The blinding white light exploded outward.

A three-thousand-degree spherical shockwave of liquid sunfire blasted across the Core Caldera, vaporizing the air in a deafening, acoustic roar.

Evren didn’t try to outrun the blast. In an enclosed volcanic cave, there was nowhere to hide.

He dropped his weight, sliding behind a thick basalt pillar on the edge of the altar. He drove the tip of the Frost-Bane Cleaver deep into the stone floor and dumped a massive surge of his S-Rank mana into the hilt.

The blue Wyvern Core flared with intense cold, forming an icy barrier around him.

The white-hot solar wave slammed into the pillar.

BOOOOOOM!

In less than a second, the five-foot-thick stone pillar melted into glowing red slag.

The scorching heat slammed into Evren’s frost barrier with force. The Glacial Wyvern Mantle across his shoulders struggled against the intense temperature, its blue runes flashing wildly as the frost mist quickly turned into thick, scalding steam.

Evren gritted his teeth. His muscles burned as he pressed the great blade firmly into the ground.

The heat was suffocating; the edges of his dark coat singed, and sweat poured down his face, but the Glacial Mantle held.

Seven seconds later, the solar wave passed, leaving the entire cavern glowing with superheated red gas.

Evren pushed through the thick steam, coughing slightly as he pulled his blade from the scorched stone. His eyes locked onto the giant creature in the lava lake.

The Level 55 Molten Obsidian Behemoth lowered its horned head, breathing heavily. Having exhausted its internal solar reservoir, the bright white veins running through its thirty-five-foot body had dimmed to a dark, sluggish cherry red.

’Its ultimate is on cooldown,’ Evren realized instantly. ’Marcus was right; it needs time to recharge.’

Evren didn’t hesitate.

He kicked off the melted altar floor, closing the distance between him and the giant.

Evren sprinted up a rising obsidian ridge, vaulted high into the air, and dropped down right beside the Behemoth’s massive left shoulder. He gripped the Frost-Bane Cleaver with both hands, pouring pure mana into the blade, and swung with all his physical might.

SLASH-CRACK!

The icy blade cleaved cleanly through the monster’s molten shoulder joint. A ten-foot arm made of obsidian and magma was completely severed from the Behemoth’s torso, crashing into the boiling lava lake below with a massive splash.

The Behemoth let out a pained, furious roar.

Evren landed on a narrow ledge, feeling a quick surge of satisfaction.

’One arm down.’

Before he could follow up with a strike to the neck, something horrifying happened.

GLUG-GLUG-GLUG!

The severed ten-foot arm resting in the boiling lava began to churn violently.

Instead of dissolving or dying, the severed limb absorbed the molten rock around it and started growing stone limbs and razor-sharp volcanic claws. In seconds, the severed arm had transformed into an eight-foot-tall Level 50 Magma Fiend.

Unlike the massive, slow Behemoth, this new creature looked nimble on its feet and flexible.

The Magma Fiend moved like a blur, leaping off the surface of the lava and bouncing off the cavern walls with incredible speed, lunging straight at Evren’s throat.

At the same time, the Behemoth’s severed shoulder stump bubbled with white-hot magma.

Within three seconds, a brand-new arm of molten rock grew out of the socket, hardening into jagged obsidian plates.

Evren raised his sword just in time.

CLANG-SPARK!

The creature’s claws scraped against the metal blade with a loud screech. It didn’t push back; instead, it used the impact to flip flexibly over Evren’s head and strike at his exposed back.

Evren turned around, his S-Rank reflexes kicking in. He ducked under the claw swipe, felt the searing heat graze his collar, and swung the Frost-Bane Cleaver in a wide arc.

The nimble Fiend twisted its body in mid-air, dodging the blade by inches, and landed lightly on a jagged wall before springing forward again in a relentless flurry of claw strikes.

Evren parried each rapid strike, but his mind raced with cold calculations.

’This thing isn’t trying to overpower me... it’s a distraction.’

Evren looked past the screeching Fiend toward the center of the lake.

The Behemoth had stepped back into the deepest pool of lava. Its chest was glowing again; its cherry-red veins were rapidly turning into vibrant orange, pulsing with rising heat.

Every second Evren spent fighting this agile Fiend was giving the Behemoth free time to recharge its devastating Solar Flare!

Evren knew he had to eliminate the distraction immediately.

So he stopped retreating.

As the Magma Fiend lunged forward for a double-claw execution strike, Evren intentionally left his left shoulder open.

The Fiend took the bait, diving straight at him.

At the final fraction of a second, Evren leaned sideways, letting the burning claws tear through his coat sleeve, while his left hand clamped around the Fiend’s stony wrist like an iron vise.

Intense heat poured from the monster’s wrist. The frost mist around Evren’s hand sizzled into steam, but the heat still scorched through his glove and burned his palm.

Evren gritted his teeth, ignoring the stinging pain as he tightened his grip.

The Fiend screeched in shock as it tried to free itself from Evren’s grip, all to no avail.

"Got you," Evren said coldly.

Evren pulled the struggling monster forward, raised the Frost-Bane Cleaver with his right hand, and drove the five-foot blade straight through its chest core.

The S-Rank Wyvern Core flared with blinding blue light. Sub-zero frost flooded the Fiend’s body, instantly freezing its molten veins and shattering the agile monster into a pile of harmless, frozen pebbles.

Evren kicked the frozen gravel into the lava, breathing heavily.

He turned toward the titan.

Killing the Fiend had taken precious time. The veins across the Behemoth’s entire body were now blazing a blinding, nuclear yellow, which meant the 60 seconds charge time was almost up.

The two massive magma horns on the monster’s skull began to hum with reality-warping heat.

The whole cavern turned white.

Less than ten seconds.

Evren didn’t have time to set up a defense. His Glacial Mantle was already smoking from the heat, and the hot air was already scorching his exposed skin through the torn sleeve on his left arm.

With his armor breached and stamina strained, a second point-blank blast would incinerate him completely.

He had only one move left.

Evren sprinted forward, kicking off the edge of the altar with all his leg power. He launched thirty feet straight through the boiling air, soaring over the lava lake and landing squarely on the Behemoth’s spiked spine.

The Behemoth thrashed around, but Evren didn’t stop. He ran up its back like a staircase, balancing perfectly despite the creature’s violent movements until he reached the base of the skull.

The white-hot energy between the two horns reached its critical detonation point, about to fire.

Evren leaped high above the skull, inverted his sword in mid-air, and dumped every single drop of his remaining mana into the weapon.

The blue core flared like a dying star.

"Freeze."

Evren brought the Frost-Bane Cleaver down with all his strength, driving the entire five-foot blade straight through the cranial core between the two blazing horns.

CRACK!

A catastrophic explosion of absolute-zero frost detonated directly inside the Behemoth’s head. The three-thousand-degree solar energy building between the horns violently collided with the sub-zero frost flooding its core.

Thermal shock.

The monster’s body froze instantly into brittle, crystalline blue glass before exploding from the inside out.

Tens of thousands of frozen obsidian crystals and smoking gravel rained down across the caldera, splashing harmlessly into the bubbling lava lake.

The high-pitched hum died instantly, throwing the cavern into silence.

Evren landed gracefully on the surviving rim of the central basalt altar, breathing heavily as cool steam drifted from his sword.

Floating above the altar before him was the prize: the Solar Flame-Heart, glowing with a warm, golden light.

The golden System prompt lit up Evren’s vision with triumphant fanfare:

[DING! LEVEL 55 MOLTEN OBSIDIAN BEHEMOTH SOLO-SLAIN!]

[QUEST COMPLETED: HARVEST 1x SOLAR FLAME-HEART ESSENCE (1/1)!]

[PRIMARY DIVINE CATALYST ACQUIRED FOR STAGE 3 CELESTIAL REBIRTH PILL!]

Evren reached out, gently plucking the radiant solar flower and storing it securely inside his Spatial Storage Ring alongside twelve glowing A-Rank Fire Cores.

He sheathed the Frost-Bane Cleaver across his back with a small smile spreading across his face.

"Time to go home."

Five minutes later, Evren stepped through the swirling red portal back into the cool night air of Sector 3.

The moment his boots touched the gravel, the thirty-foot magma vortex let out a soft dimensional chime, collapsed in on itself, and vanished completely into thin air.

Across the makeshift containment camp, the Guild Bureau proctor, the armed marshals, and dozens of scouts from local guilds stood frozen like statues with their mouths hung open in shock.

The young hunter who had walked into an A-Rank volcanic death zone alone... had walked back out, slightly singed, but completely alive.

Evren didn’t look at the stunned crowd. He just walked straight past the checkpoint and stepped into the waiting vehicle.

"Victoria Hill," Evren instructed calmly as the door closed. "Now."

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