Chapter 3645: Within The Mantle
Chapter 3645: Within The Mantle
Lin Mu extended his immortal sense, sweeping across the walls and floor. But found nothing. Elyon did the same, but there was still nothing.
They continued as minutes turned into hours.
The silence remained unbroken.
No sound echoed within the corridor. Even their footsteps seemed muted, absorbed by the stone around them.
After six hours, Meng Bai spoke again.
"There is nothing here..."
Lin Mu did not respond.
He continued forward.
After twelve hours, the situation remained unchanged.
The corridor stretched on without interruption as there were still no traps, defenses or any sign of life at all. By Lin Mu’s estimation, they had already covered over a hundred kilometers.
And still... There was no end in sight.
"How deep does this go..." Cattaleya muttered.
Lin Mu paused briefly before making a decision.
"This will take too long on foot."
He raised his hand.
SHUA
A moment later, Little Shrubby appeared.
The liger beast stretched slightly, his powerful form adapting instantly to the environment. His presence filled the corridor, yet even he seemed small compared to its vast scale.
"Let’s move faster," Lin Mu said.
They mounted him without delay.
Shrubby surged forward, his speed controlled yet far greater than what they could achieve on foot. The corridor blurred slightly as they moved, the distance passing beneath them far more quickly now.
Time passed.
One hour.
Then another.
And then...
Lin Mu felt it, a change. It was subtle at first but then was hard to ignore. He felt a familiar energy that was hot, intense and searing.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Something ahead," he said.
Shrubby increased his pace.
The air began to shift as the temperature rose. It was gradual at first, then rose rapidly making them sweat. Within minutes, the darkness ahead began to glow faintly as a dull red light appeared. It soon began growing brighter.
They slowed as they approached.
And then... They emerged into a new place.
The corridor opened into something vast. It was a cavern so large that its boundaries could not be seen.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness far above, while the horizon stretched endlessly in all directions. The space was illuminated by a fiery glow, casting shifting shadows across jagged surfaces.
Lava was everywhere.
Massive lakes of molten rock spread across the cavern floor, their surfaces bubbling and churning with heat. Streams of lava flowed between them, forming rivers of fire that cut through the terrain.
Islands of solid rock floated amidst the molten expanse.
Some were small, barely large enough to stand upon while others were massive, rising like pillars from the depths. Arches of stone stretched between these formations, forming natural bridges that connected different sections of the cavern.
The heat was immense.
It pressed against them, radiating from every direction.
Meng Bai inhaled sharply.
"This place..."
Lin Mu observed carefully.
"This is natural."
Unlike the corridor they had just traversed, this cavern bore no signs of artificial construction. Its structure was irregular, shaped by geological forces rather than deliberate design.
"This was once part of the mantle," Elyon said.
Lin Mu nodded.
"That would explain it."
The logic was clear.
When the world had shattered, its outer layers cooled rapidly, forming the solid fragments they had traveled through. The inner layers, however, retained their heat. Even now, after untold years, parts of it remained molten.
"We traveled at least four hundred kilometers," Lin Mu said. "That means the outer shell cooled to that depth."
"And this..." Cattaleya gestured toward the lava, "...is what remains beneath."
It made sense to them, but that did not mean it made their task easier.
They looked around but found no obvious path. There were no visible structures or any sign of dwarven presence at all.
"Where do we go now?" Meng Bai asked.
Lin Mu recalled what the Rune Dwarves had told him.
"They used teleportation talismans."
Elyon nodded.
"That would bypass all of this."
Lin Mu exhaled slowly.
"We do not have that option."
They would have to search manually once again.
Lin Mu looked at Shrubby.
"Can you handle the heat for the others?"
Shrubby let out a low rumble, his body responding instinctively.
Flames flickered around him.
"Easily."
He activated his ability.
Absolute Flame Command.
A thin barrier of controlled flame formed around them, subtle yet effective. It did not block the heat entirely, but it redirected and neutralized the worst of it, creating a stable environment within.
Meng Bai visibly relaxed.
"That helps..."
For Lin Mu, Cattaleya, and Shrubby, the heat was manageable, even comfortable. But for the others though, it would have been draining.
With the barrier in place, they moved forward.
Shrubby leapt from one rocky outcrop to another, his movements steady and precise despite the unstable terrain. The lava below churned violently, occasionally erupting in bursts that sent molten rock into the air.
Lin Mu extended his senses.
The heat felt familiar and rather comforting to him.
It resonated with his Longgui Bulwark Technique, the searing energy aligning naturally with his own internal power.
"This place suits me," he thought.
He focused and expanded his perception as he searched beyond his sight and felt the energy itself. He used all his senses, as they went through heat, through space and even through gravity.
Anything that might reveal the hidden base.
The cavern stretched endlessly but they continued onward.
Little Shrubby leapt from one floating rock formation to another, his powerful limbs carrying the group across the molten landscape with steady precision. Beneath them, the lava lakes churned endlessly, their surfaces breaking into bubbles that rose and burst with bursts of heat and light.
The air shimmered from the intensity, even with the protective flame barrier that Shrubby maintained around them.
Hours passed.
Then more hours.
But the scenery did not change.
Every direction looked the same. Rivers of molten rock, islands of blackened stone, arches stretching between pillars, all illuminated by the ever-present glow of lava. There was no sense of direction beyond what Lin Mu could impose through his own awareness.
They pressed on as time lost meaning. Only the rhythm of Little Shrubby’s movement remained.
Jump.
Land.
Leap again.
The heat never lessened. The glow never dimmed. The silence remained broken only by the occasional bubbling surge of magma.
By the end of the first day, Meng Bai had grown quiet. Even Cattaleya stopped commenting on their surroundings. Elyon remained as observant as ever, yet even he found no new detail worth noting.