Free Web NovelChapter 355: Chapter 177: Doomsday Volcano, Molten Demon Lord
However, his thoughts differed from Dongfang Zhen’s.
A Lord-level member of the Celestial Abyss Race was definitely not something a Gang Condensation Realm Martial Artist could kill.
Not even Lin Ye, not even the three of them combined, could do it.
The next moment, Zhang Daoxuan made his final decision.
He pressed the red button on the bracelet on his right wrist, activating the Space-Folding Device.
A flash of blue light flared, and Zhang Daoxuan’s figure vanished, leaving only the whistling wind in his place.
He had to report this matter to Yin Liulan.
Zhang Daoxuan didn’t know what level of power the training camp’s head instructor had actually reached.
But given that he still couldn’t probe her strength with his Spiritual Power, she had to be at least in the Divine Realm.
Only with the help of these instructors could this operation be considered a sure thing.
...
「Meanwhile, in the core area of the Doomsday Volcano.」
The message was sent.
The Molten Demon Lord’s precise location had also been found.
But Lin Ye didn’t just rush in recklessly.
Calling for backup was one thing, but he still needed to make his own preparations.
He knew very well that the combat effectiveness of his Undead Army, composed of the Stone Ghost and Eight-armed Races, would be greatly diminished here.
If he wanted to build a truly effective army here, his only option was to use local materials.
But the physiology of the Molten Demon Race was a huge problem.
The Furnace Cores inside their bodies were incredibly scalding, and even their blood was like boiling water. The mycelium simply couldn’t grow normally within them.
The only way was to use several times the usual amount of mycelium to forcefully invade and take them over, completing the process of control before the Molten Demon’s core heat completely incinerated the threads.
The cost was immense.
But the rewards were equally substantial.
Several more hours passed.
Lin Ye’s massive legion, originally composed of over three thousand corpses, had now been drastically reduced to fewer than eight hundred.
But the auras of these eight hundred puppets were far more terrifying than before.
Over half of them were newly converted Molten Demon Race puppets. Beneath their dark-red, Crystalized skin, faint black threads could be seen writhing.
The rest were elite or chieftain-level individuals from the Stone Ghost and Eight-armed Races that Lin Ye had carefully selected to keep.
The strategy of overwhelming numbers had now shifted to one of elite forces.
Lin Ye even discovered that the mycelium inside the controlled Molten Demon puppets had undergone an adaptive mutation.
The mycelium now existed only in the cooler joints and tendons of their bodies, remaining almost nonexistent in their blood and other fluids. It would only grow and multiply again when needed.
Furthermore, Lin Ye’s methods seemed to have induced a form of natural selection, improving the mycelium’s own fire resistance.
Some more-resistant strains had appeared.
All in all, these Molten Demons would be one of the main forces in the battles to come.
Everything was ready.
Lin Ye looked at the assembled elite legion before him and gave the order to advance.
He was confident. ’Even if I can’t defeat the Molten Demon Lord alone, with this army and my own strength, stalling until the others arrive will be no problem at all.’
Even if they didn’t show up, it wouldn’t be difficult for Lin Ye to escape if he found he couldn’t win.
Lin Ye looked up at the Doomsday Volcano, which seemed to pierce the heavens, its immense size inspiring awe.
It was hard to imagine the sheer scale of the magma chamber beneath it.
Lin Ye had no doubt that if this thing were to fully erupt, it would cause an apocalyptic disaster.
Inside the cavern, a wave of heat washed over him, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur and toxic gases.
As he ventured deeper, Lin Ye discovered the entire underground space was like an intricate maze, with numerous signs of artificial excavation.
’The Molten Demon Race must have modified and reinforced the natural caverns.’
Along the way, Molten Demons continuously emerged from the rock walls or from lava flows on the ground, attempting to block their path.
But before Lin Ye, this sporadic resistance was futile. They were quickly torn to pieces, only to then stagger back to their feet under the influence of the black mycelium and join his ranks.
「One hour later.」
Lin Ye passed through a long, narrow passage, and the space before him suddenly opened up.
A massive underground space, so vast that he couldn’t see the end of it, appeared before him.
Below was a roiling, boiling sea of magma, and the entire space was hot enough to melt steel.
The puppet legion behind him grew restless; in this extreme environment, the mycelium within them was consuming energy at an astonishing rate.
Lin Ye’s gaze pierced through the distorted air, landing on the center of the Magma Lake.
There, a behemoth captured his full attention.
Most of its body was submerged in the magma; the part exposed above the surface alone was a full ten meters tall.
At its chest, a massive Furnace Core emitted a dim red glow. Though not as bright as that of other Molten Demons, it radiated a pressure that made one’s heart palpitate.
Its head no longer had simple serpentine features. A pair of gnarled, majestic horns had even sprouted from its ferocious crown, making it look more like a draconic beast from myth and legend.
Its body seemed to have undergone complete Elementalization; its skin was flowing magma, with no discernible solid form.
The most striking feature was the enormous, jet-black stone pillar behind it.
The pillar was covered in runes that Lin Ye couldn’t decipher. It plunged deep into the bottom of the Magma Lake, while its other end connected directly to the mountain structure above.
Countless matching black chains extended from the pillar, tightly binding its body.
It was unclear what material the pillar and chains were made of, that they could withstand the corrosive magma.
But now, more than half of the chains binding its eight massive magma arms had already snapped. The chains wrapped around its core were also covered in cracks, looking as if they could shatter at any moment.
[LV. 45 Molten Demon Lord - Balan]
[Evolution Level: 2.2]
A line of blood-red system text appeared, the color so jarring it made Lin Ye’s eyelid twitch.
’Its Evolution Level is even higher than the Crystal Spirit Race’s.’
’This means that if its power weren’t sealed and it was at its peak...’
’Compared to human Martial Artists, it would be above the Divine Realm.’
’It might even have stepped into the Celestial Human Realm.’
