Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 6: Primordial Flame

Ranad, Rosendun.

7:05 p.m. 17th Zelyr, 1092.

"Hot!" Zuri complained as she fanned her flushed face. The Hell floor definitely lived up to its name. The entire floor was encased in searing hot flames, some of which were white-hot! Everyone present knew they would instantly perish if they came into contact with the white flames.

Fortunately, the Hell Floor had floating rocks interspaced between the fiery hell. These floating platforms were like blood vessels connected by thin, vein-like tunnels. These tunnels provided the only safe passage through the flames to other platforms.

Just like the Death Floor, twelve purple pillars shone on far-off platforms. The warriors turned to look at Kashi and Zuri who had just stepped through the gate. Strangely, the door remained open, with the portal still spinning, which indicated that someone remained on the floor below.

Brilith was the first to notice the missing Hektor. "Where's the barbarian?"

Kashi smiled as he responded, "Hektor wants to spend some time to increase his level. He's a bit behind most of us. Don't worry. We'll take care of our cores."

Brilith's gaze narrowed. She felt like the daeben was toying with her, but she could not find any point to pin him down. Frustrated, she snorted and looked away. "Do not forget we are on a time limit. Do not slow us down with your antics."

"Su—" At that moment, Kashi's eyes shone as he received a level up notification. A broad smile appeared on his face as he grinned and said, "Sure." He then pointed at the twelve tunnels attached to their platform. "You guys should split up to save more time. Each platform will have about forty to fifty devils and demons. With what you've shown, it should not be too difficult if you plan your teams well."

With those words, Kashi surprisingly walked ahead with the Hopeful Maggots, taking the lead. "Zuri, go with Shadow and Larsial. Shokō and Syèl will take one tunnel each, and I'll take the last one. Watch out for the devils' illusions. Those can be a real pain to deal with."

Truthfully, Kashi's warning was more toward Sonic and Brilith's teams. Shokō and Syèl were monsters. Ninety percent of illusions would fail on them. As a werewolf, Zuri was extremely resistant to most magic and elemental attacks, including illusions of course. The werewolf magic resistance was one of the major reasons vampires created blood arts. Blood Arts was closer to witchcraft than it was to magic. As a result they were much more effective against werewolves. Finally, Shadow and Larsial were assassins. The assassin class had to avoid illusions and traps during assassination missions, so they had many methods to detect and dispel illusions.

Both Brilith and Sonic shared Kashi's sentiments, so they split their teams accordingly.

On Brilith's side, RustyReaper stuck with Nightslayer, and Honne-Onna went with GrizzlyDiamond. Shockingly, Rono took a channel to herself, which suggested there was more to the little rogue than first met the eye. Finally, Brilith, as expected, took a channel to herself.

At the other end, Sonic and Gentle Breeze took one tunnel each. The berserker, Tempest, teamed up with their archer, Rolling Hail and their tank, Storm, teamed up with the assassin, Crow. Strangely, the usually crass Crow kept his mouth shut around Storm. The two seemed to have a peculiar history.

Once the teams were set up, everyone charged into their respective tunnels without delay, but Kashi held back Syèl for a second. He then whispered into the vampire's ears. "Finish quickly and double back to my channel. If I'm not at my core in thirty minutes, destroy it and move on with the others."

Syèl revealed a sneaky smirk. "You're up to something, aren't you?"

"You could say that." Kashi grinned. "There's something I need on this floor. If it works out, I might unlock something nice."