Chapter 46 – Elemental Being (Fire)
••• Aleena’s POV •••
I wasn’t sure of what was about to happen. I didn’t know what kind of situation I needed to face next. I only knew to tighten my grip on the branch and pray it wouldn’t break and I wouldn’t fall.
The mountain suddenly moved down fast, and I felt like I was in a faulty elevator where the cords that hung it in place had been cut off, and I was plunging to my death.
It moved down so fast, and a strong gust of wind was coming from below; even gravity couldn’t keep me dangling vertically. I was now in a horizontal position, with only my hands gripping the vine to keep myself from falling flat on the ground.
I wanted to close my eyes from fear, but if I closed them, I couldn’t see the distance between me and the ground. I had in mind that the mountain would flatten back to the ground where Witch Lily was left behind.
The mountain didn’t slow down on its descent; if I closed my eyes and didn’t watch the ground closely, my body would hit the ground forcefully, and all my bones would break into pieces. Even though Witch Lily might be able to heal me, the pain of broken bones I would have to endure was not something I wanted to go through.
I tried to place both my feet on the branch to use them as leverage when the time came for me to land safely, but the wind was too strong for me to fight.
“Celia, I need your strength,” I told Celia as I merged with her.
“Leave it to me, Aleena,” she said, and we both used all our strength to place our feet on the branch.
We succeeded just as we were around five meters from the ground, and I quickly released our grip and straightened my legs, using the momentum to somersault backward and land perfectly on the ground.
The mountain flattened just as I had expected, and my legs trembled, sending me sprawling on my backside on the ground.
“Aleena, Aleena, are you alright?” I heard Witch Lily’s anxious voice, and I turned my head to see her running toward us. I unmerged from Celia and breathed out my exhaustion. That was even more deadly than fighting against the Siren.
“Aleena, are you alright?” Witch Lily asked again as she reached my side. This was the first time I saw her looking flustered and anxious. She had a motherly aura when she was nervous about my safety.
“I’m alright, Witch Lily. Just tired… Mentally and physically,” I let out a weak laugh. I have just come out safely from a near-death experience!
“Let me heal you.” She began chanting her healing spell. The spell could heal my physical tiredness and wound but couldn’t dispel my emotional exhaustion.
The earth was still rumbling and began to crack, and a volcano appeared quite a distance away.
“Do you want to rest for the day, Luna?” Witch Lily had gone back to her usual calm self. I somehow prefer the motherly side she showed me earlier, but I couldn’t ask her to change.
I looked up toward the sky and realized it was nearing nighttime. Should I rest? No, I want to fight the last elemental being and return to my pack as soon as possible.
“Just give me a moment to rest,” I told her. I needed to gather myself first before fighting the next round.
After around thirty minutes or so, I calmed down, and we began walking toward the volcano.
What kind of creature would be inside the volcano? The last being would be the fire element. Fire… Volcano… A dragon? I shuddered involuntarily. If the creature turned out to be a dragon, it would be even more challenging to fight. A dragon could fly just like the eagle, but worse, it could breathe fire, too. I couldn’t help feeling scared, but I shook it aside. I need to win no matter what! I was more than halfway; it would be a waste not to complete the challenge.
We entered the cave-like entrance and kept moving forward until we reached a massive chamber with a lava floor. I looked around and saw a man sitting on a throne on the other side of the chamber.
A… Man? Our final challenge is to fight a man? Well… It doesn’t seem too bad compared to the last three challenges.
I kept looking around to find a path to go to him, but there was none. As I was about to ask Witch Lily how to get across, the man on the throne stood up and looked directly at me.
“Well… Well… I have to congratulate you for going this far. You are the first person who could meet me,” the man said. I shivered and felt the hair on my arms stand up. His voice was deep and boomed throughout the chamber, creating an intimidating and odious atmosphere.
He really is the final boss? I looked at him and saw that he was shirtless, with a red crystal in the middle of his chest. At least we knew where the crystal was. It wouldn’t be too difficult to stab it, no?
He chuckled as if mocking my thought. “Come to me, little one,” he said, and I saw a few flat rocks appear in the lava. The distance between each rock was too wide for my human form, so I quickly shifted and merged with Celia.
“We need to be in wolf form to jump onto each surface,” I said, and we began jumping to get to the man.
Halfway through, we looked toward the throne, but the man wasn’t there. Where is he? We looked around, and suddenly, we heard a voice from beside us.
“Miss me?” he asked with an evil grin.
When did he get here? We jumped back sideways a little. The surface we were on was more than big enough for five people, so we still had room to move around.
He chuckled, and it angered me. He looked like he was toying with us.
“Come find me,” he said before jumping into the lava.
What the… He… He jumped into the lava?!
“I’m here.” We heard his voice and saw him two rocks away from us. How did he get there so fast?? But no matter what, we still needed to defeat him. We jumped toward him, but he jumped back into the lava again.
He really was toying with us, disappearing into the lava and appearing on different surfaces.
“I’m going to tear his limbs!” Celia growled in anger and frustration when we were on the same surface as the man.
The man chuckled again as if he could feel our frustration.
“Okay, enough playing. Let’s fight,” he said; suddenly, his whole body was covered in flames.
It was getting weird, but Celia suddenly pounced toward the man fast, intending to claw him. The man stood still and had a sinister smile on his face. Why is he just standing still?
We knew the answer to our question when Celia’s fur burned as it touched the flame around the man’s body.
“Shit!” Celia cursed, and we jumped back, withdrawing from our attack. “How are we supposed to attack him if he couldn’t even touch him?”
“I don’t know…” I really had no idea this time. I felt hopeless.
“Aleena!” Suddenly, we heard Witch Lily’s voice, turned toward her, and saw she was fighting against three lava man-like beings with her witch’s staff.
“Witch Lily!” We jumped toward another surface to help her but were blocked by the flame-man.
“I’m your enemy,” the flame-man said with an evil grin.
“Don’t worry about me!” Witch Lily shouted. “Use your magic! You can use the magic you get from this realm!”
Magic from this realm? Earth, water, and wind? But how? There are only lava and rocks here. Rocks! And air! We can use those two elements!
I tried moving the small rocks around us with my mind, and thank Goddess, they moved! I moved them toward the flame-man, and he dodged the attacks.
He dodged? He actually evaded my attacks? It means the rocks could hurt him, doesn’t it? This got me excited. We have a chance to beat him!
I tried moving the air around him, but it only grew the flame. Okay… That was a bad move. In my excitement about using magic, I had forgotten that air only helped fire.
I kept more rocks attacking him, but he was cunning. He kept jumping into the lava and appearing on another rock’s surface, and he even began attacking us with flame balls.
“Celia, I leave it to you.” I unmerged from Celia, and let her evade, and jumped toward the being while I thought about how to defeat him or at least extinguish the flame around him.
I need water… But where could I find a source of water here?
“Aleena, use water magic. The magic is in your moon-like object!” Witch Lily shouted.
My moon-like object? What does she mean? Suddenly, it clicked in my mind.
I concentrated and recalled the Siren’s attack. I imagined a water whip, and it appeared from my moon-like object. Yes!
I transferred all my energy to the moon-like object and used it to move all the rocks in the chamber, attacking the being from all directions so he wouldn’t be able to jump into the lava anymore.
“I’m going to kill you!” he roared and began attacking Celia with more flame balls as more and more rocks stabbed him.
I created more water whips and attacked him with them. The water whips and rocks managed to injure him, and he couldn’t move from his spot.
It’s time! I let one water whip stab the crystal, but it didn’t shatter.
“Aleena, I think only the Elven dragged can crush the crystal!” Celia sounded what was on my mind.
“I need to get rid of that flame first! Any idea?” I asked her.
“Can you use more water to flush the flame?” Celia gave me an idea.
“I can try.” I created more whips while maintaining the rocks and previous whips to attack the being. I moved the new lashes toward the top of his head, but instead of stabbing him, I used them to touch the flame around him, and it actually worked just like when you used a bucket of water to douse a fire.
“I won’t allow you to defeat me!” he roared again and began throwing flame balls like crazy, not even trying to evade my attack anymore.
“Celia, my turn!” I shifted back to my human form and ran closer to him while holding the Elven dagger in my hand. Some flame balls managed to burn my skin, but I ignored the pain. There was only one thing in my mind – to pierce the crystal. Once in front of him, I stabbed the crystal with the Elven dagger.
“NOOO!!!!” The being bellowed as the crystal cracked, and a bright light came from it.
I staggered back and fell on my bum as the light blinded me.
Suddenly, I felt a hand touching me, and I picked up the dagger, intending to attack the being again. Is he still alive?
“It’s me, Aleena.” I heard Witch Lily’s voice and opened my eyes.
“We defeated him?” I asked.
“We did, Aleena! We completed the challenge!” Celia’s excited and relieved voice sounded in my mind.This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.
“You did. Great job, Aleena and Celia,” Witch Lily complimented us and patted my head with a mother-like affection.
I looked around and realized our surroundings had changed again – we were now in a meadow, and it was daylight. I didn’t even want to think how and when it changed.
The last challenge injured me physically more than the other three. I winced as I felt the burns on my skin.
“Let me heal you,” Witch Lily said, and I let her do her magic.
As Witch Lily was healing me, I saw a vortex appear before us.
I let out a heavy sigh, looking at the vortex. Is it not finished yet?
“Are we going to fight in another realm?” That thought exhausted me. I didn’t know if I could take another challenge. Physically, I could, but mentally, I was exhausted.
“No, it’s a portal that will transport us to the Elven Kingdom,” Witch Lily explained as she helped me to stand up.
Goddess, no one could know how relieved I was to hear those words.
“Ready to go back?” Witch Lily asked.
“More than ready,” I replied, and we both stepped into the portal.