Chương 382: Chapter 365

After a brief intermission for a musical number, they slowly approached the island. The name Burning Island was very apropos. Even from a distance, without any mechanical, magical, or skill assistance, Sam could spot at least a dozen lava spouts belching searing magma into the steaming ocean. The island itself was a jagged mix of black volcanic stone and sparse green patches clinging to the edges. They were currently heading toward one of those patches.

Two curving walls of layered, cooled lava wrapped around the small bay, remnants of ancient eruptions that now created a pocket of calm water large enough to land and establish a temporary base. An abandoned campsite sat in the shadow of one of the lava walls, left behind by the guild team that had previously surveyed the island. It mostly consisted of a few sheds, the beginning of a wall, and something that looked like a grill pit. The air smelled of salt and sulfur.

In the distance, the volcano rumbled without pause. Ash drifted lazily from the sky every so often, and aside from that, the place almost looked like a generic island paradise. If you ignored the giant volcano, that is… The captain stepped up beside Sam and studied the bay with a critical frown.

"Ship ain't making that landing. You'll be needin' to paddle thar…" he spat in a gravelly voice that sounded like he'd been gargling seawater since birth.

"No problem," Sam replied.

"How long can you wait?" The captain glanced at the sky before looking back at his second-in-command, who stood behind him with one hand resting on the hilt of his saber.

"I reckon around a week or so," the captain finally said.

"We got the food and water. But this island's givin' me the heebie-jeebies." Sam looked back toward Burning Island just as the side of the volcano erupted in the distance, spewing molten rock and flame high into the air before ash and smoke swallowed the sight. A moment later, the sound reached them. WHUMP The last remnants of the shockwave travelled through them.

"Me too, captain," Sam muttered.

"Me too…" They made landfall an hour later in several small boats. Dan offered to freeze the bay so they could simply walk across, but Sam immediately shot the idea down. There was no need to be that flashy. Besides, who knew how the guardian beast would react to large-scale magic? A small team of sailors escorted them ashore before beginning work on the abandoned guild camp. They would gather fresh fruit, hunt if possible, and most importantly, search for a reliable freshwater source.

Sam stepped onto the shore with the rest of his team and watched everyone fan out across the small paradise they had discovered. Leaving the soft beach behind, he headed deeper into the island and entered the forested area beyond the coastline. Thick underbrush covered the ground while tall trees stretched high overhead, vaguely resembling palm trees. Here and there, patches of red and yellow broke through the endless sea of vibrant green. He had no idea what any of it was called.

Still, he made a mental note to collect samples for the guild before they left. There was a decent chance the alchemists or craftsmen could make use of plants that grew on a volcanic island. Occasionally, he could hear in the distance the call of some kind of bird, mixed with the ever-present noises one could find in an environment like this. More than anything, though, he was excited. This area was not something he had ever experienced.

The other Sam had never possessed the power, status, or opportunity to join expeditions like this. He had heard stories about successful ventures and disastrous failures, but the major guilds guarded such information like treasure. Thus, he could truthfully say that he genuinely had no idea what to expect. Granted, gaming experience gave him a few guesses. The system loved following familiar conventions. But beyond that, it was only him, his team, and whatever waited deeper inside the island. Sam grinned.

He couldn't wait.

"Oh wooow! The water is cooool!" Sam turned and spotted Katie splashing through the shallows barefoot, kicking water toward the others while the poor sailor nearby desperately tried not to stare at her bare legs.

"Come on, people!" Sam shouted.

"We're burning daylight!" Katie stopped long enough to pout dramatically before trudging back toward shore, where a grumbling Clarissa helped clean the sand off her feet. As the group began trekking toward the nearest fracture, Katie moved up beside Sam.

"You seriously need to build a resort here, boss. This place is gorgeous," she said with a grin. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Sam nodded.

"Already considered it. Depends on how the guardian reacts to us. Would be a pretty terrible resort if guests got vaporized every other week."

"Yes!" Katie pumped a fist into the air.

"I'm so reserving a permanent room!" Sam stared at her.

"Katie. Your family is absurdly rich. You could vacation on any beach in the world."

"And spend the rest of your life in complete luxury," Dan added from Sam's other side, calmly scanning the surroundings for danger. Katie pouted again.

"It's not the same! You can't fight giant krakens on normal beaches!" Sam and Dan exchanged a look while Isabella rolled her eyes.

"Fair enough." It took another half hour to cut through the dense jungle and reach the first fracture. Dan offered several times to simply burn a path through the vegetation, but Katie shot him down every single time, insisting she wanted a nice view for their future resort. Sam just rolled his eyes, snapped a few pictures, and sent messages to Lara and Lucy instructing them to begin planning a Heavenly Forest location for the island. A luxury resort really would be the best option.

If the wealthy spent enough time here, they would naturally become invested in protecting the island. Besides, building something luxurious and isolated like this would cost a fortune even for AFK. After a moment of thought, Sam sent another message asking Lara to scout locations near Deepanchor for a second resort. Something more affordable for people unwilling or unable to pay for a private volcanic island getaway. Done setting up yet another future money-printing scheme, Sam finally looked around properly.

They stood at the edge of the greenery where the volcanic rock had cooled, but nature had not yet reclaimed the land. Dark basalt mixed with streaks of obsidian stretched ahead of them in uneven waves. Sam cautiously nudged the ground with his boot, checking for heat. When nothing happened, he slowly shifted his weight onto it. Still nothing. He glanced back at the others.

"Come on. According to the report, the first fracture should be near a lava spring." Katie tilted her head.

"Oh, is that like a hot spring? Just… hotter?"

"Sure," Clarissa replied dryly.

"You can even take a dip. I'll watch." Katie smirked.

"My fire immunity is almost maxed out. I could probably survive a lava bath." Dan just sighed and, with a casual wave of his hand, tore apart a section of rock nearby. The exposed stone instantly superheated, melting into a floating blob of glowing lava that rose into the air above Katie's head.

"Want to try?" Katie looked up with sparkling eyes.

"Sure!" Dan sighed again as everyone stopped to stare. The molten sphere rippled above Katie for a brief moment before Dan released it. Sam watched the blob of lava fall toward Katie's eagerly outstretched hands – and then a large black blur shot past. The ball of lava vanished.

"No, Puffball! Bad Puffball!" Katie cried in outrage. She immediately sprinted after the small black cat, who calmly licked his paws with the satisfied expression of someone who knew what they had done had inconvenienced someone else. Sam watched Katie unsuccessfully attempt to discipline the utterly unapologetic feline before exchanging a look with the others.

"Let's just…go…"

"Sounds like a plan." The fracture portal swirled merrily above a lava spring that seemed to produce an inexhaustible flow of molten rock. Droplets of lava sprayed outward in all directions, only to cool instantly the moment they left the stream, creating a strange inverted landscape – like stalactites forming in reverse beneath a glowing ceiling. Before entering, they spent a few minutes scouting the area around the portal. Nothing stirred. The island appeared devoid of monsters, inhabited only by neutral beasts.

Strange, but not unheard of. Still, Sam couldn't shake the feeling that it meant one thing: if they mishandled the fractures, whatever lay beyond would eventually spill out unchecked. He studied the swirling gate. Reds, oranges, and yellows spiraled tightly around a core of brilliant white. Maybe that was the entire point of the island. Fix whatever was inside the fracture, or watch the island be overrun – and probably destroyed.

"A possibility…" he murmured. The rest of the team finished their sweep and gathered behind him.

"Ready?" he asked. After a series of nods, Sam reached forward and touched the portal. It wasn't hot to the touch, but it still felt like an intense pressure of heat radiating against his skin as he made contact. [You entered a new fracture!] [Fracture: Lava Spring] [A naturally occurring spring of lava on the Burning Island. However, despite being naturally occurring, it is unnaturally spewing lava in large quantities. Go in and figure out the reason for it.] [Time Limit: No limit] [Charges: 1/7] A moment later, the world shifted, and they arrived in a nearly identical environment composed of obsidian fields broken apart by rivers of flowing lava that occasionally erupted into violent bubbles, sending sprays of molten rock into the air. However, one feature immediately dominated the landscape.

A massive lava river cut through the fracture, descending from the mountains above and moving with an unnatural speed for molten stone – faster than most river rapids Sam had seen. As the team observed it, the river suddenly surged upward in a towering geyser of fire and molten rock, prompting everyone to instinctively raise layered defensive shields as glowing droplets of lava rained harmlessly against them.

When the eruption finally collapsed back into the river, it revealed something emerging from within the molten flow: eight enormous legs, blackened by heat but glowing white at the end, which looked like blades, followed by a body that had incandescent cracks running through it. Its gemstone-like eyes locked onto them with a predatory focus. It was around sixteen feet high and more than thirty feet from one end to another. Clarissa let out a tired sigh.

"Why is it always a spider?" she despaired. Without hesitation, she raised her staff as it ignited with a white-gold radiance, releasing a beam of light that struck the creature with absolute precision and pinned it in place. A second pulse followed immediately after tearing through the creature before it could even react. The spider's head vanished in an instant as lava-like blood sprayed outward, and its collapsing body was swept away by the fast-moving river of molten rock.

For a brief moment, silence settled over the group. Clarissa crossed her arms and pulled her staff close to her chest.

"What? I told you I hate spiders. I made sure I could deal with them."

"What exactly was that spell?" Dan asked, watching the aftermath.

"Anti-Spider Laser."

"Anti-Spider Laser?"

"Yes," Clarissa nodded. Then she shrugged.

"Okay, maybe the real name is Cleansing Annihilation Ray, but I like Anti-Spider Laser, or ASL, better." Sam smiled slightly.

"Light magic. That's neat." Clarissa rolled her eyes.

"Of course you know about it…"

"It's the direct opposite of shadow magic. Of course I know about it." Before the discussion could drift into what would likely become an extensive and highly technical – but fascinating – conversation about the magic system of Magic Unbound, Sam clapped his hands together and brought everyone back on task. With how the team was, everybody had become a sort of expert on their own magic.

Every time they stopped to talk about the details, it turned into a multi-hour discussion that could have been a university lecture. No matter how much Sam liked those discussions, he still didn't want to be delayed by them.

"Alright, the game plan is simple. These spiders don't seem particularly strong, so Clarissa stays in the center with her laser. Dan, you handle anti-lava defenses. Everyone else covers her and keeps anything else off her. Any questions?" Clarissa looked satisfied with her role, while Dan appeared curious and ready to experiment further with the environment. Katie and Isabella, meanwhile, were already focused on the prospect of combat. After a final check of potions and consumables, the team moved forward together.