Kyrian remained motionless at the edge of the gigantic crater of the Great Volcano.

The scorching wind blew violently against his body, making the burned edges of his robe flutter like flags in a storm of fire.

His skin was already reddened by the extreme heat, even with the constant protection of ice Qi circulating beneath his skin like invisible armor.

He observed the waves of magma below.

The lava rose and fell continuously like a furious ocean trapped within the walls of the crater, illuminating the entire environment with an intense red glow that seemed to come from the depths of the earth itself.

Gigantic waves crashed against the inner walls of the volcano, launching incandescent splashes dozens of meters into the air before they fell back into the sea of fire.

The heat was absurd.

Even while constantly using ice Qi to protect his body, Kyrian could still feel his skin burning slightly. It was not exactly pain. It was more like a constant warning that his body was at the limit of what it could withstand.

But his eyes remained fixed on a single point.

On the region where he had seen the red barrier hidden beneath the lava.

Kyrian had already counted the pattern.

Every few seconds, the magma receded slightly during the movement of the waves. It was not a large retreat, perhaps only a few meters, but it was enough to reveal, for less than an instant, the small transparent barrier hidden within the inner wall of the volcano.

And behind it...

That small cave.

The possible entrance to Ming Hai’s tomb.

Kyrian narrowed his eyes as he calculated.

He had no way to measure it precisely, but his body already gave him the instinctive answer. If he simply jumped without preparation, he would die before even reaching the entrance.

The heat at that depth was so intense that even the air would probably burn his lungs.

Kyrian slowly raised his right hand.

Ice Qi began circulating intensely in his palm, condensing into a single point.

Above the lava, dozens of meters below him, an enormous platform of ice instantly appeared in midair.

It was thick, at least half a meter of compact ice, and glowed with a pale blue light that violently contrasted against the red environment.

The very next instant, the ice began to melt.

No. It could not even be called melting.

The platform practically evaporated.

In less than a second, less time than it took Kyrian to blink, the ice transformed into white vapor before it could even stabilize completely.

The remaining fragments fell toward the lava, dissolving into the air before they even touched the surface.

Kyrian silently watched as the last traces disappeared.

His face did not change. His expression remained neutral.

But his brow furrowed slightly.

’The heat is even worse than I imagined.’

Even the ice created by his eyes, that pure ice, denser and more resilient than ordinary ice, could not remain stable in that environment. The conditions were simply too extreme.

Creating platforms all the way to the cave entrance was impossible.

He would need another approach.

Kyrian then returned to observing the distance between the edge and the hidden barrier.

His eyes analyzed every variable with precision bordering on the supernatural.

After a few seconds of mental calculations, he reached a conclusion.

Fifteen seconds.

That was the approximate amount of time it would take to fall to the hidden entrance. Fifteen seconds inside that inferno, fifteen seconds exposed to the most intense heat he had ever faced in his life.

Kyrian remained silent for a long moment.

Then, his eyes moved once more toward the lava.

The problem was not only surviving the heat.

The real problem was the timing.

The entrance only appeared when the waves of magma receded, a period of approximately one and a half seconds every five seconds. If he missed the moment, if his fall was too fast or too slow...

He would fall directly into the lava.

And even using all his strength, not even he would survive that.

His ice armor could protect him from the ambient heat for a few seconds, perhaps more, depending on how many layers he created. But falling directly into that ocean of magma, being submerged in liquid with a temperature of thousands of degrees...

Instant death.

Kyrian continued observing.

The explosions from the distant battle of the four leaders still echoed occasionally from the other side of the volcano. Waves of Qi spread through the air alongside the roars of Spiritual Awakening beasts. The sound was muffled by distance but still perceptible, a reminder that he was not completely alone in the Great Volcano.

But Kyrian ignored it completely.

All his attention was focused on the lava below. On the waves. On the pattern of movement.

The magma receded. The barrier appeared.

Kyrian memorized the rhythm.

An entire minute passed while he remained motionless at the edge, his eyes recording every detail, every variation, every possible unforeseen variable.

Then, finally...

Kyrian blinked. Instantly.

Five layers of condensed ice appeared over his body.

This was not the ordinary ice he used for barriers or temporary armor. It was the same extremely compact and resilient ice he had used during the battle against the Five-Horned Lava Lizard, the one that had resisted the draconic breath for a few precious seconds.

The first layer completely covered his torso, arms, and legs. It was thick, opaque, and glowing with a deep blue light.

The second layer formed over the first, adjusting perfectly like a second skin.

The third. The fourth. And then the fifth came after.

Half of all his Qi disappeared instantly.

The air around him became absurdly cold for a brief moment. White vapor appeared spontaneously, freezing particles of ash in the air. But the heat of the volcano consumed everything again in less than a second.

Kyrian slowly exhaled.

The hot air left his lungs, mixing with the vapor.

Then, he jumped.

Without hesitation. Without extra preparation. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

His body simply launched itself from the edge of the Great Volcano toward the ocean of lava below.

...

The wind exploded around him.

The speed of the fall increased instantly. Kyrian felt his stomach rise, his limbs become lighter, and the air whistling in his ears.

The heat struck Kyrian like a wall.

The armors immediately began hissing violently.

The outer ice, the fifth layer, melted at an absurd speed. Massive amounts of white vapor exploded around his body as he crossed the superheated air currents inside the crater.

Kyrian felt the heat penetrating through the layers of ice. Not completely, the armor still blocked most of it, but enough to make his skin tingle.

He did not panic.

Everything was within his calculations.

Fifteen seconds.

He only needed to survive fifteen seconds.

His eyes remained fixed below.

On the barrier.

On the small opening hidden within the black stone wall.

The waves of lava continued rising and falling violently, indifferent to the small figure descending toward them.

The fifth layer disappeared completely.

The ice melted, and evaporated, leaving behind only vapor.

The heat became even more intense.

Then, the fourth layer began to crack.

Kyrian felt his skin burn.

Sweat evaporated before it could even appear on his skin.

The air burned his lungs with every breath.

Eight seconds.

The fourth layer disintegrated.

Seven seconds.

The third began melting rapidly.

Kyrian still kept his eyes fixed below. Waiting. Calculating the wave pattern.

The exact moment of the retreat.

Five seconds.

The lava began to recede.

The barrier became partially visible, first an edge, then the entire surface, glowing with a translucent red light.

Kyrian narrowed his eyes.

’Now.’

Three seconds before impact.

Kyrian concentrated all his remaining Qi into his eyes. Kyrian’s eyes shone intensely blue.

The remainder of his Qi violently exploded outward.

A spear of ice appeared before him, not an ordinary spear, but extremely condensed ice, compressed to the limit of what his eyes could create. Its glow was so intense that it outshone the red of the volcano.

The weapon shot downward like a blue meteor, cutting through the superheated air in a perfect trajectory.

The spear struck directly into the surface of the lava.

For one impossible instant...

The lava froze.

Not completely. Only a small area around the impact, perhaps one meter in diameter, transformed into blackish-red ice. Stone and magma frozen together, a substance that should not exist in that environment.

It lasted only a moment. A single, brief moment.

But that was all Kyrian needed.

His body fell right behind the spear.

The third layer of ice shattered completely under the heat.

Kyrian violently struck the small frozen block.

The ice instantly broke beneath his weight.

The impact was violent, Kyrian felt his bones tremble, his spine compress from the sudden deceleration. The ice fragmented into thousands of pieces that flew in every direction.

His body pierced through the surface of the lava exactly at the point frozen by the spear.

The heat was indescribable.

Even with the remaining armors, even with the ice, Kyrian felt his skin scream. For a moment, he thought he would burn, that his body would turn to ash before even reaching the barrier.

And then...

He passed through the red barrier.