A natural disaster like a volcanic eruption could only be stopped by mages.
Especially since this eruption of Mount Vesuvius might not be an ordinary one, after all, seeing hundred-foot pillars of flame burst out from the crater was something abnormal no matter what era it happened in.
If the lava spread for hundreds of miles, villages and farmland would be destroyed.
That would not only cause enormous economic losses to the capital, but even the lives of countless creatures living near the volcano would be in danger.
The royal capital treated this matter with the utmost seriousness and immediately summoned all mages who could move.
The imperial army dispatched group after group of mages, one wave after another, heading toward Mount Vesuvius.
Duke Levi and Erica were no exception.
After nearly a full day of travel, the long overnight journey had left everyone exhausted.
At dawn, the convoy finally reached their destination, and everyone began to rest where they stood.
Because the knights had already organized the evacuation, all the people of Sanchel Town had gathered outside the town.
Even the livestock, chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep, along with cats and dogs, were all driven out.
Outside the town, chaos reigned; it was a scene of utter disorder.
The villagers watched as a large army of soldiers and mages entered their town, completely unsure of what was happening.
At that moment, the atmosphere around the camp was tense to the extreme.
Duke Levi's group was among the last batches of mages to arrive. As he stepped down from the carriage, many other noble-born mages greeted him with smiles and approached him warmly.
"Long time no see, Duke Levi."
A white-haired noble leaning on a cane came up to him, surrounded by several other mages from noble families.
"It's been a while, Mr. Baker."
Duke Levi replied politely.
"Since the last royal summons, we probably haven't seen each other again until now," Baker said, reminiscing.
The duke nodded and smiled in response.
"And this must be your daughter? Such a fine young lady."
"Oh, you flatter her."
Baker noticed the emblem on Erica's chest, the insignia of a Second-Tier Mage.
He pushed up his glasses and said, "As expected, your daughter has already reached the Second Tier. Looks like the Academy's reports weren't exaggerated."
Erica knew this was just adult small talk.
But still, hearing praise from such well-known mages made her secretly pleased.
No one disliked compliments, especially Erica, who had grown up surrounded by them.
Duke Levi smiled proudly at his daughter, she was his pride.
"Haha, your daughter's magical talent really makes us old men envious," someone laughed.
The adults chatted and laughed, the tension easing a little.
In this line of work, all mages knew each other.
Duke Levi was one of the few Third-Tier Mages in the kingdom, and the rest at his level were also nobles.
In the Calencia Empire, high-ranking mages were almost entirely monopolized by noble families.
For commoners, even producing a single Second-Tier Mage was rare.
At that moment, a silver-haired figure appeared before the group.
Duke Levi glanced at her and recognized her immediately, the second daughter of the Delin family, currently serving as the captain of the Royal Knights.
"Gwen Delin, reporting."
Seeing Gwen's grim expression as she approached, the mages felt a twinge of unease. 'Could it be that the situation at the volcano is worse than expected?'
"My lords, ever since the volcano began exhibiting unusual changes yesterday, it has remained relatively stable up to this point," Gwen said, gripping her silver sword tightly as sweat dripped down her forehead.
Hearing her report, the mages sighed in relief. The white-haired mage patted his chest, loosening his grip on his cane.
That meant their mission here was precautionary, not a desperate battle against nature itself.
Meanwhile, Erica stood quietly beside Duke Levi, observing everything.
"Father, who is she?"
Levi leaned toward her and whispered, "She's the current captain of the Royal Knights."
Erica nodded. It was her first time seeing the knight captain, and to her surprise, the captain was a woman.
She didn't know Gwen, nor did she know Gwen was Viktor's fiancée. But Gwen knew her.
After all, Erica was a famous prodigy known throughout the kingdom, and Gwen had heard plenty about her.
Not to mention, because of the incident with Viktor, Gwen had long since remembered Erica's name clearly.
Looking at the golden-haired girl before her, Gwen couldn't help thinking, 'So this is Duke Levi's daughter? She really is beautiful. No wonder Viktor impulsively confessed to her.'
Before this, Gwen had only seen Erica's face in the newspapers. Meeting her in person, she was still struck by her beauty and elegance.
Just one look, and she could understand how someone might fall in love instantly.
"Captain Gwen, then, what exactly happened at the volcano?" Duke Levi asked.
Gwen briefly explained the knights' investigation after arriving at the volcano.
———
"What? You say you heard a giant roar halfway up the mountain?"
"And after the knights reached the summit, the volcano's temperature immediately rose, and a hundred-meter-high pillar of flame erupted?"
Baker and the other Third-Tier Mages were stunned. They looked at each other.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
"I have no idea. Never heard of such a thing."
The mages looked at one another blankly, not knowing what to say.
Listening to Gwen's report, Duke Levi also fell into deep thought. Like the others, he had no clue what was happening.
Then Gwen seemed to recall something and added, "We had requested a mage to accompany us. He went ahead to the summit to investigate something, but he's gone missing. Even now, we don't know where he is."
"What?"
Everyone froze. That kind of news was too suspicious.
Erica was stunned too. Something clicked in her mind, and she asked, "Who was that mage?"
Gwen glanced at her and replied, "You should all know him, Viktor Clavenna."
The moment that name was spoken, chaos erupted among the gathered mages.
Several mages who already hated Viktor seized the chance to shout self-righteously, "It must be Viktor's doing!"
"Exactly! He's caused trouble before, this time is no different!"
Everyone knew Viktor's "infamous reputation." Given a chance to slander him, none of them would hold back.
Duke Levi looked troubled but still raised his hand to calm them.
"Everyone, don't panic. The most important thing right now is preventing the eruption and minimizing damage."
Hearing the duke's words, the crowd fell silent again.
He was right, finding a scapegoat wasn't important now.
Surviving the disaster ahead was.
"ROAR!!!"
Suddenly, a furious roar thundered from the volcano's peak.
Everyone heard it clearly.
The mages turned toward the summit, stunned into silence.
'That sound… was that a living creature?'
"My lady! You can't go in there!"
A knight's shout drew everyone's attention. They looked over to see an old woman trying to push past the guards.
"Someone has angered the Volcano God! Someone has angered the Volcano God!" she shouted as the knights restrained her. "It's all over! We're all doomed!"
The mages exchanged looks. Duke Levi gestured for the knights to let her through.
"Yes, sir!"
The knights released her, and the old woman hobbled forward, leaning on her cane.
"Granny, what is the Volcano God?" Duke Levi asked gently.
But the surrounding mages muttered among themselves.
"She looks mad, what could she possibly know?"
"Volcano God? Never heard of that."
"She's just causing trouble, Duke Levi. You should send her away."
The duke ignored their advice and smiled kindly at the old woman.
"Madam, if you have something to say, please tell me."
The old woman sized him up. Her madness seemed to fade, replaced by a strange seriousness.
"Hundreds of years ago," she began mysteriously, "someone sealed a demon of flames beneath this volcano. That act enraged the Volcano God, causing an eruption."
"After that, the volcano stayed quiet for centuries."
"Now that it's restless again, it must mean the Volcano God is angry once more, it's about to break the seal and burn the sky and earth alike."
The mages stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Your Grace, don't mind her. It's just an old folk tale," someone said quickly.
But Duke Levi's face turned grave.
There was something familiar in that story… something that made him uneasy.
Meanwhile, Erica looked up at the mountaintop.
She placed a hand on her chest, as if thinking deeply, then turned to her father.
"Father, I want to go up the mountain. I can feel… something up there."
"No!"
Her father cut her off firmly.
"Erica, I've agreed to many of your requests, but not this one!"
"Father, I'm already a Second-Tier Mage. I can handle myself!" she pleaded.
"Unless you're stronger than me, I will never allow you to set foot on that mountain!" he barked.
Seeing her father's unwavering stance, Erica fell silent.
It was impossible.
Her father had been a Third-Tier Mage for over thirty years.
Everyone said that if a new Fourth-Tier Saint Mage ever appeared, it would be Levi du Croy.
Erica thought of how she couldn't even surpass Viktor, how could she possibly leap two entire ranks to face a Fourth-Tier level threat?
Still…
Erica felt her chest tighten.
In that roar, she thought she heard a voice.
"It hurts…"
Meanwhile, Duke Levi began issuing orders to the mages.
The volcano's movements were growing stronger. The Third-Tier Mages formed their positions while the Second-Tier Mages stood ready to supply magic power.
They began to draw magic circles, preparing to summon an enormous war spell to cover all of Mount Vesuvius before it erupted.
No matter what came out of that volcano, lava or monsters, they would wipe it all out.
———
"Finally… injured, huh?"
Vega stared blankly at Viktor, disbelief in his eyes.
Viktor didn't look good.
Half his coat had been burned away, and his body, scorched by magma, was still wreathed in flames.
Even so, this was the first time Viktor had been injured, after battling for an entire day.
A monster, that was the only word for him.
He was facing a calamity, a force of nature itself, and he'd fought it to a standstill for a whole day, even managing to wound it.
And all he had to show for it was a single injury.
That was only because he'd let his focus slip for a moment and got grazed by that terrifying column of flame.
If he'd taken a direct hit, he'd be nothing but ashes.
"It really is too much…"
Still, being injured was a bad sign, it meant Viktor's energy was waning; fatigue was setting in.
The prolonged fight was wearing down his concentration.
"Maybe we should stop. You still have enough mana left, use teleportation and escape while you can," Vega urged beside him.
He knew Viktor wasn't one to give up easily, but the situation looked grim.
Viktor didn't reply.
He just cast a fire-resistance buff on himself, stopping his burns, and dodged another column of fire.
"If I leave now, this beast will burst out of Mount Vesuvius."
"And then… it'll be real destruction."
"Vega, do you understand?"
Vega froze.
Then Viktor remembered, Vega was a dark god.
"Right, sorry," Viktor said. "I forgot, you probably don't care about that."
"But I do."
He tossed aside his tattered, half-burned coat.
It fluttered in the air, then fell into the lava, burning to cinders.
"I'm not trying to play the hero," he said quietly, "but I'm not going to let this beast break free, only to have the world call me the Doomsday Bringer."
He'd already cut down a third of the monster Gulldun's health, an incredible feat.
Once he broke through its defenses, there wouldn't be a boss alive he couldn't kill.
Viktor stared at the raging Gulldun, his expression firm, and his excitement grew.
Only in battles like this, the kind that pushed him to his limits, did he truly feel alive.
"It's just one injury. I haven't lost yet."
Because this was a fight for the dignity of a power-leveler.
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