Chapter 176: chapter 176- Two Creatures
After a long fight, Caldwell lay limp on the ground with tattered clothes and wounds all over his body.
"... You really like looking like this, huh? Are you, by any chance, a Masochist?"
Taufik asked as he crouched down around Caldwell who was lying limply on the ground.
*poke~poke~*
"... Stop poking me and help me up already"
Caldwell said weakly to Taufik who was poking his cheek.
"And why you don't help me before? If I even made one mistake it could be Dangerous"
Caldwell said again, But Taufik, who was still poking Caldwell Cheek even after being warned not to, looked at Caldwell with a teasing look, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Ehh~ I thought you could Handle it alone, or am I wrong?"
"..."
"... You know, I always respect individual Choices, and of course, I respect your choices too... I didn't do something wrong, do I?"
"..."
Hearing Taufik say that, Caldwell looked at him in a way that was hard to explain, what Taufik said sounded right, but the grin that his cousin showed made him feel that what he said was wrong and was only intended to mock him, so Caldwell could only frown, unable to say anything.
"*Tsk* "
Caldwell could only click his tongue and then look away from Taufik while saying.
"... Just Help me already"
"Ahaha~ Then Let me show you my other little trick"
Said Taufik while unsheathing his Katana. Then put the tip of Katana on Caldwell's body.
"Pain~Pain~ go away~"
Taufik uttered a false chant but said something else in his mind
'SwordMagic- Dark Form: Time Reverse!'
With this, Taufik can reverse the state of something, whether it is an object or a living creature, to its original state, but currently, this technique cannot do something impossible, such as bringing the dead back to life or returning an object to its original state with just a piece of the object, just not yet.
"Hy! Do you think I am a kid? Enough Jok-"
Caldwell said, wanting to get angry but stopped when he felt something change in him. His stamina returned, and all the wounds on his body disappeared at a speed that could be seen by the eye. Not only that, even his clothes returned to the state they were in when he first entered this cave.
"Done"
"..."
Caldwell immediately sat up and checked his entire body.
Gone, all his wounds were gone, and even his stamina was the same as at the beginning; even the tears on his clothes from the attack of that fire monster had also disappeared.
"... Holy... Cow... What the f*ck are you doing, bro?"
Caldwell said in surprise; a few seconds before, the wound was still clearly visible, but in the next second, everything disappeared as it had never been there at all.
He looked at Taufik in amazement, like he was not human (he wasn't) but like a saint who had been sent down to earth.
"Meh~ Like I said, just a little trick"
Taufik said casually while sheathing his Katana, and Caldwell who heard this, for the first time, clearly showed his envious gaze towards Taufik.
"What with that look? No matter how you look at me, this is not something that just anyone can learn...
Said Taufik then offered his Hands for Caldwell.
... Now Stand up, we haven't even walked halfway through this cave"
"... It's not like I wanted to learn anything from you"
Murmuring Caldwell while taking Taufik's Hands.
"... I can Hear that, you know?"
"*Tsk* I didn't say anything"
"Yeah~ Whatever... But...
Said Taufik then Looking at the path ahead.
... After that Fire Monster Dead, it's Getting Darker here"
"... You can definitely do something with your "Little Trick" again, right?"
Caldwell said jokingly, but he didn't expect Taufik to agree to it.
"Yap! My "Little Trick" Is capable of doing anything, literally anything... watch this!"
Said Taufik then stretched his hands up.
"Let there be a light~"
Taufik uttered another fake incantation, but in reality, he was using Imagination Magic to gather the surrounding Mana to create something.
And slowly but surely, a glowing crystal ball began to appear from nothing and instantly illuminated their surroundings.
What Taufik does never ceases to amaze Caldwell, and this one is no exception.
"Now we have a light, let's keep walking"
Taufik said, while the Glowing Crystal was floating above him, following every step they took.
--------------
- Several Minutes Later.
After walking for several minutes, maybe because Caldwell already killed them all, they didn't meet any of those fire monsters anymore. It's a good sign, but they can't breathe a sigh of relief yet because the road ahead is still a mystery to them.
As they keep walking and walking, The cave passage also gets wider and wider, and The Temperatur also gets hotter; they thought it was Normal because they were Inside the Volcano, so there's nothing to complain about.
"There's a light in front of us... are we there yet?"
Said Caldwell, Though that Red Yellowish light was from the Magma inside the Volcano.
"Hmm~ Maybe it's not as simple as you think"
"What do you mean bro?"
"... My gut feeling told me that something was bout to happen, but I was not too sure; my Detection Skills didn't work around here, so fifty-fifty, maybe? I don't know"
Said Taufik; as he went deeper inside the Volcano, his Detection Skills started not working; no, it's still working, but he Couldn't detect any life force; when he activated his Detection skill, all he saw was red, which meant he did not detect any life but the heat inside the volcano.
"... Guts? Are you a Fortuna-teller now?"
To answer that, Taufik just shrugged his shoulders, meaning that it was up to Caldwell whether he wanted to believe it or not, at least he had told him what he felt.
Faced with his cousin's behavior, Caldwell just shook his head and then continued walking towards the light.
However, the closer they got to the light, the hotter the air felt. Caldwell began to feel that something was strange. He looked at Taufik and Sylph who had been silent while following them.
But Taufik still looked relaxed, and Sylph was still silent; it was as if he was the only one who felt the heat.
'... What with this abnormal heat? And why does it look like only me who Affected by this heat?'
Ask Caldwell to himself.
Caldwell has undergone rigorous training to take advantage of the dual-affinity element he has and successfully reach the Realm, where he opened a new path, the path of Ice Magician, and with Excalibur Replika, which can increase his efficiency in using his talents to the maximum, some heat from normal Magma will no affect for him, but the heat he felt right now is just not an ordinary heat.
*Gluk!*
Caldwell tried to gulped, but the saliva disappeared before it could even reach his throat, which only made things worse with every step he took.
Caldwell's vision began to blur and his gait was unsteady due to losing too much body fluid. He felt that he was going to faint, but suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder.
*Tap*
Caldwell looked to the side and saw Taufik, who was also looking at him.
"You Good bro?"
Ask Taufik after he taps his Cousin's shoulder.
"... Don't you feel that...
Caldwell wanted to say something but stopped again after he didn't feel the heat anymore.
... Eh?"
Caldwell exclaimed in surprise and immediately looked at Taufik with a gaze full of question marks.
"... Are you doing something again?"
"Yap! The same Little Trick"
Said Taufik; the heat actually didn't affect him too much, so he thought Caldwell also felt the same because he didn't say anything; it was only when he saw Caldwell starting to stagger that he realized something was wrong with his cousin, so before he fell, Taufik quickly caught him and then directly put his a Barrier to ward off the heat around.
"You should do that sooner, I thought I was going to die because of the heat"
"... That would be funny... But are you sure you okay now?"
"For now, yeah I'm okay... I didn't know why, but as we got closer to that light, something inside me seemed like want to melt... Do you think something is wrong with me?"
"Something inside you?"
Taufik asked, quite don't understand what his cousin just said.
[It's probably his core, Master]
The System Exclaimed.
'... His core? Something like that can happen?'
[Because he has maximized his Dual-affinity element talent and Created a new element which was Ice, his core also changed following his element, Remember, you are currently walking towards the source of all fire, which is the oldest fire spirit on earth, perhaps the heat emitted by the spirit is melting the core of the master's cousin who has the ice attribute slowly with every breath he takes, if he continues to force his way in without the protection of the Barrier that the master created, it will completely melt the core he has "completely" the lightest possibility of this is that the master's cousin will not be able to use magic anymore, and the worst possibility is death]
'Death? Is that bad?'
Said Taufik to the system and Immediately looked at Caldwell, to make sure that the barrier he put around Caldwell was s,trong enough so the heat would not affect him anymore.
"Hufft~ everything is good, I don't know what should I say to Grandma if you die here"
"... Yes?"
Ask Caldwell in confusion.
"Nothing, let's continue our way, that ligh,t is just a few seconds of walking... Let's go finish this, quickly and get out of here"
Said Taufik in a hurried tone and Caldwell, who saw this change in Taufik's attitude, only became more confused.
"... Okay?"
After that they continued their way toward that light.
They continued forward for a few seconds until they reached the end of the cave. However, what greeted them was not a sea of magma as Caldwell had expected, but a fairly large hall and from where they were standing, at the end of the hall they saw a large door that was tightly closed.
But what made them stunned was not the big door, but two creatures that were as tall as the big door, the two creatures stood on each side of the door as if they were guarding the entrance so that no one could enter, and the source of the light they had just seen was from the two creatures.
"... What the...
Said Taufik in suprise and then looking at Caldwell.
... Do you also want to take care of that on your own again, bro?"
"... please... they are yours"
Caldwell said as he stepped back to give Taufik more space.
"I... Thought so"
....
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