Chapter 330: Chapter 235: Never-ending
As they spoke, the lava balls disappeared from the passage. A pressure could be felt emanating from where they had been.
Then, one after another, heavy forms began to slowly emerge from the magma.
Human in shape, they stood taller than Long Yi, extremely robust. Their fiery-red bodies quickly darkened upon emerging, forming rock-like armor that clung tightly to their bodies. Accompanied by heavy steps, new Molten Beasts raised their hands; molten iron flowed from their palms, solidified, forming greatswords.
"New Molten Beasts!" Golden Hammer exclaimed in surprise.
Apparently, previous Molten Beasts were generally made of molten lava and embodied weird shapes, never in human form. But this time, not only was the first a human form, but after that appetizer, a whole pack of human-form Molten Beasts emerged!
"These are all new to me!"
Long Yi hadn’t encountered Molten Beasts before. He swung his greatsword, and with a clang, bisected one of the human-shaped Molten Beasts.
"Damn, this bastard is made of iron!" Long Yi yelled, shaking his hand.
Indeed, the part of the beast that his blade had cleaved was made of a solid piece of steel at least ten centimeters thick!
The lower half of the human-shaped Molten Beast that Long Yi had cut fell apart, but the upper half continued to crawl on the ground. Clearly, the lava core was in its upper half.
"Dragon Tooth Strangulation!"
Long Yi once again applied the Dragon Tooth Strangulation. His mighty Fighting Aura shaved a layer off the half-Molten Beast, even taking off one of its arms. But it continued to crawl forward!
"Damn it! These bastards are tough!"
A dwarf warrior roared. Ordinary dwarf warriors, with only basic Fighting Aura, had no means to break these almost solid metal lumps.
At this point, Ai Lin finally had her chance. The cooled metal shell indeed could resist stronger impacts, but it also provided an opportunity. Trying various types of magic with her punches and kicks, Ai Lin discovered that her lightning magic had a special effect on these Molten Beasts encased in a metal shell.
In the midst of a thunderstorm, the Mana-infused lightning penetrated directly into the bodies of these metal Molten Beasts, destroying their lava cores from the inside.
Wherever Ai Lin passed, there lay immobile metal statues on the ground.
By now, Long Yi had fully transformed his energy into Fighting Aura. Continuing to slash? No, it wasted too much time. If he could directly shatter the core inside, that would be much easier.
"If only this thing could turn into a hammer." Long Yi looked at the crystal greatsword in his hand, thinking this way.
Almost simultaneously, the crystal greatsword in his hand contracted and reshaped, actually transforming into a large hammer, even larger than the ones commonly used by dwarves!
"Ha! So, you can transform!" Long Yi swung the hammer a few times; thought it was extremely heavy, somehow, it felt incredibly handy in his grasp!
"Let’s see how much Fighting Aura you can handle!"
Long Yi lifted the hammer and swung it heavily. With a boom, the half-human shaped Molten Beast that he was previously fighting was completely shattered! Among the spreading bits of iron, Long Yi saw the shattered lava core within.
This works!
With the hammer in hand, Long Yi began a wild smashing spree. None of the metal human-shaped Molten Beasts at the other end could withstand a single blow from him. The ordinary dwarf warriors had retreated, letting the dwarf warriors with the Golden Fighting Aura take the lead. Under the strike of the Fighting Aura, the exterior surfaces of the new iron Molten Beasts were shattered. Some Molten Beasts had their shells broken, but the lava core inside remained intact. They struggled to crawl back into the magma to regenerate. Long Yi personally saw a humanoid Molten Beast crawl into the magma and in the blink of an eye; a brand-new Molten Beast reappeared.
"Don’t let them return!" Golden Hammer roared to the dwarf warriors nearby, "The elite dwarf warriors will focus on breaking the shell! The rest of you watch for any undamaged lava cores and be ready to destroy them immediately!"
"Yes!" echoed the dwarf warriors.
With Long Yi and Ai Lin, the two absolute powerhouses present, the onslaught of Molten Beasts gradually came to a temporary halt.
"Little Zi! Go check the other two passages!" Long Yi commanded.
"Okay!"
At this point, Little Zi’s ability to pass through obstructions greatly shone and she disappeared into the wall in the blink of an eye.
Off to the side, Bajie’s battle with the magma giant was also nearing its end. The Magma Giant used its hot magma to harm enemies. However, facing Bajie who was unfazed by the magma, it was effectively useless. Annoyed by the constantly regenerating magma giant, Bajie grew ruthless. He tore the magma giant apart over and over, until the giant’s regeneration speed could not keep up with Bajie’s destruction.
Suddenly, a large fiery-red sphere appeared in the middle of the magma giant’s magma- the lava core!
Bajie shouted, and his tail lashed out, causing the massive core to fly out from the magma. The magma collapses without the core, and the core was flung straight towards Long Yi.
"Got it!"
The crystal giant hammer in his hand turned back into the Dragon-slaying Sword.
"Don’t destroy it yet! It’s a treasure! Useful!"
Golden Hammer shouted out abruptly.
Treasure?
I love treasures!
Long Yi instinctively grabbed the basketball-sized core.
"Oh, god! It’s burning me!"
As soon as Long Yi grasped it, he instantly dropped the core onto the ground. As Bajie’s Dragon Knight, Long Yi had greatly improved heat resistance. But catching magma bare-handed was a bit too sci-fi. He was extremely lucky that his paw didn’t roast right there and then.
The core landed on the ground and immediately radiated an intense heat. The ground slowly melted as tiny bits of magma began to wrap themselves around it.
"Uncle Golden Hammer, do you have any way to deal with this thing?" Long Yi pointed towards the ground and asked.
Golden Hammer laughed heartily and said, "We’ve been fighting these monsters for quite some time, after all!"
With that, two Dwarf warriors rushed from behind. Each was carrying a heavy box and using large tongs to carefully lift the core into the box.
"This box is made of heat-resistant material we created. It’s the same material we use inside our armors and can withstand the temperature of the magma core for a long time without melting," Golden Hammer explained.
"What do you plan on doing with it?" Long Yi asked.
"Isn’t it obvious? It’s the latest in blacksmith furnace technology! Just think, a furnace that doesn’t require charcoal. How wonderful!" Golden Hammer exclaimed excitedly.
"You’re not worried that this thing will absorb your iron and become a monster?" Long Yi asked.
"That’s why we still need to research. However, we’ve made contact with the city of Darkness and we’ve been cooperating for many years now. Recently they told us there’s been progress! They just need more high-quality cores. The ordinary molten beast cores are just too small. I never expected to find such a large one this time!" Golden Hammer said.
Golden Hammer, with a glint in his eyes full of excitement, watched as the core was carried away.
Suddenly, Little Zi rushed over from afar.
"Bad news, the third gate is under attack by the Lava Giant. The Dwarf warriors are retreating and can’t hold the line!"
"And what about the second gate?"
"There’s no problem with the second gate. Xiaoyou is there and the situation is stable. Only the third gate is in danger!"
"Bajie! Go help them!"
Bajie immediately turned into his resting state and flew away through the top corridor.
Watching Bajie fly away, Long Yi turned to Golden Hammer.
"Uncle, we..." he began.
What Long Yi meant was to ask if they had enough manpower here and if they could muster more to help.
"Kid, I know what you’re thinking. But if you really want to help, you’d better stay here. This battle is far from over!"
In past battles, the molten beasts had never retreated after just two waves of attack!
This time wouldn’t be any different!
Louder roars echoed from the tunnel.
Come on, let me see just how far you can get!
The fight with the molten beasts lacked any show-stopping moments due to their nature, limiting their abilities to a few types of attacks.
The first, was using the heat of magma, either by spewing fire or magma itself.
The second was to improve their defenses by using cooled magma or molten metal for close combat.
The third was simple. Explosions.
Compared to fighting Dragon Knights, the molten beast’s actions were monotonous and predictable. They neither had a Fighting Aura or any combat skills. But their undeniable ’heat’ and ’hardness’ gave them an edge.
But that’s not the most important thing.
The most important thing is.
There are a damn lot of them.
From the Dwarves’ previous rough counts, they had destroyed nearly three thousand molten beasts. This time, Long Yi felt there were at least two thousand in this tunnel alone.
The fight is still far from over!
During this stage, many large molten beasts appeared. With Long Yi present, they naturally became trophies for the Dwarves.
But this endless fighting was truly exhausting.
Being of the Giant Bloodline, Long Yi was feeling a bit fatigued. The Dwarf warriors were all panting and sweating heavily, while the non-combatant Dwarves continually supplied water to the front line. During this battle, water was the most consumed item. Sweat drops evaporated as soon as they hit the floor. The previously neat ground was now half a meter higher due to shards of molten rock!
The four huge fans surrounding the tunnel were struggling to bring in fresh air, but they still couldn’t offset the sweltering heat here.
Attack!
Long Yi smashed the head of a rhinoceros-shaped Molten Beast with his crystal hammer. Lifting his head to find the next target, he found not a single Molten Beast around and there were no signs of any more coming from the tunnel.
"Is it over?" Long Yi panted.
"Who the...knows," Golden Hammer barely articulated.
"I don’t know." Little Zi chuckled, but her body seemed slightly translucent, indicating that she too was quite drained.(To be continued. If you like this novel, please visit qidian.com to vote and recommend. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
