Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The Ash Specter on the lavafall above Ruwen had a humanlike form but thinner and around seven feet tall. The heat radiating from the creature warped the air, making it hard to see any other details. The lava near the Ash Specter bubbled and exploded as its heat vaporized the liquid rock.

“These are my pools,” the Ash Specter hissed.

Ruwen treaded lava, keeping his head above the surface. Over a dozen Obsidian Eels, nine Magma Hounds, and a Cinder Mammoth had locked on to his location and would start arriving in the next ten seconds. The thought of finding a less crowded lava pool crossed his mind when a terrible realization occurred to him.

The lava had destroyed Ruwen’s underwear, and he currently swam naked.

Ruwen had come a long way physically from his days as a, how had Slib put it on Ruwen’s Ascendancy Day: book brain. Ironically, that unimaginative insult had literally come true as the books in his head spawned Narrators.

Since that time, Ruwen had added over a hundred Attribute points to his Strength, around one hundred fifty to Stamina, and more than fifty to Charisma. He had spent tens of thousands of hours honing his body into a lethal instrument and Fortified it to Peak Diamond. Physically, he knew he looked like one of those statues in Uru’s Temple.

Even with a vastly increased Wisdom, Ruwen couldn’t overcome a lifetime of modesty and shyness. Especially with Echo watching him from shore. Fighting naked was more Sift’s style, which was just another reason to stay in the lava.

“Can we share?” Ruwen shouted back.

The creature growled and flexed its arms forward. Ruwen narrowed his eyes, reducing the intense brightness the Ash Specter’s body radiated, making it bearable to watch. He wondered if it might be part fire elemental. It looked like a living torch.

“No need to get so upset, Torchy,” Ruwen called. “The pool is big enough for us both.”

The growl turned into a scream and Torchy disappeared. Ruwen frowned in confusion until he noticed the hole where Torchy had stood. The Ash Specter had melted through the rock and Ruwen could guess the creature’s destination.

The first eels reached Ruwen and six of them coiled around his body as they tried to bite through his skin. Instinctively, he rotated his right leg forward to protect his groin. Even knowing that his entire body remained impervious to the eels’ bites, the thought of something chomping down on his privates actually made him panic for a moment. He sunk into the lava, the combination of no longer treading and the eels making the descent quick.

Ruwen added destruction proof underwear to his priority list.

Six more Obsidian Eels wrapped around Ruwen as his feet sank into the soft mostly melted rock of the lava lake’s bottom. Eels covered almost his entire body, and it gave him an idea. And for once, he considered it a bad one.

The Cinder Mammoth moved slowly through the lava and wouldn’t reach Ruwen for another fifteen seconds. The Magma Hounds ran around in circles thirty feet above Ruwen’s head, evidently not able, or willing, to leave the surface. With his feet touching rock, he could feel the vibrations Torchy caused as he melted his way toward Ruwen. The Ash Specter would arrive in ten seconds.

The eels exerted significant pressure, leveraging their long bodies to constrict Ruwen’s frame. His right hand had protected his groin when the eels arrived and now it lay pinned against his body from their coils.

Ruwen brought his left arm down and pressed it against the three eels wrapped around his torso, pinning them against his body. Then he lifted his right arm, while keeping the creatures trapped with his left.

The three eels, unable to unwind, tore in half. Ruwen grabbed the head of the eel trying to bite through the top of his head with one hand, while the other hand snatched the eel wrapped around his neck and trying to chew through his nose and eyes.

Ruwen clenched both hands, separating the heads from the eels. Knowing he didn’t have much time, he slammed his arms down against the outside of his legs, crushing the remaining eels.

Not having the time to second guess, Ruwen grabbed one beheaded eel and wrapped it around his waist like a belt. Using his level two Worker Ability Knots, he quickly tied it, the ability adding ten percent to the knot’s effectiveness. Almost out of time, he seized the other beheaded eel and looped it between his legs, around the eel-belt behind him, and back through his legs. He threaded the second eel under the knot near his bellybutton and tied it off.

The two eel knots were large and cumbersome, but the eel-underwear served as passable protection, and gave him immense relief. Thank Uru, no one could see him.

Torchy emerged from the bottom of the lava lake, ten feet away. The surrounding temperature increased immediately, and the lava thinned as it became super-heated. Ruwen sank as the floor melted and he used his arms to swim upward.

A three-foot spear shot toward Ruwen ten time faster than a siege bolt, and he twisted his body to let it pass. No solid ground reduced his offensive and defensive options, and the sensation reminded him of Rainbow’s End before he’d increased the gravity.

Three more spears erupted from Torchy, and Ruwen felt the expenditure of Spirit. He dodged two and pushed the third away. Torchy, it seemed, didn’t have anyone telling him to fight honorably with just his Step skills.

Ruwen felt tempted to spray lake water from his Void Band, creating a massive explosion of steam, or Harden the area around the Ash Specter to interfere with his movements. Even the Greenhouse’s meager ten-degree temperature might make a difference.

Access to Spirit would have provided Ruwen with hundreds of options, but he pushed that thought away. No use in dwelling on his limitations. Plus, he didn’t need an advantage.

Ruwen thrust his palm toward Torchy, using twenty percent of his Strength. The lava, thicker than water, created an almost instantaneous column of compressed molten rock that struck Torchy in the chest.

The Cinder Mammoth arrived from behind Ruwen. He turned his body, placed a hand on the creature’s rock-hard nose, and cartwheeled over the creature as it passed below him. From the pressure wave the creature created, it stood fifteen feet tall and twice that long. He couldn’t see in the lava, but from the way it moved, he guessed it had flippers or a small tail.

More eels found Ruwen, and he rapidly punched the lava, sending spears of compressed lava that ripped the creatures apart. Torchy dived to the side as the Cinder Mammoth tried to slow and turn back to Ruwen. Unless Torchy had faked his responses, he hadn’t reached Diamond yet, because his reflexes were far too slow.

Torchy pushed both hands forward, along with a burst of Stone and Water essence.

The lava around Ruwen solidified, trapping him in a twenty-foot sphere of pumice. He immediately twisted in a circle, using his arms to carve out a sphere in the rock. Switching on Glow, he opened his eyes for the first time. He rubbed them as the intense heat made them itch.

Ruwen looked down and studied his eel-underwear, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of this entire situation.

Torchy cast another spell and obsidian needles slid through the already remelting pumice. Ruwen didn’t have enough room to avoid the attack, but instead of destroying the pumice trap and escaping, he sat and considered what to do next.

Ruwen ignored the fifty obsidian needles that penetrated his sphere. They shattered against his skin and fell, tinkling around him like breaking glass. He picked up a long fragment and twirled it through his fingers as he thought.

Killing Torchy seemed like an overreaction, but Ruwen didn’t want to waste a bunch of time fighting either. He had barely started his search and had already gotten himself bogged down. Honestly, this whole thing would go faster if someone would tell him where to look for the black crossing stones.

Could it be that simple? Ruwen stood, dropped the obsidian needle, and using fifty percent of his Strength, clapped.

The clap created a vacuum behind Ruwen’s hands, forming a massive air depression and ripping the pumice prison apart as it collapsed. A fraction of a second later, an enormous pressure wave spread outward from the impact of his hands.

A sphere of sound and air expanded, Ruwen at its center. The fifty feet of lava above him soared upward like a massive geyser. The airborne lava, exposed to the frigid mountain wind, immediately solidified. The lava around him rose in a tidal wave, rushing outward toward the lake boundaries. The pressure wave had forced the surrounding liquid away and created an area free of lava fifty feet wide.

The Magma Hounds had paced in a tight circle directly above Ruwen, and the nine of them rose a hundred feet into the sky, disappearing in the sludge of solidifying airborne lava.

Torchy stumbled on the now solid lake bottom, the icy wind swirling down from above and cooling everything it touched. His face and chest had turned solid as he struggled to counter the sudden change in temperature.

Ruwen leaped over the twenty-five feet separating him and Torchy. Grabbing the Ash Specter’s shoulders, he steadied the creature.

“Hey,” Ruwen said. “I feel like we started on the wrong foot.”

Shards of pumice fell around them like dirty hail and the tidal wave of lava struck the cliffs, rebounding, and creating a massive return wave. The surrounding lake, with the force creating the hole gone, surged downward to refill the void.

Ruwen grabbed the molten Ash Specter and jumped with seventy percent of his strength, launching them four hundred fifty feet and to the top of the lava falls. A massive clap of thunder shook the surrounding mountains as his passage violently disturbed the air.

The sudden movement stunned the Ash Specter, and he wobbled on his feet. Ruwen held him steady and brushed the layer of pumice dust that covered Torchy’s solidified shoulders. The grey skin felt hot, and when the wind blew, it glowed orange, reminding Ruwen of campfire coals.

Torchy’s eyes were mostly hidden behind slits, either naturally or because the Ash Specter squinted. The pupils, barely visible, had a mixture of orange, red, and blue, and they glowed like two burning embers.

Ruwen glanced at the lake below. The lava waves crashed into each other as they filled the void he’d created. Nine Magma Hounds streaked downward, creating small craters where they struck the churning lava. The Cinder Mammoth lay on the shore, and it struggled to stand. It looked like a cross between an appah and a walrus.

The Cinder Mammoth flew into the air, the creature just turning itself in time to land with a massive belly flop. Echo pushed herself to her feet, a scowl on her face. She looked up at Ruwen and flashed him an elbow. He turned back to Torchy, not bothering to hide a smile.

The Ash Specter still looked dazed. Fear made his body tense, the creature experienced enough to understand its situation.

“Like I was explaining before, I’m new here,” Ruwen said. “Could you help me find some rocks?”

After a moment, Torchy nodded.

Ruwen’s smile turned into a grin. Sometimes the easiest thing to do was just ask for the help you needed.

From the lava shore down below, Echo’s voice floated up, loud and clear.

“Nice butt!”

Ruwen didn’t need to look down to see he’d lost his eel-underwear in the violent jump here. Echo must have seen the makeshift clothing and realized the lengths he’d gone for the sake of modesty before the Cinder Mammoth landed on her. Maybe that’s why she didn’t dodge the massive beast to begin with. Regardless, she wouldn’t miss the opportunity to make him feel uncomfortable.

Ruwen’s smile faded as Torchy also noticed Ruwen wore no clothes.

Echo whistled, and Ruwen’s cheeks warmed, this time not from the lava.

“Is that an eel in your pocket?” Echo yelled.

“Oh Uru, no,” Ruwen mumbled. “This is not happening.”

Echo’s hysterical laugher kept her from answering her own question.

Ruwen shook his head, sighed, and met Torchy’s gaze. “So, this is awkward.”