“You know what to do.”
Kael spoke as he turned towards Igni.
The Dragon nodded as he increased his speed, creating considerable distance between him and the wolves before he dropped Kael and flew away.
“Uggghhh!”
The instant Kael landed on the ground, he groaned in pain as his legs trembled.
He had underestimated the extent of his injuries and as he landed, all those injuries flared up.
His burnt skin tore open, the cuts and bruises started bleeding even more, and Kael lost his balance.
Igni, who sensed Kael’s pain, stopped, but,
“KEEP MOVING!”
Kael shouted.
“I am fine!”
And to prove his point, Kael stood up with his trembling legs and… he started running.
“Sssss!”
He gasped and gritted through the pain. Every step he took made the pain even worse. It felt like he was running with a broken bone, but even when he was in this agony, his fiery eyes stared at Igni.
Igni understood what his father wanted, he nodded, gritted his teeth and flew away as fast as possible. After all, the faster he would be done with this, the less pain his father would need to endure.
The little Dragon circled around the large Volcano, appearing from the other side behind the Titan’s back, and silently got close to the Heart of Crucible.
“Grrrr!”
On the other side, Kael’s situation got worse.
The chase hadn’t ended yet.
The wolves were still behind him.
Yes, the Titan had attacked them, but the Titan’s agility was only 30.
Even though the Death Ray was almost instantaneous, by the time the Titan aimed and then released its attack, the wolves were already ahead, chasing Kael.
And this was exactly what he wanted.
He wanted the wolves to grab the Titan’s attention so that Igni could get to the Heart of Crucible and reignite it in 20 seconds.
As for Kael?
He just needed to protect himself from the wolves that were still chasing after him, so all he needed to do was to run.
Simple enough, no?
Well, in Kael’s mind, according to everything he calculated, yes.
But…
Rumble Rumble Rumble
Whoosh
The difficulty level suddenly rose up.
The Volcano wall, which now had more than a few holes, collapsed and while Kael had calculated it and was currently standing away from the collapsed rubble, he couldn’t possibly have predicted what happened next.
The instant all the rubble fell on the ground, the unstable ground beneath it erupted in flames.
BOOOM
The force of the eruption was so strong that it sent all the rubble into the air, and now…
Those heavy boulders rained down from the top.
And as if that wasn’t enough,
BOOOM
The moment those boulders fell on the ground, the ground exploded again.
‘Fuck…’
So now, Kael not only had to run away from the wolves chasing him down, he also needed to dodge the huge boulders raining down, the explosions they caused, bear the heat that seemed to burn his very skin, all while he ran with his near-crippled legs.
“Aaaggh!! Fuck! FUCK!!”
Kael screamed out loud as he gritted his teeth.
The heat was making it even worse for his injuries, so much so that he had stumbled and fallen more than once. Despite the distance Igni had created, the wolves had already caught up.
In the end, Kael had no choice but to stand up, grit his teeth through the pain again, and,
[Dragon Surge]
He activated his ability, and in an instant, his speed shot up.
And together with his speed, the pain he felt shot up as well, but Kael didn’t care and gritted through it all.
He was abusing his body to its limits, and now, his body had started adapting. He continued to run and avoided all the boulders and explosions. The distance between him and the wolves had widened quite a bit as well.
Not to mention that because of all these new obstructions, the wolves’ speed was forced to slow down to a considerable degree, which allowed the Titan to target them and kill around 10 of them.
Rumble Rumble Rumble
Whoosh
The Volcano walls still continued to crumble, sending more and more rubble into the air.
BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM
Yes, it wasn’t getting any easier. Rather, the number of explosions and eruptions was increasing more and more.
The very realm itself seemed to be falling apart.
Then suddenly,
“!!!”
Kael’s eyes widened in horror as he realized a boulder that was about to fall right on top of him.
In his desperation, he jumped away, avoiding the direct collision but…
BOOOOOOOOOM
He was caught in the explosion, his body was sent flying from the impact as he tumbled onto the crusty ground that tore open his skin.
“AAGGGHH! FUCK! FUCK!!!”
He cursed, the pain was no short of agonizing. Almost all the skin on his right arm and leg was burnt, let alone standing and run, even lying down on the crusty ground felt painful but…
“Grrrr…”
The Wolves weren’t going to let him go.
As he stared at the wolves who were catching up, his breathing became heavier, his powerless body couldn’t move…
But then,
‘Nyuuuuuuu!!’
Cirri, who was watching everything from the Sanctuary, screamed, her eyes full of tears.
Kael’s expression changed.
‘I can’t lose again…’
He clenched his fists.
‘Not after coming this close.’
He made his mind and moved, his body trembled, screaming in protest, but then,
He stood up.
“Haaahh… Haaahh… Haaahhh…”
He took deep breaths, his face was covered with dirt and burnt marks. His eyes were hollow, almost as if he had given up. He turned around and noticed that the distance between him and the wolves had closed quite a bit.
And to make things even worse,
Rumble Rumble Rumble
The ground beneath him trembled. Yes, the realm had become even more unstable than before. He couldn’t stay at one place for long else he would be devoured by the flames.
“FUCK THIS PLACE!!!”
He shouted at the top of his lungs and—
“AAAAHHHH!!”
he forced his weak, exhausted, and trembling body to run even as he stumbled more than once.
No matter what, the wolves couldn’t get close to him.
He cannot die here.
The mission cannot fail.
Honestly, this was worse than the time he had climbed that giant volcano. That day, at the very least, time was on his side. But today, he was racing against time, and his body couldn’t deal with the abuse any longer.
Only 10 seconds had passed since Igni had dropped him, but these 10 seconds had been nothing short of agonizing.
Whoosh
The moment Kael got away, the ground beneath him erupted in flames. However, before he could sigh in relief, he realized 4 more boulders were right above him, and this time, it was even worse.
They had cut all his escape routes, he couldn’t even dodge since they were about to fall in all around him in four directions.
“What the hell is wrong with this place…?”
It was almost as if someone had planned this all out, purposefully making things difficult for him.
In the end, he sighed weakly, he tried to run, dodge, or do anything, his body, however, seemed to have given up and he couldn’t move.
‘Tsk, I didn’t wish to use it.’
Kael complained as the boulders fell right in front of him, then on his left, his right, and then behind him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
The ground underneath exploded.
Kael was trapped in the middle of four explosions. It was something that would have evaporated his entire body into nothingness but from the middle of the explosion,
A figure flew out.
It was Kael.
His body was covered in shimmering red scales. Two giant bat-like wings and a tail appeared behind him, and his Aura exploded.
His injuries all seemed to have been replaced by flames. His eyes, which were hollow and hopeless, had turned golden, radiating power much different than before.
“Tsk.”
He snorted as he hovered in the air, catching a 5-meter giant boulder that was about to fall on him with one arm, as if he was catching a ball.
Then, he threw the boulder away.
[Ascendant of the Ancient]
The trump card that gave him a 10-second power-up.
Usually, it was an absurdly short time, but right now, it couldn’t be more perfect.
After all, Igni just needed 10 more seconds.
Yes, the Mission was over.
Igni, who saw his father using this form again, grinned at him as his eyes shone with pride. Even the Dragon knew they had succeeded.
After all, the Titan was still busy with the wolves, Kael was pretty much undefeatable, and he just needed a few more seconds.
For these few seconds, the only thing Kael did was to make sure that the wolves didn’t run out of the Titan’s range. Every time one of them tried it, he caught a boulder and threw it right in front of them, forcing them back.
If a few wolves still tried to run away, he simply went in front of them, grabbed their head, and threw them towards the Volcano, making sure they wouldn’t return for the next few seconds.
With his enhanced strength, it was no different than bullying the poor things.
Not that Kael cared. He still remembered how these bastards attacked him ruthlessly as he hung in the air. Heck, he was specifically targeting the ones who had attacked him the most.
Indeed, Kael was vindictive.
And it was very, very fun.
10 satisfying seconds passed by very quickly, and just as Kael’s ability wore off,
BOOOOOOOOOOOM
The Heart of Crucible released a strong Aura, and Kael saw a message.
[Ding!]
[Mission Completed]