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The two men quickly killed the h.e.l.l Fire Lizard and ran toward the crater in a hurry.
Bubble bubble…
They could immediately tell the incredible heat coming from the crater.
The horse-faced man gulped and said to the one-eyed man,
“Hey, you are good at using cold magic, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“In that case, try going in there by wrapping yourself in it.”
“Are you insane? I’m not that good.”
“Ah, how do you know without even trying!”
“Are you going to take the responsibility if I died trying? Also, it is absolutely not possible at my level of mastery. My real specialty is wind magic.”
The one-eyed man actively protested. The horse-faced man crumpled his face.
Afterwards, he looked at the crater and shook his head.
‘No, to go in there, you need to be specializing in flame magic or do the opposite by having someone specializing in water magic to neutralize the heat on the surrounding and enter…’
The horse-faced man’s specialty was lightning magic just like Vulcan.
He was also completely lacking in the abilities to enter the crater.
“Ugh. Why did that runt jump in there? What’s there to gain? By any chance, was he aware that we are targeting him?”
“I am not sure… Still, if we wait here, he will come out eventually, won’t he? If it looks like he is not going to come out… The main force will arrive soon, so we can send them instead then.”
“You dumba.s.s, their skills are at even lower heights than me.”
“Won’t there two or three who specialize in flame or water?”
“There are, but… that just makes only two or three. With just them, honestly…”
The horse-faced man swallowed the rest of the sentence.
He did not want to say it out loud that their force could be defeated by a newbie.
It was p.i.s.sing him off. He kicked the ground hard.
Bam!
A gigantic piece of land, a huge piece that looked like even the strongest man in the world would have had a hard time lifting, flew away as if it was just a small pebble.
Still, the horse-faced man could not quench his anger.
Unbelievable situations were happening one after the other. They had made his patience reach its bottom.
‘Seriously. He was already unbelievably strong to begin with, but he became even stronger?’
The horse-faced man pressed down hard on his forehead where he was feeling serious headache. He thought about what just happened.
Vulcan defeated two h.e.l.l Fire Lizards and stood up proudly.
After a moment, he exuded flashy fireworks from his entire body and laughed relentlessly like nothing could get in his way.
It was obvious that he just obtained an enlightenment and progressed a step forward.
Also, although it was not common in Act 2, it was something that could be observed from a few people once in a long while.
However, Vulcan was already a newbie at an unimaginable height that defied the common sense. Yet he moved another step forward. It was the first time for them to witness something like this.
‘Really… he is like a fiend.’
The horse-faced man shook his body.
It was not that he was feeling fear from realizing Vulcan’s strength.
On the other hand, it was not that he was still angry about this a.s.signment not going smoothly.
Instead, as he watched Vulcan becoming stronger without bound, he was thinking about the future full of joy and expectations.
He wondered what kind of incredible results would be achieved from researching the body of a runt who had monstrous growth like Vulcan.
Also, the horse-faced man wondered how much stronger he could get from applying the result of the research on himself.
Just thinking about him engulfed him in pure thrill. He could not hold still from the excitement.
His change in mood was so sudden. It was hard to believe that he was venting his frustration just a moment ago.
The horse-faced man had been criticizing others, calling them r.e.t.a.r.ds or dumba.s.sess. However, he was also a part of the Bae Su Jin, which was a gathering of those with strange personalities.
The horse-faced man was not a normal man.
Like that, he was deep in his pipe-dream. He soon got a hold of himself and said to the one-eyed man,
“I don’t think this will work. Call the captain and ask him to come.”
“Pardon? We are here to catch just a newbie. Is there really a need to ask the captain to… Let’s just wait a little longer until Vulcan comes out.”
“You rascal. What are you going to do if there is an underground pathway below? Don’t you know that there are many weird caves or pathways in Act 2? Are you planning on making another inquiries to the Oracle after losing him here? Do you have a lot of money?”
“I’ll call the captain right away.”
“Tsk… Also, you just saw it. That runt became even stronger. With just us, at our strengths, we will definitely end up with casualties.”
“That… I guess that definitely could happen. I understand.”
The one-eyed man shriveled and tried to use the communication magic immediately.
The horse-faced man gave a quick glance at the horse-faced man and directed his gaze at the crater once again.
It was not that he had any plan in particular in doing so.
It was just that he had nothing else to do. So, he vacantly stared at the crater that Vulcan entered.
It was at that moment.
Papapat!
Crunch.
It appeared at an instant. With its gigantic mouth, it bite off the one-eyed man’s head in whole. It was a man in black getup.
It was Forwaru, the ferocious eater.
Half of the one-eyed man’s head was gone. His body collapsed before he could use the communication magic.
“You son of a b…!”
Twt!
He spat out harsh curses and quickly retreated. However, the horse-faced man was not able to handle Forwaru’s speed.
Forwaru spat the skull and brain fluid inside his mouth toward the horse-faced man to block his vision. Using explosive dash, Forwaru got to right in front of the horse-faced man.
Forwaru’s hammer like fist got planted on the pit of the horse-faced man’s stomach. Before the horse-faced man could even scream like a horse, he lost his life.
Purng!
Tatak, tatak…
His flesh got spread all over the area like a firework.
It was a cruel, disgusting sight to stare with eyes open. However, it did not faze Forwaru at all.
He quickly looked around the area. As soon as he became certain that n.o.body saw what he just did, he jumped into the crater.
Of course, it was after he finished disposing the dead bodies. He finished it clean.
Splas.h.!.+
Korururururu…
The horse-faced man and one-eyed man were no more. Also, even Forwaru, who ambushed them, was now gone from the scene. The Lava Field was filled only with silence flowing through the air.
It became a desolate, lonely place. However, there was an existence that was watching the scene from a far.
There were Chimeras that hid themselves by burrowing to the ground. Through those Chimeras, there was a man who was watching the situation from a safe place.
The old man, the Chimera maker, broke cold sweats and mumbled by himself.
“Who is that runt now? f.u.c.k. Why is there more and more showing up?”
The situation happened so fast that he didn’t even have the time to adjust the quality of the visual.
So, he was not able to figure out who it was exactly. However, he figured out one thing. This one was incredibly strong. It was giving him the creeps.
Chimera maker felt that he could not be certain of the victory even if all 15 of the Chimeras fought this one at once.
This one was incredibly strong, a being who was rare even in Act 2. With such a being making an entrance to the situation, the old man felt like his skull was being pulled out.
‘Ugh… Just to how many people has the information been leaked to… Also, where did that Player runt go to… I don’t think the Chimeras that I sent to that location can handle entering there.’
The old man’s agony deepened.
His forehead was completely crumpled, and the wrinkles became gradually deeper. They explained how complicated his head and mind were at the moment.
However, no matter how many times he repeated his thoughts, he could not think of anything in particular that was going to help the situation.
If it was not for that unidentified monstrous man, waiting until the prey came out of the crater would have been a doable option. However, now the old man could not even do that.
‘Uuu… I wish there was a hidden pathway underneath the crater so even that G.o.d d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d would lose him. If that happened, I will get another chance… What the… Who are those runts now?’
It was the Bae Su Jin’s main force that arrived late.
Confused, they looked around the Lava Field. Having noticed them, the old man hurriedly hid the Chimeras deep into the ground.
In the end, the old man could not hold his anger anymore. He screamed out loud like an animal.
“Kuuuuaaaaaaaaa! Just why are there so many of these flies getting tangled up!”
Bam Bam Bam Bam.
Unable to handle his anger, he rammed his head at the wall.
Kiiiaaaaaa.
There was just the newly made Chimera maid that was watching him from a distance.
* * *
Vulcan entered the crater where it was boiling with flames.
He currently had absolutely no idea what was happening around him, not even in his dreams. Instead, he was fully focused on finding the location of the hidden quest.
The inside of the crater was wider and deeper than he thought.
From the outside, the crater looked like a small lake. When he entered below, the surface was like the size of the entrance for a vase in comparison to what was underneath it. It was that wide.
It was definitely not normal.
So, because of that fact, Vulcan could be certain that this place was a hidden quest area.
‘All hidden quest areas that I had seen so far were not normal, so…’
Vulcan diligently moved his body and got to the bottom of the crater. He looked around the crater in search of the engraving that Beruneru told him about.
‘A devil… An engraving of a devil with wings… Kuuuk. This place is really hot.’
Vulcan was at SS rank with the fire mastery. Even with this, it was going to be difficult for him to withstand the heat here for long.
Vulcan busily moved around to find the engraving quickly. Eventually, at a corner, he found the engraving of a devil that was drawn in black color.
‘Um… I think this is right.’
It had a huge body. It looked like a predator.
Its head had two horns attached to it. Behind the body, there were wings.
It was a devil no matter who looked at it.
Vulcan peeked a smile as he watched the engraving. However, he felt the extreme heat from the crater that was trying to boil him alive. That suddenly got him to get a hold of himself.
He then focused his mana and started a flame magic that he was most confident about.
‘Above the devil engraving, he said I should use the most powerful flame magic… Ifrit’s Fist is not bad, but the Super Heated Inferno is the best when it comes to the flame magic.’
Stream of flame poured down from underneath Vulcan’s feet and covered the devil engraving.
Usually, Super Heated Inferno spread and covered a wide area. However, this time, the area was fixed to exactly the shape of the engraving and flames were burning up just there.
It was thanks to Vulcan’s fine control, which was possible from having achieved SS rank in flame mastery.
Like that, a few seconds had pa.s.sed. The devil engraving below Vulcan’s feet was showing a change.
Two lights appeared from the place that was estimated to be its face.
The lights were like two eyes of the devil, and Vulcan flinched from seeing them. Meanwhile, from the two lights, something like laser beams were shot out.
Also, at the end of the beams, red colored portal slowly appeared.
‘That’s it!’
The scene looked similar to how it was when Vulcan entered the Abandoned Dungeon at the Beloong City. He thought he was lucky inside as he charged toward the portal.
It was like a well-trained lion jumping into the ring of fire. Vulcan, in a cool diving pose, entered right into the portal.
Woooong.
The portal was waving with red light. As soon as it swallowed Vulcan, it quickly disappeared. The devil engraving, which generated the portal, disappeared as if it was never there in the first place.
After that, a moment later…
Kuuwaaaaaaaa.
There was a man with shark teeth that came down through the lava with rough movements.
Forwaru cast over 20 barriers to protect his body and thoroughly looked around the area.
‘I came down as I thoroughly searched from the top. He could not have ran away by going up.’
Violent energy was exuding from Forwaru’s body.
It was not like he could do anything to Vulcan at the moment since Vulcan still had the protective blessing.
However, if there was a hidden pathway here and Vulcan escaped through there, it was not going to be a good idea to just wait above.
Also, although he had been looking around and around the area, he could not find Vulcan. He concluded that there really must be a pathway that lead to somewhere else.
Forwaru figured Vulcan must have headed to a hidden dungeon that only he knew.
Forwaru peeked a smile with his wide torn mouth.
‘I should find the hidden pathway and sneak in there. I should catch him alive as soon as the protective blessing ends. Kuuuu. n.o.body else saw Vulcan jumping in here other than me. I don’t have compet.i.tions anymore!’
Having thought this far, he turned light on his eyes and looked all over the place, anywhere that looked suspicious.
However, no matter how long he searched, he could not find any hidden pathway or safe place.
He could not understand what was happening. Forwaru was about to explode from being frustrated. However, it could not be helped.
The mana for maintaining the barriers was about to be depleted. In the end, Forwaru, with tears in his eyes, had no choice but to jump out of the crater.
Pusuuuu.
“What the?”
“Who is that?”
Bae Su Jin’s main force had been looking for the horse-face man and one-eyed man who they lost contact with. They were surprised by Forwaru who suddenly came out of the crater.
However, they did not panick for long. They concluded that he must have something to do with the current situation, so they started pouring magic attacks at Forwaru.
Baboboboboom!
Pazuzuzuzuzuk!
All sorts of magic attacks came flying at Forwaru.
Suddenly facing attacks, Forwaru said as if he chewed it and spat it out.
“Kuuuu… These miserable p.r.i.c.ks!”
If this was any other day, let alone receiving any significant damage, Forwaru could have handled them all. However, at the moment, Forwaru was quite exhausted.
At this rate, Forwaru was going to fall before them if he fought them.
Forwaru held on to his fury. He cast barrier and quickly ran for it.
“Catch that runt! He must have something to do with this!”
Bae Su Jin’s mages quickly responded and pursued him. However, it was to no avail.
To start with, the difference in their heights were too substantial.
Even the greatest warrior among the main force was about on par with the horse-faced man.
Although Forwaru was exhausted, his level exceeded 880. It was impossible for them to catch up to Forwaru.
“Huuuk. Huuuk.”
In the end, Forwaru was able to safely run away to somewhere with n.o.body around.
He was breathing hard. He looked around and confirmed there was nothing. He canceled the barrier.
He drank the potion he brought with him just in case and brought out a return scroll on his hand.
He watched the surrounding extremely carefully like a wounded beast.
Having realized it was safe enough for him to use the return scroll, he roughly tore the scroll.
Woooong.
Surrounded by blue light, Forwaru disappeared. The look on his face was completely crumpled.
Forwaru said,
“Was that Bae Su Jin… or some other runts… I don’t know which runts they were, but I’ll chew on every pieces of their bones.”