As the sun breached the night sky beckoning a new day to begin, I completed my morning routine and ventured down to Charcoal who was still peacefully sleeping on some grass.

Waking the beast up by kicking its tush I proceeded to mount the startled steed and made my way up the mountain.

Moving along trails and thick overgrowth it wasn't long until I spotted a goblin. The red goblin hadn't noticed me yet and was with another partner protecting the entrance of cave gorged into the side of the mountain.

A large area outside the cave was cleared of trees and shrubs providing the guards ample vision to detect enemies, staying within the tree line the goblins weren't able to notice me or Charcoal.

About to head further up the mountain I saw two other goblins come from inside the cave and switch places with the current one's standing guard, seeing the scene I had a troubled look on my face, "Guards standing duty and a rotating schedule so they don't get exhausted, that's….. pretty smart".

As I wondered what the consequence of goblins being introduced to earth would be, I commanded Charcoal to head further up the mountain, safely passing the goblin base.

Finding the task quite easy, I lamented over the fact that I hadn't tried it myself, although I did have to admit a few factors were currently in my favour with one being Charcoal, and the other it being morning which likely caused the goblins to not be roaming around as they were probably still sleeping.

I could have also tried to go in the morining or night but I had little visibility in the night, and if I went at the break of dawn with my own speed, by the time I arrived the goblins would already be awake.

Moving up the mountain we soon reached a point where the trees were becoming more sparse and the ground more rocky, after an hour of the vegetation thinning out I eventually reached a zone where all vibrant green life was gone, and me and Charcoal were now traveling through a forest of charred trees, in the distance I could make out rising smoke.

"Is this an active volcano?".

As I reached closer and closer to the top and the temperature kept rising, I began to sweat, although not ridiculously hot, but if I were to compare the forest down below to a cool slightly cold Mediterranean climate, then currently I was in a Caribbean summer.

The heat was especially bad for Charcoal who after running and hiking with minimal rest for over 4 hours, was sweating allot, or at least I think that was what it was as a lot of the black soot substance was permeating from its skin.

"Kind of feels like soap, gross".

As we finally reached the top like I expected I was introduced to a large circular area almost as if the top of the mountain had been perfectly cut off however what I found inside the circular arena wasn't the molten lava that I expected but a massive lake.

The lake was similarly circular and steam continued to rise from it surface giving it a mystical sense. Smelling the air I confirmed that what I smelt wasn't sulfur or anything poisonous.

Dismounting Charcoal I walked over to the lake that must have a diameter of around 300 meters. Inspecting the water I couldn't see the bottom and unlike what you might have suspected the surface didn't boil even though a slight steam was created on top of it.

Testing the temperature I placed my hand in the water and found it to be nice and warm like you would encounter in a jacuzzi, seeing that my horse was nearly keeling over from dehydration I tasted a little bit of the water, thinking it tasted fine and waiting a minute with nothing happening I allowed Charcoal to drink as much as he wanted.

While Charcoal was gulping down warm liquids, I decided to explore the surroundings trying to find a clue about how to finish this stage of the trial.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Walking along the edges of the lake, the only thing I found were a few peculiar black rocks which I assumed to be obsidian, I wondered how they came to be here as they required extreme heat to form, although if this was previously an active volcano that had gone dormant and heavy rain had turned it into a lake then it would make sense.

Scouring around I was tempted to enter the lake however caution stopped me, as I looked at Charcoal in the distance still gulping up water I saw a sudden black shadow in the water, not sure if I was seeing things right due to all the mist, only when I saw ripples in the water did my panic set in.

"CHARCOAL COME HERE!"

Shouting and ordering the horse mentally I saw him give me a confused look as he began making his way in my direction.

As Charcoal was leaving, the shadow in the water expanded pushing the water up and just as Charcoal had exited the area a humongous orange mouth appeared from the water that almost snatched up the unsuspecting stallion.

Charcoal now aware of the danger shrieked as he made his way in my direction even faster than before.

Quickly mounting the horse, I could see the beast in all its glory, having rows of sharp fangs, a lizard like blunt snout accompanied by a flat fiery sleek orange head and big bulging eyes the beast stood at a whopping 4 meters height, its mouth so large that Charcoal could be swallowed whole.

Holding itself up with two stubby legs, most of its slithering body was still hidden in the lakes depths, as water gushed of the creature's body it resembled a giant salamander.

*Gasp*

Astounded that the trial would have a creature of these proportions, heck just from what I could see it was already two stories tall, even titanic bears would run in terror if they encountered it, so naturally I was baffled that it ended up in the trial.

As my mind was processing this fact I saw the Lizards head move in my direction, feeling a cold sensation around my neck as its lifeless eyes stared at me, it slowly opened its mouth.

There within the black crevice I saw a yellow glow starting to form.

"CRAP!"

Ordering Charcoal to quickly move over the edge of the volcano, just as we made it to an downward slope, a gigantic fireball, two meters large rocketed over our heads, Although it didn't touch me the sheer heat it produced slightly charred my skin.

"Run faster dammit!"

Fearing for my life, as Charcoal began speeding up the decent I kept my eye on the ball of flame and after it traveled a hundred meters or so it exploded turning a portion of the sky into a blazing inferno.

Having the image seared into my mind I traveled down the volcano for another hour at full speed, continuously looking behind me to see if the salamander was chasing us, but luckily it wasn't.

Needing a rest I found a secluded spot and dismounted the horse who in turn fell over. Panting furiously on the ground, along with being already drained before the attack, the salamander had also terrified the horse, causing it to run faster than it had ever done in its life.

"Get some rest", as I patted the breathless horse, I tried to make sense of my situation.

"Okay lets calm down, first of all the salamander is likely the boss of this stage, like with the Elder Slime if I defeat it I can probably progress to the next stage, which would likely result in better rewards at the end of the trial.

The problem however is, how do I defeat it? No matter what scenario I picture fighting it alone would lead to my death, I can't ambush it when it dwells in the lake. Even if I could none of my attacks would be able to scratch a scale, I even doubt my fire ball skill would effect it at all".

Although I could always stay in the mountain and avoid the boss, peacefully surviving the rest of my time in the trial, that thought never crossed my mind, If I wanted to survive in the real world I would need power. Seeing as how I almost died to a goblin last time I couldn't let that happen again, If I returned to the sewers after this trial even if I survived now I would be killed by the goblins again, So I needed power, and I felt like the trial was a way to obtain it.

And besides I didn't just want to survive, I had to survive in order to accomplish my parents dream, and I wasn't going to let any OVERGROWN AMPHIBIAN get in the way of that.

Coming up with different plans of attack while I rested against a tree I eventually came to a conclusion, " I can't defeat it on my own."

"If I can't defeat it by myself I might just have to use some help, ideally the bears could put up a fight however there aren't enough of them, the goblins might also stand a chance. While I don't know if a single tribe is enough, if both tribes fought it, then it would surely die, yes that could work!.

Although the Goblins would never fight the salamander voluntarily…. but if I don't give them a choice".

Coming up with the basics of the plan my face became stone cold while a dark glint ignited in my eyes, although regular people wouldn't notice, Charcoal who was connected to me couldn't help but feel something ominous brewing.

"I still have four day's to work with and on the last day if everything goes accordingly…. this mountain will be bathed in BLOOD.