"This is not making any sense! How are you even there right now, that place is like a room on fire." Tam Seon bellowed but got no response from Tae Dong-Hyun, who was as surprised as he was.
He looked at his hands and looked around, the blue flame of the forge was burning viciously, and yet he stood here, okay.
At this point, he knew.
He picked up the hammer and turned to the forge.
"Let us start..."
***
***
***
WHOOM!
The tranquility of the plain that was still sustained even though Raith was mercilessly and cryingfully slaughtering harmless orcs was immediately overturned by flames that swept across the plain like a flood unforeseen.
Mythical creatures, with necks so long, forearms attached to their wings and hindlimbs like that of kangaroos, their tails long and sweeping across the wind with enough power to crush a rock. They were a sight to behold no doubt but that was not the dreadry that they carried– it was their breath, for it spewed forth flames.
Their wings beat the air with the force of a hurricane as they flew around spewing breath of flames on every part of the mountain.
The Orcs were baptized in flames, raging flames!
"Raith stood amidst this flame, his body blackened to the very thick of it, almost blending with the near-darkness if not for the faint illumination that the flames brought with them.
He stood amidst the flames with a worn-out expression on his face, his head dropped low and his katana sword pointing to the ground sorrowfully– almost slipping out of his hands. The green-colored blood of the Orcs streamed down the sword in a way that resonated with the kind of sorrow Raith carried– slowly as if the steel itself was crying.
[Because the skill 'Heat Resistance' has been bestowed, the effect of the skill will tremendously reduce]
[Do you want to withdraw Bestowed skill?]
Raith looked at the message, he was feeling the heat of the fire like he had never before in his life and that was why he even activated body Armour to protect him from the damage, his skin was being burnt off by the flames. But it wasn't working, he could feel the hotness and somehow his skin was still feeling the heat and being burnt.
'This thing only protects from hit damage I guess'
Even though Raith was immersed in flames and burning, he had a calm composure, gently working and looking at the kind of art that was projected by the orcs that ran helter-skelter, dancing and crying because the fire burns too good.
The wyverns were not even that low on the ground, and just hovered in the sky, spitting fire on the plain. After a few minutes of doing that, they suddenly soared higher and soon disappeared. But the flames continued.
There was no place to hide but thanks to a large circular shield could be seen tearing over a particular space and no matter how much the flames hit the shield, it was battered back and didn't enter.
In the shield was the Mok Jae-Hwa and his raid team, safe and sound although they were unable to bring Raith into it and hated that fact, especially Mok Jae-Hwa, who was ready to jump out of the shield and into the flames.
"That'd be a very stupid idea," Shin-Hye stated to him. But he still didn't agree.
"Why would you say that? He's going to die!"
Shin-Hye folded her arms, "And is this the first time he's dying for you?"
Mok Jae-Hwa paused to think about it. 'She's right... he has died quite a number of times. But still...'
"We don't know if it is some type of skill use, he could end up dying for real," Ga-Yun said.
"Then are you willing to let go of your shield and save him?" Shin-Hye uttered to her, harshly but sensibly.
"I mean, he's a catastrophe-ranked hunter, I'm sure he's got a plan" She responded looking away, especially from Mok Jae-Hwa whose eyes were filled with chivalry.
From the circular shield, they could see Raith stumble to his feet and fall within the flames, after a while, he would stand up again then after a long time the same thing would happen again.
The flames were enormous to the extent that they were even burning rocks and were like a sea, hours have passed since the wyverns left and the flames do not look like they are going to take a breather anytime soon.
And in them, Raith was being killed and resurrected for so long that they all got tired of watching it.
***
'...ah...how long has it been now?' Chingy asked, his lips were dry and void of life, even his eyes were dropping so low that they seemed like they would drop out of their sockets.
Everyone was like that, fatigue and hunger had stricken them so hard.
Vwoom Vwoom
The shield that was holding them together blinked severally but it was bearable now, the fire had resided hands were just burning on the ground.
***
Raith lay butt naked on the floor, looking at the red sky, he had died so many times over that he now developed a resistance for burns, his endurance stat had skyrocketed, and his level too had gone up a while, although not too much because he kept dying from the same cause and as he developed enough endurance for that kind of death, he stopped leveling up from it.
"Those wyverns, weren't they strange?" He mumbled as he felt someone's presence. It was Yeon-Woo that was beside him.
'...he can tell I am here even though I'm using stealth mode.' Yeon-Woo undid his invisibility and bent down towards Raith, "I came to check if you are still alive"
"How nice of you. Did someone die from your side?"
"No, but they are more or less like dead folks."
"I guess so. It has been over two days and the fire is still burning."
Yeon-Woo looked up and looked at Raith, "How did you know that? There wasn't any change in weather."
"I counted"
"You counted?"
"It was the only thing I could do to keep my sanity." Raith sat up.
Yeon-Woo looked at his rock-hard back and stared at him from behind with admiration. '...I can't imagine what he must have gone through'
[Congratulations]
[You have completed the trial of a leader]
[Congratulations]
[You have been forged by fire]
[You have gained the skill Burn O'clock(C)]
[Using Devour sub-skill, you can merge skills]
[Skills eligible for merge: Lavaration + Burn O'clock]
"Oh wow"
"Huh?" Yeon-Woo tilted his head left and right trying to get why Raitj was so dazed and spaced out. But Raith didn't reply to him or pay any attention to him.
His hand was beneath his jaw with his eyes focused on the space before him as he carefully weigh his decision.
'Lavaration has been very profitable for me, I don't want to lose it... but then, the possibility of a new fire skill is interesting, I like the thought of it...' He crossed his legs and looked at the black holographic tab that was visible to him alone.
"Merge."
[Merging skill, Lavaration(S) + Burn O'clock(C)]
[1%...3%...5%...10%...]
[...87%...90%...95%...99%...]
[...100%]
[Merging Complete]
[You have gained a new skill]
[Fire Force(B)]
- You can eject or manifest a tremendous force of fire from any part of your body, skill usage is limited to the creativity of the user.
"..." A gloomy cloud downed on Raith's face as he saw the skill description.
'Force of fire? why does it sound so lame? Now I regret merging Lavaration' He sank his face into his palm for a moment and stood up afterward.
He pulled out black pants from his inventory as the others got closer.
"Hunter Raven! I'm so glad you are alive!" Mok Jae-Hwa jubilated even though he should be weak as hell having not eaten anything for two days straight- according to Raith's calculation.
"Yes, you guys look..." Raith paused as he looked at all of them, their face was whitened, their lips were dried and it was so obvious that they were hungry, all of them except Shin-Hye of course who had her normal corpse skin and for some reason Yeon-Woo.
"I went into hibernation." He stated as Raith's eye fell on him with the unspoken inquiry of how he is alive.
"Hibernation?"
"This little guy here is capable of many things including hibernation. He will deactivate all his body system organs and still be conscious of his surroundings until he wakes up." Mok Jae-Hwa explained holding Yeon-Woo's shoulder.
"Wow, that is impressive." Raith complimented him causing a big smile to appear on his face.
"What? He isn't that impressive. Do you even know what I can do?"
whoom!
Raith's frown immediately scared off Shin who was trying to be boastful.
'...did I say something wrong?' He thought to himself as he shakily stepped back from the hostility that Raith was exuding.
It took another moment for the rest of them to know.
Yeon-Woo's brow lowered, "We have been surrounded"
