Chapter 127: The Sea of Molten Lava

If the lava monster could still be said to resemble a human in form, then the Flame Guard was purely a creature of flame, the reincarnation of a demonic entity.

With its tall, grotesque physique, the surface of its body was covered in sharp, protruding rock peaks and spikes. Its strength was comparable to that of a Rock Python; thus, when it swung its massive stone fists in a violent clash against the python, the entire lava cavern trembled and swayed.

The two behemoths grappled and rolled together, creating a spectacle that rivaled an epic battle of world-class monsters. Even Greem was forced to retreat repeatedly to avoid the flying rock shards and the boulders constantly falling from the ceiling.

After a hard-fought battle lasting half a candlemark, the Rock Python finally showed signs of defeat.

The python’s rocky body was, after all, merely composed of ordinary subterranean stones temporarily pieced together, whereas the Flame Guard’s steel frame was crafted from hard ores and special steel rocks it had collected from all over the depths during its patrols. Once it lost its advantage in size and strength, the Rock Python was no match for such a ruthless character.

However, for Greem, golem-type constructs had always been a matter of winning through numbers. If one couldn't handle it, then send in two!

And so, a moment later, a second Rock Python emerged amidst a deafening rumble of stone.

With the arrival of the second python, the previously tyrannical and bullying Flame Guard was quickly defeated. There was no helping it; no matter how violent and ferocious it was, it could not withstand one python coiling around its body while another focused on biting its head. With a clear division of labor, the two pythons relied on exquisite coordination to sever the connection between the Flame Guard’s consciousness core and its body.

A man without a head must die; a snake without a head cannot move.

Despite the Flame Guard possessing quasi-wizard-level strength, once its consciousness core was extracted, its massive steel-rock body became nothing more than an empty shell, collapsing in an instant.

Greem had been searching for such quasi-wizard-level fire-type crystals for some time, but he rarely found anything that satisfied him. The primary reason was the sheer tenacity of fire-dwelling creatures.

The Flame Guard he had just killed possessed a fierce, steel-rock body that rendered ordinary spells ineffective. Coupled with its potent fire-based abilities and formidable melee prowess, even a human quasi-wizard would usually try to find a way around it rather than engage in a thankless, life-threatening struggle.

Thus, apart from official wizards who could reliably kill them, only peak quasi-wizards among wizard apprentices had the confidence to take them down without suffering significant losses. The Flame Guard’s only value lay in its quasi-wizard-level consciousness core; if a human quasi-wizard lacked the thunderous, decisive power to kill them quickly, the result was often tragic, yielding only a shattered, worthless core.

These factors combined to make quasi-wizard-level fire crystals a rare commodity.

However, having successfully obtained one thanks to his two Rock Pythons, Greem could not help but beam with joy. Apart from striving to expand his knowledge of sorcery, he spent his remaining time refining his golem squad, working to normalize, quantify, and systematize them.

The most critical advantage of a golem squad is its numbers, followed by the breadth of its types and the cultivation of elite veterans. When fighting in different terrains, different types of golems demonstrate vastly different combat effectiveness.

During the previous battle against the Flower Spirit in the Dark Caverns, if Greem had only possessed Rock Pythons, even summoning a dozen or so would have been insufficient to directly threaten the flying entity. That was why the Lightning Giant, with its swift mobility and fierce long-range firepower, had been essential.

Yet, in today’s environment, no matter how powerful the Lightning Giant’s thunderous storms and high-voltage currents were, they would likely fail to penetrate the Flame Guard’s thick, steel-rock skin. Once elemental spells proved ineffective, a peak quasi-wizard-level Lightning Giant would be less useful than a high-level apprentice-level Rock Python.

It was easy to foresee that if he were to battle enemies on the open sea in the future, his Water Golems would undoubtedly be the most effective. Therefore, the diversification and quantification of his combat golems had become the focus of Greem’s recent efforts.

He had already stockpiled a certain number of Earth, Wind, and Water golems, but his Fire-type golem army had been slow to materialize, primarily due to the scarcity of quasi-wizard-level fire crystals. Today’s acquisition, however, gave Greem a glimpse of the dawn of his future fire-golem troops.

Under his deliberate direction, the two Rock Pythons traversed the underground lava tunnels one after another. They no longer wasted time on ordinary fire creatures, bypassing common lava pools to focus exclusively on hunting Flame Guards.

As they descended, besides gathering two fire diamonds, seven fire stones, and a heap of various other gems and ores, Greem harvested four more quasi-wizard-level fire crystals. This was what truly sent him into a frenzy of delight.

After two days of relentless travel through the volcanic world, Greem finally pierced through the shallow layers and stepped into the core region of the underground volcano. From this point on, he could no longer afford to be as reckless, as this was the territory of the Core Giants. Even with his powerful golem squad, provoking them would be more than he could handle.

Even a newborn Core Giant possessed the strength of a high-level apprentice, while an adult was essentially a wizard-level entity. If not for their inability to survive outside the constant fire energy of the underground volcanoes, the Wizard Continent might have seen the rise of an entirely different kind of deviant wizard.

Adult Core Giants surely possessed wizard-level fire crystals—a rare treasure that even Greem coveted intensely. However, dealing with a Core Giant was not as simple as dealing with a Flame Guard. Though powerful and intelligent, Flame Guards were solitary monsters, often isolated and easily swarmed by apprentices.

The Core Giants, however, possessed intelligence that rivaled human wizards and lived in large clans within the volcanic core. Any attempt to touch one would likely draw a mob of them to intervene. At that point, it wouldn't be the golem squad swarming a Core Giant, but a horde of Core Giants swarming his squad.

The thought of such a terrifying scene sent a shiver down Greem’s spine.

Entering the core region, the first thing Greem saw was an endless sea of lava. The underground space here seemed to have opened into a vast cavern, filled with slow-moving, crimson, boiling, viscous magma.

He had seen many lava pools of various sizes along his journey, but this was the first time he had witnessed one that formed a sea. To be honest, when Greem took his first step out of the lava tunnel and beheld the still, red-hot sea, his breath nearly stopped.

In an immense, boundless space, an ocean of searing black-red magma flowed sluggishly. The surface of the lava sea sat a hundred meters below the cavern ceiling, and the entire space was cast in a crimson glow by the thick, erupting streams of flame.

Beyond the terrifyingly hot magma, the sea was dotted with strange rock formations—some the size of basins, others as large as houses—bobbing on the surface like islands. Embedded within the massive rock pillars and peaks on these islands were exotic, fluorescent gems of various colors, including many fist-sized fire diamonds. One could even find fire diamonds the size of a human head.

Looking out, the lava sea appeared like a massive magical treasury, lying quietly in wait for those destined to find it.

However, the environment was undoubtedly horrific. According to the chip’s detection, the temperature at the edge of the lava sea reached nearly a thousand degrees, while the inner regions soared well above two thousand degrees. In such an environment, without the protection of sorcery, even a quasi-wizard would be reduced to dry bones in an instant.

Greem relied entirely on the dual protection of the Flame Lord’s Scepter and his own fire affinity to withstand the brutal environment. Otherwise, let alone diving in to cultivate, even approaching the area would have been difficult.

Greem waved his hand to dismiss the two Rock Pythons, stowed away the golem crystals, and after carefully checking the safety of his surroundings, hid his equipment and clothes behind a pile of rubble. Then, gritting his teeth, he leaped into the lava sea.

Stinging... a bone-chilling, piercing sting!

The moment he entered the lava sea, the terrifying heat caused such agony that Greem felt like he was being pierced by ten thousand needles. The intense pain blurred his consciousness almost instantly.

Like a fresh steak placed on a searing grill, his skin and flesh hissed in the boiling magma. His entire body emitted thick black smoke, and a pungent, burnt smell began to permeate the surroundings.

Yet, compared to the torture of his flesh, Greem’s mental world was unprecedentedly active. Fire energy, like a bursting dam, flooded into his body, relentlessly washing over him and improving his mental sea, bit by tiny bit.

Along with the infusion of fire energy came other mysterious, hard-to-identify, and elusive factors that were continuously strengthening his fire affinity and forging a new "Flame Body" for him. This method of energy infusion was something only elemental wizards, who could control their physical bodies with immense mental power after a successful advancement, could typically endure.

This was the inevitable path of an elemental wizard’s elementalization. Only when the body reached the same frequency and quality as the mind could it lay a solid foundation for the subsequent mental elementalization.

For Greem, attempting to step into a realm reserved for official wizards while still possessing only the meager strength of an apprentice, such suffering was an inevitable price to pay.