Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

On the thirteenth floor, Rain saw more changes in the dungeon. Now it was hard to find places where he could walk without touching the lava… now and then, the lava would gush some pillars in small explosions.

"This looks like the place I saw Terra," Rain thought while looking around. "The floor is pretty large…"

Rain looked upward and saw that the ceiling was fifty meters above. The place could accumulate a bunch of heat thanks to it. Rain was sweating like crazy and breathing the air around made his nose bleed.

"This isn't a place a human should stay for long… what the hell were you thinking, Terra?" Rain thought.

Even if Terra could heal herself like no one could, that was still dangerous. Rain wondered if his using the seals made her decide that… it was hard to explain logically, but maybe that was her way of clearing her head and not letting false hope cloud her judgment.

As Rain proceeded deeper into the dungeon's scorching depths, his senses heightened, and his vigilance intensified. Suddenly, his attention was captured by a startling sight. Emerging from the seething lava below, small, humanoid figures leaped into the air, launching themselves toward him with unexpected agility and speed.

These creatures, smaller in stature compared to the salamanders and magma golems, possessed humanoid forms with distinct physical attributes. Some sported long, sinuous tails, while others boasted menacingly elongated claws. A few of these beings exhibited wings, granting them the ability to soar through the heated corridors with remarkable agility.

The unexpected appearance of these agile and diverse creatures caught Rain off guard, causing him to open his eyes wide in surprise and momentary paralysis.

Their unique features and swift movements added an element of unpredictability to the encounter, signaling the emergence of a new, nimble threat within the fiery depths of the dungeon… but more important than that, they looked exactly like the beast people he had met…

"What the heck…" Rain thought as he swung his ice Blades around violently.

The monsters blocked the ice blades with their arms, and the weapons barely scratched their arms covered in lava. Their skin now was a mix between flesh and that dangerous substance, so they immediately tried to grab Rain's neck and make it melt. Still, Rain used Impulse backward and avoided their touch.

"What happened to these guys?" Rain thought.

Rain found the situation hard to understand but couldn't shake the thought that the dungeons possessed an uncanny ability to lure and transform individuals into various monstrous entities. The notion seemed insane, yet it was the only plausible explanation that aligned with the peculiarities he witnessed within the dungeon's depths.

The idea that dungeons could entice and transmute humans or other sentient beings into formidable creatures felt unsettling. Considering the behaviors of the branded people and the sins' susceptibility to the dungeons' influence, Rain assumed that luring them into the dungeons might not have been a challenging feat.

The dungeons' capacity to allure and transform individuals, compelling them to undergo such drastic metamorphosis, added an unnerving layer to the perilous nature of these structures…

Rain didn't have the time to think more about that because the monsters kept chasing him… the ones on the floor didn't mind at all that they were stepping on the lava… for them, that might as well just feel like a hot bath.

Rain looked to the ice blades and saw them melting even faster, so he summoned his giant ice arms again and then stepped forward with Impulse. In the next moment, Rain smashed the heads of two of those creatures immediately, but the giant ice arms cracked a bit as well.

The skill Icy Grasp leveled up. Intelligence + 01

The Diligence path received 300 experience points.

The skill Artic Field leveled up. Intelligence + 01

The Diligence path received 250 experience points.

"The field Advantage is quite something," Rain thought as he watched more of the monsters emerging from the lava and launching themselves toward him. "I need to make use of this eventually."

Even though Intelligence is my highest parameter, it isn't enough in this environment. Still, while it was a bit troublesome, it wasn't enough to the point that Rain had a real problem, he could recover more than enough mana with the rings. The only issue is that he couldn't use the mana on the real skills that he wanted to level up.

After smashing the heads of those creatures, Rain looked around and saw their bodies melting into lava… thanks to it, he wasn't sure anymore if they were truly beast people or if they were just dolls made of lava. Rain couldn't help but think that it was the second option since they kept coming from every single spot of the dungeon that had lava.

As Rain moved further in the dungeon, he eventually started to feel some tremblings on the ground… at first, he thought that it was just because of the lava bubbling around, but soon he confirm that it wasn't the case. They were the impacts of a battle…

"They are still fighting?" Rain furrowed his eyebrows in surprise.

Rain observed the beast queen, noting that her appearance seemed larger than he recalled, potentially influenced by the power of the wrath brand. However, despite the noticeable increase in size, the beast queen's form didn't resemble the monstrous entities, such as the lava-covered beast people he had encountered previously.

Although the wrath brand seemingly altered her size, the beast queen's form remained distinct from the more monstrous and deformed creatures Rain had previously encountered.

Her appearance, although altered, retained elements of her former regal demeanor, marking a noticeable difference from the more overtly transformed and monstrous beings that inhabited the dungeon's depths… she also looked more conscious of her actions.

Rain decided to hurry up since it wasn't normal for someone to stay in that hellhole for one week, even more so fighting someone. Still, the monsters kept getting in Rain's way…