Clementine focused her attention forward; on the hard rocky ground a few meters ahead to be more specific. In the darkness, her body shifted, hand edged onwards, palm outstretched, parallel to the ground.

​Her mouth moved. Uttering words only she could hear!

​<Unique ability: Crimson Starfall> [Not actually spoken!]

​—[Starfall Convergence]— And just like that, a crimson flame with violet embers appeared above her palm. It was a small flame that burned boundlessly and harmlessly in her hand, its flickers seemingly appearing harmless to the untrained eyes.

​Even the three did not feel much from it. However, it was a different case for Clementine, who knew how destructive, overbearing and dominating the draconian flames were in nature just like the creatures themselves!

​It was a good thing that her dragon blood was only a [Tier one: Pureblood], so she was capable of suppressing the overwhelming pride and arrogance that flowed through every cell of the bloodline right away.

​A unique ability only had three ability effects and had no sub-effects; the one she had activated was of the offensive type, and the other two were of the control and suppression type. Mainly the [Draconic Flame Control] and [Draconic Pressure Presence].

​As for the element type of her ability; it was Flame and Space! The same element as one of the dragons she had absorbed. Observing the sole flames for a few seconds, Clementine condensed them into a flame sphere of a few centimeters in diameter with a slight inward movement of her fingers!

​Subsequently, she flickered her hand; the flameball shot forward, coming to a stop just above the spot where she had focused previously. The next second, it flattened itself into something similar to a 2D circle in the air. Like a thin circular disk, its width was perhaps even less than a centimeter, whereas its diameter had expanded to a whole 100 centimeters.

​SHONE! The flaming circle hovered 10 meters above the ground.

​At the moment of its creation, it released a horrendous amount of heat and radiation that immediately melted the ground, but before the heat and radiation could move past her, Clementine was able to control them and stopped their advance any further promptly.

​MELT! CRACK! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! BUBBLE! CRACK! CRACK! SIZZLE!

​SIGH! Clementine exhaled and watched the disastrous aftermath of a momentary lapse of control toward her own ability! Nevertheless, putting this to the back of her mind, she let the rest happen as she had planned previously.

​The flaming circle, now in her full control because of her second ability effect, shone crimson in the darkness and shot a beam of super-condensed and super-heated flames toward the ground. The flames had practically transformed into a space-distorting, twisting, wrapping, and fracturing plasmic beam already.

​BOOOOOOOM! TREMBLE! TREMBLE! The impact was enough that the ground shook and cracked where the spatial flames hit, but aside from this, there was not much damage done to the cave. Of course, that is only if one looked past the melted ground.

​Whereas the plasmic red beam was powerful enough that it had completely vaporized the ground and the rocks and had already made its way meters down as it continued its path below while disintegrating the earth entirely.

​"What happened to your words of not destroying the cave, Clementine!?" Aezaleon questioned, his voice sharp and biting like a winter gale slicing through silk.

​Clementine smiled wryly at the displeased emotions she sensed from Aezaleon, but she couldn’t say anything either when she remembered how confident she had sounded previously.

​Despite the second ability effect being capable of fully controlling the heat spread, the space-fracturing thermal radiations, and stopping the flames from spreading beyond the chosen area to prevent unwanted destruction and keep the attacks focused; she still failed, because she did not account for the pre-effect such a small flame sphere created by her would have.

​"My bad, I didn’t think that my authority over my own abilities would’ve deteriorated so much. I was overconfident, it seems," she apologized, her pride drooping like a wilted rose in a scorched garden, as she came to a stop beside him.

​Aezaleon, on hearing her words, also couldn’t bring himself to get mad at her anymore. He simply sighed and shook his head, focusing his mind on the task at hand.

​"So, what have you accomplished by creating a vertical tunnel in the cave?" He questioned in a curious voice. "What you sensed, is that thing down below?"

​"Indeed, there is a massive hollow beneath this cave; since I couldn’t see a path leading there, with it being closed entirely from the outside, I just created one," Clementine replied, her words carrying the weight of a mountain uncovering its buried heart.

​"A hollow!... then can’t we just spend the night there if the cave is destroyed?"

​Aezaleon and Clementine blinked, both having not thought of such a simple solution. Which made them feel quite strange—were they really that dumb?

​"However, the important question is how should we get down? Considering the vertical tunnel that big sister created; the melting rocks will make it impossible for Aezaleon and Aphryne to use them since they are still filled with strong heat and the radiations from big sister’s flames!"

Auguszta voiced the main problem.

​In fact, even as a master of flame elementals herself, she didn’t have the confidence to pass the vertical tunnel and reach the underground unscathed. Because she could tell the quality of Clementine’s flames was simply leagues above her element—[Burningblight].

​Why that was so? She had a few guesses but wasn’t much interested in the topic at the moment. ’I will ask big sis later, to see if my thoughts are really correct.’

​"That is something you don’t need to worry about, since I am pretty confident in eliminating the heat and the radiation. So it should be safe for all three of you to pass through the tunnel unharmed," Clementine stated, her tone as cool and reassuring as a deep, still pond amidst a forest fire.

​"Are you really hundred percent sure you can do that!?" Aezaleon pressed.

​Clementine’s lips twitched, but instead of using some meaningless words, she let her actions speak for herself. She advanced towards the hole in the ground. Simultaneously, using her Extreme Concept of [Frost] to freeze the melted ground.

​On reaching the tunnel, she merely waved her hand, using her resonance with the heat and the radiations coming from her draconian flames to completely erase them.

​As flames from her unique ability, she of course had command over every concept of her flames. She just had to master them and the ability to make what happened previously never happen again.

​Clementine even went ahead and froze the tunnel too, creating a smooth ride towards the underground. She gazed towards the three.

"Follow me!" she commanded, her voice echoing like the first strike of a bell in an empty hall.

Saying such, she jumped down instantly. The three also followed soon afterwards, without a second’s delay.

However, as they came out from the ceiling of the underground cavern, a strong gust of wind hit them square in the face, thus cancelling their momentum greatly.

Considering it has been nearly 11 seconds since the moment of their jump into the tunnel, during which they had covered a great deal of distance just by letting gravity do its work.

"How deep are we from the ground above, anyways!?" Aphryne questioned, her voice trembling like a leaf caught in a sudden updraft, as her feet touched the hard and even ground with a good thud.

"If my assumption is correct, then I’d say it’s about 350 to 400 meters," Aezaleon answered thoughtlessly, while observing his current surroundings.

"Ooh...!"

"That’s quite an awfully long distance!" Auguszta commented, her eyes widening like moons reflecting a vast, dark sea.

"My...!"