Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 197: The City of Magma

Beta read and Edited by GlassThreads

Toren Daen

There was a time when I thought I'd experienced the worst heat in my life. During my preliminary ascent, the desert zone I'd faced had been an unrelenting slog. My socks had squished with sweat and I'd needed to fight off heat exhaustion constantly. It was only Jared's absorbent shield that spared the Unblooded Party the worst of the heat.

But now, I thought I'd have to revise that statement. Because while I'd grown exponentially stronger since my preliminary ascent, I'd at least been able to drink whenever I needed to within the desert zone.

I was surrounded by a bubble of magma, the ominously glowing molten rock flowing around our little group of dwarves. I had to crouch slightly to keep my hair from catching on fire, and over the past few hours, my part-asuran, assimilated body–though leagues beyond what was afforded to me in the desert zone–gradually began to feel the strain of being in close quarters with molten rock for such a long time.

The effect was compounded by the fact that I couldn't afford to remove the respirator over my mouth, and consequently, couldn't even rehydrate to regain the fluids I'd sweated out. There was no oxygen in this little slice of hell, so our group–Gruhnd, Borzen, Olfred, and I–needed to wear a primitive rendition of a diver's mask and oxygen tank.

I followed mutely behind Olfred as he trudged on silently, blinking another drop of sweat from my eyes.

I'm never going to do something like this again, I internally groused, keeping a layer of fire mana around the soles of my feet so that my shoes wouldn't melt from stepping over the hot stone.

I understand that this might be the best route to infiltrate Burim, but no wonder nobody else considered it, I thought, looking at Gruhnd and Borzen. They fared worse than either I or Olfred. We had to take frequent breaks to give them time to recover slightly. Their skin was noticeably reddening and burned from the close contact, and each of their footfalls dragged behind them. These two are close to collapsing, but they can't even afford to do that.

I'd long since been coating them in fire mana as well to help ward off the heat. It was second nature for me to wrap myself in my own mana–and my control was exceptional, especially close to my body. But trying to maintain three separate shrouds for hours at a time was taxing in a way I hadn't anticipated.

"From the maps the dwarven Lance provided, this route seems like it will provide a straight route to the more restricted areas of Burim," Aurora commented in my head. "Namely, the teleportation gates that you seek to subvert. And from my internal calculations, it should not be much longer before you emerge."

A drop of molten rock fell from the ceiling, splashing against my mana shroud. I removed it from my shoulder with an irritated flick. Then I looked worriedly toward Gruhnd and Borzen. I was used to putting myself through abnormally grueling and painful situations, but I wouldn't use myself as a benchmark by any means. Just because I bore the willpower to weather this trek didn't mean these dwarves could go on much longer.

I ground my teeth, glaring at the path ahead. I hope so.

As if on cue, Olfred slowed down, his rugged clothing clinging to his body from a light sheen of sweat. He turned, his eyes flashing slightly as he raised a hand, pointing it toward the path ahead in a predetermined gesture.

My fists clenched at my side. We were close!

I looked back toward Borzen and Gruhnd, who each stumbled to a halt. Taking the chance, I laid a hand over their backs, infusing more mana into the protective shroud I cast around their bodies. They sagged in bare relief, but the hope in their eyes from Olfred's gesture did far more than my magic ever could.