Chapter 81

Suzhen extended his fierce large head to examine the trophy in the hands of the dragon knight, asking with a mix of surprise and doubt, "Are you really going to eat it?"

"Hehe!" Linmo chuckled lightly, shook his head, and said, "Just a joke!"

He opened the storage compartment of the "Dragon General" and stuffed it inside. Well, to be precise, it took up the space of a grenade.

He prayed that the dragon god would not let the dragon knight, in a moment of carelessness, throw the dragon egg out like a grenade.

The golden dragon Su seemed to have let out a sigh of relief, the heart he had been holding finally falling back into place, and he kept muttering, "That's good, that's good..."

In his mind, falling into the hands of dragon hunters was a thousand times better than falling into the hands of the silver dragons, who were filled with rage. Although the dragon hunters were greedy and cruel, they at least gave a quick death. As the natural law enforcement race of the dragon clan, the space silver dragons had countless methods to make other dragons suffer endlessly.

Moreover, Su did not think he could escape the suspicion of being an accomplice, as he had personally crashed through the outer protective barrier.

Perhaps the original barrier setter never imagined that after countless years, a golden dragon would come here and, without tiring, crash into it with all its might over a hundred times. If a human archmage were here, they might only be able to stare or use a grinding method to slowly and carefully wear away this powerful and resilient barrier.

"It seems we need to find another way out, hmm, Su! Bear with it, I need to scan again."

Linmo looked around the stone hall that served as the silver dragon egg nest but found no second exit. This path was blocked!

Fortunately, the external enhancement armor of the "Dragon General" had a built-in SEG core unit that could continuously draw energy from the surrounding space and convert it into stable electricity for the dragon knight to use.

The intangible and formless detection sound waves penetrated deep into the ground, scanning the nearby terrain. A moment later, the cave's three-dimensional scan map on the "Dragon General" tactical helmet's display was updated and improved.

"Did you find a way?"

Su knew that this heavy knight armor had many unimaginable "magical" functions. He always understood the technology Linmo spoke of as alchemy.

Given the status of alchemy in this world, it was not unreasonable to view it as technology.

"There is a way!"

The new scan map on the display made Linmo's face relax a bit.

He did not want to encounter those dragon hunters and the people of Portland in such an environment. A major battle between the two sides could very likely cause the cave passage to collapse, leading to a mutual destruction and burial deep underground.

"That's great, lead the way quickly!"

Su was eager to leave this silver dragon egg nest, the farther the better.

The man and the dragon retreated to the previous two forks and chose a new passage to continue deeper underground.

Two hours later, the temperature in the passage became increasingly high. The temperature data collected by the "Dragon General" rose from an initial 15 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius. As they continued forward, the temperature became even higher, and warm, humid air kept surging from the front of the passage.

Deep underground, after passing through several underground streams and hot springs, the passage ahead gradually brightened, and a red glow entered their sight.

"The infrared reaction is strong; it seems to be underground lava. This volcano does not seem to have completely extinguished."

The tactical helmet filtered the air, and the sulfur smell that Linmo did not detect appeared on the air composition display on the mask. The air in the passage already contained some harmful components to the human body.

This harsh environment had no effect on the golden dragon. It was surprised, slowed down its steps, and said, "It seems to be a dead end? How do we get back to the surface?"

After continuously descending underground for several hours, it was almost certain that it and Linmo were no longer in the mountain's belly but below the ground level.

In the passages they passed through, the "Dragon General" did not detect harmful gases. Perhaps it was because some low-level plants or fungi, such as moss and lichen, growing in the humid areas of the cave were continuously degrading toxins and releasing breathable oxygen.

Of course, there were also some narrow cracks that seemed to have a breeze, possibly connecting to the surface as ventilation fissures.

"There is a way, but you need to help."

Linmo did not want the "Dragon General's" combat boots to step on the lava. There were naturally things that could serve as stepping stones here.

"Are you sure? If it really can be crossed, I can consider helping you."

Su had no idea that it was once again being used by this unscrupulous dragon knight. Not only it, but a fellow named Goldcoin of the same clan was also often manipulated by this guy. A dragon knight of the golden dragon clan, if he did not have some skills, would have long turned into minced meat.

When they walked another hundred steps forward, a vast lava pool, several hundred acres in size, appeared before them. The golden dragon immediately knew it had been tricked.

The red lava continuously bubbled and occasionally spewed out white-hot fire snakes. Near the cave walls, various sizes of red crystal clusters grew, like blooming red flowers, sparkling and precious. These were valuable fire magic crystals, with even small ones worth a fortune, formed over thousands of years by the abundant active fire elements from the lava.

The ceiling of the lava pool was extremely low, with the highest point only about six to seven meters above the lava surface. This meant that even if the dragon knight activated the anti-gravity field and magnetic plasma engine to fly over, it would be extremely dangerous, possibly being hit by a sudden lava flame, which would be a disaster.

Moreover, with such a low height, even if a repulsion shield were released, it would be ineffective. It would be like a balloon cut off from its string, stuck to the cave ceiling, making movement more difficult, almost like a Peking duck hanging in an oven.

Lava is not water but rock, even containing metal. Once cooled, it would solidify. If one were to fall into the lava, it would be a thousand times more dangerous than stepping into quicksand.

Perhaps the heavens left a sliver of hope. In front of them, several car-sized rocks, possibly due to their complex composition, were not completely melted and floated in the lava. These rocks, along with the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling, formed a potential path to survival.

"Hehe, Linmo, are you joking? You must be joking!"

Su was somewhat stunned. How much malice must this human have to trick it like this!

"Su, I'm afraid we have no choice."

Linmo patted the dragon's body, which was slightly heated by the thermal radiation, and continued, "You certainly don't want to be buried here, right?!"

"By the dragon god, how unlucky can I be? There's no such thing as the unluckiest, only more unlucky!"

Su was completely complaining and lamenting. In fact, its current situation was much better than being chased for a thousand miles by dragon hunters.

"Alright, step on those floating rocks in the lava, and grab the stalactites in time. Remember, the landing points must be accurate."

Linmo projected a guiding laser beam to illuminate the calculated rocks and stalactites, explaining to Su. On the other side of the lava pool, there was a cave entrance, the only other way out besides the entrance on the snow mountain.

"Hold on tight!"

When Linmo grabbed the back of the golden dragon, it roared and pounced toward the lava pool, which could melt gold and iron.

Boom! A floating rock in the lava suddenly sank. Just as the dragon's claws were about to be submerged in the red-hot lava, Su had already completed its preparation and leaped out again.

At this moment, Linmo tightly held onto the golden dragon's back, fully releasing the anti-gravity field, partially compensating for the loss of the golden dragon's innate spatial magnetic field due to the spell, adding a bit of agility.

Spatial magnetic field? Su had no time to think about it. In the instant of leaping, it grabbed several thick stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling as leverage points, and its limbs kicked hard. The slowly growing stalactites suddenly broke and fell into the lava pool, causing nearly a thousand-degree lava to splash.

The tip of the dragon's scales touched the lava like a dragonfly skimming the water, causing a bit of fire, but the golden dragon quickly landed on another floating rock in the lava.

Seeing is one thing, doing it is another. Su's movements were perilous, and once it even miscalculated the center of gravity of the floating rock, not only failing to gain momentum but also causing the rock to roll in the lava. The lower part of the rock was not black but red-hot. The golden dragon had to use all its skills to stabilize itself and finally gain momentum to leap again.

The nearly thousand-degree high temperature made the dragon's claws tingle.

"I see it, it's right ahead!"

"Damn! They're escaping!"

From the passage beside the lava pool where Linmo and the golden dragon started, a pack of dogs barked wildly, followed by a series of panicked whimpers. A group of people wearing masks rushed out but hesitated near the lava pool. The high temperature was not something they could endure, let alone the higher concentration of toxic gases. Staying too long would be fatal, and only the man and the dragon who had just crossed the lava pool could ignore this harsh environment.

"Magicians and archers, stop them! Damn it, even if they fall into the lava, don't let them escape!"

"Take the greyhounds away, they're almost done for. Damn it, this place is not suitable for them."

The furious Portlanders shouted, their voices low and hoarse.

If not for the experienced dragon hunters covering their mouths and noses with thick cloths soaked in special medicine and water, they would not even have the chance to see this sea of fire from a distance. Even so, they were still choked with tears streaming down their faces.

The sounds of spell incantations and bowstrings being pulled rose, and the magicians and archers in the group began to work quickly.

"Hurry up, Su! We're almost there!"

They only needed to leap over a few more rocks to successfully reach the ground on the other side of the lava pool, seizing that sliver of hope.

Boom!

A spell arrow shot out, hitting a stalactite on the side of the dragon, causing a violent explosion. The thick stalactite fell, and stone spears from the back flew like machine gun fire.

The golden dragon Su focused entirely on Linmo's commands, twisting its body to avoid attacks from behind while grabbing the leverage points that represented the life of the man and the dragon, desperately speeding up its forward leaps.

Stalactites kept falling from the cave ceiling, as if the fire veins deep in the lava were enraged by the continuous attacks of the humans. The entire lava pool boiled like a pot, becoming extremely dangerous.

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