Just as Corax suppressed his presence to near nothingness, lurking like the most patient night raven in the heat-warped shadows of the rocks, his gaze fixed like a cold probe on the beast's hazy outline in the Magma below as he assessed the best moment and angle to strike—
Everything changed!
"ROOOOAR!"
A terrifying roar powerful enough to shatter mountains and drive Magma backward erupted without warning from the depths of the seemingly tranquil Magma lake below!
The sound did not travel through the air. It acted directly upon the thick lava, the solid rock strata, and even space itself, forming a visible ring of dark red energy and tangible sound waves that exploded outward!
"CRASH!"
The force brutally tore an enormous hollow in the placid surface of the Magma lake!
Thick, blazing gold-red magma was slammed outward as though struck by an enormous invisible palm, raising waves of lava hundreds of meters high. They crashed against the crater walls with deafening thunder, scattering a rain of Magma that melted everything it touched!
Then the enormous head, vast as a mountain and hideous as a nightmare, suddenly reared up through the hollow in the displaced Magma!
A force of utter, savage fury smashed through the Magma's restraints!
Its hideous head, covered in flowing lava and black rock armor, emerged fully into the scorching air. Countless streams of searing liquid poured like its "blood" through the furrows across its crown and cheeks, dripping back into the Magma sea below with dreadful hisses.
The beast had clearly sensed something approaching—an intangible presence that filled its instincts with extreme unease and alarm!
Like the coldest venomous snake, that presence coiled deep within its soul, which had burned in lava for countless millennia, stabbing at its ancient nerves.
It was the scent of death,