Chapter 370: Eighty-Fifth Floor, The Corpse of the Dead God (4)

Although I was deep beneath the Sea of Lava, the horn had repelled the molten flow around me. That bought me a moment of calm.

I quickly scanned the message.

Apparently, I had fully recovered the god’s remains, completing a hidden mission. However, there was more.

The tower will grant me a new reward if I resolve her lingering resentment. So, she wants revenge against the god who killed her?

At least for now, that wasn’t something I could manage. Facing a deity would have to wait.

I turned my gaze elsewhere. Just like before, the divine corpse crumbled. The colossal, serpent-or-dragon-like body disintegrated into fragments of luminous blue and gold. It scattered across the depths.

Something different occurred this time, though.

The horn is absorbing the divinity?

It was even drawing the divine energy suffused into the lava into it. The radiance within it swelled.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

An intense pain surged through my hand, and I was forced to release my grip on the horn.

The horn, which had gleamed momentarily, was longer than before. It had always been roughly the length of my forearm, but it stretched nearly two meters. Additionally, the tip had grown sharper, and it now resembled a spear more than a horn.

Thud, thud!

Rocks came crashing down into the space that the corpse had just occupied. Unfortunately, the blockage hadn’t been cleared yet. After all, the body had simply been wedged between the stones.

The surrounding lava began to rush back in. I mustered my divinity and mana, forcing it away again.

How the hell am I supposed to break through this?

The trench was too vast. Even if I brought one of the bombs, it wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Can I return to the capital through the portal and resupply on explosives?

That wouldn’t work, either. The trench was too wide, and the layers of debris were piled too deep.

It wasn’t just stone. The earthquake had warped the terrain, forming a natural barrier. I would have to break through it by sheer force.

Maybe if I use Aura, infused with divinity, it will be enough.

If I poured in everything I had, it could work. Sadly, I doubted it would clear the entire trench. I couldn’t even gauge how much rock still lay below.

Then, a thought struck me.

The horn in my hand was brimming with unstable divinity, as if struggling to contain it.

And it is shaped like a spear... maybe I can use it.

I wasn’t certain, but it seemed plausible. Personally, I had a good feeling about it.

Whenever the moment called for it, I always seemed to intuit new ways to wield divine energy.

I ascended. After gaining enough distance, I adjusted my position and hovered near the center of the trench.

Ugh.

The pain from clutching the horn made me clench my jaw. The other divinity wasn’t hostile towards mine; they simply repulsed each other.

I began to slowly infuse my own divinity into the horn. Though the energies didn’t merge, they settled side by side. The power within the horn began to swell.

A half-hearted attempt would only waste divine energy.

I channeled every ounce of my divinity with measured control, careful not to trigger a backlash or set off an explosion.

At the horn’s tip, the two divine forces gathered into a brilliantly glowing sphere of blue-gold light. It stretched nearly a dozen meters in diameter, pulsing with concentrated power.

I was approaching my limit.

Now!

I thrust the horn downward.

Two beams of divinity shot forth like searing rays. The shockwave they released whipped my hair, and the beam tore through the lava before striking the obstructed trench.

Booooom!

A deafening blast thundered through the molten sea, loud enough to rattle my skull. The shockwave scattered the lava in all directions. The streak of divine light was still burrowing down.

Rumbleee—!

The ground trembled. The rays smashed through stone and sediment, shattering the terrain that had blocked the trench. A deep intuition nudged me.

I need to stop.

I withdrew my power, and the divine radiance swirling around the horn began to wane.

The divinity hadn’t vanished; I had just expended too much of it. The pain hadn’t subsided.

As I stored the horn in my mimic, the lava beneath me began to drain rapidly. It was like watching a clogged sink finally empty.

Wait.

I realized something else.

A tsunami.

I couldn’t recall the exact details, but in the books I had read as a child, seismic waves could trigger tsunamis.

Didn’t Remtal mention that the last great tsunami also followed the Great Earthquake forty years ago?

The same pattern was repeating now. The shockwave caused by blasting open the trench was rising upward.

I realized I had no time to waste. Now that the divinity-infused lava was gone, I immediately opened a portal and returned.

“You’re back!”

“Sir Mage! What in the world just happened?!”

People rushed toward me, but my attention was on the roiling Sea of Lava.

Fortunately, everyone who had been aboard the half-melted submersible had made it safely onto the Kalain.

I rushed to Remtal, and he asked, “What happened?!”

“I cleared the trench, but the shockwave likely triggered a tsunami. It may also affect the volcano!”

“Damn it!”

“Get inside. Now!”

We evacuated everyone who was standing on deck into the submersible.

I then opened a portal to the royal capital. “Hurry! Move now!”

After herding everyone aboard the Kalain through the portal, I opened another one to the supply ship.

Thankfully, the other submersible that had left earlier had returned. The crew looked shaken, startled by the trembling Sea of Lava. I evacuated them to the capital as well.

Finally, I headed straight for the Sea of Lava Countermeasure Headquarters. The tremors from the trench seemed to have reached this far because everyone there was already preparing to flee.

Damn.

The shoreline—which had once brimmed with lava—now lay barren, dry as bone. Only scorched, black-red rock remained. At least the volcano was still intact.

However, a tsunami was definitely coming.

I clenched my teeth.

So what was even the point?

I had opened the trench just like I was supposed to, but it had resulted in a massive wave surging toward us.

Maybe it is still better than the alternative of having the volcano erupt and blanketing the world in ash?

Regret, or something close to it, stirred in me.

Perhaps I should have cleared the trench more slowly. After all, the horn was part of a hidden mission, not the default trial.

Excluding travel time, I have five days.

Given that time frame, it would make sense that I was supposed to clear the trench little by little while avoiding excessive strain. The more terrifying alternative was that some level of sacrifice had always been inevitable.

Then again, the trench had been completely sealed. Without the hidden mission, it wouldn’t have been possible to break through at all.

“

Haaaa.

”

I let out a slow breath and shook my head. This wasn’t the time for doubt or regret. Stopping the tsunami took top priority.

Even if I had just prevented the world’s destruction by opening the trench, I had no intention of letting people die in the aftermath.

The lava tsunami had to be stopped.

Fortunately, there weren’t any villages along the coast.

According to Remtal, ever since the Great Earthquake forty years ago, no one had lived near the Sea of Lava.

Even so, that wasn’t enough. They had no way of knowing how large the incoming tidal wave would be. It could even reach as far as the royal capital.

The outer wall isn’t tall, but at least it exists.

Of course, there was still a very real chance it would be breached.

I turned my head. First, these people needed to be evacuated. As for stopping the wave, I would have to think harder on that.

The remaining staff still at the Sea of Lava Countermeasure Headquarters quickly entered the portal to the capital. Activating Flash Strike, I began sweeping the coast.

There could still be people out here.

I found a few dozen stragglers and sent them all through a portal to the capital. Perhaps due to the trauma of the Great Earthquake, everyone had already been fleeing, so they hadn’t put up much resistance.

As for those too scared to step through the portal, I just grabbed them and tossed them in myself.

There was no time to explain magic. Remtal had arrived first, so he could handle the explanations.

I looked out across the coast. The lava sea had receded in a wide sweep, exposing a dark, scorched seabed.

They say the more it pulls back, the larger the wave.

I clenched my teeth.

***

Remtal was startled by the portal that suddenly opened in midair and even more so when a submersible came flying out of it.

However, there was no time to gape at the half-melted vessel, riddled with holes. He had already been preparing for a rescue, so he sprang into action at once.

Of course, he couldn’t help but marvel at the mage’s power.

Spatial magic. Is he truly the son of a god?

The tremor struck just as Remtal was lost in that thought.

Rumbleeee—!

The sound triggered a jolt of

déjà vu

. Memories of the Great Earthquake forty years ago, when the world had shaken, flashed through his mind.

Fuck!

He cursed inwardly, and a surge rose from below. Some unknown force caused the sea’s surface to rise in a long swell. The resulting shock rocked the submersible, sending people tumbling.

“W-what’s happening?!”

“Hold on tight!”

Just as Remtal regained his footing, the mage appeared. He declared that he had cleared the trench, but that a tidal wave was coming.

Remtal wanted to ask so many questions, but now wasn’t the time. Before he knew it, he was already back in the capital. He immediately sought out the king and begged him to board the volcanic rail and flee to the highlands.

To be honest, he didn’t know what would happen at the volcano, either. Still, traveling there would increase his odds of survival compared to the oncoming wave.

Instead, the king had shaken his head.

“If I die, I’ll die with my people.”

In the end, only the prince and princess boarded the train and headed for the volcano’s summit.

Remtal stood atop the city walls and looked out to sea. The lava that should have been there had vanished. That, too, was reminiscent of forty years ago.

The calm sea had suddenly vanished, as if it had evaporated due to the quake’s tremors. As if something had swallowed up the lava from below.

Remtal shut his eyes tightly.

What in the world is happening?

He believed that the mage had breached the blockage in the trench. He had averted the eruption of Chusain Volcano.

Regardless, Remtal hadn’t expected it to cause a lava tsunami. He didn’t know whether to rejoice at the salvation of the world or grieve at the imminent death now racing toward them.

His thoughts spiraled.

“Gosh!”

Someone’s shout snapped his eyes open, and he saw the horizon flare red. A massive tidal wave of lava was surging toward them, towering dozens of meters into the air.

Remtal couldn’t gauge its full scale. It seemed even greater than what he remembered from childhood.

“Dear gods...”

He looked from the surging wave to the sky above.

“

Aaaaaahhh!

”

“It’s the wave!”

“Run!”

Panic swept the city. Those over forty had already experienced a lava tsunami once. Those younger had heard the stories.

Chaos erupted inside the city.

As people scrambled in all directions, Remtal felt like he couldn’t breathe. His old trauma resurfaced and tightened its grip on his mind.

How much time had passed, he didn’t know. At one point, however, he realized he wasn’t breathing. He exhaled in a rush.

“

Huff— huff—

”

Hot air scorched his lungs as he gasped for breath. With each breath, his head cleared just a little.

By then, the wave had nearly reached them. Just a little further, and it would sweep over the Sea of Lava Countermeasure Headquarters.

Just before the towering tide could crash down, a brilliant blue-gold light flashed before the wall of lava.

Remtal didn’t know how to describe that light. It resembled the ancient power imbued in the mage’s horn, like a shimmering azure-gold. Or perhaps it was like the golden flare of lightning.

Either way, Remtal knew it was him.

It is him!

As he cried out inwardly, the blue-gold light began to spread outward from Kwon Su-Hyeok.