Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Something was happening in this lizardling den.

Ethan carefully and briskly made his way through the tunnel, and it barely took him a minute to find himself at a dead-end.

He frowned, looking left and right for a second. "The hell…?"

The ones he had fought must have come from somewhere. And he'd seen how these things lived. Something wasn't adding up.

Ethan raised his arms to illuminate the walls and instantly, he found a section that didn't match the rest. The surface was too smooth. Clearly artificial. And It was clear that a tunnel was supposed to be in its place. There were even tracks being cut off by the fake wall.

Ethan grumbled. If he'd gotten that explosive spell, he could have broken through this wall a lot faster.

With his talons, he tried scooping the earth out, but somehow, it was tougher than the literal stone he had scraped back when he'd first tested his claws.

Why is it so tough? Ethan drew his lips into a line. Shit. I Might have to cash in that tier-2 token for something that could break through. Unless…

He moved a few steps to the left until he found a regular section of the wall and dragged his talons against the brown carved stone. The talons drove into the earth as if it was made of butter, which confirmed to him he couldn't cut through the fake wall because it was made of magic.

Interesting. What if I could overpower that, just like the lizardling's bone-armor? Would it dissolve away?

Ethan stood in front of the off-colored portion, shook both hands as he took a deep breath, then pointed them at the fake wall and let loose.

Fire geysered out of his hand and flared against the darker stone. At first, Ethan ate through his mana but as the seconds went by, he narrowed the stream and tuning into the feedback he was getting from his chest, he moderated his output to the rate of mana regeneration.

Or at least, he tried to approximate it.

Already the heat in the cave was increasing precipitously, and Ethan hoped he was right as he put all of his willpower into narrowing the flames as thinly as possible. Teeth gritting, he watched as the jet would occasionally shudder, enlarging, but he didn't let up. The heat was becoming uncomfortable, and his eyes teared up from the intense light and heat, but he managed to reduce the flames, bit by bit, until out of his two hands, a two-inch, focused jet of intense fire burned into the fake wall.

He didn't stop. His vision began swimming. The air was shimmering from the heat. The stone wall in front of him was glowing, red-hot, but it refused to melt or dissipate.

Sweat was pouring down his brow, burning his eyes. A salty taste was on his lips, but Ethan didn't let his concentration falter. He urged the flames to converge, to narrow further into a jet that could burn through anything. A fire that could melt any and all obstacles that tried to hold against it.

The world shivered around him and, as if that thought had been the final push, the stream narrowed even further.

The heat was becoming unbearable. The air around Ethan rippled like an open oven and just just as he considered a retreat back toward the cooler sections of the tunnel, to take a break then try again later, the jet of flames punched through.

The fire pierced through the fake wall, and as if a load-bearing pillar of the magic holding it up had been broken, cracks spread out of the hole Ethan had melted. Large chunks fell down, mots of brown dissipating from them, leaving porous and crumbly stone, then the rest of the wall followed.

Ethan, gasping for air, rushed forward into the cooler chamber, warily eye the two wide-eyed spear-wielders waiting for him. The tunnel behind him was like a damn oven and he worried that if he went back there toward the cooler section, the chamber would be re-sealed.

Because… he could see why they would.

Ethan barged into an antechamber that led to another wide room, and as far as he could tell, it had no civilians. It looked full of… cultists?

He could hear them. Chanting. Going up and down on their knees. There was a great fire in the center of the room, but before he could make out some more details, a spear shot up at his chest and tried to stab him in the heart.

Ethan stumbled into a dodge, still a bit dazed from the heat.

If it wasn't for my fire resistance and high Toughness, that might have been dangerous, he thought as he dipped under the second spear before swiped at the first spear-wielders.

The lizardling tilted its head back, believing the claws wouldn't reach it, only for Ethan to trigger [Extending Enhancement] mid-swing.

He took its head off.

Without wasting the activation of the modifier, Ethan pivoted and sliced up. The lizardling tried to parry, only for the 12-inch claws to shear cleanly through the wooden shaft. The lizardling stumbled back and screeched that was cut off when Ethan shoved his claws into its throat.

Taking a few calming breaths, Ethan took in the scene ahead of him and swallowed.

Maybe he should actually cash-in the tier-2 token? There were at least two lizardlings above level thirty in there. Thankfully, even the commotion in the entrance hadn't been enough to be picked up.

They were all busy. By the curious bonfire in the center.

Are they praying to something? There's something there… but I can't pick it up from the lizardlings all around it.

After considering it for a couple of seconds, he nodded. It would be dumb to walk in there with an unspent advantage. While he had previously said he'd sit on the token, he hadn't expected to find a literal ceremony full of at least dozens of lizardlings, some of which are level 30+. Eyes scanning ahead, Ethan pulled up his interface and realized there were a notification he had missed.

Congratulations. Gout of Flames (Tier-1) can be learned.

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Quickly checking his general upgrades, he found it to be available at a 100 fragments. Which he couldn't afford, even with the fragments he had just collected.

I'll look into all of that later.

Ethan found the token and then expended it. He needed something that hit hard from range. A modifier might not be enough, but he remembered seeing projectile spells the last time he'd had to select a General-class spell.

I have fire spells. Please give it to me, he prayed, thinking of the explosive spell he'd dealt with barely minutes ago.

Select a general-class tier-2 spell from the list below:

Force Barrier: Summon a barrier made of force.

Healing Touch: Heal a target you are currently touching.

Ice Shard: Shoots a shard made of ice.

Small Fireball: Shoot a small flaming projectile which explodes on impact.

Force Lance: Shoot a lance made of force.

Ethan grinned. That must be it. The exploding ball the last lizardling had used on him. He knew he was getting it already, but he should consider the other options as well. Just in case.

Everything else is good too… Even the Ice Shard. While I'm pretty invested in fire right now, it wouldn't hurt to eventually pick another element. I'm bound to encounter things resilient against fire.

Healing and the Barrier were interesting… but they weren't what he needed right this second. He had high Toughness, and barriers only worked if he could hide behind them, which wasn't an option in his fighting style. As for healing, he had [Child of Flames] which would heal him, even though it wasn't that fast. He just sorely needed a ranged spell at this point, and he couldn't afford to delay it any further.

Small Fireball (Tier-2) added to General spells.

Ethan quickly slotted in took a few deep breaths as he took stock of his general wellbeing, then moved forward. He was ready. His arm felt fine. Still a bit sore, but he could use it just fine. The effect of the heat had faded. He was definitely thirsty and wouldn't say no to a break or even a nap. But that could wait. Once he figured out what the crafty bastards were up to, he'd take a well deserved rest but for now, Ethan slowly approached the entrance of the ceremonial cave.

At the center of the circular cave was a pyre. Something had been placed within the flames, but Ethan couldn't see it well, considering the distance and the fire. Around the pyre, there were three naked lizardlings above level 30, their hands extended toward the flames. They wore similar jewelry to the one Ethan had fought, a mix of bones and rough gems, while at their feet, around ten glassy-eyed lizardlings were kneeling, the fire dancing in their empty gaze.

But that wasn't what immediately pulled his gaze and made his hands twitch, cold fury building in his guts.

Each of the kneeling lizardling was holding a severed human head in their lap.

Wrenching his sight from the poor souls who had fallen to the monsters, Ethan glared around. Beyond that circle, more lizardlings stood, chanting along with the three. Beyond those, closer to the wall, there were warriors whose heads snapped to Ethan as soon as the ritual conductor barked the order.

Ethan looked away form them for a moment, surveying the whole cave, fingers twitching. He forced himself to breath slower. To keep a cool head.

There were close to 50 lizardlings in the cave. Any other time, they would have been a pain to fight with his usual strategies. But not anymore. He had more tools at his disposal now.

Looking back at the oncoming warriors, Ethan raised his hand and shot the first [Small Fireball].

The spell shot out at the oncoming lizardlings. A familiar, red-glowing flew toward its target, hitting the first warrior in an explosion of ear-shattering ring, fire, and dust. He saw a few bodies be thrown out of the inferno, but he didn't may them any mind.

As death notifications rang in his mind, Ethan turned his attention to the high-level lizardlings and at the ritual they were conducting. He tried to shoot another fireball at the ritual conductors, but the spell refused to trigger. As if the wand's mental trigger had disappeared.

Seeing him pointing at them, he noticed them manifesting their bone armor.

Ethan glared at them as he waited for the spell to be ready once more. He felt rage bubble in his stomach for those poor bastards who got captured by these filthy things. While he had relished the challenge of pushing himself against monsters and discovering this new world, he knew not everyone was like him. These people might have had families. Loved ones. They might have been separated from their friends.

Ethan's eyes drifted to deceased heads, feeling the mental trigger for [Small Fireball] activate again. They would have been absolutely terrified when this all started, finding themselves thrown into an unknown world filled with danger and death, only to be immediately preyed upon by these things and used in… whatever this was.

Slowly, a promise began shaping itself up in his mind as the fireball flew at the conductors. A resolve.

No lizardling will step out of this cave.

"One."

A white shimmer appeared right before the fireball impacted, intercepting the projectile. The fireball exploded, but the fire only spread against the white pane of light and not through it.

A barrier.

Ethan took note, then glancing to his right, he found that the dust had settled around the warriors. Those who survived the explosion continued their approach. A couple of them had armor and shields.

"Two."

Some of them, hidden behind the shields, raised their wands and took aim.

"Three."

Ethan increased the flames from his right hand and held it forward, creating a wall of fire to weaken the lizardling's spell.

"Four."

Fire projectiles were launched. Rocks were summoned out of thin air. Off-white bolts of light zipped toward him. They all hit his flaming barrier and burned away. Only the stones got through, but they lost their momentum and fell to his feet.

At the fifth second, the fireball was ready once more. Disregarding the bone-wearing figures for a moment, he decided to clear out the chaff first. He had to get close and personal with the high-level ones. He'd see how well those barriers would hold up when he'd be all up in their faces.

Ethan glared at them while the fireball went off, burning to a crisp the warriors that that had survived, decimating them once more. But he doubted all were dead.

Glancing back toward the ritual conductors, Ethan grit his teeth.

He would tear them limb from limb before the hour was through.