Chapter 146: The Mighty Flame Creature

Chapter 146: The Mighty Flame Creature

Ahead, in an area where the temperature was rising, was a Gobi Desert in the Sulfur River region, with sparse vegetation and exposed sandstone everywhere.

This Gobi Desert wasn't large, with a diameter of less than two kilometers, and in its center stood a sandstone hill.

Lu Heng and his group were about to enter the central area of the desert.

Suddenly, Su Muyu pointed ahead and said in a hurried tone, "Signal flare! Someone's firing a signal flare over there."

Due to the mist, visibility during the day was less than ten meters, and the mist could reach up to three hundred meters thick.

As a result, metahumans without perception skills couldn't see the signal flares in the mist.

Looking up at the sky, even tree branches ten meters high were invisible.

Therefore, only seers could see the signal flares.

Su Muyu had been keeping the scout eagle outside the mist for reconnaissance, so it was the first to spot the signal flare.

In this misty valley, apart from Jian Qing's team, there couldn't be any other metahumans.

Therefore, the signal flare must have been a distress signal from Jian Qing's team.

According to the initial agreement, the number of signal flares fired represented the level of danger.

"Let's go! How many flares did they fire?" Lu Heng immediately led the team towards the direction of the signal flare.

"One, I only saw one."

Su Muyu responded while controlling the scout eagle to fly ahead and scout the situation.

Since the signal flare wasn't far away, the scout eagle could reach the location in just over ten seconds after using its acceleration skill.

After understanding the situation, Su Muyu reported while following the team to provide support: "Jian Qing's team encountered a very large flame creature. This creature is about ten meters tall, and its entire body is engulfed in flames. The flames it spews out explode, scattering sparks everywhere."

Lu Heng's mind raced with possibilities as he listened to the description. He rushed ahead and reached the sandstone hill, only to find Jian Qing's team engaged in a battle with a flame creature, slowly retreating.

This flame creature was none other than a Fire Demon.

Just as Su Muyu had described, this Fire Demon stood at a towering ten meters tall, its body engulfed in raging flames. With a wave of its hand, it hurled a fireball that smashed into the ground, exploding into countless fiery fragments.

Some members of Jian Qing's team had already suffered burns, and the team was protecting the injured as they retreated.

Judging by its size and the intensity of its flames, this Fire Demon was over level 28.

A Fire Demon of such a high level radiated heat of several thousand degrees, making it impossible for organic beings to get within three meters of it.

Anyone who stayed within three meters of it for three seconds would suffer severe burns.

Moreover, the fireballs the Fire Demon launched were as powerful as high-explosive incendiary bombs, causing severe burns on contact.

Encountering such a terrifying abyssal creature just six months after the Abyssal Descent could lead to a total party wipeout.

Jian Qing had been manipulating strong winds to deflect the fireball attacks.

Each fireball the Fire Demon launched was blown off course by the tornado, preventing the team from being directly hit.

Otherwise, a direct hit from a fireball would have killed at least half the team.

Lu Heng rushed forward and unleashed a Thunder Jail, trapping the Fire Demon.

However, the Fire Demon, being a fire attribute creature, had high resistance to lightning, and the thunderous strikes couldn't inflict significant damage, only temporarily immobilizing it.

Chen Zihan, Wu Weibing, and the others immediately stepped forward to help evacuate the injured members of Jian Qing's team.

With the reinforcements, Jian Qing's pressure significantly reduced.

"What's going on?" Lu Heng asked hurriedly.

"We encountered it while scouting the sandstone hill ahead. One of our members was injured immediately, and our vehicle was destroyed by a fireball. We had to fire a signal flare for help," Jian Qing quickly explained the situation.

"Is there a rift point in the sandstone hill?" Lu Heng asked anxiously.

"I don't know yet. We didn't have time to investigate before we were attacked by this thing," Jian Qing replied, thinking of a plan as she spoke.

With injured members in her team, the most reasonable decision was to immediately evacuate the desert and treat the wounded.

They could consider their next move after a rest.

"Let's retreat for now. We'll deal with this creature after we've rested," Jian Qing suggested.

"Did you only encounter this Fire Demon after coming here?" Lu Heng asked urgently.

"Yes, we haven't found any other abyssal creatures," Jian Qing nodded.

"Then we must deal with this creature quickly and destroy the rift point, or other abyssal creatures will gather here."

Abyssal creatures weren't mindless beasts; when humans attempted to destroy a rift point, the abyssal creatures in the mist would immediately converge to guard it.

Along their journey, they had encountered several types of abyssal creatures.

Without going into details, if a few more abyssal aliens joined this Fire Demon, the combined forces of both teams wouldn't be enough to handle them, especially with injured members in Jian Qing's team.

Without this information, the best strategy would indeed be to evacuate the desert, rest, and then carefully plan their next move.

However, the longer they waited, the more abyssal creatures would gather.

So, to deal with the Fire Demon before them, they had to act now, or they would miss their chance.

After listening to Lu Heng's explanation, Jian Qing pondered for a moment and chose to believe him.

She turned back and saw that the injured members of the team had been evacuated to a safe distance, so she asked, "What do you plan to do now?"

While they were discussing, the Flame Demon had already broken free from the lightning cage and launched an attack on Lu Heng, who was closest to it.

Due to the raging flames engulfing the Flame Demon, the mist around it was significantly thinner, allowing visibility of over twenty meters.

Lu Heng spotted the fireball launched by the Flame Demon and immediately dodged to the left while quickly devising a countermeasure.

On their way, the team had passed by a pond, which was the upstream source of the stream.

The most direct and effective strategy against flames was water.

Lu Heng pointed behind him and said, "There's a pond over there. Let's lure the Flame Demon towards it."

Jian Qing immediately understood his intention.

Their team had also passed by that pond earlier.

After entering the mist, the two teams split up to investigate.

The dividing line was the stream running through the middle of the valley.

The source of the stream was this pond, marked as the Azure Dragon Pond on the map.

Following the stream upstream led directly to the Azure Dragon Pond, where it ended.

Therefore, beyond the pond to the north, in the Gobi Desert area, there was no stream, marking the endpoint of the two teams' exploration.

After Lu Heng's squad's tracked vehicle encountered the Fungus Carpet and broke down, they had to travel on foot for the next few days, which slowed them down.

Jian Qing's team, on the other hand, drove their vehicle all the way to the Gobi Desert, arriving first and encountering the Flame Demon's attack.

Now, with Lu Heng's suggestion to lure the Flame Demon to the Azure Dragon Pond, Jian Qing agreed and summoned a gale, rushing towards the pond.

After chasing for a kilometer without catching up, the Flame Demon prepared to give up the pursuit.

Jian Qing turned back, raised her assault rifle, and fired a burst of bullets at it.

The Flame Demon became enraged again and continued the pursuit, chasing them all the way to the Azure Dragon Pond.

True to its name, the pond's water was azure and bottomless.

Although they had lured the Flame Demon to the pond, it was unlikely to voluntarily dive into the water.

For others, this might have been impossible, but for Jian Qing, who could control the wind, it was a simple matter.

Lu Heng made this decision precisely because he was aware of Jian Qing's abilities.

Without needing a reminder, Jian Qing rushed towards the Azure Dragon Pond, leaped into the air, and dove directly into the pond.

Instead of sinking, she hovered above the water's surface, manipulating the wind.

She let out a mighty roar, and her source energy surged, forming a tornado around her.

The tornado gathered the pond water, creating a massive three-meter-wide column that soared into the sky, resembling a water dragon.

The water dragon rose to a height of thirty meters before turning downward and rushing towards the Flame Demon.

Splash! Hiss...

The water dragon collided with the Flame Demon, extinguishing its flames with a hissing sound.

Half of the flames on the Flame Demon's body were extinguished, revealing a charred, coal-like entity.

However, after the water dragon dissipated, the extinguished flames on the Flame Demon's body slowly reignited.

Jian Qing continued to increase her source energy output, summoning an even larger water dragon to continue the attack.

After three water dragons, most of the flames on the Flame Demon's body were extinguished, transforming it into a massive dark red monster.

Members of both squads arrived, and Wu Weibing dismounted from the mechanical tiger and set up the machine gun on the ground, firing rapidly.

The dense bullets struck the Flame Demon's dark red body, shattering it into pieces like coal, leaving fist-sized craters on its surface.

The 20mm machine gun, when fired at the Flame Demon's shell, only created fist-sized craters.

The Flame Demon's body was as tough as steel.

Although the 20mm bullets seemed small, only as wide as a thumb, the machine gun's power was immense.

If a human were to be hit by a 20mm bullet, their body would be instantly shredded into bloody fragments by the kinetic energy, leaving no chance for recovery.

Such intense gunfire only created fist-sized craters on the Flame Demon's body.

For a ten-meter-tall Flame Demon, these fist-sized craters were like mere tickles.

...

Jian Qing continued to control the water dragon to attack the Flame Demon, preventing its flames from regenerating.

After the flames were extinguished, the heat emanating from the Flame Demon's body rapidly decreased.

When the flames were raging, approaching within three meters of the Flame Demon would subject one to scorching temperatures of several thousand degrees.

Consequently, close-range metahumans had no means to deal with the Flame Demon and couldn't even get close.

Now, with the flames extinguished and the temperature lowered, they could finally approach.

Seizing the opportunity, Lu Heng charged forward, leaping high and executing the Mountain-Stabilizing Strike, unleashing the Essence Skill Rift Slash.

A three-meter-long sword beam descended, splitting the Flame Demon's body in half.

The Flame Demon's coal-like body split open from the middle, reaching the chest area, where a burst of intense flames suddenly erupted.

Boom!

A violent explosion rocked the area within a twenty-meter radius.

This was the explosion of the Flame Demon's magma core, a self-destruct skill with terrifying power.

Even if a powerful close-range manipulator were to defeat the Flame Demon, they would still be caught in the blast of this self-destruct skill.

Fortunately, Lu Heng had known about this skill from the start, so when the magma core detonated, he immediately activated Shadow Traverse, disappearing into the shadows and avoiding the explosion.

Boom! The intense blast shook the ground, causing it to tremble as if an earthquake had struck.

Jian Qing was still controlling the Water Dragon, preparing to attack, when she suddenly saw Lu Heng make his move, followed by the Flame Demon's self-destruction. The events unfolded too suddenly.

The explosion engulfed a twenty-meter radius, and the fiery blast consumed everything, even creating a deep pit in the ground.

Lu Heng was also swallowed by the blast.

Jian Qing's expression turned to panic as she witnessed this, and she screamed in a shrill voice, "Lu Heng!"

Not just her, but Su Muyu, Lin Zeyu, Chen Zihan, and the others who had rushed over to provide support were also shocked by the terrifying explosion.

Su Muyu was well aware of Lu Heng's abilities and knew he had a skill to evade explosions, but she still felt concerned. She immediately controlled the Scout Eagle to fly into the aftermath of the explosion to check on Lu Heng's safety.

The next moment, a shadow enveloped in shadow energy emerged from the explosion's aftermath, finally allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the battle was not over.

After the Flame Demon's self-destruction, its body split into three pieces.

Within the fiery explosion, the three pieces of its body reignited, transforming into three Flame Demons.

However, after splitting into three, their size decreased significantly, standing only four meters tall.

Even so, they were still formidable opponents.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Flame Demon; even if one had the ability to defeat it, it would still split into smaller Flame Demons after self-destruction.

Upon seeing the three Flame Demons, Lu Heng, with his experience, could discern that two of them were level 22, while the slightly larger one was level 23.

As this was the first time Jian Qing and Lu Heng had worked together, she was momentarily stunned when she saw Lu Heng emerge from the explosion.

Lu Heng shouted, "Continue! Water Dragon attack!"

Jian Qing snapped back to her senses and hurriedly controlled the tornado to continue attacking the split Flame Demons with the pond water.

With the Flame Demons split into three, two at level 22 and one at level 23, the battle was not as challenging as before.

The two teams joined forces to launch their assault.

After the Water Dragon extinguished the flames, the Flame Demons' fire attacks were significantly weakened.

The Mechanical Tiger dismounted its machine gun and supplies, letting out a metallic roar as it used its B-Class skill, City-Breaking Charge, charging towards one of the Flame Demons.

With the skill's enhancement, the Mechanical Tiger charged in a straight line like a raging iron bull, ramming into the Flame Demon.

Boom! The violent collision shattered the Flame Demon's body.

This level 22 Flame Demon self-destructed again, breaking into three smaller Flame Demons at level 17.

The Mechanical Tiger was also hit by the magma core's explosion, causing its liquid metal shell to deform, and its entire tiger head was blown off.

However, the Mechanical Tiger struggled on the ground for a few moments, and its liquid metal shell visibly reformed, and it continued to pounce on another Flame Demon.

Those who witnessed the Mechanical Tiger's combat for the first time were all astonished by this display.

The Mechanical Tiger's combat power far exceeded their expectations.

Moreover, this reckless fighting style was something humans couldn't imitate.

Even if someone learned the City-Breaking Charge skill, they wouldn't dare to ram their head into a Flame Demon.

Humans couldn't do it, but the Mechanical Tiger could. As long as the mechanical core remained undamaged, the outer liquid metal could be blasted into any shape without consequence.

However, shattering the level 22 Flame Demon was already pushing the limits.

If it were the original level 28 Flame Demon, a fireball would melt the Mechanical Tiger's metal shell into molten iron.

After the Flame Demon split into smaller Flame Demons at level 17, they no longer posed a threat to the two teams' manipulator warriors, who could easily eliminate them with a few skills.

The battle lasted for half an hour until the Flame Demons were shattered into level 1 Flame Spirits and cleaned up, marking the end of the fight.

Every time a Flame Demon was defeated, the participating warriors could absorb Demon Energy.

Lu Heng initially gained 800 points of Demon Energy by slaying the level 28 Flame Demon.

The smaller Flame Demons that split off afterward numbered in the hundreds, releasing a vast amount of Demon Energy.

The energy Lu Heng absorbed formed an energy tide within his body, allowing him to break through another level boundary.

[Source Energy level increased to 26, all attributes +3, Agility attribute +0.9]



After the upgrade, his five-dimensional attributes rose to: Strength 58, Agility 74, Constitution 58, Spirit 59, and Perception 58.

Su Muyu also reached level 25, with both her Spirit and Perception attributes reaching 60 points.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end