34: The NPC hidden in the Temple of the Sun, the strange volcanic rock monster

Sun God Temple.

It is a Level 150 Unowned Secret Realm located in the intermediate zone of the Eternal World, for levels 91 to 150.

This Secret Realm is very famous among Professionals.

Over the past few decades, almost every year, people have attempted to conquer the Sun God Temple.

However, to this day, no one has been able to clear it, let alone achieve an S-rank evaluation.

According to known intelligence, the Sun God Temple contains a total of three grand halls.

Each grand hall is occupied by ferocious and explosive Level 150 monsters.

Their combat power is comparable to that of typical elite monsters.

Professionals classify monsters into four categories based on their characteristics: normal monsters, special monsters, elite monsters, and bosses.

While elite monsters are not as strong as bosses, their attributes are more than ten times that of normal monsters.

And in the Sun God Temple, such elite monsters exist in droves.

It's no wonder that most Professionals who entered the Sun God Temple were basically defeated and forced to retreat in the first grand hall.

Let alone annihilating the monsters in all three grand halls and getting an S-rank evaluation.

But even though the Sun God Temple is so perilous, countless Professionals still flock to it.

Many military forces and factions have even established dedicated raiding teams to research how to conquer this Unowned Secret Realm, which has buried countless Professional bodies.

The fundamental reason why countless people brave death to conquer this Secret Realm is that someone once received a godforged stone as a reward after clearing the first temple.

And it wasn't just one person.

godforged stone!

A god-tier item countless Professionals dream of.

And this was just the reward for clearing the first temple.

No one knows what rewards clearing the subsequent two temples would yield.

But everyone is certain that their value would be no less than that of a godforged stone.

This is why, despite knowing the dangers within, and even the possibility of losing their lives, it still drives countless people to such a frenzied obsession.

However, at this moment, within the magnificent grand hall at the highest point of the Sun God Temple.

"Moray is dead?"

A shadow figure, completely shrouded in a black robe, slowly asked.

The voice was neither male nor female, and showed no emotion.

Yet, it was this calm tone that made the figure kneeling below tremble with unease.

If Ye Xiao were here at this moment, he would recognize the kneeling figure as the black-clad NPC who had previously escaped from the Miasma Hidden Forest.

"Lainar, you know my rules. I need a reason."

The black-clad NPC, called Lainar, shivered involuntarily and quickly said:

"Lord Commander, everything was going smoothly, but I didn't expect the Secret Realm Lord to react extremely quickly and possess immense combat power. He killed Moray with one blow as soon as he appeared. If I hadn't reacted quickly, I probably wouldn't have made it back."

The black-robed shadow slowly asked: "According to the Eternal World's restrictions on humans, that's only a Level 20 Secret Realm, and you and Moray are Level 90 Shadow Prison Assassins."

Lainar lowered his head in fear, his voice trembling slightly.

"Lord Commander, I am willing to accept your soul-searching."

The black-robed shadow did not speak, its only visible eye, devoid of emotion, stared at Lainar.

Then, a strange black light flickered, instantly enveloping Lainar.

Immediately after, Lainar trembled all over, letting out uncontrollable wails.

However, he still gritted his teeth, trying his best to control his voice.

This continued for half a minute.

Suddenly, the pressure on his body eased, and Lainar collapsed to the ground like a deflated balloon.

The black-robed shadow, on the other hand, showed no reaction and slowly spoke.

"This Night Shadow is strange."

Upon hearing this, Lainar felt a sense of relief.

At this moment, the black-robed shadow spoke again.

"You mean, not long after you left, that Ye Xiao also entered the grotto?"

"Yes, Lord Commander."

After a pause, Lainar continued, "However, I observed from the shadows, and for some reason, that Night Shadow triggered the grotto's restrictions, attracting the Executioner."

The black-robed shadow's emotionless eyes showed a flicker of emotion for the first time.

"He should have entered with Moray's star compass stone. Logically, he shouldn't have attracted the Executioner's attention."

Lainar replied, "That also greatly puzzled me. I originally wanted to use the grotto's terrain to find an opportunity to assassinate him, but due to the intense spatial fluctuations caused by the Executioner's appearance, my subordinates' strength was limited and I couldn't stay any longer, so I had to return first."

This time, the black-robed shadow did not blame Lainar.

"That's fine. Although I don't know the reason, since that fellow provoked the Executioner, he must have been incinerated to ashes by now, so the matter is resolved."

Then, the black-robed shadow changed the subject and slowly said:

"Even so, in Shadow Prison, any flaw in a mission must be punished."

"I'll punish you by making you refine godforged stone."

Lainar's slightly relieved heart uncontrollably tightened upon hearing the words "godforged stone."

He looked up sharply at the black robe, about to speak.

However, a wisp of black energy once again enveloped him, firmly controlling his entire body.

Lainar's eyes were filled with extreme terror.

Unfortunately, this terror lasted for less than three seconds.

In the blink of an eye, he completely lost consciousness.

"Take him to Aubin."

Two black shadows suddenly floated out from nowhere, dragging the unconscious Lainar out of the grand hall.

At this moment, only the black-robed shadow remained in the empty grand hall.

"Having lost the Miasma Hidden Forest as a connection channel, it seems I can only find a way to attract more humans into the Sun God Temple."

--- ---

At this time, Ye Xiao naturally knew nothing about the Sun God Temple.

He was completely immersed in the pleasure of stacking fire resistance.

But as one Volcanic Rock Demon after another fell, Ye Xiao gradually noticed something was wrong.

The defense of these Volcanic Rock Demons was only 50 points, and unlike the previous Spark Phantoms, they didn't have the fire resistance that gave Ye Xiao a headache.

Basically, one Fireball from Ye Xiao could take the life of a Volcanic Rock Demon.

He could now instantly cast 31 Fireballs.

Meaning he could kill 62 in 1 second.

However, as his fire resistance was stacked to 1000.

He found that a Volcanic Rock Demon, which originally only needed one Fireball to kill, now required two hits to kill.

If it was just like this, Ye Xiao wouldn't be worried.

But when he stacked his fire resistance to 1500 points, it already took three Fireballs to kill a Volcanic Rock Demon.

And as the number of kills increased, he found that the Volcanic Rock Demon's health, attack power, and defense seemed to be constantly increasing.

This strange scene made Ye Xiao frown.

It should be known that he had already eliminated most of the Volcanic Rock Demons.

His fire resistance had also been stacked to 3500 points.

And with the bonus from extra experience gain.

Ye Xiao's level had also officially reached 40.

The single power of Fireball had also broken through 3000 points.

But now, the Volcanic Rock Demons required a full 10 Fireballs to kill.

Furthermore, as the killing speed slowed down.

The remaining Volcanic Rock Demons were already able to attack him.

He glanced at his panel.

A single Volcanic Rock Demon dealt over 200 points of damage to him.

This was even after Ye Xiao had stacked his fire resistance to 3500 points.

And there were still roughly 3000 Volcanic Rock Demons remaining.

Ye Xiao couldn't have imagined this a moment ago.

From this moment on, Ye Xiao saw his health bar fluctuate like an electrocardiogram.

One second it would plummet to the bottom, and the next it would be forcefully pulled back to the peak by his Evil Devour's lifesteal ability.

This thrilling situation kept Ye Xiao tense, not daring to be distracted in the slightest.

As Ye Xiao killed another 500 Volcanic Rock Demons.

The situation became even more perilous.

But Ye Xiao knew very well that he absolutely could not retreat in this situation.

If his Fireball casting paused for even a second.

The only outcome would be death.

Left with no choice, Ye Xiao could only grit his teeth.

Continuously firing Fireballs.

Time passed by bit by bit.

After an unknown amount of time, there were less than 500 Volcanic Rock Demons remaining.

During this period, Ye Xiao's level increased by two, reaching Level 42.

His fire resistance also reached 6500 points.

However, there were several times during this process when Ye Xiao almost died on the spot.

Originally, he could have activated the star compass stone to return to the Secret Realm.

But Ye Xiao wasn't sure if he would encounter such an opportunity again the next time he entered the grotto.

In order to improve his strength and to successfully become a Fusion Mage as soon as possible.

Ye Xiao ultimately gritted his teeth and persevered.

Although there were only 500 Volcanic Rock Demons left, Ye Xiao was not optimistic.

He also discovered that 500 was a benchmark.

Once more than 500 were killed, the strength of the remaining Volcanic Rock Demons would increase by one tier.

And the previous battle had already been extremely difficult.

Ye Xiao knew that there was probably no hope for the upcoming battle.

He quickly weighed his options in his mind.

Ultimately, Ye Xiao began to plan his retreat.

Although it felt a bit regrettable, he didn't want to lose his life here.

Only by being alive was everything possible.

Although he was bold, it didn't mean he was brainless.

However, just as Ye Xiao was about to activate Divinity Speed to create distance from the Volcanic Rock Demons, and then activate the star compass stone to return to the Secret Realm.

He suddenly noticed that the attacks of the Volcanic Rock Demons in front of him seemed to have weakened.

Of course, this 'weakness' was only relative.

But it was enough for Ye Xiao to continue fighting, relying on Evil Devour.

He then realized during the battle.

It wasn't that the Volcanic Rock Demons had weakened, but rather that his fire resistance had reached a peak after breaking through 6500 points.

And while the Volcanic Rock Demons' attack power had increased, it couldn't keep up with the growth of Ye Xiao's fire resistance.

Coupled with the sharp decrease in the number of Volcanic Rock Demons.

Ye Xiao, with over 120,000 health points, was naturally able to withstand the Volcanic Rock Demons' damage.

The subsequent battle could only be described as having thrills but no real danger.

After a few more minutes passed like this.

When the last Volcanic Rock Demon was killed by Ye Xiao's Fireball.

The long-awaited notification finally appeared.

--- ---

[Ding! You have annihilated the Volcanic Rock Demons.]

[Ding! You have collected 1 fire element essence fragment, your fire resistance increases by 20%]

--- ---

Seeing that he had collected another fire element essence fragment, and also gained an additional 20% fire resistance.

Ye Xiao finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"That was close! I almost bit the dust here."

He hadn't expected these Volcanic Rock Demons to have such terrifying abilities.

Even in death, they could allow their companions to inherit a portion of their abilities.

He now possessed two fire element essence fragments, and according to the mission description.

Ye Xiao could easily guess that he would need to undergo eight more such perilous battles to collect a complete Elemental Essence.

For a moment, Ye Xiao couldn't help but give a bitter smile.

This Fusion Mage path was truly not something an ordinary person could successfully achieve.

And just as he was complaining.

The surrounding space once again showed anomalies.

Ye Xiao immediately became alert.