After fifteen minutes Kadyn again faced the lava pond. However, this time no monster attacked him and crossed the red liquid easily. Then he arrived at the foot of the volcanic mountain and lifted his head and eyed toward the sky, trying to glimpse the acme of the Burning Tip—only to fail in the end as it was obscured due to the smoke and fog released by the vent.
Fortunately, the mountain was sloppy, not straight or dome like, making it a lot easier to climb. The Magma was rolling down from above and he avoided it with utmost caution as he didn't want to turn into a roasted chicken.
In his previous world he had read that the area surrounding the volcano was quite fertile, but at this moment he failed to see any fertility. He didn't know that most of the plants and herbs would be destroyed by the magma. Nonetheless, he continued to search for the herbs.
"Hmm, what's that?!" Kadyn exclaimed but immediately put a hand on his mouth when he saw the herd of monsters in front of him—in the distance hundreds of ants, red ants, were roaming around. Kadyn looked and saw a pool of magma that they were guarding.
There was a herb inside!
Kadyn felt disappointed when the herb wasn't Five Star Spirit Grass—inside the pool was Ash Thyme. The medicine was as precious as Five Star Spirit Grass. However, to Kadyn it was as useless as any other herb.
"Splash!"
"Damn!" suddenly the magma surged at him from the summit, and when he realised, it was already forty meters away from him, gushing in his direction like a wave of tsunami.
Kadyn glanced all around him in terror and dashed in another direction. However, how could he run faster than the liquid? His heart almost came to his throat in trepidation. But then his gaze fell on an enormous boulder and jumped in that direction.
The stone was huge; the lava smashed into it, trying to shatter it away from its path, but the boulder remained standing on the same spot, not budging or giving a path to the magma to pass. The lava changed its direction and rolled from the side in defeat.
Kadyn sighed in relief and wiped his sweaty temples. His body had become all sticky due to sudor. His hair mangled into each other and his face was covered in black-dirt of the volcanic mountain. At this moment no one would be able to recognise him by just glancing at his face that looked terrible.
Kadyn eyed his surroundings and found himself surrounded by huge stones. It was because of one of these boulders that he survived just now, or he would have turned into shish-kebab. He forced himself to stand and dragged his tired body through the stony terrain, looking around him for the thing he wanted.
He searched for two hours continuously, but to no avail. Wherever he went, only dangers greeted him. Sometimes monsters and sometimes magma avalanches. His body was full of bruises and burns and his clothes had been torn into pieces. His eyes seemed heavy, eager to fall into deep slumber, but he forced them to remain open.
"This damn place!" he cursed and kicked a pebble in irritation. "I don't think I will get the herb." He sighed and glanced around him. He saw a cave—on the entrance coiled a python of crimson colour. "Everything is crimson here!" He said and shook his head.
As he was contemplating if he should enter the cave or not, a whooshing and roaring came from behind him. He turned around and looked into the horizon, his mouth left agape. In the sky there was a gigantic flying beast rushing in the direction of a volcano—no, it was coming in his direction. It was snow white. Kadyn wondered if it came because he complained about the colour.
When the beast became clear, Kadyn's body stiffened in terror. Dragon, that was a dragon! Though there was no horn in its head as legends say, but he saw his sharp claws and white scales, and its blue eyes that seemed to spout fire and its enormous wings that it flapped up and down, supporting its gigantic body in the sky.
"I have found you, human!" a female voice rumbled.
"Heh?" Kadyn gawked at the dragon in shock and confusion. Did that dragon just speak? What does she mean by I have found you? No matter how stupid he was, he wasn't stupid enough to stand in the same place and presume that the dragon had come for an amiable talk with him.
He glanced around and dashed in a certain direction. "Humph. Where do you think you are going?!" the dragon snorted.
"Bang!"
"Damn!" Kadyn cursed when he saw the blue fire it breathed. As the fire landed on the ground, the temperature of the area dropped. The place that was bubbling with lava just a blink before freezing into ice crystals.
Kadyn peered at the frozen lava and boulder in utter terror, and didn't know what to do. Then he remembered something and blurted in shock. "You're Zephyr?!" but then muttered in confusion. "I thought Zephyr was male."
"Damn human!" Zephyr cursed.
"Woah, so sensitive about your gender," Before he could open his mouth again, Zaphyr breathed a fire and Kadyn dodged in horror. He didn't want to get caught by that fire and turn into a statue. He somersaulted and ended up near the cave. He glanced around him and found the Python at the corner, coiling with its head buried into ground.
Kadyn wasn't in any position to look down on the python, as he himself felt like fainting in dread. He took a deep breath and dashed into the cave.
"Where do you think you're going? Give me what is mine!"
"What are you talking about?" Kadyn asked.
"Still pretending, you despicable human!" in fury it again blew a fireball at him.
"Bang!"
"Damn it!" he cursed and again continued to pad into the cave. First thing he had nothing that belonged to the dragon and even if he had, the creature wouldn't let him off easily after taking the thing. So he didn't bother to argue with it. He had no strength, neither courage to do that.
As he Kadyn entered the cave and heard a rumble from behind him. With terror-filled eyes, he glanced at the python, turning into a statue, still in its coiling pose.
"I-I need to get out of here." He stammered and looked around. At the center of the cave was a magma pool and inside the pool stood Five Star Spirit Grass and his eyes lit up.
"Roar!"
Kadyn heard a roar from outside and dashed towards the pool—the entire cave shook, as if someone were tearing it from outside. Kadyn plucked the herb from the magma pool, and the cave crumbled and collapsed.