The explanation made sense, but unfortunately, he didn't have any evidence or proof either way. But it certainly made him feel more concerned about remaining in the Forest of Giants. He didn't want to trigger whatever caused this to happen, regardless of how low the probability it was.
'I'll have to make sure I leave the forest as soon as possible,' Rui narrowed his eyes before activating his Martial Heart.
BADUMP!
This was one of the few times that he could approve of using the Martial Heart travel. His body quivered with power as streaks of red lines spread across his body. He launched himself into motion, propelling himself across the forest at incredible velocities.
Every step he took generated an inferno of flames with the sheer friction the speed caused as he flashed past the giant trees and vegetation. At that speed, it wasn't too long before he reached crossed the Forest of Giants, and reached the inner section of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.
Very few Martial Artists made it this far. The reason for that was that most of them could not maintain their minds and thoughts for too long and suffered from the many mental detriments of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. A good part of Rui's progress was thanks to the fact that he didn't need to be too bothered about his mind failing due to all the consumption of mental energy.
He had plenty of it.
Yet when he came out on the other side of the Forest of Giants, the mental suppression merely continued to increase.
Yet he could only widen his eyes with shock when he came out on the other side. Gone was the beautiful scenery of the forest that he had had the pleasure of experiencing before. An apocalyptic scenery of ash and lava greeted him on the other side as he avoided stepping on a large stream of blistering hot lava.
It wasn't that the lava could hurt him, especially with his Martial Heart bolstering his cell walls by accelerating the metabolism that produced them, but even then, he wanted to avoid any harmful esoteric substances that could be contained in it. The entire environment became hostile as a result.
RUMBLE
The land beneath him shook slightly in a periodic fashion. Rui wondered if some seismic activity had caused this entire area to be annihilated by lava. How else could trees be reduced to ashy dead trunks?
That was when he turned his vision into the distance, staring at a hill formation that oozed lava.
He didn't realize it wasn't a hill until it shifted in its place, readjusting for comfort. Its respiration caused its body to expand and contract a little, causing the land around it to shiver.
'Is that... a lava golem?' Rui gaped. 'You're telling me it wiped out this entire region with its lava?'
Rui stared at it with a mixture of incredulity and awe. He had read about this strange species made up of rock and lava, but only now had he actually beheld one in real life.
Lava golems were creatures that were almost entirely inscrutable to humans. Nobody understood how a pile of rocks could come together and become alive and conscious. The only thing that was understood about these esoteric creatures was the fact that they generated lava within their body by crushing rocks together, heating and melting them with friction, and then spewing them out.
Because their bodies constantly produced lava, they constantly needed to consume rocks as a result to sustain their beings, yet they sought out all kinds of energy-high things that could increase the amount of energy in their being.
That included powerful esoteric substances, powerful monsters, and, of course, powerful Martial Artists. Suddenly, the creature's eyes opened.
Its eyes were rocks, but its pupils were burning embers. Rui could hear rocks grinding at its eyes turned towards him.
'Ah shit,' Rui turned off his Martial Heart immediately, hoping to not attract too much more attention, but alas, things didn't work out the way he hoped for them.
Martial Artists were among the few beings that had such an enormous amount of power concentrated within such a small body. The sheer energy density readings of a Martial Senior with an active Martial Heart must have been higher than anything else it had sensed in monsters or animals.
RRRRAAAARRRRGHRGR!
Its roar sounded closer to a volcanic eruption than an actual voice. Yet Rui's expression sharpened as he reactivated his Martial Heart.
He was going to need it.
BOOM!
A massive lava eruption exploded from within its mouth, spewing an enormous wave of lava that would have flattened a city.
Yet Rui was unperturbed.
He inhaled deeply, causing the very skies to quiver, before releasing his technique. Several Mighty Roar Flash Blasts burst forward, blasting enormous holes in the tsunami of lava.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The golem roared as even more lava began to spew from its body from multiple orifices. Its arms dug into the ground, gathering enormous of rock and directly absorbing it through its limbs.
Apparently, it didn't need to eat rock through its mouth to consume it. Yet Rui had no intentions of leaving it be.
He rushed forward at top speed activating Gale Force Breathing and Outer Convergence, blazing across the battlefield within a single moment. The very land behind him cracked and broke under the sheer weight of his steps.
BOOM!!!
Rui threw his most powerful attack with his full power as the Flowing Canon crashed into the golem with the full power of Outer Convergence, Adamant Reforging, and Reverberating Lance, as well as the entirety of the momentum that he accrued crashed, crashed into his target.
RUMBLE!
The world around them shook as the sheer impact of the attack blasted away the entire golem to smithereens.
Rui heaved a sigh as he deactivated his Martial Heart immediately. "It's a shame I had to fight him. I can't even eat him to grow stronger. Tsk, I should have deactivated my Martial Heart before I exited the Forest of Giants."
