"Kekeke..."
A low, raspy screeching echoed down from the top of the rock face.
Pairs of tiny, gleaming eyes flickered into existence. Their reddish-brown hide blended almost seamlessly with the magma, making them look like stones hanging from the cavern ceiling.
Sharp hisses and clicks rang out as scalding steam burst from the crevices between those "rocks"—these were steam bats.
"It's steam bats!" a player shouted.
Instantly, the bats clinging to the ceiling beat their wings, forming a dense, black mass that surged toward the players like a tidal wave, bringing scalding steam with them.
"Holy shit, that many?"
An archer was struck dumb on the spot.
Before he could react, dozens of bats swarmed him, latching onto his body and enveloping him until he was torn to shreds.
By the time the swarm dispersed, the player's mangled remains were already cooked through by the steam.
The other solo stragglers suffered the exact same fate. Hiding in every fissure of the cave, the bats seemed to be everywhere.
Moreover, these steam bats possessed a spell-like ability resembling Blur. Lethal steam and thick, hazy white mist billowed through the cavern, blinding the players to their surroundings.
"Spellcasters! Disperse the mist!"
"Visibility is getting worse by the second!"
Singo steered his wyvern, navigating the rock face with agile maneuvers.
Drawing his longbow taut on the move, he loosed an arrow imbued with magical energy, piercing through several steam bats in succession.
Whenever any bats drew near, the wyvern beneath him tore them apart with claw and fang without mercy.
"Kill!"
Mantou had his wyvern, Noodles, flap its wings to disperse the surrounding smoke while charging straight into the swarm, hacking away relentlessly with his longsword.
"Roar!"
Noodles bellowed, batting down several bats with a single swipe of its talons.
Yet the scalding steam spewed by the steam bats scorched both Noodles and Mantou black.
Even with their potent red dragon bloodlines, they could not achieve complete immunity to such superheated magical steam.
Xiaye Qiuyu floated and darted through the swarm, surrounded by orbs of force that knocked down any bats that rushed her.
"Gust of Wind!"
Charlotte and the players from Magic Coin waved their staves in unison. A howling gale swept forward, scattering the smoke ahead to reveal the grotesque shapes of the bats.
The Machine Cult players shouted, "Good chance! Charge through!"
"Push the levers! Engage pistons and pumps!"
"Start the engine! Ignite the turbines! Breathe life into the machine!"
They shoved the levers to maximum.
Hum—
Boom—
With a shrieking roar of displaced air, the thrusters on its back blasted out plumes of fiery light, propelling the Arcane Armor to ever greater speeds.
Standing nearly five meters tall, weighing tens of tons, and painted in bright red, the massive armor plowed directly into the swarm like a battering ram.
Crash!
First came a deafening impact, followed by a chain of explosions.
The entire cavern shuddered. Debris rained down from the ceiling as dozens of bats slammed into the frontal armor, bursting one after another into fiery residue and magma shards.
"Iron protect us!"
"With the Firewarden, I'm invincible!"
The players piloting the Arcane Armor cheered in unison, throwing the levers again to dive back into the fray.
Gurgle, gurgle...
Suddenly, a low bubbling sound echoed as pockets of gas broke the surface of the magma.
The eyes of the players, who had already wiped out most of the steam bats, snapped toward the disturbance.
Splash!
A colossal figure rose from the magma.
Molten rock splattered across the terrain, melting deep pits into the stone wherever it landed.
The creature was composed of massive boulders. Burning sulfur flared at the joints connecting its limbs to its torso, while spiderweb fissures ran across its chest, centered on a brilliant fiery glow. Its eyes burned like globes of churning lava.
"Roar—"
It vented blasts of white smoke, shrouded in toxic volcanic fumes, with strands of magma drooling from the corners of its maw.
This was a magma stone monster—a creature born of magma and stone, a true fire elemental that could only survive in such searing, extreme environments.
"Roar!"
In response to its cry, even more magma stone monsters surfaced from the molten lake, numbering well over a dozen.
Normally, they appeared no different from ordinary, nondescript rocks. But confronted with an invasion of "intruders," they finally unleashed their terrifying forms.
"Intruders... die!"
A magma stone monster hurled a chunk of burning sulfur at a paladin from Wangquan, who hastily raised his shield to block.
Bang! Boom!
The sulfur exploded on contact, instantly blasting away the costly shield and knocking several players behind him to the ground.
Seizing the opening, the steam bats swarmed in, spewing scalding steam.
Similar scenes played out across the cavern; even the Machine Cult's Firewarden armor had an arm blown off.
Chunks of flaming sulfur hurtled across the cave. Even Mantou was nearly struck, barely evading only thanks to his wyvern's desperate leap.
"Their chests!"
"That's where their cores are!"
Xiaye Qiuyu called out calmly.
These magma stone monsters fed on fire, drawing energy from the magma year after year. They possessed immense size and horrifying strength.
Their weakness was the magma core in their chest—the fountainhead of their life.
As for why Xiaye Qiuyu hadn't spoken up sooner—naturally, it was to cull more competitors so fewer rivals would vie for the spots in the end.
The players from major guilds knew this intelligence as well and shared the exact same mindset: everyone wanted to clear the trial, but everyone also wanted fewer competitors left standing.
Consequently, the poorly informed solo players became the unfortunate casualties.
The culling was undeniably effective.
In just a few short minutes, over twenty more players were reduced to cinders, leaving only about fifty-odd survivors in the cave.
"Got it!"
"Hah!"
Tiansheng Zhankuang hurled his greataxe. The weapon spun through the air, cleaving through a flying chunk of sulfur before burying itself directly into a magma stone monster's chest.
The blade bit deep into the stone, splitting the magma core in two.
Boom!
The magma stone monster let out a skyward roar before its body crumbled into ordinary stones and sulfur chunks, crashing to the ground.
Thwip—
Singo released his bowstring. An arrow shot out true, striking right at the center of another magma stone monster's chest.
Bang!
The arrowhead flashed several times before detonating.
Yet another magma stone monster shattered with an enraged roar, plunging into the molten rock like a pile of rubble.
"Get ready to clear the stage!"
"Smash these stone freaks back to rubble!"
Seeing this, the other players naturally followed suit, slaughtering the magma stone monsters without mercy. The Machine Cult's Firewarden even unleashed rays of force, blasting several monsters apart in quick succession.
Chapter 427