Chapter 104: The Combustion Stone Man and the Fox Cub

By the power of the Abel Template, even lifting an object twice this idol’s weight would not be difficult. Yet the pyrestone idol itself possessed its own strength as well.

Vinego had underestimated this elemental creature’s fighting instinct. As he exerted himself, the idol was throwing its arm in counterforce at the same time. Their efforts canceled one another out; though Vinego’s technique was superior, the idol’s overwhelming mass of force only made it sway, never topple.

Vinego sprang up from the slab without hesitation and delivered a snapping spinning kick to the idol’s head, making it lurch sideways. He used the momentum to jump clear, then stared coldly at the monster before him.

“This is an opponent worthy of my rank.” Vinego said with a cold smile.

The magical formula on the gate faded after one use. One enemy from the Fire Elemental Realm was enough for Vinego. He knotted his hands into fists and kept his eyes on the statue while the barrage of its heavy blows drove him from side to side. After a long while, he suddenly laughed.

“So this is it.” Vinego muttered, narrowing his eyes.

Abel’s instinctive wrestling style relied above all on instinct. Ignoring that and trying to perform it with only what he had learned, Vinego knew, was where he had erred.

But it was not too late. He calmed himself, letting his soul and mind gravitate toward the silent mercenary who had emerged from fields of corpses and blood, to feel the mercenary’s own combat instinct. Then, guided by that instinct, he used the same wrestling.

Vinego squinted and watched the stone fists coming at him, a corner of his mouth lifting.

This time he slipped straight between the two colossal stone fists and drove his foot hard into the idol’s knee. The idol naturally thrust forward, trying to brace its knee against Vinego’s pressure, and in that moment Vinego, using Abel’s signature flip-and-roll, slipped through its feet to appear behind it, embraced the back of its knee and pushed and shoved forward, sending the statue crashing to the ground.

“No past, only the present—seize this moment.” Vinego murmured as he watched the pyrestone idol struggle upright.

Before it could balance fully, Vinego surged in, drove an elbow into its back to unsteady it further, then hooked its shoulder and heaved it sideways with a wide sweep.

“EX: No-Mind!”

Power erupted, and the muscles across Vinego’s arms and shoulder blades bulged unnaturally. Grasping the half-ton statue, he tossed it into the air. With a shout he shot upward like a rocket, planted his foot on the idol’s crown, and drove it down into the ground with a punishing slam.

The impact roared. The idol shattered into countless shards that flew apart; the dense flames it had held within exploded outward, engulfing the gravel plain in a wave of red-hot sparks.

Fortunately the heat was not so high as to be fatal; even Abel, reinforced for fire resistance, would have ignited if it had been hotter.

“Done…wait—what is that?” Vinego had no time to celebrate. The gate shuddered again.

This time out came a noticeably small humanoid creature, floating in midair and looking around bewilderedly.

A pyrestone sprite?

The little thing had a graceful, almost human beauty to its face, like a pretty little girl hidden in firelight. But no one should mistake it for a harmless pet; if anything, it was a predatory hunter.

Vinego turned his head slightly, hesitating.

Should he just kill it?

The sprite tilted her head, her humanlike face showing open confusion. Clearly, she did not understand why this cold world was interesting, or why this strange creature was peering at her so oddly.

Her intelligence was far higher than that of the pyrestone idol. She floated forward to test him, probing him with cautious, drifting steps.

Vinego understood immediately: this little creature was harder to deal with than the statue.

Even her temperature, felt from ten meters away, was enough to make fireproof-enhanced Vinego feel as if he were baking, sweat beading at once.

Vinego promptly abandoned the pyrestone sprite, ended the transformation, and retreated quickly. Seeing him withdraw, the nearby Prism Mercenaries naturally packed up and stepped back.

The pyrestone sprite was curious by nature. After a moment’s tilt and thought, she accelerated and came flying toward Vinego.

“Damn it. It’s not because you’re cute that I can’t bring myself to finish you. I really have no counter for someone who’s made of fire from head to heel.” Vinego grumbled.

In the end, Vinego had no solution for the sprite either. He kept his distance, skirting around until her interest faded and she vanished through the gate.

Only then did he construct the Oddity Scholar and refine the idol’s remains into pure pyrestone crystal.

With pyrestone crystal as the base, and with certain common materials, high-grade explosive A could be forged through the alchemical recipes from Nanoka’s Bazaar.

Of course, one might also end up with windproof matches, or perhaps a red crystal bowl.

Nanoka’s contrivances were fun to craft with, but if you wanted a specific result, you were either very lucky or willing to try many combinations with as many materials as possible.

The stockpile ran out quickly, so Vinego prepared to return to the gate of the Fire Elemental Realm again.

This time, before he entered, he saw the pyrestone sprite drift out of the gate, charging toward him in blinding crimson flame and issuing a chattering laugh.

“Again? You again?” Vinego pinched the bridge of his nose. “Scram! Go on, scram!”

The sprite, for whatever reason, refused to stop pursuing him. Even from several meters away, the heat of her form made Vinego’s hair curl.

“Don’t make me do this… damn.” he complained, hurling the small object from his hand.

Crafted from the Nanoka-bazaar formula and made with pyrestone crystal, limestone, asbestos, and other materials, this was a fireproof trap cage for small creatures.

The sprite gave a faint laugh, flashed past the cage in a blink, then glanced back with curiosity at the spherical trap.

She even reached out and gently tapped the shell, prodding at the mouth of the cage, as if Vinego had already ceased to interest her.

Vinego sighed with relief at his good fortune and hurried through the gate.

“Let’s get to work.” he said, tossing the materials he needed into his pack.

At this stage Vinego was using an Oddity Scholar with triple reinforcement to strengthen fire resistance. Everywhere he looked were pyrestone crystals, rubies, and other native materials, and he first refined them through purification alchemy so he would not waste space or burden.

After a while of this, he lifted his head and surveyed the area. Within half a kilometer, nothing else there seemed to catch his interest.

He looked out toward the distance. The fire elementals seemed to be sleeping; only one or two weak creatures wandered beyond. Those small things were not a threat to Vinego—except the one beyond the perimeter, the pyrestone sprite!

Damn that thing. Though she was small, her combat power surpassed even the pyrestone idol.

When Vinego climbed out of the gate, he saw the sprite in high spirits. Her plaything was the very trap cage he had meant for her.

It seemed this intensely curious little creature was fascinated by everything in the Material World, but few things could withstand her body heat, and this place was, by her standards, too cold.

Normally pyrestone sprites did not easily leave the gate and cross into the material world, but this troublemaker was too inquisitive.

When she looked toward him, Vinego found himself scratching his head. After a moment’s thought, he approached slowly.

“What do you want?” Vinego asked.

Of course, elementals did not understand him.

“What a nuisance.” Vinego muttered, scratching again. He finally thought of a way and prayed to Sophie.

“Master of Petitioners, sovereign of all vows, all praise belongs to the exalted and lofty you. Compassionate lord who answers faithful prayer, grant me this request: teach me the common tongue of the Fire Elemental Realm.”

“Fine. I’m in a good mood today. Find me other fragments quickly.” The bright voice of the Lord of Petitioners rang in his mind. “By the way, this little creature here is a good one—take it.”

“Little one, what do you want?” Vinego said in awkward Elemental-Language, trying to keep his phrasing simple so his poor tongue would not betray him.

“Just—fun.” the pyrestone sprite replied with a giggle, floating toward Vinego while carrying a trap cage larger than herself with some effort.

“Want more?” Vinego asked.

“Want.”

Vinego flashed his grin and cajoled, “Come, be my familiar.”

The pyrestone sprite tilted her head, visibly puzzled and uncertain.

Seeing her hesitate, Vinego calmly drew a cylinder from his waist pouch and tossed it at her.

She snatched it at once. Her own heat instantly ignited it, and a green flame shot upward, blooming in the air into a spinning green triangle that slowly transformed into a six-pointed star and drifted down to the ground.

The sprite made excited hissing sounds; obviously she had no idea what a signal flare was.

An ordinary mage may have only one familiar. Vinego, however, stood beyond the laws of this world, a thing cast out by the world itself, and he did not observe that rule.

After all, he had not directly summoned the summon itself; he had used the power of the Lord of Petitioners so that it was “summoned” in his favor. He still used that loophole now to make the pyrestone sprite his own familiar.

This also covered a weakness he had suffered from—his combat power dipped in the absence of imaginative constructs. The Azure Void, though flexible and useful, had limited output and was never meant for heavy killing. The pyrestone sprite, by contrast, could become Vinego’s formidable weapon.