As time ticked away, the salamanders' offense gradually became more and more disorganized. As Zhan En had said, they didn't have much intelligence to begin with, only knowing how to charge forward in a straightforward manner. Now, under the attacks of everyone as well as Elise's magical strikes, the salamanders suffered heavy casualties, finally unable to hold on any longer.

  "Ahhh~~~~~~!!"

  With a final screech, the last lizard fell to the ground, its hind legs thrashing about futilely for a few moments before slowly lowering its head and falling silent.

  "Hmm... Hmm... Hmm..."

  Logically, it should be a time for celebration and cheers, but in reality, not a single person cracked a smile. They stared blankly ahead with wide eyes, panting heavily. Whether it was Ralph, Cotton or Liam, they were all covered in blood at this moment. As for the others, they weren't much better off; the holy knight's light shield had been reduced to shattered fragments. The mercenaries and guards had also suffered heavy casualties, with less than half of them still alive.

  The scene in front of them was even more shocking.

  Thousands of lizard corpses were stacked layer by layer, the air was filled with the smell of fresh blood, charred flesh and the stench of wild beasts. As far as the eye could see, there were only corpses. On the left were corpses, on the right were corpses, and in front were also corpses. Although they were all seasoned warriors who had seen many dead bodies before, this was the first time they had seen so many corpses. The shocking scene before their eyes was enough to make people tremble with fear, and ordinary people might have fainted from fright.

  At this moment, among all the people present, only Zhan En, Elise and Becks were still wearing clean clothes, without a single stain or bloodstain. Becks was naturally safe with Elise's protection, while Elise, as a mage, wouldn't get too close to those fire lizards, so it was impossible for her to get stained with blood.

  But what's even stranger is Zhan En. There were the most fire lizards in front of him, but there wasn't a single speck of blood on his body. Moreover, the corpses of the fire lizards in front of him weren't scattered all over the ground like they were in other places. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that all the corpses were neatly arranged half a meter away from Zhan En's feet. It was as if there was an invisible boundary line there, one that neither the living nor the dead could cross by even half a step.

  What a terrible power.

  As they watched this scene, Ralph and Liam exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock deep within each other's hearts. Although Jain had already shown his incredible strength before, that was just an instant, and it was really hard to judge whether it was his own ability or the effect of the magic weapon in his hand. But now, they could be sure that this young man's power far exceeded all of theirs. Being able to kill so many fire lizards without changing color, not even breathing heavily, let alone getting a single thread on his clothes stained with blood, it was absolutely impossible without having an incredibly powerful and exquisite swordsman backing him up. Was the person in front of them really a legendary existence?

  Ralph shook his head in dismay. This young man was only in his early twenties, how could he possibly have such immense power? It took Ralph himself decades to reach the high-level standard he was at now. As for the legendary realm, Ralph knew he had no hope of achieving it in this lifetime. But the young man in front of him, Jain, was already possessing legendary-level strength at such a young age, it was truly beyond his expectations. He wondered how Jain managed to cultivate such power... Could it be that he spent all day in the dark realm, which led to his remarkable abilities?

  "Whoosh!"

  In the face of everyone's gaze, Zhan En pretended not to see it. He only raised an eyebrow and swept a glance at the fire lizards in front of him. Then he turned his hand back and sheathed his sword. Everyone only saw the sword light flash in front of them, and the next moment Zhan En's long sword was already back in its scabbard.

  "Is...that all? Mr. Zhan?"

  It wasn't until then that Liam spoke up with a hint of celebration. The others also stared at Jian, and after going through so much, everyone had subconsciously taken Jian as the most authoritative leader here. Although they were under the protection of the Holy Light, looking at the corpses in front of them still made them dare not believe that just relying on these few dozen people, they could actually kill several times their own number of fire lizards. Even though the corpses in front of them were so real, it still gave them an uncontrollable feeling of falling into a dream.

  As he heard Liam's inquiry, Zane glanced at him.

  "What? Are you going to come again?"

  "No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that......"

  Here is the translation:

  Upon hearing this, Liam couldn't help but smile wryly and shake his head. Good Lord above, after such a fierce battle, even with the protection of holy light, he already felt his legs trembling beneath him; if they were to fight again, he would truly be exhausted to death. As for how he managed to hold on until the end of the battle, Liam couldn't help but feel it was somewhat inconceivable. Now that he thought about it, during the battle, his only memories were of swinging his longsword, the screeching of the fire lizard, and the flames; these three things merged into one, forming an extremely chaotic scene in his mind. Thinking of this, Liam couldn't help but shiver, then shook his head vigorously, casting aside the previous scene before continuing to speak.

  "What I mean is, among these fire lizards, isn't there one that leads?"

  It's no wonder Liam was so puzzled, after all, on the surface, among so many beasts, there must be a leader. So before that, Liam had been secretly paying attention, afraid of something like the Fire Lizard King appearing. It was precisely because of this that when he saw Jian En put away his long sword, he would be so surprised. According to reason, they killed so many fire lizards, and it just ended so calmly?

  "Haha, Liam Knight, this I can understand."

  But before Liam could ask any questions, Jan didn't say a word, and Ralph burst out laughing and started answering.

  "Indeed, if you say it's a pack of wolves or something, then having a wolf king wouldn't be strange. But Liam Knight, you've also fought against these fire lizards before, so you should know that these guys are simply fearless. In this situation... Hehe..."

  "Ah... I suppose you're right."

  Liam wasn't a fool, and at Ralph's words, he suddenly reacted. Indeed, if it were other group-living creatures, there would definitely be a powerful existence in charge of commanding the entire tribe. But these fire lizards didn't need that, they simply had no intelligence, and when fighting, they just recklessly charged forward without regard for their lives. In this case, what was the point of having a leader?

  Even if there were head beasts, in the face of the suicidal fighting style of Fire Lizard, they would probably be replaced every three days or two days, and wouldn't live for long. Naturally, there's no need to worry about their strength issues either...

  "But this is indeed not over yet, we still have things to do."

  But after listening to Ralph's words, Zhen only shrugged and continued speaking.

  "No way..."

  Hearing this, Ralph's face also lengthened instantly.

  "Are we going to have another fight with those fire lizards?"

  "No, there's no need for that."

  Facing Ralph's inquiry, Zhen waved his hand, but still quickly made an explanation.

  "As I said before, the Fire Lizards are not to be underestimated. Now that they're gone without a shadow, it means they've all died out. However, we still need to make a trip to the Fire Lizard's nest and destroy their eggs. These Fire Lizards are different from surface creatures; they don't need to incubate themselves, as long as they lay eggs, with the help of the high temperatures at the edge of the lava, they can hatch automatically. So if we can't destroy their eggs, I think in a few days, we'll be facing another large group of lively Fire Lizards again."

  "Can this be happening?!"

  Upon hearing this, Liam was taken aback. But thinking about it, with the low intelligence of the fire lizard, being able to survive in the dark region until now is also a unique aspect. The peculiar survival method of the fire lizard tribe can make up for their shortcomings. Even if all the fire lizards that went out to forage were wiped out, their children could automatically gather together and become a new fire lizard tribe, continuing to roam in this dark region.

  It can be seen that the creatures in the dark realm are indeed not easy to deal with.

  When they heard Zhan En's words, the others were also frightened. Although their legs were already weak and trembling with fatigue, they still managed to muster up some energy and followed Zhan En towards the fire lizard's nest. They were afraid that if they slowed down even a little, they would encounter another group of newly hatched fire lizards, which would be disastrous for them.

  Although it is said that the fire lizard has no intelligence during battles, their nests are extremely hidden. Unfortunately, Zhan En had already identified the location of their nests on the system map and had used [Evil Eye] to investigate. So they quickly and easily brought everyone to their destination.

  The lair of the Fire Lizard was situated on the banks of a flowing lava river, where scorching hot air currents flowed slowly forward, giving off a suffocating heat that made it hard to breathe just by standing beside it. Some mercenaries even felt as if they were standing in front of a blazing furnace the closer they got. Fortunately, Eris's fire-elemental shield was still active, or else they probably wouldn't have been able to stand at all.

  But what's most striking at this moment is the hundreds and thousands of salamander eggs on the riverbank, which are overall dark brown in color and as tall as half a person. They're densely packed along the riverbank. Seeing this scene, everyone's face changes color. You can imagine how much trouble they'll encounter if all these salamander eggs hatch.

  Thinking of this, everyone else didn't hesitate either and immediately started destroying these lizard eggs.

  Apart from the lizard eggs, they also found a number of broken weapons and armor in the lizard's nest, as well as some unfinished corpses. Liam even found several missing patrol knights' badges, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. Although it can be said that eliminating the lizards is a blow to evil, their main purpose for coming out this time was to find the mastermind behind the attack on the patrol team. Now that they have found these clues, they can also report back to Lord Locks with ease.

  Jian did not participate in the destructive action, but rather leisurely appreciated the scenery of the underground lava river. As for those fire lizard eggs, let Liam and his group deal with them.

  "Hey? Master, it seems there's still one more egg over there?"

  Just then, Becks, who had been quietly standing beside Elise all along, curiously poked out his head and spoke up.

  "Oh?"

  When Jean heard Becks' words, he also withdrew his gaze and looked in the direction Becks was pointing. In front of everyone, not far away, in the lava river, a giant egg about half the size of a watermelon stood upright in it. The fiery red magma splashed against its body, but didn't cause any damage at all.

  This is really interesting.

  Seeing this scene, Zhan En also narrowed his eyes. He could confirm that the egg was absolutely not a fire lizard's egg, although the fire lizards were immune to flames, their eggs were very fragile. This was also why the fire lizards would place their eggs next to the lava rather than inside it. But now, this strange egg stood upright in the middle of the lava, without any signs of damage, which piqued Zhan En's interest.

  "Alice, bring it over."

  "Alright, master."

  At this moment, Eris also noticed the egg and heard Jan's command. She nodded and stretched out her hand. Soon, with Eris' movement, a pair of magician's hands formed by magic appeared out of thin air and quietly came to the center of the lava, effortlessly scooping up the bright red egg and bringing it in front of Jan.

  Only when Zhan got closer did he discover the extraordinary nature of this egg. Unlike those dark, glossy lizard eggs, this egg was a bright, crystal clear red all over, with flames dancing on its surface like flowing water. It looked more like some kind of precious gemstone than an egg.

  What is this thing?

  As he thought of this, Zhan En curiously stretched out his hand and pressed it on the surface of the egg. But to his surprise, the place where his hand touched was not as scorching hot as Zhan En had imagined, but rather icy cold, as if made of frost.

  Not only that, but at the same time as Jian touched the egg, a system prompt also suddenly appeared in front of him.

  The power of fate is guiding you, you have already felt its pulse, its power. But like all vague prophecies, you will never be able to know its truth - gain? ? ? (unidentified)

  Seeing this line of system prompts, Zhan En nodded in satisfaction.

  It seems this time it was worth coming after all.