Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss-Chapter 347: Out of The Fire And Into The Darkness

The heat was unbearable.

Ren sprinted across the uneven black stone, his boots slamming against the steaming earth as rivers of lava hissed beside him.

The blistering air singed the edges of his cloak, and steam clouded every breath, but he didn’t slow down. Not with the danger that was everywhere.

It was as if the terrain itself held a grudge against him, and was determined to take him down.

Lava spat from cracks in the ground, scalding mist hissed from vents created by those cracks, and from the molten rivers, the alligators came. Not one, not two, and not even three, but an army of them, their scales blackened, eyes glowing red, and mouths wide with razor sharp teeth.

"Don’t stop!" Ren barked, launching a Push at the nearest leaping beast.

The force from the resonance erupted from his palm like a cannon blast. The alligator flew backward, slamming into a jagged boulder and sliding down in a heap of broken limbs.

Thorn and Lilith followed close behind, sweat soaking their clothes as they ducked the lunges of other lava alligators. freewёbnoνel.com

One burst from the ground to their right, but Lilith’s hand flashed. A knife whistled through the air, embedding itself between the monster’s eyes.

"Keep moving!" She shouted, yanking another blade from her belt.

Thorn grunted, holding his bone arm in front of him like a shield. An alligator clamped down on it, teeth crunching uselessly against the dense ivory. With a roar, Thorn twisted, smashing the beast into the ground and flinging it aside.

Ahead, Ren raised a hand and vines erupted from the ground. They burst up like grasping claws, wrapping around the necks and legs of the alligators trying to cut them off.

The creatures hissed and thrashed, but the vines were stronger than ordinary rope, holding them back just long enough for the trio to run past them.

They raced forward, their eyes on their destination, the second ring. If they could get past this field of lava and into the jungle ahead of them, their journey should be easier.

And so, they ran, more focused on getting out of here than fighting any beast. They grew closer and closer, until the ground shook.

Ren skidded to a stop as lava exploded in front of them. A geyser of molten rock split the earth, and from it rose something massive.

A giant alligator, twice the size of the others, hauled itself from the lava, steam pouring from its back. Its eyes locked onto Ren, and its body surged forward with terrifying speed.

"Go!" Ren shouted at the others.

Lilith and Thorn didn’t argue. They veered left, sprinting toward the jungle as the giant alligator crashed down, slamming its tail into the ground hard enough to crack the stone. Lava sloshed out in waves.

Ren leapt backward, then forward in a blur. His speed had exceeded his past limits, his body augmented from the coins he had poured into Tithecraft in anticipation of facing Nero and Contessa.

He hadn’t had a chance to use it against the duo, but a new test subject just revealed itself.

The moment the beast opened its jaws, Ren vanished. His body blurred through the air, propelled by a resonance Push.

He reappeared above it, twisted mid-air, and slammed his foot into its snout with enough force to crater the creature’s head into the ground.

It roared, but before it could rise, Ren landed beside it and raised both hands.

"Push."

The burst hit the creature square in the side, sending it tumbling end over end into a lava pool.

It thrashed, rising again with a loud roar that sounded out of place from the mouth of an alligator.

"Stay down."

Ren’s vines burst from beneath it, piercing its underbelly and dragging it into the molten river. The lava swallowed it whole.

With that done, Ren took off running again.

When he finally reached the others, they were standing at the edge of the jungle, panting.

The trees of the jungle towered over them, standing just as thick and tall as a lighthouse. However, they were spaced far apart enough that the three of them would be able to walk comfortably in the forest.

Above them, the canopies of the trees covered any view of the sky, making the inside of the forest look like it had been draped in darkness that was even darker than the night itself.

Vines draped from the various branches, and the air was cool. Not the cold chill that the mountain had always been, but the cool of a jungle whose air was thick with moisture.

Lilith didn’t speak. She just walked to him and handed him a flask of water.

He took it gratefully.

Thorn shook his head, still breathing hard. "That was hell."

Ren glanced back toward the lava field. The alligators had begun to waddle back into the rivers of lava to wait for their next targets, unable to follow them into the jungle.

Then, he looked forward at the jungle and the deep darkness within. There was no guarantee that it would be any safer. In fact, he expected it to be worse.

"Welcome to ring two." He said, stepping past the first line of trees. "For this one, we don’t stop. No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, keep running."

Thorn wiped sweat from his brow. "And if something grabs us?"

"Then I’ll deal with it." Ren said. His eyes scanned the treetops. "Just trust me. We need to get through this ring as fast as possible. Every second we waste, the Divine Gift gets closer to someone else’s hands."

Lilith nodded without hesitation. "I trust you."

Ren met her gaze, then looked to Thorn. "Eyes sharp. Feet moving."

With that, he turned and broke into a run.

The others followed instantly, their boots slapping against the ground. As they ran, leaves the size of shields brushed against their shoulders. The ferns that carpeted the ground slapped at their legs, the sound traveling far in the darkness.

That was when the sound came.

A deep, echoing hoot, loud enough to rattle the leaves.

Ren didn’t stop, but his eyes snapped upwards.

And up in the branches, hundreds of glowing yellow eyes blinked to life.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆novelkiss