Return of the Tower Conqueror

  Boiling Breaths (I)

Senna and Cain stood at the edge of a looming platform, one edged at an angle over a deep dip, its own edges appearing faintly ablaze due to the light coming from down below. While Cain maintained an indifferent expression, Senna's was one of awe and wonder -- after all, unlike him, she hadn't seen anything quite like what she was witnessing right now.

A lake of fire stood boiling right in front of her, wide and seemingly deep, bubbles repeatedly blowing on top of its surface, smoking jetting up into the sky. While she'd seen pools and streams of lava, it was somewhat different this time around; the lake appeared to be 'thicker', so to say, with lava constantly ejecting fumes of flames into firework-like sprouts and blooms.

The surface was turbulent, like the stormy seas, rather than the usual calm of the lakes. Furthermore, it wasn't just one lake -- though she could barely see it, she did see one break off in the distance beyond a canyon. The lake in front of her was, eerily enough, host to several, small islands that popped up above the surface. Her mind was incapable of understanding just how it happened, certain the lava should have easily swallowed it over time.

Most of the sight was clear and the lake was open, pressure from it seemingly belting the misty smoke further up into the sky to form dark-gray clouds above. From time to time, they would spit ash and soot in the form of rain, and not only did they hurt if they came into contact with the skin, but they also smelled terrible -- like an awful combination of sulfur and rotted fish.

Though the masks they wore dampened the smell somewhat, it still managed to pass through, forcing even Cain, let alone Senna, to use Mana to continuously eject it outward.

"Damn..." she mumbled after a few minutes of silence.

"Anyway, he's probably under there."

"... say what now?"

"No."

"Yup."

"..."

"..." Cain grinned at Senna's incomprehensibly distorted expression as she seemed to struggle with a decision. "It's not a big deal."

"Oh, not a big deal?! DIVING INTO FUCKING LAVA--THAT'S NOT A BIG DEAL FOR YOU?!!"

"You jumped from the height of Mt. Everest, and this is somehow where you draw the line?"

"... haah," Senna relented. "Can I even say no? Whatever. Do whatever you want. I don't care."

"Let's set up camp here--never mind, they've also come." Cain casually took out a cigarette and lit it up, doubling down on the fumes that entered his lungs.

Senna chirped up suddenly as she looked back, noting that all other six were actually just a few hundred yards away, climbing up toward them, as though they'd planned to arrive at the exact same hour.

Unlike Cain and her, however, their expressions were quite distraught, as were their appearances -- especially so for Daniel and Larua who were barely recognizable beneath the several layers of fumes, soot, and ash. Jamal and Lukas, similarly, wore a decent chunk of soot, and the duo that passed the best, Emma and Diya, still had chunks of thick, black coal stuck in their hair. Senna quickly realized that their journeys weren't nearly as 'easygoing' as hers was, once again glancing at Cain who appeared just as nonchalant as always.

"... w-what's up guys?" she asked attentively as everyone arrived, immediately pelting down on their behinds, too tired.

"So... much... garbage..." Jamal mumbled, appearing a bit jerky. "It's... it's like standing at the heart of the coal plant... and directly inhaling all the fumes. And then some."

"A warning woulda been nice..." Emma glared at Cain for a moment as the latter smiled faintly.

"Look at all the smart folk," he said. "What did you expect? You saw literal rivers of lava, dead landscape, black skies... what? Did you think you'd be inhaling sunshine and rainbows?"

"... well, no, but not this much just... pure garbage..."

"Why didn't you use Mana to protect yourselves?" Cain asked, knowing fully well that he was poking the bear -- the reactions were as he expected, glares upon glares and faintly red cheeks.

"... I can see it now." Senna suddenly commented.

"What?" Cain asked.

"Why you do it."

"It?"

"Piss people off," she added with a smile. "The looks on their faces... yup. You ain't all bad, old man."

"... this is what finally impresses you? Damn..."

Senna chuckled lightly as Cain quickly helped others wash up, creating a membrane of sorts right after around them to safeguard them from the fumes as they sat down to eat and rest. Senna appeared extremely fidgety, and Cain was able to immediately realize why -- she wanted to tell them they had to dip into the lake itself to get to their destination. We can also get the Anthem Set for Emma on our way to Taima... we should be strong enough for the Firespawn Dungeon.

"... go ahead." noticing her repeated glances at him, Cain shrugged and sighed as he spoke out, causing a beaming smile to emerge on the young girl's face. She coughed lowly as to draw the attention to her, taking her sweet time as the six looked at her curiously.

"You must be wondering where we ought to go from now." she said.

"... we're jumping into the lake, aren't we?" Jamal immediately said, startling Senna.

"We so are..." Daniel assented.

"Yup," Emma nodded. "Goddammit..."

"... in-in a lake? As... as in the one below us?" Lukas asked.

"W-wait!! Wait, you guys!! How did you know?!" Senna asked as she stood up abruptly.

"You had that look in your eyes," Larua explained as everyone else remained silent. "Now he," she pointed at Cain. "He's good at hiding it. But you're still a newbie. It was written all over your face."

"Dammit!!"

"Don't worry, butterfly," Cain consoled her. "You'll get it, eventually."

"Ugh, whatever, who cares?" she sat back down, trying to pretend it didn't bother her. "So, yea, we're jumping into the lake. Big deal, right? It's just a lake."

"Of lava." Jamal added. "You know -- can't you ever take us someplace normal?" he turned toward Cain and asked. "Like, in those fantasy stories, people aren't jumping into lava, or jumping from the literal mountains--so... why the hell do we keep going to places like that?"

"'cause they're fun." Cain replied.

"This... is fun to you?" even Larua jumped in and asked with a strange expression.

"Yea'," Cain nodded. "It's a unique experience, just like jumping off the mountain was. While others are pissing in the meadows or getting confused on that lake in front of the City, you guys are experiencing the world nobody will in a long time. Besides, do you want to improve?"

"..."

"'cause of most the places that have good Items, Titles, and such are places like this -- when you have to let go of your fears and inhibitions and go a bit nuts for a while to succeed. Are we in here to play house or to fight really creepy and extremely dangerous shit?"

"... hearing it coming from you, I think I'd rather play house." Jamal said.

"... eat up and rest," Cain said, grinning. "We jump in an hour."

"Ugh..."

While everyone else rested and chattered among themselves, Cain walked up to the edge and looked down at the good hundred yards to the lake. It was just one of many, many lakes, each connected through a series of underground tunnels. Though it may seem impossible, there were actually four cities in total at the bottom of the lakes. Though they weren't massive by any means, they existed, shielded by a massive formation that kept the lava, magma, and fumes produced out.

Taima, however, wasn't in any of the cities -- from what Cain remembered, he should be somewhere around the so-called 'Infernal Trench', one of the deepest points of the sets of lakes where temperatures went into nearly ten thousand Celsius at the worst. This heat, however, in turn, produced some of the most precious and rare ores that could be processed into virtually anything, from grounded-up dust for the herbs to ingots for weapons and armors.

The issue was excavating them -- it wasn't just this place specifically, but most of the places that were home to rare materials, metals and otherwise, were woefully inhospitable to the point that even twenty-five years in the future, barely 3-4% of all discovered mines and fields were actually harvested regularly.

Cain had no intention of having others accompany him that deep -- not because he didn't want to, but that they'd all immediately melt and die, Mana be damned. And if he wanted to protect them, he'd have to expend too much Mana which would be too risky in case they encountered one of the 'Deeps', monsters and creatures that specifically evolved to live at such depths and temperatures.

Before heading to search for Taima, he planned on lodging them in one of the cities, Albadesh, since they had great facilities for training as well as trainers themselves for Emma, Jamal, and Daniel. He stealthily glanced at Larua who seemed to sense his gaze, looking up and meeting his eyes. She stood up right after and walked over, smiling at him.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Can you handle the Trench?" he asked back.

"... Trench? The hell are you going that deep for? They'll die, dude!" she exclaimed.

"I know. I plan on settling them in Albadesh. I was just wondering whether I should stuff you there too or not."

"Nope!! Heck-a-not!!" Cain was surprised at just how vehemently she rejected his offer, realizing something.

"Eh? Your Clan has a branch there?"

"..."

"How much would they offer me for you?"

"W-what--"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" he quickly added as he noticed her face immediately turned as white as snow. "Shit, you're really terrified of 'em, eh?"

"N-no, no I'm not. Pssh, sell me? Like you could afford to. Pssh..."

"... wow."

"... can we forget that?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." Larua sighed, shaking her head and smiling bitterly. "I can handle being near the Trench, but I'd have trouble going in."

"I won't be going in too deep either," Cain shook his head. "You can then guard the perimeter."

"Sure. What do you need there, anyway?" she quizzed.

"That's the Quest," he explained. "The shithead I'm looking for is down there."

"... huh? Wait--don't tell me your Quest is to locate that maniac who brewed his Master's nipples into a potion?!!!!"

"... you know that?"

"EVERYONE KNOWS THAT!! Shit... you... what the hell are you thinking?"

"His... his lunacy aside," Cain groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "He's... he's got potential as a smith. If we can tame him, he'd be a good asset."

"Tame him? You'd be lucky to leave with your bum intact."

"Leave handling him to me," Cain chuckled strangely, his eyes lighting up. "When you see us, you just need to look ready to eat him. He needs to believe you'll munch on him like he's an apple, got it?"

"... got it? I... guess. Sure. Yeah. I can do that. Just so you know, though, I don't eat people."

"Wow, no shit."

"That look was uncalled for."

"... go back and eat." Cain dismissed her and sat down, tossing his legs over the edge, drifting into his thoughts. Why is the air around her so... cold? Especially here...

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