As the two of them ventured deeper, the cave seemed to feel much hotter than before. Ilvir was able to withstand the heat, but Isaac was much more vulnerable as he felt much weaker from the increasing warmth. He couldn’t help but to slow down as his icy skin started to melt and steam.
“Are you alright? Do you need to go back up?” Ilvir asked him, a bit worried for Isaac’s well-being.
“No… no, it’s fine,” Isaac said. “I can still go on. We just need to head to the source… and then we can leave.”
Isaac was able to move on forward thanks to his granite body and viney structure, but he was much vulnerable to attacks as most of the hard ice on his body had already evaporated. The two of them heard bubbling and sizzling sounds in the walls and from the floor as they continued forth. The heat would have been unbearable for any regular human as they would faint from the heated air. Even Isaac’s supercooled breath did nothing to change the temperature.
Soon, they reached a large hall where old statues of ancient gods stood. From the walls flowed lava, slowly descending into a pit under the basalt platform they stood on. Under the platform was a pool of lava as it slowly accumulated; fortunately, it was far from the platform. The descending lava was no risk to them as it was too far to hit the large platform, but the platform had no railings to prevent those who leaned too much from falling to their deaths. The air smelled of sulfur and ash; Ilvir would’ve suffocated to death from the ashen air and the deadly heat, but he was fortunate to have been turned to a granite golem.
The duo stepped forward on the large platform as they saw the next hallway up ahead. Every time they got one room closer, they felt a stronger force trying to repel them. With the Choker of Purity on Isaac’s side (as well as Ilvir’s inheritance from Isaac), the two of them were able to continue forth, their minds unaffected by the eldritch force. But now… they stopped and looked around.
They could feel something else was in the room. They couldn’t pinpoint what or who it was… but they could hear something in the flowing lava. Just as they tried to make a run for the next hallway, five giant salamanders popped out of the lava cataracts! They landed on the rocky bridge connecting the platform and the hallway, trying to intimidate the two of them. Ilvir was ready to fight and so was Isaac, but it was difficult to say who would prevail in this battle. Two hulking stone golems versus five giant lava salamanders…
...this was definitely going to be an interesting fight.