Inferno of the Burning Mine
The moment I stepped into the entrance of the Burning Mine village, a nauseating sulfur stench and acrid ash that pierced my lungs assaulted me. The Burning Forge of Ignis lived up to its name—the ground below boiled like a massive furnace. The scene unfolding before my eyes was the most wretched hell humans could imagine. Towering pillars of smoke stabbed at the sky around the mine, and amid them, hundreds of citizens toiled like dogs, hacking away at mana stones. On their emaciated backs glowed grotesque crimson magical brands, pulsing ominously.
These weren't mere tattoos. They were brutal punishments that throbbed in real time, feeding on the slaves' life force as fuel.
"Gaaah! Please, please spare me! It's hot, so hot!" A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air from somewhere nearby. I turned to see a skeletal man, starved to the bone, drop his pickaxe and collapse to the ground. The instant he fell, the brand on his back ignited in vivid blood-red light, like a ravenous predator pouncing. A grotesque sound emanated from deep inside his body.
Sizzle—! As if branding red-hot iron into living flesh, his veins glowed crimson beneath his skin. The magical brand had deemed the fallen slave "defective," forcing his mana and vital energy into a violent rampage.
"Aaaah! Aaak!" Crimson flames erupted from the man's eye sockets and mouth. It wasn't external fire—it was his own entrails burning as fuel in a vicious inferno. The sickly sweet stench of roasting flesh filled the air, and in less than ten seconds, his body charred to a lump of coal before crumbling to ash. One life vanished into the wind in an instant. The gray dust rode the indifferent hot gusts, brushing past my cheek.
"That's... the efficient order of this territory," Elise whispered coldly into my ear, having regained consciousness while clinging to my shoulder. Her voice carried not sorrow, but a cynical edge, as if this were simply the way of the world.
Atop watchtowers scattered throughout the mine, mages in ornate robes sipped wine and watched the spectacle like it was mere entertainment. To them, a slave's death was just another disposable item burning out—everyday scenery.
The brands etched into the slaves' bodies periodically emitted searing heat, whipping them to their limits. The moment their pace slowed even slightly, they became not humans, but "fuel" to stoke the forge's flames. The people here weren't human. They were refuse, mined for mana stones in life and scattered as ash on the roads in death.
My fists clenched. The smooth touch of Elise's skin on my shoulder contrasted sharply with the miserable deaths playing out before me. That stark divide violently shook something deep inside. It felt like the mages' rigid, cruel "efficiency" was sneering mockingly beneath my feet.
I exhaled a trembling breath and lifted my head. At the edge of my vision loomed Ignis's forge, the master of this hell, thrusting toward the sky like a crimson scar. The grinding of my knuckles dissolved into the choking smoke.
Elise's mana, which had been surging through me just moments ago, coursed through my veins, transmuting into demonic power that rattled my brain, urging me to tear the mages before me to shreds. The geothermal heat rising through my soles burned like the vengeful screams of the dead slaves.
I took one step toward those arrogant watchtowers—
"No, Master...! Please, not now!" Elise, still draped over my shoulder, wrapped her slender arms desperately around my neck, pleading. Her voice quivered with terror and urgency.
"If you act now, you'll trigger Ignis's surveillance net immediately. Those watchtowers aren't simple outposts—they're the eyes of a massive detection spell blanketing the entire territory. The moment you unleash your mana, his direct mages will swarm like locusts!"
My jaw clenched as I halted. My vision still burned with the image of a mage cracking his whip and mocking the slaves. The impulse to charge and crush his skull overwhelmed me.
"My secret hideout is nearby. We can evade the net there, and I have documents detailing Ignis's weaknesses. We need to go there first and plan. Please..."
Her breath tickled my ear, but her words were chillingly pragmatic. My teeth ground at the thought of turning my back on this infernal sight. But rationally, she was right. Unprepared revenge was just a dog's death.
To pierce Ignis's heart in one strike, I had to quell this boiling rage for now.
"...Fine."
I muttered lowly and forced myself to turn away. Behind me swelled the slaves' stifled groans and the mages' vile laughter. My vision tinted red with fury, but I pivoted toward the dark forest path Elise indicated.
This wasn't flight. It was mere patience to sever their necks more surely. I soothed myself that way as I stepped into the shadows, the mine's flames at my back.
But the demon within me remained starved, claws extended, sniffing for blood.
I gritted my teeth and kept walking. As Elise said, now wasn't the time. Swallowing my rage, I tried to melt into the darkness—when a vile, ear-splitting cackle snagged my ankle from behind.
"You mana-less trash! No stamina either? Better for the territory if scum like you just burns to nothing, right?"
A mid-level mage stomped the chest of a gasping slave on the ground with his leather boot, chuckling. The brand on the man's back flickered ominously, devouring his life force. The man writhed, spitting blood-mingled saliva, unable to even scream.
That's when it happened. A small boy hidden in a nearby corner burst out sobbing, grabbing the mage's leg.
"D-don't step on my dad...! Please, he'll die...!"
The child's tiny hands clutched the mage's ornate robe hem. But no pity crossed the mage's face. Instead, he turned to his fellows with a mad grin, as if incredulous.
"Hey, check this out? This trash slave even bred offspring? You guys see? Bugs reproducing!"
"Hahaha! For real? Even mana-less seeds struggle to propagate!"
The surrounding mages roared with laughter, hurling contemptuous glares at the boy. In their eyes, the child and father were no more than prolific pests.
The mage irritably kicked the boy away. As the child tumbled limply, the mage raised his palm, summoning a blazing fireball above it.
"Mana-less bug pup anyway—raising it just makes another parasite. In mercy, I'll send you to your sire. Be grateful."
The fireball dyed the boy's terrified eyes red. Just as the flames leaped from the mage's fingertips—
A thread snapped in my mind. Strategy? Reason? That shit had already burned to ash in my head.
I shook off Elise's restraint and launched forward. Astonishingly, the massive detection spell scanning the village missed me entirely. The territory's net was designed to track mana waves alone. My mana-less movements registered as mere inanimate vibrations—like windblown dust or rolling pebbles.
My body outpaced incantations, becoming a flash no human eye could follow, slicing through space.
Schwick...!
"...?"
The mid-level mage's eyes blinked stupidly as he aimed at the boy. Only belatedly did he notice his fireball-bearing wrist severed cleanly, rolling on the ground.
Crimson blood fountained from the stump.
"A... aaaah!"
As he opened his mouth to scream, I seized his jaw and rammed my fist deep into his mouth. Hot saliva and blood soaked my hand, but I ignored it, gripping his tongue root—and yanked it out in one pull.
Crunch...!
"Guh, grrrk...! Gek!"
Tongueless, he writhed on the ground, choking on his own blood. I spared his life. Just left him to mumble like a beast in terror forever.
The watchtower detector above swept the air serenely. Even as my hands bloodied and bones cracked, this pure physical violence, devoid of mana, perfectly deceived the magical prison.
"Y-you mad bastard! Kill him! Kill him now!"
The nearby pursuit mages recoiled in horror, raising their staves. But they had no luxury for spells against me. I plunged into their midst, dancing a waltz of destruction that pulverized bones.
I twisted elbows backward, shattered knees to dust. Pop, crack...!
Grotesque ruptures filled the mine. In mere seconds, the swaggering mages became crawling meat lumps with limbs grotesquely bent.
Leaving them writhing in agony with breaths clinging, I shook blood from my hands and turned to the trembling residents.
The surveillance net remained silent. This eerie stillness amid the overwhelming slaughter amplified the terror. Hundreds of fear-stricken eyes fixed on me.
I met each gaze coolly and spoke.
"Watch closely. The pathetic state of those who trampled you like bugs."
I seized the tongueless mage's hair and hoisted him up.
"I'm like you. Not a drop of mana flows in me. But see—even without it, these arrogant fools' lives are toys in my grasp."
I hurled his body at the residents' feet.
"We're no bugs to be despised by them. Do to them as they did to you. Burn them alive. Prove your rage."
My voice was low, but it cut like a blade into every sulfur-choked corner of the mine.
Yet what returned wasn't fervent cheers, but suffocating silence—and eyes deeper in despair. They feared the magical shackles etched into their bodies more than the miracle before them.