The thirty-foot wall of blazing bright liquid dark rock rose above the sapphire capsule like the open maw of a fiery giant beast.
Over two hundred metric tons of white-hot molten rock, churning at more than thirteen hundred degrees of molten fury, crested in an arc of spitting orange embers and black sulfur foam. Moving at thirty-five miles per hour, the crushing wave cast a choking crimson shadow over the twenty-foot fluid vessel, threatening to pulverize the see-through dome and submerge its occupants beneath an ocean of liquid fire.
Inside the cabin, Land-mapper Lu-Lu let out a scared screech, diving headfirst into the thick fur of Tie Shan’s left calf. His webbed paws wrapped around the smith’s leather boot in pure panic.
“Brace for impact!” Tie Shan bellowed, his deep voice rattling the inner wall. The bear-kin titan planted his boots six inches into the circulating floor-pool, lowering his massive balance point and raising his five-hundred-jin meteor-iron hammer across his chest like a defensive tower shield. “Master, it’s coming straight down on our heads!”
Beside them, Sword Saint Gu Qingfeng didn’t move, but his chipped wine gourd lowered to his hip. The wandering swordsman’s gray eyes narrowed to razor-sharp points. His knuckles tightened around his autumn-water sword. His formless sword intent began to coil along the blade, ready to slice the fiery deluge in half if the fluid barrier failed.
