Chapter 119
Dvořák's hooves were trembling constantly, as if he wanted to run away. Virgil almost fell off and couldn't explain to Sylas. He had to calm down Dvořák first, saying, "Easy there, old friend. Haven't you seen this before? It's not too scary. We'll get on it later!"
Get on it?
As they spoke, a long crack in the sky suddenly opened up. A dim yellow light came from the other side, but it was soon blocked by something. The crack quickly widened, and a sturdy stone pillar emerged from the void. Then, a larger object squeezed out as well.
Oh my. Sylas looked up, too surprised to even gasp. It was a tremendously huge Stone Giant, with a body as big as a small mountain. It was even covered in grass and had small trees growing on it.
It was even as tall as Aimekotes.
Teacher!
She suddenly jumped off Earth Child and ran towards where Xerath had disappeared, afraid that Xerath would be stepped on or something.
But Xerath was no longer in the same spot. She looked around in panic and finally fixed her gaze on the Stone Giant.
Hey! Big guy! Where have you taken Xerath!
Everything she said was in ancient Saiti language. If the elements understood, they could only choose this language or the more complex Elven language.
The stone figure seemed to suddenly see her, reaching out towards her direction and half-kneeling down.
This was frightening! The stones on its body made a sharp and ear-piercing sound due to friction, reaching towards Sylas's thick stone arm. They kept chipping away and after being hit, she instinctively created a ripple, causing the stones to fall and hit the water curtain. The ripples interacted with each other, immediately making the water curtain completely opaque.
How could they attack such a big Stone Giant...!
When the "hand" reached out, Sylas ran and remembered Elvis. How much magic would it take to burn a stone person? She thought and then said to herself, "I have to try." So she stood still, let the water ball wrap around the stone, and then froze it quickly, as if putting an ice barrier on its hand.
The barrier cooled rapidly at her command. The stone person shook its hand, but then Leunen appeared from behind her and shouted loudly, "Excuse me, miss, please step aside!"
Sylas placed both hands on the empty space, and a magic circle appeared in the void. The force of counterthrust made her quickly move away from her previous position.
Suddenly, sparks burst out from the water lord's body, and small sparks continuously overflowed with magma, like a Fire Lord stretching lazily, but with a difference - more furious, more restless. It seemed to be struggling to break free from the prison that imprisoned it, with a skull-like head and its mouth wide open, sticking to the stone person's hand.
The frozen and scorching magma easily broke its hand. The mountain-like arm shattered, more stones fell down, all melted by this strange fire offspring made of lava.
The giant's hand suddenly lifted, trying hard to shake off the lump of magma. The deep roar brought immense pressure to the eardrums.
Leunen! What is that?
Do you mean this big guy? It's a Mountain Giant. How could a Mountain Giant appear here?
"Sylas, what have you done!" Xerath appeared from behind the giant, floating down from mid-air with two huge golden feathers on her back, her white cloak fluttering in the wind, and her scarf swaying.
Teacher? Are you okay? That's great!
Why did you attack it? What is this? Where did the lava fire child come from? Virgil!
Virgil is riding Pegasus, dodging stones that occasionally fall down. Hyectra sets up a huge semi-spherical water shield to cover them.
"Sylas？"
I... I saw it reaching out to me and I thought it was going to attack me, so...
Xerath sighed and smiled, "But I summoned it. Didn't you see me use the summoning spell?"
Sylas anxiously explained, "But when it ran out, I thought it was going to attack you! It stomped over..." She stretched out two hands to show a huge shape, then stomped on the ground forcefully. "It was too dangerous! Besides, aren't there wizards who summon demons but end up being devoured by the demons?"
Xerath placed her hand on Sylas's shoulder to calm her down and chuckled, "Being devoured by demons happened because the contract spells were not complete, leaving loopholes for the demons. Nowadays, wizards won't make such mistakes anymore. Those are stories from thousands of years ago. Alright, alright, let me appease it."
The angry stone giant is attacking the water ball. Hyectra turns her face towards Xerath and says, "Oh, ma'am, these big-headed brutes hurt when they hit. You'd better be quick."
The Mountain Giant was just a big Earth Child, far from being a Land Lord. The Lords' powers were on a different level, so as a Water Lord, Hyectra didn't really worry about such attacks.
To Sylas's surprise, Xerath also summoned lava and fire first. All the crumbling rocks floated around her and flew into the lava. The Stone Giant's arm section was melted, and a sticky, dark gray but fiery magma stuck to the previous spot. She said to the Stone Giant, "'Please finish the rest of the repair yourself.'"
The Mountain Giant was no longer angry or furious, it focused on shaping the blob of magma to its satisfaction.
What is this... What is this?
Xerath turned her head and said smugly, "Magma Restoration Magic, it works especially well on Mountain Giants. They are not as afraid of magma, but the repaired spots become igneous rocks. Alright, let's go up."
After she finished speaking, she waved to Virgil.
The hand of the Mountain Giant was still emitting white vapor. It switched to another hand and Xerath led everyone to climb onto its arm, walking all the way up to its shoulder, and then sat on Hyectra's back.
Dvořák was crouching in a strange position, looking very nervous. Virgil comforted it, saying, "Don't be like this! It's fine! You have been up here, right? Okay, stand here, and you can step on these spots to maintain balance when it shakes."
He was referring to a stone hollow that looked just big enough for a person or a horse to fit in, so that the giant wouldn't wobble when walking. Dvořák stepped into it, while blowing hot air towards Virgil.
Alright, alright, you're a Pegasus, you have wings, you won't fall and die!
Dvorak lifted his front hooves, while Virgil dodged left and right.
Leunen also rolled Sylas onto himself, imitating Hyectra, who used water-like tentacles to coil around protrusions on the rock surface.
Virgil fastened himself to an Earth Child lent to him by Xerath. The Earth Child sprouted "roots" and deeply rooted itself in the "ground", which everyone knew was the shoulder of the Mountain Giant.
"It looks like a... dwarf made of iron? The biggest kind," Sylas said.
Yes, an iron dwarf. I'm glad you can match it with a creature you've only read about in books.
Everything was fresh and new. Sylas looked around, Xerath leaned out, and Leunen, who noticed their movements, moved closer to Hyectra. They could even undulate their bodies to bring the two closer together—they were truly considerate caretakers.
Xerath grabbed Sylas's hand and said, "Let's start moving."
As they spoke, the ground shook beneath their feet. Leunen and Hyectra held onto each other tightly, and Leunen was so tense that he was on the verge of forming a barrier— the next step was to create ice on his body surface.
The Mountain Giant started to move. Because it was so tall, it made large movements and shook a lot.
Everyone stayed silent, listening to the Mountain Giant move step by step through the sand sea.
Teacher... is this how a mage moves in the desert?
The sun rose from the east and set in the west. Now, the sunlight shone from behind, casting everyone's face in shadow. No matter how they tried, they couldn't see the faces in the darkness caused by the strong contrast of the light. This disappointed Sylas. She couldn't catch a glimpse of Xerath's face anymore.
Every time the mountain shook, Sylas would anxiously hold on tight to Xerath, while the archmage silently reassured her.
Yes, but it's too conspicuous when it walks. It's usually only used in the desert.
Virgil leaned against the sleeping Earth Child. "Hmm, did the esteemed archmage once control eight Mountain Giants at the same time and carry eight pillars to the depths of the desert to lay the foundation for a portal? I wonder if the mages who went with her to install the portal were scared to death."
They weren't that fragile. Sylas, I'm very interested in your thinking when you attacked it. What were you thinking?
Sylas sheepishly smiled. "Because I suddenly remembered that Elvis is afraid of water. Even though the water would just evaporate, why would he still be afraid of it?"
Did it explain to you?
Sylas nodded, "Of course, it said that it becomes brittle after being splashed with water and breaks easily, which is very painful."
Yes, it is a lava Fire Lord. There are also pure gaseous Fire Lords, but there are not many left now. Since they are in a gaseous state, they cannot catch food and can only rely on spells to control. Therefore, there are not many of them working as chefs.
I want to freeze it first and then burn it with fire. Isn't this the method ancient humans used to dig caves?
Yes, you're right. So how did that ball of fire appear? I couldn't see it clearly.
Sylas smiled and said, "That was from Leunen."
Leunen proudly spat out a diamond-shaped stone from its chest. After a while, sparks and flames started to emerge from the stone, followed by molten lava. Leunen quickly pushed it back in and rubbed it together with a transparent crystal suspended in its body. The black stone cooled down, restored its diamond shape, and rotated silently in its chest.
"This is a fragment belonging to the 'Ash Lord' Flamestrom. We can't put it back, so I have sealed it with my body. Look, I have also infused many solid water crystals to suppress its activity." Solid water crystals are pure water elemental crystals that only occur deep in the Endless Water Realm.
