Read Novel Full Chapter 522: Intense Heat
Chapter 522: Intense Heat
The torches on the walls did not burn normally.
Each flame bent and rose in a quiet rhythm, almost perfectly matched to the rise and fall of Torrin’s breathing. When he inhaled, the fire stretched taller. When he exhaled, the flames lowered slightly, as if the whole room was breathing with him.
After a few breaths, Gabriel noticed it, and he was quite impressed because the control was impeccable.
A faint crackling sound filled the dojo, small but steady, like dry wood heating past its limit. Even the air entering Gabriel’s lungs felt thinner here, and each breath left his chest a little warmer than the last.
He kept his shoulders loose and his grip easy despite that. Rushing a man like Torrin without first understanding the ground beneath him would be stupidity, and he had not survived this long by charging blindly.
While he stood there, he studied the room more carefully. No formations were visible to the eye, no runes marked the floor, and no furnace sat beneath the boards, yet the heat kept building around the seated man as if his body itself was feeding the whole space.
Torrin’s face remained calm through all of it. He looked less like a clan head hiding underground and more like someone who had chosen this room because it matched him perfectly.
Gabriel stood at the edge of the dojo with blood still on his boots and watched the man in the middle without moving.
Subconsciously, he was trying to see how long he would last there.
Although his stats were monstrous, at the end of the day he was still human who could turn to ash if thrown into fire. Maybe not because of his indestructible talent, but the pain would still be present.
Several seconds passed like that.
The heat pressed against his skin from every side, and the floor beneath him felt warm enough to sting through the soles of his boots. Even so, his face stayed calm.
After a while, he asked, "How many more minutes do you need to meditate?"
Torrin’s eyes remained shut as he spoke in a low tone of voice, "Why did you not strike when you arrived? If you wanted my life, I was sitting here with my eyes closed."
Gabriel looked at him for another second.
"My existence alone is already unfair," he said. "I wanted to see how strong the leader of Black Star really is and give you some advantage."
Although he did not see it, his arrogant words made Torrin’s eyebrow twitch.
The torchlight flickered again with Torrin’s next breath. He remained in the same lotus position, broad shoulders still, hands resting on his knees, as if the bloodbath above had not touched this room at all.
After a short pause, he finally spoke again. "You should not have come down here. This room especially."
Gabriel’s gaze moved over the dojo.
"What is so special about it?"
He reached into his inventory and brought out a bottle of water. The bottle had barely settled in his hand before the water inside began to shrink.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
In less than two seconds, the water dried up completely. What remained inside was nothing but a thin layer of moisture clinging to the sides of the bottle, and even that vanished.
He turned the empty bottle once in his hand.
The heat in the room was more intense than he thought. It was not ordinary heat from torches or a sealed underground base. It felt denser than that, as if the air itself had been baked for years and forgot how to cool down.
Gabriel brought out another bottle.
The same thing happened.
The clear liquid inside trembled once, steamed faintly, and disappeared before he could even raise it to his mouth. The bottle stayed intact, but the water was gone.
Torrin finally spoke again.
"If you stayed outside, you would have had your chance," he said calmly. "Down here, you walked into your own death."
Gabriel was genuinely curious now.
His eyes moved around the room again, slower this time. All he saw were banners on the walls, old training weapons stacked to one side, scorched boards underfoot, and the lines of the dojo built with strict discipline.
Apart from the heat, nothing about the room explained his confidence.
Gabriel asked, "Did you sacrifice all your men just to bring me here?"
Torrin answered without opening his eyes. "It was necessary."
He paused for a moment and added, "With what my sponsor will give me after this is finished, their loss means very little."
That answer changed Gabriel’s expression.
Until now, he had been testing the room, the heat, and the man before him. The moment Torrin mentioned the sponsor, everything else lost part of its weight.
His eyes went cold. He took one slow step forward, and the blood on his boots marked the polished boards below him. The flames on the wall shifted again, but this time it did not feel like they were only following Torrin’s breathing.
They almost looked alert.
Gabriel stopped several paces from the center and kept his gaze on the seated man.
"So there really is a sponsor."
Torrin did not deny it. That silence was answer enough.
Gabriel’s voice lowered, becoming serious. "Who is he?"
The room stayed hot and silent. Even the torches seemed quieter now, and the air between them felt more tense than before.
"I’ve already killed my way to your door." His fingers curled slightly at his side.
"I didn’t come here for half answers."
Torrin remained motionless.
The man’s calm was not ordinary. He had just heard his subordinates were dead. He knew the intruder standing in front of him had reached the deepest room of the base. Even so, his breathing stayed even, and the dojo still moved around that breathing like it was law.
Gabriel watched him closely.
A thought crossed his face for a brief moment. Torrin did not sound like someone speaking from faith. He sounded like someone already certain of a reward.
That made the sponsor matter more.
Gabriel’s injuries still had not fully healed, but his stance changed anyway. He straightened slightly, and the calm on his face became colder than before.
"Before I kill you," he said, "I would like to know everything about this sponsor."