Lann would never forget the first time he met Jerome. Back then, the Griffin School grandmaster had just escaped after centuries of slumber. His mind was still clouded, yet he had managed to burn a passage straight up to the surface using an enhanced Igni Sign and Aard Sign—both strengthened by secondary mutation. Even now, Lann knew his own Sign intensity was far inferior to Jerome's.
Still, while his Igni Sign hadn't yet reached the point of melting stone into lava, he could now achieve something similar thanks to the system's abilities.
His method was cruder, more complicated, but he was beginning to glimpse Jerome's shadow in his own progress.
As the chaotic energy within him surged, a concentrated stream of fire steadily flowed from his palm, heating the dam's rocky surface until it glowed with searing intensity.
Heat the stone first—then douse it with cold water.
Tomor's hopeful expression faded as he let out a resigned sigh. "Duke Lannister, are you seriously trying to crack the dam with a 'thermal shock' method? We've used that technique before while mining underground, but if you're planning to break through the entire dam like this, it'll take days. Maybe we should just send a team to—"
Tomor suddenly fell silent. His face froze as if his mind had short-circuited. His jaw slackened, hanging open like it had unhinged, and his eyes bulged so wide they looked ready to pop out.
Before him, the towering dam had suddenly… caught fire.
The massive structure—built by both the Fuchs and Zigrin clans using the finest volcanic and metamorphic rock from the mountains, including granite and quartzite—had inexplicably ignited like dry kindling.
Within moments, the entire dam had transformed into a colossal, blazing torch.
"This… This…" Tomor frantically searched his mind for words but found none that could properly express what he was witnessing.
Lann ignored the dumbfounded dwarf. Instead, he stepped back a couple of paces, closely observing the flames to ensure the fire's destructive force remained within acceptable limits.
When the once-solid rock had turned crimson-hot, glowing like molten iron, and had even begun shifting toward the texture and color of charcoal, Lann altered the sign in his palm.
The chaotic energy within him shifted, channeling an opposing elemental force.
[Aard Sign - Piercing Cold]
Despite it being early spring in Davor, a sudden, bitter cold swept through the area, making it feel as if winter had returned. The freezing wind howled, and the instant it collided with the superheated rock, it let out a sharp sizzle, like meat searing on a grill.
Then came a far more ominous sound—
[Crack! Crack!]
Maintaining Piercing Cold was far more demanding than using Pyromaniac, especially since he was forcing the burning-hot stone to freeze solid.
Even Tomor, the seasoned chieftain, instinctively pulled his clothes tighter around him as the temperature plummeted. By now, a thin layer of ice had already formed over the previously blazing dam.
Beneath the ice, a dense web of fractures spread across the rock. If not for the frozen layer holding it together, the dam would have already collapsed into rubble.
"Tell your people to be ready, Tomor," Lann said calmly. "The flood is coming."
Snapping out of his shock, Tomor hastily signaled the Fuchs clan to prepare. But when he turned back, his gaze was once again seized by a sight beyond comprehension.
This time, it wasn't just the supposedly fireproof stone that was burning.
The ice itself had caught fire.
The new wave of Igni didn't melt the ice before igniting the rock beneath it—it simply set everything ablaze at once.
Tomor Fuchs' face was blank, completely drained of emotion. He stood there at the edge of the dam he had known all his life, his beard's iron rings clinking softly in the shifting air—an air that alternated between the sweltering heat of a forge and the biting cold of a blizzard.
He didn't have to wait long.
Before he could even process the absurdity of Lann's abilities, the dam beneath their feet trembled, groaning with an ominous, earthquake-like rumble.
Lann's pupils contracted as he caught sight of the latest wave of ignited stones. Behind them, thin streams of water had already begun seeping through.
With a flicker, his body vanished into a brilliant emerald glow. In the next instant, a flash of golden light signaled his reappearance beside Chief Tomor, who had wisely sensed trouble and retreated far in advance.
A second later, a vortex of floodwaters swallowed the spot where Lann had just been standing.
[Boom!]
The thunderous roar of the rushing flood eclipsed even the force of an explosion, engulfing everything in its path. Even after witnessing the towering waves of the Skellige seas, Lann couldn't help but feel uneasy at the sight before him. This was not a disaster that human strength could contend with—it was nature itself, wielded as a weapon for vengeance against the monsters.
Massive boulders and torrents of silt were swept up, becoming part of the onslaught. Black pines along the banks were ripped from the ground, their roots torn free along with the very earth beneath them. Fortunately, the Fuchs clan dwarves had meticulously planned the river's course; otherwise, this flood would have been enough to submerge the capital of a major kingdom.
Watching the surging waters rush forward, Lann tilted his head back and downed a bottle of Tawny Owl, replenishing his depleted magic reserves. Rapidly switching between different Signs consumed much more magic energy than simply holding a Sign together with [Magic Burst].
"Incredible…" Tomor muttered under his breath. "Absolutely incredible."
Closing his eyes, Lann took a moment to assess his body's condition. A quick glance at his system interface confirmed that his mana was slowly recovering. He nodded. "I'll check on the front lines. Keep an eye on the dwarf outposts along the way."
With that, the emerald glow enveloped him once more. His form flickered and dissolved into scattered motes of light.
Tomor turned his head, staring in the direction Lann had disappeared. He murmured again, "This is beyond incredible."
...
Davor's Abyss.
The raging flood, fed by the Yaruga River, roared through the underground depths, swallowing everything in its wake. The monsters' shrieks and howls were drowned beneath the torrent.
However, the complex terrain allowed some creatures to escape in the initial chaos. Monsters that lived underground were particularly sensitive to vibrations—such as Shaelmaars, Rock Trolls, and the Kikimoras swarms.
They had no hope of fleeing through the main exit while the flood raged on. But a mining complex as vast as Davor's Abyss had more than one escape route—constructed both by dwarves and by the burrowing creatures themselves.
Of course, the Fuchs clan dwarves were well aware of these escape routes. They had stationed multiple squads at each exit, determined to exterminate as many monsters as possible before they could break free.
Now, the dwarves on guard exchanged tense glances. They stood ready, weapons raised, watching for any sign of movement—but their eyes kept drifting toward the towering figures standing at the front of the formation.
The Cintran Cavalry—Duke Lannister's personal guard.
Though they lacked noble titles, their equipment far surpassed what most knightly families could afford. They wore full sets of customized plate armor, wielded hand-and-a-half swords, and carried an arsenal of secondary weapons, including crossbows, daggers, and even alchemical bombs, making them highly adaptable to various combat scenarios.
The straightforward-minded Fuchs warriors were grateful for the reinforcements, but…
"Is this really necessary? We already have plenty of fighters. A few more men won't make much of a difference. It's not like they have the strength of the Lion himself."
"And why do they keep pushing to the front? Feels like they hate those monsters even more than we do…"
Murmurs rippled through the dwarven ranks, but their commanding officer quickly barked an order, silencing them. The Cintran soldiers, for their part, paid no attention to the whispers. Their duty had been assigned by their duke. That was all that mattered.
"Stay sharp! Movement ahead!"
A Cintran cavalryman at the vanguard suddenly called out. Remarkably, he had noticed the approaching monsters before the dwarves—despite their lifelong experience underground.
The dwarf commander was a full heartbeat slower in reacting. He hurriedly ordered his warriors to ready their weapons.
But before the monsters' guttural snarls had fully emerged from the tunnels—before their dark silhouettes had even stepped into view—before the dwarves had properly assumed their battle stances…
One of the Cintran cavalrymen at the very front of the formation suddenly flared with an intense emerald radiance, as if a miniature sun had ignited around him.
The soldiers at his side instinctively stepped back, their attack stances dissolving as they gazed at their chosen comrade with a mix of envy and longing.
A golden-haired knight emerged from the searing light. He extended his left palm toward the first monster that came into view.
[Aard Sign - Piercing Cold - Magic Burst!]
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