What the mental link transmitted was scalding trust and fearless madness, as though that blaze of light and flame, capable of melting rock into liquid in an instant, was not a grave, but a furnace of transformation!
Lin Xia's struggling movements froze abruptly.
Lou Gao's pulling, and the faint beastly roars coming from outside the tunnel, seemed to be completely cut off at this moment.
All of Lin Xia's consciousness focused on the crystal-clear will being conveyed through the mental link—danger? Perhaps. But death was not the end!
It was inside.
It needed him to go in!
"Teacher!"
Lin Xia spun around violently. The sweat on his face was instantly evaporated by the intense heat, his features twisted by the heat waves. His voice was hoarse, yet filled with resolute determination.
"Let… let go of me! Larvitar is calling me! It says… it's fine!"
"Bullshit!"
Lou Gao's eyes nearly split apart. Spit sprayed onto Lin Xia's face and instantly dried up.
"Look at it yourself! Does that look fine?! That's Sun Essence! It's burning straight through that little thing's shell!"
At that moment of deadlock
"ROAR!!!"
"AO—!!!"
Deafening, destruction-filled beast roars surged violently in from the direction of the tunnel entrance like a tsunami!
Layer upon layer, the sound carried the tremor of the earth and the stench of sulfurous wind, instantly suppressing even the humming of the Sun Essence deep within the mine!
Master and disciple turned their heads in horror.
That faint trace of natural light at the tunnel entrance was now completely blocked by countless pairs of crimson eyes blazing with madness!
Lava Lizards, Lava Earth Dragons, even the Volcanic Stone Giant soaking in boiling water… all the once-languid volcanic soul beasts had been whipped awake by some invisible force and plunged into total frenzy!
Their bodies piled up and pressed together at the tunnel entrance. Rough scales and molten armor scraped violently against rock, producing ear-grinding sounds.
Crimson eyeballs locked tightly onto the two people inside the tunnel. Low, lethal roars rolled in their throats, sulfur-tainted saliva dripping to the ground and instantly evaporating into white steam.
They did not charge immediately. Instead, they gathered briefly at the entrance, building momentum, like volcanic magma on the verge of eruption. The oppressive pressure of it was suffocating!
"Damn it!"
Lou Gao cursed loudly. His concern for his disciple was instantly replaced by the more immediate threat of death.
He released Lin Xia abruptly. His burly body erupted with speed utterly unbefitting his age. In a single step, he shifted sideways, slamming the stock of the AK-47 hard against his shoulder!
Da-da-da-da-da—!!!
The violent gunfire instantly tore through the heavy air inside the tunnel! Muzzle flashes streaked dazzling arcs through the dimness!
Bullets stormed forth like a metallic tempest, smashing viciously into the tightly packed soul beast horde at the entrance!
Several smaller Lava Lizards at the front, trying to squeeze their way in, bore the brunt of it!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The specially modified armor-piercing rounds effortlessly tore through their proud crimson scales!
Scalding beast blood mixed with shredded flesh and viscera exploded violently!
Shrill screams blended with the dull thuds of bullets striking armor and the cracking of rock!
A Lava Earth Dragon's heavy shoulder armor was hit repeatedly. Sparks flew as the tough armor was forcibly drilled open, boiling blood gushing out like a fountain!
It let out a pained roar, its massive body staggering backward and crashing into several companions attempting to charge forward behind it.
"Xia! Get the little one out! Now!!!"
Lou Gao roared as he continued to pull the trigger frantically. The rifle bucked violently in his hands, scorching shell casings clattering onto the burning rock.
He had to buy time for his disciple, if only a few seconds!
The tunnel entrance was partially clogged by beast corpses and stinking blood mist, causing the frenzied charge to stall momentarily.
But more soul beasts trampled over their companions' bodies and pools of blood. Their crimson eyes burned with even greater killing intent as they pressed inward through the hail of bullets!
The Lava Earth Dragon with the shattered shoulder armor went completely berserk. It opened its massive jaws as a blazing white miniature lava fireball condensed deep in its throat!
Now!
Lin Xia cast one final glance at his teacher's back, hair and beard flaring wildly in the gunfire as he fought with all his might. A flame of resolve, trust, and madness ignited violently in Lin Xia's chest.
Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed every ounce of strength in his legs and, like a moth plunging into flame, hurled himself headfirst into that golden-crimson radiance capable of vaporizing steel in an instant!
Boom!
The world changed completely the instant he entered the range of the blazing light.
An indescribable temperature!
This was something that surpassed the very concept of "heat." Lin Xia's clothes did not even have time to release a wisp of smoke—upon touching the edge of the light, they were reduced instantly to nothingness, scattered into particles!
Lin Xia's exposed skin—his face, arms, chest—was like a wax figure thrown into a furnace, instantly carbonizing, blackening, and cracking apart!
"Guh—!!!"
A non-human scream, squeezed out from the depths of his soul, was choked off in his throat.
Lin Xia felt as if his skin had been stripped away, and then every inch of muscle and every blood vessel had been thrown into boiling molten steel!
His vision was completely flooded with crimson-gold light. His eyeballs burned with intense pain, as if they would melt in the very next second!
Breathing?
Every breath he took sent air hot as molten lava surging through his carbonized airway into his lungs, bringing with it even fiercer internal incineration!
Lin Xia felt as though he had become a burning torch, an object being reduced to charcoal from the outside in, from flesh to bone, bit by bit!
The icy touch of death climbed rapidly up his spine, nearly drowning what little consciousness he had left.
At that moment, a small claw—equally scorching hot and covered in molten, rock-like armor, latched onto Lin Xia's wrist with astonishing strength!
With great difficulty, Lin Xia turned his eyes, which felt as though they were about to melt. In his blurred vision were Larvitar's eyes, crimson as blood.
There was no fear in them. No pain. Only an almost sacred focus and… urgency.
Larvitar's condition was just as terrifying.
The hard rocky armor covering its body now resembled red-hot branding iron, entering a semi-translucent, molten state. Crimson-gold patterns surged beneath the shell like flowing magma, radiating heat that was purer and more ancient than the surrounding flames!
Its small body seemed to have become an extension of the Sun Essence mineral vein itself!
Larvitar made no sound.
It used all its strength to force Lin Xia's heat-warped hand down onto a fist-sized protrusion on the mineral wall, a chunk of Sun Essence ore flowing with liquid golden light!
At the same time, it opened its small mouth, revealing sharp teeth, and without the slightest hesitation, bit down viciously on the mineral vein itself, which radiated eternal brilliance!
Crack!
The hard crystal, containing terrifying solar power, shattered like fragile glass beneath Larvitar's fangs, teeth capable of tearing through black rock!
A small fragment flowing with golden light was bitten off and vanished instantly into its mouth.
The mental message transmitted contained only one word, one will so intense it felt ready to explode.
Eat!
Agonizing pain churned inside Lin Xia like billions of red-hot steel wires twisting violently. Every nerve screamed in torment.
Lin Xia looked at his right hand, burned black and carbonized by the heat, already beginning to peel away. The instant his fingertips touched the Sun Essence ore, he even heard the faint sizzle of his finger bones under the heat, as if even his skeleton were about to melt.
Eat?
He could barely even open his mouth now—his jaw muscles felt as though they were carbonizing and tearing apart!
The fear of death coiled around his heart like an icy venomous serpent. The suffocating sensation was even worse than the heat.
Run!
That thought had never been so overwhelming.
While his limbs could still move, if he exhausted his last bit of strength to rush out, maybe his teacher could still carry his dying body and fight their way through…
However—
Larvitar's crimson eyes, locked firmly onto him like two burning blood moons, contained no pleading and no fear.
Only an unshakable, rock-solid conviction—and an unquestionable urging!
That gaze seemed to say only one thing.
Trust me! Swallow it!
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