The second layer was unlike the first, for one the heat here was almost doubled, making Vin slightly uncomfortable, but only slightly as he still negated most of the heat with his "Neptune's Protection".
But one thing to notice was that the fire beasts here were not as much the ones in the first layer, infact they were only about a couple dozen of them. But these beasts were even more condensed looking closer to demonic beasts thab just fire beasts, and their auras was also a notch higher, obviously it's was because of their higher cultivation.
These beasts although fewer were in the middle stages of the Spirit Sea Realm, from the fourth through to the sixth stage. The moment the noticed Vin in their lair, the wasted no time and immediately launched an attack at him.
Obviously these beasts were truly different as they could even spew out flames from their mouth, and they took full advantage of it as they abused their ability to the fullest.
Vin had to dodge for a couple of minutes, before he found an opening and he dove in for a counter attack on them, his first target was a cannine beast that looked like a hound, once he got in front of it he landed a swift punch, blasting it's head into smithereens while also using a whirling kick to sweep away another beasts.
Using the same sweeping motion, he made impossible curves mid-air as he landed another swift upper-cut on another cannine beast, before bringing his leg down in a horizontal descent blasting another beast away.
All these seemed like a long time, but it only happened within a few minutes. After trading more blows with them, Vin felt like it was already enough playing around as he raised his hand and brought it down with a command.
"Celestial Authority ~ Demonic Judgement"
And immediately dozens of violet colored runic flame chains descended from within a large runic circle that had appeared above the beasts at some point, these chains morphed and took one the shape of lances as they stabbed at the fire beasts without mercy. And then came the second command....
"Devour"
The chain lances adhered to it, and immediately began to devour the beasts, while Vin reeled in the Euphoric sensation that came with it, a faint smile lingering on his lips as he closed his eyes to enjoy it.
His body kept on strengthening until his felt that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough, but unfortunately there were no more beasts to devour, he opened his eyes a while later to behold the sight of dozens of fire crystals in front of him, the quality of these crystals were even more pronounced.
Their size was obviously bigger, while the ones in the first layer was only the size of a fist these ones were double of it, the size of two fists joined together, and the flaming energies were also more concentrated and pure.
Vin nodded in satisfaction, as he stored the crystals in his small world, before he focused on finding the passage to the next layer, it took some efforts but he was able to locate the entrance, and this time it was located and the center of the magma lake, Vin felt slightly itchy and nostalgic as he had to dive into the magma lake to get to the next layer.
When he finally emerged in the third layer, there was a sudden change, in temperature as Vin felt Frostbite crawling up his skin, because the temperature in this place was so hot that he almost felt like he was in hell.
Vin had to condensed the barrier around him even more to negate the heat, even though he was also a flame element user this heat seemed to overwhelm him a little, and something about this flame energy seemed different than the one he was used to.
It felt unusual per say almost like....
"What the hell is wrong with this heat anyways?, it's so uncomfortable and unusual." Vin stated as he surveyed the entire place. "Why is there no one here, there must surely be guardian here somewhere...."
And that's when he saw it, a humongous creature, a canine unlike anything he had ever seen before, when he saw this creature, the information of a certain beast he had read in the beastarium part of the Tome of Eridoria and his face immediately felt crestfallen and a little bit of despair crept into his heart.....
"Wait - - - What the hell is that, don't tell me th - - at, that is - - is. A Hellhound!!!!" as soon as that thought crept into his head, he immediately took a step back as fear crept into his heart, his soul almost fled out of his body at this point as he took two more step back.
"What the hell is such a mythical creature doing in a place like, isn't this overkill" he exclaimed as he stared intently at the Hellhound, who had now noticed his presence and stood up.
The so called Hellhound was very large for its size, almost fifty meters tall and twenty meters large, it's eyes were a deep crimson. Clad in shadowy fur, eyes aglow like embers from the underworld, the Hellhound emerged from the darkness. Its muscular physique rippled beneath its sleek coat, as if forged from the very flames of the abyss.
Razor-sharp claws gleam like molten lava, poised to rend the air. A maw full of jagged teeth seemed to perpetually drip with an otherworldly saliva, as if hunger itself has taken form. The air around it distorted, heavy with the stench of brimstone and malevolent intent. The Hellhound's presence was a harbinger of doom, a creature born from the very essence of darkness and chaos.
Vin almost regretted coming into this volcano, There was a reason why Hellhounds were said to be one of the scariest and most dangerous canines.
Decision's darkness birthed the Hellhounds, creatures forged from the very essence of shadow and malice. Their eyes burned with an inner fire, a piercing glow that could freeze the blood of even the bravest warriors. Teeth sharpened to razor's edge, they could rend steel and shatter bone with ease. Their howls echoed through the realms, a chilling harbinger of doom.
In the mortal world, whispers spoke of their unholy power: to track the very soul, to sense the deepest fears, and to devour the hearts of those who dared confront them. Few had faced the Hellhounds and lived to tell the tale. Those who did spoke only in hushed whispers, their eyes haunted by the memories of those glowing, hellish orbs.
Just as Vin turned around and wanted to flee immediately, he noticed something at the corner of his eyes, for one this Hellhound was a mutant as it seemed to have massive dark wings on his back, and rather than controlling Hell Flames like it was supposed to, it wielded a different type of flame Vin had never seen before.
In fact it seemed this was not a true Hellhound and the bloodline seemed impure and even diluted to a certain extent. Vin didn't know why but he decided to turn around and observe the Hellhound more closely, as a certain thought ran through his head.
'It seems this isn't a true Hellhound, but a descendant of one of them and apparently another beast too, I wonder what it's other bloodline is though'
Vin didn't know if it was a misconception, but after observing it for a while, he noticed that he couldn't sense any malice coming from the Hellhound. Infact, he felt a certain kinship towards it, Vin thought it was probably due to his bloodline as a Hell Phoenix, it wasn't all that strange since he technically also had a connection to hell.
Vin stood his ground watching as the Hellhound made it's way towards him, since he felt no malice, he figured the mythical creature might not attack him.
And he was right, the moment the Hellhound got a few five meters away from him, it stopped and went on its knees, bowing it's head in subservience.
Vin was truly shocked at this display, Hellhound were said to be very fierce and prideful, they would only bow down their heads to masters whom they think was worthy, and in all of history there's barely been anyone who had been worthy of contracting a Hellhound, and was because their requirements were very high.
Although Vin know he was strong compared to other geniuses in the same realm, even to those who were at the very peak the Spirit Sea Realm, he still wouldn't loose out.
But he still didn't think he was strong enough to make a Hellhound submit to him, although from what he could sense, the Hellhound was only in the seventh stage of the Spirit Sea Realm, he wasn't sure he could defeat it, unless he had to resort to using 'Dark Nebula', which he had no plans to use anytime soon.
Frankly Vin had no idea what to do with the subservience of this Hellhound, so he did the only thing he could think of, he took a few steps forward and placed his hand on its forehead, but what he saw shook him to the very core.....
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