Difficulty Soars

Under the searing heat, a massive volcano stood upon the earth. Lava continuously spewed from its crater and flowed down the rugged slopes, forming winding rivers of molten rock.

Suddenly, a huge hand covered in scales and dripping magma reached out of the crater, gripped its edge, and heaved out a gigantic monster. Half dragon and half human, it stood several hundred meters tall. Once it had fully emerged from the crater, flames burst over its entire body. It opened its huge jaws and blasted a surging stream of fire toward the foot of the mountain!

"Is my Shapeshifting Technique really this terrifying when combined with Old Chen's Fire Element Magic?" Nikolai cursed as he dodged the Flame Breath in a panic.

"You should count your blessings!" A cluster of Fire Elementals in the sky condensed into Chen Chi Xiong's form. "It didn't steal my and Old Lei's Elemental Avatars. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have an easy time getting close to it!"

At that moment, the gigantic monster shuddered. The volcano erupted violently, hurling vast amounts of lava and black smoke into the high altitude. They mixed together before raining down like a meteor shower!

"Damn, this is practically the end of the world!" Peregrine Falcon used his nimble footwork to evade the fireballs falling from the sky. Yet even after hitting the ground, those fireballs did not stop. Clumps of magma rose upright, transforming into three-meter-tall Lava Monsters!

Lava fireballs rained down like raindrops. Within moments, over a thousand monsters stood across the land!

At the same time, the huge monster atop the mountain raised its claw, where dazzling Thunder Light flickered. With a roar, it slammed down hard. A thunderous boom rang out as half the volcanic crater collapsed beneath the blow. The Thunder Light was scattered by