Ian, Hilda, and Tartrasiel stood frozen, their eyes fixed on the colossal lava worm and its three powerful elemental spirits. The heat emanating from the beast was so intense that their skin felt like it was melting away. They could barely stand, sweat pouring from their pores like a river.

The idea of giving up and accepting their inevitable fate was tempting, but they couldn’t abandon Lady Gloria, who lay unconscious behind them. They had come too far and fought too hard to let her fall into the hands of the lava worm.

Ian’s heart pounded as he glanced at his companions. He knew they were all thinking the same thing - they had to face the worm.

“Stay alive. I’ll close it as soon as possible.” With a deep breath, Ian took a step forward, the ground beneath him cracking under the intense heat.

“No guarantees,” Hilda said, preparing her arcane lock. From her pocket, she took out a few rings of what Ian recognized to be the ring of spell storing. With those rings, she would be able to release the spell stored in the ring itself.

Tartrasiel grabbed Ian’s and Hilda’s hands. “May Lilith guide you both.”

Both felt a sense of comfort entering their bodies, filling them with a sense of wonder and happiness. They feel as if things could go their way.

Ian withdrew his hand and turned to his companions one last time before sprinting towards the opening of the Abyss. The ground shook beneath his feet as the lava worm let out a deafening screech, lunging toward him. Hilda, quick to react, closed in on the monstrous creature and conjured a wall of ice to block its path.

The worm crashed into the ice wall with tremendous force, causing chunks of ice to shatter and fly in all directions. Its fiery belly spewed molten lava, melting the ice in its path. But Hilda’s magic held strong, holding the creature back for a few precious moments, and he made the most of it. As it broke past the wall, shattered ice flew in all directions. Ian quickly scanned the opening in the lava worm’s throat, his mind racing with possibilities. He knew he had to act fast before the worm could recover from the impact of the ice wall.

“There.” Drawing in a deep breath, Ian released a frost arrow towards the opening, his heart pounding with adrenaline. The lava worm thrashed and writhed, trying to dislodge the frost arrow from its throat.

Hilda’s eyes widened. “Ian, the lava!”

The lava was flowing to his feet, burning his foot. He grunted slightly, knowing that he had to act fast. There was no way he could wade over a lake of lava. With the opening of the Abyss in sight, he summoned all his courage and ran as fast as he could towards it, dodging the worm’s fiery attacks along the way.

“Mensa, I need your help now,” Ian whispered.

“Always.” A child’s voice responded.

As Ian stepped foot on the lava, his foot doesn’t sink completely, levitating on the air by the power of constellations. As he ran, stars glowed beneath his feet, guiding him to the opening of the Abyss.

“A human is running on lava. Humans can’t cast magic, can they?” Hilda said eyes widened.

“No, they can’t. Let’s focus on the monsters in front of us.” Tartrasiel said, hugging Bearsby as tight as possible.

Hilda’s wings unfurled, revealing their majestic span, as she drew her sword with a flourish. With a whispered incantation, the blade was ensconced in a frigid aura. She thrust the weapon deep into the heart of the elemental spirit, her jaw set with fierce determination. The other spirits bellowed in fury and surged forward to attack her.

Undaunted, Hilda willed an invisible shield into being, attempting to ward off their onslaught. But before they could close in, Tartrasiel’s eyes glimmered with arcane energy. From his outstretched hand, a delicate vine unfurled and snaked its way up the body of the nearest elemental spirit. The vine twisted and tightened around the spirit, arresting its movements completely.

“The worm is going after the boy. Leave the spirits to me,” Tartrasiel gave a small smile. Hilda gazed at the worm swimming rapidly through the fiery lava, heading straight towards Ian, dodging the violent lava eruptions. With a flap of her wings, she ascended high into the air and conjured a powerful frost shard that she hurled towards the worm. However, as the shard collided with the worm’s body, its molten skin was too resilient to be pierced, causing the shard to evaporate instantaneously.

“Let’s see if science can do the trick,” Hilda said, activating one of the rings of spell storing.

An enormous cloud appeared from the ring, covering the entire hall. With the heat, rain droplets that reached the molten lava evaporated immediately, increasing the humidity in the air. As soon as the spell was released, the ring lost its glow. Ian understood the meaning behind the mist, using it as a cover to run away.

The worm who relied on its sense of smell was confused. It couldn’t detect Ian’s smell as it ran in circles.

“Here, you worm!” Hilda yelled, raising her icy sword. She ran towards the gigantic worm, plunging her sword through the roof of the worm, the blade glowing red hot as it cut through the scorching flesh. The lava worm thrashed and writhed, trying to dislodge the fairy from its back. Hilda held on tight, her grip firm.

Tartrasiel faced the three elemental spirit’s head-on. Carrying Bearsby in his arms, he gave out innocent laughter.

“What do you think? Flowers don’t grow well in the magma.” He asked the bear. Bearsby just shook its head.

One of the elemental spirits let out a furious roar, charging toward Tartrasiel with its sharp claws extended. But before it could make contact, a shimmering frost shield in the shape of a delicate snowdrop flower materialized before the small angel, deflecting the attack. Tartrasiel quickly raised his hand, and a large ethereal lotus bloomed, scooping up two of the remaining elemental spirits.

With a deep inhale, Tartrasiel summoned the moisture in the air, manipulating it to form a massive pool of water. He exhaled a powerful gust of air, and the water froze into sharp, crystalline structures that encased the struggling spirits. “I’ll be taking my energy back,” he declared, his eyes glowing with determination.

Tartrasiel delicately picked up the three dark cores of the Abyss monsters, their once humanoid forms now collapsed into obsidian darkness. As he held them in his small hands, he focused his energy, channeling it into the cores with a whisper of incantation. The ice that encased them began to melt away, revealing the pure black cores within.

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“Purify,” he said. With a last command, Tartrasiel called forth the power of purification. The dark energy within the cores dissipated, replaced by a brilliant light that emanated from the small, pure spheres now in his hands. The radiant energy within them seemed to pulse with life, bringing a sense of hope.

Hilda, on the other hand, let go of the handle melted onto the back of the worm. Her wings keep her afloat. “This is impossible.”

She tried her spell once more, summoning a raging typhoon with a blizzard together, but the lava worm was not quelled. It drew in a deep breath before spewing out a few rounds of molten rock at the fairy, barely able to dodge the rocks in the air.

“Shit,” Hilda wailed in agony, realizing that she had no way to avoid the incoming molten rock. The fiery projectile fell on her with a scorching impact, causing her to scream out in pain. The intense heat of the lava melted her skin, leaving behind severe burns. Her innate healing abilities kicked in, and she was enveloped in a blue energy that crackled around the burned areas. However, before she could fully recover, the colossal lava worm lunged forward, trying to bite her in the abdomen with its searing teeth. Hilda let out a piercing scream as the scorching jaws sunk into her flesh. The pain was so intense that she felt dizzy and disoriented.

Hilda’s breathing became rapid once more than she muttered, “Icy grasp.” She reached out and touched the scorching surface of the worm, hoping that the ice would cause the creature to release her. Ice traveled along the surface of the worm, gradually reaching its depths.

But instead of releasing her, the worm dug its fangs deeper, nearly biting off Hilda’s abdomen. With the last bit of energy she had left, she transformed into a small spider and wriggled out between the creature’s teeth, narrowly escaping its deadly grasp.

“Let her go!” Tartrasiel yelled. As he ran, he chanted a spell under his breath, throwing the three cores of radiant energy into the worm. With the burst of bright light, the three cores turned into small birds that were made up of water. The worm received three icy breaths from the birds, shrieking in pain.

Bearsby opened up his paw, catching the fallen spider. Hilda turned into a normal fairy once more, unable to maintain her concentration on the spell. She was panting heavily, her body still trembling from the intense pain. But she managed to smile when she saw Bearsby’s concerned expression. “Don’t worry, as long as I am here, you won’t die,” Tartrasiel said, running away from the worm.

“With the power of Lilith’s name, let your wounds be mended and your strength be replenished to its fullest. Healing.” Tartrasiel chanted, and a bright flower covered the wounded area. When it disappeared, so did the wounds.

Her breathing stabilized, relieved by the sudden disappearance of the wounds. Her burn marks disappeared along with it.

“I can’t take out the worm,” Hilda said. She watched helplessly as the three water birds were fighting and dodged the attack of the worm.

“It’s an Abyssal worm. No one would be able to take it out. If I was in my prime, I could have made it my friend, but now…” Tartrasiel said, looking at his small, helpless child’s body. “Understand this, alright? Even if he can close the Abyssal portal, we still have to take care of the worm.

“Then there’s nothing much we can do,” Hilda said.

“No, not entirely.”

Hilda listened to the plan intently. “That… might work. But I’m not strong at all. This is all I have.” She said, pointing to her crossbow and dagger.

“Normally, Creations are powerful on their own, but that’s not God’s will. We were meant to work together to solve a problem. Teamwork makes the dream work.” Tartrasiel said, beaming with a small smile.

“Why can’t Bearsby do it?” Hilda asked, hesitating before she said such an embarrassing word.

Tartrasiel took a glance at the bear. With a disappointed tone, he said, “Bearsby would just trip on the way.” The blue bear huffed, folding its hand and looking to the side. “I’m not wrong, am I? If you didn’t fall last time, I wouldn’t be in this state now.”

He offered his hand to her. “Let’s go. Once we clear the lands from this magma, you can go back to your home, right?”

Hilda nodded her head, accepting his hand. “As expected of an angel. You’re very experienced.”

Tartrasiel’s eyes dulled slightly, lips forcing the smile. “No, not at all. I’m barely qualified as one.”

Hilda moved her hands around her waist, feeling for her sword. She then remembered that it was stuck on the worm’s back. Glancing up, her sword was gone. “I should have brought another sword.”

Tartrasiel’s voice was soothing like a gentle wind as he continued his incantation, channeling his magic through the vines that entangled the worm.

“Now,” Tartrasiel urged.

Following the breeze of the wind, a ray of frost took the form of a small wolf, exiting her fingertips. Under her command, the small wolf ran up the vines summoned by Tartrasiel. The vines began to glow with a bright blue light as Hilda’s spell infused them with icy energy. The worm howled in agony as the frost vines constricted around it, freezing its fiery skin and immobilizing it completely.

The giant worm heated the surrounding temperature, burning from within. The frost vines melted in a blink of an eye. The frost wolf couldn’t maintain its shape in the face of extreme heat, melting almost instantly.

“No, I can’t.” Sweat trickled down her face.

“To grow stronger, you have to listen to it and learn from it,” Tartrasiel advised.

Hilda released her breath, not sure if he was being serious. What sort of explanation was that? But there was no other choice. “Let’s go again,” she whispered.

Tartrasiel summoned his vines again, pulling the earthworm down. Hilda grasped the timing, this time focusing more on the movements of the wolf. She could feel its paws forcing their way up the vines. This time, she paid attention.

The outer layers of the frost wolf were vulnerable to the heat, so she has to strengthen its fur with more magic resistance to fire. She tweaked her spells to suit the situation, being more in tune with her frost wolf.

Tartrasiel’s eyes glowed as they saw the wolf running above the lava, entering the mouth of the lava worm.

“That’s it! Hold it right there, make it go right down to the gut!” Tartrasiel yelled.

Hilda’s brows arched upwards. It was hard to focus when she was covered in sweat and a small voice yelling at her side. Once she transferred her consciousness to the wolf’s, there was nothing but a dark space. It was burning hot in the gut of the worm.

“I’m in, I think. I can’t see what’s inside the wolf,” Hilda said.

“That’s good enough,” Tartrasiel said. His eyes glowed brightly in the yellow light. A magic circle carrying the emblem of a lotus appeared under his feet.

“Switch.” With a clap of his hands, Tartrasiel disappeared in the place of the frost wolf Hilda summoned. With his angelic blue eyes, he could see what the wolf couldn’t before. Right in the belly of the worm. The belly of the lava worm was a seething pit of molten fire and bubbling magma. It pulsed with an angry red glow, as if the very heart of the earth beat within it. Heat radiated off its walls, threatening to scorch and incinerate anything that dared to come too close. The air was thick with the acrid smell of sulfur, and the sound of sizzling rock filled the ears. It wasn’t too surprising.

Rivers of lava flowed through the belly, carving deep channels into the solid rock. The walls themselves seemed to pulse and undulate, as if the worm’s fiery insides were alive and breathing. The ground trembled underfoot, as if the belly itself was preparing to heave and vomit out its fiery contents.

“Time for me to delve deeper.” He said, looking around. The cave he was in had a small opening, leading nearer to the other end of the worm. With his size of body, it wasn’t too hard for him to squeeze through the small opening, reaching closer and closer to the heart of the worm.

As he crawled, the air became hypoxic. Being an angel doesn’t necessarily mean that he was deprived of basic needs. He breathed harder, trying to maintain the air he had in his lungs. The miasma became thicker and thicker the lower he crawled.

Where the miasma was the thickest, he fished out a dagger from his pocket and stabbed the worm right there. The worm squealed with pain. Tartrasiel did his best to cling to the walls of the gut, careful not to slip off. He pulled out the dagger and went for another stab. The insides of the worm spilled out in the form of lava.

Deep breathing, he waited for the contents to empty. Tartrasiel crawled upwards even more, reaching the core of the worm.

“There you are,” he said, trying to catch his breath. His small hand reached out to the core of the lava worm, corrupted with the miasma of the Abyss. “Let me help you. As the angel of happiness, I will bring you the joy you deserve.”

“Purify.”