173: Chapter 173 Taking a bath in the insect swarm, has that big guy in the core area woken up?

Xia Wanqiu and Murong Yan were wrapped in heat-insulating cloaks, yet they were still sweating profusely.

Mu Qing was also hot, but having led teams in volcanoes for years, her tolerance was much stronger than the average person's.

Lin Fan walked at the very front, shirtless and barefoot, moving extremely fast with a look of pure anticipation on his face.

They hadn't gone three hundred meters when the sound of "click, click" came from behind a giant rock ahead.

A dark red giant scorpion crawled out from behind the boulder.

It was over three meters long, with eight legs, two huge pincers, and a tail raised high. The tip of its stinger was emitting black liquid and orange flames.

Level 5 Monster, early stage.

Seeing Lin Fan, the giant scorpion let out a shrill screech and fired a shot directly at him with its stinger.

"Whoosh!"

A black poison needle as thick as a thumb, wrapped in flames, shot over.

Lin Fan didn't even dodge, letting the poison needle strike him squarely in the chest.

"Ding!"

The poison needle bounced off, not even leaving a white mark.

[Ding! Defense +5!]

[Ding! Poison Resistance experience +30!]

[Ding! Fire Resistance experience +18!]

"Hmm, not bad, stronger than the lizards."

Lin Fan nodded in satisfaction and walked towards the giant scorpion.

"Brother, that last one was pretty good, hit me again."

The giant scorpion clearly hadn't expected its fatal strike to not even break his skin. It froze for a second, then angrily brandished its two large pincers and charged.

"Click!"

Its left pincer clamped onto Lin Fan's waist.

With thirty thousand kilograms of clamping force fully exerted.

Lin Fan's waist didn't budge an inch.

He looked down, "Is that it? I thought it would hurt more."

[Ding! Defense +8!]

The giant scorpion squeezed hard for three seconds, only to find that the opponent's waist was like an iron pillar; its pincers couldn't close.

It switched to its right pincer and clamped onto Lin Fan's arm.

It still couldn't clamp down.

Lin Fan stretched lazily and said, "Squeeze harder, don't be polite, I'm not afraid of pain."

Thorn Armor triggered.

300% true damage reflected.

With a "click," the giant scorpion's left pincer split down the middle.

Immediately after, the right pincer also cracked.

The giant scorpion let out a miserable shriek, and its entire body was pushed back by the reflected force, flipping over onto its back.

Lin Fan walked over and dug a Level 5 Monster core out of its abdomen.

"Around 1.5 million," he estimated the value and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Next!"

His voice echoed through the passage.

A dense sound of "clicking" came from the rock caves on both sides.

One, two, five, ten.

Twenty-three lava giant scorpions swarmed out from all directions.

Early stage Level 5 Monsters, mid-stage, and even two high-stage Level 5 Monsters.

They surrounded Lin Fan, with all their pincers and stingers aimed at him.

Lin Fan stood in the center of the encirclement and looked around.

Then he smiled.

"That's more like it, it's only lively when there are many."

He spread his arms.

"Come on, don't line up."

All twenty-three giant scorpions attacked simultaneously.

Poison needles, pincers, stingers, and flames surged towards Lin Fan from all directions.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

"Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!"

The system notification sound flooded the screen like crazy.

[Defense +5!] [Defense +8!] [Defense +6!]

[Poison Resistance experience +28!]

[Poison Resistance experience +35!]

[Fire Resistance experience +22!]

[Fire Resistance experience +30!]

[Physical Resistance experience +15!]

Lin Fan closed his eyes, enjoying the all-around "massage."

Every clamping attack from the pincers slightly increased his bone density.

Every poison needle made his Poison Immunity more perfect.

Every blast of flame made his skin more heat-resistant.

This all-around, no-dead-angle, multi-attribute simultaneous improvement.

Awesome!

Behind him.

Mu Qing stood at a safe distance, watching the scene of Lin Fan being surrounded and beaten by twenty-three Level 5 Monsters while looking utterly satisfied; the energy bar in her hand dropped to the ground.

She didn't even bother to pick it up.

"How does he do it?"

"Do what?"

"Being surrounded and attacked by twenty-three Level 5 Monsters and still being able to smile."

Xia Wanqiu thought for a moment, "Try looking at it from a different perspective; he's not being besieged, he's getting a full-body spa."

"..."

"The scorpions' pincers are a shoulder and neck massage, the stingers are acupuncture, and the flames are a hot compress therapy."

"Stop, don't say anymore."

Mu Qing rubbed her temples.

She was now beginning to understand why Xia Wanqiu and Murong Yan were so calm about Lin Fan's behavior.

It wasn't that they were abnormal, it was that they had been "domesticated" by Lin Fan.

Long-term contact with a pervert, and normal people will also become abnormal.

This is the so-called "He who stays near vermilion gets stained red; he who stays near Lin Fan becomes a pervert."

The battle ahead, or rather, the one-sided beating, lasted for about ten minutes.

The Thorn Armor's reflection effect remained in effect.

Every time the giant scorpions attacked Lin Fan, they suffered 300% true damage reflection.

The first ones unable to hold on were the early-stage Level 5 Monsters.

Their pincers all shattered, stingers snapped, bodies covered in cracks, and they fell one after another.

The mid-stage Level 5 Monsters lasted a few minutes longer, but the result was the same.

Finally, only two high-stage Level 5 Monsters remained, covered in injuries with one pincer shattered each, hesitating whether to run.

Lin Fan opened his eyes, and seeing only two left, he was immediately dissatisfied.

"Only you two left? Don't run, I haven't had enough fun yet."

He walked towards one of them, and that giant scorpion was so scared it retreated three steps.

A high-stage Level 5 Monster, scared off by a human.

Lin Fan sighed, "Forget it, you guys have it rough too."

With the last reflection of Thorn Armor, both giant scorpions collapsed simultaneously.

The field was cleared.

Lin Fan crouched down and took out the monster cores one by one.

Twenty-three Level 5 Monster cores, of varying quality.

"Rich, I'm rich."

He stuffed all the monster cores into his space ring, stood up, and glanced at the system panel.

Defense Level: LV43.

The experience bar had advanced by about one-fifth.

"Level 5 experience is much better than Level 4, but the efficiency is still not enough."

He looked into the depths of the passage.

"Where are the Level 6 Flame Demon Beetle swarms?"

Mu Qing walked up from behind, her expression having returned to calm.

Or rather, she was numb.

"Four kilometers further ahead. But I suggest resting for a bit; your teammates need to replenish their stamina."

Lin Fan looked back.

Although Xia Wanqiu and Murong Yan hadn't participated in the battle.

But after staying in an 1800-degree environment for so long, the heat-insulating cloaks were losing their effectiveness.

Both of them had sweat on their faces, and their lips were slightly chapped.

"Alright, ten minutes of rest."

He walked over to a rock with a relatively lower temperature and signaled for the two to sit down.

Xia Wanqiu sat down and downed half a bottle of water.

Murong Yan also sat down and pulled the hood of her heat-insulating cloak down.

"Can't you slow down? We don't have your perverted physique."

"I know, I know, I'll pay attention next time."

"You say that every time."

"This time it's for real."

"You said it was for real last time too."

Lin Fan chuckled sheepishly and pulled two bottles of high-level recovery potions from his space ring, handing them over.

"Drink these, they replenish stamina quickly."

Xia Wanqiu took them and drank a mouthful, her complexion looking a bit better.

Murong Yan drank two mouthfuls and returned the bottle to Lin Fan, "You drink some too."

"I don't need to, I'm in great shape right now."

"When have you ever not been in great shape?"

"I'm in the best shape when I'm surrounded by beauties."

Murong Yan kicked him in the calf.

[Ding! Defense +1!]

"Thanks."

"Get lost."

Mu Qing sat on another rock, took a small communicator from her backpack, and tuned it to the Martial Arts Association channel.

"Mu Qing reporting, in the outer area of the middle zone of the Thunder Prison Volcano, twenty-three Level 5 Lava Giant Scorpions have been cleared, the passage is safe."

A man's voice came from the communicator.

"All twenty-three wiped out? Is the team you're leading that strong?"

"It's not that the team is strong, it's that one person is strong."

"One person cleared twenty-three Level 5 giant scorpions?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Ten minutes."

There was silence on the other end of the communicator for five seconds.

"What level is he?"

Mu Qing thought for a moment, "It's hard to say, his fighting style is rather... special."

"Special? How is it special?"

"He stood still, let the monsters hit him, and then the monsters died themselves."

There was silence on the other end of the communicator again.

"Have you been drinking?"

"No."

"Then say it again?"

"He stood still, let the monsters hit him, the monsters received reflection damage every time they hit him, and they hit themselves to death while fighting."

The other side was silent for a long time.

"What's this person's name?"

"Lin Fan."

"The one from the National League?"

"Yes."

"Understood, stay safe, don't let him enter the core area."

"I'll try."

Mu Qing turned off the communicator and glanced at Lin Fan, who was bickering with his two female teammates.

Try.

But she vaguely felt that this "try" was highly likely to be useless.

Ten minutes were up.

Lin Fan was the first to stand up.

"Rest is over, let's go, time to find the Level 6 ones."

His face revealed that excited expression again, which made Mu Qing's heart crawl.

The four of them continued deeper into the middle zone.

The temperature rose from 1800 degrees to 2000 degrees, and then from 2000 degrees to 2200 degrees.

Faint flashes of lightning began to appear in the air; that was a sign that the lightning-attribute energy from the depths of the volcano was beginning to overflow.

They walked for about another twenty minutes.

The ground ahead suddenly began to shake violently.

"Click, click, click!"

A dense sound, similar to shells colliding, came from ahead.

Mu Qing stopped, her expression changing.

"Flame Demon Beetle swarm."

"How many?"

Mu Qing raised her detector and scanned, her face becoming even uglier.

"One hundred and thirty-seven."

"One hundred and thirty-seven Level 6 Beast?" Lin Fan's voice changed pitch.

Not from fear.

But from excitement.

"Isn't this just a buffet with extra portions at no extra cost!"

Mu Qing was just about to say some words of warning.

In the heat mist at the end of the passage, densely packed dark red shells reflecting the light of the lava surged forward.

Each beetle was over a meter long.

Their bodies were covered in hard flame shells, with six legs, two long horns, and blue-white high-temperature flames coming from their mouths.

From Level 6 low stage to Level 6 mid-stage, all of them.

One hundred and thirty-seven.

Covering the sky and earth.

Lin Fan stood at the very front, looking at this dense "ocean of experience," his expression extremely intoxicated.

He looked back at the three women.

"You guys step back, I want this whole wave."

Lin Fan turned around, faced the insect swarm, and spread his arms.

"Come on, babies! Daddy's here!"

The insect swarm collided with Lin Fan.

And somewhere deeper within.

A breathing sound, so deep that it made the entire volcano tremble slightly, came from the core area.

...