Chapter 517 - Too Far

Diving past a couple of confused players; Therdul quickly shouted for everyone to get ready, Kenji tried to gather his breath and thoughts, and Eldrian... Eldrian looked at the caves with a thought. 

"Zyviss!" Eldrian shouted, hoping for a response. He was not disappointed. 

"What is it Eldrian?"

"Are there any other exits?"

"Maybe, but we didn't find any within a few kilometers... You want to?"

"Yes! Everyone out, now!" Eldrian shouted and started casting the strongest spell he knew again, he found that he could still draw upon the same source of anger. However, the anger had cooled down compared to the last time. 

Still, even so, the heat filling the cave from Eldrian's outstretched hands woke everyone who was confused about what was happening. Realizing that they would likely not survive if they stayed as the ball of angry flames formed, they followed the quicker players' lead to rush out of the cave entrance. 

'Hope this works!' Eldrian thought as the first goblin knight rushed through the tunnel into the room. It was far too early to launch the spell, but Eldrian couldn't wait much longer. 

He did however wait until he had no other choice, even allowing the goblin knight to charge him. Only letting Incinerate fly as the blade was about to connect with his head. 

Throwing his head to the side to avoid the strike, the goblin's blade struck deeply into Eldrian's shoulder. As the realization that it had missed sank in, the shockwave arrived. Sending the two flying towards the exit, the blade digging deeper into Eldrian's shoulder. 

'Fuck! That hurts!' Eldrian cursed, not having had pain escalate above the threshold in a while. Gritting his teeth, he turned to the goblin knight who was still alive. It did not stay like that for long. 

[Goblin Knight killed: XP rewarded 227k]

Eldrian just grumbled, ignoring the message and clambering to his feet. The heat in the entrance was not something he could endure for long and the flames were quickly approaching. Devouring everything in its path as it searched for fuel.

As soon as he made it out of the cave, Eldrian fell. Too tired to keep his balance while also continuing to feed Incinerate. 

'This- Is not- Like- Others-' Eldrian thought, not even able to form a proper sentence as he had to not only sustain the spell's mana, but also its anger. He was quickly running out of both. 

While this cast had only taken around 300MP, trying to maintain his connection with the spell drained 10MP a second. 'Spread, collapse...'

The constant messages of XP rewards also quickly became a nuisance, so Eldrian thought to disable it and it was. Finally, he could focus simply on the task. 

Seconds passed slowly as Eldrian had to keep his focus on why the goblins had to be killed. However, as the seconds inched by he slowly lost the conviction he had had. Yet he held on. 

'They- Can't- Don't-'

Finally, after thirty seconds, Eldrian had no option but to accept that he was out of mana. Canceling the connection, he felt a heavy weight lift from his body, but his body remained as tired as ever. 

It went without saying, everyone was staring at him. Everyone except for the mages who were doing their best to stop the fire from going wild and escaping into the forest. 

"Eldrian! A little warning next time!" Ilmadia shouted while doing her best to cast as quickly as she could. Shockingly, even Tier 4 water spells did little to these flames. It slowed them down, but it did not kill them. 

"Sorry..." Eldrian mumbled, slowly moving to try and confirm if it had worked or not. When he saw the players fighting and trying to maintain the fire, he cursed himself for not thinking that the fire would naturally want to spread to the forest. 

'I have just about enough for that...' Eldrian mumbled, but he did not wish to. 

He watched on and prayed that they would be able to handle it. With a heavy heart, Eldrian watched as one player on accident got too close to the fire. As it touched her clothes, it was like she was doused in paraffin. 

In seconds she was covered in flames, in just a few more she was a burnt corpse, in a few more, she was just ash. 

Everyone jumped back from the flames upon seeing this. And the fire took that opportunity to escape the confines of the cave. 

"NO!" Eldrian jumped up and rushed forward, summoning a ball of water and sinking into self-loathing for not thinking things through. 

'There was no need to go that far! It isn't like this is a life-and-death struggle! We could have just retreated and accepted the failure!' Eldrian shouted at himself as he cursed himself, despised himself. 

It did not take long for the ball of water to grow heavier and heavier, darker and darker, and as Eldrian approached the flames they ran from it. As if they could sense that this water they should not touch.

Through this, Eldrian managed to keep the fire contained inside the cave. And with its path blocked, it dived into the tunnels seeking fuel. 

Standing there with a heavy heart, Eldrain re-assed these new spells he had managed to create. 'While it isn't quite as dangerous as auras, I can't use them lightly...'

Eldrian stood there for ten minutes, the time it took the flames inside the entrance to finally die down. In that time, he had to constantly fight the emotions of depression and self-loathing.

Maintaining just enough of these emotions to keep the water too dense and heavy for the fire to evaporate it, and not too much for him to fall into them, was not an easy task. 

When Eldrian saw the last flame die, he promptly stopped worrying and canceled the spell. Accepting the fall as he closed his eyes wanting a good rest. Completely ignoring the level-up message. 

"Did everyone see that?" One of the players asked, everyone nodding but no one understanding what was going on. Not even those who knew Eldrian well had any idea what just happened. 

Elizabeth looked at Eldrian whose avatar had not disappeared with worry, turning to Judith she asked her to take care of Eldrian as she worried they would need to stop the goblins from escaping. 

However, even half an hour later not a single goblin attempted to exit the caves. Relieving all the players as the sacrifice of those who had died was not in vain. 

Sure, they had revived by now. But two or three levels lower than before. It would have truly sucked if they had failed the quest even after that. 

"How did he do that?" Ilmadia asked, but no one had any idea. According to everything they knew, players shouldn't be able to cast spells that were that strong. Not yet. 

...

Around a hundred goblins watched the flames finally die just as it was about to reach them. They were all in the cavern where Eldrian had launched the first Incinerate. 

{"Elf, dangerous, too dangerous"} The last surviving shaman said, turning to his king questioningly. 

{"Centaurs come soon, retreat!"} The king replied, looking at the Folia with a heavy heart. Once rooted, it could not be moved. 

Of course, even a monster such as a goblin had some attachment to its mother. Rather, those with a semblance of intelligence had some attachment. The others cared naught.

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