Sighing, Jonathan made his way over to the meditating Uthaki, and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hushar, it’s time to get up,” he said gingerly. An unintelligible growl came from the man’s mouth. Jonathan tapped more forcefully, and he emerged from his meditation, a look of wrath in his eyes.
“What?” He snapped.
“We’ve decided to return to Tartarus. There have been no attacks from Slothari’s servants, and it should be safe enough to return. We need more power as quickly as possible.”
“I see,” Hushar responded, a little less annoyed. “What are we waiting for then?”
Jonathan pulled out the token and held it out to the other two men, hoping that it would still activate, given that they were below the average level of the realm. Thankfully, it worked, and they were whisked away to Tartarus, the molten land of the Uthraki.
They emerged a moment later, and immediately began running, in case any of the realm lord’s servants had noticed their last known position. It was very likely that the Uthraki knew about the powers of circle lords, and the power of the token, given that those in the last layer of Tartarus had. Jonathan had no wish to be dogpiled by a horde of high level Uthraki this time.
They quickly left the area behind, and ran for half an hour until they were sure that they were nowhere near their last position. In that time, they had covered hundreds of miles. They crossed through small mountain ranges, across deserts made of finely ground bone, and many stranger sights besides. However, that was all par for the course in the strange land that was Tartarus.
The land had changed dramatically, and they now stood on the shores of an ocean of lava. It was an incredibly dramatic sight, with veils of steam misting off the surface of the molten rock. In it, massive creatures swam, causing bubbles of liquid rock to form and pop as they went. Islands dotted the crimson sea, some of which were as big as cities. In fact, one of them even seemed to have a city on it.
The geography of Tartarus seemed to be completely random, as if a toddler with the power of a god had grown bored of his toys and left them strewn around in a random orientation. There was no explanation for the existence of this sea of lava, given that there were no volcanoes near. The only possible answer was that Tartarus was far closer to the magma underneath its surface than Earth had been, and Jonathan was simply not used to it.
Hushar seemed more excited about the lava ocean than the other two were, and he raced towards the shores, basking in the heat. For him, it must have been a haven of elemental cultivation. He immediately sat down and began to meditate, sucking in elemental energy like water.
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Jonathan strode to the edge of the lava lake and looked down, intrigued by how such a thing existed without cooling over. The air of Tartarus was hot, but not that hot. For the air itself to be warm enough to turn rock to stone, it would have set on fire long ago and burned the entire atmosphere away. If that was the case, nothing would exist here. Even Tier 3s needed to breathe.
Below the surface of the lava, shapes twisted and turned. There was no gradient to the descent, and it simply turned into a bottomless nadir of molten rock as soon as the shoreline was left behind. The lava was more along the lines of natural lava than the magically enhanced kind that was so common in Tartarus. This was likely because such a large amount of lava would have burned through any magical charge with ease over however many years it had been in existence.
Jonathan crossed his arms and simply gazed out into the expanse before him, glowing with the heat of the molten core of the realm. This close to the shore, none of the massive creatures that he had caught tiny glimpses of came near. He turned back towards the others, but Edgar had joined Hushar in elemental cultivation, seeming to have found inspiration in the thermals that rose off of the lava lake.
Raising an eyebrow, Jonathan turned back towards the lava. This was as good a place as any to go hunting, and with his new Blessing, he could detect any dangers in advance. He took a deep breath and then leaped into the lava. It felt like nothing so much as a warm bath with his high stats, and he started swimming, his Strength allowing him to swim with his armor on.
He paddled out into the sea, finding that the slight heat was quite comfortable. It was almost relaxing even. However, he kept his mind on the goal. He had no wish to become the supper of one of the monsters that dwelt here. If he had his way, it would be the other way around.
About half a mile out, currents started to form in the molten rock, and he could feel faint vibrations from beneath, coming from the circling monsters. He stopped, and simply floated there, trying to make himself seem as easy a target as possible. With the viscosity of the lava, there was almost no effort required to stay in place. He simply lay on his back, and waited. It did not take long for something to attack.
The lava sea beneath him bubbled violently, and a lamprey surged up from below, baring its jaws, filled with thousands of teeth. It streaked up out of the water and then fell forwards, seeking to envelop him in its fang filled mouth. Instead of a tasty snack, the monster was met with a mouthful of the Void, as Jonathan used his Ancient skill. Scouring Voidlight ripped through the monster’s flesh, tearing apart its teeth and eviscerating its body. Its armor was stronger than its flesh, and the Void wreaked havoc throughout its internals, taking the path of least resistance. The monster shuddered like a poorly puppeted marionette, and then sank beneath the molten rock, purple blood leaked from its mouth. Essence cascaded from it to Jonathan, causing him to smile. This could work.