As for Doriane-san, the constant guest of "Hot Springs Village" Parabellum, she was ready to judge her skills by using Father Elf as a test subject.
It was still early in the morning, but Father Elf was already awake and heading over in order to take a morning bath. He was just in time for the experiment.
He was reluctant at first, but after realising that he could experience the new development of Doriane-san for free, he happily agreed.
His once proud appearance now seemed like a mere illusion as a relaxed smile appeared on his face. Well, it's best to leave it at that.
Secreting a unique massage oil from her palm, Doriane-san stood over the half-naked Father Elf lying prone on the massage bed. She skillfully massaged the skin of Father Elf without any wasted movements.
The unique oil was gradually absorbed by his skin, and its effect began to emerge. In less than a minute, the consciousness of Father Elf began to float. Drool began to drip out of his mouth through the hole in the massage bed that had been designed exactly for this situation. It was proof that her abilities had profoundly grown and that he was experiencing unbelievable pleasure.
Recently, Father Elf had become accustomed to the massage at the hot springs. I wondered what had become of her skills to make him enter such a trance.
It will be necessary to try it out after capturing this dungeon, I thought, looking at the happy face of Father Elf.
...
After finishing with the investigation, and leaving the details to these two, we started today's conquest.
After a short walk, we came out of the treasure area, into a very different terrain from the previous zone.
Cliffs extending endlessly with a height of about 50 meters were to the left and right, and from the edge began a wide river of lava; the shore on the opposite side could not be seen.
Crossing this vast river, you would get to the gates of the spiral tower located in the heart of the volcano. However, the flow of lava to the opposite shore seemed endless. It was not going to be easy to cross.
There were three factors that made crossing difficult.
The first obstacle was the enormous heat emitted by the river. It was possible to go by jumping from the hillside, but the jump would be difficult. About 50 meters in, the heat could seriously burn us and we could become grilled meat. In fact, in order to make sure, I made a clone for reconnaissance and it burnt up without even traveling a few hundred meters. If this happened from the radiation of heat alone, what would happen if one was to fall? Well, I'd be fine but the rest would die for sure.
The second obstacle were the areas where gravity behaved strangely. Above the main flow of the river, some areas had huge chunks of metal floating in the air without melting despite being exposed to steam and the radiant heat of lava.
While some were suspended in the air, the other blocks of metal were not. Even if you tried to fly to get across, you had to be careful of the areas with irregular gravity.
I thought that these lumps of metal would be pretty hot, but from the observations of Kugime-chan, they absorb the heat emitted by the lava river and compress it. As a result, the surface was quite cold, even for those that were just on top of the river. After I tried touching one with my hand, it was just a little warm.
The temperature thus posed no problems. The metal lumps varied in size and their distance from each other ranged from a few meters to hundreds of meters away, so although they moved slowly, you could choose a route and move to another one before it broke. Thus, choosing an optimal metal lump and route, it would be possible to cross the river of lava.