Part 73

We continued to walk for another two hours before reaching the old mine where Hazel and I first flew down to reach the caverns.

"This part is where it gets tricky," Askalaad said, "We'll have to be extra careful climbing this, more so than usual. Usually, we'd just free climb it, then restart our climb whenever we'd fall. We'd be fine if we died on the landing, after all."

"You said this takes two days?" I asked. Askalaad nodded.

"When we got tired, we just reset our bodies to a point where we weren't tired," He said as he looked away from the mine overhead, "So yes, two days of straight climbing. Can you two do that?"

I looked at him in silence, the look upon my face full of bafflement and disbelief.

"No, most certainly not," I muttered. Then, as I turned away from Askalaad, I whispered, "It would be nice if we could fly over, but I don't want these guys to know more about us than we've already told them."

"I know," Hazel nodded as she met my gaze. She turned to me, then whispered, "Why don't we just climb? We'll be a bit late to regroup with Aros, but I'm sure he won't mind. It was your decision to meet the Lazarus Dwarves, after all."

I nodded, then looked back to Askalaad. However, before I could speak, I felt Icarus nudge my leg with the side of his neck. I looked down at him with a confused expression before I realized what he meant to tell me. I felt myself smile as Icarus looked at me. Then I looked back at Askalaad with an excited grin.

"We'll be fine. In fact, why don't we turn it into a race," I said, "Whoever gets to the top first wins?"

"Ha! Is that a challenge? Never challenge a dwarf, kid," Askalaad laughed. The dwarves next to him all nodded as they put grins on their faces as well. Then, as Askalaad turned up to the mine, he turned his body and brought his pack off his shoulders. Once he had it set on the ground, he opened the pack and brought out a large rope, then an iron hook.

Askalaad took a moment to tie the two together with the rope before he looked back up at the mine.

"So that's how you'll reach the mine," I muttered as Askalaad began to swing the rope and hook. Once it gained enough momentum he threw it into the air. His movements seemed choreographed, his movements perfected down to individual adjustments. The hook landed against a rock and swung around perfectly before stopping as it slammed against the bottom side of the rock. Once it was secure, Askalaad began the climb. He was followed by George, then another dwarf.

Soon after, all ten dwarves were dangling from the rope as they climbed up to meet the bottom of the mine. Once Askalaad managed to clasp onto the very most bottom rock, Askalaad looked back at me with a large grin upon his face.

"What are you going to do about that, Arthur?" Askalaad asked. I chuckled, then turned my gaze toward Icarus. Icarus smiled, then crouched for a moment as he prepared to pounce into the air. He leaped a second later, flapping his wings to gain even more air, before swinging back around. Icarus was about the size of a large dog but had the wing strength of a phoenix.

Icarus first turned toward Hazel. Once he swung around, his claws grasped onto her armor, hoisting her up with ease. His flying speed was slowed, but he was still fast. He managed to reach the mine within seconds before zooming passed the dwarves as a red blur.

Hazel barely had time to give me a mention of protest before she was already gone. Askalaad looked down at me, his smug expression gone. He groaned for a moment before turning back to the mine as he began to climb with more purpose.

Ten minutes later, once all ten dwarves managed to climb a decent way up the mine, I began to hear a series of noises near me. The noises surrounded me from all sides and sounded similar to the snarls of a goblin, just louder and deeper. They were filled with rage and hunger, each more vicious than the last.

The dwarves above me began to yell in fear as they recognized the sounds. Some of them yelled to get my attention while a few started dropping things in my direction. All of them were afraid, almost petrified, though Askalaad was the only one that seemed to have kept his reason.

"Those are deep dwarves! Run!" Askalaad yelled. I ignored him as I turned my attention to the space around me, much to Askalaad's disapproval, "We are immortal, yet we struggle! What chance do you think you'll have?"

"Watch," I whispered as I looked to my surroundings. Although it was dark for the dwarves, it wasn't dark for me. Just by turning around, I could easily count how many surrounded me. I found myself trapped by nearly fifteen deep dwarves, each with only a loincloth. None of them were armed as they slowly made their way over to me. A few of them snarled like animals as they took a step forward, sometimes launching their spit to the ground. I looked at them in disgust as I appraised them.

﹃

Deep Dwarf

Race: Monstrosity

HP: 80

MP: 40

AC: 30

DMG: 15

Rank: D

﹄

'I can deal with that,' I nodded as I turned toward the nearest deep dwarf. I began to move my mana out of my palm as I pulled my sword out of it's scabbard. As the blade came into contact with the air, it lit up in flames and illuminated the area around me with a soft orange glow. A few of the deep dwarves snarled in anger as they took a few steps back. Then, once the nearest one charged toward me, the battle began.

I watched the nearest dwarf charge forward, so I prepared myself by taking a step forward and swinging my sword toward the dwarf at the same time. My flaming sword slashed against the dwarf's chest, but it wasn't dead yet.

『 60 DMG 』

I blinked and gritted my teeth as I redirected my sword to let the blade slash against the dwarf's neck once more. I heard a snarl to my right, so I quickly backed away and turned my attention away from the first dwarf. Two other dwarves faced me, each with a mean look upon their faces. I charged forward once again and slashed each dwarf with as much speed as I could.

I heard more dwarves surround me, so I took another step away from the noise as I swung my sword twice more. Another dwarf dropped to the ground, but I was quickly surrounded once more. My feet never stopped moving as I danced from one target to another, my sword swinging through the air like a diving falcon as it periodically found its target before moving on to the next.

'There are too many,' I thought to myself as I backed away once more. I looked to the dwarves, who were staring at me with more anger than before. Most of them had wounds on their bodies, most of which were burning with hunger, but the deep dwarves didn't seem to care. I looked at the corpses, which numbered four by now.

"I'm still too weak," I muttered with anger. I looked down at my sword, then sighed, "This sword is convenient, but I become too narrow-minded with it and end up getting surrounded too easily. I need to attack more than just one target, or this fight will last longer than I want it to."

I took one last look at the dwarves before sheathing my sword. As the flames around my sword disappeared, both groups of dwarves roared. The group above yelled in anger while the group in front of me seemed glad that I had gotten rid of my sword.

I smiled as I realized they thought I gave up. They were far from the truth. As the deep dwarves in front of me began to run toward me, each with increased vigor, I quickly jumped away and brought my hands into the air.

Once I landed on the ground, I slowly breathed in, then out. I forced myself to calm down. I looked around me as my eyes drifted from dwarf to dwarf. I kept my eyes on all of them, memorizing the battlefield. I began to move my hands, my fingers twitching like a violinist playing a solo. As my hands moved, streams of fire began to float in the air for a moment. Then, as the dwarves began to slow down, I struck my right fist forward. Instantly, the floating stream of fire erupted and attacked everything in front of me. The power of the attack felt similar to the thrash of wind, just hotter.

As I moved my hands, the fire I controlled obeyed. With my fingers, I would create floating strokes of fire that would float through the air with a calm demeanor, like the calm before a storm. With every floating line of fire that came out of my fingers, another source of power was made available to use, almost like I was building an arsenal. With my fists, I would force the fire forward upon an unlucky target ahead of me, then would restart the process as I dragged my fingers back into the air.

My feet spun, dragging the balls of my feet in a circular movement so I could concentrate on the battlefield around me. With every movement I made, I controlled the battlefield. A typhoon of flames began to surround me and destroyed everything around me. My body felt in control thanks to my efforts to remain calm, though something else was mixed in my movements. My body was moving on instinct. A deep urge to burn everything arose from within me, allowing me to control my flames in a manner that I should have never been capable of.

My mana should've already run out, but the battle continued on. With every one of my attacks, a dwarf would get injured or would die. Eventually, after thirty seconds passed, the battle was over. Two more deep dwarves were left, but they stood several meters away from me. I looked at them, layers of fire surrounding my body like a shield before I slowly moved my hand through the flames.

My fingers passed through two lines of flame, stealing them to be used as ammo before my fist struck forward and launched the flames toward the last two dwarves. The fire from my attack flew through the air, burning everything in front of it, before striking the dwarves and disintegrating them instantly.

『 Flame Dance, Learned 』

『 Flame Manipulation has increased a tier, Congratulations! 』