Chapter 229: "We succeed or we blow up." (1/2)
Rakna stepped out of System Transfer onto a muddy ground with Natsu following him at his feet throwing a cursory look at his surroundings. ”The Swamp?” He asked. ”My Lord, is this Plateau the workplace you were referencing? I do not understand.”
The therian glanced at him and gazed at the gloomy terrain of the Fifth Plateau. He didn't answer the Celestial Blaze and began to approach a sort of a large artificial tree in front of him. It had built-in rails and platforms previously used as watchtowers.
”Why is there such an affluence of dark spirits around this place?” Natsu wondered out loud.
Rakna heard it but didn't answer until they reached a tunnel leading underground, ”This used to be a feeding ground for an Abyss Téras,” he said as he began to walk down the staircase while the Celestial Blaze froze mid-step.
”A Téras?!” He practically shouted. ”Why are we here?! Even I know those abominations shouldn't be trifled with! I don't want to have anything to do with the Téra!”
”Calm down,” Rakna rebuffed him. ”The bastard's dead. I killed him.”
Natsu made a face that screamed 'Is that supposed to comfort me?!'.
”My guildmate made sure that this place was safe before leaving it alone,” the therian said and his eyes roamed to the side where he saw one of the stains of blood on the walls of the tunnel. ”What happened here was the work of a single Téras. He was acting alone and independently. We don't risk the Abyss targeting us for staying here.”
”Even if you say so…” Natsu trailed and then stopped himself when they reached the bottom of the stairs where a large wooden gate had been smashed in. He saw what lay beyond and couldn't help but take a step back. ”Wha-what happened here…?” He asked.
Rakna looked around at the massive dark cave barely illuminated by the light emitted by Natsu and which once held an entire village. It was now nothing more than burnt-down rubble. The walls of the cave were destroyed in some places and several craters were scattered around.
”What can I say? I got kinda mad,” Rakna said lightly but solemnly. He resumed his walk and Natsu ran after him with mixed feelings.
”All of this damage was caused by you?” He asked.
”Most of it, yes. It happened during the fight.”
”Then… whose village was this? I don't see bodies either. What about the residents?”
Rakna halted his march and simply raised his hand to point at something. Natsu followed his finger and widened his eyes when he spotted a large graveyard amidst the ruins. There were at least a hundred tombstones, and nearly all of them were nameless and coarsely made.
”There they are,” Rakna muttered and star flashed to the middle of the graveyard. Natsu imitated him with his Flame Step and watched as the therian crouched in front of three certain graves.
One of them was different from the others in the fact that it had a name engraved on it. ”Since you seem curious; all of them were Dark Elves. I asked Gray and the expedition force that came to investigate this place to gather and bury the bodies.”
”I see…” Natsu whispered. ”And… may I ask for whom was this specific tomb engraved?”
Rakna smiled lightly. ”A little Night Elf called Vivi Silverlight.”
”…was she important to you, My Lord?”
”Not really,” the therian said with a huff and stood up. ”But she could have been… hah, you would think you'd need to be older to develop a fatherly instinct,” he jested and snapped his fingers.
On cue, a swirl of frost energy emerged from the ground and pushed aside the rubbles and dust from all the tombs. Rakna then conjured a magic circle to encompass the entirety of the graveyard and encased all of it in a sort of mausoleum made out of star crystal, but without any energy inside.
”This crystal isn't that strong,” Rakna commented after tapping the edifice a few times. ”But it will last eternally. All right, Natsu, you're going to help me clean this up,” he suddenly said and turned around.
”Huh? Clean up?”
Rakna slowly lifted the corners of his mouth until a grin was formed and right after, his hair and fur turned red. ”Yeah, let's turn all of this debris into ashes. I have a house to make. I can't have all of this crap ruin the view.”
”…pardon?” Natsu was dumbfounded but before he could raise objections, he saw with a shiver as his newfound Lord ate a frozen heart out of nowhere and released a fiery aura.
”Hoarfrost Blizzard turns into…” Rakna muttered and inhaled. ”[Volcanic Tempest,]” he intoned and a red smoke gushed out from his body. The temperature around him increased drastically and after a short moment, the smoke began to swirl and form a tornado.
At the same time, volcanic rocks began to condense inside of it and in no time, a red tempest of magma was raised inside the cave; tall enough to connect the ground and ceiling. The dilapidated and scorched houses took fire once again but this time, nothing was extinguished until nothing remained.
”Come on, Natsu! It'll take a while to thoroughly burn everything. You'll take the borders; I'll deal with the center area. Then we'll clean up the stone and ores,” Rakna's voice sounded from inside the tornado, from which Natsu had long taken his distance from.
The Celestial Blaze trembled as he caught a glimpse of a large werewolf within the eye of the red tornado and dutifully began to use his magic to clear out the outer area of the cave.
”Oh! And be sure to not damage the crystal mausoleum!”
Natsu was startled by the additional shout that was far lower in pitch. ”Y-yes, My Lord!” He replied and sighed. ”Why does it feel like I've been hired as a convenient janitor…?” He muttered to himself and expanded into a giant flame with red eyes.
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An hour later, Rakna pulled the last stone debris into his storage and sighed. He cracked his neck and turned Obsidian Blood off. He lit a cigarette and looked around at the dark and empty cave.
Now that there weren't any ruins to cover up his vision, his Eye calculated the exact size of this underground space. For the surface area, it amounted to about 200 000 square meters, which can be roughly translated to 500 meters in diameter. As for the height of the ceiling, it was quite high too for a cavern; reaching nearly 40 meters at the very center, and then gradually decreasing as you got closer to the borders.
”What do we do now, My Lord?” Natsu asked as he flew back from cleaning his area.