Shortly before Kyrian left the small cave where he had remained hidden for the past five days, the four leaders and the enormous group of cultivators finally arrived at the region where the Five-Horned Lava Lizard had last been seen.
The young man guiding the way slowly stopped.
His face paled slightly as he observed the dark mountains around them.
The landscape was different from the rest of the Interdiate Area, more desolate, more destroyed. As if sothing of imnse power had passed through recently.
"It was here..." he said quietly, pointing toward a specific area between the rocky formations.
"This is where we last encountered the lizard."
He swallowed hard, his eyes scanning the terrain as if expecting the beast to erge from underground once again.
"Honestly... I still don’t know how we managed to escape alive."
The groups imdiately slowed down.
Several cultivators nervously looked around, their hands tightening around the hilts of their weapons. The fear left behind by their desperate escape was still fresh in their mories.
Even without being able to see clearly through the thick currents of volcanic smoke and the ash covering the sky, everyone could feel that this region was different from the rest of the Great Volcano.
Colder.
Much colder.
Not completely frozen, obviously. It was still hot enough to kill ordinary cultivators within minutes.
The air still trembled with heat, the rocks still radiated temperature. But compared to the rest of the Interdiate Area, that region felt almost pleasant.
That made no sense.
The Great Volcano was a living hell. The heat constantly increased the closer one moved toward its summit.
The layers of ash grew thicker, the rivers of lava more frequent, and the very air heavier.
But there...
The heat had diminished.
The four leaders imdiately frowned. As cultivators of the Spiritual Awakening Realm, they possessed spiritual sensitivity far beyond the others. Even before getting close enough to see the details, their senses had already spread through the region like invisible waves.
What they found caused their expressions to change.
The mont they ca close enough to observe the terrain with their own eyes, what they saw was astonishing.
The destruction was absurd.
Mountains were partially destroyed, so had lost entire peaks, others were cracked from base to summit, as if a colossal force had split them apart.
There were deep ravines across the mountains, as though a massive wave had swept everything away in its path.
The fire Qi in the region was completely chaotic, as though it had been violently stirred only days earlier, twisted, compressed, and exploded.
But that was not the strangest part.
Mixed with the fire...
There was ice.
Not much, most of it had already lted, transford into vapor by the volcano’s relentless heat. But extrely faint remnants still remained in places where the impact had been strongest.
The four leaders clearly sensed the ice Qi spread through the air, embedded within the rocks and the shattered ground. A cold, strange energy that did not belong in that place.
As though a terrifying ice technique had exploded there recently.
That was exactly why the region was colder.
"A battle took place here..." one of the leaders said slowly while observing the destroyed terrain. His voice was deep, carrying sothing close to admiration.
"And an extrely violent battle."
Another leader narrowed his eyes, his spiritual senses extending even farther in an attempt to grasp any remnant of what had happened.
"Soone fought against the Five-Horned Lava Lizard?"
No one answered imdiately.
The leaders’ expressions beca increasingly serious. They exchanged glances with one another, silently communicating through spiritual transmission.
Even they, cultivators of the Spiritual Awakening Realm, far above everyone else present, were surprised by the amount of destruction around them. The marks left behind by the battle indicated a clash between two imnse forces.
Then, suddenly, the oldest leader among the four stopped walking.
His eyes narrowed. His head turned slightly to one side, as though trying to see sothing the others could not.
"Hm?"
The other three imdiately looked at him.
"What is it?" one of them asked.
The old man remained silent for a few seconds before slowly turning his head toward a specific direction of the mountain. His ancient yet sharp eyes seed to pierce through the layers of smoke and ash.
"There’s sothing there."
His voice beca more serious, more cautious.
"Follow ."
Without waiting for a response, he began walking slowly in that direction. His steps were firm, asured, but fast.
The other leaders imdiately followed him.
Naturally, the groups followed behind as well.
...
After about ten minutes walking through the destroyed volcanic mountains, climbing and descending uneven slopes, and circling open craters, they finally arrived at the location.
The four leaders were the first to notice what was there.
And their expressions changed again.
"This..." one of the leaders murmured, his voice filled with doubt and surprise.
"...Is that a paw?"
On the ground, partially buried beneath volcanic stones and thick ash that had fallen during the past few days, there was a gigantic, partially frozen paw.
Even separated from the rest of the body, it was still enormous. And its claws still faintly glowed with residual heat.
The black claws resembled curved blades made of polished obsidian, so sharp they reflected the volcano’s red light.
Reddish scales covered parts of the destroyed flesh, still emitting faint residual heat. Even dead, even severed, the paw still seed alive in so way.
The re presence of that paw made several disciples shiver. The primitive instinct of recognizing a superior predator manifested within their bodies.
"Yes..." another leader said slowly, kneeling to examine the limb more closely.
"Just from the size and the residual pressure still emanating from it... it definitely does not belong to an ordinary beast. Rather, a beast with draconic bloodlines."
The third leader slowly approached the paw while analyzing the cuts and cracks spread across the surface of the remaining ice. His fingers touched one of the fissures.
"This is probably one of the Five-Horned Lava Lizard’s front paws."
His eyes narrowed.
"And it was torn off by force."
Silence.
The cultivators were stunned. Murmurs spread among them like wind.
Soone had mutilated that monstrous beast? Soone who was not one of the four leaders of the region?
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