Chapter 201: The Sacred
Alpine flowers dotted the rugged volcanic landscape, faintly swaying whenever another frigid gust blew through. They encircled the edge of a vast caldera, leaving a subtle sprinkling of their soft pink petals across its surface that provided a delicate touch to the otherwise harsh landscape.
A handful of stubby dwarf pines, covered in deep brown bark, thick with age and weather, struggled to maintain hold on the outer slopes far beyond the natural tree-line. Dense winding roots carved into the rocky mountain to secure some hint of stability. They vibrated in the wind, creaking in resistance, but they still found a way to cling to life in the precarious and unforgiving environment.
Despite the season and the elevation, snowflakes were conspicuously absent from most of the scene. The only visible evidence of the chill were dustings of snow hidden between the scraggly pine needles of the short trees, but even those examples were not long for the world.
The wind wasn’t only cold. It was also packed with mana that was so dense it was visible to the naked eye, catching the pastel colors of the sunrise and magnifying them across the broad mountain base. The horizon was rapidly evolving as it transitioned from night to day.
The mountain’s peak was hollowed out, forming a wide, deep bowl that revealed its volcanic nature. Contrasting the vegetation dotting the exterior, the interior slopes of the caldera were scoured clean. They had been subjected to heightened levels of elemental forces before the challengers had even arrived, but the violence that came afterwards had erased anything that lingered in the soup of mana. The stark contrast between the heavenly scenes on the outside of the crater, with modest pockets of natural vegetation gently lit beneath a pale cloudless sky, and the hellish desolation on the inside was enough to give almost anyone pause before entering.
Dawn was breaking on the fifth day straight of sieging the towering monster that had made its home in the center of the tallest crater. It stood defiantly, rooted in the exact middle, like a blocky stone automaton protecting an imaginary hockey net. Its smooth armor was pitch black with blood red trim that ran down the back of its pointed arms and rigid body. Its legs were embedded deep into the earth. The faceless stone monstrosity had withstood what Earth’s most powerful fighters threw at it for days, but thus far, it had also failed to repel the invasion on its territory. The lives it claimed had been relatively few, given its foreboding level, higher than even the pinnacle of the leaderboards.
Humanity’s finest warriors had established a base camp beneath the tallest peak of the mountain after three weeks of difficult, incremental progress up to that point. The two previous bosses were defeated in much shorter times, and once the mass of fighters were familiar with the local oddities, progressing through each ring had been a relatively smooth experience so long as they accounted for respawns. There had only been three levels. Hundreds of the brave warriors protected the rear, joining the expedition after being inspired by the presence of the local heroes, while the absolute strongest raided the ultimate challenge of the region, and perhaps the world.
A spectacular winter sunrise provided the backdrop for the final push. The combatants knew this battle would end, one way or another, with the execution of their plan. All those who were present understood that a conclusion was upon them, and they were prepared to receive the consequences of their devotion. None of them hesitated as they entered the barren arena. If they couldn’t walk away from this crater victorious, they had no business continuing on their journey. They were already homeless, unwelcomed wherever they had been for one reason or another, or abandoned and left to hopelessly fend for themselves, spurned by those with relative security and power.
Volcanic rock and scoria, left behind by past eruptions, would be subjected to another equally violent scenario. The people who fought would be tempered like iron and steel or they would be defeated and forgotten while the planet was eventually lost to its alien invaders. They prepared their weapons and abilities, ready to uncover their destiny.
A brisk breeze swirled around the mountainous terrain, reminding the combatants that winter hadn’t lost its grip on the peaks where they fought. The snow may have melted after the heat of sustained battles engulfed the mountain, but the chill the wind brought still bit them to their bones, reminding them of the extremes they were pushing.
The long shadows that expanded within the crater were finally extinguished when an enormous flaming dragon crested the summit, large enough to claim the entire area as a massive nest where it hoarded golden treasures. Its arrival was marked with a wave of warmth, the thin air was consumed by the flames, and a residual layer of turbulent mana swirls followed behind. The stone automaton shifted on its thick cylindrical limbs, anticipating another clash after a brief respite in the cold night.
The dragon’s form smoldered with an ashen skeleton that streamed with incinerating flames; its structure was held together by thickened smoke and willful purpose. The dragon’s wings expanded well over two hundred feet across, leaving bright streaks of fire beneath them, and a long trail of dark sooty smoke that marked its path around the mountain. It crested the lip of the crater, looming above the barren arena with a single flap. Spontaneous outbursts of flames sprung to life as the rocky surfaces inside the crater were heated until they glowed an orange that complimented the smooth pink sky.