Chapter 344: The Legend of Flame Demon Gross

Chapter 344: The Legend of Flame Demon Gross

Legend has it that Flame Demon Gross was once the ruler of the Crown of Magma in the Dragon's Rest World.

Later, a group of Black Iron Dwarves from the Copper Forge Clan, fleeing the Abyss, migrated to the Crown of Magma and discovered abundant geothermal resources underground. They decided to settle in this new land.

From that day on, the Copper Forge Black Iron Clan and Flame Demon Gross engaged in a decade-long battle for control of the Crown of Magma.

The conflict between the Copper Forge Black Iron Clan and Flame Demon Gross lasted for a long time, and during this period, there were many instances where the Copper Forge Clan considered giving up and seeking other habitats.

It wasn't until a Black Iron Dwarf King named Sorenthal Copperforge appeared that the Black Iron Dwarves were led to victory over Flame Demon Gross.

After the death of Flame Demon Gross, his ashes scattered underground in the Crown of Magma, seeking a chance to resurrect.

Before his passing, Sorenthal Copperforge feared the return of Flame Demon Gross and the destruction of the Copper Forge Clan's kingdom, which spanned half the world. With his last strength, he sealed the ashes of Flame Demon Gross deep underground.

This is the legend of Flame Demon Gross and the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom.

Lu Heng had heard of this legend, but it only surfaced two years after the Abyssal Descent.

Unexpectedly, the remnants of Gross have appeared now.

Within the cargo of this sunken ship lies volcanic ash containing the remnants of Gross, which, when ignited, will burn and form a conscious flame.

Realizing this, Lu Heng finally understood why the Black Iron Dwarves wanted to dump this volcanic ash into the Tidal Sea.

The Black Iron Dwarves must have intended to pour the remnants of Flame Demon Gross into the depths of the sea, believing it would prevent his resurrection.

...

Lu Heng immediately returned to the Mermaid Clan's Temple to find High Priestess Sona. Upon meeting her, he said, "I know what the volcanic ash is. Take me to where the Black Iron Dwarves dumped it."

High Priestess Sona furrowed her brows in thought, her sharp gaze assessing Lu Heng. After a moment, she nodded in agreement, "Alright, I'll take you there. I hope you have a way to resolve this crisis."

This time, Sona didn't send guards to escort Lu Heng but led the team herself.

Lu Heng and his team of ten followed the Mermaid Clan's squad through the Frostbite Trench and arrived at the deepest part of the Tidal Sea.

High Priestess Sona floated in the seawater, pointing downward, "It's right below us. This is the deepest point of the Frostbite Trench; you might not be able to go down there."

She released a bubble that enveloped Lu Heng and a few others, then led the way downward.

As they descended, the water depth decreased, and after reaching a depth of six kilometers, the temperature dropped from twenty degrees to just above ten degrees.

As they approached the seabed, Lu Heng finally caught a glimpse of the situation below.

There was a depressed area on the seabed, currently filled with black soil, clearly the result of wet volcanic ash.

Not all the volcanic ash was Gross's remnants, but it contained them.

The Black Iron Dwarves probably couldn't extract Gross's remnants from the volcanic ash, so they directly transported the excavated volcanic ash and dumped it here.

Protected by the bubble, Lu Heng could speak, "Why did the Black Iron Dwarves dump the volcanic ash here?"

High Priestess Sona pondered for a moment, then asked, "Didn't you say you knew what the volcanic ash was?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the volcanic ash contains Gross's remnants," Lu Heng voiced his suspicion.

High Priestess Sona nodded in confirmation, "It seems you do know part of the truth. Then, I'll tell you the rest.

"This place is called the Frostbite Trench, the coldest part of the Tidal Sea.

"Ten years ago, this seabed was perpetually covered in ice, and the seawater temperature could reach minus three to four degrees.

"But do you see any ice here now?"

Lu Heng understood the implication upon hearing this.

The Black Iron Dwarves dumping Gross's remnants here had caused the nearby sea area's temperature to rise by over ten degrees.

The remnants of Gross could raise the seawater temperature. If they hadn't been dumped into the deep sea, what would have happened? It's likely that Flame Demon Gross has already resurrected, or at least partially revived.

No wonder the Black Iron Dwarves were willing to antagonize the Mermaid Clan to dump the volcanic ash into the sea; it was a choice for their survival.

The ashes of Flame Demon Gross, buried underground in the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom for a century, would bring about its downfall if it were to awaken.

Unable to deal with Flame Demon Gross, the Black Iron Dwarves could only choose to excavate and dispose of Gross's remnants in a cold place.

So they chose the coldest place in the Tidal Sea.

What the Black Iron Dwarves didn't expect was that dumping Gross's ashes into the Frostbite Trench would actually cause the water temperature here to rise.

Lu Heng's thoughts led him to ask, "So, the water temperature in the Sea Demon Clan's territory has risen too, hasn't it?"

High Priestess Sona sighed, exhaling a bubble from her mouth, and nodded in reply, "Yes, the water temperature in our territory has risen by two degrees over the past decade. Can you imagine how significant this change is for us?"

Lu Heng certainly understood.

If one were to draw a parallel, the environmental change faced by the Sea Demon Clan was similar to the greenhouse effect on Bluesphere.

Humans, due to the greenhouse effect, faced global climate change and tried various methods to mitigate it.

The Sea Demons' situation was even more severe; the impact of the change in water temperature was more profound than that of atmospheric temperature.

No wonder the Sea Demons attacked the Black Iron Dwarves' ships; any race would have done the same.

...

Subsequently, High Priestess Sona spoke of the continuation of the legend of Flame Demon Gross.

It turned out that after more than a century of thriving in the Crown of Magma, the Copper Forge Dwarven Kingdom began to show signs of reawakening from the ashes of Flame Demon Gross buried underground.

With the passing of the great Dwarf King Sorenthal Copperforge, there was no one in the Copper Forge Clan who could deal with Flame Demon Gross.

The clan's Grand Wizard discovered this and, after consulting with the seven elders, they finally decided to excavate and transport Gross's ashes to the coldest place for burial.

In the end, the Black Iron Dwarves chose the deepest and coldest part of the Tidal Sea, the Frostbite Trench.

The Grand Wizard of the Black Iron Dwarves dived into the sea to inspect the site and witnessed a hundred-mile-long underwater glacier. This was a very peculiar ice, containing a special quality, embedded in the seabed, forming an icy crystal-like underwater world.

The Black Iron Dwarves' Grand Wizard believed that dumping Gross's ashes here would definitely prevent its reawakening.

So, for the past ten years, the Black Iron Dwarves had been continuously transporting volcanic ash and dumping it into the Frostbite Trench.

Initially, there wasn't a significant change.

As the dumping continued, the glacier in the Frostbite Trench began to melt, the temperature kept rising, indirectly affecting the water temperature in the Sea Demon Clan's territory.

Three years ago, the Sea Demons discovered the Black Iron Dwarves' purpose for dumping volcanic ash, and the conflict between the two clans escalated.

The Sea Demons prohibited any Black Iron Dwarven ships from entering the Tidal Sea.

However, the Tidal Sea was too vast, and the Sea Demons couldn't block all the waters, so the Black Iron Dwarves' operation of dumping ash into the deep sea continued.

Many Black Iron Dwarves only knew about dumping ash into the Tidal Sea but were unaware of the reason behind it.

This work had been going on for ten years, and many Black Iron Dwarven captains, including Frigus, were simply following orders.

As for why they were doing this, it wasn't something they needed to worry about.

...

After hearing the entire story, Lu Heng finally understood why the danger level of this Abyssal Battlefield was rated as Level 7.

In this world, there was a powerful demon lord, Flame Demon Gross.

Just dumping his ashes into the deep sea was enough to raise the temperature of the Tidal Sea.

One could imagine how terrifying this Flame Demon Gross was.

The existence of Gross's ashes also led to an irreconcilable conflict between the Sea Demons and the Black Iron Dwarves.

In a sense, the conflict between the two clans was indeed irreconcilable.

The ashes of Flame Demon Gross were buried under the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom. If the Black Iron Dwarves didn't dig up and dump Gross's ashes into the sea, and Flame Demon Gross were to revive, the destruction of the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom would be imminent.

To prevent Flame Demon Gross's revival, the Black Iron Dwarves had to continue dumping volcanic ash into the sea.

With Gross's ashes dumped into the Tidal Sea, even if Flame Demon Gross didn't revive in the sea, the rise in water temperature alone would significantly impact the Sea Demons.

The two races, in order to protect their habitats, were bound to clash.

To mediate the conflict between the two races, the threat of Flame Demon Gross had to be resolved; otherwise, there was no solution.

But could a powerful demon lord, whose ashes alone could raise the water temperature, be dealt with?

This problem seemed unsolvable from the start.

Lu Heng carefully recalled, searching his memory for all the information related to Flame Demon Gross.

In my memories, there was indeed a lot of information about Flame Demon Gross, but until my rebirth, I had never heard of the resolution of the Flame Demon Gross incident.

In fact, the information about Flame Demon Gross in my memories should have appeared two years after the Abyssal Descent.

In other words, this event should have been brought to light half a year later.

It was easy to figure out what had happened.

Now, this is the first time humans have been summoned to the Sea Demon world, and the first summoning in my previous life was also around this time.

At this point in time, the number of Oceanic Psychics among humans was very small, and their combat power was generally not high.

The first batch of Oceanic Psychics summoned here could not provide much help in this world, let alone complete the World Quest, they didn't even have the ability to complete Challenge Missions.

In other words, the first batch of Psychics summoned in my previous life most likely completed the Main Quest and then returned.

Naturally, without investigating the cause of the environmental deterioration in the Tidal Sea, they wouldn't know that the volcanic ash dumped by the Black Iron Dwarves was the remains of Flame Demon Gross.

After the first summoning ended, humans began to focus on cultivating Oceanic Psychics.

The combat power of the subsequently summoned Oceanic Psychics gradually increased, and when it reached a level that could influence the world, they finally discovered the secret of Flame Demon Gross's remains.

In other words, in my previous life, humans learned about the secret of Flame Demon Gross half a year later, but in this life, due to Lu Heng's involvement, this time was greatly advanced, and the secret of Flame Demon Gross's remains was discovered during the first summoning.

However, just discovering the secret of Flame Demon Gross's remains couldn't change the world's situation.

The problem still existed.

The conflict between the Sea Demon Clan and the Black Iron Dwarves remained unresolved.

As for dealing with Flame Demon Gross...

Lu Heng currently had no idea how to proceed.

The information about Flame Demon Gross in my memories couldn't be resolved even three years after the Abyssal Descent.

Now, only a year and a half had passed since the Abyssal Descent. Could this problem be solved at this time? This was fundamentally an impossible task.

After some serious thought, Lu Heng looked up at High Priestess Sona and said, "High Priestess, you should know better than I do just how powerful Flame Demon Gross is.

"Therefore, this crisis is probably not something that can be resolved with just one summoning.

"If this summoning fails to resolve the crisis, after I return, I will publicize the information about this world and appeal to the next batch of summoned humans to continue helping the Sea Demon Clan solve the crisis.

"I only hope that the Sea Demon Clan and the Black Iron Dwarves can temporarily set aside their differences and work together to find a solution to the crisis."

High Priestess Sona fell silent after hearing these words.

She didn't agree to Lu Heng's request, but she didn't immediately oppose it either.

Lu Heng understood that as the High Priestess of the Sea Demon Clan, she couldn't make a significant promise just because of a few words from a Summoner.

So he continued to persuade her, "I understand, High Priestess, you may not believe me, but it's fine. As long as you don't oppose what I'm saying, we can continue working towards the same goal, and one day, we will find a solution to the problem."

High Priestess Sona was well aware that a terrifying flame demon like Flame Demon Gross couldn't be eliminated even with the combined forces of the Sea Demon Clan and the Black Iron Dwarves, and it was impossible to place all hope on the Summoners.

The issue she was actually considering was whether to reconcile with the Black Iron Dwarves. In fact...

Being hostile towards the Black Iron Dwarves brought no benefits to the Sea Demon Clan.

The Sea Demon Clan couldn't obtain any resource compensation from the Black Iron Dwarves, so attacking them was meaningless.

The reason they attacked the Black Iron Dwarves' ships was to stop them from dumping volcanic ash into the Tidal Sea.

High Priestess Sona pondered for a moment and said, "I can stop being hostile towards the Black Iron Dwarves, but they might not think the same way."

Lu Heng knew that to resolve this matter, he had to go to the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom and talk to their current Dwarf King. After a moment of thought, he said,

"I will set out for the Black Iron Dwarf Kingdom and have a discussion with their king, hoping to mediate the relationship between your two clans. High Priestess, what are your requests?"

High Priestess Sona thought for a moment and made only one request, "My request is simple. There's only one thing: the Black Iron Dwarves must stop dumping volcanic ash into the Tidal Sea. If they agree to this, the Sea Demon Clan will immediately cease hostilities."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end