Chapter 80 – The Invisible Pulse.

The third shelf of the Volcanic Glass Gorges sank the expedition into a territory where rock ceased being solid, turning into a thin crust over rivers of black magma.

The chasm walls were no longer ordinary stone; they were gigantic blades of translucent obsidian reflecting the red glow of sulfur pits in a thousand distorted angles. Heat at the bottom of the canyon easily passed fifty degrees, making the air shimmer like hot oil in a frying pan.

Diana walked in front, her long frock coat of black leather open for ventilation over her Dragon Chestplate.

The Commander's posture seemed the same as always: shoulders aligned, measured strides, her right hand rested on her black steel dagger's hilt. Her orders through the last three turns of the trail had been swift, precise, and without the slightest sign of doubt.

However, behind the flawless composure Diana maintained for the squad, something was profoundly wrong.

***

It had all begun about two hours ago, right after crossing the first black glass bridge on the third shelf.

At first, it was merely a soft tingling in the tips of her fingers, something Diana attributed to the excessive heat of molten silica. But as the group advanced and she channeled her Intelligence 151 spells, the tingling transformed into a dull, hot, rhythmic pulsation pounding in the depths of her ribcage, right where the Fragment of Greed rested in her soul.

Every ten steps, a sharp pang of pressure compressed her temples, as though her brain were attempting to process ten thousand more magic variables than her Level 36 skull could accommodate.

—I warned you in the office last night, Diana…

The System's voice echoed in her mind, not in mockery, but with a solemn, vigilant black-gold resonance.

—Your Intelligence and your near-thousand mana pool are pulling your soul toward Level 40 way too fast. Your physical vessel is still Level 36. What you're feeling isn't exhaustion, it's the friction of spiritual expansion before class recalibration.

Diana gripped her dagger hilt tightly, gritting her teeth in the back of her mouth so not a single face muscle gave away the spike of pain.

I am perfectly stable. Diana replied mentally with stubborn coldness. Only one sector left to the rift Boss. We are not stopping now.

—Stubborn as always… The System sighed. Just regulate your cast flow. If you try channeling three high-tier spells at once with your channels swollen like this, your vision will go dark mid-combat.

***

The System's warning was put to the test in the next hall.

The trail opened into a wide black glass plateau surrounded by magma geysers. From inside three incandescent fissures crawled four ten-meter-long Volcanic Glass Vipers (Level 40), accompanied by two titanic Black Lava Golems (Level 39).

The vipers shot across the stone in zigzags, their obsidian scales grating like shattered glass as they spat continuous jets of thermal acid into the air.

“Kael, containment on the left golem! Seraphina, the right golem is for the Titan!” Diana commanded.

Her voice came out crisp and firm, but there was a fraction of a second lag in her breathing that Kael and Rhea, accustomed to their leader's surgical precision, caught in the exact same millisecond.

Kael slammed his Volcanic Shield into the obsidian ground backed by his 870 HP POINTS, activating [Iron Taunt] and pinning the first golem in the center of the arena.

Seraphina summoned the [Level 37 Quartz Titan] on the right flank, binding the second monster with rock hands.

Rhea turned into a silver trail with Agility 103. The wolf girl blinked through [Phantom Step], severing the first viper's tail with her Dragon Daggers in a six-hundred-damage critical slash.

Diana stepped forward to execute the central mob.

She raised both open hands, channeling eighty mana points.

ARCANE STORM ORB + ARCANE ICE LANCE!

The electric storm and colossal stake of piercing ice exploded on the chests of the three remaining vipers, stunning the creatures and shattering their black glass carapaces into a monumental rain of glowing fragments.

The magic destruction was devastating. The Level 40 monsters were eliminated in the exact same second.

But in the millisecond Intelligence 151 mana left her hands, a violent wave of dizziness and internal heat swept Diana's brain.

Her peripheral vision flashed black and white for a second. Her legs faltered half a centimeter, and Diana had to rest her left hand against the chasm's hot basalt wall for three full seconds to keep from staggering, pulling dry air with her chest heaving heavily.

***

Combat concluded, but the alert feeling on the plateau didn't dissolve.

Rhea slid across the gravel with the speed of a shadow, halting half a meter from Diana.

The wolf girl's silver ears were flattened at a tense angle of genuine concern. Her amber pupils inspected the Commander's pale face, moving down her sweaty temples and resting on Diana's left hand, which quivered almost imperceptibly against the stone.

Rhea took a step closer, bringing her face near Diana's shoulder, sniffing the air with her sharp beast senses.

“Diana…” Rhea said in a low whisper, her voice filled with anxious disquiet. “Your heart is beating in an erratic rhythm. And your skin smells like burnt mana… Are you in pain?”

Diana slowly pulled her hand off the wall, straightening her spine, pulling the flask of fresh water from her belt and taking a long swig before answering.

“It's the chasm's heat, Rhea.” Diana said, her voice level, trying to sound as distant and professional as possible. “The temperature here on the third shelf passed fifty degrees. Anyone would have heavy breathing after channeling two destruction spells.”

Kael approached the formation with his shield on his back, wiping soot from his helmet visor, looking at Diana with doubt in his brown eyes.

Aurelia-Elysia took two steps forward, raising her Mana Crystal Staff with 790 mana points, ready to act. “Commander… if you want, I can cast a [Cellular Restoration] on your chest. Your breathing seemed locked up on that last blast.”

“My mana reserve is at eight hundred points, Aurelia.” Diana declined the offer with a firm hand wave, stashing the canteen. “Save your mana for the sector boss. I am perfectly operational.”

Seraphina observed the scene from the corner of the plateau, adjusting her round glasses.

The young summoner said nothing, but her academic eyes caught the detail the others missed: Diana had stayed leaning against the rock far too long after the blast, and the way the Commander pressed her thumb into the side of her temple showed that the headache didn't stem from ambient heat, but from deep internal magic pressure.

No one in the squad knew exactly what was going on. Diana wouldn't admit weakness even under torture. But everyone in the group felt that their leader was carrying a silent weight in her chest.

***

Rhea gathered the magma cores and obsidian scales dropped by the Level 40 monsters.

With the +30% Commander's Loot bonus, the harvest yielded another 14 Pure Silver Coins and four fragments of high-purity volcanic glass core.

The accumulated balance in the faction vault adjusted to 334 Silver Coins (33.4 Gold Coins) untouched.

Diana turned toward the end of the plateau, where the trail descended toward a grand natural arch of incandescent obsidian marking the entrance to the Volcanic Glass Gorges' final chamber.

The dull pulse behind her eyes didn't subside; on the contrary, it seemed to accelerate as she neared the Level 40 Boss's lair.

Greed's anomalous soul was pressing the limits of her mortal body.

Diana squeezed her black steel dagger's hilt so hard her knuckles turned white, taking her first step toward the furnace's heat with a dark, unshakeable gaze.

She wouldn't stop. The Level 40 barrier was right ahead, and the Arcane Greed Faction pressed forward on its march.

Final Notes:

Diana is starting to have problems... hehehe