While Ashy was flying in the sky, the lava started to fall onto her.
Of course the talismans that had been used on her protected her from any harm, but the lava still stuck to her. It was like extra weight had been added to her, causing her to suddenly dive from it.
This was what had panicked her, after all this was the first time she was coming in contact with lava. Normal rain was fine for her as the water did not have much weight, but lava was certainly a lot more dense.
Not to mention, this was not normal lava and was highly condensed, making it heavier than usual.
"You should return." Lin Mu suggested. "We'll head on foot from here." "Alright." Ashy replied before turning around.
"Its best to keep her near us. I don't get a good feeling here." Lady Kang agreed with Lin Mu's decision.
"Yeah, if its raining lava from the sky even we would have to stay on guard." Lin Mu replied. Lin Mu had the Longgui Bulwark Armor to protect him and Little Shrubby had his resistance to fire, but Lady Kang would have to put in extra effort to protect herself.
The twins would be fine on their own, but Ashy's talismans would eventually wear down.
When that happened, she would start taking damage from the lava too. To prevent that from happening, Lin Mu let her return to his side.
~CHIRP~
After a short while, the bird was perched on Lin Mu's shoulder again.
"Did you see anything there?" Lin Mu asked.
"There's a lot more of those lava beasts below along with rivers of lava. Theres also tall pillars that are spewing out smoke and lava." Ashy reported what she had seen.
"Tall pillars?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he tried to spot them.
But the view in front of him too obscured to see clearly.
"They might be the lava vents." Lady Kang spoke. "And if they are, we'll have to be careful with them." She added.
"I don't think the lava spewing from them can do much to us though." Lin Mu replied. "It's not the lava, but the smoke that is of concern. It will be highly toxic." Lady Kang explained. "We have no idea what is the source of that smoke. There are some kinds of volcanic emissions that can even kill Immortals. It will shred up your lungs if you accidentally breath it in." She warned.
"Hmm… if so that smoke might have gotten through the talismans protection too." Lin Mu said knowing that Ashy would have a lower resistance to it than them since she wasn't an Immortal beast.
"Yeah," Lady Kang nodded.
Now that they knew of the danger that lurked ahead, the group was a lot more careful as they approached it.
~tap~tap~tap~
The lava raining down made tapping sound as it struck Lin Mu's stone armor. Though no damage was done.
Lin Mu had also sent Ashy back into the Sleepscape for her safety as they decided to search this area on their own.
Wide and long rivers of lava flowed through this plains while they snaked around tall Lava vents that spewed out toxic smoke and hot lava.
Lava Beasts roamed the plains that were easily the size of elephants or bigger.
"They're stronger… at least Fourth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm." Lady Kang estimated.
"We'll comb the area, while clearing it out the same as before." Lin Mu said while keeping his Immortal sense extended to the limit.
~RAAAAA~
They had barely walked for five minutes before the cry of a lava beast was heard.
~BAM~BAM~BAM~
It was a large lava gorilla that started to beat its chest in intimidation. ~SHING~
But that did little to intimidate them, as Lin Mu simply slashed out. "GRAAAAA~!" The lava gorilla groaned in pain as a deep cut appeared on one of its arms.
"Oh? It actually blocked it." Lin Mu was a bit surprised.
The gorilla had absorbed the blow and was now regeneration its arm. Whereas normally its mar should have simply been cut off from the slash.
~SHA~SHA~SHA~
Lady Kang also shot a few small stars at the lava gorilla from her fingers, causing indents to form on its body. But this only served to infuriate the beasts as it started charging towards them.
~HISS~
But before it could even reach half way, a scornful hiss was heard.
~THUD~
In the next moment, the lava gorilla collapsed to the ground, its legs now missing. Behind it, one could see a snake stringing along two legs on its body.
~HISAAAAAA~
Xiao Yang glared at the Lava gorilla for daring to try and intimidate them.
~SPLAT~
The legs burst apart and fell to the ground in the form of normal lava while the Gorilla tried to regenerate its body. It propped itself up with its arms and suddenly shank.
~POP~POP~
It directly decreased in size by about a meter. But this also allowed it to quickly regenerate its legs recovering its mobility.
"GRAAA!" Now that its legs were back, the gorilla continued its charge towards Lin Mu.
Lin Mu observed the beast and saw the hint of intelligence in its glassy red eyes. 'It decisively shrank down in favor of getting its legs back… this one is a bit different.' Lin Mu noted. And just as the Lava gorilla a meter aways from him, Lin Mu thrust his hand.
~HUALA~
A searing hot energy surrounded his arm before transforming into a large claw. Lin Mu used Magma fury to extend his reach and raked at the gorilla with a claws that were a meter in size!
~RIP~
The lava gorilla tried to defend with its arms that were quickly cut apart by the sharp rocky claws before they dug into its head, causing it to burst apart.
~BOOM~
"They definitely have better defenses now." Lin Mu said, having felt the resistance when he was cutting through the gorilla's body.
