Vol 7 Chapter 61

Hyung looked back at the cliff with a very deflated expression. Countless shadows of rocks were cast between the spaces on the cliff.

"Though I'm not using it now to be ready for monster attacks, when I travel alone, it's an extremely convenient skill since I can go as if being carried by others without having to move."

At Lucrecian's somewhat off-point explanation, hyung frowned and shook his head.

"Isn't that skill originally made for stealth or attacking from stealth?"

"That might have been its original purpose, but isn't it up to me how I use it? Honestly, this way is more convenient."

"..."

While Kion-hyung was dumbfounded, Kapros thought that if Lucrecian had learned magic with such a mindset, he might have achieved even greater results than himself currently, and saw the guy in a quite new light.

"Shall we go again then? Which way should we go?"

"That way."

At Lucrecian's question, Kapros reflexively pointed toward the destination he had noted earlier.

"Since we seem to be almost there, let's push through quickly."

The densely overgrown forest, from which anything could emerge from behind Lucrecian's sweet smile, cast its shadow.

We successfully reached our destination not long after. Though countless stronger monsters than before appeared, dealing with them wasn't particularly difficult.

"Thorn of Punishment!"

Thwack, boom boom!

"Grrrr...r..."

As three monsters pierced by holy light bursting from Kion-hyung's outstretched fist disappeared in death, a familiar cave entrance revealed itself.

"This way."

Only after going down a path barely wide enough for one person beneath the cave for quite a while did they reach the cavern with ancient magical letters engraved on the wall that Kapros had visited before.

"Do we just keep going down that path ahead?"

Kapros shook his head at Kion-hyung who was pointing at the narrow path beyond this cavern.

"That path is nothing. The path we need to take is here..."

Kapros turned toward the ancient magical characters drawn on the wall. Fortunately, he still clearly remembered how Superior had corrected which letters here before.

Without much difficulty, when he drew a single stroke over the incorrect letter with the Superior staff infused with magical power, immediately the entire cave shook and a new space like a black hole revealed itself in the middle of the cavern.

"We go in there?"

When Kapros nodded at Kion-hyung's question, hyung and Lucrecian first stepped into the space's entrance. From there, another dark and gloomy path appeared as in his memory, but it wasn't much of a problem since they went with Fireball lighting the way.

"This place... it's getting hotter as we go?"

"There's lava ahead."

"...Lava?!"

Kion-hyung turned back with a distorted expression.

"I thought I'd gained confidence to not be surprised by most things while doing this quest, but this keeps exceeding my expectations. Lava..."

"Sounds interesting."

Lucrecian looked ahead into the unseen with interested eyes. Though Kapros didn't know what was interesting about lava, whatever he had wanted to see soon appeared not long after.

The waves of lava bubbling and flowing like a huge lake blocking the way between here and a small entrance on the opposite side delivered an overwhelming sensation even to Kapros who had passed through here before.

"...Huh."

Kion-hyung's exclamation as he stared intently at the river of lava with sunken eyes was almost like a sigh.

"Damn. Ridiculously wide."

"It's impressive but... is there a way to cross this?"

Lucrecian, who had examined the lava river and the cave on the other side more rationally and thoroughly, turned to ask Kapros. Kapros quietly nodded.

"Step back."

"Kar, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to make a bridge."

While Kion-hyung watched with a somewhat worried expression, Kapros took several deep breaths in and out while clearing all unnecessary thoughts from his mind.

'Even though I've done this before, it won't be very easy...'

"Inferno!"

Whoosh!

Inferno appeared in response to his call and roughly grew in size.

"Blizzard!"

Soon after, the ice storm also revealed itself according to his command, scattering pure white snow powder in the air.

Before making the ice bridge in earnest, Kapros tested the strength by creating several solid ice chunks by mixing the two spells, kicking them and pressing them. Only when it seemed good enough did the ice bridge construction begin once again.

'Both together, rise up!'

Boom!

"Good heavens!"

Perhaps thanks to his training with Superior, attempting the ice bridge construction again didn't give him as much of a headache or unnecessarily drain magical power as expected. Though he could hear Kion-hyung exclaiming in amazement from behind while looking at the ice bridge that had formed like a tail following where the ice storm had surged up intertwined with bright red flames, Kapros focused all his effort solely on constructing a solid ice bridge.

"You can cross now. Go ahead."

"Is what I'm seeing right now really magic?"

"...May I go up first?"

Lucrecian, unable to hide the excitement filling his eyes, first stepped onto the ice bridge. Kion-hyung soon followed, and Kapros began crossing the ice bridge last while trying not to scatter the imaging in his mind.

The feeling of crossing the arch-shaped ice bridge while enduring the heat rising like heat haze was thrillingly indescribable no matter how many times he experienced it.

After safely crossing the barrier in the middle and landing in front of the cave on the opposite side, Kion-hyung watched with amazed eyes until the end as the remains of the ice bridge melted and splashed into the lava, then pounded Kapros's shoulder with a face flushed from excitement.

"Really, ah, really. This is truly. The best. Absolutely awesome! There haven't been many things more thrilling than this among everything I've done in MIST. I can guarantee it. Palton, you bastard! I've got to rub this in when I see him later. Hahaha!"