This Emperor Flame Turtle seemed to have undergone some kind of mutation for some reason, causing a Molten Fire Flower to grow from the top of its head.
It looked as though it had just awakened from slumber, most likely startled awake by the commotion the others had caused around the Molten Fire Flower.
As a second-level magical creature, the Emperor Flame Turtle radiated an overwhelmingly powerful aura, making everyone present feel a heart-stopping sense of danger.
Only then did Duke understand that the heartbeat-like pulsation he had sensed earlier had not been an illusion. It had come from the Emperor Flame Turtle's heartbeat deep beneath the ground.
The Emperor Flame Turtle's enormous body, as if cast from molten gold, rose completely from the shattered earth. Every breath it took stirred up a scorching sulfur storm.
Lava flowed across its dark-golden shell. Its massive head hung low, and its heavily scaled eyelids slowly lifted, revealing furnace-like vertical pupils.
The Molten Fire Flower was rooted in the center of its head, swaying faintly with each breath and radiating an even more alluring, yet deadlier, brilliance.
Its gaze swept over the people, tiny as ants, before finally settling on the center of the earlier conflict. The last traces of the burly man's aura still lingered there, along with the fluctuations from the shattered energy barrier.
A deeper roar, brimming with destructive fury, rolled from its throat. The surrounding lava suddenly boiled, and the ground shook violently.
Duke had already accelerated away atop the yellow sand. They had not been at the center of that area to begin with, but on its outskirts, so they reacted at once and fled quickly.
However, the power of a second-level lifeform was beyond anything they could imagine. This was also Duke's first time directly facing an