After his companions retreated, Gordon began to adjust his breathing, suppressing his own breath little by little. He couldn't make himself as invisible as a stone like Hilda who was equipped with [Kuroko] armor, but at least he couldn't be as invisible as a humanoid Celestial Comet Dragon.
"Conspicuous". After being prepared, Gordon took out his portable telescope and observed the array in the direction of the lava lake. After confirming that there was no abnormality in the sight, he walked out from behind the ruins where he was hiding.
He walked towards the lava lake, but did not dare to go too close. Instead, he kept at least twenty meters away from the golden lake composed of sticky lava.
In this way, if an accident occurs, he will at least have the most basic reaction time. Gordon just started searching along the edge of the lake. Hayata Pork Chop and the others did not leave too far. They were following from a distance about one or two hundred meters away, where the ground temperature was barely acceptable.
Time went like this, and nearly two hours passed. Gordon had circled the lava lake, but still found nothing.
If it weren't for the complete disappearance of creatures in the lava canyon area, which was really disturbing, and the magma activation in the lava lake in front of him was extremely obvious, he wouldn't have wanted to stay in this ghost place for so long.
The temperature near the lava lake is too high. Even with the protection of [He Yao] Dragon Qi active effect and repeated consumption of cold drinks to cool down, after two hours, there were still countless blisters on his feet.
Gotta retreat. Gordon, who returned to his previous position, no longer hesitated, retreated away from the lava lake, and joined his companions.
"Senior Gordon, have you discovered anything?" After taking the recovery medicine from Hayata and drinking it in one gulp to relieve the burn, Gordon shook his head.
"It can only be seen that the magma is very active and constantly surging, but we didn't find many other abnormalities." At this point, Gordon paused.
"It can't be said that I didn't find it at all. I noticed that there were signs of collapse on the shore of a lake. Because the ground was slightly melted, there was no 'hard evidence' such as footprints. But I guess that something big might have sneaked in from that place. Lava lake." Pork Chop repeatedly stroked his beard that was almost completely curled up.
“I don’t know whether I should say it’s good luck, meow, or bad luck, meow.”
"It's better to retreat first and report the current situation to the guild. There are not many cold drinks left, and it's barely enough for the return trip." Hayata suggested.
"That's all." Gordon nodded.
"Be prepared to leave and don't let your guard down."
"Woof!" Liefeng suddenly shouted. Not a warning growl, but a bark that resembles speaking out loud.
It pressed its nose against Pig Chop's luggage, making a squeaking sound. Gordon and Hayata couldn't understand what Gale meant, but Pork Chop, who played with it all day long, had a rough guess.
"You told me to blow up Meow with a bomb?"
"Woof!" Gordon pinched his chin,
"Although it sounds a bit nonsense, it seems to be a solution."
"...Isn't it too risky?" Hayata obviously didn't agree with this plan.
"If there really is some kind of terrible creature sleeping under the magma, and we wake it up rashly, it will anger it. By then, we may not be the only ones facing the wrath."
"Actually, you can try and find a way to startle it without irritating it." Gordon looked around and had some plans in mind.
"What do you want Gordon to do?" Pig Chop curiously asked.
"It's definitely not possible to throw explosive bombs directly. When it realizes that it has been attacked, no matter what monster it is, it will be angry. The guy who may exist under the magma is certainly no exception. But what if it finds that the movement is 'natural'?"
"Spontaneous occurrence nya?"
"Such as rocks falling into a lava lake, right..."...
"Rumble--" Amidst a series of low and muffled sounds, a boulder several meters square and weighing dozens of tons collapsed from the top of a stone cliff by the lava lake.
This is the result of Gordon and the others working hard for a long time under the leadership of Pig Chop. Look for suitable cliffs, find weak spots in the rocks, drill holes, dismantle explosives and distribute explosives, plant explosives, pull fuses... If it weren't for the pig chops, even if Gordon and the others had explosives in their hands, they wouldn't be able to do anything. If you know how to blow the rocks off, you will most likely just detonate the bomb and listen for a sound.
Pork Chop used all the explosives and fuses it carried, and used the burning time of the fuses to retreat far enough.
The two of them, one cat and one dog, lay down and hid behind a section of ruins, watching the movements of the lava lake with binoculars.
Unlike water, magma has a high specific gravity and viscosity. The boulder fell on the lava lake. It did not sink immediately like falling into water, but slowly sank in. A large amount of rock steam with an astonishing temperature burst out, and the sound it made was completely different from what Gordon and the others had imagined. .
But no matter what, the movement was loud enough, and I don’t know if it could really scare some big guy.
The hunters waited quietly, while Pig Chop hugged Gale's mouth to prevent this guy from attacking at an inappropriate time.
A "woof" sound caused disaster. Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds...the boulder was gradually melted and became part of the magma.
Twenty seconds, thirty seconds...still no further movement, as if nothing happened. Hayata looked sideways at Gordon, who stared at the lava lake through the telescope without moving or responding.
Hayata also patiently observed. After another few dozen seconds passed, the already restless lava lake surface suddenly surged violently.
The lake began to rise, and a huge ridge covered with thorns and sharp carapace floated up near the place where the boulder fell, like an island made of obsidian.
Thousands of degrees of magma slid down the dark and shiny carapace like ordinary water, unable to be contaminated or even damaged at all.
What immediately appeared in the sight of the hunters were two huge fangs rising into the sky, and a ferocious head that was quite similar to the Honglong, but much larger.
The ice-blue vertical boy, which did not match its pitch-black carapace, glanced around coldly. Gordon quickly pressed down the heads of Hayata and Pork Chop, ignoring the scorching temperature of the ground and lying down completely, carefully avoiding the cold gaze.
He had clearly seen the part of the monster's body exposed on the surface of the magma. Judging from the width of the giant jaw and the shape of those fangs, he could confirm that this guy was the culprit who was seriously injured and drove away the armored dragon.
No wings, a dragon species? No, the body structure is completely different. It is much thicker than the Tyrannosaurus, and it does not look like a flying dragon. The body shape is completely different from any kind of monster I have ever seen.
His brain warned frantically, and his intuition told him that this guy's strength was not inferior to those ancient dragon species that moved like natural disasters. Perhaps, it was also one of them?
"Concealed." Gordon squeezed out the word in a very low voice between his teeth. Hold your breath for Hayata Pork Chop, even Anshil usually complains about it.
Li Feng, who "has courage outside his stomach", also held his head and tightened his neck.
"Hissing -" That was the whistling sound of a massive amount of air being sucked away. Pork Chop looked at Gordon nervously. The monster was obviously preparing for some kind of attack.
Gordon still lay motionless on the ground, his hands pressing the necks of Pork Chops and Hayata to prevent them from suddenly getting up and being exposed.
They were far enough away and hiding behind the ruins, so they could not be seen. The strong sulfur smell in the volcanic zone prevented the possibility of odor exposure. They made no sound and would not be discovered because of this.
Gordon firmly believes that the monster has not discovered them. If they don't calm down at this time, they will become the target of the monster.
"Boom——!!" What a loud noise it was. Is it roaring filial piety or exhaling? Is the sound high-pitched or deep?
No one can tell. Countless wind blade-like turbulences, together with the terrifying sound waves, swept through everything around them and scraped against the hunters' armor, making a sound like knives.
A "sizzling" noise. And this is just the aftermath. When everything returned to calm, the sound of magma surges came from the direction of the lava lake. The giant beast seemed to have returned to the bottom of the lava lake, but the hunters still did not dare to move.
He just stayed there for a few minutes, until the heat became unbearable, and then he got up carefully.
The dark beast has disappeared. On the bank of the lava lake, the stone cliff where the huge boulder was blown away completely disappeared, replaced by a huge gully nearly a hundred meters long.
Golden-red magma poured into it, forming a straight river of magma.
