Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  In the Infernal Realm, he didn’t have much of a reputation. How could a stranger recognize him?

  “Let me introduce myself first. My name is Bachelor [Ba’che’lei]. As for why I know your name…Olivier, you know him, yes?” The man laughed.

  Linley was shocked. “Bachelor, you know Olivier?”

  After having been in the Infernal Realm for so long, upon suddenly hearing the name ‘Olivier’, Linley’s heart was filled with a strange feeling. After all, this was someone from his homeland of the Yulan Plane.

  “Of course I know him.” Bachelor held a goblet of wine, laughing. “Olivier and I have a bit of a history together. We arrived in the same batch of people to the Infernal Realm, and then were tossed out by the Redbud Army together, so we took up residence in a nearby tribe.”

  Linley nodded to himself. This was essentially his experience as well.

  “At that time, I was already a God, while Olivier was only a Demigod. However, his training speed was very fast. After roughly fifty years, he reached the God level in the Laws of Light.” Bachelor sighed. “And then, we came together to Yilan City to take part in the Fiend trials. We both succeeded in becoming One Star Fiends!”

  Linley had a hint of a smile on his face.

  It seemed as though Bachelor and Olivier’s relationship truly wasn’t just a superficial one.

  “Then where is Olivier himself?” Linley asked.

  Bachelor shook his head helplessly. “After becoming One Star Fiends, we took on a two star mission. However, we encountered some danger in that mission. Unable to deal with it, we all fled in every direction. I fled with some of my friends back to Yilan City. As for Olivier, I haven’t been able to find him.”

  Linley frowned.

  “Perhaps Olivier is still alive. Who knows?” Bachelor raised his head, gulping down the wine in his goblet, then put it back down and sighed. “Fiend missions are filled with danger to begin with. If you die, you die.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  In the Infernal Realm, death was all too common. Everyone was mentally prepared.

  “When Olivier and I were in the tribe together, he mentioned you to me before. You gave him a very deep, lasting impression.” Bachelor sighed. “When I praised him for having been so quick to become a God, he said that you probably had reached this level as well. And it seems this is indeed the case!”

  Linley let out a long, drawn breath.

  While they were in the Yulan continent, he and Olivier had often been viewed as equals and discussed in the same breath by others. The two were acclaimed as the two greatest talents the Yulan continent had seen in over ten thousand years. However, within the boundless Infernal Realm, Linley and Olivier were very unremarkable figures.

  “I hope that Olivier is still alive.” Linley quietly prayed for his compatriot.

  “I was able to run into two talents who come from the same material plane. This is a form of karmic destiny. Come, cheers.” Bachelor grinned as he spoke.

  Linley had good impression of Bachelor as well, and so he laughed and raised his own goblet as well.

  Linley began to casually chat while drinking with Bachelor. When Linley mentioned the battle at Moon Lake Castle, Bachelor shared his own experiences during his own Fiend trial. However, at this time, neither Linley nor Bachelor noticed that the metallic lifeform was currently flying through a volcanic region.

  “Based on the map, it should be an ordinary mountain range beneath us. Why did it transform into a volcano range?”

  The two Fiends by the window chatted together.

  Indeed, this volcano range had moved here not long ago!

  Linley and Bachelor were still chatting happily.

  “Linley, you have no idea. Even I thought that I was dead for sure. At that second, with a ‘slash’ sound, Olivier suddenly appeared behind the enemy, then stabbed him straight through the back of his head, killing him with a single blow. That’s the only reason why I managed to survive.” Bachelor said excitedly.

  But right at that moment…

  “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

  A dense array of sounds suddenly pierced through the skies, while at the same time, the metallic lifeform exploded apart with a ‘BOOM’ sound. Countless red boulders were smashing towards all of the Fiends within the metallic creature. Everything immediately became a scene of utter chaos.

  “BOOM!” A Fiend who was drinking in the main hall not too far away from them was struck by one of those fiery red boulders. His body was smashed into a pulp, and his head was shattered open, his divine spark falling down from mid-air.

  An enormous fiery boulder came smashing towards Linley, who immediately dodged, but the fiery red bolder suddenly arced in midair.

  “BANG!” It smashed hard onto Linley’s body.

  Linley’s body trembled violently, and the Pulseguard Armor on his body trembled as well. “Fortunately, this Pulseguard Armor was defensively strong enough!” Linley secretly celebrated. “Not good. Delia.” Linley immediately wanted to fly towards Delia.

  But a large number of fiery boulders continued to smash around him.

  Linley discovered that Bachelor was currently facing the attack of a fiery red boulder. Bachelor roared angrily, chopping down with the greatsword in his hands, and a surge of fierce power struck viciously against that fiery boulder, which was immediately cleft in two.

  However, the two cleft halves actually continued to fly towards Bachelor.

  Bachelor’s face changed dramatically.

  “Whoosh!” An illusory, blurry violet sword shadow suddenly appeared. The violet sword shadow was lightning-fast, but it also gave a slow, plodding feeling. Wherever the sword shadow passed by, space itself trembled. The violet sword shadow struck towards those two boulders, which immediately shattered apart, transforming into a large amount of pebbles.

  Bachelor immediately let out a breath, glancing sideways towards Linley with a hint of thankfulness in his eyes.

  “Careful!” Linley’s face changed dramatically.

  “Boom!”

  A nearby fiery boulder that had been attacking someone else suddenly changed direction, smashing directly towards Bachelor’s head. “BANG!” Bachelor’s head exploded, and a divine spark fell down from mid-air.

  Book 15, Priceless Treasure – Chapter 16, Golden Magma

  “Rumble…” Linley didn’t have the time to think about other things. He saw countless boulders everywhere, with so many above them that they blocked out the sun. All of the fiery boulders pressed down towards the Fiends, surrounding them. Linley himself was collected in by those countless boulders, rendering him unable to move.

  “Crackle…”

  All of the fiery red boulders began to move bizarrely. If someone was watching from the outside, that person would have discovered…that within the volcano range, a fiery mountain peak had suddenly appeared.

  This mountain peak was formed from those countless fiery boulders.

  Linley and the surviving Fiends, as well as the corpses of the dead Fiends, were within the mountain peak.

  “What is going on?” Linley stared in astonishment.

  The boulders that had been surrounding him were all moved away, and in front of him was a narrow corridor. Linley followed through this narrow corridor for roughly ten meters, at which point he discovered an awesome spectacle…in front of him, there was a tunnel that led directly upwards and downwards!

  At this time, one surviving Fiend after another was gathering in this vertical tunnel, coming out from their own narrow corridors. The group of them just floated there within the vertical tunnel.

  “Delia?” Linley frantically looked for her towards each corridor.

  The vast majority of the Fiends who had survived to come out of the tunnel were Highgods, while a few Gods were amongst them. The sudden attack just now had caused many Gods to lose their lives.

  “Boss!” A voice suddenly rang out.

  Linley immediately turned!

>   He saw Delia and Bebe emerge from within a distant corridor.

  “Delia, Bebe.” Overjoyed, Linley immediately went over. Bebe and Delia’s eyes were filled with joy as well. Linley carefully looked at Delia, his heart delighted.

  “It was all thanks to Bebe just now.” Delia sighed emotionally. “That attack came too suddenly, and there were many of those giant boulders. Fortunately, I was able to use the Deathgod Golem to take one of them head on. Afterwards, it was only thanks to Bebe’s help that I was able to safely pass through those terrifying waves of attacks.”

  Bebe quirked his lips. “I just stood there. When the metallic creature was shattered, I was only a few meters away from Delia, so it was easy for me to help out.” Although he spoke casually, within Bebe’s eyes, there was still a hint of urgency.

  Linley understood that Bebe was worried about Nisse.

  “Where’s Nisse? Wasn’t she with you at the time?” Linley suddenly asked.

  Bebe squeezed out a smile. “At that time, Ninny went to her brother’s place. Salomon is a Highgod. He should have been able to protect Ninny.”

  “Bebe.” A voice rang out from afar.

  Bebe immediately turned his head, and a look of delight appeared on his face. “Ninny.” Nisse and Salomon immediately flew over. After suffering this attack but not dying, everyone finally was able to smile.

  Suddenly…

  “Everyone, let’s break open the mountain walls and go out.” Suddenly, someone called out.

  “BANG!”

  An explosion immediately followed. By the time Linley and the others turned their heads, all they saw was a shattered corpse falling downwards.

  “What’s going on?” Linley’s group was somewhat mystified.

  “Everyone, what should we do right now?” Suddenly, a voice rang out.

  Everyone, including Linley, turned to look. The speaker was a Highgod. Linley had heard of his name before; his name was Sperry. He had a rather high reputation amongst the group of Fiends who had been hired from Yilan City, and his strength was most likely that of a Four Star Fiend or a Five Star Fiend.

  This Sperry had long, slightly wavy brown hair.

  With a flip of his hand, a black blade shadow suddenly appeared. Space shuddered as the blade shadow flashed past the mountain wall, carving out a half-meter deep hole, but the rocks carved out from the hole all shot out at high speed towards Sperry.

  Countless blade shadows flashed, and those shattered rocks transformed into dust.

  The strange thing was, the powdered rocks actually reformed, flying back to the half-meter deep hole in the mountain walls, completely filling it up. And then, the stone powder moved about, transforming to a very polished state without any hint of a blade scar.

  “Everyone saw that, right?” Sperry swept everyone with his gaze.

  Many of the Fiends present were highly experienced. Seeing this, they were able to hypothesize what the situation was.

  “This should be a Volcano Titan!” Immediately, someone spoke out. “The most important part of a Volcano Titan is their energy nucleus. As long as the nucleus doesn’t shatter, they are able to control countless amounts of rocks to once more reform their enormous bodies. Most likely, this entire volcano range is just part of the enormous body of the Volcano Titan.”

  “Volcano Titan?” Linley was shocked, and he couldn’t help but exchange glances with Bebe.

  Linley thought of a type of creature. The strange thing he had encountered on the sixth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods…the Flame Tyrant!

  At that time, that creature was also a mountain-sized giant. The first time, they had managed to destroy it, but a semi-translucent stone had formed as the center for the recreation of its body. Afterwards, Linley had relied on the Throbbing Pulse of the World to shake the energy nucleus to pieces, killing the creature.

  “Can it be that this is also a Flame Tyrant? Or, to be precise, the Highgod variant of a Flame Tyrant?” Linley wondered to himself. This ‘Volcano Titan’ was definitely a Highgod. If it was only a God, how could it have so easily killed so many Gods?

  “I didn’t expect that we would end up inside the body of a creature! And this volcano range is a creature.” Bebe muttered.

  “Everyone knows the situation. Now, what should we do?” Sperry said, and then he looked towards the white-horned elder. “What thoughts do you have? You have hired us for this mission, after all.”

  The white-horned elder said sincerely, “How could I have any thoughts on this? Everyone, you decide.”

  “We only have seven Highgod Fiends here.” Another person said clearly. “That ambush attack was dangerous to Gods, but not to most Highgods. Also…neither the Edwards brothers nor Learmonth are here. I refuse to believe that they would die! Thus, I imagine that the surviving Fiends have most likely been divided into two or three segments.”

  Everyone nodded slightly.

  The three Edwards brothers and Learmonth were all extremely powerful experts in this mission. No one believed that the attack just now was capable of killing them.

  However, Learmonth and the others weren’t here.

  “Perhaps they are in another part of the Volcano Titan’s body.” Sperry said calmly. “However, this Volcano Titan truly is bold, to allow us to enter his body. As long as we can find his energy nucleus and shatter it, he will die for certain. Come. We have no other choices. Let’s go downwards.”

  Perry led them in flying downwards, and immediately, all the other Fiends immediately followed.

  Linley and the others flew downwards as well.

  Soon afterwards, they landed on the ground. This place was covered with boiling rivers of lava, which had passageways and corridors to each side.

  Within a palace that was hidden away deep within the volcano range, Elquin was seated on a chair, dressed in a black robe, holding that little golden kitten in his arms. Inigo, appearing rather respectful, was standing next to him.

  “Phusro, how goes it?” Elquin gently petted the little golden kitten in his arms, smiling as he spoke.

  “Meow. Master, I’ve already separated the Fiends apart, and the more powerful Fiends are now in a different area! That powerful Fiend named ‘Learmonth’ which Inigo described has been placed in a separate area, blocked off from everyone else. For now, he won’t be able to interfere with our plans. Meow.” The little golden kitten spoke in human tongues.

  Elquin nodded slightly.

  “Meow. Master, that white-horned elder and that man whom Inigo said is probably a member of the Boyd clan have been placed by me in the same location. Right now, they have reached the Goldflame Pool. Meow.” The little golden kitten said silkily.

  Elquin smiled in satisfaction. “It’s about time. Let’s move!”

  “Drip, drip…”

  In the center of this cave, there was a pool of golden lava that was constantly boiling and hurtling about. The air on top of the magma pool was twisted and distorted from the high temperature.

  By the time Linley and the other Fiends arrived here, some of the Fiends, upon seeing the pool of magma, had changed looks on their faces. They unconsciously backed away slightly from that golden magma. As for Linley and Bebe, who were rather inexperienced, they didn’t know how terrifying that golden magma was.

  “Liquefied Goldflame?” Salomon said softly.

  “What’s a Goldflame?” Linley, Bebe, and Delia didn’t understand.

  Salomon said in a low voice, “This is a very monstrous toy. Its corrosiveness and temperature is extremely high. Forget about you; even a Highgod that falls in will be in trouble. Don’t go too close to it.”

  “Liquefied Goldflame?” Although Linley was over ten meters away from that golden magma pool, he could still sense those waves of heat assaulting his body. If a Saint from a material plane was to come here, most likely within just a few meters of this golden magma pool, the Saint would immediately combust and burn to nothingness due to the temperature.

  The group of Fiends all in
tentionally stayed a distance away from the golden magma pool, not daring to draw too near.

  “Rumble…” Quite bizarrely, the stone floor around the magma pool began to move like waves of water. All of the Fiends were caught off guard and immediately flew into the air.

  “Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”

  A large number of boulders from the cave walls suddenly fell down, while at the same time shooting towards Linley’s group of Fiends at astonishing speed. The densely clustered boulders shot over, and Linley and the others were forced to use their strength to block. Linley, Delia, Bebe, Nisse, and Salomon were all together.

  “Bang!” A boulder slammed into him. Although his defense was powerful, Linley was still knocked flying by dozens of meters, and moved all the way over to the air above the golden magma.

  “Drip, drip…”

  The ‘magma’ in the golden magma pool suddenly transformed in to an enormous golden liquid hand, reaching out to grasp Linley.

  “Swish!” Linley immediately activated the Profound Truths of Velocity, using it to maximum effect. He transformed into a surge of blue smoke, twisting strangely in the air and avoiding that clutch, then flying back to Delia and Bebe’s side.

  “Ahhhhhh!”

  Linley had managed to avoid disaster, but another person had also been knocked to the air above the magma pool and had been grabbed by that golden liquid hand, then dragged into the golden magma pool. Upon being dragged in…he never came out again. Only a few bubbles could be seen.

  “Everyone, be careful. Don’t let yourself be knocked into that golden magma pool.” Linley could still taste his fear.

  “Linley, you be careful too.” Salomon had the easiest time of their group. Whenever boulders drew near, a black light would flash in his hands and those boulders would immediately transform into smithereens.

  Delia was prepared now, and the Deathgod Golem was constantly smashing apart one boulder after another in front of her. Deathgod Golems were incomparably tough, far tougher than these boulders, and it sheared through them now.

  “Ahhhh!”

  Yet another person was knocked into the air above the golden magma pool, and two enormous liquid golden hands reached out, dragging him down. He, too, never appeared again. This sight caused those experts who were suffering the attacks of those many boulders to be terrified.