Chapter 16: Golden Magma
"Rumble~" Linley had no time to think. He saw countless enormous boulders converging around and above him, blocking out all sunlight. All the fiery red boulders pressed down and surrounded the demons, and Linley himself was instantly pinned by several boulders, unable to move.
"Sizzle~"
All the fiery red boulders began moving in a bizarre manner. If viewed from outside, one would see that within the volcanic mountain range, a fiery red peak had abruptly appeared.
This peak was formed by the gathering of countless fiery red boulders.
Linley and all the surviving demons, along with the corpses of the dead, were all inside this peak.
"What's going on?" Linley stared in shock at what was happening before him.
The boulders that had been pressing down on him had moved away, revealing a narrow path ahead. Linley advanced along this path for about ten meters and witnessed a horrifying sight—ahead was a vertical shaft!
At that moment, surviving demons were converging from various narrow paths into this wide, vertical shaft. Linley and the others floated within this passage.
"Where's Delia?" Linley searched anxiously, looking down each path.
Most of the demons gathered alive in the passage were high-level gods, with a few mid-level gods. The sudden attack had claimed the lives of many mid-level gods.
"Boss!" A voice suddenly rang out.
Linley spun around.
There, Delia and Bebe were emerging together from a distant side path.
"Delia, Bebe!" Linley's face lit up with joy as he rushed over. Bebe and Delia's eyes also sparkled with delight. Linley looked Delia over carefully, his heart filled with happiness.
"I owe it all to Bebe," Delia said gratefully. "The attack was so sudden, and there were so many of those boulders. Luckily, I used the Death God Puppet to block the first blow. Then Bebe helped, and I managed to survive that terrible assault."
Bebe grinned. "I was right next door. When the metallic lifeform broke apart, I was only a few meters from Delia. It was easy to help." Though he seemed nonchalant, a trace of worry flickered in Bebe's eyes.
Linley understood. Bebe was worried about Nisse.
"Nisse, wasn't she with you?" Linley suddenly asked.
Bebe forced a smile. "She went to her brother. Salomon is a high-level god; he should be able to protect her."
"Bebe!" A voice called from afar.
Bebe immediately turned, his face breaking into a joyful grin. "Nisse!" Nisse and Salomon flew over. Having survived this disaster, everyone wore rare smiles.
Suddenly—
"Let's break through this wall and get out!" someone shouted loudly.
"Boom!"
With an explosive sound, Linley and the others turned to look, only to see a shattered corpse falling downward.
"What happened?" Linley and the others were still confused.
"Everyone, what should we do now?" A voice rang out.
Everyone, including Linley, looked toward the speaker. It was a high-level god demon. Linley had heard of him before—his name was "Sperry," and he held considerable authority among the demons hired in Yilan City. His strength was estimated to be at the four-star or five-star demon level.
Sperry had slightly wavy brown hair.
He flipped his hand, and a black blade shadow appeared abruptly, causing space to tremble. The blade shadow slashed across the rock wall, leaving a half-meter-deep pit. The countless crushed stones from the pit shot back toward Sperry at incredible speed.
Countless blade shadows flashed, reducing the crushed stones to dust.
Strangely, the dust gathered again and flew back into the half-meter-deep pit, completely filling it. As the stone powder writhed, the wall's surface became smooth, without a trace of the blade mark.
"As you can all see," Sperry said, scanning the crowd.
Many of the demons were well-traveled and had already guessed what was happening.
"This must be a Volcano Giant!" someone immediately said. "The most important thing about a Volcano Giant is its life core. As long as the core isn't shattered, it can control countless boulders to reform its body. The entire volcanic range might be part of the Volcano Giant's body."
"A Volcano Giant?" Linley was startled and exchanged a glance with Bebe.
Linley thought of a creature he had encountered before—the Flame Sovereign from the sixth level of the Necropolis of the Gods!
Back then, that monster had also been formed from a small mountain. When it was first split apart, it reformed its body around a transparent stone. In the end, Linley had used the Pulse of the Earth to shatter its core and kill it.
"Could this be a Flame Sovereign? Or perhaps a high-level god version of the Flame Sovereign?" Linley wondered. This "Volcano Giant" was definitely a high-level god. If it were a mid-level god, how could it have killed so many mid-level gods so easily?
"Unbelievable. We're inside a monster! This whole volcanic range is a monster," Bebe muttered.
"Everyone understands the situation now. What should we do?" Sperry asked, then turned to the white-horned old man. "Do you have any ideas? You're the one who hired us."
The white-horned old man said sincerely, "I have no ideas. You all decide."
"There are only seven high-level god demons here," another person said loudly. "That attack just now was a threat to mid-level gods, but not much of a threat to ordinary high-level gods. Besides... the Edwards brothers and Rilmont aren't here. I don't believe they died! So I think the surviving demons have been split into two or three groups."
Everyone nodded slightly.
The Edwards brothers and Rilmont were the absolute powerhouses of this expedition. No one believed they would die from that attack.
But Rilmont and the others weren't here.
"Maybe they're in other parts of this Flame Giant's body," Sperry said calmly. "But this Flame Giant is bold, daring to let us inside. If we find its core and shatter it, it's finished. Let's go. We have no other choice for now—let's head down first."
Sperry led the way, flying downward. The other demons immediately followed.
Linley and his group also flew down.
Soon, they reached the bottom, where a boiling river of magma flowed. There were paths along the magma river to walk on.
Deep within a secret hall beneath the volcanic range, Asquin, dressed in a black robe, sat on a chair, holding a little golden cat in his arms. Inigo stood nearby, slightly respectful.
"Pusro, how's it going?" Asquin stroked the little golden cat in his arms and said with a smile.
"Meow~ I've separated the demons. The powerful ones are in other places. The one Inigo described as the strongest, 'Rilmont,' I've isolated him elsewhere. For now, he won't disrupt our plan, meow~" The little golden cat spoke in human tongue.
Asquin nodded slightly.
"Meow~ Master. The white-horned old man, and the man Inigo mentioned who might be from the Boey family, I've deliberately gathered them together. They're about to reach the Golden Flame Pool now, meow~" The little golden cat's voice was soft.
Asquin smiled in satisfaction. "About time. Let's make our move!"
"Gurgle~"
At the center of the cave was a lake of golden magma, constantly churning. The space above the lake's surface was distorted by the intense heat.
When Linley and the other demons arrived, some of them changed expression upon seeing the golden magma lake and instinctively moved farther away. Linley, Bebe, and the others, who had less experience, had no idea how terrifying this golden magma was.
"Liquid Golden Flame?" Salomon murmured.
"What's Golden Flame?" Linley, Bebe, and Delia were puzzled.
Salomon said quietly, "It's a nasty substance. Extremely corrosive and incredibly hot. Not just you—even a high-level god would be in trouble if they fell in. Best to stay away."
"Liquid Golden Flame?" Though Linley was more than ten meters from the golden magma lake, he could still feel the heat waves assaulting his body. If a Saint from a material plane were here, they might be burned to nothing just a few meters from the lake.
The demons deliberately kept their distance from the magma lake as they moved forward.
"Hmm~" Strangely, the rocky ground around the magma lake began to ripple like ocean waves. Caught off guard, all the demons quickly flew up.
"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"
Large boulders suddenly broke off from the cave walls and shot toward Linley's group at terrifying speed. Dense boulders rained down, forcing Linley and the others to defend desperately. Linley, Delia, Bebe, Nisse, and Salomon stayed together.
"Boom!" A boulder slammed into Linley. Even with his strong defenses, the impact sent him stumbling back more than ten meters, right over the golden magma lake.
"Gurgle~"
The "magma" in the golden lake formed into a giant golden liquid hand, reaching out to grab Linley.
"Swish!" Linley pushed the "Speed Principle" to its limit, twisting like a wisp of smoke to evade the grab. He immediately flew back to Delia and Bebe.
"Ah~"
Linley had escaped, but someone else was blasted over the magma lake. The golden liquid hand grabbed them and dragged them into the golden magma. Once pulled in, they never came out again—only a few bubbles rose to the surface.
"Everyone be careful. Don't get knocked into that golden magma lake," Linley said, still shaken.
"Linley, you be careful too," Salomon said. He was the most relaxed of the group. Whenever a boulder came near, a black light would flash from his palm, reducing it to dust.
Delia was prepared as well. The Death God Puppet stood in front of her, actively smashing incoming boulders apart. The puppet's body was incredibly hard, far tougher than the boulders, and it showed no fear.
"Ah~"
Another person was involuntarily blasted over the golden magma lake. Two golden liquid hands emerged and dragged them down. They, too, never resurfaced. This sight made everyone, already under a barrage of boulders, tremble with fear.
"This liquid Golden Flame lake isn't just dangerous because of the Golden Flame itself. The Flame Giant is also attacking from within. If you fall in, even a high-level god would struggle to survive," Salomon sent a mental message to Linley and the others. "Everyone be careful. Don't fall in."
Linley, Delia, and Bebe were on high alert, deflecting and smashing the incoming boulders.
Most of those who fell into the golden magma lake and died were mid-level god demons.
The employer, the white-horned old man, was handling things relatively easily. He wielded a long staff that moved like a dragon, flicking the incoming boulders aside. The boulders posed no threat to him.
At that moment—
From another secret passage leading to this cave, three figures emerged. It was the Edwards brothers. Back in the metallic lifeform, they had shared a room. When the lifeform exploded, even though the boulders tried to separate them, the three brothers stayed together.
"Liquid Golden Flame!" The Edwards brothers observed carefully.
"Ah, Rilmont isn't here!" The youngest of the Edwards brothers' eyes lit up. "Big brother, second brother, this is a great opportunity. That white-horned old man is right there."
The Edwards brothers grew excited.
They hadn't expected the opportunity to come so easily. Without Rilmont around, who were they afraid of?
Once they killed the white-horned old man, they would claim the Boey family's immense wealth, accumulated over countless years!