Chapter 189

Chapter 189. Treasure Hunt (4)

Whoosh!

As I descended through the long passageway, the heat gradually intensified.

Feeling the scorching heat as if it were burning my body, I slightly opened my eyes.

‘Is this the heat of the Primordial Flame Seed?’

Indeed, the suffocating heat, as if it were strangling me, was unbearably intense, proving that it wasn’t called the Primordial Flame Seed for nothing.

Yes.

Objectively speaking, there was no denying that this was an incredible heat.

[You… what exactly are you?]

Grace, looking at me with her slightly opened eyes.

“Why are you suddenly asking what I am?”

[…No.]

Grace frowned as if she couldn’t understand.

[Even though I’m in a spiritual state and don’t feel pain, the heat inside here is so intense that an ordinary person would burn to death in an instant…]

Grace blinked at me, as if wondering why I was unaffected.

“Well, I’m used to it.”

I shrugged and answered with a calm expression.

Yes.

The heat filling this passageway was very familiar to me, as I had been training daily by stimulating the Primordial Flame, risking my life.

‘In fact, this feels a bit cool.’

Perhaps because it was still just a flame seed.

The heat filling the surrounding space felt much weaker than the heat of the Primordial Flame I usually experienced.

Of course.

That was only by ‘my standards.’

As Grace said, an ordinary person would writhe in pain and burn to death the moment they entered.

[Used to it…? This?]

Grace looked around the passageway, melting in the intense heat, as if she couldn’t comprehend it.

[Well… I guess the ‘Power of Extinguishing Fire’ also gives you the ability to withstand fire.]

“……”

I didn’t know what the Power of Extinguishing Fire within me was.

But the reason I could withstand the heat of the Primordial Flame was simply because I had experienced it a lot, though I didn’t point that out.

[We’ve arrived.]

After descending the passageway for a few minutes.

A wide cavern covered in bright red flames appeared, as if we had entered a blazing furnace.

Whoooosh!

At the center of the cavern.

A fiercely burning flame seed.

No, to be precise…

“…Is that really a flame seed?”

A flame the size of a house was burning fiercely, too large to be called a ‘flame seed.’

[Hmm. I guess the candidates these days don’t learn much about myths?]

Grace clicked her tongue and continued, as if reminiscing about her time.

[The Primordial Flame is the power that burned the ‘Tree of Creation,’ which created this continent and the gods in the past. Even if it’s just a flame seed, it’s natural for it to be that size.]

“Well, I know that…”

[The real ‘Primordial Flame’ is probably waaay bigger than this?]

Grace boasted as she explained.

I chuckled as I watched her spread her arms wide to express the size of the Primordial Flame.

‘Actually, the Primordial Flame was only about the size of a fist.’

Of course, even though it was small, the power contained within the Primordial Flame was incomparably stronger than the flame seed before me.

‘It feels like the power is unrefined and running wild.’

If the Primordial Flame was a well-forged blade, the flame seed before me was molten metal.

Molten metal that couldn’t even take proper form, only knowing how to burn its surroundings.

I took a step toward the Primordial Flame seed.

[Be careful…!]

“It’s fine.”

Whoooosh!

As I approached, the flame seed swayed fiercely like a beast that had found its prey.

A tidal wave of flames surged toward me, spewing massive flames in all directions as if to engulf me.

[Ah, no!]

Grace urgently shouted as she saw me being swallowed by the flames.

Grace tried to fly toward me, emitting a white light, but…

Whoooosh!

[Ugh…!]

The heat of the flame seed seemed to affect even her spiritual state, as Grace’s body was repelled by the flames.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The flames wrapping around my body burned my flesh, emitting a pungent smoke.

Looking at the flames burning my body, I raised the corner of my mouth.

“Getting cocky, huh?”

Thud!

I roughly stomped my foot, wrapped in flames.

“You brat.”

I slowly inhaled and awakened the Primordial Flame sleeping within my heart.

Sizzle!

The excruciating pain of my flesh burning.

It felt as if molten metal was flowing through my veins instead of blood, so hot.

The pain was unbearable.

“Huh.”

Yes.

This sensation.

This pain.

‘It hurts like hell.’

Comparing it directly, I could clearly tell.

The heat of the fiercely swaying flame seed was nothing compared to the heat of the Primordial Flame.

Whoooosh!

The flame seed, which had been burning around my body, startled and tried to escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I fiercely raised the corner of my mouth and reached out toward the scattering flames.

The gray smoke flowing from my body wrapped around the flame seed.

“Sigh.”

I closed my eyes and focused my mind.

As if my soul had left my body, I felt a floating sensation as my consciousness gradually sank deeper.

The mental world that appeared in my mind.

Whoosh! Whooosh!

I saw the Primordial Flame and the flame seed tangled together, fighting.

‘No.’

I couldn’t call this a ‘fight.’

The Primordial Flame had caught the flame seed, which was trying to escape, and was overwhelming it.

Whoosh, whooosh…

Perhaps the difference in their inherent power was too great.

The flame seed didn’t last long and was completely swallowed by the Primordial Flame, disappearing.

‘It ended easier than I thought.’

Though the result was a bit anticlimactic.

The difference in their inherent power was so great that the outcome was decided more easily than expected.

‘Should I go back now?’

After confirming that the flame seed had been completely absorbed.

As I was about to open my eyes to leave the mental world.

Whoooosh!

The Primordial Flame, burning fiercely.

Like a beast struggling against its chains, it began to thrash violently.

‘Ugh…!’

Along with the thrashing flames, excruciating pain enveloped my body.

‘What is this…?’

I turned my head to look at the Primordial Flame.

A massive flame, as if it could swallow the world, was burning fiercely.

‘That’s…’

Perhaps its power had increased after absorbing the flame seed.

The Primordial Flame, which had been quietly crouching, now thrashed fiercely, trying to engulf me.

When the massive flame, incomparable to the earlier flame seed, tried to swallow me.

Crack!

The ground of the mental world split open, and something massive surged upward.

As if stomping out the burning flames.

The thrashing Primordial Flame was pushed back by the something that had surged up.

‘Ugh.’

I gasped for breath and looked at the ‘something’ overwhelming the Primordial Flame.

Wrapped in gray smoke, the something was too massive to measure, and I couldn’t tell its exact form.

‘Is that… the Power of Extinguishing Fire Grace mentioned?’

The something that had instantly subdued the flames seemed to have finished its task and returned into the split ground.

‘Whew.’

I let out a relieved sigh as I looked at the Primordial Flame, its momentum diminished.

‘Carelessly absorbing flame seeds is dangerous.’

While the heat of the flame seed itself wasn’t a big problem for me, the issue was the Primordial Flame that had absorbed its power.

The Primordial Flame, which had been suppressed by the ‘Power of Extinguishing Fire’ within me, started thrashing like a hunting dog off its leash the moment it absorbed the flame seed.

Fortunately, it hadn’t yet gained enough power to surpass the restraining force of the ‘Power of Extinguishing Fire,’ but there was no guarantee it would stay that way.

‘It’s dangerous, but the gains are significant.’

I reached out toward the burning flames.

The flames moved along my hand like a docile sheep.

The amount of flame moving according to my will had significantly increased compared to before absorbing the flame seed.

‘Now then.’

Whoooosh!

I wrapped my body in the burning flames.

From ignition to calamity.

The flames wrapping around my body gradually intensified.

Originally, excluding the Fire God state, which I couldn’t control at will, this was the limit to which I could draw out the Primordial Flame.

‘But now, one step further.’

I slowly exhaled and drew out even more flames.

Whoooosh!

The flames wrapping around my body spread out and covered the surrounding ground.

Tap.

With a light flick of my hand, a massive flame appeared in the air.

The flames repeated burning and extinguishing according to my gestures.

‘Does my control over the Primordial Flame increase within the area enveloped by the flames?’

Until now, to use the Primordial Flame, I had to emit it through my ‘body.’

Even if I coated my sword with flames, I first had to coat my body with flames and then transfer them to the sword.

But now, within the area formed by the flames, I could ignite the Primordial Flame anytime, anywhere, without needing to go through my body.

‘It feels like deploying a kind of domain.’

Now that I think about it, I had heard about it.

Certain ‘blessings’ could influence the surrounding environment, turning a certain area to their advantage.

‘Lanes did that in her past life.’

Though she can’t fully control the power of her blessing yet, only causing snowstorms around her, in her past life, Lanes would turn the surrounding land into a snowy field every time she used her blessing, creating an environment favorable to her.

In other words.

After ignition, which lights the body on fire, and calamity, which engulfs the entire body, I had reached a new level where I could burn the surrounding land itself.

‘Of course, it’s important how much I can control it in reality, not just in the mental world.’

But like with calamity, with enough training, I should be able to master this technique.

‘First was ignition, then calamity.’

Just like when I awakened my ‘blessing.’

As if remembering something forgotten, the name of the newly acquired technique came to mind.

‘Calamity Fire (劫火).’

It was the moment when I reached another level beyond ignition and calamity.

‘This… I found a treasure I never expected.’

I looked at the flames burning the surroundings and raised the corner of my mouth.

It was a result I never expected.

But in any case, it was like finding a treasure far more valuable than the ‘God’s Favor’ that was the first prize in this treasure hunt.

‘Though I won’t get any extra points…’

Huh?

Wait.

‘Ah.’

My extra points.