Arthur's massive claws scraped against the cracked ground of the Scorched Flats as he flexed his wings, shaking off the remnants of the Sulfur Prowler's ambush. The heat of the terrain still pulsed beneath him, but his body, scarred and smoldering, was finally healing. His Hardened Carapace absorbed the environment's essence at a slow trickle, knitting torn scales and soothing bruised flesh. Every breath felt lighter now, each exhale releasing a sense of growing strength.

He opened his [Map], curiosity tugging at his mind, and scanned the flickering grid of his surroundings. The Scorched Flats stretched outward like a blackened desert, marred by heat fissures and streams of molten sulfur. Monsters were marked across the grid—small green pings, faint yellow blips, and the occasional threatening red dot marking stronger beasts lurking in the distance. But something caught his eye—something he hadn't seen before. A faint, white blip.

The white pulse blinked softly to the north, an anomaly on the map. Arthur frowned, a low growl rumbling in his chest as he tapped the white signal, hoping the system would respond.

[SYSTEM RESPONSE]

Status: Unknown. No further information available.

Arthur's frustration mounted. The system rarely went silent. Whatever this was, it wasn't something it could explain—or perhaps it wasn't allowed to. He huffed, twin streams of steam venting from his nostrils. His instincts urged him to follow the pulse. He didn't know why, but something deep within the marrow of his bones whispered that this was important. If the system couldn't provide answers, he'd get them himself.

With one last glance at the map, Arthur folded his wings against his sides, adjusted his stance, and began to move.

The journey northward carried Arthur across a broken landscape of jagged rock and ancient lava flows, each step crunching over brittle blackened shards of cooled magma. Heat shimmered in waves across the horizon, warping the scenery like a mirage, but Arthur paid no mind. His massive, scaled form strode through the desert without pause, driven by both curiosity and the faint beacon on his map.

Soon, his steps slowed as he caught sight of something strange—the colossal skeleton of an ancient creature, half-buried in stone and ash. Arthur's wings flared slightly in awe as he approached, the sheer size of the bones overwhelming even his monstrous frame. Ribs as thick as trees arched toward the sky, charred black and melted at the edges, as if the beast had burned from the inside out. The enormous skull, fused with cracked basalt, lay half-buried beneath a mound of ash.

Arthur's [Analyze] activated instinctively as he stepped closer.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

Species Identified: Magma Behemoth (Deceased)

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Notes: A colossal guardian of ancient times, forged from both molten rock and living flesh. The remains bear glyphs of sacrificial magic, indicating ancient rituals—possibly a protector of a long-dead civilization.

Estimated Age: Over a thousand years.

Arthur ran a claw along one of the massive ribs, tracing the jagged grooves carved into the bone. Primitive glyphs, faint but still visible, spiraled up the ribcage like the remnants of an old language lost to time. Sacrifices. He felt a flicker of memory stir—why sacrifice something so grand? Could the behemoth have been a protector? Or had it turned against the people of this land? His mind buzzed with possibilities, piecing together fragments of a long-forgotten war.

"This place..." Arthur murmured to himself. There was a story here—one scarred into the very bones of the earth.

And yet, despite the ancient power lingering in the bones, the eerie silence of the ruins left Arthur uneasy. This place felt... too quiet. No scurrying monsters. No roars in the distance. Just the suffocating stillness of a graveyard long forgotten.

Arthur's wings shifted uneasily, and for the first time, a strange sense of nostalgia crept over him. Something about the vast, ruined landscape felt familiar, though he couldn't quite place why. It was both beautiful and horrifying—a monument to a past that still haunted the land. He felt a pang of envy. The Magma Behemoth had been something magnificent. Would Arthur ever grow to be this colossal, this powerful?

Arthur's musings were cut short as the ground beneath him shuddered violently. Before he could react, the cracked earth gave way, and Arthur let out a startled roar as the rocks beneath his feet crumbled. His wings flared out to catch the air, slowing his descent, but the cavernous ground swallowed him whole.

He plummeted through layers of molten rock and ash, his wings flapping furiously to stabilize his fall. Jagged stones grazed his sides as he descended into a vast underground cavern. Boiling mud pools bubbled below him, the intense heat radiating upwards in suffocating waves. Arthur gritted his teeth, twisting his body mid-air, and barely managed to land on a solid patch of stone with a thunderous crash.

The heat down here was overwhelming—thick, suffocating, the kind that could burn through skin in moments. But Arthur's newly evolved body, built for the scorching temperatures of the Badlands, held firm. If not for his natural resistance, he would have already fainted from the sheer intensity of the heat.

He scanned his surroundings. Popping lava bubbles echoed through the cavern, and in the distance, he could hear the eerie screeches of unseen monsters, carried through the steam-filled air.

"Great..." Arthur thought in his head. "This just keeps getting better."

With a low growl, Arthur opened his [Map] once more, hoping for answers. The underground terrain appeared, marked with flickering blips—some green, some yellow, and a few ominous red ones. But what caught his attention was the persistent white beacon, still pulsing faintly to the north.

Even trapped underground, the signal hadn't changed direction. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be easy to reach.

"Looks like we're not done yet," Arthur grumbled. His tail lashed behind him, sending loose stones tumbling into the bubbling mud.

He set his sights on the distant edge of the cavern, where jagged rocks formed a natural path leading further into the depths. Whatever awaited him beyond, it was clear that this place wouldn't give up its secrets easily.

With a final, determined huff, Arthur extended his wings, cracking his neck as he began to move forward. The heat, the mud, the screeches in the distance—it didn't matter. His instincts told him the answer was at the end of this path.

And if the monsters lurking in the darkness thought otherwise?

They were welcome to try.