Chapter 54 – Battle Over Lava
During the following week, the inn served as the headquarters and temporary workshop for the group. The routine was divided with surgical precision: mornings were reserved for intense training in the inner courtyard, where Kaelen instructed Valéria and Akra on movement coordination and energy control in extreme heat environments, while afternoons and nights were dedicated by the inventor to drawing meticulous engineering schematics for the lamias' facilities.
To ensure the group was impeccably prepared for the underground expedition, Kaelen tasked Miri with managing supply purchases, sending her to the city accompanied by Valéria and Akra.
On the penultimate day of the week, Miri entered Kaelen's room carrying a small leather pouch and a wooden board with scrolls of accounting records. The young assistant stationed herself before the workbench, where Kaelen was adjusting the designs of the mechanical exhaust fans by candlelight.
— Lord Kaelen, we have completed all the orders and acquisitions you requested — Miri reported, her voice soft and efficient. — Would you like to check the values?
Kaelen laid down his seal-feather pen and leaned back in his chair, gesturing for her to proceed.
— We paid the remaining 1,500 gold coins to the blacksmith Ssislessis for Akra's custom-made gauntlets — Miri began, pointing to the items on the list. — We acquired two complete sets of light heat-beast leather armor for Lady Valéria and little Akra, reinforced with fire-resistance enchantments, at the cost of 600 gold coins. The engraving of the frost enchantment on Valéria's spear cost 400 coins. As for the magical support scrolls, we obtained exactly five units of the ice element: Frost Wind, Freeze Ground, two Ice Bolts, and one Frost Shield, totaling 800 gold coins.
Miri paused briefly, pointing to a small metal bracelet adorned with tiny gears and air-circulation runes on the table:
— The autonomous wind item was the hardest to find in the local markets. We secured this mechano-arcane thermal equilibrium bracelet for 500 gold coins. It doesn't generate devastating gales, but it creates a continuous flow of cool air around the user, keeping the temperature stable. Adding the 200-coin thermal protection ring bought on the first day, the total cost of our expenses in this city was 4,000 gold coins.
Kaelen observed the sum of the numbers with a cold and satisfied look:
— Excellent work, Miri. Now, as we agreed, draft an official billing notice and send it directly to Baroness Vespera with the value tripled: 12,000 gold coins, concerning the repairs demanded by the heiress's insolence.
Miri widened her eyes slightly, impressed by the inventor's audacity, but nodded without hesitation:
— Understood, Lord Kaelen. I will issue the invoice to House Serpentis immediately.
— And Miri — Kaelen continued, opening one of the desk drawers and pulling out a small pouch containing 1,500 gleaming gold coins. — One-third of this repair value belongs to you. Consider this your advance payment for your excellent administrative work and your loyalty on this expedition.
Miri froze in place, looking at the pouch of coins on the table and then back at Kaelen, her cheeks blushing with shock and profound gratitude. For an assistant accustomed to meager silver coins, that amount represented a fortune capable of changing her life.
— L-Lord Kaelen... this is... this is far too generous a sum! — Miri stammered, bowing her head in a deep reverence, her voice choked with emotion. — I promise to continue serving you with absolute precision and dedication. Not a single coin will be out of place in our records!
— I know it. You may keep it — Kaelen said with a slight smile. — Now go prepare yourself. Tomorrow we will deliver the project to the barons and enter the magma chamber.
The next day, the equipment was tested in the courtyard. Akra proudly flaunted her new conductive alloy gauntlets: when the little girl closed her fists, the retractable tempered steel claws emerged with a sharp snap, and the internal insulating beast-leather lining allowed her electrical discharges to flow through the metal structure without burning her little hands. Valéria, in turn, displayed her adjusted leather armor and her spear, whose blade now shone with bluish frost runes, combining her agile and explosive combat style with a glacial touch.
With the group fully equipped, the entourage headed toward the House Serpentis mansion.
Upon crossing the gates of the grand hall, they found not only Lord Seth but also Baroness Vespera and Lady Lamis awaiting them. The lamia family's attitude had changed radically: the baroness wore her most elegant formal attire, maintaining a posture of extreme courtesy and fear, while Lamis stood two paces behind her mother, keeping her gaze lowered and her tail coiled in absolute submission, still traumatized by the manners lesson received in the square.
Kaelen took two steps forward and unrolled a thick bundle of scrolls containing the detailed technical schematics over the large oak table.
— Here are the structural projects for restructuring your workshops and laboratories — Kaelen declared in a firm and serene voice. — The galleries have been divided modularly, interconnected by double doors of wrought iron and sealed wood to isolate leaks. I designed mechanical exhaust siphons and volcanic quartz glass ducts to capture and redirect sulfurous gases without contaminating the workspace. Additionally, I included strategic points for canary cages and sulfur lily pots as early biological warnings in each room.
Baroness Vespera leaned over the scrolls, widening her yellowish eyes at the precision of the drawings, air-flow calculations, and engineering specifications. The wealth of detail was something not even the most experienced subterranean architects had managed to conceive in decades.
— This... this is simply genius, Lord Kaelen! — Vespera exclaimed, her voice trembling with a mix of genuine astonishment and eagerness to please him. — You haven't just solved the gas problem; you've created a perfect circulation system for our people!
— Just remember our agreement — Kaelen intervened, eyeing the baroness with a calculated look. — My obligation was to provide the technical solution and the engineering project. Execution, financing, hiring specialized blacksmiths, and adapting the construction are the exclusive responsibility of House Serpentis.
— Without a doubt, Lord Kaelen! — Baron Seth hastened to reply, stepping forward and bowing his head. — We have already arranged the full payment of the repair invoice your assistant sent us this morning, and our artisans will begin construction immediately!
Lady Lamis raised her amethyst eyes very timidly, swallowing hard before stammering with utmost respect:
— T-thank you, Lord Kaelen... We will do exactly as you designed down to every detail.
Beside Kaelen, Valéria stepped forward, adjusting her posture with the imposing aura of a future noble matriarch. Her blue eyes fixed coldly and elegantly on the baroness and her daughter, ensuring the local noble couple maintained proper respect and distance from her fiancé.
— আমরা will monitor the execution when we return — Valéria declared, her tone calm and imperious. — We expect House Serpentis to honor every clause of this project without half-truths.
— Most certainly, Lady Valéria! — Baroness Vespera replied hastily, executing a respectful curtsey to the tigress.
Kaelen adjusted the cuffs of his tunic and the mechanical wind bracelet on his wrist, turning his gaze toward the sealed door at the back of the gallery:
— Now that the projects are delivered and the agreements signed... we need to face the Dragon-Turtle. Is that alright with you, baroness?
— E-everything is perfectly aligned, Lord Kaelen — Vespera replied, clearing the path with her guards. — May the underground gods accompany your entourage. The sealed door is entirely at your disposal.
Kaelen signaled to his group with a wave of his hand:
— Let's go. It's time to hunt the monster.
The heavy iron and bronze doors groaned as they were opened, releasing a wave of scorching heat and a reddish glow that illuminated the corridor. The entourage advanced into a colossal subterranean cavern: the vaulted ceiling was full of dark stalactites, and the volcanic rock floor was cut by rivers and pools of incandescent magma.
In the center of the chamber, atop a large basalt platform surrounded by molten rock, rested the massive and terrifying Fire Dragon-Turtle.
Kaelen stepped forward, adjusting the mechanical wind bracelet on his wrist as the cool air from the device created a subtle aura of thermal equilibrium around him. He extended his left hand, signaling the group to maintain formation.
— Valéria, Akra, keep your distance and analyze the terrain first — Kaelen instructed in a low, serene voice, his blue eyes attentive to every breath of the beast. — Remember: do not attack rashly. I will cover your rear.
Valéria gripped her spear, whose frost runes shimmered softly against the glow of the lava, and assumed a firm stance. Beside her, Akra clenched her small fists, causing the retractable claws of her new gauntlets to emerge with a metallic snap as electric sparks crackled between her scales.
The atmosphere in the cavern grew tense. The heat was suffocating, and the monster awakened, fixing its eyes on the entourage.
The beast's voice echoed through the magma cavern like the rumble of an underground thunder, making the rock beneath the group's boots vibrate. The cracks in its iron shell heated up, emitting smoke and sparks as its intelligent gaze locked onto the party.
— What do you insects want in my dwelling? — the Dragon-Turtle thundered, its jaws opening slightly as it exhaled waves of heat. — This territory has been mine for over 1,500 years. Isn't it enough that those worms invaded; do you want to face me too? Get out of here, or else I will turn you to ashes.
Kaelen remained unfazed by the crushing pressure. He took a half-step forward, maintaining a calm and analytical expression, while the mechanical bracelet on his wrist expelled a soft puff of cool air to disperse the excessive heat from his face.
— Fifteen centuries is a long time to rest in a magma nest — Kaelen replied, his voice cold and serene resonating through the cavern. — We have no interest in stealing your territory, grand elder. However, your excavations and the trapped heat of your nest are destroying the galleries above, poisoning the air with gases, and threatening to collapse this entire mountain upon us all.
Beside him, Valéria maintained a firm posture, her glacial blue eyes fixed on the monster. She adjusted the thermal protection ring on her finger and planted her feet firmly on the basalt, raising the enchanted spear whose blade shone with blue runes.
— We did not come as insects to be trampled — Valéria declared, the tone of nobility and courage echoing firmly. — We came to solve the city's problem! If you refuse to negotiate the space and ventilation of the galleries, then we will be the ones to take you out of here!
Akra stepped in front of Valéria, puffing out her chest covered by her new heat-beast leather armor. The little girl clenched her hands hard, making the retractable tempered steel claws emerge with a metallic snap. Bluish electric sparks snapped between her gauntlets and scales as she faced the colossal beast without showing fear:
— Akra is no insect! Akra is a strong dragon! And Akra swore to protect the master and Valéria! If the fat monster won't talk nicely... Akra is going to give you a giant BZZZZT shock!
Kaelen discreetly activated his premonition, foreseeing the beast's immediate reaction to the challenge, and muttered quickly to the two:
— Valéria, Akra... get ready. It won't back down. On my signal, spread out to the sides!
Foreseeing the trajectory of the action through his three-second premonition, Kaelen perceived the accumulation of energy in the beast's throat before the attack could even materialize. The moment the Dragon-Turtle opened its jaws to expel the incandescent mass, the young inventor reacted instantly.
— Left! Now! — Kaelen commanded aloud.
With extremely sharp reflexes, Kaelen dodged to the left side, using telekinesis to boost his own body and slide across the basalt floor. In the exact same millisecond, he extended his right hand and fired a mental pressure barrier to decelerate the shockwave and divert the fireball's trajectory.
The incandescent projectile crossed the air producing a deafening roar of heat, colliding against the rock wall directly behind. The explosion sent stalactites crashing down from the cavern ceiling and kicked up a curtain of smoke and ash.
Seizing the opening from the execution of the attack, Valéria and Akra executed the combined strategy:
— Now, Akra! To the right! — Valéria shouted.
Valéria advanced swiftly across the rock, skirting the pool of magma. The young tigress channeled her concentrated fire magic into the tip of her spear, fusing the heat with the weapon's frost enchantment to create an explosive point-blank piercing thrust. She aimed at one of the joints of the creature's right front leg, where the scales were more exposed.
Simultaneously, Akra used her incredible draconic speed to flank from the other side. Her conductive alloy gauntlets crackled with intense blue electric arcs, and the little girl leaped toward the turtle's flank, pointing her steel claws to deliver a high-voltage shock at the point of impact.
Kaelen kept his premonition vision active in the back of his mind, covering the advance of the two and staying alert to any counter-attack or movement of the monster's retractable tail.
The Dragon-Turtle saw Valéria and Akra's movement exactly one second before the blow materialized. With surprising agility for a creature of its bulk, the beast abruptly pulled its head and limbs inside its immense solid iron shell.
Valéria's combined strike — the explosive piercing spear thrust — crashed directly against the dark metal dome, emitting a deafening metallic roar and incandescent sparks that momentarily blinded the tigress. At the same time, Akra, coming swiftly from the flank with her electrified gauntlets, struck the shell with full force; the electricity spread across the iron shell, causing a thermal shock that made the turtle emit a guttural grunt of annoyance, but the physical impact was entirely absorbed by the beast's impenetrable defense.
Before Valéria and Akra could pull away or regain their balance after the ricochet, the turtle's heavy, thick retractable tail whipped through the air like a volcanic iron log at high speed, sweeping the platform toward the two.
— Watch out! — Kaelen yelled, his eyes glowing with premonition in full activity.
Seeing that the girls would not have time to evade the heavy tail strike, Kaelen acted with extreme speed. He extended his hand and fired a wave of pure telekinesis combined with a sudden blast from the mechanical wind bracelet, creating a cushion of compressed air that pushed Valéria and Akra backward through the air, removing them from the direct impact zone.
Even so, the shockwave of the tail grazed Akra's side, sending the dragonoide spinning and rolling across the basalt floor, while Valéria landed on her knees, driving her spear into the ground to steady herself, her arms numb from the recoil against the iron shell.
Kaelen stepped forward two paces, maintaining a serious and focused expression. Through his analytical reading, he perceived the pattern: the shell was impenetrable to direct frontal attacks, and the beast had predicted their movement with frightening precision thanks to some advanced perceptual ability.
The Dragon-Turtle rose again, looking at them with doubt: — You... are strange, especially you, hairless ant... I feel no magic in you... but the elements respond to you. You are a danger... — the beast muttered before gathering energy for its next strike.
The cracks in the Dragon-Turtle's iron shell glowed with a violent orange hue. Realizing that the human boy without visible mana controlled the elements and manipulated the battlefield with such precision, the beast decided to eliminate the primary threat first, opening its colossal jaws to discharge a flaming cone breath covering the entire expanse of the basalt platform.
The wave of fire advanced like a wall of pure destruction, consuming oxygen and melting the very rock in its path.
Kaelen, maintaining absolute calm, activated his premonition and read the impending catastrophe before the fire even touched the ground.
— Valéria, take this! Channel your mana and open the Frost Shield now! — Kaelen commanded with urgency, quickly extending the magic scroll to his fiancée.
Without hesitating, Valéria grabbed the scroll and channeled her arcane energy, breaking the magical seal and instantly erecting a translucent dome of dense ice and glacial energy before the group. In that exact instant, Kaelen reinforced the structure by combining all his cryocinesis and the cool air flow generated by the mechanical bracelet.
Seconds later, the flaming breath collided against the shield. The extreme heat cracked the surface of the arcane barrier and caused the water to evaporate into a dense cloud of scalding vapor, but the combined energy of Valéria's mana and Kaelen's thermal control absorbed and dissipated the inferno of fire, preventing any flame from reaching the rear.
Behind the shield, Valéria's heat-beast leather armor and thermal protection ring glowed, keeping the tigress intact. Akra, crouched and protected, gritted her teeth with electricity crackling on her gauntlets.
— The shield held! — Akra exclaimed, her yellow eyes glowing with determination. — Now it's our turn!
— Valéria, the breath left its jaws completely exposed and locked from the thermal strain! — Kaelen warned, his breathing slightly heavier, but with his eyes fixed on the breach. — Use your mana on the Frost Wind scroll and fire straight at its snout now!
Valéria leaped to the side, channeling her energy to tear the second magic scroll, discharging a violent gust of freezing air directly against the turtle's snout, further delaying the beast's head movements. The tigress concentrated her fire magic on the tip of the spear, creating an explosive-tipped thrust, while Akra shot like lightning toward the unprotected flank, preparing the strongest electrical shock of her gauntlets.
The Dragon-Turtle perceived the imminence of the two lethal blows, but calculated with precision that its massive, slow body was incapable of defending against both at the same time.
Faced with the dilemma, the beast prioritized the immediate survival of its vital point: it abruptly pulled its neck inside the thick iron shell in the exact millisecond before Valéria's thrust. The enchanted spear struck the metal dome with a thunderous crack, generating an explosive detonation of fire and frost that shattered part of the shell's outer scales, but failed to pierce the flesh.
However, by focusing all its defense on the neck, the turtle left its flank completely open.
Akra exploited the opening with draconic speed. The little dragonoide darted toward the monster's unprotected flank and landed with both feet and her electrified gauntlets embedded in the folds of skin and the basalt armor. Triggering the retractable tempered steel claws and discharging the full power of her electrical discharges directly into the beast's nervous system, Akra caused a deep shock that temporarily paralyzed the creature's muscles. A roar of pain and frustration escaped the turtle's jaws.
But the beast did not fall without fighting back. As it had planned in its fraction of a second of premonition, the Dragon-Turtle used its body weight and whipped its heavy tail with violence against the edge of one of the incandescent magma pools beside the platform.
The colossal blow caused a wall of boiling lava and molten rock to rise like a red, destructive wave, crashing directly over the area where Kaelen and Valéria were positioned.
— Watch out! Magma wave! — Kaelen warned, his eyes foreseeing the catastrophe a few seconds in advance.
Kaelen acted with impressive speed. He grabbed the third magic scroll and instantly handed it to his fiancée: — Valéria, channel your mana and activate Freeze Ground now!
Valéria tore the scroll and discharged her arcane energy, which, combined with Kaelen's powerful cryocinesis and the mechanical bracelet's air flow, projected a wall of thick, dense ice right in front of the group.
When the lava wave hit the ice block, the extreme heat caused the barrier to crack and melt rapidly into a dense, suffocating cloud of scalding vapor, but the combined energy managed to solidify the lava crust inches away from reaching Valéria and Kaelen, preventing them from being incinerated.
Seizing the curtain of vapor and smoke that momentarily blinded the turtle's vision, Kaelen took a deep breath, feeling sweat trickle down his forehead from the extreme heat, and guided the girls through the vapor:
— Akra's shock worked! It's locked on the side! Valéria, grab the fourth scroll and use Ice Bolt on the rear leg joint to freeze its movement for good, while I break its posture with telekinesis!
Feeling the paralyzing numbness of cold in its legs and the weight of accumulated ice locking its joints, the Dragon-Turtle realized that if it remained on the platform, it would end up defeated. It began dragging its massive body toward the edge of the platform, seeking to plunge into the comforting depths of the magma.
However, before giving up ground, the beast opened its colossal jaws and fired a frantic barrage of multiple fireballs in sequence against the entire group. The incandescent projectiles crossed the dense vapor-filled air, illuminating the cavern with red flashes and forcing Kaelen, Valéria, and Akra to scatter to avoid being incinerated.
Kaelen, foreseeing the barrage beforehand through his premonition, reacted at the limit of precision. With a quick movement, he handed the fifth and final scroll to Valéria: — Valéria, the last Ice Bolt, now!
Valéria channeled the final drop of mana required by the scroll, firing the glacial beam in synchronization with a violent burst of telekinesis projected by Kaelen.
— Don't let it reach the lava!
The frost bolt struck squarely into the rear leg the turtle was trying to drag, freezing the basalt around it and trapping the beast in place. In that exact moment, Kaelen's invisible and overwhelming telekinetic pulse crashed against the creature's flank, destabilizing its colossal weight and causing the turtle to topple heavily to the side inches away from the magma's edge, its jaws locked by exhaustion and cold.
Valéria seized the perfect opening. With a battle cry, she lunged forward, channeling all her fire magic into the tip of the enchanted spear and delivering a full-force thrust directly into the most vulnerable crevice of the shell revealed by the fall. The blade pierced the defense with a thunderous snap, releasing a wave of explosive energy inside the shell.
At the same time, Akra landed atop the turtle's head, embedding the claws of her conductive alloy gauntlets and discharging a massive, continuous electrical load.
— It's over, fat monster! — the dragonoide shouted.
The combined shock of piercing fire and electricity completely paralyzed the beast's reflexes and premonition. The Dragon-Turtle emitted a final thunderous roar echoing through the depths of the cavern before its body gave out completely, motionless upon the volcanic rock an inch from the lava.
The cavern plunged into a heavy silence, broken only by the crackle of magma and the group's accelerated breathing.
As the beast's colossal carcass ceased its final movements, Kaelen caught his breath and deactivated the mechanical bracelet, wiping sweat from his forehead. With a nod, he signaled for the girls to check the surroundings of the magma platform.
Exploring the highest and most sheltered corners of the rocky chamber, right behind a curtain of vapor where the heat was slightly milder, Miri — who had waited at the safe entrance but closely followed the events — pointed her finger. There, in a nest carved into the volcanic rock and warmed by thermal currents, rested three gigantic eggs with hard, translucent shells pulsing with a faint crimson glow, as if harboring live embers within.
But what truly caught Kaelen's attention was an unusual phenomenon just below, at the edge of the magma pool where the turtle had nearly taken refuge. Floating peacefully atop the surface of the molten rock, kept suspended by a dense and subtle layer of pure arcane energy, was a shimmering weapon. It was a singular magic spear — a true ancestral artifact whose metallic veins vibrated with multiple harmonized elements, emanating a brilliance that blended blue flames, golden sparks, and glacial iridescence.
Kaelen approached the edge of the fire precipice, feeling the heat radiate from the artifact, and turned to the tigress:
— Valéria... come here. Given its characteristics and harmony with your combat style, I believe this artifact will be much better utilized by you. Try to pick it up carefully
