Chereads / Am I a Hero in This New World? / Chapter 28 - A sweltering place

Chapter 28 - A sweltering place

The portal pulled in Mark like a suction bulb and his environment shifted. 

 The cool, dark environment gave way to a hot, red cavern, with streams of lava spilling from nooks and crannies. 

 "Wooo"

 

 Mark found himself falling from the portal above and landing on a piece of rock fixed by the cavern walls. 

 He landed properly despite the surprise, rolling forward soon as his feet touched the ground. He got up and was immediately bathed with the intense heat that permeated everywhere, it was almost unbearable. 

 He squinted his eyes immediately and put a hand over it, his eyes couldn't take the oppressive heat. 

 "Arghhh" he wailed, arching and wincing from the pain. 

 After a few seconds of enduring, he shook the pain off with sheer determination, he was going to get to the next portal no matter what. 

 Where he stood had a stream of lava passing by it, and parting it away from the next rocky surface. He looked to his sides for possible paths but as he looked further, he saw that they had been eaten up by lava and the only way forward is to jump over the lava stream. 

 He swallowed, his throat dry and coarse, then he began taking steps, walking towards the edge. He saw the red hot edge as he walked and made note of it, and just before it, he stopped. 

 The area on which he stood was warm, a little more degrees and his soles would be burning, the edge however–where the stream of lava touched the margin–the lava bank so to speak, was brazenly hot and red, he dared not place his exposed feet on it. 

 He looked at it and then past it, looking at the bank at the other side, the stream wasn't by any means wide. He just hadn't been in a place with an environment as hostile as this was, a misstep would cost him his life and in an agonizing way. 

 He backstepped, his eyes fixed on the stream of lava. There were no directions for him to find the next portal, but as he had done before, he believed that all he had to do was to move forward, and it wasn't like he had a choice not to. 

 He stopped once his back felt the less warmer wall. He swallowed again and immediately sprinted. 

 Step after step, his life edging ever close to its fall. And just before his feet got to the edge, he jumped, throwing up his hands. 

 His feet touched the other side, with his left feet grazing the hot edge. 

 "Ouch," he let out, immediately throwing forward his left leg from the area, and falling on his knees. 

 "Oh God, oh God, oh God." He cried, sitting with his legs crossed and softly running his reddened sole from the slight burn. 

 A few minutes after he was done, he got back up, trying to place his weight away from his left heel. 

 The area where he stood was just a little rocky mass surrounded by brimming hot lava all around, like a desolate miniscule island.

 

 In front of it was a series of slabs of rock suspended on the lava, leading forward to another larger rocky mass. 

 A surging wave of lava had Mark scoot from the edge back to the center, he watched the slabs rise up as the surge went below them.

 'Holy shit' he swiped his sweat-ridden face, and clutched a piece of his outfit by their legs. He beat on his legs as a means to rile himself up and then he stormed forward. 

 His feet left the ground, and he was suspended in the air like he had wings. 

 THUMP 

 He landed on the nearest slab, they were big enough to have him not fall over. The next was only about a meter away. 

 He jumped on to it, and then the next, next and then the next. 

 The trail of slabs went on and on, until he got to the center, where he could vaguely see the end to the slabs, and the land area next. 

 Now, at the point where he stood–the center to both slab ends, not only were the slabs forward present, there were others freely floating, and there were others that were fixed in a spot. 

 Those fixed were larger than others, and they held on them, statues of burning stone. 

 One was a great fiery serpent, with flaming eyes and mouths, wrapped against a creature that Mark couldn't make of–it was smaller, humanoid and it was on its knees. 

 Another was that of a thing that looked like the union of a human and a dragon. It was large, with its back hunched, its body had large scales jutting out like they were spines, it had large arms and legs and a thick tail that partly sank into the lava. 

 Mark looked at the works of art in consternation, it was almost like they were alive, the fire in them gave them more than an ominous mighty feeling, it gave them a sense of life, at least to Mark. 

 He would never forget this place for as long as he lives, something to tell his grandkids, to entertain them with, if he ever gets one. 

 However, the most impressive was neither of the two, but the twin statue before him.

 They were fixed by the great lake of fire, with sword in hand and a large helm that covered their faces. Their swords were fixed into the dais on which they were erected on, their bodies were armored all around, the rock with which they were sculpted from was red, either that, or the heat had changed their colors. 

 Deep in their helms, fiery balls of fire stood out in areas where their eyes should be. 

 Mark couldn't tell what it was, but a feeling that these ones had life was at the back of his mind–like the ones that had first attacked him in the first room so he applied even more caution, hardly taking his sight away from them, wary of any sudden movement. 

 Then In the middle of all this, Mark held the crumble of rocks at the end where he had come from and he turned.