144: Chapter 144 Pushing Open the Fourth Floor

The Red-Armored Lava Beast hurled its second fireball.

Just as Lin Ye and Zhao Mengmeng retreated behind the stone pillar, the heatwave slammed directly against their backs.

Boom.

The fireball smashed against the outer edge of the stone pillar.

Debris and sparks flew everywhere.

Zhao Mengmeng crouched down to dodge.

Her shoulder armor felt dull from being struck by the flying rubble.

"This guy can fire in succession!"

"I see that."

"How do we fight it? It's blocking the door, and behind it are nothing but heat rays and pillars of fire."

Lin Ye scanned the terrain.

The passage ahead was over ten meters wide, with three fire-resistant stone pillars on each side.

The ground was covered in lava fissures, and a few iron plates were still slowly opening and closing.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast coiled in front of the fourth-floor entrance, its body sealing off the archway.

A direct charge would only lead to being carpet-bombed by fireballs.

Retreating was impossible; the core heat ray zone was becoming invisible again.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

Lin Ye glanced at his right hand.

The web of his hand was split open, the shell of the Dark Weaver was scorching hot, and the anchor slot was nearly depleted.

But this giant beast had to die.

Zhao Mengmeng leaned against the stone pillar and leveled her crossbow.

"Shoot its eyes?"

"The armor plating is too thick, and the angle to its eye sockets isn't right."

"In its mouth?"

"The fireball will blow the arrow apart."

"Then what do we do? We can't exactly reason with it."

The Red-Armored Lava Beast took half a step forward.

Its jaw plates opened and closed, and firelight swelled deep within its throat.

Lin Ye activated his Left Eye instantly.

Red light flooded his retinas.

The beast's armor plates, throat cavity, back fissures, and limb joints were all a blinding crimson.

Only deep in its jaw, near the throat bone, a faint green dot flickered.

That was the hub where the fireball was compressed.

If that was shattered, the internal fire pressure would definitely backfire.

Lin Ye closed his eyes.

A wave of soreness welled up in his eyes.

"Its chin."

"What?"

"There's a dot under its mouth; we have to smash it."

Zhao Mengmeng looked at the beast's terrifyingly thick jawbone.

"Brother Lin, you call that a dot?"

"I'll go."

"Go my ass!"

Zhao Mengmeng's voice rose sharply.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast spat out its third fireball.

Lin Ye didn't respond.

He fired the Dark Weaver's anchor point toward the top of the left stone pillar.

With his left hand, he grabbed the secondary line at Zhao Mengmeng's waist and swung her hard behind the cover on the right.

"Save the crossbow bolt for its mouth."

Zhao Mengmeng used the momentum to roll as she landed, and the fireball roared through the gap between them.

Lin Ye used the tension to soar into the air, moving rapidly along the outer edge of the left stone pillar.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast's head turned to follow him.

Firelight gathered in its throat again.

Lin Ye had figured out its spitting rhythm.

Open mouth, build pressure, throat bulges, jaw lifts slightly.

Every time it built pressure, the green dot on its jaw was exposed for less than half a second.

He had to make it kneel.

Lin Ye flicked his right arm.

The Nano-wire wound around the first stone pillar, and the anchor point nailed into the back of the second pillar.

The second one shot toward the ground outside the Red-Armored Lava Beast's left front limb.

The third one struck the base of the right stone pillar.

Three points formed a net.

The moment the Nano-wire tightened, the Red-Armored Lava Beast lunged forward.

Its heavy claws hit the ground, sending sparks flying from the lava fissures.

Zhao Mengmeng crouched on the right and raised her crossbow.

She didn't pull the trigger.

She was waiting for its mouth to open.

As the Red-Armored Lava Beast's front limbs crossed the Nano-wire by half a step, Lin Ye pressed the mechanism hard.

The high-frequency engine let out a sharp screech.

The Nano-wire tightened abruptly, binding the giant beast's two front limbs.

The Dark Weaver bracer became scorching hot from the terrifying traction.

Lin Ye planted his left foot firmly against the stone pillar and pressed his right shoulder back as hard as he could.

The Nano-wire couldn't cut through the thick crimson armor, but it snagged the joints responsible for movement.

Boom!

The giant beast's forward momentum was thwarted on the spot.

Its front limbs tangled.

Its body lunged forward heavily and fell to its knees.

Its jaw smashed onto the black stone floor, cracking it into a spiderweb pattern.

The fireball compressed in its throat lost stability, and red light flickered wildly.

"Mengmeng!"

The crossbow string twanged.

The wooden bolt pierced through the air, driving straight into the soft flesh of the beast's open mouth.

It wasn't fatal, but it made the pained beast instinctively lift its jaw and roar.

The green dot was completely exposed.

Lin Ye used the Dark Weaver's reverse tension to launch himself into the air.

His left hand held the damaged Fire Axe high.

His body cut across the side line of the beast's head.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast swung its head in a sideways collision.

Lin Ye released a secondary line from between his fingers, and his body dropped half a foot in mid-air.

He dodged, scraping past the trajectory of the bone horn's sweep.

The Fire Axe came crashing down with his entire body weight.

Crack.

The axe blade embedded into the green dot on its jaw.

The axe handle vibrated so violently that Lin Ye's left arm went numb, and his bones clicked.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast roared in pain, and the fire pressure in its throat surged crazily.

It didn't shatter completely.

Lin Ye flipped the bone blade in his right hand.

He savagely plunged it into the crack opened by the axe blade.

He pried with all his might.

"Again!"

Zhao Mengmeng's second wooden bolt arrived, hitting the burn crack at the base of the beast's tongue perfectly.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast's giant mouth stretched to its limit.

Lin Ye pulled out the axe.

A second downward strike!

Bang.

The green dot shattered completely.

The extremely compressed fire pressure lost control within its throat and exploded backward with a roar.

Crimson armor plates exploded outward from its chin in layers.

The giant head was thrown skyward by the internal fire it had spat.

Billowing black smoke mixed with sparks spewed wildly from its mouth and nose.

Lin Ye was blown sideways by the shockwave.

The Dark Weaver's short line nailed firmly into the stone pillar.

It pulled him back from over the rolling lava fissures.

Zhao Mengmeng lunged forward and grabbed the tactical strap on his back.

The two of them rolled into the shadow of the stone pillar.

The Red-Armored Lava Beast's limbs spasmed.

After its body knocked down two iron plates in front of the entrance, it collapsed heavily to the ground, dead.

Its jaw was completely blown open.

Black-red blood, mixed with cooling lava, flowed down the stone steps.

The Great Xia Live Stream instantly boiled over.

[Exploded its chin with one axe! Awesome!]

[This monster was so arrogant blocking the door earlier, now it's silenced!]

[Mengmeng interrupted the casting with two arrows, Brother Eye opened the can at point-blank range, hardcore!]

Outside the core zone in the back.

Ivan leaned on his chipped bone pickaxe, his rugged cheeks tightened.

Blake stood further away in the smoke and dust.

Half of his face was flushed red from the heat mist, and his eyes were bloodshot with a terrifying intensity.

The Great Xia people had kicked open the door to the fourth floor.

And he hadn't even crossed the high-temperature heat rays of the core zone.

Martin leaned against the edge of the lifting platform, his hands gripping his short blade so tightly his knuckles were white.

Lin Ye pushed himself up against the stone pillar.

The Fire Axe's blade was completely curled and ruined.

Zhao Mengmeng reached out to help him.

Lin Ye waved her off.

"Nothing's broken."

"You're just being stubborn; when you flew out just now, I thought I'd have to collect your corpse."

"If you collect my corpse, remember to take off my gear first."

"Get lost."

Zhao Mengmeng scolded him, but she handed him the water skin.

Lin Ye took a sip and pushed it back.

The two stepped over the scorched, stinking corpse of the giant beast and stopped in front of the fourth-floor entrance.

There was no staircase directly connected here.

An ancient stone platform built of black rock stood outside the door.

On the platform, ten fist-sized crystal cores sat quietly.

A faint glow circulated within them.

Zhao Mengmeng just approached.

A pale blue light screen popped up.

[Molten Crystal Core]

[Rule: Each Challenger may only take one]

"One each."

Zhao Mengmeng stared at the stone platform.

"Uploading this thing will definitely yield good stuff."

Lin Ye didn't reach out immediately.

His Left Eye activated and deactivated in an instant.

The ten crystal cores emitted a bright golden light.

Their surfaces were only covered with extremely thin gray spots.

The one to the left of the center had the brightest golden light, with almost no gray spots.

The one at the back right was second best.

"Take the third one on the left."

"What about you?"

"The one to the left of the center."

"Is there a reason?"

"It looks good to me."

Zhao Mengmeng rolled her eyes.

She didn't hesitate to reach out and grab the third one on the left.

The crystal core was scorching hot to the touch but didn't burn her skin.

She stuffed it into her inner pocket and wrapped it tightly twice with beast tendon.

Lin Ye took the crystal core to the left of the center.

A light screen popped up.

[Molten Crystal Core]

Lin Ye didn't activate the teleportation.

It wasn't time yet.

More importantly, this was very likely the key trump card for dealing with the fourth floor.

He tucked the crystal core away close to his body.

In the distance, Ivan took advantage of the cooling mist eruption to rush out of the heat ray zone, enduring the burns on his back.

Blake was also pushing forward desperately behind him.

As long as they survived until they reached the stone platform, they could take the remaining crystal cores.

Zhao Mengmeng glanced back.

"Not going to smash it?"

"Smashing the platform is likely to trigger a trap."

Lin Ye's gaze swept over the dark patterns on the base of the stone platform.

"Don't get yourself killed just to vent."

"Fine, I'll put it on your tab."

Behind the stone platform stood the door leading to the fourth floor.

Cast from black stone and bronze.

Two heavy metal handles hung in the center.

A cold, eerie light shone through the crack in the door.

Lin Ye walked to the left side.

Zhao Mengmeng stood on the right side.

After checking the crossbow's mechanism, she pressed against the crystal core on her chest.

"Ready?"

Lin Ye gripped the handle tightly.

"Don't rush in after opening the door."

"Got it, check the bottom of the pot first."

Both of them applied force at the same time and pressed down.

The black stone door grated against its hinges, emitting a dull, grinding sound.

The gap in the door widened.

Cold white light spread out, illuminating their blood-stained armor.

Lin Ye pushed open the way to the fourth floor of the Giant Tower.