Chapter 314: Burning Earth (Part 1)

Kai was still crouched beside the black stain on the pavement when the ground lurched beneath him.

BOOOOOOM!

The entire city shook. He looked down immediately. A thin crack ran through the street at his feet, orange light bleeding through the seam. Then another crack opened a few feet away. Then a third.

His expression hardened. "...It’s coming from underneath."

"Burning Earth," Tiamat said inside his mind.

The cracks kept spreading, spidering outward across the plaza. A nearby hunter looked down, backing away. "What’s happening?"

"Everyone move!" Kai shouted.

Another crack tore open, the ground glowing brighter beneath it.

CRACK!

Lily’s voice cut through the network almost instantly. "Burning Earth."

"Activate the elevated network," Elden said, already moving toward the console.

"Already doing it," Lily answered, hands flying across the interface.

Across Mythal, the city’s new systems came alive at once. Floating relay towers rose off their moorings. Defensive platforms unfolded along the skyline. Emergency teleport markers flickered to life. Independent heat cores glowed steady beneath the streets. Environmental stabilization spread outward, district by district.

Mira was already organizing hunters near the plaza. "Nobody stays underground unless you’re assigned to a protected chamber!"

Raze looked at the glowing cracks spreading through the stone. "So we’re not fighting this one?"

"Not directly," Mira said.

He looked disappointed. "That’s boring."

She gave him a flat look. "Wait until the ground explodes."

He paused. "...Fair."

The ground erupted a heartbeat later.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Molten earth blasted skyward, and hunters scattered in every direction. A nearby building tilted hard, its foundation crumbling beneath it. Kai used Air Run to cross the street before the road disappeared entirely beneath his feet. Sera raised her shield, and molten material crashed against it, steam hissing violently into the air. Mira grabbed two hunters by the collar and hauled them clear. Raze jumped backward as the platform under him collapsed, landing hard on the next one over.

He looked down at the glowing crater below. "...Yeah." He gripped his sword. "I officially don’t like this one."

The preparations started paying off almost immediately. A district erupted, the underground relay there destroyed outright, and the elevated relay overhead simply took over without missing a beat.

"Primary network still active," Lily reported.

"Underground relay is gone," Elden confirmed, checking the readout.

Lily didn’t hesitate. "Leave it."

Kai glanced at her.

"We designed those to be expendable," she said.

Another eruption destroyed another underground relay. The elevated network compensated instantly, golden light rerouting without a stutter.

Kai nodded, watching it happen. "Good."

The ground began glowing across an entire district a moment later, wider than anything before it.

Lily’s expression shifted. "That’s too much."

Elden checked the readings. "Environmental stabilization is reaching maximum."

"How long?" Mira asked.

"Not long."

A massive crack split open, streets collapsing into it one after another, buildings losing their foundations and tilting slowly sideways. A defensive tower sank inch by inch into the molten ground.

Raze watched it go under. "...That’s not good."

"No," Mira said.

Kai’s eyes found a cluster of hunters stranded near the collapse. "Get them out."

Emergency teleportation activated across the district.

WHOOSH!

One hunter disappeared. Then another. Then a third, pulled to safer platforms one after another. But several teams stood too far from any marker.

Lily checked the map, jaw tight. "Three teams are cut off."

"Can we reach them?" Kai asked.

Elden shook his head. "The ground between us is already unstable."

"Then we need another route," Mira said.

Nobody had one. The molten ground kept spreading, swallowing more distance with every passing second.

Raze looked toward the trapped hunters, standing on a shrinking island of solid stone, molten earth pressing in from every side.

"There’s no way through!" one of them shouted.

"We’re trapped!" another called.

Raze stayed quiet, gripping his greatsword tighter. He thought about the technique he’d been building in secret for weeks, tested, failed, adjusted, tested again. Not perfect. Not something he could throw around freely.

But maybe enough.

He smiled slowly. "...Guess we’re testing it for real."

He stepped forward.

Mira noticed immediately. "Raze?"

He didn’t answer, raising the greatsword instead, mana gathering around the blade in a way that didn’t look like any attack he’d used before. The weapon grew heavier in his grip, the air around it starting to vibrate.

"Come on..." he muttered, pulling the sword back, arms trembling under the strain. "I’ve been working on this—" the energy compressed further, denser with every second, "—for a while."

He swung.

"Earthbreaker — Grand Cleave!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The attack tore across the battlefield, the earth splitting apart under the force, molten terrain shoved violently to either side. A long stretch of solid ground appeared, connecting the trapped hunters straight to the safe zone.

Everyone froze.

One hunter stared. "...He made a road."

Another turned toward him. "Raze!"

"MOVE!" he shouted.

They ran, one after another, boots pounding across the unstable new path while molten earth pressed against its edges. Unstable. Narrow. But real.

Mira understood immediately. "He didn’t stop the Burning Earth."

Kai watched the last hunter clear the path. "He doesn’t need to." He smiled. "He gave us a way through it."

The hunters made it across. Raze lowered his sword, breathing hard, sweat running down his temple. Mira approached. "Can you do it again?"

He looked at the blade. "...Yes." A pause. "Probably."

She sighed. "That’s not reassuring."

"It’s honest," he said, grinning.

Kai arrived a moment later. "What’s the limit?"

Raze’s expression sobered. "The technique needs time to charge." He looked at the wreckage he’d left behind. "And it burns through a lot of mana." He pointed at the molten ground. "Plus, if there’s nothing solid enough to split, the attack won’t create much of a path."

Kai nodded. "So it’s not something we can spam."

"No." Raze smiled, hefting the sword. "But if we need a path—" he raised it slightly, "—I can make one."

Lily was already pulling his combat data across her console, eyes brightening fast. "Wait."

Elden looked over. "What?"

She pointed at the map, at the disconnected sections of the city still glowing orange. "Raze doesn’t need to fight the disaster." She traced the isolated zones with her finger. "We can use his attack to create temporary routes."

Elden’s eyes widened. "Then move the mobile relays through them."

"Exactly," Lily said.

"And evacuate hunters through the same path," Mira added.

Kai smiled. "Do it."

Raze looked between all of them. "...So I’m infrastructure now?"

Mira laughed. "Temporary infrastructure."

He sighed dramatically. "I’ve always wanted to be a road."

Kai laughed outright.

Another district began collapsing a short while later, another group of hunters trapped, and this time everyone already knew what to do.

"Raze!" Mira called over the network. "District Five needs a path!"

He was already moving. "On it."

A chunk of ground erupted ahead of him, and he jumped clear. Another erupted, and he Air Stepped across the gap, landing hard, boots hitting solid stone.

He raised his sword. "Again."

Grand Cleave tore the earth open, and hunters rushed through the new corridor while a mobile relay carrier followed close behind.

Lily watched the signal update on her console. "Relay connected."

"Perfect," Elden said, smiling.

The route began closing behind the last runner, walls of molten earth sliding inward, but the relay had already cleared it, the path collapsing a heartbeat too late to matter.

Then another call came through. "District Eight!"

Raze looked toward the new alert. "...Again?"

"You’re our best option," Mira said.

He grinned. "Now that’s what I wanted to hear."

He kept going after that. One path. Then two. Then three, each one taking more out of him than the last, his breathing growing heavier, his arms starting to shake with every swing. By the fourth, his whole body visibly struggled against the weight of the technique.

Kai noticed immediately. "Raze."

"I’m fine."

"You’re running out of mana."

"I know," Raze said, smiling anyway.

Kai looked toward the trapped hunters waiting on the far side of the newest collapse.

Raze followed his gaze. "But they aren’t."

Kai said nothing.

Raze raised the sword again. "So one more."

[Burning Earth Duration: 5:07.]

Halfway. The city sat heavily damaged, whole districts already sacrificed to keep the network standing, but the elevated system was still functioning and hunter survival remained high.

"We survived the first half," Lily said, some of the tension easing from her shoulders.

Elden shook his head. "Don’t say survived yet."

She glanced at him. "Why?"

He pointed at the map, at the orange zones spreading wider with every passing minute. "The second half is going to hit harder."

The southern district lit up entirely a short while later, glowing bright orange all at once.

Kai’s head snapped toward it. "...Everyone move."

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The earth exploded outward, a massive section of the district collapsing in one violent motion. Three hunter teams found themselves cut off at once, their platforms already beginning to crack apart beneath them.

Mira’s voice cut through immediately. "Raze!"

He looked over, saw them stranded across the widening gap, and gripped his sword tighter.

"...Right."

He ran.

This path needed to be bigger than anything he’d made yet, and he could feel it the moment he reached the edge, the distance stretching farther than any previous gap. Mira’s voice came through again, sharp with warning.

"Raze, don’t overdo it!"

He didn’t answer, raising the sword as mana gathered around the blade, more than before, his whole body starting to tremble under the weight of it. The blade itself vibrated violently in his grip.

"Come on..." he muttered through gritted teeth.

The hunters behind him watched, one whispering, "Is he going to do it again?"

His eyes sharpened. "Earthbreaker..." The energy condensed to its densest point yet. "Grand Cleave!"

He swung.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A gigantic path tore straight through the burning earth, wider and longer than every previous one combined. The trapped hunters bolted the instant it opened, sprinting across the unstable new ground.

But something was different this time.

The molten earth surged inward from both sides at once, the path closing far faster than it ever had before.

Mira saw it first. "Raze!"

The hunters were still only halfway across. Raze looked at the walls of molten earth pressing in, his breathing ragged, his hands trembling from everything he’d already spent. He knew he couldn’t manage another full Grand Cleave, not immediately, not with what he had left.

But the hunters weren’t safe yet.

He gripped his sword tighter. "Keep moving!"

They sprinted harder, the gap shrinking with every stride. Five meters. Three. Two.

Raze stepped into the center of the collapsing path and drove his sword into the ground, planting himself directly between the two hunters still crossing and the molten earth closing in on both sides.

Kai’s voice cut across the chaos. "Raze!"

He looked back and grinned. "I’ve got it."

[Burning Earth Duration: 6:17.]

The molten earth reached the edge of the path. Raze raised his sword, arms shaking violently under the strain, and didn’t move an inch.

"Nobody gets left behind."

The molten earth closed in around him.