Until they finished their rest, there were no underground monsters that came to disturb them. So the crowd also quickly packed up and continued to advance deeper into the dark region under Jan's command. Of course, Ralph and Liam couldn't hold back their curiosity either, and they came over to ask Jan what was going on. In response to their inquiry, Jan didn't hide anything and soon told them the truth.

  The reason why those underground monsters didn't dare to get close was actually because of the underground mushrooms that Becks cooked. Although the aroma emitted by these mushrooms after being roasted made humans drool, they were extremely pungent for the dark creatures, and when mixed with spices by Becks, their potency was comparable to a toxic gas bomb. Those monsters that relied on smell to find prey mostly had keen senses of smell, so they naturally couldn't tolerate this smell, and as soon as they caught a whiff, they would immediately retreat far away.

  Ralph and Liam couldn't help but click their tongues in wonder, they only felt that the fragrance was so strong, just like a good sauce was poured on the roasted meat, just smelling it made their fingers move with hunger, and their mouths watered nonstop. Who would have thought that this smell would make the monsters in the dark realm so disgusted that they didn't even dare to get close, from which it can be seen that the dark realm is indeed a place of wonder.

  But soon they were in no mood to marvel at the wonders of the dark region.

  Scorching heat waves swept across, making the air unbearably dry. Just taking a breath made it feel like lungs were burning. Despite being under the protection of holy light, gazing at the place shrouded in fiery red flames still made everyone involuntarily gasp with a "hot" sigh.

  "That's about it."

  Zhan En stopped in his tracks, and it wasn't until then that the crowd began to take stock of their surroundings. With the aid of the holy light, they could clearly see that this was a massive underground cavern. However, unlike other caverns, the ceiling above was pockmarked with dense holes, resembling a beehive at first glance. Although faint bloodstains were still visible, Zhan En apparently had no intention of pursuing further.

  "Mr. Zhan, where is this place? What are we going to deal with?"

  Seeing Zhan En's collection, Liam also knew that these in front of him were probably the real thing.

  "If I'm not mistaken, it should be a fire lizard's nest inside. Looks like these guys can't stand the loneliness either..."

  At this point, Zhan En's mouth corners slightly curled up, revealing a hint of a smile.

  In fact, Zhan En joined the patrol team in order to use human hands to get rid of those three annoying races that had been lurking around his underground city. Among them, the fire lizard was the most troublesome for Zhan En, although its combat power was slightly weaker than that of the bear earth spirit and couldn't be compared with the terror claw monster, it had a very annoying special skill - digging holes.

  No kidding, the fire lizard loves to dig holes and burrows, what's more infuriating is that the holes it digs only allow itself to pass through, other creatures can't get through. It's like putting a house-sized piece of cheese in front of a group of mice, the final outcome is being gnawed full of holes everywhere. As the owner of the underground city, Jian En deeply resents this group of hole-digging mice, he's already fed up with constantly receiving system prompts saying "your underground city is under attack". This damned lizard is really enthusiastic about digging its own underground city walls, fortunately Jian En has units like the female demon that can pass through walls, otherwise driving these fire lizards away would be a real headache.

  However, this cat-and-mouse game would get boring after a while. To put an end to it once and for all, Zhan En decided to thoroughly clean up the whole bunch. But relying solely on his own side's manpower was still somewhat insufficient; with the help of these humans, however, it wouldn't be a problem.

  "Fire Lizard? Is it hard to deal with?"

  Upon hearing this, Liam also hastily opened his mouth to ask. And in the face of Liam's inquiry, Zane just shrugged his shoulders.

  "In the dark region, the fire lizard is not a particularly powerful species in terms of combat strength, but their numbers are quite threatening. These fire lizards mostly move in groups and have strong aggression, with sharp teeth and claws that can pierce armor, as well as being able to spit flames from their mouths. However, apart from this, they are nothing special."

  "But so it is..."

  Upon hearing Jann's words, Liam and Ralph exchanged a bitter smile with each other. Jann said that these fire lizards were "nothing special", but in fact they were hundreds of times stronger than the wild beasts they had seen on the surface! God bless, even on the surface, although there were some magical creatures, they only appeared in places where humans rarely set foot. Even for mercenaries, it was usually just a matter of dealing with wolves and the like on a daily basis; encountering two or three magical creatures would be considered bad luck. Now, however, in this dark region, these magical creatures were counted by the group...

  But just then, a sarcastic voice came from beside him.

  "So according to Mr. Zhan's words, in the dark region, there are even more troublesome magical beasts than these fire lizards?"

  As soon as the words were spoken, everyone's expression changed slightly, and they looked towards the source of the sound. Only then did they see Kordon standing there with a cold smile on his face, his eyes narrowed as he stared at Zan. Seeing his expression, Ralph's expression also changed subtly, clearly sensing that something was amiss. As for Liam, he looked bewildered, and although he was a decent paladin in terms of strength, he was not very well-versed in human relationships. Just like before when Zan defeated Dorro with one move, Liam had only been amazed by Zan's incredible power, without even thinking to comfort Kordon, which led to Kordon harboring resentment towards him and the church as a whole.

  Elyse and Bixie were also staring with wide eyes, disbelieving and looking at Kordon, completely not understanding what he was thinking. Both of them were born in the dark region, where strength was respected, and according to the rules of the dark region, Jann had already shown his superior strength, so others who were inferior could only obey. This was a law in the dark region, as true as stones falling to the ground. Elyse could naturally see how much strength Kordon had at a glance. At this moment, seeing him dare to confront Jann here, almost stunned her. To her, it was like someone claiming that the sky is round and the earth is flat, completely shattering her common sense!

  Obviously just a high-ranking warrior, unexpectedly daring to be arrogant in front of the Demon King's face, is this human's brain normal?

  While Cardon also noticed Elise's surprised gaze, he didn't back down, instead becoming even more arrogant and raising his head to glare at Zane. Men all like to show off in front of women, and Cardon was no exception. From observing them on the way here, he had discovered that Elise did indeed have a subtle fear towards Zane. That's why he deliberately stood out, showing off his "fearlessness" while attracting Elise's attention at the same time.

  It seems now that everything is going smoothly with the plan.

  At this thought, Kordon's heart skipped a beat as he looked at Jan again.

  "What's that, Mr. Zhan? Want to tell everyone what's more dangerous than the fire lizard in this dark region?"

  Upon hearing this, Ralph's eyebrows had already furrowed into a "川" shape. As the leader of the mercenary group, he had traveled far and wide for many years and had seen all sorts of people. Just by looking at Cordon, he knew that something was amiss. However, Liam didn't seem to think so much about it. Although he felt that Cordon's tone was somewhat impolite, he indeed wanted to know more about the Dark Territory, so he opened his mouth and said...

  "Yes, Mr. Zhan, please go ahead and say something."

  "Alright."

  When Liam spoke, Jan looked at him and nodded. As for Kaid, he didn't look over from start to finish, as if the person didn't exist at all.

  "In fact, this is not a big deal. If we compare it to the surface world, then the Fire Lizard would be just on the level of a wolf pack. However, in the Dark Territory, there are many more troublesome monsters than them, and the most annoying ones are the Terror Claws. They have large builds, their claws are sharper than long swords, and they are covered in thick shells that make knives and guns ineffective, and even magic has difficulty causing harm to them. In the Dark Territory, the Terror Claws are considered the most troublesome opponents, and no living creature would want to engage in a one-on-one battle with them."

  "Even the Holy Knights aren't a match for him?"

  Corton spoke up again, asking. Apparently he also found Liam to be a simple and gullible person, so he simply tied him up together with them, just in case. This way, even if that bastard had any ideas, he wouldn't dare lay a hand on the people of the Holy Church.

  "Alright, let's talk about these boring things later."

  But Zane responded to Cotton's inquiry as if he hadn't heard it, simply waving his hand and looking at Liam instead.

  "It seems that the ones who ambushed our patrol are indeed the Fire Lizards. They live in the lava, but we don't have the ability to do so, so the only way is to lure them out and engage in a battle to the death... Are you all mentally prepared?"

  "Psychological preparation? Are you saying these fire lizards have some special characteristics?"

  Originally, Liam was also worried about what Kordon said about the Holy Knights being able to defeat the monster called Terrorclaw, but after hearing Jian start talking about serious matters, he quickly threw this idea out of his mind. After all, Lord Rox's mission is obviously more important than idle chatter.

  "Yes."

  At this point, Zhan En collected his expression and stared at the crowd, nodding seriously.

  "The attitude of the fire lizard towards invaders entering its territory is one of unrelenting ferocity. Once they discover that we have invaded their territory, they will launch a full-scale attack on us with all their might, and don't expect them to retreat even if they suffer heavy casualties. All creatures in the dark realm possess an extremely strong sense of territoriality, and even if only one fire lizard is left, it will not flee. So as long as we send out signals, we must be prepared to face a siege by hundreds of fire lizards and make mental preparations for a fight to the death."

  That's why Zhan has never dealt with the fire lizard before. The number of fire lizards is similar to that of the earth spirit, but they are not as cunning as the earth spirit, and will fight to the death instead of retreating. To deal with such an enemy, one must rely on numbers, but currently, Zhan's entire underground city has less than fifty creatures in total, making it difficult for his subordinates to handle the fire lizards alone. Moreover, Zhan is also unwilling to let his subordinates suffer losses in this place.

  But these humans... Hehehe...

  "This..."

  Liam also showed a difficult expression when he heard Jian's answer. No matter how strong the fire lizard was, just this spirit of fighting to the death was enough to make people headache. He hesitated for a moment before looking at Jian again.

  "Mr. Zhan, do you think we have a chance of winning?"

  "As long as you follow my orders, eliminating these salamanders is no problem. They are ferocious but basically have little intelligence and aren't difficult to deal with."

  "Great!!"

  At this point, Liam nodded vigorously.

  "Then I'm counting on you, Mr. Zhanen! Let's eradicate these evil underground demons together!"