Chapter 17: The Deep and Dark Cave
Linley looked up at the over one hundred dragons circling above him. Each Fire Dragon’s body was wreathed in flames that caused the air temperature to rise sharply, while the Green Dragons, with their emerald-green scales, emanated a bone-chilling cold.
It was a world of ice and fire!
Below Linley, the two massive eight-meter-long Velociraptors watched him with interest. Linley, floating sixty to seventy meters above the ground, had nowhere to escape. The dragons circling in the sky also watched him with amusement.
The intelligence of an eighth-rank magical beast was no less than that of a human. Linley knew well that before these dragons, he was like an ant. They didn’t care about his life or death. What they cared about was… that he could bring a bit of entertainment to their long lives.
Taunting!
It was just like how humans would toy with a little ant, and when they got bored, they would crush it underfoot.
“I don’t want to be an ant, Bebe.” Linley exchanged a glance with Bebe. “Get ready to run!”
“Whoosh!”
Linley plummeted straight down. With his body weight and the added force of the “Flight” spell, he slammed into the ground like a heavy hammer. However, just before impact, he suddenly slowed down. This abrupt transition from extreme speed to a near halt caused his blood to churn violently, making him feel like he was going to vomit.
“Good thing I’m not just a mage, but also a fourth-rank warrior. My body can handle it.”
With the two massive Velociraptors behind him and over a hundred enormous dragons with giant leathery wings above him, Linley had no time to think. He charged straight ahead into the barren wasteland.
“Roar~~~” The two Velociraptors bellowed.
“Roar~~~” “Roar~~~” “Roar~~~” …
The over one hundred Fire Dragons and Green Dragons in the sky also roared. Then the two Velociraptors took large strides and began chasing Linley, each step shaking the ground. At the same time, the Fire Dragons and Green Dragons in the sky dove down one after another. In an instant, Linley felt the sky darken.
A single dragon was already enormous. Over a hundred of them completely blotted out the sky. The dozens of Fire Dragons simultaneously opened their massive jaws, wide enough to swallow a person whole, and spat out huge fireballs that hurtled toward Linley below.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
Giant fireballs, each as large as Linley himself, rained down from the sky. The “Fireballs” of an eighth-rank Fire Dragon were no ordinary fireballs. They weren’t just magical; they also contained the dragon’s own dragonflame. Their temperature was so high that even the armor of a seventh-rank Velociraptor would crack and melt.
“Bang!”
A massive fireball grazed Linley’s body and smashed into the ground beside him. As he fled, Linley immediately smelled the stench of burnt hair.
“Boss, your hair is singed,” Bebe’s voice echoed in Linley’s mind.
Linley knew that his hair wasn’t actually burnt; it was just that the fireball’s temperature was so high that being near it was enough to singe his hair. Linley moved like an agile monkey, constantly changing direction, dodging one fireball after another.
The Fire Dragons didn’t swarm in to kill Linley all at once. Instead, they toyed with him, using fireballs to torment him.
“The gap in strength is too great. I’m a seventh-rank dual-element mage, but against an eighth-rank magical beast, I’m as good as dead.” Linley could feel the terrifying heat of the fireballs, and the Fire Dragons could effortlessly spit out one after another.
Fortunately, the Fire Dragons didn’t want to kill him immediately.
Suddenly, Linley felt a wave of bone-chilling cold. His body, which had adapted to the heat, couldn’t help but shiver.
“Whoosh!” A transparent, slightly greenish javelin embedded itself in the ground beside Linley, then shattered. The terrifying cold forced Linley to quickly change direction.
The dozens of Green Dragons in the sky opened their mouths and shot out ice arrows. For the massive Green Dragons, these might have been mere arrows, but for Linley, these three-meter-long giant ice arrows were terrifying javelins.
Under the assault of dragonflame fireballs and freezing javelins, Linley exerted all his mental energy, constantly dodging and changing direction.
It was exhausting!
Linley felt his mind and body both weary. The string of his nerves was stretched taut. It was fine for a short while, but if it lasted too long, that string would definitely snap. Linley could already feel his ability to dodge weakening. Running at top speed also drained his physical strength immensely.
“Bang!” A fireball struck Linley’s right arm.
A cracking sound rang out. The jade-tier Earthguard Armor on Linley’s body developed cracks. Yellow earth-element energy rapidly swirled around the cracks, trying to repair the damage.
“The attack power is terrifying. If I were hit directly, I’d probably only be able to withstand one blow from this jade-tier Earthguard Armor.” At the brink of death, Linley’s life force seemed to explode. He once again dodged quickly and unpredictably.
Even Linley was surprised by his own dodging ability.
This was definitely his peak state. But even at his peak, facing over a hundred dragons left him with no chance of victory.
“Roar~~~” “Roar~~~”
The over one hundred Fire Dragons and Green Dragons in the sky gleefully toyed with Linley, watching him dodge and weave. They found it more and more amusing. Even the two massive Velociraptors behind him occasionally threatened him with their tails.
At this moment—
Linley was like an ant. A little ant being toyed with by a group of powerful experts.
If he made a single mistake, he would die. The dragons didn’t care about Linley’s life or death. They were just thinking, “How long can this little human hold out?”
Five minutes passed!
Linley had endured this “taunting” for five minutes.
Five minutes. Three hundred seconds!
It sounded short, but Linley felt like time was passing so slowly. Every moment, he was teetering on the edge of life and death.
“These bastards. If I can’t dodge in time and they kill me, they’ll probably just leave without a care and go back to their comfortable lives.” Linley knew very well that he was just a small diversion in the lives of these dragons.
Bebe’s speed was actually faster than the dragons’. He could have escaped on his own. But now, Bebe could only stay on Linley’s shoulder, wide-eyed, watching the fireballs and javelins from the sky, warning Linley of danger.
“Boss, watch out! Three fireballs!” Bebe suddenly shouted urgently.
Linley’s face changed.
“Bang!”
A dragonflame fireball slammed heavily into Linley’s body and then exploded. The jade-tier armor on Linley’s body flashed with yellow light, then with a “crack,” it shattered into a large amount of earth-element energy and dissipated.
“Sizzle~~” Linley’s hair was instantly scorched black, and the skin on his face was burned red and black by the intense heat.
Without the jade-tier armor protecting his entire body, whether it was a dragonflame fireball or a freezing javelin, one hit would mean certain death.
“I can’t hold on much longer.” Linley felt his muscles trembling, and his head was dizzy and aching. He knew he had reached his limit. If he continued in this state, he would definitely collapse.
“Linley, one hundred and twenty meters to your left front is a small hill about twenty meters high. At the base of that hill is a deep cave. The hill doesn’t completely cover the cave; there’s a gap big enough for one or two people to slip through. Hurry over there, and you might escape with your life,” Dellinger’s voice rang out.
Since the dragons had started chasing him, Dellinger had remained silent. But now, his voice gave Linley hope. And Linley’s speed actually increased by a notch. The hope of survival truly possessed incredible power.
The over one hundred Fire Dragons and Green Dragons circling above were somewhat surprised by Linley’s reaction.
Hmm?
When they saw Linley charging straight toward the small hill, the dragons, who had been in a playful mood, immediately grew angry. In unison, the over one hundred dragons spat out dragonflame fireballs and freezing javelins, completely sealing off the twenty-to-thirty-meter area.
“Ah!”
With Linley’s speed, it took him about two or three seconds to reach the small hill. At that moment, a torrent of dragonflame fireballs and freezing javelins rained down.
“The gap!” Linley spotted a hole about two meters wide. Without hesitation, he leaped straight into it.
But just as he was about to enter the hole, a dragonflame fireball came crashing down from above. The fireball was much faster than Linley’s movement speed. When it was only twenty or thirty centimeters away from him, Linley’s clothes began to burn.
“Bang!”
Bebe’s body strangely expanded by a size, and he slammed into the dragonflame fireball with all his might. Linley managed to escape into the cave, but Bebe was buried under a barrage of fireballs and javelins.
“Whoosh!”
Linley fell straight down. After falling about seventy or eighty meters, he crashed onto solid ground. The underground was pitch black, with only a little light coming from the entrance above. However, Linley’s eyesight was excellent, and with the faint light, he could clearly see everything underground. At this moment—
Linley’s hair was singed, and the skin on his face was burned red and black in two or three places.
Disfigured!
But Linley didn’t care about that now. He was worried about Bebe.
“Whoosh!” A black shadow fell from above and landed on the ground beside Linley. “Ah, that was really comfortable. Hot and cold, my whole body feels great,” Bebe’s voice echoed in Linley’s mind.
Linley happily scooped up Bebe. “Bebe, you’re okay?”
Bebe’s face was dirty, but he proudly wrinkled his little nose. “Of course! I’m much stronger than I was a year and a half ago. If I had to fight an eighth-rank magical beast head-on, I wouldn’t be afraid. Why would I be scared of a little spark or a little ice cube?”
Linley laughed. Bebe was fine, and Linley felt a wave of relief.
“Then why didn’t you fight those dragons?” Linley teased.
Bebe said angrily and unwillingly, “Do you think I’m afraid of them? But their scales are too thick. I’m too small, and my mouth is too small. I can’t bite through their scales in one go. It’s hard for me to kill them, but they can’t kill me either.”
Linley chuckled.
“Boss, what happened to your face? You’re disfigured!” Bebe’s strange voice suddenly rang out in Linley’s mind.
Linley twitched his facial muscles and felt a burning pain. He could only mock himself, “Bebe, I’ve trained my body’s strength, but no matter how much I train, I can’t train my facial muscles. My defense isn’t good enough.”
“Phew, Bebe, let me rest first. I’m exhausted.”
Linley put Bebe down and lay directly on the ground.
The past few minutes had pushed both his physical muscles and his mental state to their limits. When he was in danger, it was fine, but now that he was safe, an endless wave of fatigue washed over him. Linley just wanted to rest.
In the valley, the over one hundred dragons circling in the sky and the two eighth-rank Velociraptors all looked toward the small hill.
“Roar~~~~” Suddenly, the largest Fire Dragon let out a roar.
All the dragons and Velociraptors retreated. The largest Fire Dragon glanced at the small hill, a trace of fear in its eyes.
The entrance to the underground cave was actually very large, big enough for a dragon to enter. However, the Fire Dragons and Green Dragons had been ordered to move a small hill to block the entrance.
For the dragons, a gap of nearly two meters was nothing. Their bodies were too large to fit through.
But for Linley, it was easy to slip through.
“Entering the forbidden ground, this human is as good as dead,” the largest Fire Dragon said. Then it soared into the sky and flew away.
This was the forbidden ground of the Misty Valley. Not just humans, but even the Fire Dragons and Green Dragons dared not enter.
No one who had ever entered had come out alive. This was the iron law of the Misty Valley.