Chapter 1458: 1458
Chapter 1458: Eruption (Part 2)
Saleen quickly dismissed the notion and put aside all thoughts about luck . Luck couldn’t be relied upon . Effort was what mattered . He attributed his successes in life to his effort .
He welcomed the notion of having luck, taking advantage of it time and again . But he never blamed any of his misfortunes or setbacks on the absence of luck or bad luck .
To be sure, both Saleen and the head warden had made some miscalculations . According to the head warden’s plan, if he was unable to leave the volcano, he would turn it into the main battlefield . Saleen would attack while he commanded hundreds of thousands of subordinates from inside the volcano .
Saleen had considered planting large Thunder Dragon Blasters around the volcano, barring any exits, and only brought the Baldur’s Gate over when they had cleaned up any remaining divine-rune charm arrays . The six godly items in the gate were to be used to attack and defend .
No one anticipated the head warden going berserk or the loosening of the plane rules of Myers Mainland . A battle that was supposed to be fought between opposing forces was now reduced to a showdown between two high-level professionals .
Worse still, now that both parties had thrown in their forces, it was nearly impossible to get them to quickly retreat .
In reality, many of those troops had already fled to the mountains . The Black Dungeon Volcano was not the highest point . Things would be comparatively safer on higher ground when the eruption occurred, and anyone capable of blocking off the high-temperature volcanic ash would probably survive .
Troops from both sides gathered around; inevitably, they were on guard against each other .
Saleen realized that some demons were incapable of flight . While ancient warriors were capable of flight, some did not receive Saleen’s orders and retreated on foot instead .
That was a miscalculation on Saleen’s part . He never expected the intelligence of those awakened ancient warriors to be so severely compromised .
The demons opened their mouths to discuss the situation with the wardens .
“If we stay down here when the volcano erupts, none of us will make it out alive . How about we just share the mountains?”
The wardens looked at each other . They were elites of the Black Dungeon; the weakest was at level-6 . Things were the same as the enemy . All were wearing high-level armor, and their combat prowess was a bit higher than the wardens’ . The dumb-looking people wearing dark red armor seemed to be of even higher levels, eliminating the advantage of having level-10 professionals at the warden’s side .
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The two parties quickly reached a compromise . If they were to fight each other during the eruption, only a dozen or so would survive among the thousands who were about to share the mountain .
They decided to wait until the fighting at the top was over . If Saleen died, most of his forces would retreat; the remaining ones would never be able to take on the wardens . If the head warden died, the wardens would surrender .
The troops on both sides constructed stone walls at the center of the mountains to avoid unnecessary fighting . Then they took out their equipment and set up safe havens .
It was worth noting that by the time the volcano erupted, the air was unbreathable . Not even the demons would be able to survive near an erupting volcano .
Saleen and the head warden ignored the compromise between their troops . Saleen had no illusions of the demons remaining in service should he die . Now that Nailisi wasn’t around, they had probably already run off to Metatrin City, wondering what to do next . If Metatrin City fell, the demons would return to the demon plane instead of surrendering . They would never attempt to avenge Saleen’s death .
The demons Saleen had brought on the suicide run were not the most loyal bunch . Powerful enough, yes, but that was about it . The most loyal ones either had stayed with Nailisi’s or been sent to the interdimensional space .
“Head warden . I’m here . And I have no intention of leaving . I’m waiting for you, so there’s no need to shout,” said Saleen looking down at the volcano from up high . Because he had been near the mouth of the volcano, he had to fly as high as possible to protect himself .
As the ground shook, rocks began rolling down the mountain . Saleen noticed that the surrounding areas of the volcano were filled with dense woods, but no magic beasts were seen anywhere . The head warden’s lair was devoid of life .
All at once, a deafening blast came from below . Saleen saw a glimmer of crimson light at the mouth of the volcano . Then came a roaring, booming sound .
A pillar of flames tens of meters thick shot into the air, exceeding Saleen’s expectations . If he had stayed above the mouth of the volcano, he would have been caught in the blast .
What happened next was even more mysterious to him .
As the volcano erupted, a long crack formed on the ground . The earth shook violently . If the troops hadn’t set up camp in the mountains and stabilized the ground using divine or magic spells, they would have been sent flying to the ground below .
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The earthquake grew increasingly intense, while the volcano spewed flames and lava as the surface cracked open . The crack, more than three kilometers long, gushed lava . Smoke billowed . Trees burned . What a sorry sight .
Although the mountains had been cleaned up, the temperatures kept climbing . The wardens all wore glum expression in the shelters . Things would have fared better with holy masters around . Without them, their crude shelter wouldn’t have kept them alive .
Saleen then pointed at the clouds in the air . The thick, stuttering storm clouds spun as the rain began falling . The areas within tens of kilometers radius became shrouded in mist .
The soldiers put up their visors . Saleen’s troops were armed with magic equipment, enabling their visors to filter dust and smoke . The lowest-level wardens could only wet their towels and stuff them into the crevices of their armor for protection .
The armor worn by the units resisted high temperatures . The only difference between them lay with the details .
Saleen saved quite a lot of people with that one move, but many more were falling into the lava and burning to death . In response, Saleen cast an Ice Strike with a wide area of effect . Six huge blocks of ice that were tens of meters wide rammed onto each other and dropped into the mouth of the volcano .
Saleen’s calculations were impeccable . The volcanic eruptions had their rhythm . He was doing it at the interval where the eruptions stopped . Ice Strike was not some less-known magic spell . Those six blocks of ice didn’t melt right away in the lava, causing the mouth to be blocked .
Boom!
The ground shook, and more cracks split opened . Saleen looked at the swaths of lava lakes and spotted a tiny house at the center . Its roof had already collapsed, and only three walls were left standing . There sat a middle-aged man .
He was wearing a black robe and had impeccable features, looking like a wise bard .
The image stayed only a second before the man’s clothing was torn, revealing the skin underneath . His fair skin quickly turned red . Muscles began to bulge all over his body .
That was the head warden . The changes to him did not stop there . His height continued to climb, reaching six meters tall in a matter of seconds . A pair of longhorns grew out of his head, and the muscles all over his body disappeared as flames engulfed him . Through the flames, however, Saleen saw them turn into a shiny, crimson sheen as if composed of fire-elemental crystals .
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One of the head warden’s arms became even longer, and a layer of scales grew on it . An eight-meter-long tail sprouted behind his back . His body was engulfed in flames by then .
The flames were dark, with pitch-black colors showing in the red . The flames danced, and all spaces that burned turned ethereal before being taken over by new flames .
Rafel saw the creature high above and shouted to Saleen, “My lord, that’s a creature from the underworld plane!”
“That’s the head warden,” Saleen replied in a low voice .
The head warden looked at the spot where Saleen was before lowering his head to look at the changes on his body . He didn’t appear to be shocked at all . He then uttered flatly, “I have fallen indeed . ”
He grasped at the air with his right hand after saying that . A weapon appeared in his hand—a single-edged great sword that was merged with the scales on his army, fusing into a peculiar-looking weapon .
The side of the blade that was not holding an edge was serrated in blocks, each one a square . In every protruding tooth was a square-shaped space . Saleen saw purple flames burning in those interior spaces .
One side of the blade was meant for inflicting formidable physical damage; the other side, powerful elemental damage . That weapon was definitely of a godly item .
To test his speculations, Saleen fired a lightning icicle at the head warden’s throat .
It was not meant to kill him; it was just a test .
The head warden brought the sword up, and the icicle shattered with a tang .
Saleen’s mind sank to the bottom . His lightning icicle had fundamentally advanced . The lightning icicle spouted by the powerful thunder dragon was harder than any metal . The reason the sword was able to easily break the icicle was that the power of rules was used .
There was no way to circumvent them .
Jola and Sul shuddered at the same time at Saleen’s side . That was their expression of feeling strained by the might emanating from the powerful one before them .
“Level-14 . It’s okay . ” Saleen’s thundering voice was heard, and the two level-2 true mights could barely calm themselves . The power of the head warden was higher than Saleen expected . That creature used the rules perfectly . The test result told Saleen that if he were to not use level-18 scrolls, the head warden could not be killed by his family badge alone if he was still wielding the godly item in his hand .
Jola and Sul were of no help . Only his three weapon spirits and Rafel, as well as the Violet Angel, would have been able to do decent damage . The upcoming battle was going to be tough .
Despite Saleen’s superior numbers, all combatants were at level-13; he nonetheless knew how much difference there was between level-13 and level-14 .
Further, from the look of things, the head warden seemed to be wielding more than just the power of rules; there were also rules of the fire element .
The head warden’s expression was hard to read . He was engulfed in flames, and any parts seen underneath appeared to be red-hot, burning metal .
“Saleen, are you coming to get me? Or should I go to you?” The head warden seemed to be in a good mood . The undoing of his seal did not result in any penalties by the plane rules . Seems like a good time to leave this blasted island indeed!
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