Chapter 342
Chapter 342: The Ancient Lizard King
The yin demon circled around the enormous ancient octagonal formation, taking note of every detail. Through the yin demon, Han Shuo saw chunks of large, clear magic crystal ores piled on the surface of the formation, obscuring the intricate details of the formation. These miniature hills obviously provided an endless source of energy for the formation.
As the earth elite zombie and the yin demon drew near the large creature, they saw that the large creature’s lower body, as well as the base of its tail, were sunk into the center of the formation. The creature seemed to sense the two as it snapped the end of its ten meter long tail in the air. The dark red tail whipped through the air like a giant metal chain as it sought to smash the earth elite zombie into the ground.
Half the earth elite zombie’s body was still underground. When he saw the python-like tail slapping down, he quickly dove into the depths of the earth. He could hear an enormous crash as the ground started shaking above his head.
A strange force shot out from the tail, shooting directly at the earth elite zombie as it dove into the ground. The earth elite zombie was given a huge fright when he sensed this force following him, and quickly tried to flee back to Han Shuo. He was only halfway there when the strange force caught up and surged into his body!.
The earth elite zombie began to thrash as the strange energy passed through his body. When the wave of force completely passed through him, he came to, utterly disoriented. Fortunately, Han Shuo had refined him using magical yuan as well the energy from the place of extreme earth. He was also surrounded by his natural habitat of earth as well, so the strange energy didn’t leave any damage behind as it passed through him.
When the strange creature sensed that the earth elite zombie was alive and well even after the force wave had hit him, it flew into a rage. It furiously slammed its tail into the ground several times, sending a multitude of force waves at the earth elite zombie.
Even though the earth elite zombie was still dazed from earlier, his perception was heightened beneath the earth. When he felt more waves of force coming his way, he instinctively drew on the power of the earth to defend himself. Using himself as the epicenter, he started to vibrate the earth around him.
As they broke their way through the vibrating earth, the force waves were gradually weakened. The attrition of their energy meant that when they finally surged through the earth elite zombie, he didn’t show the slightest reaction.
The earth elite zombie had been disoriented by the blast of strange energy because he hadn’t managed to use his natural talents in time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up in such an embarrassing predicament straight off the bat.
This was indeed within Han Shuo’s expectations. The creature had immediately responded as soon as Han Shuo shouted. Communicating directly with one’s mind was even clearer than using spoken language.
“Powerful being, I’m not with those people above, I’ve come to help you! I can use their power to break the formation while not harming you in the slightest. I only want the magic crystal ores at the bottom of the gourd mountain. What do you think?” Han Shuo immediately put forth his proposal after learning they could communicate.
“Pathetic creature, those stupid fellows would still help me blast open this gourd mountain even without your help. I fed them false information that I’m afraid of fire and missiles. Now they are acting right in accordance with my plan, helping me destroy the mountain! No one can stop this anymore. Even if you are not with them, they won’t believe you if you inform them either. Your proposal holds no value!” The creature laughed proudly, completely out of Han Shuo’s expectations.
Han Shuo expression changed slightly as he heard the ancient creature boast. Who would have imagined that this creature was actually so cunning? It didn’t appear to fear flame and missiles like Celt speculated. It had faked disadvantages in the previous battle just to create this situation.
Han Shuo suddenly looked befuddled and responded, “If that’s the case, why didn’t you ask the lizardmen to get you out? It wouldn’t be difficult for them to gather goblin missiles. Since they believe you to be their ‘true God’, they would help you even more willingly. Why use enemies to help you?”
“I would have long since left this damned place already if they could communicate with me! They are cursed by the gods to forever be bound in their body, unable to break through their shackles. They can’t use anything else other than the power of the flesh to communicate. They simply don’t understand me.”
“Those poor creatures only know the crudest of methods, and that is to remove all magical crystal ores around me. They thought it was the only way for me to leave this damned cage.” The creature seemed to have been imprisoned for far too long, talking nonstop with Han Shuo.
When he heard this, Han Shuo suddenly remembered that the lizardmen indeed only knew how to use their bodily strength. The power of their souls and depths of their wisdom were pathetically shallow. Maybe this was the reason why they were unable to obtain information from the enormous creature in this space, and could only call upon their determination to surmount every obstacle and remove the last bit of each magic crystal ore from the mountain.
End of Part 1 of the chapter.
So it seemed that it was not for their self-interest that the lizardmen occupied the gourd-shaped mountain and tirelessly mined the ore, but to help release their “true God” from bondage! Come to think of it, they didn’t even know how to forge complex weapons, how would they possibly understand the true value of magic crystal ore?
From this strange creature’s explanation, Han Shuo knew that it was now impossible to prevent it from escaping the ancient formation. Celt was on the verge of blowing the entire mountain sky high, and all it needed was a single damaged corner to break free from its age old imprisonment.
Thinking quickly, Han Shuo began to think of another way. Looking at the ten meter long, dark red tail, he remembered Arlen’s words of the lizardmen’s true god being just a large lizard. Inspiration struck, could this strange creature be protecting the lizardmen?
“Mighty presence, there are still hundreds of lizardmen who worship you trapped within this mountain. Once the invaders blow up the mountain, a mighty being as you would be able to survive, but the poor lizardmen would be wiped out to the last man.” Han Shuo paused for effect. He could sense the creature;s hesitation clouding the atmosphere. He continued, “However, I can can ensure their survival. As long as you promise me the magic crystal ores in this mine, I will lead them to a safe location before the explosion.”
“Lowly tiny being, I, the great Ancient Lizard King Dagassi, agree to your request. As long as you can ensure their safety, you can take as much of this ore as you can carry.” After a brief silence, the Ancient Lizard King Dagassi gave Han Shuo his promise.
Han Shuo didn’t linger after receiving Dagassi’s promise. He immediately ordered the earth elite zombie to dig a tunnel to the surface. The earth elite zombie complied, earth readily parting for him. However, halfway through, the zombie sent him a message of helplessness. Han Shuo had already guessed the root of the problem and quickly shot towards the half finished tunnel.
Apart from the large space that the ancient magic formation occupied, the earth was just compacted soil from the outskirts of the mountain to Ancient Lizard King Dagassi’s enormous tail. The earth elite zombie discovered that magic crystal ores harder than iron ores stood in his way as he started digging upwards.
Even the earth elite zombie’s natural powers were useless against magic crystal ores. He stopped halfway, at a loss of how to proceed. After all, the earth elite zombie was just an earth elite zombie. He didn’t have the power of the metal elite zombie to level and ravage mountains.
“My poor children are dying in droves. Little human, hurry up and act.” Ancient Lizard King Dagassi sent a surge of urgent messages into Han Shuo’s mind.
Pressed for time, Han Shuo took out the peerless Demonslayer Edge. The weapon spun like a drill in his hand as he thrust it upwards. Large chunks of magic crystal ore vanished into Han Shuo’s space ring before they’d even had time to touch the ground. Although his speed was a bit slower than the earth elite zombie’s use of his natural talents, Han Shuo was still able to drill upwards at the rate of several meters per second with the help of the Demonslayer Edge.
As the Ancient Lizard King hurried him on, each rotation of the Demonslayer Edge brought with it a large chunk of magic crystal ore into Han Shuo’s space ring. Within a few moments, he arrived where the upper body and head of the Lizard King was located, above the magic formation.
Han Shuo looked up and couldn’t help but give a low exclamation. This Ancient Lizard King did indeed look like an enormous lizardman, but for a few differences. A sharp horn grew from the top of his head, and a line of red, sword-like sharp spikes sprouted down its back from the horn.
The Ancient Lizard King was even bigger than the green dragon. He resembled a towering mountain of reddish-brown muscle. At the height of twenty meters, his body seemed to be made of thick, reddish-brown boulders.
His deep red eyes shone like two lanterns high in the air. He stared down at the ant-like Han Shuo beneath him, once again sending out urgent messages.
“Understood, understood. I will help your children survive.” Han Shuo replied to the Lizard King’s impatient nagging. He quickly rushed into the complex network of caves whilst admiring the Ancient Lizard King’s massive form.
“I’m a messenger from your ‘true God’! According to his command, I am here to lead you to a place of safety!” Han Shuo’s shout came right when the lizardmen were desperately engaged in a rearguard action. They were fiercely resisting the Redbud Knights’ onslaught while retreating towards the Ancient Lizard King.
“Despicable human, why are you here?” The leader with the big tail suddenly panicked, crying out in an awkward version of the common tongue as he pointed at Han Shuo as if wanting to initiate attacks.
“I’m helping you as the messenger of your ‘true God’. You’ll know if you come with me!” Han Shuo explained then immediately shouted, “Don’t do anything unnecessary! They have laid explosives over the entire mountain. All you have to do is hurry to your God’s side.”
Without staying back to see if the lizardmen believed him or not, Han Shuo flew straight back to the Ancient Lizard King. When the retreating lizardmen heard his words, they sped up their retreat to the Ancient Lizard King, possibly because they believed Han Shuo, or possibly because they were worried about the safety of their ‘true God’ and didn’t want to fight with the Redbud Knights.
Only when the remaining lizardmen saw that Han Shuo standing unscathed next to their ‘true God’ did they somewhat believe Han Shuo. They first kowtowed to the Lizard King before the leader looked up at him and asked humbly, “True God, what are we to do? The enemy has already invaded!”
The Ancient Lizard King thrashed a bit and let loose a long howl. Sounds of explosion spread throughout the entire space and the gourd-shaped mountain began to shake violently.
“Human, lead them in, time is running out!” The Lizard King’s consciousness permeated the air, but it was a pity that the lizardmen couldn’t understand the message.
“There is a passage here. All of you can hide inside and be safe from the explosion. Your ‘true God’ said the missiles won’t be able to hurt him. He will handle the rest.” Han Shuo quickly shouted after seeing the Redbud Knights enter to place the explosives in the cave.
The leader glanced at Han Shuo, still safe and sound at the feet of their “true God”, and seemed to believe his words. The leader rapidly fired something off in the lizardmen tongue to his brethren. They stopped hesitating and followed behind their leader to travel further into the ground via Han Shuo’s tunnel.
After all of the lizardmen had safely made their way into the tunnel, Ancient Lizard King once again filled the space with his words, “Human, don’t let those damnable invaders throw explosives in here. Even though I won’t die from the explosion, it will still injure me. Besides, that smell is highly unpleasant.”
There were seven caves leading from the mountain’s depths to this area. The Redbuds Knight and the dark elf invaders also seemed frightened of the mountain-like Lizard King as they hadn’t charged in here. Instead, they stood at the entrance and threw down the explosives.
Han Shuo summoned roughly a hundred dark creatures after hearing the Lizard King. They were everywhere, throwing back every missile that was thrown in. When the Redbud Knights and dark elves outside discovered that their bags of explosives had been thrown back out, they all fumed with rage.
The skeletal warriors naturally couldn’t understand the rage outside the caves. They only knew that they should obey Han Shuo’s every command, and continued to diligently throw out the missiles. The situation of the entire area had turned somewhat comical.
The remaining yin demon had been slowly trailing the Redbud Knights all along. As Han Shuo observed them for a while, he suddenly sneered, “Since you guys have set foot here, don’t dream of escaping. Enjoy the craziness of the goblin missiles together with the mountain!”
Another incantation brought several bulky hate warriors into existence. They too joined the zombies and the skeletal warriors in throwing the missiles out of the cave. The hate warriors and zombies slowly moved forward, creating a blockade at the cave entrances. Once they’d sealed off the cave entrances, Han Shuo shoved some of the remaining goblin missiles into his space ring.
The knights and dark elves furiously attacked the dark creatures that had suddenly appeared. They picked up the goblin missiles on the ground and prepared to throw them back down at the Ancient Lizard King below, while vigorously cursing the dark creatures.
These goblin missiles were intricately made. They wouldn’t explode unless ignited with a fierce flame, but once lit, they turned into a veritable ocean of flame. The invaders had strategically placed explosives so that they could chain the whole explosion. The mountain would be hard pressed to withstand such a large amount of goblin missiles going off all at once and would inevitably collapse.
The Ancient Lizard King was to be the main bearer of the explosion’s brunt this time. Only when the explosives filled the area around him would the destructive effects be maximized. That was why the Redbud Knights were working so tirelessly to penetrate the dark creatures’ blockade.
After all the lizardmen had evacuated through the tunnel and the caves were blocked by the undead creatures, the Ancient Lizard King became even more impatient, sending another message, “That’s enough. Help me ignite a large fire and bury all these knights inside.”
“Pleasure to be of service!” Han Shuo snickered coldly, a red flame shooting out from his hand. A zombie suddenly turned its body sideways, letting the flame pass through the gap.
“Fire, it’s fire! Extinguish it!” The Redbud Knights, still fighting the dark creatures, suddenly lost their wits when they saw the fiery stream. Their loud screams turned into wails as they realized precisely how many goblin missiles had been placed around the mountain. They would be in dire straits if the explosion occurred before they withdrew from the gourd mountain.
A few more flames flew out from Han Shuo’s hand, shooting through the gaps between the zombie warriors like arrows. They landed on the knights and dark elves who had yet to catch on fire.
Han Shuo’s mind suddenly moved with a thought, a flame arcing directly into a goblin missile held by a hate warrior.