Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

When the monsters used their arms to protect themselves, that made them more durable and it also decreased the durability of the giant ice arms…. That slowed down Rain quite a bit, adding all that to massive size of the dungeon, it took Rain three hours to reach the fifteenth floor.

The fifteenth floor of the dungeon resembled the interior of an active volcano rather than conventional dungeon terrain. Upon arrival, Rain was greeted by a striking and dramatic landscape that bore little resemblance to the maze-like corridors he had navigated before.

Instead of structured corridors, an expansive and massive arena sprawled out before Rain, dominating the environment. The arena's surroundings mimicked the visceral intensity of an active volcanic crater. Periodically, tremors reverberated through the space, causing surges of molten lava to erupt and cascade across the arena floor, shrouding sections of the ground in a fiery atmosphere.

The turbulent movements of the lava were unpredictable and dynamic, intermittently revealing patches of solid ground in between the fiery surges. These exposed segments provided limited safe passage amid the seething molten flows, granting Rain sporadic footholds amidst the volatile environment.

The arena's layout was sparse, with only intermittent stretches of terrain accessible between the periodic flows of molten lava.

Amidst the arena, Rain was surprised to see Terra and the beast queen still fighting… after punching each other in the face and making the whole place vibrate, they stepped backward and then looked at Rain for a moment. They were mirroring each other's actions with a precision that would make most people think that they were sisters or something.

Still, none of them paid much attention to Rain after looking at him. They soon charged again and began to punch each other… when they focused on speed, their arms blurred and their fists collided against each other. It looked like Terra also learned the Perfect Block technique… even though she never asked Rain how it worked before.

While looking at Terra a bit more, Rain could see that her skin was completely red and her clothes had a bit of burnt on them… she had been there for too long, enough to even mimic the technique of the meteor dragons, the same technique that Rain used in the Battle before his defeat to absorb heat and convert it into health, mana, and stamina. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

"I don't want her to use that… it could corrupt her mind," Rain thought. "I can't call her out without risking making her drop her guard though…"

While Rain looked at them, he wondered what he should do… judging by their auras alone, Rain could tell that they were stronger than him… around three times stronger. Still, Rain faced plenty of enemies that were that much stronger than him and emerged victorious. His true goal was to help Terra without hurting her pride.

At the same time, without making her suspicious… since it didn't look like she believed that he was the real deal.

"She could confirm that if she used the seals… but it doesn't look like she wants to use it," Rain thought.

It was absolutely normal for Terra to think that Rain wasn't the real deal… It hurt him a bit, but it was normal. In the end, Rain decided to just watch the battle while he used the rings and meditated in the air.

"Maybe I can learn a weaker version of that technique… one that won't corrupt the mind," Rain thought. "Come to think of it, I never tried to combine virtue with the elements. If the dragons can combine the elements with the sins, that should be possible as well."

There was a high chance that Rain might annoy Terra just watching the battle… it wouldn't surprise him if she didn't want him to intervene, but she didn't want him just to watch as well. Everyone has been very unreasonable as of late…

Rain tried to improve his senses a bit more, even though he was weaker and slower than those two. Thanks to his focus, he was eventually able to see what they could do and their fighting style… the beast queen was not using her claws anymore, but that didn't mean that she had grown weaker.

In one of her dashes, the beast queen charged and aimed her left elbow at Terra's face, but Terra moved her head to the side and spun her body at the same time, she grabbed the elbow with her left hand and then raised her left elbow to attack the beast queen.

The attack connected, but at the same time, the beast queen hit her in the stomach with her knee so both of them suffered a lot of damage. Still, none of them even flinched…

"I can't say that I lost my edge, but if compared to them…" Rain furrowed his eyebrows. "I guess it might look like a joke comparing myself to them in terms of resolve and resilience…"

While Rain was thinking about that, the beast queen suddenly lowered her stance and then the heat around began to gather around her… the atmosphere began to tremble and her fur looked like it was on fire.

"She can even copy the inferno dragons thanks to the same sin, huh?" Rain thought.

Terra used Limit Breaker and Magic Boost in that moment and raised her guard, but the beast queen still charged at her faster than a meteor… she didn't have time to actually aim and punch Terra, but a body slam hit Terra and made her spin in the air before crossing hundreds of meters and hitting her back against one of the walls of the dungeon.

She coughed blood thanks to the attack… it seemed that the beast queen Power up was better.

Still, Rain didn't have time to think about that since the beast queen charged at him next… she also had many reasons to try to kill him as well. Rain just lowered his posture and readied himself for the unavoidable.