I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 385: Where Is He?

The sky burned with thick and suffocating ash, rolling endlessly across a horizon painted in hues of ember-red and soot-black. Clouds churned overhead like wounded beasts, illuminated from beneath by rivers of lava that cut through the land in glowing veins.

This was a Drakenar region.

The earth itself had been reshaped with volcanic spires jutted skyward like broken teeth, magma bubbled through cracked stone, and the air vibrated with oppressive heat that would have incinerated unprotected humans in seconds.

Hundreds of medieval-looking dark structures stood across the terrain. They were fortresses and towers built from smooth-like black stone, reinforced with molten metal and etched with runes that glowed faintly crimson. These were not ruins.

They were strongholds.

And now, they were burning.

Magic tore through the region in violent waves as the Mana Defense Squads clashed with thousands of Drakenars across the battlefield. Arcane artillery screamed through the air comprising of compressed mana bolts, elemental barrages and anti-draconic spells detonating in blinding flashes.

Drakenars fell and rose again.

Their bodies were massive, reptilian, and terrifyingly resilient. Lava rolled off their scales like rain, weapons formed from molten rock hardened mid-swing, and their roars shook the sky as they charged into spellfire without fear.

But this was not the focal point of the battlefield.

High above the carnage, the air itself seemed to fracture under the strain of opposing powers as two figures faced one another.

One human.

One Drakenar.

Cecilia Thorn hovered in the air with her long coat snapping violently in the heat-laden winds. Circles of arcane glyphs rotated around her body, layered in complex geometries that emitted overwhelming mana density.

Her hair was streaked with ash as she focused on the opponent before her calmly, unleashing her Legendary Mage might.

Opposite her stood Vayla, the Drakenar Sorceress.

She was beautiful in a way that felt intentional. Crimson scales glimmered across her body, reflecting the glow of lava below as though she were sculpted from living fire. Two black horns curled elegantly from her temples with their glowing tips radiating intense heat.

Her golden eyes shone with an unnatural light and in her grasp was a long staff, forged from dark and magma-veined metal.

Vayla frowned.

"You followed us far, human," her voice resonanted smoothly, sweeping across the battlefield. "I did not expect your kind to be so persistent."

Cecilia’s eyes narrowed.

"You abducted children," she replied coldly. "You opened a portal on human soil. You extinguished bright futures."

Arcane symbols flared brighter around her.

"You don’t get to retreat from that."

Vayla face contorted violently with the destruction around them.

"Abducted?" she echoed. "No. We claimed. Your species gave us no choice. For the survival of our people, we did what we needed to do. There was no malicious intent behind our actions. May their souls rest in forever land with goddess Ishu."

Cecilia raised her hand and the air trembled. "Let’s see you have a taste of your own medicine..."

A cataclysmic mana lance formed instantly from condensed energy, compressed until it distorted space itself. Without warning, she hurled it forward.

The impact was apocalyptic.

The lance struck Vayla’s position and detonated, vaporizing the air in a blinding explosion that obliterated three towers beneath it. Shockwaves rippled outward, flattening Drakenars and Mana Defense officers alike within hundreds of meters.

Molten debris rained from the sky and for a heartbeat, silence reigned.

Then—

Lava shot upward.

From the heart of the explosion, a colossal lava shield erupted, hardened instantly into blackened obsidian. It cracked and shattered as Vayla burst through with wings unfurling briefly to stabilize her flight.

Her scales were scorched.

But intact.

"Impressive," Vayla admitted. "Your magic is on a scale I have never faced."

Cecilia didn’t respond.

She was already moving.

Dozens of spell circles snapped into place around her, rotating at impossible speeds. She clapped her hands together once and a mana storm descended.

Blades of compressed wind, lightning chains, gravitational pulses, and pure arcane bombardment rained down in a relentless cascade.

The battlefield below suffered for it.

Drakenars were crushed into the earth with their molten armor shattered. Entire formations vanished beneath the onslaught as Mana Defense squads scrambled to reposition, barely keeping up with the devastation unleashed above them.

Vayla roared.

She slammed her staff into the air.

The sky ignited.

Lava erupted from the ground in towering pillars, forming massive molten weapons mid-flight.

Spears, axes and chains burning with terrifying heat, launched toward Cecilia at unprecedented speed. Heat rolled outward in suffocating waves, turning the air into a furnace.

Cecilia extended both hands.

A hexagonal barrier formed instantly, layered with counter-runes and heat-dissipation matrices. The lava weapons slammed into it, exploding in showers of molten fragments that splashed harmlessly against the barrier’s surface.

Cecilia’s eyes flashed.

"System—Overdrive."

The glyphs around her shifted.

Mana consumption spiked.

Her presence expanded.

She raised one finger and traced a symbol in the air.

A void-white sigil appeared.

"Erase."

The sigil collapsed inward.

A beam of absolute nullification fired forth, slicing cleanly through Vayla’s lava constructs and carving a massive trench across the battlefield below. The earth divided as layers of rock and magma were annihilated outright.

Vayla hissed as the beam grazed her shoulder, tearing through scale and flesh alike. Lava blood spilled, hissing violently as it struck the air.

Her eyes narrowed further in suspicion.

"So... You’ve crossed that threshold..."

She lifted her staff high and the runes along it ignited.

The volcanic region answered.

The ground trembled violently as rivers of lava surged higher, converging toward Vayla like tributaries toward a god. The heat intensified beyond reason causing mana shields below to crack. Some Mana Defense officers collapsed as their protective gear failed.

Vayla spread her arms.

"Behold," her voice echoed with layered resonance as she intoned, "the land that chose us."

The lava fused and a draconic colossal molten avatar formed behind her with its body composed of magma and obsidian and its eyes burning like miniature suns. Its roar split the sky.

Cecilia stared up at it, unflinching.

"You think scale decides battles?" she said softly.

She extended her hand.

The air around her stopped.

Mana condensed so densely that it bent light inward, forming a singularity-like core in her palm.

"Pointless."

She thrust forward.

The spell detonated inward collapsing space around the molten avatar, crushing it under impossible pressure. Lava erupted violently as the construct screamed while its form destabilized as chunks of molten mass were ripped apart and flung across the battlefield.

The explosion lit the sky like a second sun.

Vayla was thrown backward, slamming into a fortress tower hard enough to collapse it entirely. She emerged moments later, battered but in disbelief. Her staff blazed as she stabilized herself.

"Impossible... the humans have barely had mana for a century and yet..."

Their eyes met again across the chaos.

The volcanic sky trembled and ash clouds churned violently as rivers of molten fire surged and recoiled.

Cecilia Thorn floated amid ruin with her robes scorched at the edges and mana arrays rotating slowly now, as though awaiting command.

Across from her, Vayla the Drakenar Sorceress steadied herself atop a fractured structure with lava dripping from cracks in the stone like bleeding veins.

The war below them had not stopped.

Mana Defense squads continued to clash with Drakenar legions.

However, Cecilia had paused her attacks briefly.

And Vayla noticed.

"You hesitate now," Vayla eyes narrowed slightly. "That is not how you fought moments ago."

Cecilia did not immediately respond.

Her gaze drifted past Vayla... past the collapsing towers... past the burning battalions... to something far deeper than the battlefield.

Then she spoke.

"Victor."

The name cut through the heat like frost.

Vayla blinked.

Cecilia’s voice hardened. "The young human who disrupted your operation. The one who came through the dimensional gate. The one who saved the students."

Her mana flared subtly causing pressure to increase.

"What became of him?"

The battlefield seemed to quiet as those words settled between them.

Vayla inhaled slowly.

So that was it.

So this legendary human mage who had razed half a Drakenar stronghold was here not just for vengeance... but for him.

"The young human..." Vayla said softly recalling that fated day like it was yesterday.

Her grip tightened around her staff, but her voice lost its edge. For the first time since the battle began, something resembling sympathy flickered across her features.

"He was... remarkable."

Cecilia’s eyes sharpened.

"He thwarted our plans," Vayla continued. "Again and again. A human with power beyond his years. He fought our forces. He protected others when retreat would have been wiser."

Cecilia’s breathing slowed.

"Where is he?" she demanded.

Vayla hesitated.

Then she spoke the truth.

"He entered the gate."

The words struck like thunder and Cecilia’s pupils dilated. According to the reports, they had all believed that Victor didn’t get to enter the portal before it closed.

That he remained trapped on the other side with the Drakenars. And when they finally visited the region where the incident took place and couldn’t find him, the chances of him being alive lowered significantly.

However, with this new information... she realized they had been wrong this whole time.

"He got into the red gate before it fully collapsed," Vayla said. "But not alone."