The Price of Power

At that critical moment, Baine roared and hurled the weapon in his hand.

A one-handed warhammer fell from the sky, smashing fiercely toward the Centaur's ugly head with tremendous force.

Stone Spear seemed unconcerned by Baine's attack. He merely raised his head slightly and looked up, making no move to dodge. With a mocking smile, he allowed the lump of iron to strike his face.

With a dull thud, the hammerhead immediately bounced away.

The Centaur's head swayed slightly, and the heavy hammer fell to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a powerless stop.

"The rat hiding in the shadows has finally shown itself!" Stone Spear sneered. "Should I praise your courage, or laugh at your ignorance?"

He drew his spear back slightly. For the moment, he no longer seemed in a hurry to reap his prey's life.

Sian dragged his injured leg as he struggled to rise. He staggered back several steps and said weakly, "You pitiful creature, you have no idea what it means to live and die together..."

"Live and die together?" The Centaur burst into laughter. "It is nothing but the hollow pity weaklings show one another. It only drags you down and makes you weak. I have no need for such pathetic nonsense, because I have evolved into a far nobler being!"

"A noble being?" Sian spat fiercely. "Don't make people laugh, you pathetic madman!"

"Pathetic?" The Centaur threw back his head and laughed. "Don't forget—the pitiful one in your eyes holds your lowly life in his hands!"

The Centaur swung his stone spear, its tip aimed directly at Sian's throat.

"And the only reason you're still alive for now is to make that ant-like companion of yours obediently come down here and die!" He raised his head, revealing a sinister expression.

It was a naked threat, as if he were saying to Baine—weren't they companions who claimed they would live and die together? Now that Sian's life was in his hands, shouldn't Baine obediently offer up his neck?

But nothing happened.

Stone Spear was somewhat disappointed, but also pleased, because this ugly display only proved his earlier point and allowed him to salvage a little of his pride.

Amid the silence, Sian suddenly began to chuckle softly.

His reaction made Stone Spear uneasy. The Centaur frowned and pushed his spear a little closer.

"Say your last words. Consider this the mercy of the strong toward the weak!"

Stone Spear pressed the spear against Sian's neck, then angrily ordered, "Come on! Tell me! Right now!"

"Last words?" Sian smiled mockingly. "No, no, no... The one who should be saying his last words is you!"

"You have no idea where you've stepped, do you?"

After saying that, Sian laboriously took a step backward, just beyond the Centaur's attack range.

"Very well, you successfully deceived me!" Stone Spear's face darkened. "As the price, you may die now!"

With that, his spear shot forward without the slightest hesitation.

But with a crisp click, some mechanism was triggered. A faint burst sounded beneath his hooves, startling the Centaur.

Stone Spear reacted quickly. He instantly tensed his front legs and exerted a little force, intending to use the same trick again.

Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished this time.

His hooves slipped heavily, and he nearly toppled to the ground.

"What?!" the Centaur cried out.

"Just because you can shoot arrows doesn't mean you're a real hunter." Sian smiled. "A real hunter never forgets to watch where he steps!"

Amid a series of crackling explosions, the traps that had been buried for so long were finally triggered.

Large amounts of black liquid gushed out, covering vast stretches of ground in an instant.

The liquid was thick and viscous. Stone Spear felt as though all four of his hooves had sunk into a bottomless swamp, making every movement slow and difficult.

He tried to struggle,

only to discover that he could barely move. Though Sian was likewise standing on the pitch-black, sticky Tar Trap, he walked as if on level ground, because he had long ago coated his hooves with a resin film that increased surface tension.

"Your sense of smell has severely deteriorated, so you never noticed my markers..." Sian sighed. "I'm afraid you haven't realized that your senses are gradually disappearing, have you?"

"That is the price of power."

"So what?" Stone Spear roared. "I'll break free from your trap soon enough!"

He howled madly, "At least I'll survive today, but your life will end here!"

With that, the Centaur's body was once again covered in a yellowish-brown sheen. He had used this very ability to become elemental and move at high speed before.

But this time, he had miscalculated.

"What? How is this possible?! What did you do?!"

Stone Spear's voice was panicked and confused. This time, he had not connected with the earth as expected, which meant he had lost his final means of escape.

"It's called a Tar Trap. The word tar isn't there for nothing."

Sian said slowly, "This sticky layer covers the ground. Right now, you're like a fish stranded in a dried-up rut, never able to return to the sea."

After a brief silence, the Centaur regained his composure once he realized escape was impossible.

"Truly remarkable..."

He smiled disdainfully. "But so what? You've made some pathetic attempts before, so you should know better than anyone else."

"You pitiful ants, do you really think you can kill someone like me, an incarnation of the earth itself?"

He let out bursts of mocking laughter, as though ridiculing the foolish overconfidence of the people before him.

Sian shook his head and said disdainfully, "I really don't know what you're grinning so stupidly about. Have you forgotten what you're standing on?"

"Since it's tar..." Sian said coldly, "then naturally, it can burn!"

Only then did the Centaur notice the blazing furnace behind the Tauren. The furnace vent glowed a scorching crimson, a color that looked like hell itself!

Terror filled Stone Spear's eyes. "No! No! Please! Don't! Don't! This isn't how it was supposed to be! My dream hasn't come true yet! No!"

The Centaur's pleading did not stir Sian's pity, so he became vicious once more.

He cursed, hurling venomous words. "You damned idiot! You have no idea what you've done! You have no idea what great being you have made an enemy of! My master will tear you apart! He will bring you endless despair! Nightmare has descended! Nightmare has descended!!!"

Sian remained unmoved. He lightly kicked the drainage channel, building a bridge to hell between the iron-smelting furnace and the Centaur.

Immediately afterward, scorching molten iron flowed down the channel and poured all over the ground beneath the Centaur's hooves!

Boom!

A scorching blast of air mixed with flames engulfed Stone Spear.

Explosions, howling wind, the hiss of evaporating liquid, and the Centaur's shrill screams merged into a symphony of hell.

Sian stood silently before the raging flames, dragging his bleeding injured leg without saying a word.

There was plenty of tar, so the fire continued for quite some time. By the time the flames were nearly dying out, Stone Spear's screams had already vanished.

A Centaur-shaped statue stood amid the black residue, the flames having burned away all his clothing and fur.

As if purified by fire, Stone Spear's naked body glowed red and radiated heat like heated iron. Scattered black streaks wound across his chest—the marks left by molten iron that had begun to cool and solidify.

Even after being baptized by the fires of hell, this tenacious creature had not died.

At that moment, he was examining his crimson arms, savoring the pain brought by the flames.

"Look what you've done..."

Stone Spear's vocal cords had been badly deformed by the intense heat. His voice now sounded like a broken gong, harsh and grating enough to be terrifying.

"You put me through a trial!"

"This is very good. Sacred fire purified me and washed away all the filth of the mortal world. After this baptism of hell, I finally understand..."

The Centaur laughed madly and shouted himself hoarse, "I finally understand! Nothing can kill me! Nothing can stop me! I am the most perfect being in this world! I am Nightmare's most perfect creation! I am... a god!"

Sian was unmoved by this madness. He said coldly, "Nothing can kill you?"

Then he smiled contemptuously. "How should I put this... You definitely never studied middle school physics, did you?"

"I'll leave the rest to you, Baine!"

Sian knocked on the furnace vent, giving a signal to his companion hidden atop the tower.

Baine had remained at the top of the water tower the entire time. Aside from being unable to resist throwing a warhammer midway through, he had watched the whole plan unfold.

And now, he had finally reached the moment of conclusion.

He quickly opened the valve, and several tons of cooling water stored atop the tower surged out like a horse breaking free of its reins.

At the same time, Sian drew his hand axe and fiercely chopped open several waste barrels beside the quenching pool.

Two torrents came rushing forth, and beneath the Centaur's bewildered gaze, a downpour crashed down upon him.