Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
After swallowing a scarlet crystal core, the Scarlet Flame Drake’s aura grew a little stronger. It barked at the remaining large fiery beasts and rushed at them as fast as lightning.
Seeing their companion killed and its life core eaten by the Scarlet Flame Drake, the rest of the large fiery beasts roared furiously, one after another. Each of them breathed out flaming long spears at the Scarlet Flame Drake from all directions, trapping it.
The flames whistled in the air, and a bitter fight broke out.
——-
Outside the flaming mountains, Zhang Che was bored out of his mind waiting for the Purple Crystal Tortoise to recover from its injuries.
“What exactly did the Scarlet Flame Drake run into in there? Why isn’t it coming out after so long?”
Zhang Che had clearly instructed that fellow to go and scout the situation there. Who would’ve thought that it never came back, seemingly having forgotten his orders.
Needless to say, that fellow must have came across something greatly beneficial to it, and cried out so excitedly, forgetting about everything else.
A few minutes later, the Purple Crystal Tortoise’s injuries were healed. Zhang Che summoned it out once more, asking it, “Are there more of those fiery red crystals in the ground ahead?”
Although he didn’t know what exactly those fiery red crystals were, it didn’t stop Zhang Che from realizing their value. They were definitely a type of rare mineral worth a fortune.
The Purple Crystal Tortoise nodded, but its eyes revealed traces of fear.
Evidently, it was too hot underground over there. Despite the Purple Crystal Tortoise being at legend-quality, it couldn’t really handle the heat.
If it wasn’t for the fact that subdued beasts would never go against their owner’s orders, the Purple Crystal Tortoise would have rejected Zhang Che’s request outright.
“Then be a little more careful. Come back immediately if you can’t take it,” Zhang Che instructed. The Purple Crystal Tortoise quickly sank into the sandy ground.
Zhang Che and the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon were the only ones left again. He was bored of waiting and leaned back, laying on the dragon’s back.
It was too hot here. Only by sticking close to the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon’s body would he feel a little cooler. Even breathing the air here felt uncomfortable.
Regrettably, the Purple-Gold Demonic Armored Worm’s Elemental Protective Barrier skill only lasted an hour. Otherwise, Zhang Che wouldn’t have to worry about the heat wave at all.
No matter what type of elemental damage it was, as long as it wasn’t divine-quality, it would be perfectly blocked off by the Elemental Protective Barrier. It was simply a must-have skill!
——
While Zhang Che was waiting leisurely outside, the Scarlet Flame Drake was displaying its might inside the flames, beating the living daylights out of the large flaming beasts. Sparks erupted from time to time, a sign of the Scarlet Flame Drake tearing the beasts’ bodies to pieces.
Bam! With a loud noise, the Scarlet Flame Drake found an opportunity to directly tear the throat of one of the large flaming beast open. Its head fell off, and its body suddenly exploded, leaving only a scarlet crystal core behind on the golden yellow ground.
The Scarlet Flame Drake wouldn’t miss such a delicacy. It immediately slurped up the crystal core, swallowing it into its stomach. The scarlet flame light on its body grew slightly more intense once again.
As the difference in strength between them increased, the remaining large flaming beasts found themselves less and less of a match for the Scarlet Flame Drake. They only managed to hold on for a few more minutes before they were all wiped out. The Scarlet Flame Drake obtained a few more fiery crystal cores, the dancing golden flames around its body now looked almost solid.
The Scarlet Flame Drake focused its eyes, looking deeper into the flaming mountains, hoping for more of those large flaming beasts to appear for it to kill.
However, there were no signs of movements after waiting for some time.
The Scarlet Flame Drake suddenly found itself at a loss for what to do. It didn’t know whether it should continue exploring deeper.
After all, it still remembered Zhang Che’s instructions. It was also afraid of an overwhelmingly powerful fiery creature appearing. At that time, it wouldn’t be able to leave even if it wanted to.
However, the taste of those fiery crystal cores were truly too tempting.
In the end, the Scarlet Flame Drake’s desire for food triumphed over its thinking. It carefully started forward, slowly walking deeper in.
——–
The Purple Crystal Tortoise rose from the sandy grounds once more. This time, the fiery aura remnant on its body was much less intense than before. It remembered Zhang Che’s instructions very clearly; it immediately returned to him when it almost couldn’t take it anymore.
Naturally, due to the reduced time the Purple Crystal Tortoise went underground, its harvests were less than the last time. It only managed to gather a few dozen of those fiery crystals, varying in sizes.
Even so, Zhang Che didn’t feel any regrets.
Slow and steady was the way to go. He couldn’t let the Purple Crystal Tortoise get into dangerous situations.
The fellow’s strength and the space inside its body were extremely important to Zhang Che. He couldn’t afford to lose it!
Moreover, that fellow was built from a mountain of gold. It had consumed tens of tons of purple-gold crystals. Even if they were converted to purple crystal points, it had been an astronomical sum.
Although the Purple Crystal Tortoise wasn’t injured, it suffered pretty badly from the heat. It was temporarily unable to go gather more fiery crystals for Zhang Che.
Time was money; Zhang Che felt like he couldn’t afford to waste it.
As such, he looked down at the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon and instructed it with a soft voice, “Come, help it cool down.”
The Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon quickly turned his head and opened his mouth, breathing a mouthful of cold mist at the Purple Crystal Tortoise. The extremely cold aura quickly purged the heat from the Purple Crystal Tortoise. Not only that, it was so cold the Purple Crystal Tortoise couldn’t help but withdraw its head and limbs.
Without needing Zhang Che to give it further instructions, the Purple Crystal Tortoise quickly sank into the sandy ground in the next moment, disappearing from sight.
Zhang Che had no idea how many more fiery crystals there were under the flaming mountains. Regardless, he was destined to get rich today!
Just as Zhang Che was dreaming about his life as a rich man, he suddenly heard the Scarlet Flame Drake barking anxiously from deep in the flaming mountains ahead.
Zhang Che was startled. -That guy… didn’t I tell it to return immediately if it encountered any danger? Why did it go so much deeper?-
However, he couldn’t possibly watch and do nothing when his subdued beasts were in danger.
“That fellow has a brain of a dog, not learning very well,” Zhang Che complained softly. An elemental barrier suddenly rose around him from the surface of his armor. In the next moment, he jumped off the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon’s back and ran towards the flames ahead.
The Elemental Protective Barrier was truly an amazing skill.
Zhang Che was clearly surrounded by scarlet flames all around him, and even the air was twisted from the heat. However, he no longer felt any of it. The Elemental Protective Barrier had perfectly blocked off the heat outside.
The Scarlet Flame Drake’s cries for help grew increasingly anxious.
However, Zhang Che was still at least a thousand meters away from the Scarlet Flame Drake. He wouldn’t get there within a minute or two.
“Freaking hell… who told you to go that deep?”
Zhang Che was running so fast his legs turned into circles, quickly advancing through the flames. Whether he could make it in time to help the Scarlet Flame Drake depended on heaven’s will. {TLN: Think how some cartoon characters’ legs were animated as circles when they run fast…}
—
Currently, the Scarlet Flame Drake was covered in injuries. Fresh red blood flowed out from the wounds. The blood instantly dried in the heat, turning into scabs covering the wounds, looking extremely pathetic.
It was facing a ten-meter-tall flame giant with scarlet flames surrounding its body. It was wielding a pair of fire blades, brandishing them like a windmill, continuously slashing at the Scarlet Flame Drake as it gave chase.
The flame giant’s attacks were extremely quick. Even though the Scarlet Flame Drake was trying its best to dodge the attacks, its movements were not very effective, and it was struck by the fire blades from time to time. Its flesh rolled out, and blood spattered everywhere.
The Scarlet Flame Drake kept barking as it ran for its life. However, it was slower than the flame giant, and could only get beaten on.
Whoosh! The blades in the flame giant’s hands suddenly erupted with an intense fiery light, slashing down at the Scarlet Flame Drake’s neck at lightning speed, trying to end its life right then and there.
A hint of fear flashed across the Scarlet Flame Drake’s eyes. It could no longer afford to hold back and breathed out a column of scarlet flames.
It had resolved itself. Even if it were decapitated by the flame giant, it would make it pay a heavy price in return!
However, why would the flame giant trade hits with the Scarlet Flame Drake when its victory was within its grasp?
The massive figure sidestepped nimbly, dodging the column of flames the Scarlet Flame Drake breathed out. Afterwards, it quickly closed the distance between them and swung its blades at the Scarlet Flame Drake’s vitals.
This time, the Scarlet Flame Drake had nowhere to run.
Just as the long blade was about to reach the Scarlet Flame Drake’s neck, a loud cry was suddenly heard from hundred meters away. A scarlet and white sword light crossed the hundred meters in an instant, directly streaking towards the flame giant’s head.
The flame giant was greatly alarmed and it quickly drew its blade back, defending itself.
Even so, the flame giant suddenly stiffened while withdrawing its blades. A mass of intense flames erupted from its head all of a sudden, and its body fell to the ground, turning into countless sparks and scattering.
When the sparks dissipated, Zhang Che saw a golden-scarlet crystal core about the size of a muskmelon on the ground. The Scarlet Flame Drake quickly pounced at it and gulped it down.
“What’s this situation? Is that not an exotic beast?” Zhang Che widened his eyes in shock.
What he just saw had truly surprised him. That terrifyingly powerful flame giant was actually not an exotic beast!
In the next moment, golden flames suddenly erupted from the Scarlet Flame Drake’s body. A powerful aura spread outwards. The fellow barked a few times excitedly, obviously in great mood.
Zhang Che finally understood why that fellow ignored his orders to return immediately when it found itself in a dangerous spot.
It turned out that the Scarlet Flame Drake was able to quickly increase its strength by consuming the crystal cores left behind by those flaming creatures after their deaths.
Zhang Che could vaguely tell that the Scarlet Flame Drake was now at a critical juncture. Perhaps it would successfully rank up in level after eating one or two more of those crystal cores!
Zhang Che was suspicious, not knowing what kind of creature that flame giant from earlier was, but since it was so important to the Scarlet Flame Drake, he couldn’t be bothered to think so much. In any case, he had to continue killing his way further in.
No matter what, he had to help the Scarlet Flame Drake rank up!
