97: Chapter 97 Lava Sauna, the Elite Class's Mentality Collapses
Hot.
So damn hot.
The person inside the 'Fire God Type-III' battle armor felt like a meat bun that had been stuffed into a microwave and spun for three and a half minutes.
The temperature alarm kept beeping incessantly, the flashing red light fraying everyone's nerves.
"coolant! Who still has coolant?!"
A squadmate's shout was tinged with a sob. His visor was full of sweat, his eyes stinging so badly he could barely open them. "How is this damn place getting hotter?! Weren't we told the max was eighty degrees?! This feels like a hundred!!"
"Shut up! Hold on!!"
Lei Zhen gritted his teeth, a bolt of lightning shattering the molten rock golem blocking the path ahead.
He was suffering too.
That stifling heat seeped from his skin and flesh into his bones, and deeper still into his very core.
Less than fifty meters behind them, that despair-inducing "resort" was still following.
That's right. Gu Fan and the others weren't just eating and drinking inside; they were pushing that platform along, tailing right behind the Elite Class.
Gu Fan was lying on the flat cart, with Xiao Hei doing the pushing.
The two air conditioner outdoor units, surprisingly, hadn't broken down and were still whirring away, blowing cold air.
The most infuriating one was Xiao Fan.
This Vice President, who should have been doing the hard labor, was holding a popsicle, licking it while shouting over.
"Hey! That lightning-wielding class leader! Left side! Watch out for that lizard on your left trying to bite your butt!"
"Ooh, not bad! That move was cool! Just your aim was a bit off. Two inches higher and it would've been a headshot."
"Keep it up! The core area is just ahead! I'm rooting for you guys! I'm giving you moral support from back here!"
Lei Zhen's hand trembled. The lightning ball veered off course, grazing his teammate's helmet and scaring the poor guy so badly he felt a sudden warmth in his trousers.
"Xiao Fan!! You shut your mouth!!"
Lei Zhen turned his head and roared, "If you've got guts, come up here and fight! Hiding in the back, what kind of skill is that?!"
"We're the logistics group."
Xiao Fan said righteously, "The President said, different divisions have different duties. You guys are responsible for sweating and bleeding. We're responsible for being pretty as... uh, for preserving our strength."
"I'll kill you!!"
Just as Lei Zhen was about to charge over, the ground beneath his feet shook violently.
Rumble...
The previously calm-flowing Lava River boiled over, surging into a wave of fire over ten meters high.
A terrifying, suffocating pressure emerged from deep within the earth.
The fire lizards that had been menacing them moments ago all dropped to the ground, trembling, not daring to raise their heads.
"Alert! Alert! Ultra S-class energy reaction detected!!"
The AI voice in Lei Zhen's helmet was piercingly shrill. "Recommend immediate evacuation! Immediate evacuation!!"
"What is that?!"
The Elite Class members panicked completely.
The Lava River exploded.
A hand reached out.
Enormously huge.
The hand was made of blackish-red rock, streaked with golden magma patterns. A single finger was as large as a truck.
Then, a mountain-like shadow stood up.
Lava Titan.
The ultimate lord of the cavern, a terrifying entity that could go toe-to-toe with a Nascent Soul Cultivator.
Its eyes were two burning suns, looking down at these insignificant insects.
"ROAR————!!"
The Titan opened its mouth and roared.
What it spewed out wasn't sound waves, but a visible wave of heat.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The battle armor of the Elite Class members standing at the front instantly overloaded. Their shields shattered, and they were sent flying like kites with cut strings, smashing hard against the rock wall.
"Run!!"
The color drained from Lei Zhen's face.
This thing was impossible to fight! A boss of this level would require at least a professor from the Academy to even attempt to engage!
This wasn't a freshman assessment.
This was a slaughter!
Too late.
Once the Lava Titan awoke, it had no intention of letting these mosquitoes who disturbed its sleep go.
It raised its massive hand that blotted out the sky and slammed it down towards the Elite Class's position.
Shadow enveloped everything.
Despair fermented in everyone's heart.
Lei Zhen closed his eyes, filled with unwillingness. Was his illustrious reputation as Lei Zhen going to end here today?
The instant the giant palm was about to land.
Suddenly, an extremely impatient voice, thick with the grumpiness of being woken up, bizarrely pierced through all the roaring.
"So damn noisy!!"
"Can't you let someone finish their sleep?! Who turned the heater up so high? Didn't pay the electricity bill?!"
The voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange magic.
The Lava Titan's movement stopped.
Its burning eyes swiveled in confusion, finally locking onto the small circle of cool air at the rear.
There, Gu Fan sat up irritably from his straw mat, throwing off the small blanket covering him.
He looked at the gigantic molten rock giant, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.
"Just because you're big, you can disturb the peace?"
Gu Fan pointed at the Titan's nose (if it had one). "That's just not right. It's already sweltering hot, people are irritable, and you're here roaring. Have you no public decency?"
The Titan was stunned.
For hundreds of years, no one had ever dared speak to it like this.
People who came in before either cried for their parents or fought desperately.
This insect... is lecturing me?
An emotion called "rage" exploded in the Titan's stone brain.
[Detected SSS-grade 'Annihilating Strike' malice from 'Lava Titan'.]
[Judgment: This big lug not only woke the host but also intends to vaporize the host's precious chilled watermelon with high heat.]
[Retribution Activated: Attribute Reversal · Absolute Zero (High-Efficacy Fever-Reducing Edition).]
The Titan was furious.
It opened its mouth, preparing to spew a mouthful of 'World-Ending Dragon Flame' that could turn steel into water, to vaporize this ignorant insect and his air conditioner together.
The magma core in its throat spun wildly, the red light glowing blindingly bright.
"Whoosh————!!"
It spewed it out.
The Elite Class members closed their eyes in despair, waiting for death.
But.
The expected searing heat didn't come.
Instead, a wave of... chilly, cold air?
Lei Zhen's eyes snapped open.
Then, he witnessed the most absurd scene of his life.
What spewed from the Lava Titan's mouth wasn't fire at all.
It was snow.
A blizzard filling the sky.
A white torrent of cold air cascaded down like a waterfall, instantly covering the entire cavern.
The once-boiling Lava River, upon contact with this white mist, visibly solidified at an incredible speed, turning into black rock, even forming a thick layer of frost flowers on its surface.
And that once-overbearing Lava Titan was now in an even sorrier state.
The magma core inside its body... had gone out.
Replaced by blue ice crystals.
Its originally crimson stone body rapidly turned a deathly pale white.
"ACHOO!!!"
That mountain-like giant actually let out an earth-shattering sneeze.
Countless ice shards sprayed from its nostrils.
Its massive body began to tremble violently. It hugged its chest with both hands, its teeth chattering audibly.
"C-cold... so cold..."
A cold that drilled out from the depths of its Soul turned this fire-element lord into an instant victim of "Frozen."
Gu Fan stood in the wind and snow, pulling his tank top tighter.
"See, I told you the temperature was set too low."
Gu Fan shot a somewhat reproachful look at the Titan. "Caught a cold, didn't you? I told you not to roar, you'll get wind in your throat. Now look, you'll have to take medicine."
The entire Elite Class turned to stone.
They looked at the snowflakes filling the sky, at the boss shivering like a scared kid, then at Gu Fan over there, seriously examining the boss as if diagnosing an illness.
The gun in Lei Zhen's hand clattered to the ground.
Shattered.
His worldview shattered along with it, crumbling into dust.