I was riding the hot air, using the updraft to stay in the air almost indefinitely. Curiously enough, I hadn’t seen any other airborne monsters. On the other layers I’d usually have to avoid or fight something with wings every now and again, but here? The sky was empty, aside from me and the occasional glob of lava that a volcano spit out. I passed by many volcanoes, big and small, huge lakes of lava, and larger areas that were spared by them.

These empty areas usually contained a large number of monsters, embroiled in a constant fight for both survival and a spot as far away from the heat as possible. I also tried keeping an eye out for any sign of either the lava fruit or the obsidian palace, with little luck. There wasn’t a single thing visible that even so much as resembled a plant, and as for the obsidian palace, I was sure that it should be easily recognizable. I even made sure to fly directly over the volcanoes if I could, just in case one of my objectives was hiding in the bowl of one of them.

This entire layer was barren. An environment so extremely hostile to life that I was surprised any monsters were even around. Sure, there were those that called this specific climate their home, but the system was still dumping a ton of monsters in here that had no business being anywhere near a place like this. I was pretty certain I’d seen an ice-type monster from above at some point, and that just seemed wrong.

Now, after flying around for a few hours, I was almost at my destination. The volcanoes had started to be further apart quite a while ago and now there was a single volcano ahead of me. Beyond that, there was just… nothing. All I could see was blackened, rocky terrain as far as the eye could see. To make sure, I used a void jump to go as high up as I could go.

At first, it looked like from here on out it was just a barren wasteland, but then, a splotch of green caught my attention. I almost thought it to be some kind of illusion, but the longer I stared, the more of these green spots I could see. They were pretty far away and hard to see, so I banked toward the closest one to check it out. It took another half an hour of flying, but eventually, I found the source of the green I’d seen.

A massive crater housed a plethora of plants. From a distance, the giant hole in the ground had blended into the surroundings, but now that I was almost on top of it, I could see a lot of green sprouting. What I’d seen was a particularly tall tree that managed to clear the lip of the crater, standing proudly smack dab in the middle of the crater. I flew a lap over the crater, checking out what was going on inside. Much to my excitement, I could see water!

There was a hole in the side of the crater through which the water rushed in, creating a river that flowed towards the big tree in the center. The tree was standing on an island at the center of a lake. The water apparently ran off somewhere, otherwise, the whole crater would have been flooded a long time ago. The rest of the crater was a veritable paradise for all kinds of flora. Colorful flowers grew amidst all kinds of trees, some of which were bearing fruit. And of course, the whole place was overrun by monsters.

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The water, combined with the pleasant climate made this a mecca for monsters of this layer. Since this place was quite far away from the closest volcano, the temperature was quite pleasant. I took another look around, and seeing this green paradise surrounded by a blackened wasteland was weird. Well, I needed to find a way to carry water around and I might find a clue to where I might find a lava fruit, so down I went.

I’d barely touched the ground for a second when a giant snake struck at me. Its greenish coloration was the perfect camouflage and I only saw it when it was too late. I only had time to realize what was happening before its mouth snapped shut around me and everything went dark. The snake's insides were lined with poisonous spikes and its muscles were trying incredibly hard to crush me. Aside from thinking this was disgusting, the tactic didn’t work out too well for the snake, though. I’d activated all of my defensive skills, which, combined with my high attributes made it so that I couldn’t really be hurt by this thing.

To make matters worse for the snake, I was immune to its poison. For a brief moment I considered staying in the snake's stomach for a while to train mana drain, but the disgust won over almost immediately. Not wanting to spend any more time in other monsters' stomachs than I needed to, I literally blew the poor snake up from the inside. I quickly restored the small amount of HP I’d lost with restoration. Not because I needed to, but to get in every bit of skill XP I could.

Upon closer inspection, the snake had been blown to pieces and was now decorating the trees around me. I shrugged and left it there, deeming it unfit for consumption. I’d landed at the edge of this crater oasis and started making my way toward the large tree in the center. On my little journey, I passed by some fantastically colorful flowers. Trees were everywhere, all brown and green, but woven in between were a plethora of flowers that almost had a glow to them. Reds and blues and yellows and purples, some even had colors that I couldn’t really describe.

There were some that seemingly had no color at all and just gave off a softly pulsing light. Others seemed to suck the light away from their surroundings. I was truly enjoying merely looking at all this crater had to offer, which made it all the more annoying when a pair of fighting monsters came barreling through, flinging fire and acid at each other and destroying the beauty around us.

I was once again reminded that, while sometimes beautiful, this planet was a host to beings who did not care to appreciate the sights around them. I stared at the melting trees and the burning flowers for a while, considering if I should punish the two combatants for their folly, but decided against it. I had had my moment, and now it had passed.

I could see the giant tree reaching for the sky ahead of me, beckoning me to check it out. I sighed and switched back into serious mode and started rushing toward the tree, leaving behind a scene of destruction. I had a crater to explore.