As he was about to step foot into the lava...
"No, great ancestral spirit, the temperature is too high. I might be roasted alive if I get any closer - there is no way for me to reach the Heart of Souls," Benjamin suddenly tilted his head to say in dismay.
The voice replied, "You can rest easy in going down, I will protect you from any harm that may befall you."
Benjamin stood still, however, speaking very hesitantly, "Still no can do... great ancestral spirit, there is truly no possible way for me to go down there, the temperature here is simply unbearable."
When he said this, the voice finally became somewhat urgent, "What do you mean? You have enveloped yourself in ice which may not even melt even if you do charge in. How can you say you will not be able to bear it!?"
Benjamin listened and suddenly became quiet. All traces of doubt and fear on his face disappeared.
"So... you can see?"
He slowly lifted his head and gazed at the countless orbs of light scattered within the cavern. A grin slowly crept onto his lips as he said mockingly.
The voice instantly fell silent.
The atmosphere had made a sudden turn, so much so that even the siblings situated above the cavern were stunned into silence.
"H… how…...:"
Benjamin didn’t explain, instead choosing to immediately attack. He quickly swirled a large amount of steam into a hurricane and sent it hurtling towards the surrounding crimson orbs!
At the same time, a water-shaped bird appeared on his hand. Like lightning, it dived directly at the glowing stone in the lava below!
— Everything happened in the blink of an eye; the small path formed from the parting of the lava didn’t even have time to close.
The wind howled loudly as it slammed the crimson orbs into the surrounding cavern walls. However, from the looks of it, the orbs still looked relatively undamaged. Benjamin was not disappointed though, rather, he immediately rose alongside the ice sphere, locking his sight on the water-shaped bird the entire time.
Looking from above, the water-shaped bird sped across the small path, snatched the piece of rock, then turned around to return to Benjamin as fast as it could.
"You... you insolent mage!" The ancestral spirit’s voice cried out once again, only this time it was filled with rage, like a thunderstorm, it boomed across the cavern.
The lava rapidly converged as the path started to close, with the intention of capturing both the water-shaped bird as well the Heart of Souls. However, the water-shaped bird shot out like a bullet just in the nick of time!
— Despite the surrounding blazing fluid, not a single drop landed on its lithe feathers. It flew towards Benjamin triumphantly with the stone in claw.
Under the dim lighting, the Heart of Souls was similar to a shooting star. The onlooking siblings held their breath as they watched the glowing stone diffuse through the soundproof ice sphere before landing in Benjamin’s palm.
"NO— !"
A desperate cry nearly shattered their eardrums.
Benjamin ignored it, however, and continued to fly upward. Before long, he was reunited with the siblings above the cavern. The two soundproof ice spheres collided and merged into one big ice sphere, putting all three members within its protection.
"Master Benjamin, you... you..." At that moment, the siblings weren’t even able to react properly; they watched as Benjamin return to their side but was not able to say anything.
Fortunately, Benjamin didn’t plan on chatting with them right now.
"Let’s leave!"
He immediately took control of the ice sphere and flew it outward. However, as they were heading for the exit, a thin red barrier suddenly appeared in front of the entrance that they had come through.
The ice sphere collided with the barrier and bounced off.
"This is my people’s forbidden grounds; do you truly believe that you can leave as you like?" The voice rumbled deeply, "Despicable mage, leave the Heart of Souls here, otherwise, I will make sure your spirit experiences eternal suffering."
Benjamin ignored it and attempted to break through the seal. However, without even a clue as to how the thin barrier worked, he could not even put a dent in it – not even with a few hundred icicles.
Tch...
He could only turn around and head back towards the gathering crimson orbs in the cavern.
"Do you really think I’m going to give it back?" He spoke nonchalantly and huffed as he said, "You only have yourself to blame, to even have the gall to believe that I would fall for your ruse."
The voice of ancestral spirit lined every word with killing intent, Insolent fool, then I shall take your soul along with the Heart of Souls!"
Following this, the orbs of light broke apart and a few red entities armed to the teeth suddenly appeared. They looked like evil spirits as they started to move towards Benjamin and the siblings.
The siblings looked on in a panic; under dire circumstances, they could only resort to utilizing their psychic powers. Spiritual energy formed into a few invisible hands in an attempt to hold off the spiritual entities’ attacks.
Benjamin, on the other hand, remained where he was. He remained motionless, without so much as even a flinch.
Moments later, the evil spirits charged. They passed through the siblings’ psychic powers as well as the ice sphere with ease before smashing into the three people inside. What the siblings didn’t expect, however, was the dispersing of the evil spirits. The entities blew up into a fine dust before returning to the form of the orbs of light and scattering across the cavern.
The siblings froze.
"I thought as much…..."
Benjamin then nodded while looking very content.
The voice of the ancestral spirit did not reply.
"Just a bluff, eh? You take us for being helpless?" Benjamin scoffed, "Some ancestral spirit you turn out to be; just a cluster of dead people is all you are. You weren’t very powerful when you were alive, it’s no surprise that you’re not much of a threat in death."
The voice carried a defeated, agitated tone, "How... how could you not fear me!"
"You’re afraid of me, so why should I be afraid of you?" Benjamin shrugged and said slowly, "If you’re not afraid of me, then why did you use this Heart of Souls as bait to try and lure me into the lava below?"
The logic was simple enough - if the ancestral spirit could truly take them on, it wouldn’t have had to resort to such deception.
Not that it was very good deception to begin with.
Benjamin knew that spirits couldn’t perceive anything physical, so he gambled that the ancestral spirit was the same as spirits in general and was possibly blind. However, after Benjamin probed it carefully, he quickly got it to spill its true intentions.
And since its scheme was exposed, he might as well try to turn the tables on it with a scheme of his own and steal the Heart of Souls.
He had no clue what this thing could do, but it might turn out useful.
As for the crimson orbs of light, though intimidating, the System had told him that it didn’t possess any combat capabilities. This meant that it was probably just an extension of the ancestral spirit’s will.
Because of these deductions, Benjamin wasn’t the least bit worried.
"You... really think that I can’t eradicate all of you?"
However, the ancestral spirit became more and more infuriated. The lava below suddenly boiled before a few pillars of lava shot out.
After the three lava pillars spawned they immediately headed for their targets.
"Runic Technique - Defense."
Benjamin merely took in a deep breath and extended his finger before tracing out a series of runes.
And with that, countless water elements gathered around them, instantaneously forming a pulsing, blue shield. In the next second, the lava shot up into the air and shards of ice broke off from the shield. The huge chunks of ice spilled into the pillars of lava as loud sizzles were heard, a sign of the temporarily crippled power of the lava pillars.
As for Benjamin, he took this opportunity to fly with siblings to the side, easily moving out of the range of the lava pillars.
"The more you attack, the more you will find that you can’t eliminate us." He dispersed the rune and watched as the lava pillars slammed against the stone walls.
The ancestral spirit fell silent once more, it didn’t seem to intend to attack any further.
"... Very well! I may be dead, but what about all of you?" After remaining quiet for a moment, it spoke again and said, "None of you are getting out of here; you will be trapped in this place for all of eternity and forced to rot with me!"
As he was about to step foot into the lava...
"No, great ancestral spirit, the temperature is too high. I might be roasted alive if I get any closer - there is no way for me to reach the Heart of Souls," Benjamin suddenly tilted his head to say in dismay.
The voice replied, "You can rest easy in going down, I will protect you from any harm that may befall you."
Benjamin stood still, however, speaking very hesitantly, "Still no can do... great ancestral spirit, there is truly no possible way for me to go down there, the temperature here is simply unbearable."
When he said this, the voice finally became somewhat urgent, "What do you mean? You have enveloped yourself in ice which may not even melt even if you do charge in. How can you say you will not be able to bear it!?"
Benjamin listened and suddenly became quiet. All traces of doubt and fear on his face disappeared.
"So... you can see?"
He slowly lifted his head and gazed at the countless orbs of light scattered within the cavern. A grin slowly crept onto his lips as he said mockingly.
The voice instantly fell silent.
The atmosphere had made a sudden turn, so much so that even the siblings situated above the cavern were stunned into silence.
"H… how…...:"
Benjamin didn’t explain, instead choosing to immediately attack. He quickly swirled a large amount of steam into a hurricane and sent it hurtling towards the surrounding crimson orbs!
At the same time, a water-shaped bird appeared on his hand. Like lightning, it dived directly at the glowing stone in the lava below!
— Everything happened in the blink of an eye; the small path formed from the parting of the lava didn’t even have time to close.
The wind howled loudly as it slammed the crimson orbs into the surrounding cavern walls. However, from the looks of it, the orbs still looked relatively undamaged. Benjamin was not disappointed though, rather, he immediately rose alongside the ice sphere, locking his sight on the water-shaped bird the entire time.
Looking from above, the water-shaped bird sped across the small path, snatched the piece of rock, then turned around to return to Benjamin as fast as it could.
"You... you insolent mage!" The ancestral spirit’s voice cried out once again, only this time it was filled with rage, like a thunderstorm, it boomed across the cavern.
The lava rapidly converged as the path started to close, with the intention of capturing both the water-shaped bird as well the Heart of Souls. However, the water-shaped bird shot out like a bullet just in the nick of time!
— Despite the surrounding blazing fluid, not a single drop landed on its lithe feathers. It flew towards Benjamin triumphantly with the stone in claw.
Under the dim lighting, the Heart of Souls was similar to a shooting star. The onlooking siblings held their breath as they watched the glowing stone diffuse through the soundproof ice sphere before landing in Benjamin’s palm.
"NO— !"
A desperate cry nearly shattered their eardrums.
Benjamin ignored it, however, and continued to fly upward. Before long, he was reunited with the siblings above the cavern. The two soundproof ice spheres collided and merged into one big ice sphere, putting all three members within its protection.
"Master Benjamin, you... you..." At that moment, the siblings weren’t even able to react properly; they watched as Benjamin return to their side but was not able to say anything.
Fortunately, Benjamin didn’t plan on chatting with them right now.
"Let’s leave!"
He immediately took control of the ice sphere and flew it outward. However, as they were heading for the exit, a thin red barrier suddenly appeared in front of the entrance that they had come through.
The ice sphere collided with the barrier and bounced off.
"This is my people’s forbidden grounds; do you truly believe that you can leave as you like?" The voice rumbled deeply, "Despicable mage, leave the Heart of Souls here, otherwise, I will make sure your spirit experiences eternal suffering."
Benjamin ignored it and attempted to break through the seal. However, without even a clue as to how the thin barrier worked, he could not even put a dent in it – not even with a few hundred icicles.
Tch...
He could only turn around and head back towards the gathering crimson orbs in the cavern.
"Do you really think I’m going to give it back?" He spoke nonchalantly and huffed as he said, "You only have yourself to blame, to even have the gall to believe that I would fall for your ruse."
The voice of ancestral spirit lined every word with killing intent, Insolent fool, then I shall take your soul along with the Heart of Souls!"
Following this, the orbs of light broke apart and a few red entities armed to the teeth suddenly appeared. They looked like evil spirits as they started to move towards Benjamin and the siblings.
The siblings looked on in a panic; under dire circumstances, they could only resort to utilizing their psychic powers. Spiritual energy formed into a few invisible hands in an attempt to hold off the spiritual entities’ attacks.
Benjamin, on the other hand, remained where he was. He remained motionless, without so much as even a flinch.
Moments later, the evil spirits charged. They passed through the siblings’ psychic powers as well as the ice sphere with ease before smashing into the three people inside. What the siblings didn’t expect, however, was the dispersing of the evil spirits. The entities blew up into a fine dust before returning to the form of the orbs of light and scattering across the cavern.
The siblings froze.
"I thought as much…..."
Benjamin then nodded while looking very content.
The voice of the ancestral spirit did not reply.
"Just a bluff, eh? You take us for being helpless?" Benjamin scoffed, "Some ancestral spirit you turn out to be; just a cluster of dead people is all you are. You weren’t very powerful when you were alive, it’s no surprise that you’re not much of a threat in death."
The voice carried a defeated, agitated tone, "How... how could you not fear me!"
"You’re afraid of me, so why should I be afraid of you?" Benjamin shrugged and said slowly, "If you’re not afraid of me, then why did you use this Heart of Souls as bait to try and lure me into the lava below?"
The logic was simple enough - if the ancestral spirit could truly take them on, it wouldn’t have had to resort to such deception.
Not that it was very good deception to begin with.
Benjamin knew that spirits couldn’t perceive anything physical, so he gambled that the ancestral spirit was the same as spirits in general and was possibly blind. However, after Benjamin probed it carefully, he quickly got it to spill its true intentions.
And since its scheme was exposed, he might as well try to turn the tables on it with a scheme of his own and steal the Heart of Souls.
He had no clue what this thing could do, but it might turn out useful.
As for the crimson orbs of light, though intimidating, the System had told him that it didn’t possess any combat capabilities. This meant that it was probably just an extension of the ancestral spirit’s will.
Because of these deductions, Benjamin wasn’t the least bit worried.
"You... really think that I can’t eradicate all of you?"
However, the ancestral spirit became more and more infuriated. The lava below suddenly boiled before a few pillars of lava shot out.
After the three lava pillars spawned they immediately headed for their targets.
"Runic Technique - Defense."
Benjamin merely took in a deep breath and extended his finger before tracing out a series of runes.
And with that, countless water elements gathered around them, instantaneously forming a pulsing, blue shield. In the next second, the lava shot up into the air and shards of ice broke off from the shield. The huge chunks of ice spilled into the pillars of lava as loud sizzles were heard, a sign of the temporarily crippled power of the lava pillars.
As for Benjamin, he took this opportunity to fly with siblings to the side, easily moving out of the range of the lava pillars.
"The more you attack, the more you will find that you can’t eliminate us." He dispersed the rune and watched as the lava pillars slammed against the stone walls.
The ancestral spirit fell silent once more, it didn’t seem to intend to attack any further.
"... Very well! I may be dead, but what about all of you?" After remaining quiet for a moment, it spoke again and said, "None of you are getting out of here; you will be trapped in this place for all of eternity and forced to rot with me!"
