On the surface of the sea, a crescent moon had just appeared on the dark red sky.
Whoosh!
A black ball, which had red flames hidden inside and a long trail of yellow smoke behind, flew one kilometer in the night sky in an arc and fell into the trees near the shoreline.
Boom!
The black ball exploded under the impact, and a tremendous amount of red and burning magma burst out, creating a heated area that quickly spread out and setting the leaves ablaze.
The deepest darkness before the dawn was illuminated!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Following that, more black balls that carried yellow dust fell like a meteor shower.
Immediately, the whole wood was covered by smoke and fire.
Pop! Crackle!
In the middle of the smoke and fire, the sound of hasty music came out of the wood weirdly.
Clang, clang, clang…
Eight or so Musical House players were trying their best to play their musical instruments.
Their sweat was rolling off like a waterfall due to the heat, and they could hardly catch their breath due to the sulfur smell in the air.
A player, who was holding a gray and ugly flute, panted and said, “No, we can’t hold it any longer!
“Boss Yu, let’s run!”
The drumming man whose naked arms were blistering because of the magma looked at the black ball that fell one meter away from him and said with desperation and fear, “Yes, let’s run!
“I don’t want to die here… I would rather kill myself than be burnt alive by magma.”
The recalcitrance he had when he tried to fight back after Zhong Zhou was defeated on the Twin Dragon Island was completely gone!
“Run?
“Where can we run to? And how?”
The middle-aged suona player had lost part of his eyebrows. He angrily pointed at his suona which had cracked because it couldn’t stand the soundwaves that were being unleashed.
“With those garbage musical instruments?”
The Extraordinary music instruments they had were mostly crafted by the heroes of the Musical House and had been confiscated by the Twin Dragon Mount fort the previous day.
What they had at this moment were the substitutes that the Twin Dragon Mount fort had given them so that they could play their role.
“Also, do you really mean everybody wants to run? I’m afraid that some people have truly bought the Ji guy’s promise!”
After that, the middle-aged player turned around and looked at the other side of the wood with mockery.
Of the dozen players of the Musical House, only half followed the middle-aged player, whereas the other half were on their opposite side. The two parties were separated by raging flames.
They weren’t accidentally separated in the battle; the players in the Musical House had already been divided into two factions.
There weren’t enough resources in the Musical House. Zhong Zhou, as a beta tester, claimed most resources and reached Extraordinary Rank-8, and the middle-aged suona player was the only one to reach Extraordinary Rank-5 among the others.
However, not everyone chose to follow him.
It was because after their acupoints were unsealed and they were dropped to one of the few woods on this island that hadn’t been contaminated by magma in the night, the Master of the Twin Dragon Mount fort, who they believed had reached Extraordinary Rank-9, left a word to them.
“Remember to try your best to distract the Magma Monsters!
“If you survive this battle, everything you did in the past will be forgiven; if you lose, your death will be the price for your choices in the past!”
His promise divided the players who had sworn that they would seek revenge against the Twin Dragon Island the moment they were freed.
Because of his promise, his calm and casual voice still echoed in their ears even though he was already far away, making them feel that something was stinging their backs.
More importantly, although the surface of the sea behind them looked empty, they knew very well that a dragon head warship that could keep stealth was floating on the surface at this dawn.
The ten cannons on the warship, which had been named “Eyes of the Flood Dragon” and could pose a deadly threat even to those above Extraordinary Rank-7, were aimed at them!
“It seems that they can’t persist much longer.
“Master, is it time to let General Zilong and Chief Lu take action?”
Yan Qing, who hovered in the sky as an eagle and covered in green Battle Aura, spoke to the wireless headphones while circles of golden light beamed from his eyes.
It was a skill of his own invention. By combining the Battle Aura with the Radiant Gold, he could see as clear as the day even though it was still night.
“Yes, Zilong and Chief Lu… You can take action now.
“However, be sure not to use all your strength, so that more Magma Monsters will be allured to the Musical House’s island and we’ll be able to drown it later.”
Ji Ye spoke to Zhao Yun and Lu Zhishen.
“No, we can’t hold them anymore. Someone kill me! I don’t want to suffer any longer.”
In the wood, a player who had been holding a sheng that was made of aluminum looked at the dozen black balls that were flying at him from the magma area as well as the environment that had been completely covered by fire. He collapsed and fell to the ground.
However, several seconds later, he realized that he wasn’t showered by the magma he expected.
“This is…”
When he raised his head, he found that a man, who was more than 2.5 meters tall and looked like a ferocious demon, had blocked the flying black balls with a shield in his left hand that had expanded to almost three floors high on the slope.
[Purple Wood Shield]
[Level: Extraordinary Rank-9]
[Rarity: Perfect (Rare)]
[Description: This is a piece of rare purple wood crafted by grandmasters. It has many special usages.]
This shield wasn’t made by chopping the purple wood in the Twin Dragon Mount fort. It was bought in the City of Humans by Lu Zhishen with Civilization Coins and his permission was only lower than Ji Ye’s.
It was similar to Lu Junyi’s Qilin Stick in nature in that it could change its size, absorb impact, automatically repair itself, and resist fire!
Pa! Pa! Pa!
Therefore, even though the Magma Monsters had thrown a lot of black cannonballs, they were all halted after they hit the rare shield. Even the hot burning flames and magma were blocked too.
Furthermore, even the yellow poisonous smoke that the shield didn’t block failed to hurt Lu Zhishen.
As the earliest hero in the Twin Dragon Mount fort, Lu Zhishen had already taken Red Pips and its upgraded version a lot of times. He was the second to reach Extraordinary Rank-8 right after Ji Ye. How could he have been hurt by the insignificant sulfur and poison?