779 Punishmen

"Is it finally time for the Great Simba to make his appearance?" Simba couldn't wait any longer and came out from Wang Zhong's Soul Sea with a cheer.

Once the clown mask was on, Wang Zhong felt a familiar feeling wash over him, and he could see a pattern out of the violent streams of air.

At this moment, the enemy was ready to attack. A fiery red pillar of lava shot out of the Lava Monster Leader's mouth, just like an aggressive fiery dragon. It headed for Wang Zhong and Salamander, intending to devour them directly.

Wang Zhong, who couldn't even keep his footing previously, suddenly became very agile. He darted left and right swiftly like a fish in water, avoiding the pillar of lava. Close behind him, Salamander was following in his footsteps. He had access to Wang Zhong's perception of the air streams and air pressure. They had a telepathic connection and evaded the attacks with precision.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Lava Monster Leader didn't notice their actions and thought that its attack hit them. However, in the blink of an eye, that annoying flaming chain appeared again on its left, strangling its neck once more.

Frankly speaking, the flaming chain's strangling wasn't lethal, but the Lava Monster Leader was in the midst of expelling power out continuously from its mouth. Being strangled caused the power it was about to expel to be suppressed inside its body, just like a high-speed train suddenly hitting the brakes. It would be weird if the Lava Monster had no reaction to this.

The Lava Monster Leader felt intense pain coming from every inch of its body, caused by the destructive power that its body was forced to contain. It felt extremely uncomfortable, reaching for that damned chain furiously. However, a low hum came from its right.

Subwoofer Cannon!

Boom!

A sound-attack blast came from the right, smashing the Lava Monster Leader's head. It was already uncomfortable, and this powerful blow caused the Lava Monster Leader to have a splitting headache. In the midst of its stumbling, dizzy state, two figures that mirrored each other perfectly approached the Lava Monster Leader at high speed.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Since the Lava Monster Leader was in a very uncomfortable state, its defense was weak. These consecutive heavy attacks would normally deal no damage to it. However, now, it felt restricted and edgy and almost fell to the ground.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!" Its uncontrollable anger made it stronger instead, and the destructive power that was suppressed in its body broke through the chains at once.

Crack crack crack crack…

This time, the flaming chain was snapped by its swollen neck. Immediately after, a devastating force that could destroy the heavens and earth rushed out!

Other than the energy that rushed out from its body, it seemed that the whole space was affected too as countless terrifying lava dragons rose from the lava river nearby as if summoned. They attacked wildly in all directions, forming numerous streams of hot air.

This was a roaring magma hell!

Roars of the fiery dragons could be heard across the entire space instantly. Roars and whooshing sounds could be heard as the attacks were like indestructible cannons on a rampage.

The attacks were too concentrated and fast, much faster than the speed Wang Zhong and Salamander moved at!

Wang Zhong fared a little better in this situation since his control of his body and skills were close to perfect. With Simba to help him detect the air currents, Wang Zhong darted left and right in this space filled with fiery dragons without getting hit directly by them. However, Salamander was suffering. From the time Wang Zhong condensed his Dharma Idol until now, Salamander participated in merely two real-life battles. He was struck immediately by the fiery dragons.

Those fiery dragons were not made up of pure lava. Although the high temperature didn't really affect Wang Zhong and Salamander much, the fiery dragons contained the Peak Heroic Soul Stage energy of the Lava Monster Leader, and that was lethal. Even the weakest attack of up to 8,000 or 9,000 Grassos of Soul Power was enough to blow Salamander to smithereens. In merely 10 seconds, Salamander had already been attacked dozens of times. Wang Zhong had to replenish Salamander's Soul Power continuously to help him survive the attacks.

The weird thing was that Wang Zhong felt Salamander becoming more and more flexible, as if it was awakening bit by bit. Wang Zhong never believed that the Grassos of Soul Power he had was equivalent to his real combat power.

Learning is a never-ending process. If this could help to increase his Dharma Idol's combat power, Wang Zhong would be very happy to continue fighting with the Lava Monster Leader. As time passed, the two figures started to weave through the fiery dragon attacks with ease, and it got harder and harder to hit them with an attack. The Lava Monster Leader grew even more furious. These two insects were so annoying!

Their level of power was so low, yet they came up with so many tactics to dodge its attacks. As a primitive creature, the Lava Monster Leader's boorish nature was triggered.

Its whole body twitched suddenly as a flaming mark on its Fire Quartz head emitted a dazzling red light. It was as if all of the Fire Quartz's power was concentrated into that mark, making the rest of its head look dull.

As the mark turned into a darker shade of red, the fire element in the surroundings became more active and intense. This dude hadn't reached its limit yet! It was preparing for another terrifying attack!

In the blink of an eye, all the lava rivers within a thousand kilometers had sensed its power and calling, boiling vigorously in response. Countless light atoms converged in the lava rivers onto numerous ordinary stones. Those stones changed color rapidly, turning into a pale yellow color from its original burnt-black, then eventually turning red.

Those were Fire Quartz! Countless Fire Quartz suddenly appeared!

Those light atoms were the energy essence of the lava rivers. Originally, an extremely long time was needed for those normal rocks to slowly absorb them and turn into Fire Quartz, but the Lava Monster Leader's power caused this process to accelerate.

The sizes of those Fire Quartzes might not be big, but they formed very quickly. They rose from the lava river as if summoned by the Lava Monster Leader, absorbing the lava around them and forming rapidly.

Lava Monsters!

Or rather, they should be called Fire Quartz creatures or mutated Lava Monsters. Unlike the Lava Monsters which were sturdily built, these mutated Lava Monsters had a Fire Quartz as their core and lava as their body. Their appearance was very similar to that of the Lava Monster Leader, just that the size of their body was smaller. Many parts of their bodies were encrusted with shiny Fire Quartz. Although they had a small body, their combat power was shockingly high, and what was scarier was their sheer number. There were hundreds or thousands of them!

Their tiny figure of about 1.5 meters also meant that they moved at a faster speed than the Lava Monster Leader, and they could fully form in half a second. The mutated Lava Monsters that were closer to Wang Zhong rushed toward him frantically.

Wang Zhong was still dodging the remaining fiery dragons while being sneak attacked by those little things. Even if he had fast reflexes and blasted away one with a punch, another would still manage to hang on to his trouser leg even if he used the Ghostly Steps; it could only make him break out in a cold sweat.

Their attack wasn't a weak one. However, although this did not pose a huge threat to Wang Zhong at the moment, he could see more and more mutated Lava Monsters everywhere when he looked a bit further. The entire landscape was filled with light trails that the mini Lava Monsters left behind, and they were heading toward him in a frenzied manner. There were hundreds or thousands of them at the least. If Wang Zhong was really trapped by them, he would be dead given his current level of power or even if his power increased drastically.

At the same time, Wang Zhong could sense that the Lava Monster Leader was preparing for a terrifying final attack. The mutated Lava Monsters were merely a means to delay or limit the movements of Wang Zhong and Salamander. At this point in time, fire elemental energy was still congregating in its flaming mark steadily. It felt as if the Lava Monster Leader had already reached the limit of the Peak Heroic Soul Stage, but its power was still surging!

There was a seemingly endless amount of fire elemental aura converging in mid-air, forming gigantic fiery clouds that were visible to the naked eye. If the Lava Monster Leader launched this attack, it would be apocalyptic!

Was this his limit? Wang Zhong was a little hesitant. Frankly speaking, the only solution was to activate his dominant Dharma Idol to defeat the Lava Monster Leader, but then this wouldn't be an effective training for Salamander and him.

However, if he took the risk and tried to defeat the enemies by himself, activating his dominant Dharma Idol might not work anymore when these monsters trapped him. He wouldn't be able to fight against so many mini Lava Monsters.

While Wang Zhong was hesitating, the six people outside were like cats on hot bricks.

Ever since Wang Zhong went over to the battlefield, the rest of the Wanderlust Team could only hear all sorts of earth-shattering noises coming from the Ward, such as the roars of the fiery dragons. Although they couldn't see what was going on exactly, they could somewhat sense the apocalyptic scene happening inside with roaring dragons and violent tremors under their feet.

It was a little hard for everyone to imagine the level of combat and firepower in this situation. This sight made Oscar's skin crawl even though he had been through many battles and experienced many dangerous secret realms. Being outnumbered drastically by your enemies was the worst thing that could happen in a secret realm. If you weren't careful enough, your whole team could go down. This battle probably required the top 20 exploration teams to form an elite team in order to defeat the enemy. However, if there was more movement coming from the battlefield, it meant that Wang Zhong was still fighting, and that was good news.

Everyone was waiting anxiously. Even Grai, who had the most confidence in Wang Zhong, kept glancing in the direction of the battlefield, evidently worried about him. He wondered what the situation was like now. They had barely felt the roaring fiery dragons quieten down before something made their hair stand on end the next moment.

The Lava Monster Leader's power and calling didn't travel merely through air, but it also reached the deep underground lava rivers. This meant that a colossal number of mutated Lava Monsters were forming rapidly in lava rivers everywhere… Although they were smaller in size and seemingly weaker compared to the Lava Monsters they dealt with, the sheer number of enemies made the rest of the team's scalps go numb.

Oscar immediately organized everyone into a defensive formation. Sharmie didn't even need to position her Dharma Idol. There were too many enemies and targets. She didn't even need to lock on to a target since her rune cannon would be able to strike a bunch of enemies randomly even if she fired blindly. Mario and Mo Ling were at the front line of the defensive formation, using their dark shield and King of Beasts Dharma Idols as a shield for the team. Oscar, Grai, Napier, and the vampire Dharma Idol guarded the sides of their defensive fortress. Everyone opened fire like mad. Although their defensive fortress seemed indestructible, the immense number of enemies that rushed over made it seem like it was going to get drowned.

Luckily, when the path of the two parties intersected, these mini Lava Monsters didn't have any intention of attacking the team and just headed straight for Wang Zhong.

Everyone felt their hair stand on end. What exactly was Wang Zhong doing in there???

"Team captain, let's just go for it!" Napier was agitated. Even if he wasn't the closest to Wang Zhong, he was the most grateful to him since Wang Zhong helped him to find himself again, pointing him in the right direction in the Holy Land. He was enlightened and was no longer afraid of death.

Everyone looked at Oscar. Even Grai wasn't so sure now. With the scary Lava Monster Leader and a colossal number of mini Lava Monsters, how could Wang Zhong take them on all by himself? Previously, they didn't join the fight since they wouldn't be of much use. The Lava Monster Leader wasn't an opponent they could take on. Their attacks would be futile, and they might be a burden to Wang Zhong instead. However, they had a chance against these mini Lava Monsters; at the least, they could help Wang Zhong in this area.

Oscar clenched his fists tightly. Frankly speaking, intervening was not a rational idea at all. Wang Zhong had saved his life before. Rationally speaking, they shouldn't intervene when he knew that they couldn't be of any help in the situation. However, now that they had the chance to help him, Oscar would feel guilty if he just stood by and did nothing.

All of them might perish if they entered the battlefield, but perhaps, this was the time for him to repay Wang Zhong for saving his life.

One couldn't possibly make rational decisions throughout one's whole life, at least that was the case for Oscar. This was his biggest flaw, one that he couldn't change. Otherwise, with the Wanderlust Team's level of power, they wouldn't be so pathetic.

"If someone is still rational and wants to back out, crush the Pioneering Order and leave immediately. Everyone else—"

Oscar had a very serious expression on his face. But before he could finish his words, the noises from the other side of the Ward suddenly came to a stop. There was total silence.

There were no more ground tremors or dragon roars. The terrifying red clouds and the mid-air concentrated fire-elemental energy disappeared instantly. Even the chattering sounds made by the mini Lava Monsters had stopped. The only thing they could hear now was the furious roars of the raging Lava Monster Leader.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The Lava Monster Leader was enraged to the maximum. It only needed another one or two seconds before its strongest forbidden power attack, the 'Nine Paths of Incineration,' would be completed. This attack would be more than enough to burn these two annoying insects to ash! They had nowhere to hide!

Suddenly, it saw a black and white glow come from that most-annoying human. It was as if a huge chessboard filled this space, and immediately after, it lost almost all its power.

The fire elemental power that it had almost finished gathering suddenly vanished, with only a little bit left. The formerly abundant energy in its body was also depleted to an unbelievable extent at that instant.

This feeling… It felt like someone had walked into the room when you were climaxing and shouted, "Hey! Your mum is asking for you!"

The Lava Monster Leader couldn't believe what was happening.