Cave Lizard

The sun was shining, and shade from the trees surrounded them.

"Are the plants here always this healthy?" Xu Fang looked up, gazing at the enormous tree canopy and the dense cluster of trees around them.

Bocheng, despite being in a subtropical monsoon climate, wasn't as lush as Yangcheng, a temperate city.

"They were quite lush before, but it's only been in the last month or two that these plants have started growing like crazy," Liu Xiao said, cutting through a blocking branch with a machete.

Fang Fang also complained, "The Military Mages organized a cleanup once, but it was useless. They just grew back a few days later. It's so annoying!"

In the Magic Plane, there was no concept of protecting plants.

In this world, lush vegetation was often closely linked to thriving Demon habitats. At the boundary between cities and great forests, people would usually establish a vacuum buffer zone.

Xu Fang chuckled, "What if I invented a non-degradable substance? If plant roots encountered it, they wouldn't grow. If sea monsters ate it, they'd get an obstruction and die?"

"Then you'd be a great hero! All the Research Institutes would treat you as an honored guest, and everyone in the world would thank you for your monumental achievement!" Fang Fang giggled. She found Zhang San quite interesting; even his daydreams were more sophisticated than others'.

"Say less," the Ice Element girl Qian Qian said coldly. "We're almost there."

Everyone fell silent. Qian Qian deliberately lagged a step behind, walking alongside Xu Fang. She spoke in a voice only they could hear, "Empty talk harms the nation, practical work builds the nation. A Mage's duty is to slay Demons. Stop thinking about science that isn't magic."

She walked away, leaving Xu Fang's mouth twitching.

Was I just... lectured?

The deeper they went, the lusher the vegetation became. Zhu Wang took out some Demon Seeking Powder and sprinkled it into the air. After a few seconds, various marks appeared on the surrounding vegetation.

"Here."

Zhu Wang called out and walked to a large tree, pushing aside the weeds. On the ground lay a large pile of… droppings.

He casually picked up a wooden stick and stirred the droppings. "The hardness isn't high, like thick porridge with little water. This group of Cave Lizards probably hasn't gone far."

Fang Fang looked disgusted. "Captain, can you use a different description?"

"Haha, I'll be careful next time," Zhu Wang said. He put down his backpack and efficiently made arrangements. "Fang Fang, go lure the Demons away. Wang Peng, use Earth Wave to sense the cave. Liu Xiao, focus on defense. Qian Qian, delay the Demons' return route. Brother Zhang San, you and I will go into the hole to get the shells!"

"Action!"

"Wind Track · Swiftness!" Stepping on a green star track, Fang Fang darted out like a rabbit. Faintly, her shouts could still be heard, "Ugly monsters, the eldest daughter is here, get out of the way!"

Wang Peng closed his eyes, placed his hands on the ground, and infused Demonic Energy and stardust, sensing the cave's presence.

"Found it," he opened his eyes. "Over there!"

"Let's go!"

Zhu Wang waved his hand, and Xu Fang quickly followed. The two ran rapidly in the direction Wang Peng indicated.

"Fire Seed · Burn!" Xu Fang unleashed a flame, burning away the dense vegetation and revealing a clear cave entrance.

"Wind Track!" Zhu Wang blew a gust of wind into the cave to prevent the air from becoming thin.

"Let's go." The two entered the cave one after the other. Qian Qian and Wang Peng immediately stood guard at the entrance.

The cave was deep. Due to the lush vegetation, the walls on both sides were very damp, and water dripped from the ceiling.

"This is a good cave! We're going to get rich this time!" Zhu Wang exclaimed joyfully.

"There's something to that too?"

"Of course! The hard shells only exist in Cave Lizard habitats. In caves that have been unused for a long time, without Cave Lizard droppings, plants struggle to grow, and the caves become dry, with no moisture on the walls."

Xu Fang twitched his lips. "So, the wetter the better?"

"The wetter the better!"

Damn it, I feel like we're not on the same page...

"Roar!" Just then, an angry roar echoed from the cave. A head the size of a basketball poked out from around a corner.

"Zhang..."

"Fire Seed!" A crimson star track transformed into a blazing flame, and the Cave Lizard's head was instantly cooked.

The air was filled with the aroma of barbecue.

"Uh..." Zhu Wang's mouth hung open, caught off guard by this development.

"What are you standing around for? Let's go," Xu Fang called out to him. Zhu Wang finally reacted and hurried to catch up, feeling inexplicably like he was there to assist.

The three remaining there were all female lizards. To protect their young, they fought desperately against the two uninvited guests.

Xu Fang wasn't a cruel person. He took them all down, young and old. When they went up, he burned the father lizard as well. The goal was to keep the family together, perfectly.

Soon, the two reached the deepest part of the cave.

"So many!?" Zhu Wang was overjoyed seeing the hard shells scattered on the ground. He quickly emptied his backpack and began filling it with the shells.

Xu Fang looked at several Cave Lizard corpses and asked, "Can't the hard shells on them be used? Or do they have to be shed ones?"

"Of course not!" Zhu Wang said casually while packing. "The hard shells on the Cave Lizards themselves are top-quality, but harvesting them is too troublesome. What if the male lizards trap us in the cave?"

"I see..."

Xu Fang mused.

Soon, Zhu Wang had packed the hard shells. The two quickly returned the way they came.

Even before reaching the cave entrance, I could feel the fluctuations of Demonic Energy in the air, as well as the chanting of Magic from Qianqian and the others.

"Ice Vine - Condense!"

"They're rushing us, Wang Peng, push these beasts back!"

"Alright, Earth Wave - Slow!"

"Fangfang, be careful, Water Guard - Protect! Damn it, we're surrounded, is the captain not here yet?"

The remaining members of the squad were desperately fighting the Demon's onslaught, but their stats meant they couldn't even scratch the surface.

"Roar!"

A Cave Lizard broke free from the Ice Vines and roared as it charged at Qianqian. Although Qianqian was battle-hardened, her mind still went blank when a Demon charged right at her face.

"Water Guard! Water Guard!!!" Liu Xiao tried his best to connect to the star track, but he had just cast a spell to save Fangfang and was still in cooldown.

Just then.

"Fire Seed - Incinerate Bone!"

A fireball, at an unbelievably fast speed, was poured into the Cave Lizard's gaping maw. The Cave Lizard's charge came to an abrupt halt, and white smoke continuously drifted out from the gaps in its hard armor.

"It's Zhang San!"

Fangfang cheered.

Qianqian quickly retreated two steps, panting with lingering fear, and looked at Xu Fang with complex eyes.

She hadn't expected that the person she had lectured earlier would save her life at the critical moment.

As for Xu Fang... he was looking at the Cave Lizard.

"No wonder it can be used as armor for Magic Tools, it's really tough," Xu Fang marveled. He had previously fed a Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat with the same method, and not a single shred of the little guy was left.

Killing these things always gave Xu Fang the feeling of steaming buns in an iron pot.

"You guys retreat first and clear the area," Xu Fang instructed. The others didn't dare to hesitate and quickly turned to leave.

Fire Element Mages excelled at large-area attacks; he could only tie them down.

"They're all gone..."

Xu Fang turned around, looking at the few Cave Lizards chasing after them, and revealed a friendly smile, "Next, it's time for us to have some fun."