A man shot through the forest of the Phenex territory like a bullet.
Adrien's wings flapped once, and his body launched forward at incredible speed. He cut through the air, leaving sonic boom after sonic boom behind him.
He had been searching for it for a full day without stopping, and he still hadn't found anything. Not even a trace of the Phoenix.
Adrien floated high above the old Phenex territory, his arms crossed as he looked down at the land beneath him. From above, it looked painfully normal.
"Where the fuck is it?" Adrien muttered, his eye twitching slightly. "How did that old fart even find it in the first place?"
He slowly turned in the air, scanning the entire area again.
"The book said, beyond the burning cliffs and the old volcanic caves," he said to himself. "But this territory is plain as fuck. There ain't volcanic shit anywhere."
He stared at the land below him.
Then his expression changed. "Wait…"
The old territory was normal now, but that didn't mean it had always been normal. Adrien looked down at the ground beneath him.
"Nah…" he muttered. "No way, right?"
Then he dropped from the sky and landed lightly on the ground.
Adrien closed his eyes. His demonic energy moved inward first, then spread through his body . From there, he sent it down into the earth like thin invisible threads, pushing it deeper and deeper beneath the ground. He was trying ton use it as sensory threads.
Suddenly, something touched it. Adrien's eyes snapped open.
"It's fucking humongous," he muttered. "It can't be the Phoenix, right?"
Adrien gathered energy in his hand, forming it into a ball. He continued pouring energy into it, condensing it several times over until the sphere pulsed violently in his palm.
Then he blasted the ground with it. The energy blast tore vertically through the earth, destroying the ground beneath him as it drilled deeper and deeper. The beam continued downward, ripping through layers of stone and soil until it finally broke through the bottom and kept going.
Immediately, a massive wave of energy pressure exploded out of the hole Adrien had created and spread throughout the entire area.
Adrien jumped in the hole he had created, he continued going down for around half a minute then got out of the whole that he torn.
"Is is this the nether in Minecraft or what..."
The cavern stretched endlessly into the darkness, it was a hellish underground world lit by rivers of molten lava and towering streams of fire that poured from the ceiling like burning waterfalls. Jagged black stone formed cliffs, bridges, and broken platforms across the landscape, while the air shimmered with heat and ash.
Suddenly, a massive creature burst out of the smoke and slammed into Adrien with terrifying force. Its claws wrapped around his body like iron hooks, squeezing tight before dragging him through the burning air.
"Shit!"
Adrien barely had time to react before the creature carried him straight into one of the cavern's towering stone pillars. His back crashed into the rock, and the impact echoed through the entire underground world. Cracks spread across the pillar like lightning before the creature forced him through the other side, breaking it apart completely.
Dust and broken stone exploded everywhere. Huge chunks of rock fell into the sea of lava below, disappearing into the molten surface with loud hissing sounds.
"Cough! Cough!"
Adrien coughed as dust entered his nose and throat. His body had taken the full force of the hit, and pain spread through his ribs and shoulders, but it wasn't enough to seriously damage him. He gritted his teeth and forced his eyes open, even as the creature kept dragging him forward.
The beast let out a deep, savage growl and aimed straight for the cavern wall, clearly planning to smash him into it next.
Before the creature could reach the wall, Adrien twisted his body just enough to free one arm. Demonic energy rushed into his fist he slammed it into the claw holding him with brutal force. A sharp crack rang through the cavern as the creature's limb buckled from the impact, its grip instantly loosening. The beast roared in pain, losing control of its flight as Adrien tore himself free and dropped through the smoky air, his wings spreading wide before the lava could swallow him.
Adrien shot upward through the smoke, his wings cutting through the heated air as he finally got a clear look at the beast.
It was a massive bird, with charcoal-black feathers covering its body and ember-like eyes burning through the haze. Its wings spread wide, stirring the smoke and ash around it.
The bird adjusted its flight with frightening speed. Then, with a sharp cry that echoed through the cavern, it folded its wings slightly and shot downward toward Adrien again, diving like a burning arrow.
Before Adrien could meet its charge, the sea of lava below suddenly erupted.
Several gigantic tentacles burst out of the molten surface, easily three meters in diameter. Lava rolled off their bodies in burning streams as they twisted through the air. One of them shot straight toward Adrien, trying to wrap around him and drag him down into the molten sea.
In the same instant, Adrien vanished from his position and appeared directly above the giant bird, his body surrounded by a flicker of demonic energy.
"Are you guys tryna jump me?"
A massive sphere of condensed, rotating energy formed in his hand. It spun violently, the pressure around it warping the air as Adrien raised his arm.
Adrien dropped down and slammed the attack straight into the beast. The ball of energy tore through its body with a thunderous impact, sending a shockwave through the cavern and scattering ash in every direction.
The giant Rasengan tore through the bird's body, the rotating force crushing most of its inner bones from the impact alone.
"Yeah," Adrien muttered, watching the creature lose control of its wings. "It's not as deadly as Dismantle, but it has its uses."
The Bird dropped from the air like a broken shadow, its massive body crashing into the sea of lava below. Then one of the gigantic tentacles rose from beneath the lava.
It wrapped around the bird's body and dragged it down without hesitation. The lava swallowed it completely, leaving behind only a few ripples of molten fire.
'The beasts here have the same energy as the lava… so is the lava itself a beast? Kind of like the Dark Sea in Shadow Slave? It could be. Why else would it have energy?'
Before he could think further, several more tentacles exploded from the lava and shot toward him from different angles. Each one moved with terrifying speed, trying to trap him in the air.
Adrien weaved between them smoothly, twisting his body and vanishing from one spot to another before they could catch him. The tentacles slammed into each other and into the cavern walls, sending chunks of black stone falling into the molten sea below.
Adrien reappeared above a large cliff made of jagged black rock and landed lightly on its edge.
"I thought the Phoenix attacked me," he said, clicking his tongue. "But it was just an Ashwing Vulture."
Adrien stared down at the tentacles twisting above the molten sea. "Should I bring another kraken home? Michael-Angelo is probably bored all alone…" He paused, then tilted his head. "But should I take the lava with me too?"
As if the creature understood him, the tentacles suddenly froze.
Then, one by one, they retreated back into the lava, sinking beneath the molten surface until the sea became almost still again.
Adrien's body tensed slightly as the heat in the cave began to rise.
Bubbles started erupting across the lava, small at first, then they became larger and more violent. A second later, a massive pillar of lava shot into the air, lighting up the cavern in a blinding orange glow.