After effortlessly neutralizing Xia Duo's attack, the lava elemental took a deep breath. Its body, composed of molten rock, suddenly swelled up like an inflating balloon.
The loose gravel on the ground was immediately drawn in by this force, sucked into its body through its legs. The stones were tumbled and tempered within the high-temperature lava, transforming into countless burning fire stones in an instant!
It then opened its massive mouth toward the sky, and the fire stones within shot out like rain toward Xia Duo, who was still in mid-air.
“Oh no!”
Xia Duo let out a low cry of alarm and quickly covered her entire body with battle qi, preparing herself for the impact.
At that moment, several emerald-green vines suddenly burst from the ground, weaving into an airtight barrier in front of her. The burning fire stones slammed into the vines, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Simultaneously, a gentle breeze of wind element supported her waist, bringing her steadily back to the ground.
“Sister, are you alright?” Moen asked softly, her left hand maintaining the vine barrier while her right hand controlled the wind element.
Meanwhile, Po Kong’s second strike followed, carving a massive gash into the lava elemental's back. Although it didn't cause any substantial damage, it successfully interrupted its frantic barrage.
“Hiss...! So hot!”
Po Kong shouted as he retreated from the flow of overflowing rock fragments, shaking his wrist which had been scorched by the high temperature.
“Stay back, Po Kong. Let me handle this!”
After observing the last two exchanges, Starlight had already grasped the general characteristics of this lava elemental.
It had to be said that any ordinary team would find it extremely difficult to deal with such an abnormally stubborn elemental creature with numerous resistances. But for Starlight, as a Radiant Elemental Body, this was exactly the kind of opponent he feared least.
A pitch-black sphere quickly took shape in his palm, forming an extremely dangerous small vortex. In the next second, the Sphere of Annihilation shot toward the lava elemental's chest like an arrow leaving a bow.
The moment the Shadow of Annihilation appeared, the lava elemental sensed the lethal danger and let out a fierce roar.
It slammed its fists into the ground, flipping up the thick rock slabs beneath its feet while infusing them with a massive amount of elemental power, forming a highly defensive shield in front of itself.
Normally, doing this would definitely mitigate a large portion of the damage from the Sphere of Annihilation, but this time, it had miscalculated.
To its astonishment, the incredibly dangerous black sphere suddenly vanished into the air just a second before hitting the shield.
Before it could understand what was happening, a sharp cry rang out from the side.
“Wind Pressure Bullet! Burst!”
A pale green ball of wind appeared at its flank and exploded violently.
Because the lava elemental had diverted most of its power to support the shield in front, the strength remaining in its main body was much weaker.
Under Moen's strike, a hole the size of a water vat was blown into its chest, where fire was constantly churning.
With the flow of energy inside the lava elemental, the gap began to fill rapidly the moment it appeared.
But at that exact moment, the black sphere that had just vanished suddenly reappeared in the wound that had not yet recovered.
It turned out that the Sphere of Annihilation hadn't disappeared into thin air; rather, Starlight had used spatial power to transfer it into a parallel space.
Although it was his first time doing this and he couldn't transfer too much energy at once, the effect was immediate!
The highly concentrated Shadow of Annihilation erupted within the lava elemental's chest, hitting its core at point-blank range.
A pitch-black ripple spread from the point of contact. Everywhere it passed, the lava elemental's semi-solidified body began to disintegrate at a visible rate.
“ROAR—!!”
The lava elemental let out a roar of agony. It frantically swung its remaining arms, trying to swat away the black light, but it could only watch as its limbs turned into nothingness the moment they touched the power of annihilation.
The core in its chest flashed violently as it tried to mobilize the surrounding earth and fire elements for repairs, but all the elemental energy that drew near the Sphere of Annihilation was like mud entering the sea, swallowed up in an instant.
If it had been able to keep this power outside its body, it might have had a chance to resist. But now that its vital point had been hit directly, even a powerful elemental creature could not stop the erosion of dark elements.
Ultimately, after two-thirds of its body had been eroded away, the lava elemental could no longer hold on, and the remaining parts collapsed with a crash.
Except for the half-damaged core floating in the air, all the lava fragments that hit the ground lost their vitality. They became like ordinary volcanic rock, no longer able to reassemble.
In an instant, the passage fell silent, with only a few wisps of green smoke rising from the uncooled rocks. Starlight let out a long breath and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.
Transferring non-fixed magic into a parallel space required extremely precise control. Even that single instance had consumed a significant amount of his mental power.
However, Starlight did not relax. He turned to look at the core left behind by the lava elemental, intending to deliver the final blow.
But before he could act, Moen stepped in front of him. “The birth of an elemental creature is not easy. Let's not be so ruthless. It no longer has the ability to threaten us.”
Surprisingly, the damaged core bobbed slightly up and down, as if nodding in gratitude. The light flowing on its surface also became much softer, as if expressing its inner thanks.
“Go on, don't linger here. Return to the crater quickly, and your injuries should be able to recover smoothly.”
Moen spoke softly, but the lava elemental's core showed no intention of leaving. Instead, it began to tremble.
“What's wrong with it? Is it too injured to move?” Po Kong asked curiously as he walked over after putting away his weapon.
Moen closed her eyes and reached out toward the lava elemental's core from a distance.
“No, it seems... to be afraid.” Moen sensed the emotions coming from the core and frowned slightly, speaking hesitantly. “Not of us... but of...”
As she spoke, she looked toward the end of the rift valley, her gaze piercing through the dark passage toward the surging crimson at the far end.
As if to confirm her words, the massive volcano beneath their feet began to vibrate.
Po Kong stumbled and was nearly hit by flying gravel. It was only because Xia Duo was quick enough to grab his cloak that he didn't fall.
“What? Is it an earthquake? Or is the volcano about to erupt?” Xia Duo cried out.
The earthquake lasted for only about ten seconds before stopping, but the sound of rocks cracking in the distance suggested that this was only the beginning.
If the volcano really erupted, their chance to find the Hellfire Lotus would naturally vanish.
Starlight, unwilling to miss this opportunity, quickly replied, “I don't know, but it's definitely not anything good. It seems we need to speed up! Moen, use magic to help us move!”
Moen immediately understood and cast Nature's Blessing on all four of them, while Starlight draped them in a coat of wind elements.
After completing the spells, the four of them exchanged a look and charged toward the depths of the passage simultaneously.
There were no special obstacles in this passage to begin with, and with the magic enhancements, the height of the volcano was just a slightly steep flat road to them.
The mountainside, several thousand meters high, was crossed in just over an hour under their full sprint as they neared the summit.
When the final steep slope was left behind, the terrifying heat wave that hit them caused everyone to hold their breath involuntarily.
Seeing this, Starlight immediately added a layer of water element to everyone's bodies so they wouldn't be scorched.
The crater had completely transformed into a boiling purgatory. A lava lake hundreds of meters in diameter churned beneath them, with gold-red lava constantly forming massive bubbles that splashed waves of fire several meters high as they burst.
Starlight looked down. In the center of the lava lake, a vortex a hundred meters wide was slowly taking shape, every rotation bringing a suffocating hot wind.
More terrifyingly, the lava below was rising at a visible rate, with only dozens of meters left before it reached the edge of the crater.
“What the hell... This volcano isn't actually erupting right now, is it?” Po Kong wiped his forehead, where no sweat actually existed because the terrifying heat caused it to evaporate before it could even form.
...
Rate on N.U.
