[LSB] Chapter 128: An Unexpected Thing Waiting at The End

"Just how many of these things are there!? Boss, behind you! There's—ugh, why do I even bother?"

Hours.

They had been walking inside the volcano for hours now—long enough that Julian had seriously considered Juliet’s earlier advice to just jump and scale the walls of the volcano. But since they'd already been close to the bottom when they last entered another cavern, they decided to push through.

Which, according to Juliet now, might have been a mistake.

Not because they were surrounded by dozens of vulkrids—no. But because she had no choice but to wear the armor Julian had crafted from the vulkrids’ grotesque remains, including the helmet fashioned from their hideous heads.

And even with the dim light wrapping them, they looked absolutely ridiculous.

"You know, Boss. For someone who can make Epic-grade gear like it’s nothing, you seriously need to work on your designs." Juliet gritted her teeth as she flung away a vulkrid trying to gnaw at her thigh.

She hadn’t thought there would come a day she'd be fighting monsters this powerful. And yet, here she was—swinging her axe against monsters that would have surely made her look like chum if it were a year ago.

Cyrus had once used a word for what was happening to her.

Boosted. He told her that she was being boosted by Julian.

It was a term from his world—an ancient gaming phrase. But she understood it well enough. Like most hyums, she'd been stuck at level 15 for most of her adult life, unable to pierce the soft cap Artemia seemed to place on them. Yet now, traveling with Julian, she had more than doubled that level.

She could only imagine what level Julian was at now.

But what puzzled her more was that, even after all this time, she'd only ever seen him check the Guidance three or more times. She thought at first it might be because he was an Otherworlder—but Cyrus and the others checked on the Guidance almost obsessively, even more so than her.

Julian was just… different.

Even among his own kind, Julian Winters was different.

"Ack. There's no end to them!" Juliet growled, cutting down another vulkrid.

She’d had enough time to think all these things, and still, the creatures kept coming—endless, relentless hordes.

Julian, too, was starting to show signs of frustration. The breath escaping his gritted teeth hissed through the air. And when he couldn’t take it anymore, he moved closer to Juliet and planted his back against hers, whispering close to her ear:

"Don't tell Cyrus about this weapon."

"Huh?" Juliet blinked—and then turned just in time to see Julian pulling something from the shadows.

A white, almost invisible thread.

It glowed faintly, vibrating like it was alive. And even though she didn’t have Julian’s god-like ability to listen to metals, she knew instantly that the thread wasn’t ordinary at all.

"What… is that, Boss?" Her voice trembled.

"Hmm," Julian answered with nothing but a hum.

But his next actions told her everything she needed to know.

Julian surged forward, swinging the Soul Thread around him—and with every sweep, vulkrid heads fell like rotten fruit from a tree, their bodies collapsing without even any resistance.

Juliet then watched as the world around her warped, the air itself bending as Julian activated his Shadow Festival skill. In an instant, he was everywhere, ripping through the vulkrids as if they were made of paper.

The vulkrids couldn’t even fight back. How could they, when they didn’t even know what they were fighting? The vulkrids were blind, and the Shadow Festival’s effect should have been minimal for them, but it wasn’t.

The way Julian moved caused them to become eerily confused.

Julian wasn't moving like a shadow—he was the shadow. You could sense he was there, feel his presence like a chill down your spine, but you couldn’t touch him. Couldn’t stop him.

Juliet understood why Julian rarely used his skills to fight. Because of her.

He had told her before—his abilities affected everyone, even his own allies. Even his passive ability, Null Presence, had once sent Juliet into a panic, thinking he had disappeared completely.

For everyone’s sake, Julian restrained himself.

Juliet had once tried to argue otherwise. She said it wasn’t a problem, that she could handle it. But standing here now, frozen as the world twisted and blurred around her, she realized how much she had been lying.

Even standing still, it felt like she might collapse. She could have closed her eyes and fought blind, but she wasn't capable of that yet—and maybe, she never would be.

She didn’t even know what she was looking at anymore. Julian wasn’t fighting the vulkrids. He was simply erasing them.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to endure the feeling for long. After a few more minutes, the battle was over.

The remaining vulkrids scattered like roaches, scuttling back into the darkness.

As the world slowly returned, Juliet rushed toward Julian, her legs shaky but determined. She crouched beside him, examining the weapon he held—a luminous, deadly thread.

“What… is this made from?” she asked, reaching out but hesitating just before her fingers touched it. The thread looked so sharp she believed it would slice her without even touching her skin.

To her disappointment, however, Julian only hummed in response and plunged the Soul Thread back into the shadows.

“I can’t tell you yet,” he said, already turning to walk away, leaving one of the vulkrid corpses behind to be swallowed by the darkness.

“Hmm,” Juliet mirrored his hum, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. But she didn’t push further. She knew she wouldn't get more out of him than that.

So she simply followed, the two of them walking deeper into the caverns, leaving the trail of bodies behind them as if it were nothing.

They moved through the oppressive dark in silence until Juliet finally noticed something— “Is it just me, Boss... or have we been going down much deeper than we should have?”

“No. You’re right,” Julian hummed. “We passed the base of the volcano several minutes ago.”

“What?” Juliet gasped, her steps faltering. “Then... wouldn't this be considered a dungeon?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

They kept walking, the darkness stretching endlessly around them. No monsters appeared. Not even a single movement at all.

And while part of Juliet was relieved... the deeper silence only made her more anxious.

She wanted to make conversation—anything to break the heavy silence—but what if, as soon as she spoke, the monsters came? Their timing always seemed unnervingly perfect. So she held her tongue.

Contrary to her expectations, though, they reached the end of the cavern without even a single growl to greet them.

Light began to flicker at the end of the passage, dim at first, but growing stronger. Soon, they stepped into a vast grotto where lava oozed from the cracked walls, bleeding through the stone like veins. Pillars jutted up around them, most of them melted into jagged spikes.

It was ominous—haunting even—the shadows from the molten light weaving across the walls and ceiling like a sprawling, tangled web.

And at the very center of it all pulsed the source of the light.

Pulsing. There was no better word for it.

"Is that... a heart?" Juliet broke the silence first as she pointed at the thing hanging from the ceiling. Each slow pulse sent a wave of light through the veins etched into the stone, making the entire grotto seem alive.

"When they told us to find the Heart of a Golem, I thought it was just a phrase," she said, stepping forward. "But it... it really is a heart—"

A clinking sound beneath her boots cut her off.

She looked down—and saw it. Spheres. Dozens of them. Hundreds.

They rolled lightly across the ground, each the size of an apple, glowing faintly like marbles containing a sun at their core.

"This is..." Juliet bent down and picked one up. The moment her fingers closed around it, a pulse ran up her arm and rattled through her entire body—a jolt, like a heartbeat not her own. Her eyes widened.

"No... Boss, these things are the heart of a golem," she said, almost in awe.

"Hmm," Julian nodded. "You’re right. It feels the same as the one inside Maldan’s golem... It's a spirit’s essence."

"Then... what about that?" Juliet turned her gaze back to the massive heart suspended above them. "It’s producing them, isn’t it?"

She pointed at the bottom of the heart where a new sphere peeked out, slowly forming like a drop of molten light ready to fall.

"Mm," Julian hummed again, stepping forward to pick up one of the fallen spheres. He tapped his foot lightly, feeling the ground for any hidden threats. But aside from the slow, heavy pulse of the giant heart, there was nothing.

Julian stared at the heart for a moment longer, then turned around without hesitation.

"We got what we came for. We should go," he said, "Maldan will teach me how to create a golem. No point wasting time here."

"Got it, Boss," Juliet nodded, carefully setting the sphere back down among the others. She hesitated for a moment, glancing at the hundreds of other glowing orbs scattered across the grotto.

"Wait... should we really only take one? There’s enough here to..." she trailed off, uncertainty flickering across her face.

"It should be fine," Julian said, glancing once more at the giant heart before turning away. "I picked up the one that called to me the most."

"Ugh, I wish I had that, Boss," Juliet sighed. "To be able to talk to metals... or whatever you do? That would be incredible."

"Mm. It would take—"

"Boss!?"

Before Julian could finish his thought, the entire grotto shuddered. The web of lava pulsed harder, violently, and without any further warning, the fiery strands retreated all at once, crawling back into the giant heart.

Juliet spun around, and as she did so, the rocks above the cavern mouth crumbled and collapsed, instantly sealing off their way back.

"W–what now!?" she shouted, dropping her bag and readying her war axe. "Don’t tell me we have to fight a giant vulkrid!"

"I don’t think it’s a vulkrid," Julian said, raising the core he had picked up. It began to tremble violently in his palm, the fire inside swirling wildly before shooting out in a stream of light, racing straight toward the giant heart.

And then, all around them, the other spheres followed.

The cores scattered on the ground were pulled toward the heart, but not crashing into it, merging with it, as if returning to the source that birthed them.

"This... definitely doesn’t look good, Boss!" Juliet tightened her grip on her axe, bracing herself.

Julian opened his mouth to respond, but something shot out from him first.

The Avatar of Searadyn materialized in the air, landing gracefully in front of Julian. Her hand stretched to the side as if to shield him from what was about to happen next. She glanced over her shoulder at him and whispered,

"You must find a way out of here, Master. I had my suspicions... but to think it would truly be her."

MEGAN shot out of Julian’s chest next, her tiny body wreathed in flames that burned hotter and wilder than ever before.

"Are... are you sure, Sears?" MEGAN’s voice trembled slightly as she hovered, staring at the massive, pulsing heart.

"Yes," the Avatar of Searadyn said grimly, her gaze locked onto it. "I am most certain."

She shifted her full attention back to the heart, her stance steady.

"Master," she continued, her voice growing heavier, "you must know—what you see before you is not simply a heart. It is the Avatar of the Spirit of the Breath of the First Flame."

"That’s a long name," Julian tilted his head slightly, his gaze narrowing as he studied the heart. "Is it violent?"

"No," the Avatar of Searadyn shook her head. "But its very existence is. It is an avatar of one of the three primordial spirits who helped forge Artemia itself, along with Artemis. Her name... is Exhalia.”

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[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]

Sorry for the no uploads last week. It would seem I brought the sickness with me after the holidays, I've been sick for like an entire week. But I'm slowly starting to get better, I wish I could say the same to my bank account which is now completely zero. lol.

Anyway, I think we're actually... 10, maybe 12 chapters to the end of Book 2?