Solar Mage

Chapter 45: Lava Axolotl

AAAAH!! WHAT IS IT DOING?!?! ITS EATING ALL THE TREASURES AND MELTING THEM IN ITS STOMACH!!!

Even if you\'re a cute axolotl. I won\'t forgive you for this!

"Arthur? What are you doing?"

Rachel\'s voice echoes, from afar.

Oh no– did the monster hear her?

I take a quick glance at Rachel with an uneasy look, before quickly turning back to the lava monster.

Thank goodness, it looks like it didn\'t hear her, it\'s still just eating away at the treasures. Or maybe it just can\'t hear? It\'s a lava monster so it doesn\'t have ears? Let\'s not test that out though...

I turn back to Rachel and use Heightened Senses along with Body Enhancement, concentrated on the eyes.

Great, looks like Tin\'s awake as well.

Then, I see Rachel\'s lips suddenly open.

No– what is she doing?!?!

I put my finger on my lips but she doesn\'t seem to notice.

Can she not see me? I have to try something else before she kills us all!

Wait, her lips stopped moving, and there hasn\'t been a sound yet. Maybe she saw me and understood!

Then, Rachel\'s voice echoes once again, much louder this time.

"Arthur, what happened?!"

AAAAHHHH WHAT IS SHE DOING?!?!

I immediately look back into the room and see the lava monster who has stopped eating and is standing tall in the ceiling once more, moving what I imagine, his head around looking for something.

OH NO– IT HEARD HER– WE\'RE GOING TO DIE!!! My flames are hot, and the sun is hotter than lava, but there are limits of a 3rd circle that I just can\'t overcome, to even compare my flames to the sun would be impossible!

My teeth clatter and my body trembles as I look at the horrifying scene of a lava monster searching for me.

Wait– it stopped looking for us? What was it looking for, where is it going now?

I turn my eyes, analyzing the direction the monster is going, and eventually coming to a stop.

No– stop– is it going to eat that divine looking sword, literally glowing in light, splitting the darkness? I don\'t know what sword that is, but it looks like something a hero would use. And that unintelligent monster is just going to eat it? Looking around the room, more than half is just molten metals or covered in black ash!! Who knows how many other weapons it destroyed? I will never forgive it!

My face full of rage turns to despair as I recall another memory.

Wait, didn\'t the stone say that the treasures in the fourth room were just replicas? That would mean that the river of gold would really just be a river of iron. Hahaha, I wasn\'t able to tell since both molten gold and iron are orange but what if– the monster already went into the fifth room and already melted all the treasures there? That would explain the smell of gold!

I scour the room looking for another door, but I am unable to see any walls past the molten iron river as the light from the river does not flow there.

Damn, I can\'t find it, this is the only room so far without mafic lamps! That stupid monster probably destroyed those as well! This is so annoying but I have Dawn. I wonder how bright I can make it now that I\'m a 3rd circle. It looks like the monster doesn\'t have ears, so it can\'t hear us.

I look at Rachel again, who begins to open her mouth again, cupping her hands around it.

But I\'m not yet certain, so I\'m not taking any chances.

I point my left hand at her, and a ray of orange light blasts from my fingertip, shooting straight past Rachel, just barely missing her, who stops moving her lips immediately, without the chance to even react to it.

I blow the smoke coming out of my fingertips.

That was epic. I shouldn\'t do that anymore though– I think I just burned my fingerprints off. Just smile and wave, act like nothing happened so you don\'t ruin this moment.

After the pain starts to lessen, I use Swift Wind and accelerate through the air, running to them, but landing as if I had teleported, or made my way here in a single step, without effort.

That landing was perfect.

I keep my eyes closed, picturing the magnificent landing in my head and admiring at it.

But my peace is quickly ended as a sudden force falls down on my head, straight on the recently healed crack.

I hold my head tightly with my left hand, almost screaming, but managing to hold it in.

"Oooo– grmmm–"

Shit that hurt, what the hell was that? Did a piece of the ceiling fall on me?

My eyes open and I see an angry Rachel standing in front of me, slightly covered in blood.

She begins to open her mouth, ready to scream, but immediately reacting, I take my hand off of my head and shush her.

"Shhh, don\'t be loud."

She pushes my hand away and though still looking at me angrily, whispers in a low voice.

"How could you throw me and Tin like that? Do you know how much that hurt? I\'m not a magic swordsman like you, I\'m a priest! And Tin isn\'t in his prime anymore, we normally can\'t survive something like that, my life flashed before my eyes and I think I met Pyro for a second! (Thank you for that but I have yet to finish my work in the mortal world) And here you are, with a new set of expensive clothes!"

I look at Tin, who says nothing, and look back at Rachel.

"I had to throw you back because the homunculus this time was so quick, I was barely able to react. I was uncertain whether I\'d be able to kill it. In the end, I barely even won and almost died from its poison."

"Poison? Where? I don\'t know if I\'ll be able to cure it, but I can probably stop it from spreading."

"Oh, the poison was in my right arm."

"Quickly show it to me then!"

She pulls me closer and rolls the sleeves of my arm up, with a delayed reaction, gasping as she rolls it up to the top.

"Arthur, your arm– I\'m sorry for what I said, thank you for saving us. I will definitely pay you back, tenfold, once we get out of here for what you did for us."

I don\'t need a reward, she feels guilt and regret, her smile has faded. I do feel pity towards her, and I probably should just tell her the truth right now but, I should get my revenge back on her, for chopping me straight on where my cracked skull just healed.

"Don\'t worry about it. I just did what I thought was right. It was my fault for being weak that I\'ve been made into this state. Let\'s just focus on getting out of here."

I turn my back to her, beginning to walk away when she suddenly speaks again in a depressed voice.

"And you can\'t heal your arm with that regeneration skill you have?"

I stop in my tracks.

Damn, she got me... what do I say? I can\'t just lie to her now! She\'ll kill me if she finds out!

Rachel waits expectantly for a response, but that never comes as I resume my march away.

"Ooh, I\'m so sorry..."

She says as she begins to make crying sounds.

Looks like she got herself a misunderstanding, thank god.

"Let\'s go."

I hear their footsteps behind me as I march to the door.

Good.

Once we arrive at the door, we all peek into the room cautiously, looking at the lava monster\'s eating cycle. It moves to the metal, eats it, melts it in its stomach, and it comes out as a molten version of itself.

"AaaaAAh, all that gold and treasures being melted, how dare it? We must kill it immediately, Arthur!"

Tin says, with great enthusiasm.

"Shh, keep your voice down! I may be strong, but that\'s only to the weak. Even to the strong, that monster would be considered strong! It\'s a slow, unintelligent monster but the air surrounding it is hotter than my flames. We cannot fight it, we must avoid confrontation at all costs!"

"Well, if we can\'t fight it, what can we do then? I assume you have a plan this time as well right?"

Tin says while his eyes glow a kind of fiery red, with great fury.

"Who do you think I am? Of course I do. But maybe you should calm down first..."

He deeply exhales, before he softens his grip on the Black Iron Axe and lays it on the wall.

"Alright, I\'m good now. I can listen. Are you sure you are fine though? You\'ve lost your arm. Do you need to be carried?"

I raise my left arm and almost effortlessly, summon a massive sphere of orange flames.

"Trust me, the loss of my arm is not a great one. I will be fine."

The giant ball of orange flames begin to quickly seep back into my palm as I close it.

If I don\'t release the spell, I can absorb the mana inside the spell back into myself. I guess I obtained this during my state of deprivation, so maybe it wasn\'t that terrible after all. ... I take it back, it wasn\'t worth it in the slightest. But at least I gained something from that terrible experience, I don\'t think I\'ll be able to ever sleep again though. Every time I think about that emptiness, Heightened Senses instantly activate.

"But aren\'t you low on mana now, after using that spell? I remember the last time you used it, I felt no more mana in your body."

"I said I\'m fine. Now let me explain the plan. On my mark, we enter the door, charging at full speed. I will send my uh– fireballs, all over the room\'s walls and try to attract the monster to me while you guys get inside the fifth room. Once you get inside, there should be some sort of button. Destroy that button, smashing it as hard as you can, don\'t just press it, otherwise the golems in the room will just kill you. Alright, understood?"

Tin stares blankly at me while Rachel averts my gaze.

Is she still feeling guilty about earlier? This is getting annoying, if she can\'t perform her duties well, then we will all die. Should I just tell her the truth?

"Just run while you do all the work right? I understand."

Okay, so he heard.

"Rachel, do you understand as well?"

She doesn\'t answer and ignores me.

"Rachel?"

Her eyes are filled with sorrow as she frowns. Hearing me repeat the second time, she looks at me with shock.

"Sorry? Yes! I understand the plan!"

She seems to be out of it. But I guess she managed to hear the plan.

"Alright, before anything else, can you kindly say a quick prayer and heal us Rachel?"

She turns her head down again, but then moves her arm towards her chest as she picks up her necklace of the Orange Sun, now broken and covered in scratches.

"I\'m sorry, but I don\'t think I can do that anymore, my necklace, my link to Pyro has been broken. I can no longer speak with her."