Bai Luhao

Night grew deeper.

At the entrance to the Lava Grotto, scorching air was already beginning to churn.

Before long, a middle-aged man in a deep blue mage's robe trimmed with silver, carrying an ice-blue gemstone staff, strode over.

He had a lean, refined face and a steady presence. He was clearly a powerful A-class mage.

He walked up beside Bai Luhao, who stood with his eyes closed before the portal like an iron tower, and bowed slightly, speaking respectfully:

"Guildmaster, all members of the raid team have arrived and are ready to set out. The perimeter has also been secured."

Bai Luhao slowly opened his eyes.

For an instant, his pupils took on the cold, sharp, vertical shape of a tiger's eyes as it hunted.

He rose to his feet. His towering, seven-and-a-half-foot frame cast a vast shadow, and an invisible pressure seemed to still the air around him.

He did not answer immediately. Instead, his predatory eyes swept slowly over the surroundings.

A few seconds later, he looked away and let out a low, muffled grunt:

"Mm. Nothing unusual. Let's move."

"Yes!"

The blue-robed mage answered at once, then turned and signaled to the waiting raid team behind him.

The raid team, made up of White Tiger Guild's elite, numbered around fifteen.

Besides their leader, the S-Class Hunter Bai Luhao, there were three A-class Hunters. The rest were skilled B-class Hunters at the peak of their rank.

Their classes were well balanced, with melee and ranged fighters, attackers, defenders, and support. They were clearly experienced and well prepared.

One by one, the group passed through the portal, their figures swallowed by its deep blue light.

Once the raid team had disappeared through the portal, the White Tiger Guild members left behind immediately worked with the military to establish several tight lines of security within fifty meters of it.

Every kind of detection device and magical trap was activated, while guns and staffs were trained on the portal.

They were prepared to eliminate any monster that slipped through as soon as it emerged.

However, neither the experienced Hunters nor the sensitive detection devices noticed that, just after Bai Luhao and the others had all entered, the portal's light seemed to twist for the briefest instant before returning to normal, as if it were merely a natural fluctuation in the flow of energy.

A faint breeze brushed past the security line, lifting a little dust before it vanished into the scorching air.

An A-class dungeon, the Lava Grotto.

It lived up to its name.

The moment their feet touched solid ground, a terrifying wave of heat washed over them, hot enough to leave an ordinary person dehydrated and unconscious in seconds!

The air reeked of sulfur. As far as the eye could see, the landscape was a doomsday scene of crimson and charred black.

Rivers and lakes of dark red magma flowed through the enormous cavern. Bubbles burst now and then, spraying sparks of molten fire.

The rock walls had cracked and reddened under the heat. In many places, the roiling lava beneath was completely exposed, radiating a terrifying temperature of over a thousand degrees Celsius!

The air was so saturated with free fire-element mana that it was almost visible to the naked eye, forming wavering ripples of heat.

Even this team of elite Hunters felt the strain of such an extreme environment.

Several team members with relatively frail constitutions, who specialized in magic or support, immediately activated the temperature-regulating magical accessories they carried or the insulating arrays on their protective suits.

Layers of pale blue or silver-white magical shields enveloped them, barely holding back the searing heat that seemed to penetrate everything.

Most of the melee fighters relied on their powerful physiques to endure it. Their skin merely reddened slightly as beads of sweat formed.

"Keep formation and stay alert! The native monsters here are likely adapted to high temperatures and may launch surprise attacks!"

Li Xuanbing, the blue-robed ice mage, called out a warning. At the same time, he waved his staff and cast a faint frost shield around the team, slightly lowering the temperature.

Before he had even finished speaking, the situation changed abruptly!

Sssht, sssht, sssht—!

Several sharp, piercing sounds rang out almost simultaneously from a seemingly calm lake of dark red magma off to one side!

Dozens of slender, spear-like objects with eerie blue light glinting at their tips tore through the scorching air at terrifying supersonic speed. With shrill sonic booms, they shot toward the raid team like a sudden downpour!

A closer look revealed that they were sharp, scorpion-tail-like spines. Their bodies were crimson, but their tips glowed with an eerie blue light.

They were clearly coated in poison or imbued with some kind of special magical effect!

The attack had come without warning and was blindingly fast!

Yet the raid team's reaction was top-notch!

Almost the instant the piercing sounds rang out, Jin Changpu, an A-class earth mage with a stocky build and a heavy ocher staff, gave a cold snort and slammed his staff into the ground!

"Rock Wall: Multiple Barriers!"

The ground shuddered violently. Seven or eight sturdy earthen walls, each a meter thick and three meters high, surged upward like the backs of giant beasts.

They blocked every incoming scorpion-tail spine with precision!

Thud, thud, thud, thud—!

A barrage of impacts rang out like pounding drums!

The scorpion-tail spines, powerful enough to pierce steel plates, struck the earthen walls hard. They left holes only about two and a half inches deep.

Then they lost their momentum and became lodged fast, their ends still quivering and buzzing in frustration.

"Hmph, a cheap trick!" Jin Changpu scoffed. His staff shone even brighter. "Wrath of the Earth: Quicksand Devour!"

The solid earthen walls instantly softened and collapsed, turning into thick, heavy torrents of earth and stone that spun at high speed.

As if alive, they surged backward along the spines embedded in the walls, rushing toward the magma lake at astonishing speed!

"Up!"

At Jin Changpu's low command, the mudslides surged forward like the palm of a giant, wrenching more than a dozen monsters hidden beneath the churning magma out of the lake!

The monsters looked hideous. Their bodies were covered in heavy, dark red, diamond-shaped scales like those of pangolins. They had short, powerful limbs, sharp claws and fangs, and long, segmented, scorpion-like tails. The venomous spines they had fired were at the ends of those tails.

Dragged out of the magma by the mudslides, they let out hoarse, grating cries and struggled desperately.

"Attack!"

Bai Luhao did not need to give the order. The other team members were already unleashing their attacks!

Rapidly spinning water orbs filled with intense cold struck the monsters' vulnerable joints with precision.

Needle-thin but razor-sharp spikes flew like a storm of pear blossoms, targeting the monsters' eyes, mouths, and other weak points.

Fireballs roared through the air as well.

In this extreme fire-element environment, fire magic was far more powerful. The monsters had some resistance to fire, but the sudden increase in force was still enough to disrupt them.

Bai Luhao himself was like a tiger among sheep!

He did not even activate his transformation. He simply blurred and appeared above the largest monster.

His right hand curled into a claw, covered in a dense layer of pale golden Qi energy. Like a hot knife through butter, it easily pierced the creature's heavy scales and sank deep into its skull.

Then he clenched his hand hard!

Splat!

Blood and brains sprayed out, and the monster died instantly.

He did not stop. His figure flashed from place to place, his claws striking again and again. In just a few seconds, he had killed three more monsters the same way.

The battle ended quickly. All the dozen or so attacking Lava Scorpion Armor Beasts were wiped out.

A strange odor, a mixture of charred flesh and blood, spread through the air.

"Well, Piao Changfan, your Thousand Thread Control has gotten a lot more precise and powerful lately, hasn't it?"

Jin Changpu looked at the dense clusters of metal needle holes in several monsters' heads and glanced in surprise at the young man beside him, whose short hair was paired with faint silver light coiling around his fingers.

Piao Changfan's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He looked at the corpses, a trace of confusion crossing his mind.

Hadn't he fired fewer metal needles than this?

The holes in the heads of a few monsters, along with the force behind them, also seemed different from his usual technique.

Could the dungeon's volatile mana have interfered with him?

But faced with Jin Changpu's teasing tone, he did not want to lose face. He gave a cold snort:

"Of course. You think everyone's like you, building sand walls all day? My practice hasn't been for nothing."

"Enough bickering." Bai Luhao shook the filth from his hand and cut the two of them off. "Piao Changfan, Jin Changpu, the monsters are taken care of. Stay alert and keep advancing. There's no way this hellhole has only that much to whet our appetites."

"Yes, Guildmaster!"

The two immediately composed themselves and answered in unison.

The team reassembled and cautiously continued deeper into the cavern, enduring the scorching environment.

Bai Luhao walked near the front of the team, his gaze sweeping over every mark on the surrounding lava rivers and charred rock walls.

Yet his brow furrowed slightly.

During the fight, he had felt, somehow, as if they were being watched.

It had not been one of the Lava Scorpion Armor Beasts, nor anyone on the team.

It was an extremely subtle gaze, yet it carried a hint of scrutiny, as if a pair of eyes in the darkness were quietly observing them.

Especially him, Bai Luhao.

Was it an illusion?

Was the heat and chaotic mana in the Lava Grotto interfering with his senses?

Or was there some kind of special presence in this dungeon, one capable of turning invisible?

Bai Luhao said nothing. He merely grew even more wary, the alertness in his tiger-like eyes deepening.