So… you know how you look at an image in a book, and it doesn't show how big it actually is as a kid until you actually go there In person?
Because that's what's happening to me right now.
I stare up at the crimson colored sky as lava exploded out of various parts of the mountain, lava flowing out like a stream, the heat making my body sheen with a layer of sweat.
"Man you weren't kidding! even at the foot of the volcano I feel like I'll burst into flames if I'm not careful." I say as I wipe sweat off my forehead, ' not to mention it looks even more intimidating in real life than in the anime.' I think to myself as I hear a snort from Merleona.
"Of course I wasn't kidding, the ambient mana takes one whatever element the environment it's in, and supercharges it, hence why it's called a strong magic region." Merleona explained as she turns to me, "those who aren't prepared will burst into flames the moment they try getting close to the volcano, and if that doesn't kill you the fire elementals will."
(Yeah im gonna be honest I wasn't sure what to call mana beasts born in a strong magic region, so I spitballed and im calling the mana beasts OG the ultime volcano trail fire elementals.)
"So that's why you wanted me to learn mana skin, and why you got mad when I said I didn't know of it." I tell her as she smiles, her fang showing, "exactly, but now that you know the basics, im gonna whip you to shape." She tells me as a roaring lion manifested behind her.
I gulped at her declaration as I felt I was going to go through hell, she was like scháthach when it came to her training, she was spartan as hell about it and will put you through hell until she was satisfied, "so…shall we?" I ask her, my mana skin covering me as she takes one step forward.
"Okay then, we'll make it a race." She tells me as I listen, " after that we'll set up camp at the top and then fight some mana beasts, and if I catch you slacking." She pauses before giving me a feral grin that reminded me of my father figure in my previous life whenever I got smart with him, " then it won't be the strong mana or the mana beasts that'll kill you, I'll do that myself." She finishes as I feel a shiver roll throughout my body, but it wasn't from fear.
It was excitement.
"Got it…alright then in three!" I say to her as I move into a sprinter position, relaxing my body as I try pushing my strength to my legs as core, "two!" She says as she gets ready, he hair moving as if her and the fires of the strong magic region became one. "One!" We both yell at the same time as we feel a rumble beneath our feet.
*bwoooom*
At the moment we said one a nearby underground volcano erupted and we both shot out like cannonballs, we sprinted up the trail, barely registering the heat as we jump from surface to surface.
"Gwooooooooh!!!"
We both hear a savage, beastlike roar as we see a bunch of fire elementals, hulking behemoths of molten rock 5 meters tall, coming at us both ten in total as I glance at Merleona , "you take 5 and I take 5!" I tell her as I use my swordsoul magic to summon crissaegrim to my hand.
Merleona laughs as he fists catch aflame as she charges in, "and the one who finishes their five first gets to make the loser cook dinner!" She shouts as I run on in and slash at the arm of the nearest fire elemental, the slash wasn't deep but it caught their attention as they swing their club like arms at me in an attempt to bludgeon me into the fiery ground.
'It didn't sever the arm.' I notice as I dodge another strike, ' if I used water skin instead of fire skin I'd have the advantage, but I told myself I'd stick with fire skin!' I tell myself as I slap myself in the face with my free hand as I focus again.
(Fire skin and water skin is just mana skin but with their element mentioned, it's not an mtl term)
"Then I'll have to strike harder!!" I shout as I subconsciously add mana skin to my weapon as I slashed again, this time placing a deep wound on an attacking elemental this time, it roared with a mix of agony and rage as it tried throwing another swing at me as I dodge the incoming attack, not realizing one of them was attacking from behind.
"Watch your six!!!" I hear from my side as I see Merleona come out of nowhere, I hear the sound of rock shattering, and I turn to see Merleona standing over a destroyed elemental that was behind me, now turned to mere pebbles.
"Uh…thanks?" I tell her as I turn to where her 5 were supposed to be, and I see a gigantic pile of rocks that were once elementals, "so I take it i'm the loser?" I ask her as I use a wide slash and decapitate two of the elementals as I see the other two were hesitating, as if they couldn't decide whether to run or attack.
"Gwooor!"
I hear them both roar as they both charge at me simultaneously, the bigger of the two charging at me while the smaller one took up the rear.
'Something…feels off with their attack.' I think to myself as I block the overhead swing of the bigger elemental's attack as I counter with a decapitating slash, only to find the smaller one nowhere to be seen.
I immediately put my guard up as I strain my ears, hoping to hear the slightest sound from the elemental, but I couldn't hear it over the sound of flowing lava, 'it's using the environment to hide! That must mean!' I think to myself in alarm as I hear the slight sound of rocks shifting below me.
'Jump!' I tell myself as I see cracks underneath the black rock underneath me as I jump and see the elemental's arms where my body was before it came out of the ground, looking at its arms in confusion, realizing its prey wasn't paste, and it looks up as I bring crissaegrim down with all my remaining strength as my blade bisects the elemental down the middle, from its head down to its left leg as its glowing orange eyes slowly turn black as both sides split apart and shatter the moment they hit the ground.
A few moments pass before I take a knee to the ground and I breathe heavily, these things were harder to kill than humans or regular magical beasts, at most they only needed one attack to put them down, but these supercharged behemoths were not only tougher, but they showed hints of intelligence to them.
"Not what you were expecting huh?" I hear to my left as I turn to see Merleona walking towards me with a smirk as I slowly stand up, "yeah…it was way harder than I originally thought." I admit as I stretch before looking at Merleona with a smile.
"But that makes them the perfect challenge."
I see Merleona look at me with a feral grin, "good! Now let's get moving." She says as she walks up the trail, "okay." I say to her as I walk with her.
"You're still cooking dinner for us."(Merleona)
"…dammit."(Alucard)
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Now I know alucard has an OP body I did say I'd make alucard work towards being truly OP, but besides that how was the chapter? I feel satisfied with it.
But I also need to ask if im doing the character dialogues right because a bunch of people told me that the characters sounded like robots or npcs,so I'm trying to work on that.
But besides that my final question is since im doing a seven day training arc should I culminate the week like a journal or should I have the seven days be their separate chapters?
But with that I'll see you next time, peace😁✌️