Chapter 583: Eruption
On the region of the Pocket Dimension where magma rose up from the surface and created cracks on the ground, where hot geysers shot out from the floor and reached heights up to a hundred feet in the air, and where a very active volcano sat in the middle, there was one Dragonborn who meekly walked through its surface.
With the orange and reddish hue of the environment brought on by heat, her green-scales stood out among everything, like a last bastion of nature.
She was Umisu, and with her spear in her hands, she trudged through dangerous terrain looking for a specific golden key on the ground.
She had been spending her time quietly looking for it, making sure to avoid any other player in the region. While they fought tooth and nail to eliminate each other, she stayed in the background, meekly looking through the magma cracks.
But now, she was all alone. The other players were eliminated and it looked like she and one other person was left all alone in this volcanic landscape.
"You can do this... for boss!" she muttered to herself, hyping her up.
In the distance, she saw a person sitting atop the mouth of the volcano’s crater. She was just sitting there, doing nothing, and just watching as the lava bubbled from under the surface.
Umisu saw the golden key dangling from her waist.
"You have to defeat her," she told herself.
Steeling her heart, she walked up the volcano and approached the woman behind her.
"Gi...give me the key!" Umisu demanded, her words stumbling.
Even though she shot out her lungs, it seemed that the woman didn’t even hear her one single bit.
"I... I don’t want to fight you!" she reiterated, with her spear at the ready and slowly approaching the woman.
It was only when she was just a few meters away from the volcano’s crater did the woman finally turn around and acknowledged her presence.
"Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there," the woman said with a friendly voice. There was no hostility coming from her words or her actions at all, as if she had just come to the volcano to stroll peacefully.
Umisu cleared her throat. "Fi-fight me! I want... I want your golden key!"
She held her Mithril Artifact spear with her hands shaking.
Seeing this, the woman shook her head. "Hey, girl. There’s no need for us to fight, okay? Let’s just stay here and enjoy the view. Look at that volcano."
The short-haired woman wearing a chef’s hat continued to look at the magma coming out of the surface, never even bothering to look at Umisu at all.
"I’m—I’m serious! I need that key! And I won’t hesitate...to use force if I have to!"
However, Umisu’s threat didn’t seem all that threatening given her stutters and her shaky voice. It looked like she was just putting on a brave face.
The short-haired woman shrugged. "Why waste your energy? Just relax like me!"
Seeing the woman constantly disregard her threats, Umisu felt even more invisible than before.
She was shy and never really talked all that much, meaning that people didn’t pay attention to her. And that was fine with her.
For a second, she considered just doing as the woman said. Maybe there was no need to fight. She could just look for the keys around the region.
But then, the woman said this:
"Not to brag or anything, but I’m undefeated when it comes to things like this. You’ll just waste your energy fighting me, as the outcome will be the same.
It also goes without saying that Lady Beau will win too. It’s impressive that your Reborn company was able to last this far, but she’ll triumph over that Michael kid any time now. No offense to that kid, but he’s out of his depth against her."
The woman wasn’t basing this out of nothing. She knew Beau was stronger.
As for her beating Umisu single-handedly, she could see that Umisu was still inexperienced, with a lot of weaknesses around in her stance.
Not only that, but the demi-human was only in the 4th stage, while she was in the 6th stage. The difference was just too much, and she’ll only end up breaking a few bones in a useless fight.
The fact that Umisu was staying silent proved her point.
"See? Now, isn’t that peace nice—"
It was just then that the ground started rumbling.
The short-haired woman immediately got up off her seat and cheered. "It’s erupting! The volcano is erupting! This is what I’ve been waiting for all this time!"
She curiously peeked over the crater, trying to see the lava bursting out of the crater.
But as she looked down, she saw no sign of increased volcanic activity. Magma was still coming out of the crater, but it was only a small leak.
"Huh? Am I just hearing things?"
She turned around and was just about to return to her seat when she looked up at Umisu.
The green-scaled Dragonborn’s entire body was shaking violently, causing the ground underneath her feet to start rumbling as well.
Not only that, but the spear in her hands started to glow with the power of a genuine Mithril Artifact, intimidating the sword Mithril Relic in the woman’s hands.
"What?!"
Umisu kept her head down, grabbing her spear with an intense grip.
"Michael... boss... you... you shouldn’t have said that..."
Furious winds started to gather around Umisu, with the fire and magma from the ground starting to float towards her.
The wind kept growing and growing until it turned into a full tornado.
The short-haired woman could barely cling on to the ground. She was starting to get pulled into the wind!
"What the hell?!" she muttered out as her entire body started to get carried towards Umisu. The only thing keeping her from falling into the tornado was her grip onto the crater itself.
Just then, Umisu raised her spear and pointed it at the woman.
"BOSS IS THE STRONGEST! REMEMBER THAT!"
Umisu lunged the spear towards her, with the power of the fire tornado gathering at the tip.
The winds were so powerful that the woman genuinely worried for her own life.
Fear took hold of her heart and knocked her unconscious.
The Pocket Dimension immediately teleported the woman out of this perilous situation just before the spear hit her body.
With no target left to hit, the spear released all of its energy into the volcano below, causing it to explode a violent burst of magma all around the skies.
The entire region was ravaged, not by the eruption, but from the single spear tip that was powered through sheer emotion.
With magma and molten rocks falling around her, Umisu stood still.
Just then, a golden light shined down on her, with a key floating perfectly into her palms.
She took this key and put it on her pockets, before immediately putting her hands on her head in shame.
"Oh no! What did I do?! I destroyed the Pocket Dimension!"
She was so embarrassed that she wanted to put her head into the floor.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the region, where keys were hidden inside a giant maze, Jaku looked out into the skies and saw magma falling from the heavens.
" Sigh... now, who angered my sis? They should have known better, tsk, tsk, tsk..."