The Kunlun Squad's despair: all their efforts were in vain?

"Gone...gone?!"

"Phew...thank goodness!"

Inside the cave, several team members slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

The relief of surviving a disaster allowed everyone to temporarily relax.

The oppressive feeling brought by that giant lizard earlier was simply too strong; just standing there made them feel like even breathing became difficult.

"Captain...what kind of creature is this?!"

"Do we have lizards that big on our Blue Star?!"

A team member asked with lingering fear, his voice still trembling slightly.

..."You fool, you know the answer."

Captain Chen Gang leaned against the rock wall, slowly exhaling a turbid breath.

"Has anyone ever heard of a lizard that can grow over thirty meters and spew fire all over its body?"

"And its strength...is extremely terrifying!"

"We are no match at all!"

At this point, his brows furrowed.

"This is bad..."

"With such a monster here, the mining operation at Tianchi Volcano simply cannot proceed smoothly!"

Captain Chen Gang's face was ashen.

Before coming in, he had never anticipated such a scene!

Of course, not only did he not anticipate it, in fact, no one in the entire Great Xia would have anticipated it!

"Captain, I'll go see where that lizard monster went first."

At this moment, a slightly bolder team member volunteered.

He cautiously peered out of the cave, looking around.

However, the next second, his body suddenly froze.

The giant lizard had not gone far at all; it was stopped in front of the Ore vein they had previously mined.

With its metallic-glowing claws, it easily pried off a large piece of crimson Dragon Crystal from the hard rock wall.

Then, it opened its gaping maw, and with a "crunch," it crushed the Ore, which they considered incredibly precious,

chewing it to powder like a piece of candy and swallowing it with relish.

Hmm...it seemed to be very crunchy.

As if sensing the prying gaze, the giant lizard, which was eating, suddenly turned its head, and its pair of indifferent giant eyes precisely locked onto the direction of the cave.

Two scorching streams of Qi shot out from its nostrils, and then, it opened its mouth.

Whoosh!

A fireball the size of a human head, trailing a long tail of flame, instantly whistled over, heavily smashing beside the cave entrance.

Boom!

A violent explosion stirred up rolling heat waves, and shattered rocks flew everywhere.

The scouting team member was scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and quickly scrambled back into the cave.

"It...it didn't leave!"

"It's out there at the Dragon Crystal Ore vein, seems to be eating those Ores!"

"It also found us! It's been watching us, we can't get out at all!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts sank to the bottom.

Captain Chen Gang's face was even more unsightly.

He immediately opened his communication device, trying to contact the ground command base to report the emergency situation here.

However, no matter how he adjusted it, all that came from the communicator was a series of harsh static noises.

No response!

A terrible guess arose in his mind.

The giant lizard's body was enveloped in an unimaginably powerful energy field, and it was probably this energy that directly interfered with all communication signals!

"Trouble, unable to contact the ground, can't even convey the situation here."

Captain Chen Gang's voice was filled with deep powerlessness.

"What do we do, Captain?" a team member asked in despair.

"For now...I'm afraid we can only wait." Captain Chen Gang gritted his teeth: "See if that lizard leaves."

"Once it leaves, we'll rush out immediately!"

However, time passed minute by minute.

The giant lizard leisurely enjoyed its "Dragon Crystal feast," showing no intention of leaving.

Moreover, as it continued to eat, the energy fluctuations emanating from its body grew stronger and stronger.

The temperature of the entire underground lava cave also began to rise at an alarming rate.

The alarm lights on their top-tier protective suits had already started flashing, indicating that the external temperature was about to exceed the equipment's tolerance limit.

Soon...two or three hours passed.

The team members, squeezed in the narrow, stuffy cave, had already begun to feel severe discomfort.

"Captain...the temperature is getting higher and higher..."

"If this continues, our equipment won't hold up, I'm afraid..."

A team member's words were left unfinished, but everyone understood what he meant.

Captain Chen Gang remained silent.

He knew that this beast had no intention of leaving.

But they absolutely could not be trapped and roasted alive here like this!

"Someone must get the news out of here!" Captain Chen Gang's voice was resolute.

"The country doesn't know there's such a terrifying creature inside the volcano. If we are all wiped out, and subsequent mining teams enter unknowingly, it will only cause greater casualties!"

"We, the Kunlun Squad, must not let such a thing happen!"

He scanned his team members and issued a tragic command.

"Listen up!"

"The twenty of us, at all costs, must at least have one break through and bring the news back to the ground!"

As his words fell, he, as the strongest among them, resolutely stepped forward.

"I'll charge out first, attract that beast's attention, and you all take the opportunity to retreat!"

"No! Captain!"

As soon as these words came out, they were immediately stopped by all the team members.

"Captain, you are the strongest among us, and the most likely to escape!"

"If there's to be cover, it's us who will cover you!"

The vice-captain grabbed him, saying excitedly.

"That's right! Let us go!"

"We'll hold it off!"

"Captain, don't hesitate!"

"The bigger picture is more important!"

The other team members also spoke up, without the slightest hesitation.

They were soldiers; life and death had long been disregarded, but the completion of the mission was above all else!

Captain Chen Gang looked at the young and resolute faces, and his eyes instantly reddened.

He understood that the vice-captain's proposal was the most secure method.

As the strongest here, he was indeed the most likely person to break through!

Thinking of the importance of this intelligence...finally, he made a difficult compromise.

"Alright...then...then let's do as you say."

"Brothers...I'm counting on you!"

The plan was quickly finalized.

The vice-captain, who was at the Fourth Layer of Body Forging, would lead the other eighteen team members to fully hold off the giant lizard, creating an opportunity for Captain Chen Gang to escape.

The operation began immediately.

Without a word, the vice-captain took a deep breath and led the eighteen team members out of the cave first.

Captain Chen Gang followed at the very rear of the team, his muscles tensed, ready to burst out with the fastest speed to break through the moment his teammates created an opportunity.

And the moment they appeared, the giant lizard, which had been dozing, lazily opened its eyes, and its massive body slowly stood up.

"Brothers! For Great Xia! Kill!"

The vice-captain let out an earth-shattering roar, about to lead the team members in a charge,

even if it was like moths flying into a flame, they had to buy time for the captain to break through!

However, before they could make any move.

The giant lizard seemed to have been provoked and was somewhat impatient.

Boom!

An invisible yet heavy, mountain-like terrifying pressure suddenly erupted from its body, instantly engulfing everyone!

Thud! Thud!

Including Captain Chen Gang, the twenty elites of the Kunlun Squad, under this pressure,

could not even put up a hint of resistance, and were all pressed to the ground, unable to move!

Their proud immense strength seemed so ridiculous and insignificant at this moment.

Everyone was stunned.

Only at this moment did they truly understand how vast the gap between them and this monster actually was!

It turned out that its previous act of letting them go wasn't some sudden whim at all, but pure playfulness and disdain!

It seemed they had no chance of escaping from under the giant lizard's nose from the very beginning!

Thinking of this, a bitter wave of despair immediately surged in their hearts.

As elites of Great Xia, they were not afraid of death.

But they were more afraid of not completing their mission and dying here so frustratingly!

They had ultimately failed the nation's expectations!

The giant lizard clearly didn't care what these little bugs were thinking.

It only knew that these guys, who dared to covet its food, actually dared to shout and challenge it in its presence.

As the uncrowned king of this volcano, this was intolerable.

It was enraged.

And the price of enraging it was death!

It opened its mouth and let out a low roar towards the lava river not far away.

The next moment, the scorching lava actually came alive, transforming into a crimson giant wave dozens of meters high, crashing down on the Kunlun Squad members who were suppressed on the ground!

It's over!

Looking at the sky-obscuring lava giant wave, only these two words remained in everyone's minds.

However, at this critical moment.

Rip!

A space rift, as black as ink, appeared out of thin air in front of the lava giant wave without any warning.

Immediately after, a miniature sword, no more than three inches long, entirely black, and like an illusory bubble, flashed out from the rift.

It floated silently in mid-air and gently swiped at the terrifying lava giant wave.

The next second, the lava giant wave directly annihilated, turning into nothingness.