Gruen Great Volcano 1

Jayr POV - Tortus, Gruen Great Volcano - 2013

After the encounter with the Magma Bull, the monster variations increased as we descended through the various floors.

We encountered bat-like monsters that scattered magma from their wings, scorching red moray-like monsters that jumped out from the wall it melted, hedgehog-like monsters that shot out numerous needles of flame, chameleon-like monsters that only produced its face from within the magma and attacked using its magma-covered tongues like a whip while swimming on the gravity-defying magma river overhead, and there were even blazing serpents made almost entirely of magma.

It was indeed a little troublesome since the monsters' bodies are clad in magma or ablaze which nullified any half-assed magic, and some were using surprise attacks from the flowing magma rivers where they hid their body.

The monsters not only would try to inflict fatal wounds by charging us, but a lot of them are also using the surrounding magma to their full advantage, turning it into a situation where they have an infinite amount of weapons all around them, and if they lose their advantage, they would run back into the magma to ensure their safety.

But the most troublesome thing is that the heat is gradually increasing the lower we go, so much that Eri is for sure reaching her limit, I can clearly see it in her eyes while she mutters as she takes deep breaths, "Haa, haa… it's hot...", looking at her state I think, 'Even if I use Ice Magic from time to time to cool down our surroundings... The effect is really limited... it is just like sprinkling water over dry soil. Our sweat flows like an unstoppable waterfall!'.

And seeing that Eri's consciousness begins to become hazy, I decide that it is time to take a break, so I grab Eri and open the portal to my Soulbond Territory, then I quickly lead her toward the swirling black portal, and as soon as we are on the others side, I use my Cosmo to slowly lower her temperature and heal any damage she suffered from the excessive heat.

And soon Eri starts to recover, then she let out a satisfied moan and says, "Ahh~ I feel alive again~ No I really want to have a cold shower to get the awful sweat off my body!", then she moves toward the Athena's Bidoof, looking at her back I smile wryly and say, "Really these trials always seem to push and test others to the limit, almost reminds me of my Saint training... The Liberators truly tried to do everything possible to train someone that could go against Ehit...", then I follow after Eri and walk toward the Athena's Bidoof to join her in the shower.

Jayr POV - Tortus, Gruen Great Volcano - 2013

After that little break, we continued our conquest of the various floors of this Labyrinth, and finally, we reach the last floor, the 50th floor, only our situation on this floor is a little special.

We are currently boarding a brown-colored boulder, that like a small boat is sailing on the magma that is flowing like a big river mid-air, and sitting on it I'm cheerfully humming the theme of a famous movie franchise, "Pa-Pa-Pa-Paa~, Pa-Pa-Paaa~, Po-Po-Po-Paaa~, Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa... Ouch!", when Eri all of the sudden hits me with her staff and says, "Stop humming that them, compared to that archeologist Indiana Jones we are on hell mode here!".

As for the reason why we are in this situation, truthfully, it was my mistake, while fighting against the monsters of the previous floor, Eri got careless because of the constant heat and was wounded by one of the monsters and I retaliated with a little too much force, sending the monster crashing hard against the wall and not happy about that I also used a strong Spēlaion Mikron Bary Melan, to obliterate it without minding the surrounding wall of magma.

I immediately noticed this mistake, because magma spouted with tremendous momentum and power from the now destroyed wall just like water gushing out from a cracked and collapsed dam, the hole from where it spouted quickly expanded as more and more magma rushed out.

The overly tremendous momentum of the magma made the surrounding immediately filled with magma, so I used my weapon to create a small boat out of a solid boulder and brought Eri on top of it.

The small boat was immediately heated up by the magma, but there was no problem since I used Creation Magic on it to strengthen the boat by imbuing it with the Diamond Skin special magic so that it could resist the magma's crazy heat.

Following that, we continued to drift along the flow of the magma that is flowing mid-air, and Eri then realized that we could use this as a shortcut to quickly reach the last floor, so she used Gravity Magic to reduce the boat's weight so that we could continue sailing this magma river, and so we flowed into the depth of Gruen Great Volcano using a different route from the stairs and ended up where we are currently at.

I'm brought back to our current situation by Eri that says while pointing in a certain direction, "Jayr... There's another tunnel... This should be the last one!", seeing the direction Eri pointed at, I see that we are indeed about to flow into a big hole on the wall along with the magma, and realize, 'Until now, we've entered a tunnel every time we descent a floor, it might be a shortcut prepared by the Liberator for some reason, but knowing their objective, for sure we will pay for using it... Probably we should expect a harder fight than the usual one...'.

While drifting into the tunnel, I give the same warning to Eri, and so we prepare for what we will find on the other side of the tunnel as the magma's sky road is continuing in the middle of the big tunnel like a snake.

After the magma's sky road is going lower, it suddenly cut off right after a curve, no, more accurately, it is a sudden downward slope similar to a waterfall, and I quickly stab the ground with my sword to fix my position and yell, "Again… Eri, don't get shaken off!", Eri nods and clings to my waist, and the next moment, the impromptu boat falls down, the waterfall like magma.

I hear the sharp sound of the wind enter my ears, as I and Eri use Gravity Magic to shift the weight and control the boat as we descend on the rapid magma, at the same time, I notice that the magma's own speed increases by a few times as if it didn't have any viscosity.

And while all this is happening, I also make sure to check over the surroundings thinking, 'After all, usually at such times…', but I do not have the time to finish what I was thinking, and I notice three bat-type monsters, that scatters magma from their wings, closing on us, and so I quickly raise my hand and use Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri to deal with them.

Then I click my tongue and say, "Tch, they have come after all... These Magma Bats are not much of a threat alone, they only have considerable speed and are capable of scattering magma like flame bullets... However, the troublesome point about Magma Bats is that they attack in swarms!", and indeed, although I instant-killed the three Magma Bats, I can hear the sound of a large amount of fluttering wings amidst the wind coming from the rapid descent.

But just as I'm about to make a move, Eri says, "… Jayr, leave them to me... As long as they are living beings this new spell should be able to easily deal with them all!", then she starts a very long and embarrassing chant.

At the same time, the crowd of Magma Bats can be seen in the distance, and it isn't an exaggeration to call them one living creature, the numerous Magma Bats are moving as one big mass, like a group of perfectly ordered birds.

Their appearance is just like a dragon if seen from the side, 'It might be more accurate to call it a fire dragon because each of its wings was clad in blazing magma...', but as the mass of Magma Bats is quickly approaching us it divides into two on their way, creating pincer attack from the front and behind.

However, the next moment Eri finishes her chant, "... Bring death to my enemies and make their soul writhe in agony, Cry of the Banshee!!", and a big magic circle appears above us, that generates an eerie dark pulse, that soon hits all the Magma Bats around us, for a moment, nothing happens, but just as I'm about to think that Eri's spell failed, the next instant, all the Magma Bats start to fall lifeless on the ground, one after another without being able to resist, just like a short squall.

Then Eri sits down next to me breathing heavily, clearly the magic she just used took a lot from her, so I lightly touch her cheek and ask, "Are you okay?", she closes her eyes enjoying my touch, and with a small smile on her face, she explains, "Yeah... Only this spell really drains my Mana but the effects speak for themselves... an Instant Death spell the only downside is that it only works on creatures that are alive and whose souls are weaker than mine...".

And so we calmly continue our descent, until, all of the sudden, as if to take down our composure, the descending magma up begins to ascend, and after climbing several tens of meters with tremendous speed, we can finally see the light ahead, it is the exit of the tunnel, but a new problem presents itself, the magma is cut off, for real this time.

I hold Eri with my arm and yell, "Hold on tight!", and soon the small boat is thrown outside with tremendous momentum.

While in mid-air, I quickly transform my Tactical Arms it its Flight Form to fly over this new space, in this form, the weapon becomes a backpack, the blade split open becoming two folded wing-like components, that allow me to move in an irregular manner, making it difficult for the enemy to aim, while the Gatling that points at the ground can also be detached in its Gatling Arm Mode to give me some other form of offense.

At the same time, I confirm the condition of our surroundings, the space we find ourselves in is similar to the room where the last trial of Reisen Great Labyrinth took place, a vast space.

However, it isn't spherical like the room in Reisen Great Labyrinth, it has a distorted shape which makes it impossible to completely understand how vast the space truly is, but it is at least more than three kilometers wide.

Almost all part of the ground is filled with magma, but the boulders appear in some places and create some footholds, on the surrounding walls there are protruding places and conversely, there are also shaved-off places.

And in the air is just like the rest of the labyrinth, numerous rivers of intersecting magma, that all converge below, into the boiling, scorching ocean of magma, from which, flare-like pillars of fire spout from it, looking at it I exclaim impressed, "Wow... This is really close to one of the prisons of the Underworld... The one that builds this place really worked hard to impress or scare the challengers...".

However, the most noticeable thing among all these things is the small island in the center of the ocean of magma, the island is raised around 10 meters above the magma's surface, moreover, the island is covered by a dome of magma.

The spherical magma is just like a small version of the sun, but the thing in the middle of the island is enough to catch our attention, so I fly closer to it, to be sure of it, and Eri, who is also looking at the middle of the island, asks, "...Is that the dwelling?", I vigilantly start to look around and reply, "Yes... and since this is the last room, we should expect some kind of Guardian or some kind of trial like the Hydra or the Golems... Moreover, it can be said that we cheated to get here, so an increase in difficulty is guaranteed...", at the same time, I notice that while listening to my words, Eri is looking in a certain direction.

Tracing Eri's gaze, I can see a staircase beyond the large foothold, the staircase continues into the wall, that is it is the proper route that leads to this space.

It was correct to be cautious because immediately, bullet-like magma shot out from the magma rivers flowing in the air, seeing this Eri says, "Let me take care of this!", then she quickly summons hundreds of freshly reanimated zombie Magma Bats, which starts to swarm around us intercepting all the magma bullets, and easily withstanding them thanks to their fire immunity.

However, that attack was only the beginning signal, immediately after Eri countered the incoming blazing masses thanks to those zombie bats that became our shields, more blazing masses are shot out from the ocean of magma like a machine gun.

But still, the zombie Magma Bats are still able to block every attack without being overwhelmed, but looking at this attack that seems to never end and the sweat that continues to fall from Eri's body because of the boiling heat coming from the ocean of magma that distorts the air, I say, "This is a stall... we can't continue like this, we will only be at a disadvantage if we keep staying still... Moreover, this heat is too much for you... I'll go out and check the dwelling...".

Eri silently nods and summons one of her flying Undead Puppet, and once she rides it, I fly out of the shielding bat formation, dodging all the dangerous masses of magma with a quick series of aerial maneuvers, thanks to the Tactical Arms Flight Form.

But still, the number of magma masses continue to increase, and soon, I'm surrounded from all angles with no way out, but I remain calm in such a situation and focus on my Magic Power, then I use one of the first Gravity Magic I came up with by once again shamelessly copying other media, and just for flair I spread my arms wide and in a deep voice I chant in Latin, "Dolor hic mundus cognoscet! Omnipotens Dis!! (This world shall know pain! Almighty Push!!)".

At the same time, as the name of the spell rings out, I use my mana to create a repulsive force, which pushes away everything in the vicinity, blowing away and dispersing all the magma masses in my vicinity, and with this breathing space created between the barrage of magma masses, I quickly fly toward the magma-dome of the middle island.

While flying in the air towards the middle island, I receive a message from Eri through Telepathy Magic imbued in her ring, "Are you really quoting that character from that ninja anime?", stunned for a moment I ask back still using Telepathy, "And how do you know Nagato from Naruto? I didn't take you for someone that likes anime...", and soon, she replies, "It is difficult to ignore when two years ago when he debuted a bunch of kids, chuunibyou, and otakus started to quote and imitate him...", and I admit that her words did make me kind embarrassed of what I just did.

But before I could say another thing, I stop because with my senses I picked up something quickly closing on me from the magma ocean below, and think, "Strange... my special magics do not sense it, but in my senses, it is as clear as day... Maybe because this place is filled with magma that Sense Heat does not pick it up... Moreover, the magma ocean itself is filled with magic power so Detect Magic also doesn't notice it, and for sure since it starts with a sneak attack it has something like Hide Presence that counters Sense Presence...'.

While thinking that, I hear the bellowing, majestic roar, and the next moment, I see a gigantic serpent right under me who is in mid-air with its opened mouth ready to swallow me whole, but I easily twist my body dodging the attack with minimum space between me and the serpent, then I flip my body in mid-air just like a cat, and aim the muzzles of the Gatling at the passing Magma Serpent's head and fire.

The flash with certain killing destructiveness doesn't miss its mark and hit the Magma Serpent's head, blowing it away, but I'm surprised to find out, that the only thing that scattered from the Magma Serpent's head is only magma but none of the inside matter, moreover it is clearly still alive.

Looking at the serpent falling in the magma ocean and squirming over it, I think, 'All the other monsters clad in magma in this place are only wearing the magma, and have their own flesh... None of them is composed of only magma! But this Magma Serpent seems to be composed of only Magma... Could it be a construct like the golems... or a being like a slime that has only a core as a vital point...'.

Realizing this I start to shoot at various parts of the serpent's body trying to find the position of the core, but the result is only a Magma Serpent with holes all over its body, and just as I'm about to use a spell to deal with it, a chill runs down my spine and following my instinct, I ignore the Magma Serpent and start rising to withdraw from this zone.

And the next instant, the place I was just a moment ago, is assaulted by other Magma Serpents, at the same time, I notice that the endless barrage of those magma masses finally ended and that Eri is quickly flying toward me, and once she arrives, she touches my arm and asks worried, "Jayr... Are you hurt?", I shake my head and smile then without looking away from the enemies I say, "No problem. More importantly, the real things finally appeared".

As I said this, more and more Magma Serpents come out of the Magma Ocean surrounding the central island, until there are 20 of them all glaring at us, Eri also focuses on them and says, "As expected that island is the last stop, and it seems that we have to defeat all of them if we want to pass...", then she looks at the Magma Serpent that I fought before as it regenerates and adds, "... But are they beatable?", and soon that Magma Serpent is already back to its former appearance as if nothing happened.

I take my stance as I tell her my guess, "It might be similar to the Golems from before, having a core, a magic stone, to form the magma body. Though my senses cannot specify the location because of the obstruction from the magma… but once the core is taken care of it should be quite easy to deal with them", hearing that, Eri nods and summon even more zombie Magma Bats and with them, she attacks the 20 Magma Serpents.

In response, the Magma Serpents rise from the magma ocean like a solar flare and shot out masses of flame from their mouths attacking from all directions.

But Eri's zombies, quickly swarm around us and block the attack, buying enough time for Eri to cast one of her more destructive spells, one she came up with by melding Dark and Fire Attribute magi, "Hellfire!!", and next a huge amount of black magic power appears before Eri as she thrust her staff out.

It compresses itself into a dark black flame, that then shoots out in the shape of an enormous black serpent-like flame, that quickly moves forward consuming all of the Magma Serpents in front of Eri without any trace left behind, furthermore, she swings her staff directing the black flame serpent that like a flash it annihilates other Magma Serpents in its path.

Immediately, eight Magma Serpents are annihilated, and so we take advantage of this opening to dash out from the encirclement, while looking at the result of Eri's spell I think, 'As expected, by annihilating them without leaving a trace, the magic core is also be annihilated no matter where the location was...', meanwhile the 12 remaining Magma Serpents instantly fall back into the ocean of magma and disappeared for a moment.

And when they reappear, their numbers went back up to 20, seeing this Eri exclaims, "Oi oi, I've confirmed the disappearance of the core, you know? Was defeating it not the condition to clear this trial?", as I don't remember this part of the novel very well, I also start to doubt that defeating these monster is the right answer, but then I notice something and say while pointing at the island, "Eri, calm down! Look at that! The shining wall!".

Then I see her gaze focusing on the island, there, a part of the Rockwall shots light as big as a fist, the orange-colored light is coming from some kind of crystal buried under the wall of rock, with my eyes I can see that a large number of similar crystals are buried on the Rockwall in an orderly fashion.

The island itself is cylindrical, so considering the interval between crystals and the island's surface area, around 100 crystals are buried, and the crystals that are currently shooting out light are eight, the same number of Magma Serpents Eri annihilated before, so I say, "We need to defeat a hundred of these Magma Serpents to clear this trial...", Eri realizes this too as she says, "… In this heat, fighting a hundred of them… it matches the labyrinth's concept...", then her expression that was showing clear signs of exhaustion, changes, and now she wears a fearless and confident smile on her face and she adds, "Good... Now that I have a clear goal I just have to persist a little longer and we will conquer this Labyrinth...", then we spread out and start to attack the Magma Serpents, who in response start to make irregular movements to catch and burn us to ashes.

With her Undead Puppet mount Eri, flies up and uses a mix of Scatterdust, Phantom Pain, and Corrupting Spear, to stun and bombard the serpent to annihilation, then she yells, "This is the ninth! Presently, I'm is leading, Dear! If I defeat the most of them then I want a lot of rewards! So much that I end up with a baby!", then she moves to attack another one, with even more ferocity.

I use my Gatling in its Magic Mode to shoot out a single Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuras enhanced with Gravity Magic that hits a Magma Serpent on its head, then at the moment of impact, a black ripple, a gravity shockwave spread from it generating a violent impact.

The next moment, the serpent immediately explodes from the head until the part hidden in the ocean of magma, leaving behind only sparkling minerals floating on the magma ocean, the core was simply crushed by the impact from the magic shockwave, then I yell "I already told you! It is too soon!", at the same time, a mass of magma is approaching me from behind as I'm still in mid-air after killing that one of Magma Serpent.

However, I simply use the Flight Form to rise and so easily dodge the sneak attack, then with its calculation coming off, the Magma Snake passes through the empty space under me, and I taking advantage of this opening, I aim with the Gatling and shoot another Gravity enhanced Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuras, killing another Magma Serpent and once again crushing the core which now flutters as it sparkles in the air with the Gravitational Shockwave.

Seeing this I think, 'Dark and Gravity Magic are strangely compatible... The Dark attribute is what is able to contain the Age of Gods Gravity Magic the best... Maybe because it is an offshoot of it... I have read somewhere that the current elemental magic is a degraded version of the original "Ancient Magic", which could control the fundamental elements that govern the laws of a world...', at the same time, Eri kills another one and yells "… Then, I want a massage... one with happy ending included!".

I nod, then, without turning around, I rapidly fire my Gatling over my shoulder towards the incoming Magma Serpent behind me and reply, "Deal! But if I win, I want the same reward...", the bullets are fired evenly on the Magma Serpent's body and the impacts of the Gravity Shockwave blown the serpent's body up, destroying its core.

Eri nods and with a confident smile, she starts to summon all her other puppets to unleash even more hell upon the Magma Serpents fully intending on winning this small competition between us.