The final talisman's glow, however, was growing dimmer by the second.
Enough, Han Yu decided with a heavy heart. It was too dangerous to push further. His body was battered, his protective talismans nearly spent, and the fiery wilderness behind him offered no mercy for the weary.
He clenched his teeth, forced his legs to move, and turned to flee toward the caldera's edge—the relative safety that awaited beyond the molten nightmare.
But the caldera was a beast of its own, relentless in its fury.
Just as Han Yu reached what he hoped would be a safer distance, the talisman's protective barrier shattered with a sharp crack that echoed in his ears like a gunshot. The shield that had been guarding him from the inferno's full wrath vanished in an instant.
Suddenly, the heat hit him like a physical blow—a blazing, crushing wave that seared through his skin and muscles.
