Chapter 20 - One Eyebrow less

Since Mogranius blocked each and every gap of that tunnel, the Lava became heavier and heavier to withstand. At first, he noticed a sudden spike in his Stamina as soon as he filled each gap of the tunnel(caused while Eric was still in the cave).

After withstanding that spike, he quickly adapted to it and felt like he can withstand it long enough. At least until Eric returns. But now ke knew that he underestimated the Lava's power.

Normally, once the Fire Shield is casted, the Caster only needs to focus on keeping the shield going. Having a firm grip to the ground is just a minor mostly unnecessary trait. Because the shield itself holds back any strong pushing force opposing it. Even if the opposing force is too strong, the shield starts breaking. The grip to the ground isn't affected. But here! It wasn't the case. The Shield isn't braking quickly, so that tension has to go somewhere else, seeking a weaker spot.

Mogranius felt his feet being pushed through the ground. Although not fast enough to tip him over, his feet were still slipping. Slipping might not be the best description. They were being pushed against the hard dry ground.

Feeling that he was being overwhelmed, he knew he had to put more power against this lava, the shield has to be stronger in order to prevent this, sliding. Because if he keeps sliding like this, he will eventually meet the end of the tunnel, and the lava will spread in the cave wild enough that he won't be able at all to hold back at such a short time given.

Moving his right foot forward swiftly before he lost balance, he bent himself 65° forward and started opposing such great force. Afterwards taking a left step forwards, he was able to reach his former location(specifically where he first started the Fire Shield) even though his legs kept sliding across the ground along the way.

He did manage to fight back this large burden, yes. But he witnessed happening what he feared the most in this situation. The Fire Shield started cracking. A minor crack on the top left side appeared. Then a slightly bigger crack in the middle followed. Not wasting a blink, another smaller crack very near the middle appeared as well. If these cracks keep appearing, the shield will break and disaster will follow. 

Tightening his fists as they were in mid air and letting out a violent portion of fire through his nose, the cracks on the shield disappeared in a blink but so did a big portion of Mogranius' stamina due to the shield expanded in width. It became thicker by an inch. Such shield upgrade takes a lot of concentration, rage and stamina. If one of the above is lacking or is overdone, disaster follows. It has to be perfectly balanced and takes years of practice and or research to master.

But remember that spike in stamina he had to withstand once he covered every gap of the tunnel? Well, the spike has doubled now. At first he felt week on his knees but adapted to it quickly and took charge over the weakness, afterwards he felt his lungs burning harder and harder as a result which forced him to heavy breathe. What this signifies, is that he burned 60% of his stamina already. To make it worse, a couple of cracks reappeared on the Fire Shield. This shows that in order to beat this lava, a 4 inch Fire Shield has to be casted. Especially since he was still sliding across the ground, but half the time slower.

But with such a thick shield, it can be unpredictable on how long it will stay active for a level 4 Fire Wizard. Sure a Level 5 or 6 Fire Wizard will have little to no trouble in maintaining a shield of such thickness. But for Mogranius, it could either last a second, half a minute or a couple of minutes. It really is unpredictable and it can wary on his overall concentration, put in rage and remaining Stamina.

Mogranius was in second and even third thoughts about unleashing such a thick shield. But from the looks of it, his choices were limited. Two more cracks appeared very near to each other at the top right. First the lava favoured the left, and now the right. It really is unpredictable, which makes it all the more dangerous.

"Where the hell is that kid?" He whispered to himself as he let out a strong breath and felt countless sweats dropping the ground. How funny would it be if he sweated enough to slip on it. It would sure be an adventure.

He decided that forming a 4 inch Fire Shield at such a situation would be too dangerous and unpredictable. Instead, he decided to do an even more advanced and more powerful move that might be able to vaporize the Lava in front of him and cause a strong blockade. That could just work enough to solve 2 problems at once. He could possibly fight off the lava permanently, preventing it from causing colossal damage and he wouldn't be burned into a crisp. But he will need to use the rest of his stamina against it if he wishes to achieve such a goal. Which could be the biggest risk if the move isn't so effective towards this seemingly limitless lava. What did he have to lose? If a 3 inch thick Fire Shield can't hold off this lava, he can't simply wait. The shield might give in before his stamina does.

To unleash a spell that can possibly fight off such force, he had to form a fire spell while still keeping the Fire shield going.

Casting another spell while keeping another one going, can no doubt be tricky. And at this situation where Lava is a few feet away from him, it can be extremely dangerous. He will have to blow away his entire stamina along with this spell.

Throwing a simple Fireball towards this huge amount of Lava wouldn't be of help. It would just be a waste of Stamina. So he had to settle for a different, stronger spell. One that can oppose the Lava, push it away and explode at the end. Bringing the tunnel down. Which could be just what he needs to permanently prevent the lava from breaking out, or at least enough until Eric returns. He has a lot more stamina and power to burn.

If there is enough dirt and rocks in front of the Lava, it will be what he needs to prevent the lava from causing Havoc, or from burning him alive. But yet again, this lava is bursting out intensively fast. It isn't natural. The chances of the Lava breaking out again are large, but his Fire Shield is breaking fast and his remaining stamina even faster, and Eric is taking too much time to return. Even if the Lava breaks out again, at least Eric will likely be there by that time. This just needs to hold for a little if not forever.

On his right hand, a Fireball started to form. Roughly Sphering around his hand, growing bigger by the moment. But he felt like it wasn't enough. "I need to put more power into this. This shield won't hold long." He thought to himself as his breath became heavier as time passed.

Not wasting a moment, fire started breaking out of his nose and heading towards his right hand, giving more power to the forming fireball. A rather uncommon way to burst fire from, but it was helping.

More cracks on his 3 inch thick Fire Shield started appearing, giving a quick glance and counting them. He found out that there were 9 Cracks on it already, ranging from small to big, but most were medium sized. It won't work to his advantage if more cracks are forced towards the Shield. A few more cracks, and the Fire Shield will entirely break. He will be roasted into a good meal for a Source Bear to munch on.

"I need to do this faster." He whispered to himself. In a blink, Fire broke out through his mouth, hit the Shield and bounced of it towards his right hand. That small spheric Fire, observing all of this power. Concentrating in one place, Although at first it grew bigger in size, now it was forcing itself to become smaller. Compressing, to make space for more power to roam around his hand.

Two more cracks appeared on the Fire Shield. And on one of them, Lava was breaking through, slowly falling near his feet. With the spell's range being minimized by the opposing lava who might have the chance to push this concentrated Blast back, how will this shield exactly withstand such explosion? Especially if it gets closer!

Fire was blasting out of his nose, mouth and hand while the other hand was holding the Fire Shield up. His Stamina now is roughly 2/10. He could even feel his knees getting weaker and his eyesight darkening. He can knock himself out if he continues, so the time to attack is now!

Giving out a final burst towards the Spherical fire around his hand, he tightened his fist hard enough for his fingers to start burning, feeling numb due to that last step. He Quitted blasting fire throughout his mouth and nose, but now his hand were shaking. There was too much power concentrated on one spot, he wasn't sure at all if he can keep this fire for long on his hand. It can erupt before he can even unleash it. This spell is ridiculously unstable and packs a death promising blow. Luckily, he didn't have to hold it in his hand and wait to see what happens.

Pulling his right elbow back, and throwing that spheric Fire against the Shield and Lava as if he threw a rock. It managed to push through the Fire Shield without trouble(Thankfully!). Imagine being trapped in your own shield and killed by your own explosion! Not so wise but it wouldn't still be the craziest thing he would doo). The concentrated spheric Fireball broke through wind so easily, that it even pushed through the lava as if it were nothing, as if it was still breaking through air. Thankfully, the lava didn't bring the spell back. If it did, death would be certain.

Knowing what he had to do as a last resort, with his arms already spread wide, he clapped his hands and the Fire Shield instantly expanded in Thickness. 3/4 of the cracks disappeared in a blink of an eye, the ones still remaining on the shield thankfully didn't pose a threat at all. But with so little stamina left, how long can he keep a 4 inch Fire Shield going? This specially formed Fireball was his last hope.

That Fireball reached the end of its road, but its effects were sure far from meeting an end! A large explosion was heard a couple of seconds after Mogranius made the Fire Shield Thicker. Judging from how fast it exploded and how fast it flew, the concentrated Fire Ball exploded anywhere from 15 to 35 feet away. It really is uncertain, but it exploded close by.

The blast however was worthy to be memorized with song! The blast vaporized every bit of lava which reached its radius. A lot of the lava of which was near Mogranius, wasn't there anymore but he had no chance of noticing that, due to all of the dust, rocks and dirt, flashing around him and the strong shake as the aftermath of the explosion. It is very likely that a lot of Lava from the other side was vaporized as well. Imagine burning super hot lava out of existence with super hot fire! That's how strong a concentrated blast can be.

The radius of the Blast however, still reached Mogranius with ease. It rushed towards the Shield with such a pushing force.

When it hit the shield, a large rivering singular crack appeared from the left top of the Fire Shield and ranged all the way down to the bottom right of the shield. But, that crack was only to be seen for a blink.

Right after, smaller branches of cracks started spreading near the first large crack one after the other with no sign of stopping. It all happened too fast! A four inch Fire Shield which can wipe out his stamina in a few blinks, seemed nothing more but a minor barricade in front of that concentrated blast. Piling up power all in one place, can't always be the best idea as you can see.

If breaking the Fire Shield in 2 seconds isn't bad enough, he was tossed all the way through the cave near the Entrance and even was forced into a backflip in mid air. His strong grip to the ground caused such backflip. His back even hit the cave wall above the entrance before he fell on the ground. Thankfully there wasn't lava where he fell, as if that spot was reserved for him.

He raised his head up with the toughest effort and saw the tunnel collapsing, dust spreading wide through the cave due to the tunnel.

As if him being tossed through the cave worked to his advantage, he also noticed rock and dirt collapsing around his former position and 15 feet behind that spot as well. So if the Lava is to appear Again, it will have it a bit harder to do so.

Giving out a last blink towards the collapsed tunnel, his eyes closed as he reached unconsciousness. Stamina did its part and so did the minor damage he took when he hit the walls of the cave, hard dirt and rocks after too. 

But to his ridiculously large bad luck, after an exact minute, Lava broke out through the tunnel once more.

Just before the lava was about to turn Mogranius in to an over cooked kebab, Eric jumped in front of the way. He unleashed a terrifyingly large amount of fire towards the lava. So much, that the ground started shaking harder beneath his feet the second he unleashed the fire from his palms. And this time it was partially because of the lava.

The Fire he unleashed was so large, that the beginning of the blast was literally a blast, in an exploding like manner that made him loose grip of the ground in mere seconds. It threw him through the entrance and forced him tumble down through the hard dirt and rocks(mostly) outside of the cave like a tumbleweed. 

While Eric was just thrown all the way out of the cave, he kept the spell going even while he was in mid air, but still he wasn't able to maintain the spell going for more than around 4 seconds. The blast was just to strong, it opposed the lava rather well.

The Fire. Dear God. The Fire was terrifying. It measured 5 feet wide once it left Eric's palms and expanded ten feet when it reached the Tunnel. It's length behind didn't tail long, but it's strength still remained unmatchable. it had such a strong push that it didn't just easily overpower the lava but it also expanded the used to be dead end tunnel to a ten foot wide and high seemingly endless hole, ignoring Dirt and Rock! It went through the tunnel so easily that it didn't shake the rest of the cave down in the process. A win win.

The heat of the fire was unbearable as well. Just by being the caster, Eric slightly burned his hands, burned his left eyebrow and even a bit of his hair. The hair doesn't seem to be a problem because his black hair just looked better with it.

However, Eric was knocked out from that huge blast as well, he got knocked out from the lack of stamina. As we mentioned before, his magic is linked to his stamina. The more he blasts the more stamina he loses. And this huge blast was way to much for someone who just discovered magic a few days ago. He didn't yet figure out how to make the best out of his stamina.

Surprisingly waking up half a minute after, crawling his way up to the cave which took a few minutes.(in his case it felt like forever) he finally managed to reach Mogranius. Glaring upon the tunnel, he saw quite well that he has won!

He managed to gently(slapped) wake up Mogranius in to consciousness and while still under his breath he said, "Morning already?"

They both are tired. All Mogranius is strong enough to do is sit and Eric burned out so much Stamina that he can't even stand up yet. He would need a few minutes(or an hour) to catch his breath and get his energy back (enough energy to stand up. Not to replenish his stamina entirely. Until that time comes, they are quite defenseless.

But unfortunately, time wasn't on their side now. Because from the previous tunnel where all that lava came from, now came something possibly more deadly. Something everyone but one person expected dead.

The Calidum Lutum. Three of them came out of that tunnel. One who seemed to be the leader, standing taller than an average ten foot Calidum Lutum, was in the middle of the three.

His strong black Biceps were twice the size of Eric himself and the lava like veins that covered their bodies made each of them twice as intimidating. Luckily they were wearing grey breachers as well. Or else it would be really terrifying.

The two other Calidum Lutum near him, seemed smaller, weaker but if the two of them were put together, they would be equal(if not stronger) to the leader.

You would expect the Calidum Lutum race to be peaceful. Apart from their obvious numerous war advantages, they avoided war. But yet again they didn't seem peaceful when they blasted all that lava towards the unsuspecting. The leader, forged his hands together, making them a large fist and was about to crush the life out of both Eric and Woldemir.

A second before he was about to crush them, he heard a voice yelling in a commanding tone from behind. 

"AKI!"

The seemingly giant Calidum Lutum stopped on his spot, as if he froze. And separated his hands from each other, stepped a couple of steps backwards, sparing their lives. Even though he was the leader, there seems to be a leader above leaders.

The three large Calidum Lutum stood aside and what seemed to be a shorter woman was approaching. Well at least small compared to the other three. She was about six foot tall.

She looked like an ignite but not entirely. You can define an ignite apart from similar looking races from the jawline and how wide their faces is. Interesting definition indeed.

Ignites have a small jawline and their face isn't so wide. Most ignite looks like that without doubt while some have minor differences. Not anything that would confuse them with another race though. But the woman that approached Eric and Woldemir had the complete opposite. Wider face and a sharp Jawline, six foot tall(while most of the other ignite women are around five foot tall.).

And of course a big feature that defined her best, she had no ears. And I'm not using this as a metaphor, she had no ears. At all. There weren't any holes around where the ears should be either. Nothing. Straight out flat.

But oddly, she could hear everything.

Apart from that, she was undoubtedly "otherworldly" beautiful.

Her black hair reached all the way to the way of her elbows and she was obviously very physically fit, her body toned enough to be used as a military motivation, arm muscles a bit above average.

Mogranius who a minute ago was laying on the ground gasping for breath, in less then a split second stood six foot tall(Still a bit shorter than her.).

Mogranius who straight up believed that marriage was a waste of time, nerves and gold coins, suddenly fell in love at first sight. In a flirting like manner he said to her, "Who might you be, let me guess.... They call you Dandelion. Because you sure look as beautiful as one."