CHAPTER 111: BEYOND THE BURNING MOUNTAIN

0% “Good grief. Being in the sky is supposed to feel safer, but why does it feel this brutal?”

I hadn’t known this before, but His Excellency the Duke was far more talkative than I expected.

Not once since the Artabus departed had he closed his mouth. I was starting to worry that he didn’t even get thirsty.

“We’re only this safe because we’re in the sky. Just look down there. Imagine trying to walk through that.”

“Even if you wrapped yourself head to toe in mana-forged armor, you’d cook through like a roast on a spit.”

Looking down at the burning mountain range, His Holiness the Pope and the Cardinal each added a comment. Shoulders shrugged, heads shook.

Even the dense clouds of ash couldn’t fully block the light blazing up from the scorched land below. Through the dim, crimson glow, everything was on fire.

“Feels like I’ve been dunked in hot water already.”

“If I could just sweat it all out and throw back a cold beer, I wouldn’t even need snacks.”

That’s what it was like. The people watching this desolate scene couldn’t help letting out a line or two, whether they meant to or not.

Their thoughts, overwhelmed by the awe of what they saw, tumbled straight into speech without passing through reflection. That’s how dreadful and overwhelming it was.

So this is nature’s power.

Even if it was the King of Monsters, he couldn’t have done all this alone. This massive force had always been there beneath the surface. The phoenix had merely triggered its release.

I need to prepare.

As the Artabus approached the Caldera mountain range, the tremors rising from below grew louder. At times, lava burst into the air before sinking back down, and the smell of sulfur grew more intense. We had stepped into the mouth of hell.

“A place fit for demons.”

“No, not even demons would live here. Hell, by definition, is a place even demons fear.”

It wasn’t horrifying,just magnificent. A sight that shouldn’t exist in this world. It wasn’t brutal in the usual sense. It was simply overwhelming, majestic, and unforgettable. But the increasingly thunderous rumbling shattered everyone’s sense of awe.

“This sound... doesn’t feel right.”

Thunderous booms erupted from the surface as if thunder itself was exploding right beside us. From the range, now a sea of lava, ominous noises began to rise.

The creeping fear that we might already be too late began to take hold. Not just for me,everyone was glancing around with sweat clinging to the backs of their hands.

“I don’t know if this will help, but...”

I summoned the Bell of Enlightenment into my hand and looked down into the heavy smoke.

Miracles weren’t things I created. They were granted by the Lord. Even I had to grow used to them to understand their use.

The Bell of Enlightenment had only been used once before, and not even by me. It had been in Layton’s hands. I hadn’t even seen what it looked like in action.

One ring opens the light.*Two rings awaken the living.*Three rings bring freedom.

Strictly speaking, this miracle wasn’t meant to be used for moments like this.

But I clung to the faint hope that the miracle it brought would change something. The moment I gave the bell a gentle shake, the ship suddenly froze in midair.

“Music? A song?”

“What... is that sound?”

It was nothing like any music we knew. More like a pure melody.

Everything around us began to resonate with the bell in harmony. Each added its own voice, and together, they formed a vast chorus. That song reached our ears and swept away the constant thunder. And when the short performance ended, the roar was gone,completely gone.

“Huh?”

Next to me, Roka instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. A clear ray of sunlight, the kind we hadn’t seen in ages, poured down on us. The moment it touched us, the ship resumed its course as if pushed forward by the sun itself. Looking up, we saw the smoke rapidly clearing, the blue sky reappearing.

“It’s midday. So it really was daytime.”

The white clouds returned, with the sun setting proudly at their center.

People had lost all sense of time in the dark, but now they realized it had been noon all along. With sunlight returning to the dreary world, it felt for the first time in a while like we could breathe again. Judging by Roka’s relaxed face and the way she gave a little shiver, I wasn’t the only one.

Sunlight, usually just hot and bothersome, only becomes precious once it’s gone. Now that it had returned, it felt like proof that we were still alive.

Everyone came out onto the deck to bask in the light. That’s when someone shouted.

“A rainbow! There’s a rainbow!”

“It hasn’t even rained,wait, it’s real! It’s really there!”

Every gaze turned toward the same point, and mine followed.

Above us, a single vivid rainbow shimmered without fading, gleaming through the sunlight. It was as if the Lord Himself had hung it in the sky.

“A miracle. This is a miracle, no doubt about it. We didn’t even need to come this far!”

Ha ha! His Excellency the Duke burst into loud laughter. He hurried over to my side, then looked down at the ground instead of the sky. Now that the smoke had cleared, the land below was visible once more.

“You should’ve told me we had something like that. I’m too old for surprises like this. My heart can’t take it. I was so tense it probably shaved years off my life.”

The ground was no longer burning. Only ashes remained in thick layers, and the fires had gone out. The tremors had stopped, and the magma had sunk back into the earth. On the surface, it looked as if the age of disaster had ended and the days of peace had returned.

“Hah. So this is what a miracle looks like. Aldehir, can you see this? Give me something like this for once, would you? I’ve worshipped You my whole life. Isn’t it time I got something back?”

His Holiness the Pope laughed too, and Roka’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

Everyone exhaled in relief until they all flinched in shock. Something was pushing up through the ground. There was no killing intent, but sparks shot into the air.

With a thunderous crash, part of the earth sank. Melted rock slid away as something massive began to rise from deep underground.

“Nothing is over yet.”

Even if we stop a disaster once, if we don’t eliminate its source, nothing changes.

It’s not that we didn’t need to come here. If we hadn’t, it would’ve come to us.

There’s no reason to celebrate. This is just the beginning.

The red nightmare surged upward, breaking through the ash and taking flight. As the enormous fireball appeared in the sky, everyone fell silent. Even I, who had already seen it once, still couldn’t get used to facing that thing.

Was it enraged because the miracle had interrupted its work?

Its crimson eyes blazed as it stared us down. Then, with a roar, it threatened the airship. His Excellency the Duke sighed.

“We haven’t even taken the sunstone out of the vault, and it showed up without us needing to bait it.”

“It looks pissed. Though honestly, we’re angrier than it is.”

Robert folded his arms and scoffed. He was right.

Truthfully, our fury ran deeper than that creature’s.

“That is Grimudo’s crown. The King of Monsters.”

Even His Holiness the Pope let out a heavy sigh.

“Truly, its reputation is well-earned.”

“But the volcanic heat is gone. That means it’s not at full strength.”

“Then we have a shot. At least compared to the three Masters who faced it before, our situation is better.”

Everyone nodded. If we ran now, even if it let us go, the same disaster would just happen again. And judging by the way it glared at us, it clearly wanted nothing more than to burn us alive.

“This is insane. But we have no choice.”

“Let’s do it. At least there’s sunlight now. Feels a bit like a picnic.”

“Just remember, picnics like this aren’t good for your health.”

Even the wizard, whose name I didn’t know, sighed and grabbed his staff. Next to him, Thomas nodded and stood up.

For a moment, the sky near the creature turned crimson. Feathers began to fall from its body like drifting embers. Watching it scatter those feathers, Cardinal Omen unconsciously touched his own hair.

“Wait... is it losing its hair?”

“No.”

That it wasn’t became immediately obvious. The fluttering feathers shot toward us.

“All of those are firebombs!”

Roka shouted. Even without her warning, anyone with eyes could see the burning projectiles racing through the air. His Holiness, usually so calm and gentle, suddenly roared.

“Evasive maneuvers! Prepare to fire!”

No. It was my turn now.

Now that it had surfaced, now was the time to unleash the Milky Way...

“No.”

What? My vision spun. Something soft and furry wrapped around my arm and yanked me back.

I nearly fell,my heart pounded in alarm.

...Was that Roka’s tail?

Why...?

“Don’t sacrifice yourself. Just now, you were about to do something reckless.”

“Roka...”

“I can tell just by your face now. Don’t do it. Rely on me, just like I rely on you.”

Roka suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace. She held me so hard it hurt my back. I’d thought of her as just a kid, but I was completely wrong. She had grown much faster than I realized.

To the point that... she was doing things like this.

My whole body tingled. I couldn’t move properly. Was this paralysis through magic? When had she learned something like this?

Lunar magic...

Did that strange Dao she carried teach her this? She’d made far more connections than I’d imagined. She had grown in leaps and bounds. Standing firm, Roka whispered in my ear.

“So this time, just leave it to me and take a good rest. Okay?”

But no matter how much she’d grown, this wasn’t right! Roka forced my paralyzed body down, stepped into the air, and vanished.

She’d gone charging alone toward the phoenix.

“That’s reckless. Far too reckless.”

As divine power surged through me, the paralysis began to fade. I struggled to my feet, my legs trembling, but I didn’t have time to care about that now.

I’d been reckless before, but that girl...

“Roka! Come back!”

She really, really was in danger.