Chapter 13 – Elementalist’s Island (2)

While the group was at a loss for what to do, Sun-woo continued to question Alda.

“But why are you alone in this village?”

“Ah, I was evacuating the villagers. Now that everyone has left, I need to go back.”

“Where to?”

“To where my master is. She’s an excellent elementalist who taught me elemental magic. She’s currently calming the spirits.”

Alda continued speaking.

“I wanted to help her, but I had to come down to the village to inform the villagers. Now that everyone has left, I need to go back to my master.”

It seemed that while the master elementalist was calming the spirits, Alda had been evacuating the villagers.

The real problem was the volcanic eruption, but Alda kept talking only about spirits. Sun-woo asked.

“Don’t tell me the volcanic eruption is because of spirits?”

“Yes, the spirit inside the volcano became angry. We elementalists have been managing the fire spirits inside the volcano for generations, but this is the first time something like this has happened.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the elementalist’s story.

“What, the volcano is erupting because of spirits or something? How exactly does this world work?”

At Michael’s bewildered words, the other group members agreed. But Daniel was puzzled by the group’s reaction.

“Isn’t it natural for volcanoes to erupt and blizzards to occur when spirits become angry?”

It seemed this world had different common sense.

Anyway, it seemed true that something was wrong with the fire spirit. Since they said there was a contamination source on this island, the fire spirit was probably contaminated.

Curious Sun-woo asked various questions about spirits, but Alda shook her head.

“My master is managing the fire spirit. I’m a disciple meant to succeed my master later. I don’t know as much as my master yet.”

In the end, it seemed they would have to find that master elementalist. But the problem was the elementalist’s location.

“A cave halfway up the volcano. In this situation, it’s like carrying explosives and charging into enemy territory.”

Michael’s face twisted completely. There was no way he could feel good about going to a volcano that was about to erupt.

But they couldn’t refuse the mission either. Even if they couldn’t prevent the volcanic eruption, they had to deal with the contamination source.

***

The cave where the master elementalist was said to be was drilled into the northern slope of the volcano overlooking the sea.

With Alda’s guidance, the group headed toward the cave. While the group was going to the volcano, the smoke became increasingly worse and forest animals were running in the opposite direction from the group.

Thanks to this, the group could reach the volcano without interference from monsters. Water vapor spouting from various parts of the volcano hinted that an explosion would occur soon.

The group that arrived at the volcano went around to the opposite side following a small path along the mountain. The path was very rough, but there was no one in the group who would struggle with this level of path now.

Shortly after, the group was able to discover a huge cave. The cave could be seen at a glance to have been worked by human hands for a long time. Various murals were faintly drawn on the cave walls.

“These are pictures left by our elementalists who have protected the fire spirits for a long time. My master always felt sorry looking at these pictures. Because of the elementalists who spent their lives protecting this island.”

Alda spoke in a regretful voice, but the group couldn’t pay attention to her words. The wall deep inside the cave was tainted with murky colors.

“Bingo, the contamination source was here after all. The problem is this insane heat.”

Michael spoke while sweating like a waterfall. All the other group members were also drenched in sweat. The temperature was suddenly rising rapidly.

Nan-seol and Sun-woo, who had learned martial arts, were relatively okay, but the other group members seemed to be having trouble breathing.

But Sun-woo was feeling something other than the heat. An extremely uncomfortable feeling was approaching from ahead. Sun-woo shouted loudly.

“Something is approaching!”

“They’re fire spirits! They seem very angry. They won’t listen to me at all!”

Surprised Alda shouted, but the other group members only felt heat.

“Killing intent is approaching!”

“Damn, this feels disgusting.”

Nan-seol sensed the spirits’ approach through killing intent, and Michael through his sixth sense, but that was all.

Sun-woo, who had roughly sensed the location through sorcery, shouted toward the elementalist.

“Isn’t there a way to know their location?”

“Just a moment.”

Alda began concentrating. Alda was an elementalist. Even if they were spirits she couldn’t control, it was possible to materialize them.

Soon, red flickering lizards began to be visible in front of the group. Salamanders. They were spirits imaged in real form.

“They’re not real bodies anyway. I just put images on the spirits’ energy.”

But even that much was a great help. Nan-seol was the first to charge at the fire lizards.

She avoided the heat breathed out by the fire lizards with movement techniques and swung her sword to cut down the fire lizards.

Whoosh!

It seemed like a scream could be heard. The lizard cut by her sword exploded with heat like a bomb and disappeared.

“As expected, you can inflict damage if you infuse qi into the sword.”

Nan-seol shouted after extinguishing the fire on her burning sleeve by shaking it.

Mount Hua Sect was a Taoist sect. There must have been battles with demons and ghosts all along. Thanks to this, Mount Hua’s internal energy contained the aura of exorcism and demon destruction.

At her words, Sun-woo also swung his sword. Fortunately, Three Talents Qigong seemed to work on spirits too.

The fire lizards avoided the two and charged at the other group members.

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

With the gunshot, the spirit charging from the front exploded.

“Hahaha, I knew this would happen so I bought mana bullets or something. Now no matter what comes, I won’t lose points!”

Michael shouted heartily. But he couldn’t immediately shoot bullets at the next spirit. The bullet price was ridiculously expensive.

“D-damn!”

But with Hayden’s telekinesis having no effect now, he had to block the approaching spirits. Michael began picking off the approaching spirits with trembling hands.

The spirits attacking the group tried to attack even Alda, who was an elementalist, but when they got near her, they became confused and didn’t know what to do.

Thanks to this, many spirits were neutralized, and the group was able to break through the spirits’ interference and reach the inside of the cave.

The innermost part of the cave was a large plaza, where a blazing huge altar stood with a silver-haired woman waiting for them in front of it.

“Master!”

“I told you to evacuate the villagers, so why did you come back here?”

The person Alda called master was a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her early thirties. Perhaps because she was an elementalist, her attire and atmosphere were similar to Alda’s.

“I came to help you, Master…”

“I don’t need your help. Without you here, the spirits are actually listening to me better.”

“What?”

Alda had a bewildered expression at her master’s words.

But Sun-woo seemed to understand what was happening.

“Is the master contaminated?”

Sun-woo muttered while lowering his phone. The phone showed that she was the contamination source.

“Soon the spirits will be liberated and neither you nor I will have to be bound to this island anymore. I’m fulfilling the wish of countless island elementalists.”

“What? What are you saying? Protecting the island is the mission of us elementalists. It’s the one mission you taught me, Master!”

“I was also lost in delusion until now. But now I’ve broken free from all constraints. We’re liberated now.”

“Then what about the island, what about the people? The island people can’t survive if they leave here.”

“That’s not my concern. It’s the responsibility of those who have sacrificed elementalists all this time.”

Alda seemed dazed by her transformed master’s appearance.

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed and flames flared up near the elementalist’s forehead.

“Tch, doesn’t work after all?”

The bullet Michael shot had been blocked by fire spirits.

“She’s a contaminated human anyway, so what are we arguing about? Let’s catch her quickly.”

At Michael’s words, the group began aiming weapons at their opponent.

“What? What are you talking about?”

Daniel quickly explained to the bewildered Alda.

About contaminated humans and monsters, and that they were dealing with those contamination sources. Though it was somewhat adapted as a fantasy world story, the elementalist could roughly understand the situation.

“Then is there no one who has returned to normal?”

At her words, Sun-woo shook his head. He had never seen a contamination source that became fine.

“That can’t be…”

Alda couldn’t collect herself from the sudden development, but the situation was still ongoing.

“So now you’re betraying your master. You kept showing off saying your affinity was several times stronger than mine, and now you’re bringing in outsiders to kill me?”

Her master, who had been glaring at Alda with red-stained eyes, raised both hands and shouted.

“But it’s too late! Now I’m different from before! You and the outsiders can all die together!”

The altar’s fire exploded and a giant fire serpent appeared in the air.

“Ah, the avatar of fire…”

The serpent was the avatar of fire that had been sleeping inside this volcano. The elementalist had not only angered the avatar but had also become able to use its power freely.

Countless fire lizards erupted from the ground. At the same time, the fire serpent coiled in the air opened its mouth.

Whoooosh!

Massive flames poured out. The flames filled the cave and surged toward the group.

“Everyone dodge!”

Nan-seol shouted toward the group, but there was nowhere to hide. At that moment.

“Stop! Please stop!”

Alda’s cry echoed through the cave and the flames disappeared just like that.

“Please come to your senses. Master, you weren’t this kind of person.”

Alda’s tearful plea had no effect on her master at all.

“Hmph, showing off your power again. But it’s over now. Eventually, this volcano will erupt.”

The elementalist pointed her hands forward and countless fire lizards surged toward the group.

At the same time, the giant fire serpent floating in the air began roaring loudly. The entire volcano shook as if it would erupt soon.

And the battle between the spirits and the group began. Nan-seol’s sword swept among the spirits and Michael’s bullets exploded spirits.

“It’s hard to even block them this way!”

With Daniel and Hayden unable to attack the spirits, the group could barely endure against the fire spirits.

At least around Alda the heat was controlled so they could endure, otherwise they might have all been burned already.

“Please stop.”

Alda, who had been crying with her head down, spoke. But there was no one here who would listen to her words.

Alda raised her head. Alda’s tear-stained face was hardened stiffly. She seemed to have made some decision.

“If you won’t stop, I will stop you.”

“Hmph, try it!”

As her master finished speaking, Alda’s hands pointed forward. At the same time, the roaring fire serpent began writhing and causing chaos.

“You bitch! Do you think I’ll let you take control!”

A power struggle between the two elementalists began with the fire serpent between them, and the fire lizards that lost control began rampaging in all directions.

“Now’s our chance. Can we break through?”

“It’s impossible. It’s hard to endure the heat.”

At Daniel’s words, Nan-seol checked her burned sleeves and shook her head. An opportunity had finally arisen, but the group found it difficult even to approach.

Moreover, Michael’s bullets were blocked by flame defenses making it hard to inflict damage, and the distance was too far for Hayden’s telekinesis to be effective.

“But where did the phone guy go? Don’t tell me he ran away?”

At Michael’s words, the group looked around bewildered. Sun-woo’s figure hadn’t been visible for some time.

Shortly after, Nan-seol was the first to sense Sun-woo’s qi. Nan-seol’s gaze turned toward the elementalist.

Behind the elementalist, an earth pillar was quietly rising.