Max dashed forward through the charred forest, leaving behind a trail of hot wind.
Along the way, he encountered many lava wolves and lava birds, but he killed them all. He also met several people like him, complaining and searching for mana crystals all over the place, unable to find a single one.
Frustrated, they eventually left the charred forest region. Beyond the forest lay a barren land. There were no trees or even charred remnants of trees, only the black surface of the earth stretching endlessly. In the distance, a volcano bubbled with lava.
Max observed the scene from the edge of the forest but didn't leave, for the wolf's roar had come from deeper within. "I should be close," he muttered, moving ahead cautiously with his Three Dimensional Body skill active.
After half an hour of searching, he finally spotted the level 8 wolf, but the situation was more serious than he could have imagined.
Max moved silently, climbing a tree nearby to observe the situation.
He saw a level 8 wolf leading a pack of several level 7 wolves and countless level 6 wolves, all of them lava wolves with flames surrounding their bodies. The wolves were facing off against a lava serpent standing before a cave.
The lava serpent appeared quite tall.
"It's almost ten feet, and it's thick," Max noted silently.
From what he could tell, the level 8 wolf had led its pack into a battle with the lava serpent, though he couldn't discern the reason for their conflict.
'That cave…' Max observed the cave behind the lava serpent and understood that it had something to do with the standoff.
The lava serpent stood defensively, as if protecting something within the cave.
'The lava serpent is at level 9,' Max frowned at the serpent's strength. 'It's protecting something in that cave, and the level 8 wolf started this fight because of it.'
However, the battle hadn't started yet. The two parties were still glaring at each other, or more precisely, they were speaking in their own language, which Max couldn't understand.
'I should wait for them to finish fighting, then I'll reap the benefits,' Max planned, settling in to observe.
At that moment, Max noticed something through his Three Dimensional Body skill that shocked him to his core. He saw two young women approaching the cave's edge from deep inside.
'Damn, they're the two girls from before, the ones with the flying eagle,' Max froze. He couldn't believe that these two had managed to enter the lava serpent's lair in the midst of all the chaos. How had the wolves not noticed? How had the lava serpent not seen intruders?
Max couldn't understand how the two girls had managed to get inside the cave, but from the looks of it, they weren't leaving anytime soon.
Though he couldn't see the entire cave from his Three Dimensional Body skill, since he was positioned far away, he could still clearly see the entrance. He saw the girls waiting there, but they weren't trying to leave.
'They must have used some secret method to enter, but it's a one-way ticket,' Max guessed. However, what he couldn't understand was why they had risked entering the cave, knowing they couldn't leave safely without facing the pack of level 6 and 7 wolves led by a level 8 wolf and a level 9 lava serpent.
'Huh?' Max silently exclaimed as he saw the girls venture deeper into the cave.
'Wait a minute… why are they going back inside when they just came from deeper within?' He frowned, confused by their actions.
Max paused to think. 'Could it be that they just entered the cave now and are heading deeper for the first time?'
He considered this possibility and felt it was most likely the case. 'But this would only be possible if they had something that made them invisible, since neither I nor the monsters noticed them when they reached the entrance.'
Max believed his assumption was correct, but the thing that still bothered him was whether his Three Dimensional Body skill was unable to detect something invisible, or if the two girls had come from the opposite end of the cave, where he couldn't see them, and that was why he only noticed them once they were inside, within the range of his skill.
'Since my Three Dimensional Body skill is space-related, it shouldn't matter if someone is visible or not. I should be able to see them if they're physically present around me,' Max mused, though he wasn't entirely sure.
'Let's wait and see how this all unfolds,' Max thought, continuing to observe.
---
The level 8 wolf continued to growl at the level 9 lava serpent, which responded by hissing back.
The growling and hissing had been going on for several minutes.
'Damn, they should start fighting already,' Max thought impatiently. 'Should I go and kill them all?' The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly shook it off. He wanted to know if the battle was truly about the cave or if there was something else at stake.
"HISS!"
"ROOAAAARR!"
Suddenly, both the level 8 wolf and the level 9 lava serpent roared and hissed loudly, turning toward the cave entrance.
They immediately charged toward the cave in a berserk frenzy.
"What happened?" Max was shocked to see them suddenly go berserk.
'They're moving toward the cave… could it be?' Max frowned, his mind racing as he pointed toward the cave entrance with his index finger and fired a concentrated magic bullet.
A blue beam of light shot from his finger, reaching the cave entrance just ahead of the level 8 wolf and the level 9 lava serpent.
Bang!
The bullet slammed into the top of the cave entrance with a thunderous crack, causing a violent collapse. Massive chunks of rock tumbled down, crashing into each other with deafening roars. Dust billowed out in thick clouds, completely sealing off the entrance and leaving behind an impenetrable wall of jagged stone.
Both the level 8 wolf and the level 9 lava serpent came to an abrupt stop and turned their heads toward Max.