Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) by Dakota Krout (best romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

student of Havoc. I bet you don’t even know what that thing could do to you, do you? If he wanted, he could have that thing wearing your skin while you slink around thinking you’re an original.”

“What does that even mean?” Joe slammed his mouth closed, but too late. Eli’s eyes crinkled in pleasure; it seemed that he needed Joe to speak for his skills to work on him.

“Let’s not worry about that. Just tell me, how many golems did you have on you?” Eli’s words elicited an instant reply, and Joe could have screamed in frustration as he gave a concise answer.

“There aren’t any more.”

Eli nodded and grasped Joe’s shoulder. “I believe you, Theo. Thank you for telling me. Ooh! Check out these glasses!”

Joe’s Spectacles of the Scholar had landed in Eli’s hands, and after a bored glance, the Elf smashed them and chucked them into the magma. “Ya know, Theo, eventually we’re gonna get to something you really do care about. When that happens? This is gonna really start hurting. Hey, while we’re talking, how did you find us?”

“I accidentally blasted a hole in-” Joe realized what was happening, and shook his head hard enough that it hurt.

“Oh… that’s so great to hear.” Eli’s smile was far more natural now, as he realized that Joe just needed to be contained and they wouldn’t need to worry that the Dwarves would be coming for them. “I think we can have a more relaxed conversation now. Oh, that looks fun.”

Eli grabbed something that was flashing indigo out of the air, pulling it in close to inspect it. In under half a second, he and another voice were screaming as the light spread out and trapped them both in a pillar of purple flame.

Caution! Direct contact with aspects has dangerous consequences! Pulling aspects into the open air without proper preparation will result in the at fault party interacting with the aspect to become immolated!

Current aspect removed: Unique aspect x27.

Quest update: Go Away For a While! Level gained: 0/1. Elves killed: 8/100. Important information gained: 1/1.

Joe winced as his friend Eli burned. He remembered exactly how bad that had hurt when he had touched the Trash aspect, and… his eyes widened as his mana came back under his control. Eli must have perished. Joe was as free as he could reasonably be for the next while; at least until Eli was respawned in the major fort.

The human turned and dove into the magma, barely getting his Exquisite Shell in place before he slipped beneath the surface of the liquid earth.

Chapter Forty-Five

The magma was thick, at least thicker than water, which made it harder to swim through. The density helped with the issue of sinking, allowing Joe to remain at a fairly level depth. He didn’t dare to go above the surface; not only would the Elves be looking for him, but there was a chance that he would touch the barrier and get tossed back onto one of the islands.

He was keeping a sharp eye on his Exquisite Shell, but he thought that it was lowering at a reasonable level. Joe’s strength was at one hundred and thirty-three, and there was practically no comparison to a human fresh off Earth. He clawed through the magma with the same force that a high-end front-loader would use to scoop a hole in the earth. Needless to say, he was moving fast. Far faster than he had ever expected he would be able to manage.

Then something caught him. Not a monster, more like a convection current. All of a sudden he was in a downward suction of magma, dropping a dozen feet in an instant. It hit just before Joe had planned to surface for air, so he had to work hard not to panic. Then he recalled that he had a spell that could help in situations like this. He cast Neutrality Aura in the next moment.

The tightness in his chest didn’t vanish, but his darkening vision fixed itself. Joe was glad not to pass out while boiling rock pressed in on him from all sides, but now he had another issue: he had not a single clue where he was. The flowing danger zone had tossed him around to the point where he wasn’t even sure which way was up, and he was running out of time. Joe pulled himself out of the current fairly easily now that he was expecting it, breaking from the undertow in an instant with a solid pull and kick, but…

Exquisite Shell: 1,836/3,586. You are taking 25 heat damage per second!

“It’s only been a full minute since I started?” Joe wasn’t foolish enough to speak the words aloud; he wasn’t going to let his breath escape that easily. He kept swimming as hard as he could, paddling for another thirty seconds before he ran into something solid.

Exquisite Shell: 961/3,586. You are taking 25 heat damage per second!

Joe was going to attempt to climb up the solid rock, but his forward momentum had been arrested. Since he had come to a stop and didn’t continue moving for a moment, the undercurrent grabbed him and sucked him deeper into the magma. Joe scrabbled for purchase on the stone, but his grip caused the superheated stone to *squish* instead of stopping him. The current sucked him into a volcanic vent, and suddenly, Joe was moving even faster than when he had been when swimming at full speed.

He was in freefall.

Joe’s vision cleared up, revealing a massive, empty room that was only solid due to being mostly a mix of obsidian and a metallic substance. He landed in a pool of magma that was slowly increasing in height. Apparently, this cavern had only recently been melted into, as it was neither filled, nor even close to it. Still—Joe watched the magma get higher—it wouldn’t stay empty for too much longer.

He swam through the magma pool, moving so fast that he left a wake behind. Joe pulled himself out of the pool,