Chapter 130: Dawn of Mankind – Part 2

Chapter 130: Dawn of Mankind – Part 2

There's no way we're staying on these obsidian platforms floating above pools of lava during an earthquake, so we quickly return to the elevator, but then the temperature drops drastically, and the molten rock starts to harden.

I once again turn to our guides for guidance.

"Things are going to get a bit chaotic, so keep calm and pay attention to the details," Lolo cryptically advises.

The illumination then begins to turn yellow.

"Well, that's reassuring," I sarcastically remark.

"Considering how cold things are getting, it's most likely going to hail soon," Nikolas grumpily adds.

I turn to the scantily dressed bunny girl and genuinely offer, "Would you like a coat? I'm a Space mage, and I have an actual wardrobe for my wives in my [Item Box]."

She shakes her head and smiles politely. "I'm fine."

So I just shrug, but then I become solemn again. "If you say so... Anyway, I'd just like to apologize for getting you two involved in the shady conflicts of nobility. We were too eager to come here and forgot that you might get harassed for what you would see here."

"Ain't that fucking great," Nikolas angrily grumbles, his mouth twitching as he holds back a scowl.

And Yunia joins us to help me out a bit, "I apologize for our lack of consideration. Even I almost forgot the elven way."

Though the wolf man isn't fully appeased, it's hard to remain angry when such a beauty earnestly apologizes.

Lolo gives him a concerned glance, then anxiously asks us, "Are we in any actual danger?"

Kyora gives me a stern stare, waiting for me to tell them the truth.

I breathe in and carefully explain, "We don't think anyone will kidnap you, but we do believe that they'll ask questions, and it's in your best interest to answer them truthfully. In fact, you might as well just write down a few copies of our combat style and hand them out to whoever asks because showing such boldness would actually be in our favor."

Nikolas glances at Kyora's group behind them.

"Sounds about right," she grunts with a nod.

"Why do you even have a Templar escort?" He confusedly asks.

"We're friends with Ciel, so we're leeching," Alonso cheekily answers.

But then Timas tactfully states, "They also have a tendency to attract the Wicked, so we're here to help them out if any appear."

The two guides frown in worry, then Nikolas gives his partner an "I told you so" look, his red eyes making his stare that much more intense.

Nobody but us has been targeted by the Wicked so far, but I don't think that would sound reassuring to the duo.

Lolo lets out a nervous laugh and plays with a floppy ear as she coyly stares at me. "Well, it's too late to go back now."

I just return a guilty smile. Maybe we should give them some hazard pay after this is done.

The obsidian platforms suddenly collapse on top of the hardening lava, then an ice meteor the size of a person falls from the sky.

"See? Told you," Nikolas tiredly points out.

When the ice collides with the cooling rock, it explodes into steam, water, and crystals with a loud sound of glass shattering. A couple of seconds later, more meteors follow, and the deadliest hailstorm I've ever seen begins to fall.

The lava is still red-hot under its crusty surface, so the meteor shower exposes it again, and the thermal explosions from contact between extreme hot and cold just make things even more chaotic.

Steam starts to obscure our view, but the temperature continues to drop, and after a few minutes, the steam condenses again, revealing that the landscape has changed completely.

The yellow world now shows a valley with a small river running across it, and there's even a little hill with an active volcano gradually increasing its own height as it spurts molten rock that slowly cools and hardens. Snow, crystals made of ice, obsidian, and loose rock dot the surface, but then we notice faintly glowing orbs just like the one we destroyed, giving the chaotic environment a mysterious air.

There are no Symbols nearby, and the shower seems to have ended, so our curiosity takes over us, and we go inspect the nearest orb.

It's blue-gray and the size of my fist. [Sense Mana] activates once we get closer, but we all feel that the "power" within it isn't exactly attuned mana, though it's similar, and its "flavor" reminds us of [Water Magic] with a hint of [Earth Magic].

"Is this 'divine power'?" I question Lina.

"It's definitely not mana," she quietly replies, her mind deep in thought.

"Be careful about touching the orbs! Especially if you're a mage!" Lolo shouts, and I give her a thumbs up in appreciation.

"Why?" Jarn immediately questions, and the two guides almost jump in surprise at her creepy robotic voice.

"They're like crude and unstable magic tools for battle," Nikolas categorically answers.

I stare at the orb and get a vague, alluring feeling of "divinity" coming from it, similar to a dungeon's core.

I eagerly, but gingerly, touch the orb with an exposed finger and feel a stinging pain as a thin layer of my thick hide dissolves into the orb.

Uh...

I immediately pull back and almost hiss at it, feeling betrayed.

Nobody but Hana has the courage to touch it next, but once she does, nothing happens, so she grabs it fully and tries her best to not accidentally activate it.

Like a normal enchantment, Hana feels like she's at the edge of a "slope" as the orb tries to draw in her mana, though it's much harder to hold back than with a properly enchanted magic tool, so she could accidentally activate it with a sneeze.

She hands it to Lina so that she can study it, and the little girl immediately feels an "itch" as her mana is steadily drained away.

"Ah!" Lina exclaims fearfully as a finger-sized [Water Blade] filled with gravel launches out of the orb and sinks into the porous volcanic stone, then Hana takes the orb back before Lina can drop it.

"Well, now we know how it works," I wryly remark, and Lina frowns in frustration.

Hana hums in thought, then points the orb at the valley, and a jet of dirty water launches out of the river and shoots towards her. Just like how the Symbols' orb did, Hana's absorbs the jet and then glows just a little bit brighter.

"Hmm~...!" She hums excitedly, then she unleashes a long [Water Blade] full of gravel onto the floor that sinks deep into it, but the orb almost immediately shatters into sparkly magical dust that simply disappears after a couple of seconds.

Yunia narrows her blue jewels and harshly points out, "An orb that absorbs a mage's MP but is easy to use for a warrior. This should tell you what Man's society was like before levels and skills."

Though the age of the Dawn of Mankind was mythical and mysterious, the girls are starting to lose interest in it.

"But how did these orbs appear, to begin with?" Alissa curiously asks.

We all turn to Lina, but she shakes her head negatively and explains, "We're in a dungeon, so these orbs aren't necessarily based on something that was real. Not only that, but the Dawn was the age where most of the myths were born, like those of dragons, dwarves, succubi, and so on that all of the other races-to-be and monsters were based on. So, even if we looked at the records, they'd likely be wrong."

"Maybe everything has a bit of truth to it," I cheekily suggest, but she just sighs and shrugs.

"Should we collect these orbs?" Hana asks with a grin, quite eager to play with them.

I think they might turn out to be important since there are so many around here, so we spread out and start gathering them. Touching them is a no-go for me, but [Telekinesis] works fine, so I just leisurely pull them in from range with the spell.

When a fire orb touches a water orb, Roxanne and Aoi feel a horrible chill, so we keep them separate. Their colors vary a bit, and it seems that as long as two orbs aren't too far apart in the visible spectrum, there's no risk of a "pseudo" runaway mana reaction.

Suddenly, a naked Symbol with a red orb following after it comes out of the mist, then it immediately runs towards the active volcano once it notices us.

Hana summons her wings and lands right in its way, then waits there for it to come to her, but once the monster gets within ten meters, it unleashes a jet of lava towards her and tries to go around her.

"How often did Man fight each other?" I curiously ask Lina.

She scholarly answers, "All the time. It took thousands of years until monsters were created, so Man fought mostly for resources and only sometimes against beasts of nature."

Hana chases after the Symbol and defeats it before it can begin to absorb lava from the volcano.

"I love it how knowledgeable you are," I kindly praise her.

But she pouts and turns her head away to hide her blush. "Not in combat..."

I chuckle softly and turn to the next Symbol that appears at the edge of the mist, this one holding a blue orb.

I deal with that one and collect its orb, but then more and more start to appear, and so, they have more time to launch spells at us, making us wary as we're forced to defend the volcano and the valley from all directions.

"'Think of an elemental, but permanent,'" Lolo cheekily repeats my words.

He waves his hand dismissively and groans, "Ugh, whatever... Anyway, there are many paths you could take. Destroy the orb, feed it your blood, try to swallow it, perfectly balance the elements within, continue absorbing until even the mist is gone, or just explore the landscape away from the elevator, though we don't recommend that last one because you will get lost."

"'Swallow'...?" Aoi grunts confusedly, then she gives the obviously too big orb a measuring look.

"'Swallow'?" Jarn echoes her question.

He tiredly shrugs. "Some of the crazier mages did it, and they said that it helped them grow their magic, but I dunno about that. It ends up breaking the orb, so it progresses the 'events' all the same."

"Let's go with balancing the colors," Ciel prudently suggests.

"Awn..." Aoi moans, then she turns to me and gives me her best cute hatchling eyes.

Ack! My weakness!

"How about... one of the smaller ones...?" I hesitantly suggest.

"What will we do if she starts to feel sick?" Ciel sternly questions.

"Open her up, and pull it out?" I jokingly reply.

"I'm fine with that," Aoi calmly agrees, because of course, she would.

I'm not going to open her up at the drop of a hat, so I summon a spirit elemental, which will allow me to see inside her, and we tie a rope around a small rainbow orb, then we let her swallow it.

The orb goes down her esophagus and into her stomach, causing internal "itches" inside her as it slowly absorbs her MP, and all the while, she controls herself from accidentally activating it while it's inside her. I'm kind of envious of how she's even allowed to touch the orb without her body dissolving because she's a damn magical being.

Nothing happens at first, so we just wait.

Meanwhile, we decide to cheat. I pull out some nutritious dirt, and we [Grow] grass on it, then Hana absorbs its "lifeforce," quickly turning the green plants into dried husks.

We suppose that we would've had to release that little amount of "green" power onto the rocks or muddy ash and then grow plants with it, but why do it the hard way?

Actually, what the fuck are we doing? I can just summon some damn elementals!

I heartlessly feed my elemental-wives to the orb, and though they don't feel a thing or even complain, it's still horrifying to see them get sucked into the orb and suddenly "die."

Then we just unload the excess red and blue, giving back some of the life that Hana had absorbed from the landscape.

"I see all of the colors in it now, except for black," Alissa grimly points out, then slowly turns to me.

I hate dark elementals...

I'm already feeling a bit traumatized after killing my elemental-wives, so I hesitate.

Alissa hugs my back and kisses my sweaty neck, then the girls all give me a little bit of their love through [Bind], bolstering me with the last bit of courage I need to pull on that tooth.

It's useless to close my eyes, so I just summon the horrid fiend right under the orb.

Even though it's instantly absorbed, its flayed and mutilated face is stamped into my mind, but like all pain, it'll fade with time as long as I have my wives with me.

Then the ground trembles once again as the ambient light shifts to blue.

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