Chapter 659: Things at the bottom of the lava lake

 After his companions retreated, Gordon began to adjust his breathing, suppressing his own breath little by little.

He couldn't make himself as invisible as a stone like Hilda who was equipped with the [Kuroko] armor, but at least he couldn't be as "conspicuous" as a humanoid Celestial Comet Dragon.

After getting ready, Gordon took out his portable telescope and observed the array in the direction of the lava lake. After confirming that there was no abnormality in the sight, he walked out from behind the ruins where he was hiding.

He walked towards the lava lake, but did not dare to go too close. Instead, he kept at least twenty meters away from the golden lake composed of sticky lava.

 In this way, if an accident occurs, he will at least have the most basic reaction time.

Gordon just started searching along the edge of the lake. Hayata Pork Chop and the others did not leave too far, and followed them from a distance about one to two hundred meters away, where the ground temperature was barely acceptable.

The time went like this, and nearly two hours passed. Gordon had already circled the lava lake in a complete circle, but still found nothing.

Had it not been for the completely disturbing situation of the complete disappearance of living things in the lava canyon area, and the extremely obvious activation of magma in the lava lake in front of him, he would not have wanted to stay in this ghost place for so long.

 The temperature at the edge of the lava lake is too high.

Even with the protection of the active dragon energy of [He Yao] and the repeated consumption of cold drinks to cool down, his feet still had numerous blisters after these two hours.

Have to retreat.

Gordon, who returned to his previous position, no longer hesitated, retreated away from the lava lake, and joined his companions.

“Senior Gordon, have you discovered anything?”

　　Taking the recovery potion handed over by Hayata and drinking it down in one gulp to relieve the burn, Gordon shook his head, "I can only see that the magma is very active and keeps churning, but I didn't find many other abnormalities."

　　At this point, Gordon paused, "I can't say that I didn't find anything at all. I noticed that there were signs of collapse on the shore of a lake. Due to the slight melting of the ground, no 'iron-hard evidence' such as footprints was left.

 But I guess that something big might have dived into the lava lake from that place. "

Pork Chop repeatedly stroked his almost completely curled up beard, "I don't know whether I should say it's good luck or bad luck."

“It’s better to retreat first and report the current situation to the guild. There are not many cold drinks left, which is barely enough for the return trip.” Hayata suggested.

"That's all." Gordon nodded, "Get ready to leave, don't let your guard down."

 “Woof!” Lifeng suddenly cried out.

 It is not a warning growl, but a bark similar to speaking aloud.

It nuzzled the pig-chop bag with its nose, making a squeaking sound.

Gordon and Hayata couldn't understand what Gale meant, but Pork Chop, who played with it all day long, had a rough guess.

 “You asked me to blow up Meow with a bomb?”

 “Woof!”

Gordon pinched his chin, "Although it sounds a bit nonsense, it seems to be a solution."

"Isn't it too risky?" Hayata obviously didn't agree with this plan. "If there is some kind of terrible creature sleeping under the magma, and we wake it up rashly, it will anger it."

 By then, it’s likely that we won’t be the only ones facing wrath. "

“Actually, we can try to find a way to startle it without irritating it.” Gordon looked around and had some plans in mind.

 “What do you want Gordon to do?” Pig Chop asked curiously.

“It’s definitely not possible to throw explosive bombs directly. When you realize that you are under attack, any monster will be angry, and the guy who may exist under the magma is certainly no exception.

 But what if it discovers that movement occurs ‘naturally’? "

　　　"Spontaneous occurrence of meow?"

“Such as a rock falling into a lava lake, right?”

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Amidst a series of low and muffled sounds, a boulder several meters square and weighing dozens of tons collapsed from the top of a stone cliff by the lava lake.

 This is the result of Gordon and the others working hard for a long time under the leadership of Pig Chop.

 Look for a suitable cliff, find the weak spot in the rock, drill holes, dismantle the bomb and distribute the explosive, place the explosive, and pull the fuse.

If it weren't for the presence of the pork chop, even if Gordon and the others had explosive bombs in their hands, they wouldn't know how to blow the rocks off. They would most likely just detonate the explosive bombs and listen for a sound.

Pork Chop used all the explosives and fuses it carried, and took advantage of the burning time of the fuses to retreat far enough.

Two people, a cat and a dog, lay down and hid behind a section of ruins, watching the movement on the lava lake side with binoculars.

  Unlike water, magma has a high specific gravity and viscosity.

The boulder fell on the lava lake. It did not sink immediately like falling into water, but slowly sank in. A large amount of rock steam with an astonishing temperature burst out, and the sound it made was completely different from what Gordon and the others had imagined. .

 But no matter what, the movement was loud enough, and I don’t know if it could really scare something big.

The hunters waited quietly, while Pig Chop hugged Gale's mouth to prevent this guy from making an untimely "bark" sound and causing disaster.

 Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds

 The boulders are gradually melted and become part of the magma.

 Twenty seconds, thirty seconds.

 There was still no further movement, as if nothing happened.

Hayata looked sideways at Gordon, who stared at the lava lake through the telescope without moving or responding.

Hayata also patiently observed.

 A few dozen seconds passed, and the already restless lava lake surface suddenly surged violently.

The lake surface began to rise, and a huge back covered with thorns and sharp carapace, like an island made of obsidian, floated near the place where the boulder fell.

 Thousands of degrees of magma slid down the dark and shiny carapace like ordinary water, unable to be contaminated or even damaged at all.

The next thing that appeared in the sight of the hunters were two huge fangs rising into the sky, and a ferocious head that was quite similar to the Honglong, but much larger.

The ice-blue vertical pupils that don't match its pitch-black carapace coldly scanned the surroundings.

Gordon quickly pressed down the heads of Hayata and Pork Chop, ignoring the scorching temperature of the ground and lying down completely, carefully avoiding the cold gaze.

He had clearly seen the part of the monster's body exposed on the surface of the magma. Judging from the width of the giant jaw and the shape of the fangs, he could confirm that this guy was the culprit who was seriously injured and drove away the armored dragon.

 Without wings, a dragon species?

　　 No, the body structure is completely different. It is much thicker than the Tyrannosaurus, and it does not look like a flying dragon. Its body shape is completely different from any kind of monster I have ever seen.

The brain was warning frantically, and his intuition told him that this guy's strength was not inferior to those ancient dragon species that moved like natural disasters. Perhaps, it was also one of them?

 “Concealed.”

Gordon squeezed out the word in a very low voice through his teeth.

Hayata Pork Chop held his breath, and even Li Feng, who was usually complained by Ansir as "the courage grows outside his stomach", held his head and tightened his neck.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-

That was the whistling sound of a massive amount of air being sucked away.

Pork Chop looked at Gordon nervously. The monster was obviously preparing for some kind of attack.

Gordon still lay motionless on the ground, his hands pressing the necks of Pork Chop and Hayata to prevent them from standing up suddenly and being exposed.

 They were far enough away and hiding behind the ruins that they could not be seen. The strong sulfur smell in the volcanic zone prevented the possibility of smell exposure. They did not make a sound and would not be discovered because of this.

Gordon firmly believes that the monster has not discovered them. If he does not remain calm at this time, he will become the target of the monster.

 “Boom—!!”

 What a loud noise that was.

 Is it a roar or a breath? Is the sound high-pitched or deep? No one can tell.

Countless wind blade-like turbulence, together with the terrifying sound waves, swept through everything around them, scraping against the hunters' armor, making a "sizzling" noise like knives.

 And this is just the aftermath.

When everything returned to calm, the sound of magma surges came from the direction of the lava lake. The giant beast seemed to have returned to the bottom of the lava lake, but the hunters still did not dare to move.

I just stayed there for a few minutes, until the heat became unbearable, and then I got up carefully.

 The dark beast has disappeared.

By the lava lake, the stone cliff where the huge boulder was blown away completely disappeared, replaced by a huge gully nearly a hundred meters long.

 The golden-red magma poured back into it, forming a straight river of magma.

 (End of this chapter)