap at once, entering the temple.

......