Sovereign of the Ashes

With Natalya and Reina’s prominent family backgrounds and the experience they had gained traveling with Sein in recent years, their perception and judgment had sharpened considerably over time.

For something to catch their attention so strongly that they felt compelled to pull Sein away from his experiments to investigate, it had to be significant.

Leaving his temporary laboratory behind, Sein followed the two women as they flew eastward.

After more than six months in the underground world, Natalya and Reina had grown accustomed to its perpetual darkness.

In fact, their frequent excursions for combat and exploration had far surpassed Sein’s, giving them a deeper familiarity with the surrounding areas compared to Sein, who had spent most of his time confined to his laboratory.

The two female knights had also accumulated a substantial number of mission points, which would sync with the command center once they returned to the surface.

Sein was taken aback as they continued eastward through the underground labyrinth and stone caves for three days.

He could not help but wonder how many places the women had explored and how many native creatures they had eliminated during the months he had spent holed up in his laboratory.

Their destination turned out to be a magma river situated beside an exceptionally deep underground crater.

The area was at an extraordinary depth, approximately twenty thousand meters beneath the sea level.

The air was stiflingly hot, laden with a sulfuric stench that made breathing unpleasant.

In the reddish magma river, black substances drifted along the surface.

These were special, high-purity metals condensed by the lava’s intense heat, ranking among the highest-quality mineral available.

If Sein wished to craft low-grade magic armor or create molds for crafting, he could simply use a crucible to scoop the metals from the magma river.

This was a privilege unique to the Underworld.

Molten fluids expelled during surface volcanic eruptions also contained high concentrations of metal elements.

However, when exposed to the air’s intense heat, most of these elements oxidized, rendering them far less pure than the metal solutions in the underground lava rivers.

Despite the magma river’s impressive resources, it failed to pique Sein’s interest.

In the Underworld, such rivers were relatively common.

A Rank One mage or a novice alchemist might have been thrilled by the raw metal materials contained within this river, but for someone like Sein, they were hardly remarkable.

When Sein frowned at the women, Reina raised a finger to her lips to hush him, then pointed toward the center of the magma river in the distance.

Following her direction, Sein looked again and finally noticed something unusual.

A dark figure lay nearly motionless in the middle of the magma river.

The crimson glow of the lava, combined with the abundance of floating substance, camouflaged the pitch-black figure with its ominously subdued aura, making it easy to overlook.

Sein remained calm and kept his gaze fixed in the distance.

After about half a day, a pitch-black Goul Groundworm, stretching hundreds of meters, emerged from the magma river.

It lingered above the lava surface for about ten minutes, taking in the air before plunging back into the molten depths.

The creature’s size was merely Sein’s rough estimation, as its tail remained submerged in the river. In reality, this Groundworm could easily be a colossal being stretching close to a thousand meters in length.

A creature of this magnitude was less of a groundworm and more deserving of the title “Ground Dragon”.

Though it possessed no trace of dragon bloodline, the name “Ground Dragon” was a reflection of its sheer, overwhelming power.

For this Ground Dragon to be coiled within a magma river twenty thousand meters underground, it was undoubtedly a demigod-level creature.

With the battle raging above in the Akre Plains, Sein could not help but wonder why this formidable creature was hiding here instead of joining the war.

Reina, capable of defeating ordinary Rank Three creatures, and Natalya, who could hold her own against them for a short time with the help of her equipment, were strong.

But neither had the power to face a demigod-level opponent yet.

Sein now understood why they had insisted on bringing him here.

A demigod-level Goul Groundworm hiding here immediately struck Sein as both mysterious and unusual.

Sein also realized that the magma river before them was far wider than any he had encountered previously, with numerous tributaries extending into the distance.

The river’s size, combined with the immense geothermal energy it radiated, effectively masked the other energies in the area.

This meant that besides the demigod-level Goul Groundworm, something else could be hidden at the bottom of this river.

Sein’s instincts—or rather, his judgment—compelled him to investigate the depths of the magma river.

Although Reina and Natalya’s combined strength alone was barely sufficient to face a demigod-level creature, with Sein’s power and Yuri’s assistance, they might just have a chance.

Sein and his companions remained cautious, aware that Rank Two or Rank Three Goul Groundworms could also be lurking at the bottom of the magma river.

Regrettably, the Viridescent Seeds from Master Lorianne was unsuitable for use in this extreme environment.

The river’s intense heat would render the seeds ineffective; even if they managed to grow into plant giants, the creatures would possess little combat power.

“Let’s dive in over there. The three of us shouldn’t stay too close together. Yuri, remain here and be ready to assist us if needed,” Sein instructed through mental focus.

Natalya and Reina nodded in agreement, silently acknowledging Sein’s plan.

Sein had carefully analyzed the environment before choosing the entry point into the lava river.

As his body descended into the molten depths, he quietly activated his Flame Devil transformation.

Simultaneously, Natalya activated her Baator Devil transformation, while Reina’s body was enveloped in a thick layer of geo elemental shield.

Another layer of special pyro elemental energy sprang from Sein’s magic rod, enveloping the three of them in a protective barrier.

This pyro elemental shield was one of Sein’s recent innovations, a product of his tireless research.

Sein had no intention of fighting the demigod-level Ground Dragon, at least not before uncovering what lay at the bottom of this magma river.

Thanks to Sein’s magic shield, the three of them slipped into the magma river without causing much disturbance.

Their descent went completely unnoticed by the demigod-level Ground Dragon.

However, instead of finding Goul Groundworms lurking at the river’s depths, they stumbled upon something entirely unexpected.

A web of silver runes suddenly emerged across the riverbed beneath the magma river!

Sein could not decipher the runes. These characters were cruder and far simpler than the sophisticated magic inscriptions developed by the Magus Civilization.

Yet it was precisely their simplicity that allowed him to infer their function and significance through the energy radiating from them.

A profound power of suppression emanated from these silver runes, accompanied by an oppressive weight that seemed to grip the very air around them.

Having once collected the blood of a Rank Four creature for his research, Sein instantly recognized that these silver runes were drawn using the blood of a certain Rank Four being.

A Rank Four extraplanar creature had etched these runes twenty thousand meters underground, at the bottom of a magma river. But why? What was the purpose behind such an elaborate effort?!

Sein’s unease deepened as his gaze followed the runes. The magma river stretched far beyond what the eye could see, and so did the silver runes.

This was definitely a scheme that had been meticulously planned and executed over an unimaginable period!

Sein and the others knew that they must return to the surface immediately and report this to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s command center.