69: Chapter 69 Oh no, it's starting to get a brain!

He called it 'crossing the tribulation,' but in his heart, it was only a prototype; many details still needed to be perfected.

For instance, how to fly up into the cloud layers.

Zhang Mu knew that a High-level mage could use their qualitatively transformed Mental Energy to lift themselves out of thin air and fly through the sky.

He was still far from that.

Fortunately, among the Blessing Potions Potter had taught him, there were a few that could achieve a similar effect.

"Zhang Mu, what's wrong?" Frederica asked, seeing him staring at the magic book in silence.

"It's nothing, let's keep heading deeper."

Snapped out of his thoughts, Zhang Mu quickly responded, inwardly planning to immediately start brewing the potions and begin his tribulation plan once the dungeon was finished.

Meanwhile, Alice and Saldari hadn't been idle; they were picking out useful items from the miscellaneous objects poured out of the treasure chest and putting them away.

Afterward, the group left the Goblin cave and followed the tunnel further in.

"Zhang Mu," Frederica said as she walked beside him, "we need to be careful in the upcoming battles."

"Hmm?"

"The very first wave of monsters we encountered in this dungeon had a leader; that's never happened before."

"The difficulty rating of this dungeon is likely very high."

"I'll be careful."

As they chatted, their pace didn't slow, and they encountered several waves of Goblins wandering the tunnels one after another.

Without a leader, the group easily handled these 'mobs,' though the loot was correspondingly meager.

They weren't particularly disappointed; dungeons were vast, and treasures were countless.

In most cases, an Adventurer Group would voluntarily withdraw from a dungeon if they lacked the strength and encountered monsters or magic beasts they couldn't defeat.

Only top-tier Adventurer Groups could clear a dungeon in a single run.

The one human and three elves maintained a good mindset as they ventured deeper into the tunnel.

Boom—

It seemed like a massive monster was walking ahead, as a strong vibration traveled through the ground.

The group sharpened their focus and crept to the end of the tunnel.

Outside the tunnel exit was a hall several dozen square meters in size. It was brightly lit, but just like the hall at the dungeon entrance, the light source was nowhere to be found.

Hiding in the shadows of the tunnel exit, Zhang Mu saw over a dozen stone men in the hall, about three meters tall and broad-shouldered.

Lava Beast—Trainee level, a dual-element earth and fire monster. They couldn't use magic, but their stony bodies possessed incredibly formidable defense.

Perhaps because their heads were filled with rocks, their intelligence was extremely low. They only fought by instinct, making them not too difficult to deal with.

They retreated back into the tunnel.

Alice was somewhat excited: "This is the first time we've found elemental creatures. Their Elemental Cores are very rare magic jewelry!"

"Then let's not dally," Zhang Mu said, waving his staff.

Nodding, Frederica warned the others: "I've read information about Lava Beasts within the clan. The brains of these elemental monsters are indeed dull,"

"But some with high talent have a chance to awaken wisdom. If you see a Lava Beast frantically scratching its scalp,"

"Prioritize killing it."

"Understood."

This wouldn't be an easy fight. Zhang Mu pulled out magic potions and healing potions in advance and distributed them to the four elves.

Next, they set up their formation, preparing to hunt the monsters.

Unlike when they were casually dealing with the Goblins, to prevent Vag from being unable to hold off the monsters alone, Saldari, who usually guarded the rear, also moved to the front.

Maintaining a two-in-front, three-in-back formation, they walked a few steps out of the tunnel and stopped, scanning their surroundings.

In the hall, the dozen or so tall Lava Beasts wandered instinctively, occasionally scratching the backs of their heads as if trying to grow brains.

After scanning for a moment, Frederica's gaze landed on the Lava Beast closest to their formation.

They were very slow to react to the outside world; as long as they weren't attacked, they wouldn't even look if an earthquake occurred.

Therefore, they didn't have to worry about being swarmed; they could just deal with them one by one.

With her thoughts clear, Frederica drew her bow and notched an arrow, which pierced into the Lava Beast's forehead.

Under attack, it stopped in its tracks and pulled out the arrow. Its two dark eyes stared for a moment before it realized it had been ambushed.

Looking up to scan the area, it immediately saw the five 'midgets' standing against the corner of the wall.

"Oh! Fight!" Moving with heavy steps, the Lava Beast charged frantically. When it was almost in their faces, it lifted a massive foot to stomp down.

"Hah!" Vag swung his sword, and Saldari raised his Steel Round Shield, charging forward to meet it.

The moment the monster and the two elves collided, Zhang Mu raised his hand and sent three Ice Cones toward the arrow wound in its forehead.

"Arrow, be sharp!"

An arrow arrived first, fiercely piercing into the arrow wound on the Lava Beast's forehead before the Ice Cones could. Its power was terrifying, only stopping once the arrowhead poked through the back of its head.

Seeing this, Zhang Mu waved his staff, and the three Ice Cones veered in mid-air, shattering the Lava Beast's eyes.

"Beautiful and precise magic!"

Saldari, who was bracing his shield against the giant foot, praised him. He diverted the force and dodged to the right, letting the foot stomp the ground with its momentum.

Taking advantage of this opening, he nimbly slipped behind the Lava Beast, leaped up, and thrust the longsword in his right hand fiercely into the back of its neck.

Clang!

The longsword was repelled by the hard skin. Saldari dropped his shield and grabbed the Lava Beast's shoulder with his left hand. Ignoring being tossed around as it turned its body, he stabbed again.

Mid-thrust, Alice raised her staff, and a red glow enveloped the sword blade.

This time, the Lava Beast's skin seemed to turn into tofu, and the longsword smoothly passed through from back to front.

The Lava Beast's frantic struggling stiffened, and its body turned into rubble, tumbling to the ground.

"Continue."

Without consuming much mana and with no one injured, Frederica waited for Saldari and Vag to return to their positions before using an arrow to lure another Lava Beast.

In this manner, the wandering Lava Beasts in the hall were picked off one by one.

With the fourth-to-last one, its eyes were shattered by Zhang Mu, and Saldari moved behind it, preparing to jump.

"Ugh?!"

Having lost its vision, the Lava Beast that had been flailing its arms suddenly paused. It raised its stone palm and began frantically scratching the back of its head.

"Not good! It's growing a brain!"

"Saldari, back off!"

Saldari reacted quickly, kicking off its back and using the force to fly backward.

"Solid as a Rock!" Its head grew a size larger, and its voice became deep, filled with a sense of wisdom.

As its voice fell, the remaining three Lava Beasts in the hall were summoned and moved with heavy, powerful steps to support it.

"Once it awakens wisdom, it will use racial skills. Retreat, quickly!"

Frederica's warning was a bit late.

Just as the group was about to turn, the Lava Beast faced Frederica and Alice. Its knees bent slightly, its upper body leaned forward, and its hands pulled back behind it: "Unstoppable!"

Even though it didn't possess magic damage, with its weight, Zhang Mu didn't think there would be an intact corpse left if they were hit.

Dashing in front of the two, Zhang Mu's magic surged: "Get into the tunnel."

Before they could react, the Lava Beast underwent an abnormality.

Its head, which had already grown a size, was visibly expanding even more.

Until its width exceeded its shoulders, it seemed to reach a limit. With a 'boom,' it exploded, sending fine stone fragments flying everywhere.

Zhang Mu, who had already planned to use his resurrection function and was mentally preparing how to hide it from the four elves, saw this scene and laughed.

He turned around and cheerfully joked with them:

"Haha, didn't expect that, did you? It was a tumor!"