Book 11: Chapter 23: Lava Sphere

“Is two enough?” Hill looked at the dozen or so Dragonflies fiercely charging towards them and said cheerfully.

Group-living magical beasts, especially lower-tier ones, relied entirely on numbers for their threat.

In ancient times, before the Faeriel plane Elves arrived on Faerûn, the mightiest creatures on the continent were the ancient Dragons and the Titan race’s giant descendants. However, the dominant race of Faerûn back then wasn’t these behemoths who could each reach Demigod strength, but the countless Lizardfolk, which were also the earliest Sapient Races civilization to appear on the Faerûn continent.

But this civilization was quite primitive. It couldn’t compare to the Elf civilization, and was even inferior to the later short-lived Goblin civilization. The reason Lizardfolk could rule most of Faerûn’s territory at that time was their numbers.

Of course, the regional lower-tier Dragonflies couldn’t be compared to Lizardfolk; they hadn’t even developed human-like intelligence. However, the combat power of Dragonflies when their numbers stacked up was something Lizardfolk couldn’t match.

Even though everyone looked down on these ten-plus Dragonflies, if that number exceeded three digits, then Qin Lun and the others would have to flee in panic. A group of Dragonflies that large would generate an extremely wide innate domain, and its power would increase exponentially. Just standing there, Rand would probably have a hard time, unable to easily use his skills.

“It should be enough!” Hearing Hill’s doubt, Rand just turned his head with a smile, raised his hand, and threw the Lava Sphere floating in front of him.

The Lava Sphere’s speed was neither fast nor slow, roughly like an ordinary person throwing a basketball. The Dragonflies charging at them nimbly dodged it. However, just as the Lava Sphere reached the center of their group, it suddenly burst open with a “pop.”

Unlike a Mage’s Fireball Spell, the Lava Sphere’s explosive power wasn’t great, but it scattered many sparks. Only these sparks were very tiny, almost like mosquitoes—normal-sized mosquitoes, of course.

Mastashia, who was observing from the side, slightly frowned and silently raised her longbow again. She hadn’t been optimistic about Rand easily handling these Dragonflies, and now she was sure of it.

Every Harper Master was a well-traveled adventurer. She knew that most swamp creatures had decent fire resistance. Common sense said that these little sparks landing on the Dragonflies wouldn’t even burn their wings.

But this time, Mastashia was wrong. Precisely because the sparks from the Lava Sphere were so weak, their numbers were naturally quite large, completely covering the airspace in front of them like a huge spider web, enveloping every oncoming Dragonfly.

At this point, no matter how agile the Dragonflies were, they couldn’t avoid getting splashed by some sparks. Compared to the over half-meter-long bodies of these magical beasts, the sparks landing on them were almost unnoticeable. It was like when an ordinary person passes a welding site; they don’t care about the few sparks that might land on them.

But the next moment, every spark that landed on a Dragonfly was like falling into a room filled with gas, “whooshing” into a huge fireball. Even Dragonflies splashed with only a few sparks were suddenly engulfed by fierce flames, shrieking in agony.

The tenacious Dragonflies flew wildly in the air. The color of the flames on their bodies slowly changed over time, from orange-red at first to orange-yellow, and finally turning pale white, meaning the flame temperature had reached over four thousand degrees.

The Dragonflies that got the most sparks quickly fell from the sky, only stopping their burning when they turned to ashes. A couple of Dragonflies that got fewer sparks were smarter; they headed straight for the lake.

However, the cold lake water couldn’t save them. The fireballs hitting the water’s surface reacted even more violently, like water poured into boiling oil, immediately disintegrating these Dragonflies.

Their remains covered a large area of the water’s surface. And that wasn’t the end. The lake water seemed to become fuel for these scattered fireballs, and the fire spread eerily across the water. Finally, a decent-sized sea of fire appeared before everyone!

Seeing this, apart from Qin Lun and Hill who were mentally prepared, everyone else widened their eyes, staring in disbelief. They weren’t unfamiliar with high-tier magic, but they swore they had never seen such a weird variation of a Fireball Spell.

“Excluding high-tech synthetic compounds, high-temperature lava from a planet’s core is the second hottest natural existence after a star’s surface temperature. After undersea volcanic eruptions, lava forms Lava Spheres with solidified surfaces under the seawater’s action, but even at the deep sea floor, the high temperature inside them can last for months.”

Rand laughed in the Team Channel. “Now you know why I didn’t continue on the Fire Manipulator career path and chose the niche Magma Overlord profession instead.”

“Fire Manipulator’s fire skills don’t have the pretty Firecracker effects, right?” Hill was uncharacteristically humorous for once.

“But lava doesn’t have this property of burning everything it touches, does it?” Qin Lun glanced at the sea of fire on the water and said, somewhat puzzled.

“No, lava does have this property. As long as the temperature is high enough, the flames can use any element as fuel. You need to know that water can also be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen.”

Rand shook his head and laughed. “Back when I was a firefighter, I caught an arsonist. The kid’s homemade compound could use almost anything as a fire retardant and fuel. The secret was that this compound had good volatility and could unleash extremely high instantaneous temperatures.”

“Let’s go quickly. It’ll be too late if the Dragonflies swarm out.” After this brief pause, Rick had already caught up.

The few remaining Dragonflies attacking him, after seeing what just happened, smartly retreated, presumably going back to the nest to call for reinforcements.

Mastashia gave Rand a complicated look and led the way forward again. Winnie, whom she was supporting, had stabilized her emotions and silently followed behind everyone. But along the way, she kept her head down without speaking, and even when Rick spoke to her, she seemed listless, unsure what illusions she had seen in the Water Wraith’s eyes.

After overcoming the brief danger, the group encountered no further trouble along the way. Mastashia was very focused this time, leading everyone to find another clearing where they could rest by evening.

After climbing up a large banyan tree for their temporary camp, Rand suddenly said mysteriously in the Team Channel, “Guys, look what I got!”

Qin Lun and Hill focused on the item picture displayed in the Team Channel and were immediately somewhat surprised. Rand had actually obtained a Star Void reward Apostle item after eliminating the Dragonflies earlier.

Dragonfly Summon Card (Consumable): This is a bright gold quality one-time use item. Using the card summons seven third-tier Dragonflies and one fourth-tier Dragonfly Commander. The summons last for ten minutes, lack low-level intelligence, and can only perform instinctive attacks under their master’s conscious control.

“Why didn’t you take it out earlier? If we’d known, we could have set an ambush to take out that Dragonfly nest in batches.” Hill asked in surprise. “Seven or eight Dragonflies can’t form a strong innate domain. If we had a few more, it would be like having another ace up our sleeve!”

“You’re too greedy. This is probably because Star Void lacks data on Dragonflies, these swamp creatures, and specially rewarded Rand. It won’t drop so easily.” Qin Lun, however, remained relatively calm and hit the nail on the head.

“Hmm, Qin Lun is right. I did get some additional Exploration Rate; this is the biological Exploration Rate reward Star Void gave in advance.” Rand smiled and removed the card’s information from the Team Channel.

Actually, Rand had more he didn’t say out loud. It might have looked like he casually threw two Lava Spheres and easily wiped out that batch of Dragonflies, earning everyone’s admiration.

In reality, this powerful Lava Sphere skill had a very high consumption. The precise explosion of those sparks also required him to use Nen control. No matter how strong the Lava Sphere was, it relied on the Apostle’s Energy Points to sustain it. He couldn’t use it many times.

If Qin Lun and Hill hadn’t clearly wanted to see his progress, and if he hadn’t had the ability to eliminate the Dragonflies, he wouldn’t have used such a high-consumption lava skill.

The next morning, everyone prepared to set off again. However, Qin Lun approached the Highland Elf at this time.

“Mastashia, over these past few days, I haven’t asked you: what clues did you find at the target location back then? I believe you would find a suitable time to tell us.” Qin Lun looked at the Harper Master and said seriously. “But now we’ve deep into the Death Lands, and everyone is trustworthy, I think you should speak plainly now.”

Mastashia looked at Qin Lun, saw he had no intention of backing down, and finally sighed.

“Firal, actually, the people you’re looking for, including Iristin…” Mastashia took a deep breath and said thoughtfully, “Based on my judgment, they might no longer be in the Death Marsh.”

“What?!” Qin Lun’s pupils constricted sharply. From the moment he met the Highland Elf, he knew he could only believe part of what she said; there were definitely some secrets she hadn’t revealed.

He was just anxious to find Iristin and had to endure it. He never expected the secret Mastashia was hiding would be this!

“Don’t act yet, hear me out!” Mastashia looked at Qin Lun, who was slowly showing a bright smile, and gave a bitter smile.

After a few days together, she had come to understand Qin Lun’s character a bit. This Elf Prince of Seopia wasn’t like an Elf at all. Although she had never seen him lose his temper, when he showed a sunny smile, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“I did hide some things from you, but it doesn’t affect rescuing Iristin and the others. It’s about another matter, a huge secret buried deep in the heart of the Death Lands.” Mastashia said seriously.

“In my eyes, Iristin is more important than any secret. You have no idea what I gave up in this world to save that little fool!” Violent red glints flickered chaotically deep within Qin Lun’s pupils, making the Highland Elf opposite him feel a shock of fear.

“Firal, calm down!” Hill and Rand suddenly appeared on either side of Qin Lun, both placing hands on his shoulders.

“Sorry, my companion has been a bit irritable lately. However, I hope you give him a reasonable answer quickly.” Hill said politely, his white teeth gleaming. “Otherwise, I don’t want to fight him over you. Believe me, you don’t want to see him like that.”