Chapter 237 The Son of Fire Part 17

The wind on the mountain was even hotter than Hajime had imagined. When Hajime walked along the edge towards the turquoise crater pond about a hundred yards away from him, Hajime suddenly stopped because as he got closer and closer to the turquoise crater pond, he felt the heat under his feet getting stronger and stronger. He turned to looked at Meng.

"Keep walking towards the pond," Meng said, pulling U-ri with him walking towards Hajime.

Hajime sighed, turned around and continued walking, wondering why Meng led him and U-ri to a crater pond in the middle of Mount Zin. He walked on until he was twenty yards away from the crater pond and stopped.​

Seeing the dark blue bottomless abyss, Hajime turned to look at Meng and said, "Tell me what you want me to do, otherwise I will never walk into that boiling volcanic crater pond." 

Meng said, "Keep walking until your feet reach the edge of the crater pond, and I will tell you what to do."

U-ri shouted, "Hajime no! I would rather die than let you sacrifice yourself for me. If something happens to you, I won't be able to face Yul and the millions of people back home."

Meng said, "I have already told everyone that I will not kill anyone today, why don't you believe me?"

U-ri said angrily, "Your hands are already stained with the blood of innocent people. Although your hands may not have picked up the sword, your actions caused their deaths. No matter what words you use to shirk responsibility, you are a murderer and that's not going to change."

Meng ignored U-ri and turned his focused to Hajime. "You have the ability to heal yourself, right? So why are you scared just standing by that pond?" Meng said with a smile. "Now, put a few drops of your blood into the pond. This is the last thing I ask you to do before I let you go. I don't want your life. I just want a few drops of your blood." He rolled his impatient eyes at Hajime. "I warned you not to test my patience."

Hajime had no choice but to continue walking towards the pond. For some reason, Hajime felt that Meiji was very active. Meiji swayed from side to side, and Hajime had difficulty walking, but he felt a sense of happiness welling up in his heart. In this stressful moment, Hajime feel like he wants to smile. At this time, Hajime had already arrived at the pond. He looked towards the pond and his reflection surprised him as he saw his own face smiling back at him. He wondered how he could be so happy and safe when he was facing a boiling pond.

Looking at his happy reflection, he wanted to jump into the boiling pond, but he realized that if he didn't do what Meng told him, Meng would kill U-ri who was standing a few yards away from him, so with a heavy heart, his right thumb slipped over the right tip of his middle finger, and blood oozed out. He milked his middle finger with his right thumb until a few drops of blood fell into the pond.

When the first drop of blood fell into the pond, the originally blue pond suddenly turned red and began to boil. Seeing this unexpected foresight in front of Hajime, his originally happy mood suddenly turned into fear. He thought he heard Meiji crying.

The hypersonic scream of an unknown origin roar from the bottom of the pond and echoed throughout Mount Zin. The sound was so loud that Hajime U-ri and Meng all covered their ears, feeling that their eardrums were about to explode. U-ri, who lost his strength, fell to his knees. Meng knew that his mission had been completed, and quickly turned around, transformed into a big eagle, and flew down Mount Zin towards Xun. 

Hajime turned to the left and found U-ri already on his knees. Hajime stood up and ran towards U-ri. He helped U-ri up as the pond started spewing lava into the sky. "U-ri!" Hajime said. "We need to leave now."

Hajime threw the wooden figure in his hand into the air, and the wooden figure came to life. Hajime and U-ri quickly walked towards the eagle, while the unknown screams of pain continued. As the ground around the pond begins to crack and lava crawls out of the cracked ground, the eagle begins to take flight.

"Oh no! What have I done?" Hajime said with trembled lips. "Everyone down below will die."

U-ri said, "Hajime...Hajime...listen to me. It's not your fault, okay. It's not your fault."

The ground began to shake violently, and more and more magma began to break through the surface. Hajime turned to look at the pond, just in time to see a huge red flaming peacock head emerging from the boiling lava pond screeching towards the open sky.

When Yul and Michio made it halfway to Mount Zin, they heard the screams of some kind of beast. They and the villagers who were still climbing Mount Zin were stunned and looked at each other with strange expressions, because they saw that the eagle that had just flown over them was now flying back to them. They wondered if that loud scream came from that eagle.

"Hajime's eagle," Michio said, but when he saw no one on the eagle's back, he looked at Yul. "Where are Hajime and U-ri."

Yul said, "Hajime's craft will not leave Hajime behind. Let's hurry up."

The two Tanzanies were about to push away the crowd when they heard screams from ahead.

"Run!"

"Run for your live!"

"Run!"

Tephra to roll down from Mount Zin, rolling toward the people halfway up and at the foot of Mount Zin.

The two Tanzanies and those who were almost at the foot of Mount Zin began to see hot lava shooting into the sky and flowing down Mount Zin.

"Not good," Michio said. "Run back to the south gate!"

People grabbed only their children, dropped their belongings, and ran back up the hill to south gate.

Yul and Michio saw another eagle flying towards them, they rushed to the front of the group.

"Go back!" Hajime and U-ri shouted. "Mount Zin has erupted!" They continued shouting as they flew back to the south gate.

Seeing Hajime and U-ri flying over Yul and Michio back to the south gate, Yul felt reassured that Hajime wasn't hurt, so now he didn't have to worry about Hajime knowing that Hajime was safe.

"That's Hajime's voice." Yul looked up and found that the eagle had flown back to the south gate. "Hurry back to the city gate."

Hearing the screams of an angrily beast and seeing lava rising into the sky, the bandits and the gorillas leave the battlefield and run for their lives.

Seeing a big eagle flying straight towards them, Abrafo and Bong quickly ran away. The eagle grabbed Xun's shoulders and flew away. Bong knew that Xun was defeated and was about to run away. He rushed forward with his spear in his right hand and threw the spear straight at Xun's back. However, Bong's spear missed Xun's back and hit the back of Xun's right thigh.

"Although your aim was not good, at least you hit him," Abrafo praised. 

Hajime's eagle landed on the city wall, causing many soldiers to retreat. Hajime and U-ri jumped off the eagle's back and began to look around to see if Fufu was among the standing soldiers.

"Lady Fufu, everyone should leave this city quickly!" U-ri shouted when he saw Fufu standing next to Baqar. "Mount Zin erupted."

"What do you say?" Baqar asked with a pale face. "Erupted... but how did it happen...?"

U-ri said, "Malik's people and the gorillas are just a diversion. Their real purpose was to cause Mount Zin to erupt."

"But this is our home. We can't leave here," Dampa said.

Baqar said, "The lava probably won't reach us."

Hajime said, "Even if the lava doesn't kill you, the debris from the eruption will, and you'll die from inhaling the dust in the air. If you want to survive, you'll have to abandon the south gate."

Fufu said, "Father, this side of the city can always be rebuilt, but the lost lives can never be resurrected." She looked at Baqar. "As long as you and the people live, this part of the city will never be destroyed because this part of the city lives in our hearts."

Seeing that Baqar was still hesitant, Hajime saw a big oak tree next to the city gate and quickly went down the stairs.

"Hajime," U-ri said as saw Hajime made his way down the stairwell. He turned to Baqar. "My lord, please make a decision immediately. When we came down from Mount Zin, the lava had already started flowing, and many people on Mount Zin were already trapped by the lava. It may be too late to save those who are trapped, but now is not too late to save the rest." He quickly ran to the stairwell and disappeared.

"Father!" Fufu urged. "Please abandon the south gate." 

Baqar closed his eyes and said with a heavy heart, "Open the city gate and abandon the city."

Hajime, who was standing by the tree, had already pulled out his dagger and was about to cut his palm when U-ri grabbed Hajime's right hand. 

"Yul said you can't," U-ri said.

Hajime felt responsible for those who were trapped in Mount Zin and said, "U-ri, you saw it with your own eyes when we came down from Mount Zin. If I just stood by and watched, I couldn't bear the guilt of what I had caused. I want to live with a clear conscience knowing I have done my best to save as many people as I could."

U-ri said, "It's not your fault."

Hajime said, "Although it's not my fault, all of this was caused by me."

"If there's anyone to blame, it's me," U-ri said. "If you must use your magic. I'll be here with you."

Hajime slashed his left palm with a dagger, touched his bloody palm against the tree, and closed his eyes. The leaves on the oak branches began to turn red. As high-pitched voices sounded from the other side of the city wall, the people standing on the city gate wall looked towards the oak tree a few yards away. They saw big eagles flying one after another from the oak tree towards Mount Zin.