Ember Dragon

"No!"

Amidst the chaos, Fusheng gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and his expression hardened once more: "I must carry the hopes of my teammates—to survive!"

"boom!"

The fire elemental behemoth swung its fist again, hurling a burning boulder that arced through the air, smashing two warlock players who were casting spells hundreds of meters away into mincemeat.

"I'm sorry, my teammates, I will explore this land for you!"

In this chaotic world, Fusheng no longer cared about his remaining teammates. He activated the Champion Warrior's [Sprint], [Action Tide], and [Great Stride] skills and sprinted wildly across the land like a whirlwind, covering hundreds of meters in an instant.

"Roar--"

The enraged lava behemoth pursued it relentlessly. Because the area was covered in lava, this enormous monster was extremely fast, able to move across the ground using the lava, like a rapidly moving small mountain, chasing after the chaotic world.

In chaotic times, one feels as if the ground is constantly shaking, making it difficult to stand firm.

He turned his head slightly and glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye, only to find that the enormous creature was less than a hundred meters away! A scorching wind whipped against his back, and the pungent smell of sulfur filled his nostrils.

In this chaotic world, he knew that even with multiple skills activated at full speed, he could barely keep up with the speed of the fire elemental behemoth. If the skill duration ended, he would definitely be caught up by the monster.

If this continues, I'm sure to die!

Suddenly, through the thick smoke, Luan Shi Fusheng glimpsed what appeared to be a towering cliff in the distance, its walls steep, suggesting that the fire elemental behemoth would not be able to climb it anytime soon.

Upon getting closer, he discovered a deep, narrow cave above the cliff, which from a distance looked like a gaping oval mouth.

"This might be a chance to escape!" The chaotic world was filled with excitement, as if he had seen a glimmer of hope in the darkness.

He fled at full speed to the cliff face, and with the powerful jumping ability granted by his leaping technique, he suddenly leaped more than ten meters into the air. Stepping on the protruding rocks, he jumped several times in succession, dodging and weaving, and finally arrived at the cave.

"boom--"

The fire elemental behemoth continued to roar furiously, roaming across the molten earth and charging toward the chaotic world, causing the ground to rumble incessantly, the cliffs to shake violently, and rocks to tumble down continuously.

He opened his mouth, which was constantly emitting steam, and spewed out scalding magma balls from his throat. These magma balls scattered like raindrops, hurtling towards the location of the chaotic world.

"do not care!"

In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, he steeled his resolve, gritted his teeth, and plunged into the deep cave, which was filled with steam, smoke, and ash, with flickering flames illuminating the rock walls.

But for some reason, Luan Shi Fusheng felt the ground beneath his feet bobbing up and down with an extremely slight amplitude, almost like it was breathing.

In the dim cave, he carefully took a step forward, only to find that he had stepped on something soft and solid, which seemed to be covered with a layer of viscous liquid.

This, what is this?
Amidst the chaos of the world, a look of terror crossed his face, and a chilling and horrifying thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He turned his head stiffly, only to see rows of messy, sharp fangs suddenly appear at the edge of the "hole," before abruptly closing.

"boom!"

In the darkness, Luan Shi Fusheng felt the soft solid suddenly twist, like a giant python tightly coiling around his body, pulling him deeper into the "cave".

"Do not--"

"I can't die here! I haven't proven my worth as a regular player, I haven't received my reward yet—"

In the chaos of the world, he struggled desperately, letting out a cry of despair, but scalding viscous fluid flowed in, gradually enveloping his body and dissolving and digesting his flesh and bones.

At that moment, he finally realized:
This wasn't a "cave" at all, but the mouth of a gigantic monster! It was a carefully laid trap!
The rock wall shook violently, and countless cracks appeared on it. A long, worm-like monster emerged from the rock, revealing its twisted and ferocious shape.

Encased in digestive fluids, Luan Shi Fusheng finally gleaned information about the monster.

【Lava Giant Worm】

Challenge Level: ? ? ?
"Bosses are everywhere, and monsters are worse than dogs—what kind of hellhole is this?!"

Before completely losing consciousness, Luan Shi Fusheng let out an exceptionally mournful wail in his heart.

"Sure enough, the statistics department has news: the [Mortal] guild has been completely wiped out."

"How much time has passed?"

"Damn, I thought he was really something, he seemed so confident, but I didn't expect him to go offline so quickly."

"This place is really eerie."

"That's because they're too bad, let's go!"

Players discussed the matter animatedly, all showing surprise. However, some still couldn't resist the temptation of the rewards and chose to take the risk, venturing into the forbidden zone of the apocalypse to explore.

Soon, they witnessed the terror of this "Doomsday Forbidden Zone".

The lava river alone caused hundreds of casualties. Players who wanted to fly or teleport directly using magic were mostly interfered with by the magical turbulence, screaming as they fell into the scalding lava and turned into charred remains.

Even after crossing the lava river, the extreme heat and the ash filling the air were enough to kill people. Many unprepared players died from the heat or choked to death in the thick smoke after only a few steps.

As you venture deeper, this cursed land becomes fraught with danger. The terrifying monsters that are usually only found deep within lava caves are now everywhere in this forbidden zone, ready to pounce out of the smoke at any moment and tear the player to shreds.

"Dog Plan!"

"You're treating a fire elemental giant like a goblin, aren't you?"

"I can't stand it. I'm covered in debuffs, and there's a boss every three steps. Is there anyone who can even clear this terrible map?"

"I misunderstood Brother Fusheng. It's already quite impressive that he managed to last half an hour in there. I stepped into the lava and burned to death as soon as I got up there." In the following days, players continued to try to form teams and attempt to cross the apocalyptic forbidden zone, but most of them were wiped out within half an hour.

The team that explored the longest was an elite professional squad from the Royal Power Guild, but even they only lasted half a day, advancing more than 20 kilometers before disappearing into the smoke and vanishing without a trace.

However, the players of the Cult of Mechanisms acted unusually, never venturing into the forbidden area. Instead, they continuously purchased death videos of players who died in the forbidden zone, seemingly accumulating experience.

In a corner of the border, Singleo was excitedly scribbling something down in his notebook, saying:

"As expected, this dungeon is very difficult. Rushing in will only lead to certain death. Even if you are well prepared, it is still a matter of life and death, and danger lurks everywhere."

Mantou said speechlessly, "No wonder he's Erezea's number one masochist. Seeing such an insane dungeon, he's not scared at all, but excited instead? You bastard, you idiot."

Singo ignored Mantou's complaints, unfolded his densely filled notebook, and spoke at lightning speed:
"The first step is to cross the lava river. From my observation, almost all flight and teleportation spells are affected by the magical turbulence at the boundary and lose their effect. Therefore, we should adopt a simpler method—such as the grappling hook used by Chaotic Life to cross it."

Summer Night Autumn Rain's eyes flickered as she added, "I can sense the presence of that magical turbulence. The magic network here is vastly different from the outside world, as if there's a chasm between them. Therefore, maintaining magic on both sides simultaneously is virtually impossible."

"The magical colossi released from the [Magic Coin] and controlled by magic also lost control after crossing the river of lava."

"Moreover, even inside that doomsday forbidden zone, the magic network is extremely unstable, almost like an ocean in a storm surge, with turbulent waves every moment. If you are not careful, your spells will fail or you may even get hurt."

Sing nodded and continued, "But we need to be careful. There are too many players here, which has attracted a large number of lava fish. These predators could leap out of the lava pool at any time and drag us down, so we need to speed up our progress and prepare cold-resistant elixirs in advance to repel these fire elemental creatures."

Before he finished speaking, a gurgling sound came from the lava river. A strange fish covered in lava flicked its tail, leaped into the air, and swallowed several players hanging in mid-air.

"I rely on!"

"There's something weird here!"

With screams of agony, the lava monster crashed into the lava pool, creating waves and splashing countless lava droplets, which burned the skin of many players.

Steamed Bun shivered and muttered under its breath, "Isn't that sneaky?"

Singo, however, seemed not to notice and continued, "The second key point is to adapt to the environment inside the restricted area. According to the data I have obtained, the temperature inside the restricted area is extremely high, filled with toxic gases, and the visibility is extremely low. It is similar to a combination of the fire elemental plane and Avernus."

Although our dragonification level is high, we still need to take certain precautions. [Tolerate Elemental Damage], [Air Filter Bubble], and [Penetrating Smoke Screen] are all essential spells.

The born warrior stroked his bald head, which was covered in patina, and said with a smile, "I've been in Afonas for a long time and I have a few sets of regional iron equipment. Wearing them will protect me from the effects of this kind of environment."

Singo nodded slightly: "Very good, the third point is the monsters in the post-apocalyptic forbidden zone."

"The monsters here have an extremely high average level and a huge number of them. It must be that Kazul's awakening changed the environment, causing spatial rifts to appear here and attracting a large number of native monsters from the fire elemental plane."

"To put it dramatically, even a random dog could be level ten or higher. You have to be constantly vigilant, or you could easily be caught off guard and suffer a setback."

After a thorough analysis, Single crossed his arms, rested his chin on them, and concluded in a deep voice: "Therefore, the most sought-after characters for this mission are those who do not rely on any equipment or spells, have an extremely high degree of dragonification, and can crush the numerical monsters with pure physical strength!"

"Isn't that it?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their heads and looked towards the direction of the [Mechanical God Cult]'s position. There, a group of Vigitas Dragonscale cultivators were eager to try and were ready to go.

They were clad in crimson power armor, with the emblem of the Burning Empire on their chests, wielding power axes and chainsaw swords, and carrying a variety of complex equipment on their backs; their massive shoulder armor resembled heavy mountain rocks.

Bathed in crimson light, these warriors, three to four meters tall and weighing over half a ton, stood majestically on the banks of the lava river, like rugged giants, exuding an unstoppable aura.

The leader of the Iron Frenzy grinned, raising his chainsaw sword high with a ferocious smile: "Go forth! Flatten this so-called doomsday forbidden zone—for the Emperor!"

"For the Emperor!"

With a fierce and powerful roar, the dragon-scale cultivators leaped into the air. Their modified muscle fibers provided them with strong physical strength, allowing them to jump more than ten meters into the air, causing the entire riverbank to shake and sending stones flying.

Upon reaching the highest point, they deftly drew their grappling hooks, aimed at the rocks on the opposite bank, and pulled the triggers. The crosshatches, dragging the ropes, suddenly flew out and embedded themselves deep into the rock. Immediately afterward, the ropes rapidly contracted, and the dragon-scale cultivators used this force to easily land on the other side.

Several dragon-scale cultivators landed one after another, causing the rocks to tremble and dust to rise.

The second wave of dragon-scale cultivators also leaped high into the air, jumping more than ten meters into the air. But just then, bubbles began to rise from the surface of the lava river, and a huge whirlpool appeared.

"Wow!"

With a loud bang, a lava fish monster nearly seven meters long leaped out of the lava river, opened its blood-red maw, and pounced on the dragon-scaled cultivator in mid-air.

"What a huge monster!"

"It's over, it seems the Mechanicus Cult is going to suffer casualties too!"

On the banks of the lava river, the crowd suddenly erupted in a commotion, filled with shouts of alarm.

But the dragon-scale cultivator showed no fear. He drew his power sword and raised it above his head. Then, he turned his body in mid-air, rolled over, and flipped himself upside down, aiming the sharp blade directly at the lava monster's head.

While suspended upside down in mid-air, the dragon-scale cultivator used his other hand to pull out a grappling hook gun, aimed at the rocks on the opposite bank, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

The crosshook suddenly flew out and shot into the opposite rock. The specially made steel cable rapidly contracted, dragging the dragon-scale cultivator through the air at high speed.

Using the rope's momentum, he swung his power sword, unleashing a destructive energy field that easily tore apart the lava fish monster's rock-hard head and flesh, severing its head at the jawline.

The next moment, the dragon-scale cultivator had already landed on the opposite bank, kicking up a cloud of pebbles and dust, but he himself was unharmed. The lava monster fish, on the other hand, fell from mid-air, splashing up a large amount of lava, and soon floated to the surface of the river, already dead.

After this colossal creature died, numerous monsters from the lava—lava fish, lava piranhas, flame lizards, and fire elemental predators—gathered and devoured the monster that contained immense energy.

The steamed buns on the shore stared in disbelief, unable to help but exclaim, "What a macho man!" (End of Chapter)