Chapter 250: Scorpion King.

Lady Panello already intended to move over to the next spot marked by Alwin, when Elred’s words stopped her."Something’s there!" Elred shouted, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

He was kneeling on the ground, pressing both palms and his ear to it. Lee’s group knew the guy’s ability was nothing to scoff at, and so did Alwin and Dain.

"How do we get it out?" Alwin said, thinking out loud.

"How did you get it to leave the hibernation the last time?" Elred asked.

"We didn’t." Dain said, "We were traveling across the desert, taking a shortcut, when an earthquake ... Right, let’s replicate an earthquake!"

"Let’s create an earthquake then!" Alwin immediately picked up the idea.

He thought for a moment, and then shouted, "Make three circles around this spot! Each one bigger than the last!"

It took hunters some time to realize what his idea was, but when the three circle formation was created, everyone grew impatient to see the result.

Following Alwin’s command, the people in the outer circle first, then the middle, and then the center – slammed the ground below them in succession, using their strongest skills. They were trying to create a ripple effect underground, in hopes the underground lava streams would intensify it.

Lee, to not stand out too much, also made a flashy move utilizing the power of the fire element, but only to make it look like he was going all out. It’s possible there were other slackers among the three hundred fifty people, but most did their best, and everyone actually felt the ground shaking under their feet.

"Again! Again! Again!" Alwin commanded, and the hunters repeated the move three more times.

Apart from lady Panello, Elred was the only one not taking part in the exercise. He was still kneeling, closely listening, while feeling the ground vibrations with his palms and cheek.

While people passionately were hitting the ground, his expression suddenly changed and he jumped back, escaping the spot he was just at.

"Watch out!" He shouted, turning around and directly darting away, just in time before a fountain of lava and rocks erupted below the feet of the hunters standing in the inner circle.

The ones in the outer circle, where Lee was, and those in the middle circle managed to react in time. As they retreated in panic, they saw a rain of fire and dirt fall down on their comrades in the inner circle.

There were few quick ones, likely possessing wind sparks, who managed to escape along with the rest. Unfortunately, most were crippled or directly died in a blink of an eye as a screeching monster, partially covered in scorching lave, surfaced right where they stood.

It was humongous. Not as big as the flea-like old god Lee’s group killed, but far longer. From its massive pincers to the stinger at the tip of its tail, it stretched nearly twice that creature’s length. Then again, it was impossible to judge.

The moment the scorpion king appeared, it began trashing about, attacking invisible enemies and releasing deafening squeals. At first, especially because of the many fallen comrades, the hunters were scared out their wits by the sight of flaming pincers and wild tail strikes. But after few moments, it became clear – the old god was in agony.

The lava-covered pincers weren’t its natural weapons. In fact, nothing about the scorpion or its behavior was natural.

It had buried deep under surface, close to the source of heat, to hibernate while absorbing elemental energy, but hunters, trying to wake the thing up, had broken the underground lava streams. One or more were redirected toward where the old god was slumbering, forcing it to escape from the heat.

It might’ve been only too hot for the creature at first, but when it rushed to the surface, its humongous size inevitably caused lava to inflict direct damage to it. It didn’t matter if a cultivator or a beast had a fire spark – they would be burned to crisp if directly dropped in fire, and that was what the scorpion king felt when it sank its pincers in the scorching lava river.

More importantly, in panic to reach the surface, the scorpion forced its way up through one of the lava streams. As the result, a quarter of its body, including the front part where the eyes and mouth were, got covered in lave.

It was blindly trashing in desperation and agony, but, the truth was, it was already defeated. All hunters had to do was wait.

The crowd kept retreating while watching the mountain sized old god struggle. The tail was the only working part of its body, and the scorpion was set on use it to attack and defend at the same time, until it smacked another lava pool right in the middle.

That was when the true agony began.

The old god went completely berserk. First, enveloped in a golden light, like a gust of wind, it charged directly away, covering the distance of over a mile in a heartbeat. On the way it managed to trample at least a couple dozen hunters, and sensing it had finally killed something, the scorpion lit up in flames, and charged back again.

This time, instead of using the earth element to defend, it was covered in flames, its own for a change. It tried to attack, intending to crush more enemies under its weight or burn them alive, but everyone had already escaped.

What the humans were baffled with wasn’t its speed or strength. It was the ability to use two different elements at the same time. First, it used earth and wind, and now – fire and wind. Even human elemental warriors who had absorbed two or more sparks couldn’t use two elements at the same time – only in succession.

Elred’s group had already witnessed the flea’s abilities and this wasn’t as shocking to them. The rest heard about their fight and expected the scorpion use different elements – the fact that it had the capability of employing two at the same time was the baffling part.

There were two people who watched the scorpion king struggle with undisguised interest in their eyes.

Lee, seeing the application of two elements, was doing his best to burn the sight in his memory. It was clear he could use it as inspiration for the future development of his skills at least, if not for ways to solve his multiple spark problem. In fact, he cursed to himself there were other witnesses that didn’t allow him to sit in the meditative position right on the spot and start to meditate in order to comprehend the phenomenon.

Lady Panello was curious for a different reason. The scorpion king might’ve seemed mighty to anyone else, but not an elemental lord of average strength. Besides the fact that she didn’t consider herself to be average at all, the more she watched the creature struggle, the clearer it became that there was no way Seren could’ve died if he was here. And if he couldn’t die here, it was impossible he would’ve died in a relatively safe environment, like the one the hunters had during the encounter with the other old god.

She sensed she was lied to from the first time she heard about Seren’s death, and what she saw now was another proof. Fortunately, there were more witnesses she would be able to question after this fight was over.