Compared to the underground world of the Gloomy Crypt, the lava caves here were much more dangerous.
The lava tunnels here were all cracks and lava flowing pipes in the solid mountain after intense geological activity. There was a lot of uncertainty in them.
Maybe when you were walking in a red tunnel, you would be burnt to a crisp by a sudden gust of hot air from a crack on the side wall. It was also possible that a single misstep would cause him to fall into a bottomless chasm, into some soul-sucking pool of lava.
Although the volcanoes had gradually entered a temporary rest period, intense geological activity still existed in some parts. If the rumbling ground subsided around you, you might be crushed into meat paste by the sudden closure of the cave or the dislocation of the rock strata.
Therefore, you had to pay more attention to the stability of the surrounding rock strata while walking here.
Absolute safety did not exist. Every apprentice had to be careful to avoid being involved in sudden geological changes.
The danger did not only exist in the volcanoes, but also in the strange creatures that lived in this area. Fire spirits, lava hounds, lava monsters, fire lizards, flame imps, flame guards … There were dozens of flame creatures with names, and the unknown creatures were even more difficult to count.
These flame creatures lived and ate fire, and they treated this volcano as their home. They built a unique food chain in this lava world. At the top of the food chain was naturally the terrifying Molten Core Giants. They were like a group of extremely intelligent flame giants with terrifying elemental abilities that were no weaker than human wizards.
Unfortunately, their lives were too dependent on the environment. Once they left the Volcano World, their power would continue to decline. Therefore, all the Molten Core Giants lived in the deepest part of the underground volcano and were rarely seen in the outside world. It could be said that the ability of a wizard apprentice was not enough to enter the depths of the Volcano World, so it was impossible for them to have any contact with them.
In the Volcano World, the bottom of the food chain was probably those annoying flame imps. They looked like Gnomes, but their skin was crimson red. They did not have flesh and blood, but the product of the combination of a ball of flame origin and some broken consciousness.
They moved through the lava tunnels while chattering, looking for areas with dense fire elements. They would also spontaneously attack any outsiders that entered the area, and their method of attack was extremely simple flame arrows. Once they realized that they couldn't defeat their opponents, they would jump into a lava pool or a stream of flames, and then instantly run to another place.
Once a treasure hunter let go of a flaming imp, his surroundings would be flooded by a group of flaming imps in no time.
But these flaming imps were so poor that it made one's hair stand on end. Even if you tried your best to destroy them, you would only get a pile of volcanic ashes. There would be no other spoils of war. The flaming imp's price-performance ratio was far inferior to the fire spirit. Although the fire spirits were also at the bottom of the food chain in the Volcano World, they could at least get some broken elemental cores by eliminating them. It was much better than having nothing.
The Inferno Imp had Flame Arrows and Flame Teleportation. If it was in the outside world, it would be a difficult elemental creature to deal with. However, in this volcanic world where fire resistance was abnormally high, their strange abilities were basically useless against other fire creatures.
That was the fundamental reason why they were at the bottom of the food chain!
Grimm did not choose to travel with anyone else. Instead, he entered a lava tunnel on his own, heading downwards at a rapid pace. There were no straight paths here, nor were there any regular tunnels. Everything revolved around the terrain, and there were many forks in the road.
The Volcano World was like a super huge beehive. The road inside was bumpy, and there were many tunnels and caves connected one after another. Walking inside, if one did not have a way to identify the path, it was very easy to fall into a maze and die of heat after running out of food and water.
But of course, Grimm did not have this problem. As he went deeper into the Volcano World, his entire body and flesh became restless, excited by the density of the fire element particles here. Here, even if he did not put up an elemental defense, the hazy red light around him could not hurt him, and could even bring him considerable benefits.
But for the sake of appearance, he still had to put up a high-temperature force field to protect his clothes from being ignited by the high temperature here. After all, he was a human, and did not have the habit of running naked like fire creatures!
There was no map, and there was no need for one. Grimm did not hesitate at all in front of the hundreds of forks, and went straight into the depths of the underground with large strides. The thing that guided him was the density of the fire element particles in the air! He was not here to search for treasures, but to "bathe" here, so he went where the density of the fire element particles was higher.
The bumpy and winding road might have deceived him, but the fire element particles floating in the tunnel would not. So he arrived in front of a small lava pool without any deviation.
This was not the depths of the Volcano World, but a natural depression. Hence, when most of the molten lava retreated back into the ground, a small portion of it was left behind, gathering into a small lava pool.
At this moment, a group of Inferno Imps and a Lava Hound were gathered there. They were bobbing up and down in the lava pool, happily using the scorching lava to water their bodies.
Amongst these monsters, the lava hound had a higher status, occupying almost half of the space. The rest of the fire imps could only squeeze in the other half, not daring to take even half a step closer to the lava hound.
Seeing a human suddenly come out of a tunnel, the lava hound with a stronger sense of territory was the first to jump out of the lava pool, blocking Grimm's path. It lowered its body slightly, opened its flaming mouth, and let out a threatening growl.
This is a lava hound?
Grimm stopped in his tracks, his black eyes flashing with blue light as he scanned the internal structure of the strange creature in front of him.
It was a flaming creature comparable in size to a tiger on Earth in his previous life. Its body was mostly made of semi-molten lava, and the surface of its body was surrounded by raging flames of scorching heat. When the Lava Hound opened its mouth to threaten Grimm, the scorching lava that flowed from its fangs even eroded the floor in front of it into a small hole.
This meant that the lava in its body was more terrifying than natural lava, and the fire element in it was even more corrosive.
A moment later, the information that the A.I. Chip had scanned was projected into Grimm's mind.
[Lava hound, a unique semi-elemental creature of the Volcano World. Strength: Intermediate acolyte. Stats: Strength 9.
Agility: 13.
Vitality: 10.
Spirit: 8. Individual abilities: Rapid Assault, Flame Leap, Flame Breath, Ferocious Bite.]
Some of this information was obtained from scanning the body structure of the lava hound, while others were supplemented from books. As soon as the information from the two fused, all of its secrets were revealed to Grimm.
Although this lava hound had the strength of an intermediate acolyte according to the A.I. Chip, in this special environment, ordinary intermediate acolytes would have a hard time dealing with it.
Just as Grimm was quickly analyzing all the secrets of the lava hound, his silence had thoroughly enraged the other party.
The Lava Hound's powerful hind paws stomped on the floor with great force. The Lava Hound's sturdy body pounced through the air and heavily collided with Grimm's temporary Flame Shield.
A dull thud resounded.
The lava hound brushed past the fire shield and flashed to Grimm's side. With a twist of its heavy body, it adjusted its direction and pounced once more. At this moment, the four deep claw marks on the fire shield had yet to disappear.
The lava hound slammed into the fire shield once more!
This time, the fire shield could no longer withstand the attack of the Flame Claw, nor could it withstand the impact of the lava hound's heavy body. With a bang, it exploded into flaming fragments that filled the sky.
Grimm waved the Flame Lord's Scepter in his hand, and a new fire shield shot out, repelling the lava hound that had taken advantage of the situation to attack.
Grimm furrowed his brows. It seemed like the elementary fire shield could no longer adapt to the intensity of the battle. Even a normal lava hound could break it in two rounds, so it could be imagined that if he met a stronger fire creature, the fire shield would not be much stronger than a soap bubble.
As expected of the improved version of the fire shield, the fire shield's defensive capabilities were at least five to six times stronger than the original. Grimm stood in place and allowed the lava hound to attack freely. It took him nearly ten rounds to exhaust the fire shield to the brink of collapse.
After adjusting some of the necessary parameters through the battle, Grimm no longer had the mood to 'play' with the lava hound. As he tossed out an elemental crystal core, a huge lava python that occupied almost half the space in the lava cave crawled out from the ground.
Seeing the sudden appearance of this intruder, the lava hound pounced forward without any regard for its own safety, vowing to defend its territory with its life. Unfortunately, its self-righteous attack was a farce in front of the lava python, which had a huge advantage in size. Before it could bite off a few rocks from the Lava Python's body, its body was bitten by the Lava Hound. The Lava Hound was smashed into the ceiling of the cave, and was torn into pieces.
After the lava hound's body disintegrated, Grimm picked up a piece of burning flint from the scattered lava fragments. This was the only valuable thing in the lava hound's body!
Grimm stayed where he was and began to deal with the flint, while the lava python slithered towards the remaining Flame Imps.
* Pfft pfft pfft … *
An endless stream of fire arrows rained down on the greenish-grey head of the lava python, leaving only shallow holes the size of eggs. This kind of damage was not even enough to tickle the lava python, whose body was made of rock. It slithered towards the lava hounds, swung its tail, and crushed them with its body. In just a short while, it had eliminated most of the Flame Imps.
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