171: Chapter 171 Lizard Swarm? This is just like a self-service hot pot!

The bottom of The Rift.

The temperature soared directly to over five hundred degrees.

The black volcanic rock ground was covered in fissures, with orange-red magma flowing slowly through them.

The air trembled with heat, and every breath brought a burning sensation.

When Lin Fan landed, he smashed out a shallow crater.

"Defense + 2."

The system prompted.

Just this?

Lin Fan brushed the dust off his body and looked around.

The bottom of The Rift was much wider than it looked from above, with steep rock walls on both sides.

A winding passage extended forward, its end shrouded in a layer of heat haze, making it impossible to see deep inside.

White bone fragments were scattered on the ground, some from humans, some from beasts.

"The environment is not bad; it feels a bit like a sauna."

Lin Fan loosened up his wrists and ankles; his whole body felt warm, and his pores had all opened up.

On the system panel, the experience bar for Fire Resistance was slowly increasing.

Just standing here was enough to gain experience.

Awesome.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!"

A dense hissing sound came from ahead.

Over a dozen pairs of dark red eyes lit up in the heat haze.

Immediately after, a swarm of lizards, each about the size of a large dog, darted out from the rock fissures.

Rockfire Lizards.

Level 4 low-tier beasts, their bodies covered in dark red scales, tongues of fire spitting from their mouths, and a dancing flame at the tip of their tails.

There were seventeen of them in total.

They formed a semicircle, blocking Lin Fan at his landing spot.

Lin Fan counted them, and his brow furrowed.

"Only seventeen? Guide Mu said at least thirty or forty; this batch is cutting corners."

The lizard swarm didn't care what he was muttering; the three in front launched an attack first.

They opened their mouths and spat out three fireballs, heading straight for Lin Fan's face.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The fireballs exploded on Lin Fan's face, splashing sparks everywhere.

[Ding! Defense + 3!]

[Ding! Fire Resistance experience + 15!]

Lin Fan blinked; for him, the temperature of the fireballs was about the same as face-washing water.

"Just this temperature?"

Lin Fan reached out to wipe the dust off his face and shook his head.

"No good, not hot enough; it doesn't even count as mildly spicy."

The rest of the lizards were enraged by his composure, and over a dozen of them rushed up together.

Some spat fire, some whipped their tails, and some went straight for a bite.

Lin Fan stood in place with his hands on his hips, letting the lizard swarm bite, burn, and whip him.

The dings in his head rang incessantly.

[Defense + 2!]

[Defense + 1!]

[Defense + 3!]

[Fire Resistance experience + 12!]

[Fire Resistance experience + 8!]

A lizard bit onto Lin Fan's calf and gnashed its teeth hard.

After grinding for three seconds, two of its teeth shattered.

The lizard let go, let out a wail, and retreated while clutching its mouth.

"Brother, your teeth aren't very good," Lin Fan said, looking down at the slobber marks on his calf.

"You've been biting for ages and didn't even leave a tooth mark; shouldn't you go see a dentist?"

The lizard couldn't understand human speech, but it could understand the expression on Lin Fan's face.

That expression, translated into lizard language, was: Are you scratching an itch for me?

Two other lizards snuck up from behind, their flaming tails whipping onto Lin Fan's back.

"Smack, smack!"

[Defense + 2!]

[Defense + 1!]

Lin Fan looked back and said, "Don't stop, come again."

Thorn Armor triggered.

300% True Damage reflected.

The two lizards were sent flying by the force reflected back from their own tails, slamming into the rock wall and rolling their eyes back on the spot.

"Alright, alright, the lot of you added together don't hit as hard as that Corpse Demon in the mine."

Lin Fan was a bit disappointed.

But there was no helping it; this was just the outer zone, and Level 4 low-tier monsters weren't expected to give much experience anyway.

Just treat it as a warm-up.

The sound of ropes rubbing against the rock wall came from overhead.

Mu Qing was the first to land, her movements crisp and efficient; one hand gripping the rope, she lightly pushed off the rock wall with her toes and landed steadily on the ground.

The moment she landed, she saw the scene before her.

Seventeen Rockfire Lizards.

Five were already lying on the ground with their eyes rolled back.

The remaining twelve were surrounding Lin Fan, biting and spitting, while Lin Fan stood in place with his hands on his hips, looking disdainful.

Mu Qing's footsteps faltered.

"How did he do that?"

Xia Wanqiu landed behind her and brushed the dust off her body.

"Do what?"

"Those lizards are biting him, how is he completely fine?"

"His Defense is high."

"How high?"

"You've watched the National League finals, right? A 300-Fold Gravity field pressed down on him, and he stood up and stretched."

Mu Qing was silent for a second.

"That was a livestream effect."

"No, that was real."

Murong Yan landed last and patted Mu Qing on the shoulder.

"Guide, just treat him like a rock. Lizards bite rocks, and rocks don't feel pain."

"But rocks don't stand with their hands on their hips, complaining that the lizards aren't biting hard enough."

Murong Yan thought about it, "That's true, he's much more abnormal than a rock."

Over there, Lin Fan had already finished farming the remaining lizards.

Calling it farming, it was really just standing there letting them hit him.

The damage reflection effect of Thorn Armor was too fierce; the Level 4 low-tier lizards simply couldn't withstand the 300% reflected damage from their own attacks.

They hit him until they killed themselves.

The last lizard spat a mouthful of fire, was roasted by its own reflected flames, and fell to the ground smelling delicious.

"Eh? It actually smells quite good," Lin Fan sniffed, "A bit like barbecue."

Xia Wanqiu walked over and handed him a bottle of water.

"How's the experience?"

"Average," Lin Fan chugged some water and took a look at the system panel.

"Defense experience went up a little bit, better than nothing. The monsters in the outer zone are too weak; we have to go deeper."

Mu Qing put away the rope and walked up to Lin Fan.

"You don't need weapons?"

"I am the weapon."

"You don't need armor?"

"I am the armor."

"You don't need healing?"

Lin Fan pointed at Xia Wanqiu, "I come with my own healer."

Mu Qing's mouth twitched.

"Then what exactly do you need?"

"I need to be hit."

"..."

Mu Qing felt that her thirty-seven times of guiding experience had all been reset to zero at this moment.

The teams she had guided before, no matter how strong, the first thing they did upon entering the volcano was to find cover, set up formations, and establish Defenses.

Not a single team had ever charged down shirtless to compare skin thickness with lizards.

"Let's go," Mu Qing turned and walked away, "Three kilometers ahead, there is a lizard nest, with at least sixty or seventy of them, including several Level 4 mid-tier Lizard Kings."

"Sixty or seventy?"

Lin Fan's voice immediately went up.

"Are there any Level 4 high-tier ones?"

"Deep in the nest, there is a Level 4 peak-tier Rockfire Lizard Emperor, its body covered in crystalline scales, and the flames it spits are nearly 1,500 degrees."

"1,500 degrees!"

Lin Fan's walking speed instantly tripled.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! If we dawdle any longer, the meal will get cold!"

Mu Qing was overtaken by him and could only jog to keep up.

"What are you in such a rush for? The Lizard Emperor won't run away."

"What if someone else snatches it?"

"We are the only team in this volcano."

"Then what if it dies of old age?"

Mu Qing wanted to retort, but found she couldn't find an angle.

The four of them advanced quickly along the passage at the bottom of The Rift.

The further they went in, the higher the temperature.

The fissures on the ground became increasingly dense; in some places, flames were coming directly out, and stepping on them would make the soles of one's shoes smoke.

Sweat had already started to bead on Xia Wanqiu's forehead.

Murong Yan was also so hot that she unzipped the collar of her combat suit.

Only Lin Fan looked like he was enjoying it, his walking pace as light as if he were going on a spring outing.

"This temperature is comfortable; it's much better than the school's sauna."

"Can you be normal?" Murong Yan kicked him.

"I am very normal."

"Normal people wouldn't say it's comfortable in a 500 or 600-degree environment."

"That's why I say you guys aren't training hard enough; you can't even withstand 500 or 600 degrees."

Murong Yan kicked him again.

[Ding! Defense + 1!]

Lin Fan turned back and gave her a thumbs up, "Thanks, continue."

Murong Yan gritted her teeth and held back the third kick.

Mu Qing was leading the way, observing Lin Fan out of the corner of her eye.

She noticed a detail.

When Lin Fan walked, he would occasionally deliberately step on the flaming fissures on the ground.

Every time he stepped on them, the soles of his feet would be scorched by the flames, but his expression wasn't one of pain, but of some unspeakable pleasure.

That kind of expression, she had never seen on the face of any member of any team.

And his shoes had already started to smoke.

"Your shoes are about to burn through," Mu Qing reminded him.

"It's fine, if the shoes burn through it's even better; the effect is better when stepping on fire barefoot."

"What effect?"

"Fire Resistance grinds faster."

Mu Qing opened her mouth, then closed it again.

She decided not to ask any more questions about Lin Fan.

Ask one, and her mindset breaks one.

It's not worth it.

After walking for about another twenty minutes, a huge cave entrance appeared ahead.

The cave entrance was billowing with heat waves, and from inside came dense hissing sounds, occasionally mixed with dull roars.

"We're here," Mu Qing stopped, "The lizard nest."

She took a small thermal detector out of her backpack and scanned the cave entrance.

"Detected... seventy-three heat sources, five of which are significantly larger, likely Level 4 mid-tier Lizard Kings or higher; there is an unusually intense heat source deep inside, the temperature reading exceeds the detector's limit."

"The one exceeding the limit is the Lizard Emperor?"

"It should be."

"Perfect."

Lin Fan took off his shoes, which were about to burn through, and stepped barefoot onto the scorching rock.

"Mm, hot on the feet, comfortable."

Xia Wanqiu sighed, "How are you going to fight?"

"The usual rule, I go in, you guys wait outside."

"I want to go in too," Murong Yan rolled up her sleeves, "You eating all the experience by yourself is too unfair."

"You'll be roasted if you go in."

"I can withstand it."

"You can't withstand it," Lin Fan said seriously, "The temperature inside is at least over a thousand degrees; your Fire Resistance isn't enough right now. Wait outside; when I take down the Lizard Emperor, you can go in and pick up the loot."

Murong Yan frowned, wanting to retort but knowing that what he said was the truth.

Xia Wanqiu tugged on Murong Yan's sleeve, "Let him go, his skin is thick."

"Then stay safe," Murong Yan said, leaving this sentence, and turned her head away.

Lin Fan smiled, didn't say anything sentimental, and turned to walk into the cave.

After walking two steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Mu Qing.

"Guide Mu, generally speaking, how much is the inner core of a Lizard Emperor worth?"

"A Level 4 peak-tier crystal inner core, if the quality is good, the market price is between 800,000 and 1,000,000."

"Only one million?"

"Do you think beast inner cores are cabbages? A Level 4 peak-tier one is already very valuable."

"Fine, mosquito legs are still meat."

Lin Fan walked into the cave barefoot.

Mu Qing stood at the cave entrance, her mood very complicated.

She had guided thirty-seven teams.

Every team, when facing a lizard nest, would enter as a whole, coordinate their roles, and advance in an orderly manner.

Never had any team used a strategy where one person walked in barefoot while the rest waited outside.

"Does he really not need help?" Mu Qing asked in a low voice.

Xia Wanqiu shook her head, "He doesn't need help, he needs to be hit."

"..."