Chapter 42 - 41: Inferno Debt
"You’re early."
The voice cuts through the stairwell’s shadows before Leon rounds the corner to the third floor. Heat radiates down the marble steps like breath from a forge. The air tastes of sulfur and scorched stone.
Leon takes another step upward. The temperature spikes.
A roar shakes the building’s foundation. Fire erupts from the landing above, a torrent of gold and crimson that turns marble to slag. Leon throws himself sideways, rolling behind a stone pillar as flames wash over his previous position.
His elite mage zombie materializes mid-roll, skeletal hands already crackling with purple energy. The undead spellcaster fires through the inferno without hesitation. Its mana bolt punches through smoke and flame, exploding against something solid in the haze.
"Clever pet."
The voice comes from everywhere at once. Fire swirls inward like a reverse tornado, revealing the figure who commands it.
Matthias Virell stands seven feet tall in the landing’s center. Broader than his dead brother Marsen, with shoulders that could crack doorframes. Flame dances along his arms and across his chest, not burning him but becoming part of him. His eyes glow molten red in a face carved from granite and fury.
The marble beneath his feet blackens and cracks. The air around him shimmers with heat distortion, making his outline waver like a mirage. When he breathes, small flames escape his nostrils.
Leon rises slowly, studying his opponent. The family resemblance is unmistakable, but where Marsen had been calculating, Matthias radiates raw violence. His presence warps the temperature of the entire floor.
"A-Rank Flame Berserker," Leon murmurs, recognizing the classification from hunter databases. "Tobias’s most feared brother."