The temperature kept soaring, so sweat was gushing profusely from all over his body.
The Miasma of Death had long since vanished, but the young man's lungs were struggling to work properly in that place where even the air was boiling hot.
The situation was still bearable temporarily, but if it continued like this, perhaps his lifeblood would suffer.
He had walked for hours following a long burrow clearly formed with tools, but the end of that long furnace was still not visible.
Hot flashes of air hit him from time to time, slightly heating his skin, but this was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. In fact, he had to search for some precious minerals in a cave with an immense lava lake inside. The temperature of that place was a hundred times worse than this one so that tepid torpor that accompanied him on his journey did not worry him at all.
Following the path turned out to be much easier, thanks to those glowing stones, but the narrow size of the burrow began to bother the young adventurer.
Fortunately, when he was one step away from unleashing his faithful companion, the burrow ended, and a vast underground world opened up before him.
The temperature had risen because of the giant lava lake that mostly covered that small underground world.
Looking at the center of the cave, Atlas noticed an imposing tree.
It was incredibly huge, with crowns full of red, orange, and yellow leaves.
But the strangest thing was the tree's long roots that incredibly had their tips dipped in lava.
Besides this, there was also a large opening above it, from which the gentle rays of the sun entered, giving that place a more natural atmosphere.
Looking at it more carefully and thinking back to what he had seen from the top of that tree last night, it was apparent what that gigantic opening was.
The cave that contained it was enormous and probably took up more than half of that rocky behemoth, making it the most immense mountain core he had ever seen.
But it was bare of everything as if the only inhabitant of that place was that lone tree that broke all logic.
A few steps from the burrow's exit was a small rock bridge suspended a few meters from the vast lava lake surrounding the island where the immense tree resided.
Admittedly, the passage's size was not very inviting, but in the end, Atlas moved forward, reaching the rocky island in just a few minutes.
Besides the noise caused by the lava, the area was tranquil, perhaps a little too much.
The Soul Compass was literally vibrating following the rhythm of the flashing red light, a clear warning that Rose was very close.
Perhaps calling her name would have easily reached the young woman's ears, but Atlas did not dare to open his mouth with that deafening silence.
Undecided about his next move, the young man looked around for her traces but noticed nothing besides a few small craters scattered all over the place.
Wrapped in that peace, he wandered around the giant tree roots for hours and only then headed toward the colossal trunk, hoping for a miracle.
The distance was not great, but the roots were so hot that Atlas thought better of avoiding those fiery whips, even though his choice prolonged his journey by a long way.
When he reached his destination, there was no alternative but to jump over the burning bark, so he wrapped his boots and hands with water-soaked cloths and continued his search with the Soul Compass held firmly by a string around his wrist.
The size of that tree was exaggerated, which prolonged the search a lot, but for some stupid reason, despite having climbed that trunk for almost twenty steps, he still had found nothing.
Exhausted by the climb, the young man wanted to rest, but the mere thought of sitting on that bark that looked like a pile of boiling rock kept him from doing so.
The Flask of the Immortal Camel turned out to be very useful. In fact, its almost endless supply of water saved him more than once. Mainly, in this case, the icy water coming out from it was a generous gift from the heavens.
In addition to his artifact canteen, the persistent flickering of his compass also spurred him not to give up, especially when he had begun to climb along the bark, for it had become much more insistent.
He continued to climb with difficulty, and after a few hours, he reached the point where the trunk began to branch. It was there, hidden among a faint water vapor, that he saw a figure lying on the ground.
"Perhaps..."
Startled by the discovery, Atlas approached the figure very carefully, with the compass hanging from his wrist vibrating more and more intensely.
"It must be her..."
The compass was acting by following an arcane Chaos Rune bound to the girl's soul, so its wild action confirmed the young man's thought.
The figure was now only a few steps away from him. It really took very little to see who was hiding beyond that vapor, but as soon as his foot rested around a couple of steps from it, the cloud thinned out, revealing what it hid.
"Mmm..."
Atlas was taken aback by what his eyes were admiring. Considering that it was his first time seeing such an intoxicating scene, he could not help but move his gaze all along her figure, lingering impudently between the figure's abundant bulges and enchanting thighs.
"Mmm..."
The young man had been completely captivated by the shapely and stunning body lying on the ground. Still realizing his improper actions, he hastily pulled out a soft blanket from his backpack and carefully covered the young woman's body to avoid crossing impassable boundaries.
"... Shit... This is going to end very badly..."
Although young, Atlas was aware of the terrible consequences that could result from that ambiguous situation and was already thinking of the worst.
Considering that it was hard to get that body comparable to that of an angel out of his mind.