The Guardian and Gatekeeper

Zssh—!

When Vaan's body made contact with the raging whirlpool of lava, his flesh sizzled with burns from the heat.

However, the temperatures were only slightly higher than the third stage's lava pool. It wasn't terrifyingly high like it actually seemed.

As such, Vaan successfully made it through to the fourth stage without getting incinerated into ashes.

His leap of faith had paid off.

Fortunately, he had made the right call. The overwhelming sense of threat and death was just an illusion and didn't possess any substance.

But considering it could fool him and all the dragon lords, it wasn't just any low-level illusion. If he had the opportunity, he really wanted to dissect it and learn how the illusion worked.

Nevertheless, a completely different scene unfolded in the fourth stage.

He did not free-fall in another vast open space. Rather, he was already standing on solid ground when he gained awareness of his surroundings.