Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 430: Not What I Want

"Give me back my reward!"

Ezra bolts towards the crustacean, but upon getting within three feet...

*Puuuf!

A stream of boiling lava shots right in the middle of both parties.

Turning his neck, Ezra spots the grotesque sea creature with its mouth open in the sea of lava a distance away from them.

*Krrrr!*

Taking three steps back, Ezra snaps back to his original target.

Crying out in rage, they seemed more aggravating rather than painful.

Droplets of lava fell off one of the crustaceans arms, with the shell around it burnt to a crisp as a result.

Specifically the arm holding the magma orb.

It switched to another arm to avoid dropping the orb, while its eyes surveilled the opponents.

In the next moment, a heavy object hit its arms, cracking its shell, but the crustacean hit it away.

As a result, the magma orb tilts and bounces off its arm.

Without registering what had hit its body, its eyes instinctively follow the orb, but as it seeks to pick it up, confusion sets in.

Like a lie, the orb fades from sight, vanishing right before its eyes.

Krii??

Flabbergasted, but only for an instant.

For in the next instance, Ezra’s silhouette appears five steps away in what was previously empty space, grabbing the heavy object the crustacean had struck away—Skyfall.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Ezra took advantage of the earlier disruption to recover his reward.

’Just like the golem, it has a really tough shell’ Ezra laments.

He had tossed Skyfall with his full strength, but it only cracked the shell.

Anyways, in his land lay the prized magma orb, which inexplicably vanishes the next moment.

Hailing a shrieking war cry, the crustacean beelines towards Ezra, intent on reclaiming the orb.

Aiming to retreat, a beam of lava forces him to halt.

A quick look sees the sea creature moving on solid ground, waddling towards him like a centipede with its six small feet.

With the crustacean coming at him from the right and the sea creature from the left, Ezra puts Skyfall away and takes the only alternative route—up!

Taking off, the two beasts attack instantly.

Looking behind, Magnus is greeted with four rapidly approaching razor arms.

"Tch!"

Diving to kill the momentum of the approaching projectiles, Ezra glimpses a bright red dot at the corner of his eye.

As the tiny dot becomes minutely large, his senses scream.

In a split second, Ezra identifies the true nature of the red dot.

With urgency, he tilts to have his face directly facing the red dot and extends both hands, creating a cover of ice atop his palms.

Just as the ice began forming, the beam of lava struck, driving Ezra backwards as it tried to pierce the ice.

Despite enforcing the ice with a large amount of energy, the beam of lava persistently melted it.

Concentrating to avoid burning to a crisp, a razor cut him from his blindspot, searing his skin and then burning it.

"Ah....!

Belatedly reminded of the other lurking threat, Ezra seeks to pull away from the beam of lava, swerving out of razor’s trajectory.

Yet the lava beam persistently stayed on him, effortlessly matching his movements to keep up pressure.

Avoiding the first hail of razor arms, befuddlement sets in as the razors-which Ezra thought acted like boomerangs-veered off their set trajectory and returned to strike him a second time.

....!

’Come on!’

As the razor’s approached for the second attack, Zydrax chimes in.

[You should consider a tactical retreat]

"What does it look like I’m trying to do?!"

Ezra had already spent far too much energy to activate <universal concealment> without his energy levels bottoming out.

And he highly doubts that he could escape the lava beam and leave the barrier during that time.

[Hmm...I didn’t realize you were experiencing a concussion]

’What?’

Rattled, the razors caught up to him with a trajectory altered to make it much harder to dodge.

Under immense pressure, Ezra’s chest heaved while he gasped for breath, Zydrax’s words quickly slipping by.

His attire, well, what is left of it, lay soaked in sweat.

For the first time in a long while, Ezra was experiencing battle fatigue.

Slowly but surely, he felt himself reaching his limits.

With much less agility and speed, he’s unable to dodge all the razors as two of them sear his skin.

Worse, with the beam of lava still on him, Magnus couldn’t spare energy nor focus to stop the wounds from burning.

As the razors returned to a third attack, hopelessness began to creep into the heart.

At this critical juncture, the lava beam suddenly ceases, fading from sight like a shooting star.

Taken aback, Ezra peers his eyes to gain intel into whatever the beasts were planning.

Instead, he sees the sea creature’s constantly opening and closing it’s mouth, letting out lots of steam.

"Huff...huff...so... even elemental beasts can’t attack forever" Ezra lays out this comment with a time laced with relief.

But what catches Ezra’s attention is the glimpse of an item laying centerpiece in the beast’s mouth.

Mirroring the magma orb, it lay dangling at the inner part of its mouth.

’So, they all have the same type of orb in their bodies?’

Earlier, he had grabbed it and stashed it into the sovereign universe without much time.

But looking closely as this one, Ezra gains a flash of insight, allowing him to identify what exactly the magma orb was.

’A molten core. Now wonder they’re trying so hard to kill me’

Realizing the worth of his haul, Magnus is apprehensive, yet gleeful.

This scene of joy is cut short as a razor sears his skin once again, belatedly dragging him back to reality.

With the homing lava beam out of the way, Ezra takes off, heading out of the barrier the same way he came in while the razors followed his trail before soon relenting.

Leaving the barrier, Ezra activates <Gatekeeper>, transporting himself into the sovereign universe.

Inside, he utilizes <sovereign’s movement> and his thoughts lead him to the red planet Ketta with its wrecked surface thanks to his previous escapades.

Arriving on the planet, Ezra simply falls with his back to the ground.

Utterly exhausted, he kept heaving and gasping before soon falling asleep.

The battle had pushed him to his limits.

—---------

Awaking with a loud groan, Ezra begins cleaning off the red dust on his body and then hair.

[Welcome back to reality. You’ve been asleep for six hours]

"Six hours?" mumbles Ezra. "That’s smaller than I was expecting"

Rising to his feet, Ezra stretches, groaning heavily as well.

Taking his shirt off, Ezra incinerates it and begin to survey the wounds inflicted upon him in battle.

One slash across his back was rather deep but the rest were shallow.

All the same, the skin surrounding the slash marks had been torched despite Ezra’s best efforts.

Drinking a good number of healing potions. Ezra sits down and begins meditating, let’s out sounds of pain as the burnt parts peeled and fell off, before being replaced with fresh parts.

This takes place over the course of an hour, and by the end of it, Ezra’s body was without wounds, though the outline of slash marks still lay prominent.

Let’s out raspy breaths, Ezra then assembles the rewards gain from hunting the fire golem.

Barring the others, Ezra picks up the molten core and gives it a closer look.

Staring at it for half a minute, Ezra nods. "It’s definitely a molten core, but looks very different from what I was shown"

Right after, anger begins surging within him.

"Zydrax!" He yells. "Why didn’t you tell me it was a molten core?!"

[Because I believed it was obvious at a glance] Zydrax replies.

[Now, my question. Why did suddenly become stupid earlier]

"What?"

[You were cornered by two beasts who came very close to taking your life, yet despite already recovering the bounty, you stubbornly decided to not leave the battle, unnecessarily risking your life]

[Why did you do that]

"..."

[Well...?

"I thought I could take them on"

[And how has that worked out for you]

"I know it was stupid-

[It was beyond stupid]

Zydrax cut him off. [Testing your prowess is excusable and understandable, but even when it became clear that you were outmatched, you refused to simply escape into the sovereign universe]

[Even after that, when the situation turned dire and you were about a hole pierced through you. You refused to simply escape]

[That is beyond stupidity, that is-

"I KNOW!" Ezra yells, shutting Zydrax down, before sighing.

"I know, and I get it. But still, I did that because I didn’t want to simply run away because of my powers. It’s not knightly"

[It’s not knightly?]

"Yes" Ezra nods, standing his ground. "There is nothing remotely remarkable about running away"

"Sure, I understand the needs for a retreat, but if that’s what I do everytime I’m at a disadvantage, I’ll become a coward before I realize it! And that’s NOT WHAT I WANT!"