Chapter 46: Lava snakes

The environment was the closest thing to the description of an inferno.

A sea of ​​lava that expanded along the floor, fluctuated and sometimes exploded into small reddish cocoons that then incinerated the walls of the cave to regenerate again.

At random, however, several platforms stretched out that appeared to be made by a rock that cut through the sea of ​​lava to the surface.

"Thunder Hammer."

Under Yue's words, a dark cloud condensed on top of one of the monsters in the form of lava snakes spitting fire toward them.

*Boom!

Followed by a clap of thunder, a purple light descended from the dark cloud and pierced the monster's head with extreme ease.

"Does anyone else find this strange?" muttered Tio loud enough for the others to hear.

"In fact, we've already defeated many of the lava snakes, and they still seem to have no end." Nodded, Shizuku from cutting off the monster's head with the katana Nader gave her.

She jumped off one platform and descended to the other, where the group was gathered.

Since they entered the labyrinth so far, Shizuku and Tio were the most determined to pass the test. As for Nader and Yue, they had contributed enough for the magic circle to recognize them as someone who had successfully passed the labyrinth.

Besides, Nader and Yue felt that it was a good opportunity for Shizuku to become even stronger, so they didn't intervene too much; Tio, for her part, as a race belonging to the dragon-men, was quite strong, so she didn't necessarily have to train, since the difficulty of the labyrinth didn't pose much of a burden to overcome her current limits anyway.

"Hey, look at that." Shizuku pointed her fingers towards the center of the floor.

In the center of the sea of ​​lava, a huge dome stood proudly that appeared to be made of metallic materials and glass, though it was clearly of a higher category because it had been here for who knows how many years surrounded by lava.

However, they had already seen it when they entered the floor, what Shizuku was pointing out, was what surrounded the dome at its midpoint.

Scattered around the dome-like belt, were small crystals embedded in the crevices. The crystals on the left seemed opaque, while the others glowed a deep orange color.

"Hmm... When you killed the monster, one of those crystals had gone out."

"Apparently, it's a mechanism that works like a lock." Shizuku nodded at Yue's comment.

"If so, we just have to defeat the remaining monsters until they are completely shut down." Tio looked at the crystals and continued, "From what I counted, 65 of 100 crystals are off, so if our guess is correct, it will be very close until the dome opens."

"Very good. Although we don't know if there are monsters or other obstacles inside, let's finish this quickly." Nader patted his palms.

The girls breathed and jumped instantly, landing on different platforms.

*Splash!

With a splash, as if the lava was the surface of a river, the heads of the snake-like monsters poked out. With their gigantic bodies writhing, they opened their jaws and shot fireballs toward the group.

Shizuku jumped onto another platform and let the previous attack explode instead. As an impulse, she bent her knees and shot out towards the lava serpent, leaving a dark blur in its wake from her.

But, another attack was directed towards Shizuku, who would undoubtedly, if the piles of fireballs hit her, fall into the crimson below.

However...

*Swish! *Swish! *Swish!

The fireballs that should have hit Shizuku's body surprisingly passed through her, as if Shizuku's body didn't exist there in the first place.

Such a chance was only possible because of the ability of the katana she wielded.

It was a skill called «Spirit Body»; it basically granted its wielder the ability to ignore all physical blows for a certain activation time.

"Crushing Whirlwind!" Shizuku's body twisted in the air and spun her body along with the sharp katana that cut through the wind with a shriek.

A tornado of wind large enough to swallow the raging monsters tens of meters unleashed from the edge of the dark katana.

"Kashaaaaaaaaa!"

Three roars of pain were swallowed by the furious wind tornado that engulfed the snakes' bodies. Soon after, the wind tornado took on a red hue due to the fusion of the lava fire and the wind from the katana's skill.

The spinning blades waiting for their prey inside the tornado did their work as soon as they came into contact with the monsters' bodies.

The eleven large snakes became piles of small pieces of flesh that were then incinerated by the fire.

While Shizuku killed three monsters at the same time, the others in the group were not far behind.

"Watercastle."

Yue muttered and even in this atmosphere permeated by the buzzing heat, a huge wave of water rose around Yue forming a barrier covering her.

Heaps of the fireballs that were heading towards her to hit her crashed into the water sphere only to be evaporated.

"Rupture."

Using another ability about water magic, small spheres of water were compressed into sharp blades that were shot forward at great speed.

The mighty roars of the ten monsters were forced to silence forever as their huge heads flew through the air.

...

On the other side of the battlefield, Tio launched herself into the air and looked down as she pointed her hand at the snakes.

"Arise, oh raging gale, imbued by the crimson inferno of Hell itself - Flame of Purgatory!".

Obeying Tio's chant, a tornado of flames tens of meters long was summoned and moved toward the serpents as it engulfed the attacks.

When the tornado incinerated the first target, it did not stop and instantly changed direction to head for the next.

Only when eight huge snakes were incinerated did the tornado of flames dissipates.

Watching the battle the women were executed, Nader was satisfied with satisfaction; especially at the huge improvement, Shizuku was showing in these few days of hard work and performance.

"Well, I guess it's my turn." With a small smile adorning his face, Nader materialized a few dozen space pellets.

Guiding the space pellets, they disappeared from their positions and each of them headed towards their targets.

The worms didn't even know how they had died when their heads disappeared from their necks.

However, the space pellets were not satisfied with having killed all the monsters on the surface of the lava and moved deeper into its interior.

Soon...

*Rummm!

As the glowing crystals surrounding the huge dome lost all their color, there was a great sound and the top of the dome opened, revealing its interior to the group.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Three pairs of eyes landed on Nader's body, forcing him to look at the girls, who had their cheeks bulging in a cute pout.

"What's with that face...?" Nader asked.

"Nothing." Reply to the three girls in unison.

Apparently, they were still looking forward to having fun...