novelraw Chapter 95 : Sultry Red Forest
Chapter 95 : Sultry Red Forest
At this moment, Golden Tower had arrived near Zhu Jing Fu's coordinate point and observed the quicksand on the ground continuously surging.
Xi Xi, who had seen the quicksand earlier, observed it with some puzzlement: "This quicksand seems a bit strange."
The quicksand churned on the ground, with sand flowing toward the bottom. The vines covering the top still laid out a path for passage, but the side closest to the quicksand had been completely licked by flames into charcoal color.
"No energy anomalies, but this quicksand just feels wrong," as soon as this feeling emerged, Qi Songhuai knew something was off. He hesitantly looked at the Commander.
Xin Yan was quite wary of Zhu Jing Fu and immediately wondered if this could be an ambush from them.
With their coordinates exposed, perhaps they decided to lie in wait for prey.
He stopped outside the quicksand, observing the broad leaves seriously before suddenly raising his hand.
Following his movement, many fire arrows materialized in the air, sweeping in a 360-degree pattern without blind spots through the gaps in the broad leaves around the quicksand.
The fire arrows traced parabolic arcs, piercing directly into the quicksand before quickly dissipating.
Xin Yan observed that the broad leaves scorched by the fierce fire showed no abnormalities, then nodded to the analyst: "Zhu Jing Fu isn't here. Let's go."
Qi Songhuai sighed in relief, but concern still lingered in his heart. He convinced himself that he was just imagining Chen Sui to be too formidable, putting too much pressure on himself.
It's fine, Qi Songhuai!
Believe in yourself. With your abilities, you could easily handle one Chen Sui, two wouldn't be too many, three would be a struggle.
—Though preferably just one.
Qi Songhuai thought inwardly.
The five members of Golden Tower walked across the vines over the quicksand. However, as they entered the quicksand area, the deeper they went, the more they felt the gradually rising high temperature. The scorching heat made the mechas feel the dryness in the air.
Xin Yan, leading at the front, halted his steps. Just as Golden Tower paused, flame-like tentacles suddenly extended from within the quicksand.
"Shit, what's this?!" Qi Songhuai cried out, but before he could react, the tentacles burst open above, forming a layer of fire that blotted out the sky.
Fierce flames erupted from the quicksand, entwining around the mechas.
It all happened extremely quickly. By the time Golden Tower reacted and tried to gather energy, half their mecha bodies had already sunk into the quicksand.
Dragged by the flame tentacles, they sank rapidly. In just a few seconds, the mechas were pulled down to chest level.
Xin Yan, looking at the surrounding flames, frowned and glanced back at his teammates: "Be prepared, there's something under the quicksand."
"We're going straight down!"
He sensed the intense fire energy from below. The quicksand had been stirred by his fire test. Xin Yan didn't want to escape but instead prepared to yield to the quicksand pressure and explore what lay beneath.
The five members of Golden Tower understood his meaning and immediately activated energy barriers around their mechas.
As they were completely pulled into the quicksand, their vision disappeared entirely.
Meanwhile, in the magma cave below, Gu Qinxue, fighting the Magma Beast, watched as the beast's body burst apart only to quickly restore to its original form.
Fire attacks couldn't prevent its regeneration at all.
The Magma Beast's flames grew increasingly fierce, spreading along the surrounding rocks and climbing toward the upper cave entrance. The temperature in the cave was rising steadily.
If not for Xie Chunshi's constant water control, the five members of Zhu Jing Fu would likely be dehydrated from the high temperature by now.
"Ah Xue, looks like you're having trouble keeping up," Zhou Chen commented as he saw Gu Qinxue's flames crash into the Magma Beast, breaking its body apart for just a moment before the magma reformed into a beast-shaped body.
Gu Qinxue turned her head, suppressing her emotions as she told him: "Shut up."
Chen Sui, with a slight smile, looked at the reformed Magma Beast: "Come on, Ah Xue, let me add some fire."
As she spoke, the giant Wood-Born Flower tree behind her flickered. In an instant, countless flowers burst from the green leaves, with surrounding fire attribute energy converging toward the flowers.
Absorbing the surrounding fire attribute energy, the giant Wood-Born Flower shadow gradually shrank until it became a small flower pet form.
A wooden stump fell onto Chen Sui's shoulder. The small flower's infantile face on the stump puffed up, and it pressed against Chen Sui's face with slurred speech. The temperature was scorchingly hot. "Master."
"Add fire? Looks more like you're absorbing fire," Zhou Chen felt the suddenly relieved energy pressure in the cave and teased Chen Sui.
At the same time, he glanced at the fire formation around Gu Qinxue and spoke more cheerfully: "If you absorb any more, Snow won't be able to form her fire dragon."
"Who says?" Gu Qinxue retorted competitively.
As if to prove herself, the next second she raised her hand. As the Magma Beast spewed flames at the mechas, her palm swept out with fierce fire, and a fire dragon instantly charged toward the Magma Beast's flames.
"That really is adding fire," Chen Sui's voice came from behind. Gu Qinxue looked back to feel her mecha flying to her side.
Chen Sui held the wooden stump with both hands. The flower on top of Little Flower's head suddenly enlarged, facing the Magma Beast's direction and spewing out all the fire it had absorbed in one go.
The two streams of fire shot directly at the Magma Beast, forming an opposing fire wall with its energy in mid-air.
The massive energy pressure instantly spread, with shockwaves rippling throughout the cave.
Xie Chunshi's water wall shielded himself and Puluo, while the single combat unit's cannon was dealing with surrounding splashing fire clusters.
In a place unseen by the five members of Zhu Jing Fu, the fire impact, like an explosion, shot straight up through the cave, striking the quicksand layer with a muffled boom.
The quicksand layer above began to shake violently. Sand and stones fell from the top of the cave, but before they could reach the mechas, they were completely consumed by the two colliding fires.
The Magma Beast's fierce flames were intercepted midway. It let out a roar of rage, and powerful fire energy erupted skyward.
It directly broke through the fire layer created by Gu Qinxue and Chen Sui's combined effort.
The Magma Beast's body melted like ice cream, beginning to merge with the fire sea. Then suddenly, countless fiery heads emerged from the flowing magma.
Its body began to divide into many flame beasts.
As soon as the flame beasts formed, they quickly pounced toward the mechas.
When the Magma Beast spewed fire, Chen Sui keenly sensed danger.
Wood-Born Flower's vines quickly wrapped around her and Gu Qinxue. The vines used their strength to rapidly pull the two back, escaping the Magma Beast's fire wall.
At the same time, Xie Chunshi and Zhou Chen were in front of the mechas, with an energy wall rippling in waves.
After the two mechas fell into Puluo's energy barrier, the surrounding temperature grew increasingly scorching. Even the rocks were steaming with a deep red color, with white smoke constantly rising.
Little Flower, held in Chen Sui's arms, suddenly hiccupped softly, emitting a puff of black smoke from its human-faced mouth.
Zhou Chen and Xie Chunshi's energy collided with the Magma Beast's energy. The two forces crashed with a huge explosion, and the mechas quickly retreated to regroup with the other three Zhu Jing Fu members.
Upon returning, they saw Little Flower spewing black smoke, and Zhou Chen couldn't help but laugh: "Flower, it's been a while, and now you've learned to blow smoke. What has Sui been teaching you? Nothing good."
Chen Sui clenched her fist, making a move to punch him.
Zhou Chen leaned back to dodge, watching the approaching flame beasts. His Four-sided Mace flashed with lightning, blocking one: "No, no, wait! This thing is really hard to fight. How can it self-replicate? One isn't enough, it's going from one to two to three!"
He swung out the bamboo-jointed sections of his Four-sided Mace, poised to fight seriously.
Xie Chunshi noticed red light surging in the center of Little Flower's bamboo joints, suspecting it was the absorbed fire attribute energy conflicting with the spiritual body's own wood attribute energy. He condensed a water droplet on his fingertip and quickly poured it over Little Flower's head.
Little Flower squinted happily, feeling the cool liquid wash over the grass on its head, and hugged Chen Sui's shoulder joyfully.
"The Magma Beast's energy body is in the fire sea. Trap its flame beasts against the stone walls to force it to consolidate its body with the energy crystal."
With the fire sea churning and powerful energy concealment, Chen Sui had no chance to detect the energy crystal's location.
Now that the Magma Beast had transformed all the magma into flame beast forms, the fire sea's volume had decreased, carrying less energy. Chen Sui's energy perception could detect more energy crystal trajectories.
As soon as she said this, the five members of Zhu Jing Fu prepared to act. Gu Qinxue held out her hand to stop Chen Sui, turning her head to speak softly: "Let me do it. You help me."
Chen Sui looked at her. Gu Qinxue's voice carried some subtle concern.
Fire attributes were highly restrictive against Wood-Born Flower's energy. Though this didn't mean Chen Sui had no way to deal with it, seeing Gu Qinxue's caring gesture, Chen Sui was taken aback for a moment before nodding to her.
"Be careful. I'll support you."
Gu Qinxue laughed lightly and nodded.
Even Little Flower was affected internally by consuming fire energy, so Chen Sui's core crystal would also feel pain.
But she was different. Fire attribute energy was her comfort zone.
Gu Qinxue's eyes sank. Her Thorny Fire Whip lashed out. Seeing the flame beasts that had been repelled by Zhou Chen's lightning rush back with a roar, she exchanged a glance with Zhou Chen and Xie Chunshi. The three charged forward together.
Chen Sui and Puluo exchanged positions with them. The two set up cannons, driving back the flame clusters that came like stray bullets.
Gu Qinxue's Thorny Fire Whip moved like a nimble dragon among the flame beasts, cutting a direct path. She lashed at the flame beasts on both sides, creating waves of fierce fire that were whipped away, heavily striking the stone walls, smashing on the rock surface to form violent flames.
The scorching high temperature made even the air take on a fiery form. Red heat waves covered Chen Sui's vision, making it unclear whether the wavering before her was due to the cave shaking or the air burning.
But when her cannon fired, smashing the flame beasts behind Gu Qinxue's mecha, Chen Sui could feel wind blowing down from above.
This wind came suddenly, followed by a swift rushing sound.
"Someone's coming!" Chen Sui warned in the team channel. With a wave of her hand, vines immediately shot out above them, converging into huge tree nets.
Then in the cave, thunderous cracking sounds erupted. A heavy impact, like a mecha crashing into a stone wall, sounded four or five times in succession. Then Chen Sui heard a human's startled cry.
"Shit, why is this cave still collapsing? Where has the quicksand taken us?!"
Qi Songhuai's shout reached her ears first, followed by the vermilion mecha that had fallen into the magma cave from above.
"Clang—"
The mecha crashed onto the tree net. The scorching high temperature had made the vines unbearably hot from the moment they grew. As soon as the mecha made contact, it was burned by the high temperature, causing Qi Songhuai to cry out as soon as his mecha stabilized.
"What is this place? Why so much fire?"
He flipped over on the tree net. The first thing he saw was the layers of fierce flames burning on the surrounding stone walls, then the magma flowing down from the large hole above.
Only then did he notice the tree net under his mecha. Through the scorchingly hot gaps in the net, he could see mechas battling flame beasts below.
Before Qi Songhuai's brain could process this, his teammates, who had already found stopping points on the stone walls during their fall, saw him land on the tree net and leaped down from the stone walls above.
Chen Sui originally sensed the spiritual body fluctuations and tried to stop them, but the tree net was heavily affected by the fire and its weight-bearing capacity was poor. Seeing four more mechas jumping down, her eyes widened as she hurried to warn: "Hey—wait, don't jump up!"
However, she was a step too late. The impact force of Golden Tower's four other mechas, plus a flame cluster that took advantage of Chen Sui's momentary distraction while speaking, directly hit the tree net.
The tree net holding the five Golden Tower mechas broke from the center.
Qi Songhuai, who had just stood up and hadn't had time to survey his surroundings, felt the sensation of stepping into emptiness accompanied by weightlessness.
"Shit!!"
Chen Sui waved her hand, the tree net dissipated, and surrounding vines extended out to wrap around the falling mechas and lift them.
Inside the vermilion mecha cockpit, Qi Songhuai, who had been repeatedly frightened, was already covered in sweat.
Suspended upside down in mid-air, his view perfectly aligned with the scene of flame beasts pouncing toward the black and gold mecha, only to be scattered by the long whip it wielded.
"Zhu Jing Fu!!" Qi Songhuai realized.
Commander Xin Yan, among the black and gold mechas, saw the blue-green mecha setting up a cannon to charge energy in the rear, clearing obstacles for teammates.
"What's going on?"
Chen Sui heard this male voice and recognized the Golden Tower mecha. She spoke in the team channel: "Golden Tower has arrived. Is it because they heard my coordinates?"
"Probably. But how did they fall from above? The cave hasn't collapsed again, has it?"
Zhou Chen's lightning boomed out, hurling three flame beasts toward the stone wall. The moment the flame beasts were scattered by the electric shock, they immediately turned into magma splashing against the stone wall. The magma then flowed back to the fire sea, waiting to regroup and form new flame beasts.
"Hey, how did you guys start fighting already?" Feeling himself being pulled by vines, but with flames still licking at his face and scorching heat close to his eyes, Qi Songhuai hung upside down and called out to the distant Zhu Jing Fu mechas.
Zhou Chen had just repelled the flame beasts when he heard this and glanced at him: "Hurry up and get up, help with the work. Don't always let our analysts rescue you."
"What is this thing?"
Qi Songhuai, using his powerful core, adjusted his mecha's position while still upside down.
He turned from upside down to upright in mid-air, then activated his mecha's propulsion to finally escape Chen Sui's vines.
At the same time, his energy perception returned results that shocked him greatly: "Wait, how can Sultry Red Forest support a Magma Beast? Is it that my training was insufficient, or my teacher didn't teach me well?"
"And it's SSS-level! No wonder Zhu Jing Fu is here—you're after the energy crystal!"
Guan You, watching the livestream, gave a cold laugh when he heard this.
In the Third Star Ring Analyst Association, passing analysts who overheard this cold laugh immediately understood the reason from watching the light brain StarNet livestream.
Little Qi, with that mouth of yours, just wait and see how your teacher deals with you when you get back.
"Didn't teach well, you brat. Just you wait." Guan You looked at the Star League competition official draft he had received.
After the two elimination matches, the five qualifying teams would participate in the Star League competition proper.
For this, the competition committee had directly established the competition area in Zone Eleven, forming a large teaching group to instruct students in various professional knowledge during the preparation period.
Guan You was one of the drafted members of the analyst group for this competition.
As he said this, he continued watching the StarNet livestream, but without confidence in his heart.
If anyone still thought Zhu Jing Fu's strength was at the bottom before Sultry Red Forest, then after eliminating Jacques Delot, everyone would have to reconsider Zhu Jing Fu.
If Golden Tower fought Zhu Jing Fu, victory wouldn't be certain.
And at this moment, the two teams that had just run into each other in the magma cave showed no intention of fighting. After Qi Songhuai explained the Magma Beast's origin in the team channel, Golden Tower also joined in helping control the flame beasts.
[Wow, Golden Tower and Zhu Jing Fu have collided]
[Laughing, the Magma Beast is in big trouble, encountering two of the seven schools]
[Hey, Golden Tower is really helping, not taking advantage while Zhu Jing Fu is fighting the energy body]
[SSS-level energy body, what else would you expect? The seven schools might differ on other things, but they certainly prioritize defeating unbeatable external enemies]
[But honestly, if Golden Tower came for the energy body, don't let Zhu Jing Fu intercept it. This team sees energy crystals and materials and charges fearlessly into dragon pools and tiger dens, too ruthless]
"How did you get down here?" With Golden Tower joining in, the burden on the five members of Zhu Jing Fu was instantly much lighter. Zhou Chen even had spare energy to chat with Golden Tower's output.
Sun Kai was silent for a few seconds, looking toward the strong attacker who controlled golden thorns energy. Behind him stood an imposing black timber wolf, its fur rippling with layers of golden light. Sensing his gaze, the timber wolf suddenly nudged the lower part of the mecha's leg, using actions to demonstrate its determination not to engage in conversation.
Sun Kai struggled for a second. Damn, he was socially anxious too. Why was this Zhu Jing Fu person so talkative?!
But seeing Zhou Chen's lightning conveniently helping him pin a nearby flame beast to the stone wall, Sun Kai still answered out of politeness: "We heard your coordinates had refreshed, so we came over. Then the quicksand up there went crazy somehow, swallowed us all at once, and we fell straight down here."
Zhou Chen understood, and while talking with him, glanced at the vermilion mecha strong attacker who was silently bombarding the flame beasts. "I've noticed Golden Tower's outputs don't like to talk much."
Chen Sui, on the other side, turned on her external microphone to let him hear Qi Songhuai's incessant questioning: "Hey, you're Chen Sui, right? I know you. I've seen a lot of your information on the Zhu Jing Fu forum. You guys are pretty fierce, eliminating Jacques Delot directly. Was Ye Kaiyun's earth wall hard to break through? Did you break Zhuo Yun's shield? I saw fragments on the ground. Let me tell you, our single combat unit isn't so easy to deal with. Our Xi Xi runs incredibly fast—"
"Not talkative? Are you serious?" Chen Sui's ears were about to be filled with Qi Songhuai's endless chatter.
Gu Qinxue also heard this string of words and couldn't help laughing. At the same time, her eyes noticed a huge magma pillar rising from the fire sea but not forming flame beasts. She warned: "The flame beasts are almost gone. This Magma Beast is about to solidify again."
"The fire sea doesn't have enough energy. When it forms its body, the magma below will all be controlled on the stone walls. When the snow bud branches are exposed, remember to grab them."
Chen Sui immediately responded.
Sure enough, the Magma Beast's enormous body required a lot of magma and energy to support it.
When this huge creature stood up from the fire sea, the churning magma at the bottom visibly decreased. By the time the Magma Beast stood up, forming a giant beast shadow in the cave, it had taken all the magma from the ground, exposing all the snow bud branches growing at the bottom.
Zhou Chen's eyes immediately lit up. He abandoned the conversation, and just after finishing a few sentences with Sun Kai, he hurriedly tossed the flame beast toward him: "Brother, take care of this. I need to go to the other side."
Sun Kai instinctively controlled a black mist to deal with the flame beast thrown at his face. The mist burst like a sea urchin, extending many tentacles, then took the flame beast and pinned it against the stone wall. The energy cluster firmly pressed the flame beast against the wall.
Chen Sui also stopped setting up cannons in place.
Qi Songhuai, while wildly blowing flames to lower the surrounding temperature, saw her fly out.
In front was the Magma Beast's giant figure. Zhu Jing Fu's strong attacker Gu Qinxue was holding a Thorny Fire Whip entwined around the Magma Beast's head.
Their Golden Tower Commander Xin Yan was drawing a full moon bow, rapidly shooting fire arrows, already in a white-hot battle with the Magma Beast.
Meanwhile, the Zhu Jing Fu members who had been fighting flame beasts, including the single combat unit setting up a protective shield, all began to move. Qi Songhuai was startled: "What, only I'm not moving? Makes me look lazy."
"Bored, are you?" Single combat unit Xi Xi's voice came through. Her water column circled in the air, breaking through the flame beasts surrounding her and throwing them toward Qi Songhuai. "Then hurry up and help me deal with some of these. Why are these things all targeting me?!"
"You're carrying an energy cannon, Xi Xi, and it's a fierce fire energy cannon. Doesn't the Magma Beast love that?" Qi Songhuai replied impatiently.
As his knife-like gale cut toward the flame beasts, his eyes still watched Zhu Jing Fu. He saw all five of them, along with his team's output and Commander, charging toward the Magma Beast's body.
He quietly reminded in the team channel: "Guys, this is an SSS-level energy crystal. We need to compete with Zhu Jing Fu for it."
Xin Yan, whose fire bow was already tired from drawing, heard this and reminded him: "To get the energy crystal, you'd better first see where it is."
He also wanted the energy crystal. This Magma Beast was completely unkillable; if they didn't extract the energy crystal, he couldn't sustain much longer.
And he was really impressed with Zhu Jing Fu—how had they fought this thing for so long? Weren't they tired?
"But Commander, the energy fluctuations around this energy body are too chaotic. I can't locate the energy point yet."
Qi Songhuai's mental threshold wasn't strong enough to capture the energy crystal at a glance. Hearing Xin Yan's urging, he spread his hands helplessly, then quickened his pace to deal with the surrounding flame beasts before heading toward the Magma Beast's position.
Having consolidated its body, the Magma Beast looked at the mechas flying around it like ants.
It raised its huge palm, waving in mid-air. Fire burned fiercely on its palm. As it waved, enormous energy pressure fanned downward. The mechas from both teams dodged, with mecha propulsion crossing in mid-air, leaving trails of energy in their wake.
"Commander Xie, can your analyst determine the energy crystal's location?" Xin Yan met Xie Chunshi in mid-air and asked urgently as they passed each other.
These words, transmitted through Xie Chunshi's external microphone, reached the Zhu Jing Fu team channel. Chen Sui answered: "Tell him to split the Magma Beast open. When the energy fluctuations are divided, we can determine it."
Xie Chunshi relayed this, and Xin Yan nodded: "Alright, let's split it. We'll act together."
Golden Tower briefly established a temporary channel with the five members of Zhu Jing Fu. The two teams entered the same voice channel. Seeing Golden Tower join, Zhu Jing Fu's agile attacker and analyst immediately spoke: "Everyone, keep fighting. We'll go grab some things."
Before Xin Yan could react, he saw the black gold mecha and blue-green mecha break away from the two teams' defense circle and charge directly toward the Magma Beast's body.
He looked at Xie Chunshi in shock, not understanding what Zhu Jing Fu meant.
Were they giving up on fighting the Magma Beast, or giving up on the energy crystal?
Just watching their analyst charge toward an SSS-level energy body?
His heart skipped a beat. He thought if Qi Songhuai ever charged toward energy like this, his blood pressure would rise higher than the flames in this cave.
But Xie Chunshi just nodded slightly.
He even burst a blue light from his fingertips. A huge water column condensed behind him, gathering into a strong wave that cleared the flame clusters around them, clearing obstacles for Chen Sui and Zhou Chen's path.
As the Magma Beast swung down to swat at the two, Zhu Jing Fu's strong attacker Gu Qinxue swung her Thorny Fire Whip, leaping forward. The whip made cracking sounds as it repeatedly struck the Magma Beast's arm.
"Action."
Seeing the analyst and agile attacker pass through the Magma Beast's attack, Xie Chunshi nodded to Xin Yan, and the remaining members quickly moved.
Gu Qinxue's Thorny Fire Whip had a brief controlling effect. Golden Tower's strong attacker Tang You carried a control cannon. Together, they could effectively pause the Magma Beast's movements for two seconds, enough for Xin Yan and Xie Chunshi to launch fierce energy attacks.
The Magma Beast's hands were bound by Xin Yan's fire, while Xie Chunshi's ice spikes shot from all directions.
Upon contact with the Magma Beast, the ice spikes instantly condensed into large chunks of solid ice, freezing the Magma Beast's magma. Then the magma erupted with high temperatures, trying to melt the solid ice.
However, during the brief freezing, Gu Qinxue's whip lashed down, directly slicing off the frozen parts.
Xi Xi also fired fierce fire bullets, shattering the Magma Beast's frozen body.
With these continuous actions, the Magma Beast lost a lot of energy. Not very intelligent, it only felt the energy deficiency and immediately let out a roar. Massive flames erupted from its mouth as it breathed, instantly pouncing toward the mechas.
Qi Songhuai raised his hand: "Red Glow Purple Bird!"
A clear bird cry sounded in mid-air. A cloud-like bird shadow with dazzling, beautiful feathers spread its wings behind him.
The Red Glow Purple Bird's incredibly beautiful double wings flapped, instantly fanning out a violent hurricane toward the Magma Beast.
The fierce flames were fanned by the gale, slowing their forward momentum.
Xin Yan seized the opportunity, immediately drawing his full bow. An extremely deep red arrow materialized before his bowstring.
Xie Chunshi glanced at the energy he was gathering. Gu Qinxue's eyes flashed with wariness as she saw the Team Leader signal to her, and she immediately swung her whip forward.
Equally surging fire energy, the giant shadow of the Three-Eyed Droopy-Eared Rabbit appeared. As the red totem fanned out, a fire dragon surged along Gu Qinxue's long whip toward the Magma Beast's flames.
"Roar—"
The majestic fire dragon emitted a howling dragon cry. The sound was heavy and solemn, accompanied by overwhelming flames. The huge energy impact, blown by the Red Glow Purple Bird's gale, directly used the wind's momentum to break through the Magma Beast's flames!
The fire dragon rushed all the way, crashing into the Magma Beast's huge mouth!
The Thorny Fire Whip was quickly pulled, with compressed energy exploding inside the Magma Beast's mouth, like an amplified firecracker sound, creating a series of thunderous booms that echoed throughout the cave.
"Roar!"
The Magma Beast's head was directly penetrated by the red dragon. As Gu Qinxue's fire dragon passed through, splashes of magma fell like fireworks.
The two mechas that had already reached the cave floor looked up to see a dazzling bright light suddenly explode in mid-air, seeing sparks with long tails falling downward. Chen Sui merely glanced before lowering her head to urge: "Hurry and dig!"
Gu Qinxue noticed that the fire dragon had pierced through the Magma Beast and immediately circled back, striking and dissipating all the falling sparks from the Magma Beast.
Seeing her crush the flames, Xin Yan felt this power and his heart suddenly grew heavy. Zhu Jing Fu's strong attacker was very powerful.
With the same fire attribute, he might not be able to defeat her.
But this thought only lasted a second before his attention was drawn back to the Magma Beast. His fully drawn bow aimed at the large hole blown in the Magma Beast's head below, nocked—
"Wait a moment," Xie Chunshi held up a hand to Xin Yan. This gesture puzzled the Golden Tower Commander, but he still paused for a moment, until he heard Qi Songhuai's surprised voice. Then Xin Yan understood why Xie Chunshi had stopped him.
"Damn, what is Chen Sui digging?!"
"Could it be something good? Should I go dig too?"
Xin Yan looked down. Zhu Jing Fu's analyst and agile attacker, each with a long scythe—these weapons—
He immediately looked at Zhu Jing Fu's single combat unit.
Sure enough, the single combat unit was unarmed, relying on a giant metal mushroom behind him to form a huge barrier around them, then condensing golden thorns to pierce into the flame clusters before exploding and pinning the flame clusters to the stone wall.
"Your Zhu Jing Fu really isn't in a hurry for this SSS-level energy crystal, huh?"
Xin Yan felt Zhu Jing Fu had gone mad. What could be down there that was more valuable than an energy crystal?
Xie Chunshi feigned a sigh. Hearing Qi Songhuai's interested words, he hurriedly performed: "Commander Xin has abundant resources. Zhu Jing Fu is different—our financial reserves haven't been good for years, and our analyst is also an interstellar nomad who hasn't seen many good things."
"Please understand."
He spoke with sincerity. Xin Yan felt this speaking style was somewhat familiar.
But he hadn't interacted with Xie Chunshi before and didn't understand fully. Hearing him mention Zhu Jing Fu and Chen Sui, Xin Yan instinctively felt he had touched a psychological sore spot for Zhu Jing Fu.
He frowned slightly, feeling some guilt inside, but refused to show it, only saying coldly: "Whatever, just hurry up. If Zhu Jing Fu doesn't want the energy crystal, we Golden Tower still do."
Qi Songhuai, hearing Zhu Jing Fu's Commander's words and watching the two people digging earnestly below, noticed that Zhou Chen's digging motion seemed to shake when Xie Chunshi was speaking. He felt something was off.
"What are you digging? It looks familiar."
Qi Songhuai didn't understand materials well. He knew about things like Purple-Winged Golden Butterfly wings as analytical instrument materials, but snow bud branches were too rare and didn't overlap much with his professional field, so he hadn't recognized them. Seeing Chen Sui not even looking up, he just felt it must be something very expensive.
But after hearing Xie Chunshi speak like that, he began to doubt himself. After all, what could be more valuable than an SSS-level energy crystal in this cave?
Below, halfway through mining, Zhou Chen's scythe almost sliced through his own knee when he heard the Team Leader's words.
Chen Sui glanced at him: "Be careful."
"Got it, you're quite caring. I feel warm inside," Zhou Chen thought Chen Sui was worried about him getting hurt. However, she was actually looking at the snow bud branches he had dug out: "Don't damage the snow bud branch roots. It doesn't matter if you get hurt, but these roots can grow more snow bud branches."
Zhou Chen: ...Touched for nothing.
"Okay."
He held back, responding pitifully.
Chen Sui suppressed a laugh, her movements becoming faster. As she dug out the last bit of snow bud branches, she called: "Ready, go!"
Xie Chunshi nodded to Xin Yan.
The mecha propulsion hadn't even activated yet for Zhou Chen when he looked up to see Xin Yan firing arrows. He quickly looked at Chen Sui: "I, I, I'm not ready!"
Chen Sui's mecha had already propelled to mid-air. Without looking back, she directly threw out a vine, wrapping it around Zhou Chen's mecha.
Xin Yan's arrow shot into the Magma Beast's body, instantly creating an explosive sound.
The cave shook violently. The arrow penetrated and exploded, creating a vertical splitting crack.
A red light burst from the crack, splitting the Magma Beast's body in two, which toppled in opposite directions.
Chen Sui's mecha was just behind and below the Magma Beast. Seeing this, she directly plunged through the crack.
As the vines carried Zhou Chen through the crack, she threw him toward the defensive circle of Zhu Jing Fu.
At the same time, she switched to gripping a long spear. Green light rings gradually rose from the spear tip, encircling it layer by layer. Chen Sui's perception instantly expanded.
The energy crystal's position was like a lone star shining in pitch-black night.
Her gaze fixed on a single target. Her mecha didn't charge outward but toward the right side of the Magma Beast's split magma body.
When the Magma Beast's body was split, the burning flame created a cloud of white smoke, blocking Golden Tower's vision. As the smoke cleared, everyone saw the blue-green mecha crash into the Magma Beast's body.
Xin Yan's face changed, looking at Xie Chunshi in shock: "Was this part of your plan too?"
To have the analyst pretend to dig materials, actually waiting for Golden Tower to clear the way, then immediately taking the energy crystal?
Is this the heart of a Commander?
Xie Chunshi was stunned, not expecting Chen Sui to charge directly into the magma.
The Magma Beast's magma carried intense heat. Even approaching the steam was unbearable, let alone being enveloped in it—no less painful than being thrown into a frying pan. This was extraordinary pain.
Golden Tower members were shocked, and Zhu Jing Fu members quickly called Chen Sui's name in the team channel.
"Coming," the analyst's steady voice came through, as if everything was normal, making it hard to imagine she was enduring the scouring of molten iron.
In reality, Chen Sui felt as if her skin was being torn off alive. The experience of being cooked alive was truly not pleasant.
As soon as she plunged into the magma, her body immediately broke out in hot sweat. She felt dehydrated, her lips cracked, her cheeks extremely dry, even her hair turning slightly yellow. However, as she went deeper, only the pain on her skin remained; other sensations seemed to blur due to nerve paralysis.
Being washed by flowing magma, Chen Sui moved quickly within the Magma Beast's body. Her long spear thrust toward the energy crystal's location.
"Wood-Born Flower," she said softly.
A green light exploded from her body.
The giant Wood-Born Flower tree, starting from the long spear, began to take root in the fierce fire, rapidly growing and strengthening as surrounding wood attribute energy gathered.
When a withered yellow branch, carrying burning flames, stabbed out from the Magma Beast's body, all members of Zhu Jing Fu breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, from countless points in the Magma Beast's body, a giant tree erupted, continuously growing!
In the center of the giant tree, the long spear and blue-green mecha were wrapped, emerging from the Magma Beast's body.
The moment the red energy crystal detached from the Magma Beast's body, its huge form melted like flowing water, running down from the Wood-Born Flower giant tree and gathering at the bottom of the cave, continuing to form a churning fire sea.
But as the energy dissipated, the fire sea grew smaller, its churning weaker.
In contrast, Wood-Born Flower's growth became more robust, its color increasingly verdant. The withered yellow and branches damaged by fierce flames recovered their vibrant green.
The blue-green mecha leaped from the surrounding branches.
Her hand removed the energy crystal caught on the long spear and tossed it upward.
The mecha propelled her into the air, reuniting with her teammates.
"You..." Golden Tower had fought hard for nothing, and the energy crystal was still taken by Zhu Jing Fu. Xin Yan looked at Chen Sui, who was a step slower to come forward, then at Xie Chunshi: "You calculated this?"
Qi Songhuai also approached and asked: "Seriously? You weren't really digging minerals, just tricking us into lowering our guard, then waiting to intercept our energy crystal?"
"What do you mean intercept?" Zhou Chen immediately retorted unhappily. "Without our analyst, would you know the energy crystal's location?"
Qi Songhuai hesitated for a second: "Um—after our Commander split the Magma Beast, I would've known."
"Then it's just a matter of who's faster. How can you blame us for being quicker when you Golden Tower were a beat behind?"
Zhou Chen carefully accepted the energy crystal, waved it in front of Qi Songhuai, very smugly put it away, then patted his shoulder: "Come on, we're all brothers who fought side by side. It's just one energy crystal, don't be so petty."
As he spoke, he went to pat Xin Yan too: "You too, Commander Xin. I should thank you actually."
Xin Yan frowned: "What's there to thank? For doing your free labor?"
Zhou Chen choked, realizing that was indeed the case.
Xin Yan had done free labor for him, and Golden Tower had done free labor for Zhu Jing Fu.
Qi Songhuai also grew angry hearing this, brushing off his hand: "Cut it out. It's just one energy crystal. If you're capable, give it to me?"
"Don't be like that. At most I'll share some minerals with you? Spent half the day digging," Zhou Chen took out a snow bud branch and waved it in front of Qi Songhuai.
But Qi Songhuai firmly believed this so-called mining was just Zhu Jing Fu's trick to mislead, actually meant to make Golden Tower lower their guard, then wait for the right moment to get the energy crystal first.
Just looking at it made him angry.
"I don't want it," Qi Songhuai deliberately snorted at Zhou Chen. "What kind of ore is this? Only your Zhu Jing Fu would take anything. Could this buy an SSS-level energy crystal? It's nothing!"
Zhou Chen silently put away the snow bud branch, not daring to say it really could buy an energy crystal, with so many snow bud branches.
This stuff was frighteningly expensive.
But seeing Qi Songhuai refuse, he also put it away: "Suit yourself. Don't regret it later."
Qi Songhuai shook his head silently. Just some crappy ore, what was there to regret? He wasn't interested.
He had no idea that after watching the Sultry Red Forest recording, he would be trying to get close to Zhou Chen again, begging for just a bit of snow bud branch.
Seeing Golden Tower and Zhu Jing Fu's brief alliance end, a cold war began due to the energy crystal spoils.
From within the Golden Tower crowd, the strong attacker who had been hiding deepest cautiously emerged, quietly asking in the team channel: "How... do we... get out?"
However, the teams hadn't dissolved their joint channel yet, so these words also transmitted to Zhu Jing Fu's side.
Xin Yan looked at Xie Chunshi. The two team Commanders locked eyes. He suppressed his resentment, recognizing that whoever killed got the spoils, and he couldn't blame Zhu Jing Fu for being faster. He could only blame himself for not anticipating this.
After convincing himself, Xin Yan glanced at the deep cave and considered Tang You's question.
"Let's figure out how to get up first. After all, we can't fight here."
Golden Tower had come looking for Zhu Jing Fu with the intention of eliminating them.
Although the two teams had worked together to defeat the Magma Beast, this battle for qualification was still unavoidable.