Volume 1 Chapter 21 the Peak of Infernal Mountain

Chapter 21 the Peak of Infernal Mountain

I

The four had arrived at the peak of the mountain, where stood an eerie building.

This building looked creepy and dark. Built of grey stones, this place looked like an evil fortresses. Decorated on the roof of the building were some roughly carved gargoyles, which stared at the intruders as a warning.

There were pinnacles built on the top of the architecture, which cut into the sky. Pointed arches could be seen on the wall, within which, however, were no windows at all. Some strange symbols were embossed on the wall, which looked like human skulls.

Above this building a small necroplane was hovering. Clearly, Master Mortis drove the necroplane here in order to guard here in case Aislina dropped the Cube of Necrus into the lava.

Without a shadow of doubt, Master Mortis had already figured out their plan of destroying the Cube of Necrus with the lava of this Infernal Mountain.

Therefore, Master Mortis was waiting for them inside this building, but they had no other choices, because there were no other caves on this mountain, and this building must be the easiest way to access the lava inside this volcano.

Obviously, it was a bad idea to break into this building through the front door. However, to their surprise, there wasn’t a single window on the wall of this whacky building at all. Therefore, they had to look for another way.

Starsha walked towards the wall, the lunarite dagger held in her hands, glowing under the starlight. This dagger was sharp and cutting the wall was as easy as cutting a cake when using it.

Firstly, she drew a circle on the wall with her dagger, kicked the circle with force, and a hole to go inside the building was made.

The adventurers went inside the building through the hole and found themselves standing in a prisoner’s room, inside which an old prisoner was locked. He was dishevelled and dirty. His expression was completely twisted and there were nothing but madness on his face.

Upon seeing the adventurers, he got up to his feet and there was a flash of excitement running through his eyes.

“Good evening, friends!” greeted that crazy prisoner.

“Wait, who’re you! What is this place?” probed Starsha.

“Welcome to the Infernal Prison, my friends. My name is Ravelino and welcome to my prison room!” exclaimed the prisoner.

“This place is a prison? So you’re a criminal here?” questioned Starsha.

“Bingo, kids! I am a criminal, and I am one of the most famous criminal in this world! Because I used to be the archdruid of …” bragged the prisoner.

“No way! You’re Archdruid Ravelino, You’re still alive! I know you! You’ve been put into this prison because you have organized several terrorist attacks against Normanian government …” screamed Starsha.

“Great! Seemingly you’ve heard of me. I am Archdruid Ravelino, the defender of druidism, the greatest terrorist in Normania! In order to protect nature, I’ve kill hundreds of …” intoned Archdruid Ravelino.

“In fact, we’re criminals too,” Starsha smiled.

“What have you done?” questioned Archdruid Ravelino curiously.

“We’ve stolen the Cube of Necrus,” answered Starsha.

“Oh wonderful! You’re going to melt the cube in the lava of this Infernal Mountain, aren’t you?” queried Archdruid Ravelino.

“How do you know it?” asked Starsha.

“I know many things, because Master Mortis is here! That creepy old guy always talks to himself! Do you know why they choose to build the prison here instead of other places?” replied Archdruid Ravelino.

“We don’t know, can you tell us why?” responded Starsha.

“The reason is simple! This place lies at the very peak of the mountain! Even if someone escaped, he or she would not be able to run far away, and in the vast wilderness without trees, those escapers can be easy found and captured. Besides, anyone who is sentenced to death will be thrown into the Well to Hell,” explained Archdruid Ravelino.

“The Well to Hell? What is that?” queried Starsha.

“As its name suggests, it’s a well, and what makes it special is that at the bottom of the hell is the lava from the core of this volcano!” drawled Archdruid Ravelino.

“Show us the way there, please,” begged Starsha.

“I can help you, but you shall help me get rid of this cage first!” demanded Archdruid Ravelino.

Starsha began to research the lock on the wall. Taking out and striking the tuning fork, she let the soundwave fill the inner structure of the lock. The soundwave was reflected inside the lock and finally received by Starsha’s ear.

After figuring out the inner structure of the lock, Starsha took out a small metal stick, inserted it into the lock and opened it.

“Umm … It’s impressive! I wish I could unlock the doors too. If I have this ability, I can sneak into rooms of anyone that I’d like to kill. That must be funny,” muttered Archdruid Ravelino.

“So how can I go to the Well to Hell?” inquired Floria.

“That door leads to the Well to Hell,” answered Archdruid Ravelino, his finger pointing to the door located at the end of the corridor.

“Thank you,” expressed Floria.

“You’re …”

Before Archdruid Ravelino’s sounds broke off, his body commenced to burn in a flame of demonic blue fire and turned into cremains.

“Master Mortis…” murmured Aislina.

The four looked back, standing behind them was Master Mortis.

“I’ve been studying Archdruid Ravelino’s psychological status for years and now I’ve nearly seen through him so that he has no use to me now. Anyway, it’s really nice to see you four naughty kids again, give me the Cube of Necrus, and I’ll spare your life. I know you have beaten Sir Bellum, Doctor Plague and Professor Fames, but I am not like them. They three are weak and small, but I am not and I have the power beyond your comprehension, so give up!” hissed Master Mortis.

“Though you’re powerful, you’re outnumbered,” Aislina pointed out.

“I am outnumbered, really? The delta variant of necrovirus has given me endless power, and using this power, I can turn the dead ones into my soldier. In the past, this prison sentenced people to death by throwing them into the lava, which was in fact wasteful, but now I sentenced them to death by burning them with my necromantic fire,” smirked Master Mortis.

He pulled a lever on the wall, triggered by which, hundreds of corpses fell from the second floor through the ceiling. They piled on the ground, giving off horrible decaying smell.

“Are those all corpses?” questioned Aislina, her face twisted in disgust..

“Bingo, elf girl. Those are the corpses of the criminals. They dare to destroy the order and discipline of the world of humans, so I punished them, burned them, and now I will turn them into my soldiers with my power granted by the necrovirus!” sneezed Master Mortis.

He snapped his finger and that pile of corpses commenced to catch fire. The fire devoured the flesh of the corpses and turned them into burning skeletons. After seconds the fire died but the skeletons lived. With their eyes glowing, they stood up to their feet and charged towards the adventurers.

Starsha and the siblings commenced to fight those skeletons, while Aislina started to fight Master Mortis. She knew that Master Mortis’ power was far beyond hers, therefore, rather than go head to head with Master Mortis, she planned to try a more subtle approach.

She held out her right hand, above which grew a giant luminous flower. She then pointed this magical flower at Master Mortis, aiming at him as if it were a gun.

Master Mortis thought that it was the spore bolt which she used to destroy the mace of Sir Bellum, and thus he looked at his nemesis defensively. However, it was just a trick, because what came out of the flower was not spores but a cloud of mist comprised of pollens which filled the air and blocked the eyes of Master Morits.

Aislina could see through the mist, while Master Mortis couldn’t. She started to shoot dart-like leaves towards Master Mortis, who shot back with ghost fire ball.

However, Master Mortis couldn’t see where Aislina was, so he was only able to judge her position by where the magical leaves she shot came from, which was a unreliable way.

The leaves of Aislina was hurting Master Mortis. He was bleeding with black blood streaming down his face, chest and other wounds all over his body. Irritated by Aislina’s mist, Master Mortis calmed down and absorbed himself in the obscene energy that flew inside his mutant genes.

He could feel the source of his waves of energy. Roaring like mad, a burst of dark energy exploded from Master Mortis, which swept away all the mists summoned by Aislina.

Aislina stared at Master Mortis in horror and in the right hand of the latter flashed some blue light of ghastly fire, which turned into a giant bone spur. He tossed the bone spur towards Aislina’s heart. Luckily, Aislina parried the bone spur with her forearm, but the it pierced through her skin, veins and meat.

Blood began to burst out of her forearm.

With flames of ghost fire burning in his hand, he started to use his power to burn Aislina into ashes and destroyed her for good.

At that moment, the skeletons were nearly cleansed by Yanni, Floria and Starsha, because although there were a great amount of those skeletons, they were weak in fact. After all the skeletons were neutralized, they noticed that Aislina was in danger.

There were a horrible aura given off by Master Mortis. The light began to disappear and materialized darkness started to fill this corridor. Although Master Mortis’ hand was burning, the temperature commenced to go down and there were even shards of frost appearing on the walls.

And the focus of those energy was Aislina. All of the wicked energy rushed towards her, in an attempt to tear her into fragments of bloody corpses.

Aislina closed her eyes, waiting for her death. Her hand is bleeding, and she felt too painful to concentrate herself to cast any magical spells. Therefore, she knew that it was impossible for her to survive this.

She could feel the evil energic wave sweeping past her. However, she felt nothing, as if the wicked energy didn’t affect her at all. She opened her eyes, and found out that the reason she survived was Yanni, who used his shield to parry Master Mortis’ attack.

The demonic energy of Master Mortis was like a grand tidal wave treading on Yanni’s shield. The shield was glowing, and the lunarite that composed it was absorbing all the magical power emanated by Master Mortis.

Floria shot an arrow towards Master Mortis in aid of Yanni and Aislina, but Master Mortis was emanating such a strong wave of energy that when the arrow arrived near Master Mortis, it dropped on the ground, knocked off by the power that Master Mortis gave off.

Without a shadow of doubt, Yanni’s shield had limitations too. Soon the energy absorbed by it had reached its maximum and like water overflowing out of its bottle, the energy of necrology was overflowing out of the shield, tearing it and destroying it.

To Yanni’s horror, his lunarite shield was rupturing, which was impossible since being stronger than both iron and steel, lunarite was one of the hardest metals in this world.

Master Mortis stopped giving off evil energy, for even he would be tired if he output too much energy. Anyway, he had already done what he wanted to. Yanni’s shield was broken, and Aislina had run out of her magic, soon, he would celebrate his victory.

With a white scythe made of magical bone in his hands, he walked towards Aislina and Yanni as glorious as a demigod who dominated the realm of death.

At this very moment, Starsha charged towards him, as quietly as a cat, and as fast as a galloping leopard. Without noticing the approach of Starsha, Master Mortis was decapitated and his head fell to the floor with black blood streaming out.

“Is he dead?” asked Yanni.

As soon as his sound broke off, a surge of blue energy left Master Mortis’ flesh and began to integrate with the bones which belonged to those fallen skeletons on the scene.

The bones were shaking and without a shadow of doubt, Master Mortis hadn’t died at all and now he was trying to go back to this world by possessing those bones.

“No, definitely not! Run!” shouted Floria.

Before Master Mortis retrieved a new vessel, the adventurers hurried to run towards the door that led to the Well to Hell. Starsha opened the door, behind which was countless stairs going down. Descending the stairs, they soon arrived at a small room, at the centre of which lay the Well to Hell.

The Well to Hell looked like a normal well, but at the bottom of it was burning lava which could melt everything.

Aislina put the Cube of Necrus out of her Pocket Dimension and threw it inside the well. However, when the cube reached the mouth of the well, it stopped in the air and didn’t fall into it. To Aislina’s horror, something even more whacky happened: the cube flew backwards, went up the stairs, and left her sights eventually.

“What has happened, Aislina?” asked Floria, her face briming with fear.

“I don’t know. Something bad has happened …” purred Aislina in despair.

After about half a minute, a creepy figure appeared in the sight of the four. It was like materialized darkness in a humanoid shape wrapped in a robe which resembled the grim reaper’s that usually appeared in paintings and sculptures.

Embedded in the chest of that shadowy figure was the glowing Cube of Necrus, the power of which was not only corrupting the reality, but also penetrating into the spiritual world.

That figure was about three meters tall, towering the four. Even the shadow which was cast under his feet could wrap the four, making them look like nothing in front of the absolute power of wickedness.

“Who are you?” demanded Aislina.

“I am Master Mortis and I have ascended into something grander, as you can see. You’re no match for me at all, kids. Now, I am not only Master Mortis, but also the master of necrology. I have already abandoned my weak mortal body and now I am immortal. I can be a god to rule this world. People will worship me, building shrines and altars for me. They will sacrifice what they love for me, praying for my power to bless their pathetically short and meaningless lives,” bragged Master Mortis, that figure of evilness.

“You’re not a god. You’re just a pathetic merchant who owns a ridiculous factory. No matter how rich and powerful you’re, you will never be happy, because you’re hollow inside. All people that you know are your goons and deputies, none of whom are your friends,” retorted Aislina.

“No, what you said were lies. I will be happy and I am pretty happy right now, because my journey of conquest and domination will never end. First, I will rule this hilarious planet, and then, I will rule this galaxy and finally this universe! I will bring order and civilization to every corner of this universe and I will mould this world as my own will!” smirked Master Mortis.

“You will not succeed!” shouted Aislina.

She tried to concentrate herself. The blood inside her was running drastically and she knew that she was not fighting for some abstract ideas like nature or wilderness. On the contrary, she was fighting for something real, because she was fighting for her friend.

No matter what happened, she would sacrifice everything to protect the ones that she loved.

Suddenly, she felt as if she were connected to a greater power of greenness and nature, all of which in her domination.

She was glowing, floating into the air and illuminating this mirk room with pure green light. She held off her hand and out of her hands erupted the force of nature. Leaves, spores, pollens, and everything else that belonged to the grand power of Life came out of her hand and smashed towards Master Mortis.

Master Mortis, however, was not panicking at all. A burst of necrological energy burst out of the Cube of Necrus, blasting with the energy of Aislina.

Two waves of energy, shadow and light, death and life, were fighting against each other, but though Aislina had reached her maximum. She was still no match for Master Mortis. The necrological energy of Master Mortis swallowed her whole and she started to burn, wrapped in the ghastly flame of Master Mortis.