Prince's Gamble | HAOBIN

20. Spear of Lava

"Gosh, you scared me, Taerae." Zhanghao breathed a sigh of relief as he gazed towards Taerae. 

Taerae's eyes were urgent, "Why did you stop? Quick, we have to run." Taerae said, pulling Zhanghao to run again. The lava was getting closer, and Zhanghao could feel the heat of it creeping onto his skin. More meteors began falling near them, slowly them down as they had to doge the giant rocks.  

The orange lava bubbled as it neared, Zhanghao's heart racing as he pushed his feet to move. Then, as if a miracle, Zhanghao spied an object in the distance where the dust settled, and as they neared he came to realize that it was a sort out mountain. Anything was better than nothing as Zhanghao increased his speed, the mountain appearing taller as they grew closer. 

"Climb up!" Zhanghao turned to Taerae, the mountain only a few feet in front of them now. 

Taerae nodded before beginning his climb. Grabbing on a fairly stable rock, Zhanghao began to hoist himself up, feet hooking onto any piece of footing he could find. This was the one thing Gunwook definitely hadn't trained him in yet, and Zhanghao felt it was evident when his feet began to slip, and his hands shook while holding on for dear life. 

Below them, the lava had now caught up, splashing into the base of the mountain. Zhanghao felt the beads of sweat drip down his temples as he continued to climb, the lava rising up to cover the mountain. As he looked to his right, he saw Taerae higher up than him, his feet stable as he scaled the rocky structure. 

Hope sparked at the back of Zhanghao's mind as he spotted the top, forcing his body to work harder. Seeing Taerae's top half disappear before the rest of his body pulled itself atop the mountain, Zhanghao breathed heavily, wondering if Taerae would leave him to save himself. 

But he found himself thinking wrong as Taerae's face appeared, looking down at him from the top of the mountain. Holding out a hand to Zhanghao, Taerae yelled down, 

"C'mon Zhanghao, you can do it!" He said, "Just don't look down." 

Of course Zhanghao had to look down after that, and his eyes widened when the only sight he saw was the splashing of lava, only a feet or two away from hitting his feet. Climbing faster, Zhanghao didn't stop until his hand had caught ahold of Taerae's, who pulled him over the edge just in time.

Zhanghao sat, his breath heavy, as the two watched the lava reach the top before splashing and lowering ever so slightly, unable to cover the top of the mountain. 

"We did it." Zhanghao breathed. Taerae had no response, but just nodded, a faint smile on his face. However, their relief didn't last long as Zhanghao's ears perked at the noise of metal being dragged against the ground. 

Zhanghao whipped around, Taerae doing the same, both of their eyes falling on a boy who dragged a long spear along the graveled earth. He had a amused glint in his eye, as he stopped, pointing the spear towards the two. The competition had certainly turned some of them crazy, Zhanghao thought, as he realized the boy's glee at the thought of murder. 

The round would only end when two of them were dead, while two of them moved on to the next round. And for now, Zhanghao would like those two survived to be him and Taerae. Getting up to stand, Zhanghao put a hand over his back to reach for his sword, holding it out towards the boy. 

Taerae got up to, his twin daggers waiting and ready. 

"I'm so spoilt for choice, aren't I?" The boy grinned. "I get to pick who to kill first—oh this is so fun."  

Zhanghao kept his expression blank as he spoke, "Well, I don't even need to choose, I know the one I'm going to kill is you." 

The boy chuckled, "Lucky you, looks like I've picked you now." He grinned. Moving to point his spear, directly at Zhanghao, he began to step forward, eyes locked onto Zhanghao. And not in a good way. Zhanghao didn't move, only kept his stance steady as the boy neared. It was only moments before the boy lunged, his spear moving fast as he made stabbing movements towards Zhanghao. 

Zhanghao backed away, swiftly, his sword coming up to hit the spear. Large molten rocks began to fall around them again, making the mountain tremble, but Zhanghao didn't have enough time to think about dodging them, let alone wondering how they had reached this far from the volcano.

Leaving dodging the meteors up to his instinct, Zhanghao continued to duck and slice, attempting to wound the boy. However, the boy's skills were good, much better than any of the other competitors he had fought before, and Zhanghao assumed it was due to the longer training period his opponent would've experienced after making it this far. 

Suddenly, Zhanghao realized that the boy wasn't trying to stab him as much, but rather he was slowly pushing Zhanghao to the edge of the mountain, where he would fall off into the hot, burning lava. Zhanghao would need to push him back towards the center of the mountain, or flip their positions somehow. 

Catching on to the tactic too, Taerae joined Zhanghao, giving the boy two opponents to fight now. "This isn't fair-" The boy said, through gritted teeth. 

"None of this was ever fair." Zhanghao replied. 

And then, through a split second, Zhanghao and Taerae were on the other side, their backs facing the center of the mountain. The boy now where Zhanghao had just been, Zhanghao and Taerae continued to fight, pushing him towards the edge. 

The fight didn't last much longer as the boy's heels sat right on the edge of the cliff, and with one final hit, Zhanghao and Taerae pushed him off into the lava. With a yell, the boy descended, his body splashing into the hot acid which would burn his insides out. 

Although he felt slightly guilty, Zhanghao knew this was the only way both him and Taerae would be able to survive, being there so little competitors left. 

"We did it-" Zhanghao started, a brief smile on his face before his face fell.

Distracted by their 'win', Zhanghao and Taerae hadn't noticed an enormous lava rock pelting down towards them, not straying in its path straight for them. Looking at each other before back at it again, there were mere seconds before the rock would hit them. 

All of a sudden, Taerae pushed Zhanghao, making him fall hard against the ground, bruising his shoulder. Zhanghao was about to get up and yell, before he saw. The large molten rock had fallen, and underneath it lay Taerae, his body limp and unmoving.