Mash walked into the cave. The snow didn’t follow him. In fact, the dry state of the cave floor made him wonder if the snow ever fell inside. There wasn’t a magical barrier of any kind, and he wondered what kept the snow out. He didn’t give it much thought as he strolled deeper into the cave. The gradual rise in temperature felt odd too, but he guessed it made sense if someone was living here. It was disappointing though. The world owner here wouldn’t be that impressive if those cats were his guard.

The cave was dark, but his domain let him see the shape of the cave easily. Although, the path was proving longer than he had expected. The temperature kept rising almost to the point of being uncomfortable. The cave twisted and turned. It descended into the larger paths that felt too large. He switched from his cautious walk to a more daring run when he realized the end was nowhere to be seen.

The final turn leads him into a wide-open room, and Mash realized why the temperature had been rising so consistently. Sitting on what could only be described as a throne, was a man covered in flames. They wrapped around his body like a cloak. His eyes were like small furnaces of orange light, and his hair flickered. Other than man’s skin, everything else was aflame. Honestly, skills like that didn’t mean much. He had seen and heard tales of worse. Luke’s own soul-body skill kind of did the same, but it had even more coverage. Red’s blood body was definitely an even more advanced variant.

Mash let his gaze wander the room itself. Six tall pillars of black stone climbed dozens of meters and pierced the stone of the ceiling. The floor was tiled with the same stone as the pillars. There were no torches in the room. He could see two more entrances into the room beside the throne. In a voice that caused the room to heat up further, the Lord spoke.

“You dare to trespass in my domain.”

The man’s words were accompanied by a show of force. Mash felt something immaterial press down on his domain. It was an odd sensation, but not a new one. It wasn’t too long ago when his domain clashed with another. And this would turn out no different. Mash remembered what he had done before. He imagined his own domain pushing back and then doing more. He imagined it consuming the other domain. His eyes widened slightly when it failed. While the Lord’s domain couldn’t push further, Mash realized that he had similarly been stopped. Their domains at least seemed even. The tug of war continued, as Mash formulated his own response.

“Is there any way for me to convince you to let me use mana to open a portal and leave?”

Mash gave the Lord a fake smile, expecting that it would fail. He didn’t hold many hopes for a Lord that had refused to see him outright. Nor with a man would refer to himself as the Lord. Both things led Mash to think that he would not get along with this man. The Lord’s face twisted in rage. The flames in his eyes turned into a raging fire as he shouted.

“You dare request something of me, after attacking my pets, and invading my castle.”

The Lord rose from his seat. His hands left scorch marks on the throne as he pushed himself up. Mash could tell that the lord was bigger than him and was ridiculously muscled. His body was wrapped in flames, but they did little to hide the thick arms that even blacksmiths couldn’t match. Despite the angry expression on the man, Mash just asked another question, noticing an incongruency with what the previous creatures had said.

“Weren’t they your children?”

Mash was pretty sure that was what the beast earlier had said. Maybe it was just a complex? The Lord’s face went blank for a moment. Then he laughed a malicious laugh.

“They were just beasts. Descending from my blood doesn’t make them my children. Those are but pets. Worthless creatures that failed to achieve a better form.”

The Lord’s mirth was at the expense of his own children. Mash firmly decided that he didn’t like the man. That statement did bring up some other questions though.

“Wait, so you are like some kind of evolved cat? Then where did you pick up this language? Are you even from my world?”

Mash spit out his words in a rush. Apparently, the truth he had grabbed had been the wrong one. His mind raced with the possibilities, but he had no explanation for the language. How did a cat pick up his language?

“You understand nothing of your world. And I was a tiger.”

The way the Lord replied made him sound petty. His voice still echoed with the rumbles of a volcano, but the words just made him seem so small. Mash must have revealed that on his face because the Lord’s expression returned to one of anger. Despite the smallness of the Lord, the words he said prompted a very new question in Mash’s mind. Did normal creatures have classes? He and everyone else assumed that wasn’t the case. That the only beasts with power were monsters. What if the native monsters of his world were just animals with advanced classes? Those were questions for another person and another time.

Mash’s grip on his staff tightened, and his voice turned hard. He focused on the fight, knowing that this was nothing more than a prelude.

“Let’s just get this over with. I need to get home, and you’re in my way.”

The tiger-man growled, revealing his animal side. His teeth were a little sharp, but they didn’t match his own teeth.

“You will die like all the others before you.”

The man held his hand toward him, and flames rushed out in a wave of chaotic heat. They didn’t come from his hands but seemed to spray out from his clothes. Mash rolled to the side and stopped just behind one of the pillars. Flames poured out around the pillar, surrounding him with a swath of heat. Even with his resistant body, sweat built across his face. Although it didn’t last long as his skin dried and his lips cracked. The orange fires felt endless, but they weren’t tall. They covered the stone floor like a carpet. The stone was heating quickly, but Mash jumped high and toward the wall on his right. He twisted his body so that the flat of his feet struck the wall. Mash glanced toward the Lord, to see the man jumping toward him in turn. Mash swung his staff down while pushing off the wall himself.

The jerky motion was a little awkward, but he managed the strike all the same. The Lord met it was a sword of pure flame, which did absolutely nothing to stop the staff. At first, Mash didn’t understand what was happening, but his domain and Priscilla caught on before he did. His body moved as Priscilla’s message came.

[Dodge!]

Mash didn’t have many options midair, but he had some. He threw his staff as hard as he could, directly toward the ceiling. The force of the throw sent him down and let him just barely avoid the explosion that erupted from the fire sword’s blade. The force behind it sent him into the ground that much faster. He rolled, but still felt the impact in his bones. The hot stone felt warm to his feet as he stood. His staff crashed into the ground having left a series of cracks on the ceiling above. One of Mash’s arms was burned and began healing immediately.

[How is he using magic, and why doesn’t the domain pick it up.]

Mash sent the message while dodging behind another of the pillars.

[No magic. I believe he has a finite amount of flames. It is a part of his body like Red, but not as intermixed.]

Flames pushed into the pillar, and Mash wondered why they were even there. The pillars did nothing to help the Lord but did a lot for him. It was just a hunch, but Mash turned to place the pillar just before his fist. He clenched his hand tightly. The pillar was large enough to hide behind and thicker than most trees. With that being said, Mash struck it like a rolling boulder. His hand was clenched into a fist, and it plunged into the pillar. The black stone broke like glass. He punched into it, leaving him a nice hole to peek inside what was now an obviously hollow pillar.

Mash screamed in pain as he yanked his hand out. His hand was charred the skin turned black by the fire that he could now see running through the pillar. It roared like a river and Mash understood. This room was the source of his flames. Fighting in here was a bad idea. Mash still hadn’t the opportunity to truly test his strength against the Lord, but he felt like he would be more than a match for the man. Mash jumped this time, going directly for the Lord.

The Lord struck out with another sword of flame. Mash punched through the sword with an already burned hand. No reason to damage his good hand when his left fist was already burned. The pain spiked as his fist met the flames, but he pushed through it. The sword exploded sending a series of burns down his arm and slowing his strike considerably. Even still his fist shot the lord like a slingshot. The man flew toward the entrance crashing into the stone wall beside the exit.

Mash’s hand was a mess. The skin around his hand and arm was scorched badly. His hand was especially bad, and he could even make out the white of his bone there. He couldn’t feel it anymore and didn’t know if his healing would extend that far. The burns themselves were healing, but that was more like regrowing a limb. Pain and adrenaline heightened his focus, and Mash felt that his attributes were improving. His hunger skill was still functioning despite the lack of mana. Mash didn’t linger on the pain, and he rushed toward the Lord. He scooped up the staff in his good hand and sprinted toward the recovering man.

The wall he had crashed into was riddled with cracks, but the man himself seemed undamaged. The lord swayed on his feet a little. Mash’s luck was good, the lord must have struck his head. Fights at this level came down to moments, and this was one that he wouldn’t miss. It gave him the time needed to catch the Lord. Mash arrived with his staff held out like a spear. He would impale the man if he could. Even dazed the Lord had the attributes to react. Mash was almost certain that the Lord’s strength was near his own. That was at the start of the fight though. Now Mash was stronger, and faster.