Lava Whale

"And Ivan's execution? I did that so he couldn't be freed by someone else. You know damn well how much everyone wants to get their hands on your armor," Liam added before turning away.

"The energy will leave my whip in around five minutes. Until then, you can sit here and cool off."

Tony shouted a few more things, but Liam ignored him entirely, walking away without looking back. He went into the city, walked into a random alley and opened a portal back to his room. Once inside, he went straight to bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next day, Liam woke up feeling refreshed. 'A fight like that really stretches the muscles nicely,' he thought, standing up to take a shower.

'I'm not that disappointed by how strong Tony was. He had the new triangle element and he had some special tricks that could've done great damage, while it wasn't enough, with more experience and improvements it will go a lot better.'

'The War Machine is a different story, I am really disappointed by that one; just a few bullets and rockets. Against people like me, that's completely useless—he would never be able to do any real damage.' Liam stepped under the shower, letting the water wash over him.

'Hopefully, this was a wake-up call for them,' Liam thought, reflecting on the fight. 'At the same time, what the hell was I thinking, relying completely on my armor to jump in a straight line at Tony? I'm not the Hulk. I shouldn't act like I am.'

Outside of that, he felt satisfied. 'The Bolts of Balthakk worked well against a flying opponent. My aim was good too, thanks to all the practice.'

After a quick shower, Liam opened a portal back to the volcano where he always trained. He started his morning exercise with a run, carrying a backpack filled with weights on his back.

'I've really gotten used to the low oxygen levels here,' Liam thought as he felt the difference compared to when he did this a few months ago. Liam had moved on to the highest place on the mountain with the least amount of oxygen around one months ago.

After finishing his final lap around the mountain peak, Liam set the backpack down and summoned Incursio around him. He dove into the lava, swimming down about 150 meters.

At the start, a few months ago, Liam would feel pressure on his nose the deeper he swam, but now Incursio seemed to negate that completely. The temperature around him was a whole 2,100 degrees Celsius. He stopped there, crossing his legs to meditate as he activated his Eldritch Sight.

Over time, Liam had increased the range of his Eldritch Sight from the original 100 meters to 300 meters. Using it now, he pinpointed the dimensional tear he had discovered two months ago.

The tear was roughly 50 meters away, in a deeper area where the temperature was between 2,200–2,500 degrees Celsius. As Liam focused, an ominous feeling came over him. He quickly confirmed his suspicions—250 meters below, another dimensional tear had formed. The energy coming from it was really familiar to him.

'Another Hell dimension tear? I haven't been here in a week and a half, and this happened?' Liam frowned. Before he could process further, a massive burst of energy shot up from the tear, coming straight towards him.

'A creature at this depth and temperature, with energy like that, has to be a strong intermediate—maybe even high level,' Liam thought. He immediately snapped out of his meditative state and tried to swim away.

'Whatever's coming, it's fast,' he realized, swimming up as quickly as he could.

'I need to confront it above the lava. If it drags me deeper, to the higher temperatures, even Incursio will melt in seconds.' Liam thought.

Despite his efforts, the energy came closer at alarming speeds. Liam felt a short moment of desperation as he tried to think of a way out. Then, one thought stuck.

'Adapt.'

Focusing, Liam channeled as much white adapting energy as possible into Incursio's feet. He felt the armor respond, its feet shifting and slowly changing to suit the lava terrain around him.

'Faster... I need to be faster,' Liam urged himself. But it was too late.

The approaching energy resolved into a massive creature, twice the size of a whale. It rammed into Liam with full force, dragging him along before slamming him into a wall. The creature swam in a wide circle, then turned to face him.

Liam, immediately preparing for it's next move, noticed the creature gathering energy in its massive mouth. 'It's using the lava as fuel,' he realized. Sensing danger, he swam to the side as quickly as he could.

His mobility was still limited by a lot because of the lava. 'Not fast enough,' he thought, as he felt the energy gathering behind him. Directing more energy to his feet, he felt small swimming fins shifting out from Incursio.

'They are going to need to be larger if I want to survive this.' Liam thought.

The creature tracked him through the lava, its head turning slowly to follow his movements. Finally, it unleashed a massive red energy beam from its mouth, causing the entire volcano to quake as it carved into the walls behind Liam.

Liam swam for his life, the searing heat of the beam closing in behind him. Every hair on his body stood on end as the blast nearly overtook him.

'I'm not fast enough.'

In desperation, Liam transformed Neontote into its dragon form and held it beneath him with both hands. Flames at 2,000 degrees Celsius erupted from the weapon, propelling him forward just in time to escape the beam.

'It works,' Liam thought, feeling relieved.

Now on the creature's right side—where it couldn't turn its head—Liam tried to catch his breath. The whale-like creature wasn't finished, though. It swallowed the remaining energy it had gathered, sending it flowing through its body.

Confused, Liam observed the massive creature with Eldritch Sight. Though he couldn't see it directly, the outline of its body and movements were clear to him since he was so close.

'What's it doing?'

Then, the creature released the energy through pores all over its body, creating a powerful shockwave all around it. Liam barely had any time to react—before the force slammed into him, dragging him along. He crashed into a wall, and despite stabbing Incursio into the wall, the shockwave dragged him deeper and deeper into the volcanic.