The branch on the left suddenly swung down, while the branch on the right couldn’t catch it in ti, and the warrior was smashed straight into the crimson lava!
"Ah..."
Temude watched the warrior’s arm slowly sink and was speechless for a mont.
The branch on the left waved triumphantly like a victor, while the branch on the right hung despondently, both sinking back into the lava together.
Everyone snapped back to reality, looked at each other, and read the confusion in each other’s eyes.
Finally, soone spoke first, with a tone full of existential doubt:
"What the hell is this...?"
Tree branches batting adventurers around like badminton in the lava — they really hadn’t encountered anything like this in the Warrior Country.
It felt a bit, a bit inexplicably surreal.
"These branches must be intelligent!" Temude imdiately concluded, because how else could they exhibit such human-like behavior?
The warrior chid in, "Maybe it’s the Izalith Witch controlling these branches — that’s truly sinister, damn it!"
"Speaking of which, the last bonfire we encountered seed to be near so giant monster, so does that an the deceased can quickly rejoin us?"
The warriors looked behind them, as they were still at the starting point, so the bonfire was only a few hundred steps away.
However, the bonfire was empty, and the warrior who had been thrown into the lava earlier hadn’t resurrected there.
"No way?"
A bold idea just popped into their heads, and suddenly a hand erged from the spot where the warrior sank earlier!
"It’s haunted!"
"Quit joking around, will you?"
"He’s alive?"
In the next mont, that warrior stood up from the lava, with crimson lava seeping out from the gaps in his armor, and his entire body was covered in red, adding an air of strength to him despite the appearance.
But soon he raised his hands high and fled, looking sowhat delirious from the burning.
"Not dead?"
Everyone was stunned.
Among the people present, only Temude and another warrior holding the Royal Artifact had the ability to bathe in lava; anyone else would shed a layer of skin if they didn’t die, and staying in there for a few minutes would lead to certain death.
Clearly, that warrior wasn’t among them, so how did he survive?
Seeing this, Temude rely pondered for a mont, then leaped into the lava, being engulfed by a wave.
"Temude!?"
"I’m fine."
Temude resurfaced after just a few seconds, his skin red and steaming, but seemingly unhard otherwise.
"As I expected, this lava is different from what we’re accustod to, the temperature is probably even lower than half of real lava."
"Brief contact poses no problem."
Aside from their naturally strong physiques and the high fla resistance provided by their Dragon Blood, the entire set of Red Lion Armor they wore automatically ford a transparent Magic Shield, creating a space within that was isolated from the outside. Sustaining for a minute or two in this lava posed no issue.
If they wanted to remain unhard... within five minutes, they definitely wouldn’t suffer heat injuries, and Temude and another could extend that to over ten minutes.
Upon hearing this, the warriors visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"So it’s not real lava, then what are we waiting for?"
The warriors exchanged glances and imdiately understood each other’s intentions.
In the next second, fourteen burly n collectively leaped into the lava, grabbing the branches that had tornted them so cruelly, and began chopping away.
"Take that for ssing with us!" "Feel the pain of severance!" "Break for !"
"Ow, ow, it’s still hot!" "I’m getting out!"
These berserkers first chopped off the branches in revenge, then hurriedly rushed to the nearest open space to climb up, their skin was so red they resembled Red Elves.
"Everyone, charge forward with !"
"Yellahoo!"
After resting for just a few minutes, Temude raised his arm in a call to charge, and the warriors followed him in a renewed advance toward the spire clusters afar.
They would step on branches if there were any, but if the branches beneath dared attack them, they’d slash them without rcy, leaving no room for anything that tried to oppose them. Charging through lava wasn’t a concern!
Temude’s current action can be sumd up as "run, run, run" and "chop, chop, chop."
Whether this approach is efficient remains to be seen.
But it’s certainly enjoyable — revenging right then and there — can anything be more refreshing?
However...
"Be careful, there’s a pit ahead, avoid falling."
"There’s a pit here too!"
"Damn trap!"
Inside the lava wasn’t flat ground.
But rather a place with hidden dangers and pits.
The warriors ran and soone inexplicably fell straight down into the earth’s depths. When they opened their eyes again, they were back at the starting point, forcing them to curse and chase after the team.
The frustrating part was that they hadn’t found any bonfire in the Chaos Ruins within Izalith either.
The closest bonfire was in the ever-decaying creature’s boss area, and running back from that bonfire to catch up with teammates... wasn’t especially far, but it sure was tedious.
If they wanted to avoid the pits, they could choose to walk on the branches, but a fight would inevitably ensue once the branches moved.
The result was that both walking on branches and traversing lava were equally frustrating.
In the end, Temude and his companions devised a brand new strategy.
"Ah—"
A warrior standing on a platform emitted a shout like a dying swan, instantly unleashing purple Gravity Magic, pulling a companion running on the vibrating branch from afar toward him.
Once they converged, they continued running forward, while others awaited them using [Summoning Star] to lead them ahead.
The ones leading utilized Combat Skills to summon stars to assist those behind, and this rough but effective strategy was imdiately put to use.
Suddenly their map navigation seed much more fluid.
Only compared to before did it beco smoother...
The exploration challenges in Chaos Ruins within Izalith had been summarized by Temude.
The environnt full of lava challenged personal heat resistance, and it was almost impossible to avoid contacting the lava completely, imdiately disqualifying those adventurers with weaker constitutions.
Branches that operated intelligently and lurked in the lava awaiting action weren’t to be underestimated. Small branches were swift and sneaky, while large ones were more powerful and hit harder; when the two combined in a mixed lee, not even Temude could withstand the attack.
The jagged terrain under the lava full of cracks and holes could easily throw one out of this world for a restart.
Long-distance runs repeatedly compelled the warriors to sing out loud.
The map seed quite grand, but its exploration experience was worse than swallowing the entire Fran Fort.
"We’re almost there, give it a little more effort."
Everyone was almost at the forefront of the building group when the lava receded, revealing rotting giant dragons blocking their path.
"Just so rotten dragons — their weakened bodies are nothing to fear!"
Temude grabbed the Shattered Star Greatsword and swung it down, feeling sheer satisfaction as the rot dragon’s at was oddly pleasant to chop.
But in the blink of an eye, the huge rot dragon suddenly vanished before their eyes.
Feeling sothing, Temude glanced up only to see the rot dragon leaping and rapidly descending from over a hundred ters high.
Wait a minute, your flesh is rotting yet you can jump that high?
This... this is just too magical!
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