Chapter 259 - The Helgat (2/2)

The wings s.u.c.k.e.d into Li's back, and for a second, the platform was in free fall. But as bright light exploded like a nova around Li, the platform halted. Wings flared to Li's sides. Bright red, feathered wings lined with gold and covered with an ever-flickering aura of bright white light, much like the solar flares around the sun's corona.

The wings extended far out, being much larger than Li himself, and the light they emitted was so intense the average person would have gone blind looking at it. But more than that was the brutal heat emanating from it.

All the black mass nearby immediately burst into flames before disintegrating into charred nothingness, and even the mountain sides so far away were beginning to glow red as their rock started to grow molten and melt.

These were the [Wings of Sanzuwu] belonging to an immensely powerful crow monster that was said to have a shard of the sun itself within it. There were ten of its kind, and when all ten crows were together, they could cast an Ultima-tier spell that manifested a miniature sun.

What Li could do right now with this shapeshifting was far less in scale compared to that, but it was still enough to beat away the black mass's approach.

As Li descended, the ooze retreated. Initially because it could not advance due to the intense heat, and then afterwards in legitimate retreat, sinking away. Which indicated that it had some form of intelligence or instinct. Or perhaps someone controlling it.

With the ooze gone, Li could see that it had seeped through what appeared to be two enormous slabs of solid, rune-carved metal sealed together to form the mountain base. It was evident that judging from how the slabs overlapped and latched together, that it was something like a horizontally oriented gate that could open up to reveal more space below.

Li reached this gate and withdrew his wings, resting the Chrysalis on the ground. He did not deactivate it because the lingering heat from his wings still warped the air, though remarkably, the gate itself stood unharmed, its runes still glowing with active power that he recognized as highly magic-resistant.

”Okay, all of you can open your eyes again,” said Li as he stood right outside the cocoon, looking into everyone closing their eyes. Tia had both her hands wrapped tight over her eyes, but it was evident at how they shook that she very much wanted to see out of them.

”Do not step out of the barrier yet,” said Li. ”I used a wide area of effect heat based attack to destroy the threat. But it may yet return, not to mention that the heat still remains in the air. Especially you two, Mason and Mercer – the moment you step out, your lungs will collapse and burn up.”

”Duly noted, sir,” said Mason with a shiver at how astounding Li's power was.

Asala put a hand to her chin as she peered around her. ”This is the Helgat, the gates that lead into the dwarven civilization proper under the ground.”

”So no dwarves lived above?” said Li.

She shook her head. ”Nay. The Triforge Dwarves are more attuned with the earth than their Montagne counterparts, thus, they preferred the comforting cool and dark of the underworld. But still, to think that thou art capable of damaging the Helgat with magic – thou art truly a force of nature unparalleled.”

”Actually, I am more surprised I did not melt straight through this,” said Li. He inspected the runes, each of them the size of a man and glowing bright purple with anti-magic energy.

”Gods,” said Mercer as he looked down, seeing the metal gate shine with a cold, slightly blue l.u.s.ter. ”This is Adamant. I'd only heard tell of it in stories and myth. And here, there is so much of it. Even a shard of it enough to forge a dagger could make a man rich for an entire lifetime, and here…”

His words trailed off as he saw the adamant gate stretch far into the distance, far beyond the boundaries of light that Li shone.

The gate was immensely physically sturdy, to be sure, being likely a dozen or so meters of solid reinforced Adamant – a Mythic ranked substance – but he was not at all impressed by that. What was more of note was its magic resistant enchantment strong enough to resist the flames of the Sanzuwu, an A ranked attack that nothing in this world could have escaped unscathed.

”The Helgat is one of few artifacts yet wrought into existence by the gods themselves,” said Asala. She motioned to the runes. ”These runes thou see before thee hath been written by the Great Serpent herself.”

”That would explain it,” said Li. Already, the heat in the air was fading rapidly, the magic resistance barrier absorbing and neutralizing it.