Solar Mage

Chapter 46: Iron Rain

What? She can't ray anymore? How will Tin be healed then?!

I quickly turn to Tin, with a look of fright.

Why is he standing there lime he's unfazed? He doesn't have any regeneration skills! How could I not notice it before?! He's shaking in his boots even though he's just standing! He's in no position to walk, let alone run! I need to rework my plan! If I distract the monster and bring it to the far end of the room, I might be fast enough to go back to the entrance, grab Tin, and run back to the next room! But what about Rachel? Screw it, I'll carry them both–

Tin looks at me with a face neither of happiness nor sadness– but of determination, his goal having been set and unfaltering.

"Arthur, I'm fine, I can take care of myself. You've already sacrificed an arm for us and you're risking your life for ours yet again. As the adult here, I should be the one taking charge and making the sacrifices. But here I am, with all my limbs intact while the apostle of Pyro, the chosen hero, sacrificed his arm for me. I know it will never be enough, but I swear I will serve you for the rest of my life. Don't worry about us, just distract the monster. And if at any point you feel like you're in danger, just run away to the next room without me. In that situation, I swear I will save Rachel, even at the cost of my life."

My frightened face slowly fades as I listen to his words and look at him. His face remains, his expression unchanging and a slight emotion of rage could be felt, not directed at Arthur but rather, at himself.

Tin– I want to reject him but it seems like his mind has already been set.

I let out a deep sigh.

"It looks like your mind won't change despite anything I say, but don't worry about my arm, I can get it healed back at the church or get a new one. I saved you before because I wanted to, it's not your fault. Just as I have chosen to save you then, I will continue to choose to save you now but thank you for your loyalty, I will remember it when we get out. I've never drank before, but let's all have a drink with the riches we get in that next room."

I turn to Rachel, who still looks at the floor, depressed.

"Don't worry about it Rachel, you can just repay it back to me with a kiss once we get out of here."

She instantly flicks her head up, her face red, completely flushed as she stares at me with swirling, confused eyes after hundreds of thoughts spiral around her head.

Looks like that worked and got her out of depressed and unattentive mood

"I was just joking. But now that you can hear us, let's get out of here together okay?"

Still red, though in a lighter tone, she nods excitedly.

"Alright, we can speak normally now. Let's go!!!"

All of us rush through the stone door at the same time. Myself charging in the direction of the Lava axolotl that had already reached the replica artifact, and is currently digesting it, while Tin and Rachel chart their direction straight, to the direct opposite side of the room from the door we entered.

Alright, I need to take care of the lighting issue first before taking care of that giant lava creature. I haven't done this since the 2nd circle, but let's try twenty percent of my mana to create Dawns and light up the room first. That should be enough right?

A hundred balls of flame appear in an instant and surround me as I continue running to the Lava Axolotl.

A hundred huh? That means that accounting for the increase in my mana reserves and mana circuits, my total mana output has increased by around four to five times. The efficiency increase from the mana circuits is pretty good as well, they all appeared in less than a second. Not too bad and I think they might also be a little brighter too.

I send the hundred Dawns flying out in all directions, brightly lighting the way, leaving a trail of light everywhere it travels. But as the orbs get further, the light exuding from them starts to dim.

What? Even a hundred Dawns weren't enough to cover this room? Tin and Rachel are starting to get close to the river of Molten Iron. I can't have them wasting any time, wandering nowhere. It will be a little annoying, but it's necessary. Lets up the amount of mana to fifty percent, two hundred, fifty Dawns.

One hundred, fifty appear around me and instantly shoot out, scattering around the room.

That should be good enough. Even if it isn't, I can't afford to expend anymore mana. I have bigger problems to worry about.

I use Body Enhancement on my legs, enhancing them with mana as I form Flame Claws around my legs and arms, keeping them active in a constant state.

My physical body disappears from view as I leap at the lava monster, leaving behind nothing but claw marks that melted into the ground, and a blazing trail of fire through the air.

Lets see how strong you are, you money devouring beast!

I shoot a single Sun Ray at the axolotl. The orange ray of light is swallowed upon contact with the monster's body, causing a slight bubbling in its monster's lava skin before it disappears.

Did it just... absorb it? I was wrong, this monster isn't an axolotl, I've never heard of any slime having the properties of lava before, but I'm certain that it's a slime– no other being in Aegela has skin and absorbing properties like that!

The monster raises one of it's arms, and with great force, slowly brings it down.

My Heightened Senses immediately react and I begin to dodge, clawing my way through the air. Even still, I barely manage to dodge from the sheer size of the monster's hand.

That was close! This is definitely not the original lava monster, otherwise, the monster would have been able to travel through any hole, however small which would contradict with what Zinc stated in the stone, and Zinc is no idiot, so he would not make the slime the lava monster– he said that it would be trapped until I stepped into the room.

As the monster's hand finishes its swinging motion and its hand comes to a stop, compared to the size of it, small drops of red water flick off his hand, but to me, hundreds of molten meteors come flying past.

Woah! This is... a little difficult. How are Tin and Rachel doing?

I take a quick scan around the room, stopping as I see two small dots, Tin and Rachel, reflecting bright light from their outfits making their way over to something.

I shift my glance, taking into account the direction they're heading, until it reaches a wall.

So there it is, the door to the next room!

I send a hundred of the Dawns to light the path from them to the next room's door while dodging another attack of the lava slime.

"You get me with the same attack a second time, you sluggish slime!"

It makes a large movement just before it attacks, so I can fly away before the arm even moves. I'm not really sure how I didn't notice the first time, it takes a lot of force that can't be generated by just forcing it. It needs to make an equally forceful movement in one direction, to make it move in the opposite direction.

A hundred and fifty of the Dawns that I didn't send to light the path to the next room come flying back to me, one by one, running into, and getting absorbed in my back.

Ah yes, my power is returning to me. I can also bring back the Dawns that have already passed them since they're lighting the path for nothing.

I take another glance at them, checking their progress

Lets see, from their current pace, they're about two minutes away from the entrance to the next room. Damn, this room is big! I can leave this monster and go with them once they're about a minute away. My Heightened Senses haven't sensed any other monsters other than this one and they haven't made any noise so there shouldn't be any dangers other than this one. Meaning I can distract this guy to the far corner of the room without worrying about them. To be honest though, from what I've seen from this monster, it's not very fast at all. It'd probably take it twenty minutes to get from the far corner of the room to the next room, so there really isn't a need. But I should just stick to the plan I made just in case it does have a hidden card up its sleeve.

I dodge another of its swings, then fly to the direction leading to the far corner of the room as its "head" slowly turns and tracks on to me as it begins to slide its way over to me.

That's right, just follow me you brainless slime.

I set an internal clock in my head and begin counting down from sixty in my subconscious.

I float upside down with my legs and arms crossed while keeping my eyes closed.

"Hmm... looks like the minute is about to be up, but you have barely even moved."

I can't fly yet, I'm just floating. I learned to increase the air resistance around my body to the maximum with Swift Wind, so that I can stay completely still, regardless of whether I'm in the air or on the ground. I still feel like I'm using the skill wrong though, which is concerning because my instincts are never wrong twice, and I have felt it much more than two times.

A kind of alarm rings loudly inside my head.

"Looks like the minute is up, see you never!"

With my Flame Claws, I deactivate Swift Wind and boost myself through the air, to Tin before getting too far, I take one last glance at the monster, who is turning its head.

Haha, this slime hasn't even realized I'm gone yet. I can't believe I ever thought of it as a threat!

I reach Tin and Rachel in twenty seconds, with the entrance to the fifth room closely approaching and sparkling with a bright yellow light.

I'm certain of it, inside there is the gold and artifacts! I can't wait to see the unknown treasures inside! I should check up on the two of them first.

I deactivate my Flame Claws and fall down to the ground lightly, using Swift Wind to increase the resistance of the air below me.

I let out a gasp.

"Hhh– Tin, what happened?!"

Tin is in tatters and struggling to move as he is held up by Rachel.

"Oh, you're here Arthur, don't worry, I'm okay, we're almost there anyway. If you're here, that must mean you've successfully distracted the monster, that's great!"

I quickly drop down to the ground, next to them and prop Tin's other arm over my back, helping Rachel carry him, as we continue slowly making our way to the next room.

"Here, let me help you. We'll get there together, we can go slow if you want, the lava monster won't get to us any time soon."

Tin takes heavy breaths before he opens his mouth once again.

"God, some water would be nice right now."

But you're the one that drank it all...

"Ugh... I can't wait to see my wife and kids again. What about you, Arthur? Do you have anyone you want to see?"

I reply coldly, my face unchanging and absolutely serious.

"Yes."

"That's nice. What about you Rachel? You've never really spoken about your personal life before."

She seems startled by the question, her eyes wavering and avoiding contact.

"Oh– yeah, I have some people I want to see as well."

Well, it's fine if she doesn't want to talk about her private life. I am a bit curious about it, but I do the same so I shouldn't be nosy. Ahh, I can't wait to get out of here and save Dustin, father, and finally go back to the academy and see–

.

.

.

A slight, joyful smile runs over my face as I close my eyes and think about happy thoughts.

My joy ends shortly as my instincts suddenly warn me heavily of danger.

"ARTHUR, WATCH OUT!"

Rachel screams as she points behind us.

She's pointing in the direction that I left the Lava Slime in!

I rapidly spin my head around and my movements come to a halt as I see hundreds of massive orange molten iron droplets hurling towards me.

What the hell?

My body quickly snaps myself out of the trance, as I just barely manage to react in time.

"Sun's Gate!"

A massive orange light construct with four towers and a gate fashioned after a Portcullis erects out of the ground, shaking the floor in its ascent.

That should be enough to stop the tiny drops of iron right?

The droplets of molten iron come and make contact with the Sun's Gate, but there is not a sound to be heard.

What? Was I just overreacting for nothing?

I then notice a drop of iron go through the gate and fall to the ground and slowly sizzles as it burns through the ground, before hardening.

No– the molten iron wasn't weak, it didn't manage to even make a noticeable impact, and melt before even touching my gate. It was just so hot that it melted through my spell like it wasn't even there!

"Get away from the gate!"

Rachel curls into a ball on the ground while I try to run with Tin on my back, but it is too late.

Tin screams in pain as many droplets land on him.

"AAAGGGHHH!!!"

He screams, in pain.

"No– Tin!"

What do I do? Should I throw him away, into the next room? No, the impact from the throw would surely kill him. All I can do is remove his armor and hope for the best, that this ends soon.

I try to remove his armor, but the lava rain persists, stopping me from getting close to him.

Damn it, these stupid lava droplets, how am I supposed to do anything in this situation? These droplets are way more dangerous than the bigger version.

The last drop falls and I immediately turn back to the lava monster.

Alright, lets see what this mother fucker looks like now.

I rotate my head 180 degrees and back, searching for it.

Where did it go? How could something as big as that just disappear like that? Wait– why do I feel such warmth from above? Is there a crack in the dungeon that allows sunlight in–

I look up, frozen in shock.

Ahhhh– how could I forget the signature move of all slimes? How could I forget they could jump?