Chapter 53
The spent Solar Bow of Eos scattered into a handful of crimson light.
At first glance, it seemed everything was resolved.
But not yet.
“Don’t let your guard down until the flames are completely extinguished.”
After all, the Phoenix’s fire wasn’t like ordinary flames; it was the inextinguishable hellfire, imbued with the essence of flame.
Watching the flames, which still burned fiercely as if to consume everything, I raised The Flame Emperor’s Sword.
“For flames like this…”
I murmured softly, swallowing hard.
The only fortunate thing was that I now had the ability to control these flames.
Earlier, the massive fireball had been too large to manipulate with The Flame Emperor’s Sword.
But now, with the flames scattered rather than concentrated into a single entity…
I stood a chance.
Didn’t someone once say that turning a crisis into an opportunity is the mark of a first-class warrior?
‘I only hope you will wield fire for good.’
Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to sink into the activation phrase, just as I had with the Solar Bow.
The moment I raised the sword, following the flickering flames like fish swimming through a river or butterflies fluttering toward flowers…
[A notification appeared before your eyes: “The Most Merciful Father of Fire is watching you.”]
A notification window popped up, and soon a gentle voice resonated through the sword.
“Heh, what an unusual child.”
“Who is this?”
Unlike with the Solar Bow, where I had merely felt a presence, this time, the voice directly spoke to me.
As time seemed to slow and space warped around me, someone’s voice whispered softly.
Tensing, I strained my ears to listen.
“A child struggling to survive, yet your actions are self-sacrificial… truly commendable.”
The man chuckled heartily, his gaze twinkling with curiosity.
“And what is that enormous constellation tied to you?”
His cheerful voice echoed in my head, as though he had found an intriguing toy.
“Ah, but such knowledge is not permitted to me.”
With those words, I felt something gently grasp my wrist.
“To the rare and fascinating child I’ve encountered, I shall grant you a gift. Remember it well.”
Then, as though I were a marionette on strings, my hand holding The Flame Emperor’s Sword moved smoothly.
Sometimes swirling like a river, sometimes fluttering like a butterfly.
Flowing like a cloud, striking like lightning.
Spreading like the wind, pooling like dew.
A single dance mimicking the movements of all things in the world.
And, accompanying this sword dance, a massive Flame Dragon emerged.
The scattered flames coalesced into a crimson dragon, which followed my movements in perfect harmony.
Slowly, as if guided by my blade, it ascended toward the sky.
“Whoosh!”
It soared.
[You have acquired “Flame Dragon Ascension Dance (B).”]
[The Flame Emperor’s Sword has been consumed.]
As the notifications popped up, my eyes widened in shock.
Flame Dragon Ascension Dance.
The signature skill of Shen Nong, said to even control the flames of the underworld.
A forbidden technique so rare that one might only see it once in a lifetime.
And now, it had been given to me as a gift.
“And I didn’t even get hit once?”
This was like winning the ultimate lottery.
Still unable to believe it, I opened the skill window to double-check.
[Big Data]
Mimics and replicates the abilities of opponents.
<Current Usable Skills: 5>
- Flame Dragon Ascension Dance (B)
- Sword Strike: Blunt Sword (C)
- Provocation (D)
- Execution (D)
- Fireball (C)
“…It’s real.”
It seemed the Flame Emperor hadn’t lied about the gift.
For a brief moment, I felt unsettled, but as the hellfire that had engulfed the surroundings subsided, a momentary silence fell.
And the ones to break that silence were none other than my teammates.
“Th-That just now…”
“Yeah, I saw it too… I saw it!”
Their voices were filled with awe, like children meeting their idolized hero.
“It was like a celestial maiden performing a dance.”
“Truly, such a sight may never be seen again.”
Embarrassing compliments echoed from all sides, but I was just as dazed.
Even now, I couldn’t fully process what I had just performed.
Wendy repeatedly clenched and unclenched the hand that had held The Flame Emperor’s Sword, still finding it hard to believe what had just happened.
The one thing she was sure of was that she had accomplished something incredible.
“Wow! Wendy! Wow, wow!”
“You’re amazing, sister!”
Approaching her were Eden, who seemed to have lost his ability to form coherent sentences, and Lyria, whose wide-open eyes sparkled with wonder.
“When did you learn to do something like that?”
“Wow, seriously, wow!”
Eden kept shouting while Lyria’s eyes glimmered with childlike amazement.
Wendy couldn’t help but laugh at their innocent reactions as she glanced around the area.
“Looks like things turned out alright somehow.”
What’s more, the berserk state of the monsters was gradually subsiding one by one.
[The chaos effect is being neutralized by the blessing of the Flame Dragon.]
The notification explained that Flame Dragon Ascension Dance did more than just allow her to control fire; it also had the power to dispel status abnormalities.
Thanks to this, the monsters began reverting to the adorable, furry creatures they had been when the team first encountered them.
Even the Phoenix seemed to have exhausted its energy and disappeared.
Good. If they could just escape the Fire Base now…
“Screeeeeeech!”
At that moment, a piercing cry rang out, sharp enough to shatter eardrums.
“Ugh!”
“Damn it!”
In the distance, the Phoenix, now flapping its massive wings, began to approach.
It hovered majestically above them, glaring down before flapping its enormous wings to summon a powerful gust of wind.
Simultaneously, lava erupted from all around the Fire Base.
The fiery molten rock rippled menacingly, as though ready to swallow the team whole.
Half-melted pillars began collapsing one by one, and the ground trembled violently.
“That crazy birdbrain!”
The Phoenix, which had previously been the size of a small sparrow, had now grown hundreds, even thousands of times larger.
Its expansion was as fast and overwhelming as a storm, leaving no room for countermeasures or even coherent thought.
Now, the bird was the size of an entire house.
“This is impossible… We need to run, just run…”
One of the teammates collapsed to the ground, their legs giving out under the sheer pressure of the sight.
“Get up! Quickly!”
“Wasn’t it over?”
Cursing under her breath, Wendy bit her lip and helped her fallen teammate up.
Of course, it made sense. A creature like the Phoenix wasn’t going to give up that easily.
Lifting her gaze to the sky, Wendy saw something that made her stomach sink.
“Blood Explosion!”
It was the same sight she had seen when they first encountered the Phoenix back in the mansion.
The monsters were burning their own life force to unleash their most destructive berserk state.
Blood Explosion, a final, desperate move, amplified their power exponentially, even if it meant self-destruction.
“Everyone, scatter! Run!”
There was no way to block or counter this.
Leading her panicking teammates, Wendy shouted orders.
The ground split open, and red-hot lava spewed forth.
From the sky, burning meteors began raining down in fragments.
“This… this can’t be happening…”
Was this what the end of the world looked like?
The overwhelming power left Wendy feeling helpless despair.
“Ahhh!”
“My arm! My arm!”
“It’s on fire! I’m burning, I’m burning!”
The teammates who had just moments ago been relieved now descended into chaos, scattering in all directions.
“Cheep… cheep…”
“Mew… mew!”
“Moooo… mooo!”
Even the monsters, freed from their berserk state, were helplessly swept away by the destruction.
“Screeeeech!”
The Phoenix’s cry rang out, mocking them as if to say they had no right to dream of survival after defying it.
It was clear that the creature intended to bring itself and the entire Fire Base down together.
“Help me!”
“Hey, stay with me… Ugh!”
All around, the cries of her collapsing teammates echoed.
Think. She had to think.
She couldn’t just stand there trembling like an idiot. She had to find a way out of this situation.
“Get a grip, Wendy Porcelain!”
Just as she was desperately racking her brain for an escape plan, a massive flame hurtled toward her.
“Sister!”
Startled, Lyria ran toward Wendy in alarm, but the flame was already right in front of her.
Instinctively, Wendy raised her arms to shield herself.
But before the flames could reach her, someone stepped in front of her.
“I-I’m sorry…”
Limping on her injured leg, Sienna had thrown herself into the flames to protect Wendy.
“…It’s all my fault… If it weren’t for me…”
Sobbing uncontrollably, tears streamed down Sienna’s face as she trembled in pain.
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