Sovereign of the Ashes

The trio shot upward through the magma river like arrows.

Sein made sure to record every detail of the vast, silver-rune-covered river they had just discovered with his crystal ball.

This crucial information must reach the operations command center as soon as possible.

Sein and his group moved stealthily since the silver runes were obviously the work of a Rank Four creature.

It was unclear what they might have disturbed, but as they neared the surface, the entire riverbed began to shake faintly.

At the same time, the vibrations also alerted the sluggish Ground Dragon.

The magma river, vast and fiery, had remained eerily devoid of life due to the oppressive aura of the Ground Dragon itself.

Though Sein had initially feared other Goul Groundworms might be hiding at the bottom of the river, their investigation had confirmed otherwise.

This place was only guarded by a demigod-level Ground Dragon.

However, the intrusion of these three “tiny creatures” into the magma river did not go unnoticed. The Ground Dragon quickly locked onto them.

With its immense size and strength, Sein and his companions were indeed “tiny” to this demigod-level Ground Dragon.

A sharp, ear-splitting roar passed through the magma river and reached directly into their minds.

From an energy perspective, this roar could be considered a sonido elemental attack.

For now, Sein and the others could not escape from a kilometer-long demigod-level Ground Dragon in a highly viscous magma river.

Sein’s specialties lay in pyro and lumen elemental magic—not aero spells with exceptional escape abilities, nor spatial magic, which could have provided a swift retreat.

Reina’s considerable size, while advantageous in close combat, became a liability in this scenario.

Her bulk slowed their movements, further complicating their escape.

Although the Ground Dragon’s life level was technically Rank Three, mages of the Magus Civilization classified it as a unique power tier—above Rank Three but below Rank Four—due to its exceptional abilities.

“Natalya, head to the surface immediately and report everything to the divine tower’s command center! Reina and I will hold off this Ground Dragon.”

Sein’s instruction, delivered via mental focus, carried an authoritative tone that left no room for argument.

Fleeing together meant risking the lives of all three.

Natalya, being the weakest of the three, was the most suitable choice to escape and deliver their findings to the surface.

Had this been two hundred years ago, when Sein first met Natalya, commanding this headstrong knight—who was deeply influenced by her mother—would have been a far greater challenge.

However, years spent at Sein’s side had reshaped Natalya. She had matured, growing far more reasonable than her younger self.

Moreover, as Sein’s wife, she had to mature into a woman and shed the capricious whims of her youth.

A flicker of worry crossed her face as Natalya cast one last glance at the vast river of silver runes below.

Catching the crystal ball Sein tossed her way, she nodded resolutely.

In truth, if not for the vast river of strange runes below, Sein and his group possessed the strength to confront the demigod-level Ground Dragon.

But war was not about flaunting power—it was about understanding priorities. Both Sein and Natalya knew this clearly.

The silver runes, etched into the riverbed with the blood of a Rank Four creature, were undoubtedly intended for a target of equivalent power.

And who posed the greatest threat to the Gumo Plane now?

Naturally, it was the Tower Master of Dark Flame, a mage powerful enough to hold his own against three formidable opponents simultaneously!

Sein was not vain enough to believe this vast river of runes, clearly designed for suppression and aura concealment, was meant for a mere Rank Two mage like himself.

Luck was on the Magus World Army’s side.

Had Sein’s insatiable thirst for knowledge not driven him underground, temporarily withdrawing from the heat of battle...

Had Natalya and Reina not spent six months exploring the underground world, keeping themselves occupied while Sein immersed himself in research...

The Magus Civilization might never have uncovered the existence of this magma river!

No longer needing to suppress her aura, Natalya spread her devil wings. She became a shadowy blur, streaking toward the river’s surface where Yuri awaited.

With their combined speed and combat prowess, they should be able to reach the surface swiftly, no matter what obstacles stood in their way.

Meanwhile, Sein shifted from his Flame Devil form to his Lumen Elemental Body, while Reina, armed with her octagonal hammer, charged at the approaching demigod-level Ground Dragon.

Sein had been in his Flame Devil form because it allowed him to blend seamlessly into the magma river’s fiery environment, evading detection by the Ground Dragon.

He had to switch to his Lumen Elemental Body now to maximize his offensive potential, becoming an even greater annoyance to the demigod-level creature than Reina with her formidable hammer.

A single burst of Sein’s lumen elemental magic was enough to inflict a visibly corrosive wound on the Ground Dragon’s massive body.

In contrast, Reina’s full-force swing of her heavy hammer created only a bloody dent a few meters in diameter.

Nevertheless, both Sein’s elemental strikes and Reina’s physical attacks appeared almost insignificant, given the demigod-level Ground Dragon’s size.

Demigod-level beings always had their own unique trump cards. Though the exact nature of the laws this massive Ground Dragon wielded remained unclear, its sheer presence was overwhelming enough to make most low-ranking creatures pass out in fear.

Sein had encountered his fair share of demigod-level creatures before. Among them was the Green Spikefur King of Verdant Wilderness World, but its true form was a mere three-to-four-hundred-meter-long hedgehog.

Of all the demigods Sein had met, only Tourmaline and the Magus World Sea Kings could rival this Ground Dragon in size.

In terms of individual strength, both the dragon turtle and the Sea Kings surpassed this Ground Dragon.

Unfortunately, Sein had no allies of such caliber by his side this time.

“There’s something strange about this river. We need to leave as soon as possible. Use that new move I devised for you last time!” Sein called to Reina.

Over more than a century of interplanar travels, Sein’s own capabilities had grown by leaps and bounds, and Reina’s strength had also improved significantly.

The “new move” Sein referred to was a body-tempering technique he had created for Reina thirty-seven years ago while they were exploring the Phantom Cloud Plane.

It allowed her to generate short-term explosive power by drawing from an unconventional energy source—her body fat.

Sein’s inspiration had come from a secret technique in the Phantom Cloud Plane, where the native inhabitants used a certain plant to forcefully draw out and unleash their body’s full latent power in a single burst.

Every plane’s native creatures had developed their own unique and innovative ways of harnessing energy.

While Sein often dismissed these extraplanar creatures’ energy-utilization methods as primitive and unsophisticated, he respected their ingenuity.

In a way, these native creatures, relying on their planar conditions to devise cultivation methods suited to their races, were not so different from Magus World mages working tirelessly in their laboratories to develop new forms of magic.

The only difference was that the mages’ methods were rooted in a more scientific and systematic approach.