Chapter 143: [143] Eruption

"A what?" Olivia gave Ark a blank stare.

"A volcanic eruption!" He replied excitedly.

Thalia glanced at the volcano and then back at him. "How?"

"There is no time to explain..." Ark turned to the salamanders, just as their jet of fire ceased. They had held out for long enough, it was about time they took over.

"All you have to do is stall the monster long enough, take its eyes off me and get ready to run!"

Just as Ark finished his sentence, he dashed towards the other side of the mountain.

As though sensing that he would be the more troublesome one among them, the giant ignored all the others, and turned its attention to Ark.

Swish!

Its sword cut down like lightning, slicing right towards Ark’s average heighted body, but just as the sword came down, Ark vanished into thin air.

Boom!

The sword sunk into the earth like a knife through tofu. The ground melted and it slipped right in, causing Olivia to gulp.

"So that could have been us..." she muttered in disbelief.

The monster pulled out its blade with satisfaction, expecting to see a pile of smothering bones, but to its surprise, the area was empty.

"Olivia, let’s go!" Thalia immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the salamanders

Once they got to them, Olivia got atop Tai, while Thalia mounted Kenny.

’Ark asked us to stall for time, but he did not exactly tell us how many minutes he needs...’ Thalia thought as she stared up at the giant.

The monster, having found no trace of Ark, spun around, seemingly enraged. Fire gushed out of its nostrils, and its eye sockets seemed to grow even brighter than before.

It opened its mouth wide, and then a jet of lava splashed out, flying right towards them...

"Let’s go!"

Shhhhhh!

Kenny lunged to the side as the lava splashed on the floor. The obsidian giant did not stop the stream, the lava kept pouring as it followed after them.

’...That means we just need to keep buying time until he is ready!’

The lava stream left a river of fire in its path as they ran, the lava inches away from getting to them.

"Faster Kenny!"

Tai was already ahead of them, his body a blur of red scales. Kenny increased her speed, blasting forward as well, but Thalia could tell that the gravity of the region was getting to her...

It was getting to all of them. Thalia was sweating profusely, her limbs felt stiff, and now, it felt as though even her heart required effort to beat.

This was not a place they could stay in for long...

Still, the stream of lava was not the only thing they had to look out for.

"Incoming!" Olivia suddenly screamed at the top of her voice, as the colossal sword came down in front of them, shining so brightly with fire, that it was as though the sun had descended.

"Up, we have to go above it, now!"

Boom!

As the sword collided with the ground, a gust of fire rolled over the floor like a flood, blowing apart anything in its path.

But both Kenny and Tai had jumped on time, leaping over the raging fire.

They landed roughly on the hot floor, nearly falling off their mounts, and then they turned around to see the giant staring down at them like they were insects.

Lava came down with the sword that could cleave through houses, and Thalia could only pray in her heart of hearts, that whatever Ark was sowing...

He would complete it fast!

<•••>

While Thalia and Olivia were holding the obsidian giant back, Ark arrived at the opposite side of the volcano, right behind the giant.

Only when he was sure that the giant would not notice him did he undo his stealth. Then he glanced at the burning magma below...

"This is perfect."

At first, he was not sure if it would be even possible to actually cause an eruption.

To cause a volcano to erupt, there needed to be a consistent build up of pressure, one that would be strong enough to cause it to burst.

If the magma had cooled down, then it would require far too much mana to cause a reaction, but since it was already extremely hot...

’System, assign all 36 points to mana!’

As the system assigned the points into his mana stats, a feeling of pure ecstasy overwhelmed him.

Normally, improving his core always felt good, and each time he added a point to his mana, he felt a reasonable change.

But this time... it felt as though his core had reached a whole new level.

His eyes burned just as hot as the fire below, as he transformed his odachi into a magic staff, pointing it at the lava below.

’With that, I have finally reached 1000 mana points...’

"This should be enough. Jenna!"

Jenna suddenly appeared next to him, and following his mental command, she placed her hand over the volcano, and then black ice began to surge from its edges, sealing the volcano.

To build up pressure...

They needed to make sure the pressure did not escape.

The black ice pinned the giant on all sides, trapping it within the volcano. The entire surface of the wide volcano was completely sealed, leaving only a small region for Ark’s staff to pass through.

"Spell amplification."

"Armament!"

"Transcend!"

"Emperor’s Domination!"

With each buff, Ark felt his body grow with tremendous power. Before when his mana supplies were much lower, he could not have even dreamed about using so many spells.

But now...

His eyes glowed golden as he opened his teeth to summon the final spell...

"Destructive flames."

VWOOOOOSH!

Ark could not see it, but he could tell... the fire raging out of his staff was the greatest amount of it he had ever summoned.

The volcano trembled on impact as heat began to build up like a closed pressure cooker.

The obsidian giant immediately turned around, and raised its sword to shatter the ice, but Olivia’s spell, accompanied by the salamander’s fire slammed into it, causing part of the ice to break.

This distraction gave Jenna just enough time to run along the ice and get to the giant. She waved her staff in the air, creating pillars of ice that rose to the sky, pinning the giant in place and sealing the cracks in a thicker layer.

Ark could feel mana rush out of him, but it was worth it.

He continued to unleash even more fire, feeling the volcano react to his gift of love, as it trembled with excitement.

The giant opened its mouth wide, about to shoot out fire, when a gust of water slammed into its throat, and flying steel swords sunk into its eyes.

SKREEEEEE!

The giant howled like a wounded beast, thrashing around to scatter the ice, while trying to pull out the swords from its eyes.

Ark glanced at the direction the attack had come from only to see the rest of his summons joining the fight, bathed in the blood of their enemies.

’It looks like they are done on their end...’ Ark laughed internally.

"It’s about time I finished up as well!"

With the combined efforts of everyone, they managed to keep the giant at bay, until it was time—

"GET OUT OF HERE!!"

No one needed to tell them twice, because just like Ark could feel it from where he stood, they could feel it as well...

The volcano was about to erupt.

The obsidian giant shattered the bindings keeping it in place, then turned around to fix its shattered eyes on Ark, staring at him with pure, unadulterated killing intent.

But...

"You’re a little too late." Ark laughed with madness in his eyes. "This volcano you love so much...."

The ground trembled.

The floor underneath his feet began to melt.

"Will be your tomb!"

And just as the words left his lips, the very volcano split apart, just before an explosion so loud that it was heard all the way back in Issen, rippled outwards—

BOOOOOOOM!

<••>

A few minutes later, in the land of ash and fire, for the first time in a thousand years, the ashen sky was split apart, and the golden sun rays shone upon the barren land.

The light drifted down from the veil above, casting its glow upon the figure of a mad skeleton, sitting atop the burned carcass of an obsidian giant.

[You have slain a level 30 Charged Obsidian Giant! +500 EXP]

[Your comprehension over Destructive Flames has increased!]

[You have awakened a new skill, Charge Fire (A-Rank)]

[Harvest Successful! You have successfully received an A-Rank Skill, Vector Manipulation!]