Do you believe me when I say I’m not a dragon?

"Oops! Everyone, run away!"

Gulu immediately stood up and the two children started running.

Others also woke up after Gulu's call and ran away one after another.

Fortunately, the speed of this flame was not very fast. After seemingly thrilling running, everyone quickly distanced themselves from the flames and came to a spacious tunnel.

"Huh...huh..."

Gulu gasped and looked at everyone in shock: "D-Everyone, are you okay? Count the number of people."

"...The count is over, no one was injured." After a while, someone came to him to report.

"That's good." Seeing this, Gulu breathed a sigh of relief, "I don't know where this flame came from, but the most important thing now is to find a new tunnel. The temperature inside is no longer suitable for people to live in, and here The space is too big, if you encounter creatures in the volcano..."

"Roar--"

Gulu didn't finish what he said next. With a low roar, the black dragon slowly walked out from the corner of the tunnel as if to remind everyone.

Scarlet vertical pupils swept across the crowd, the black dragon raised his head, and flames flashed in his mouth.

——Almost at the same time, several blacksmiths pulled out hammers and pickaxes, pushed others behind them, and stared at Mercer nervously.

"Don't act rashly! Don't make it angry!"

Seeing this scene, Gulu suddenly reminded nervously.

And when he spoke, he immediately regretted it. The black dragon looked at him again, his eyes seemed to be scrutinizing, and there was a hint of unhappiness in his eyes.

But luckily, Gollum didn't see murderous intent in its eyes.

The thought of this actually made Gulu feel a little more relaxed.

Mercer was observing. The escape speed of this group of humans was beyond his expectation, but no matter what, his purpose had not changed.

In order to strengthen himself faster, Mercer needs the power of these humans, but at the same time, he cannot let them have abilities that threaten him.

In addition to the huge consequences of scale powder, Mercer has another method: that is to let them voluntarily serve him.

Mercer roughly inspected the outermost parts of the volcano and found that almost all the tunnels with rails were extremely narrow, only suitable for humans or creatures of similar size to pass through.

In other words, humans here are afraid that the creatures in the volcano will attack them.In their minds, the creatures here would threaten their lives.

And at this time, what if a dragon with great wisdom is willing to show mercy to them?

First, show your strength and danger, make them deeply feel that their lives are threatened, and then give them a small favor. What will happen?

First, let them feel their power, and then turn their fear of themselves into gratitude, surrendering to mercy beneath violence.

- Stockholm syndrome.This was Mercer's plan.

Chapter 67: Exploring the Volcano

Of course, this plan is easy to say, but in reality there are many difficulties.

What's more, Mercer used the principle of this effect to combine with the deterrence caused by the ferocious momentum.

He has tested it and found that the higher the IQ, the harder it is for the ferocious aura to take effect, but no matter what, they will be affected by this skill to some extent.

When they were frightened by Mercer's presence and relieved by his indifference, Mercer's purpose had been achieved.

Next, you need to get them to take action.

——He looked at the weapons held by the people in front of him and slowly sank his face.

The atmosphere became solemn at this moment. The bodies of everyone present began to tremble for some reason, and their breathing became heavier.

The source of the oppression was naturally the black dragon in front of them that looked at them proudly.

"...Put your weapon back..."

After the people seemed to be in a stalemate with Mercer for a long time, one of them, Gollum, finally spoke with a trembling voice:

"It has no intention of killing us, and showing hostility to it will only anger it."

"Then what should we do, village chief?"

One person turned his head to look at Gulu, the uneasiness and panic clearly etched on his face.

"..."

Gulu closed his eyes, recalled what this giant dragon had done in his mind, and replied in a low voice:

"Let's go back first and move all the ores out of the other warehouse. It will leave on its own after eating those."

"......Um."

Under Mercer's sight, they finally put away their weapons, slowly walked backwards and left the place, and disappeared from Mercer's sight.

He didn't chase after them, but just stood there and let them leave on their own.

Then, he turned around and left, leading to the vent in another direction.

——Returned to the cave where he had been away for a month. He had originally decided not to come back, but when he saw the scene here, Gulu couldn't help but sigh.

But no matter what, they still maintain a positive attitude towards coming back. After all, no one would want to live in a narrow tunnel if there is a comfortable home to live in.

They left in a hurry a month ago, which meant that there was no time to sort out the items at that time. But when Gulu briefly checked, he found that several bed crossbows placed around had been violently destroyed.

Judging from the traces on it, it was obviously the work of the black dragon.

This black dragon has a high IQ and is also very cautious.

Gulu had probably guessed what Mercer was thinking, but he couldn't help but clenched his fists.

"Are these going to fix it?" A blacksmith squatted down and reluctantly picked up a part of the bed crossbow. He looked at Gulu and asked.

"No, even if it is repaired, the black dragon will be destroyed again. Just keep it like this."

Looking at several blacksmiths taking out ore from the warehouse, Gulu suddenly heard the sound of wings flapping, and then the light dimmed.

The black dragon had gotten into the destroyed vent and landed on the open ground.

Looking at everyone, Mercer swallowed the ores without saying anything, and no one stopped him.

After that, he didn't stay long and directly spread his wings and left.

Mercer simply plundered and gave them nothing.But even so, the blacksmiths still felt happy when Mercer left.

While feeling happy in his heart, Gulu also sighed at this time.

He has understood that this black dragon has regarded this place as a place to provide ore, so the black dragon will not let them leave.

But this is not all bad. To a certain extent, as long as they can continuously provide ore, then they are safe.

Gulu and the others began to cater to Mercer's requirements. It was not difficult for these forgers to endure and accept suffering.

——Of course, this does not mean that they will not make any resistance.

Gulu returned to his home. This was usually the place to entertain foreign hunters if they came. But a month ago, when he left here, he wrote a letter on the table.

It clearly mentioned the situation at the time, and also mentioned requests for foreign aid and other entrustments.

And now, there are a few more words at the bottom of this letter: Received.

It was obvious that the hunters from a month ago had returned. After seeing no one in the cave, they found this letter and left the place knowing that they were not strong enough.

Gulu didn't have any expectations that the helpers they had found could solve the current problem. After all, the environment near the volcano was too dangerous. Not to mention the desert with the huge temperature difference between day and night, even the creatures lurking under the desert were enough. It blocked many hunters.

But no matter what, the current blacksmiths can only wait slowly until help arrives - they just don't know whether they will adapt to such a life before then.

......

After eating the pile of ore, Mercer did not return to the desert immediately. Instead, he took a detour and entered the interior of the volcano.

He was not familiar with the creatures inside, and had no intention of contacting them originally. However, after those humans lurked here, Mercer had such a plan.

In case they escaped again, he had to get familiar with the environment here.

So Mercer entered some relatively spacious tunnels and explored the volcano.

——The deeper you go inside, the higher the temperature in the air will be. In the end, even a piece of ice will melt quickly.

Mercer's vision gradually widened, and orange light also appeared in front of his eyes.

At this moment, a quagmire formed by lava appeared in front of him. Stones and lava were mixed together, making it difficult for Mercer to move forward.

But contrary to the lava, my body is very adaptable to this high temperature, and the cells in my body seem to be jumping for joy.

He frowned and continued exploring.Ordinary hair or cloth might have burned, but who knows what these humans can come up with. He wouldn't be surprised even if they invented magma cloth.

But the amazing thing is that there are still plants growing under such high temperatures. They spread in the gaps in the rocks, extending like vines, absorbing the nutrients in the rocks and the brightness brought by the lava.

Likewise, on the rocks sheltered from the lava, several creatures were eating the plants within.

They are about two to three meters in size and have features similar to those of a triceratops, but their appearance has the shadow of a wild boar.

As Mercer looked at them, they were chewing up rocks and swallowing them together with the plants in the cracks.

After seeing Mercer's appearance, they made a quick warning sound and quickly left the place with their companions.

Chapter 68: The Crucible

Ignoring their escape, Mercer continued to penetrate deeper.

But after walking a few steps, the wild boars just disappeared from Mercer's eyes and let out a short scream, attracting Mercer's attention.

He turned his head and looked towards the corner.

The ground suddenly shook, and along with heavy breathing, there was a chilling chewing sound.

The sound of breathing got closer and closer, and a figure appeared in front of him.

——It was an ape covered with thick carapace. The auburn carapace covered the whole body like armor. It was only about seven meters in size. From the appearance alone, it was a very inconspicuous creature.

However, from its eyes, Mercer saw a wariness that was completely different from its size.

Mercer's current size is about 13 meters, but facing such a big man, the ape is not afraid at all and roars ferociously at him.

It has the skull of an unknown creature on its head, but the lower half seems to have been smashed, leaving only the upper half of the skull and the sharp horn connected to the skull still on the ape's head.

It can be seen that it cherishes this helmet very much. Perhaps for this ape race, wearing a creature with big horns is a very honorable thing.

However, after seeing Mercer, it threw down the helmet on its head and looked at the dragon horns on Mercer's head with greedy eyes.

After realizing its intention, Mercer's eyes couldn't help but become cold.

The sharp horn on his head was a part that he cherished, but an ape wanted to take it off and put it on his head, so Mercer couldn't help but show murderous intent towards it.

The ape got down on all fours and ran towards him quickly, then jumped up high in the middle and smashed down towards Mercer.

Although Mercer jumped back in time, the magma that shook when the ape's fist hit the ground still spilled on him.

Mercer immediately shook off the lava on his body, but at this time, ugly scorch marks appeared on his outermost scales.

But the ape that stirred up the magma was not afraid at all. He rushed forward with his body soaked in the hot magma and swung his fist directly.

It was very powerful, and its fists were also covered with fiery red lava. Mercer was hit four or five times before he could react.

Just when it was about to grab its dragon horn, Mercer opened his mouth and breathed out.

He wasn't stupid enough to attack it with his breath. This guy didn't change his face when facing the lava. How could his breath cause harm to it.

Mercer's purpose was just to use his breath to confuse the opponent's vision.

The firelight obscured the ape's vision for a moment, and then what tore through the flames was another hand with sharp claws grabbing its face.

Several claw marks instantly appeared on the ape's face, and blood flowed from them.

But Mercer's attack was not over yet. He turned around and flicked his tail, sending it flying into the lava not far away.

With the lava covering its body, the ape struggled to get up, and suddenly let out a roar. Regardless of the fact that its lower body was still on the lava, it rushed towards Mercer.

Mercer frowned a little when he saw this scene. This guy was very strong, and the lava all over his body made it difficult to get close to him. For a moment, Mercer didn't know how to kill him.

However, at the next moment, the ape's fist whizzed past and hit him in the face.

A completely different force from what he had felt before caused Mercer's face to twist to the side, and Mercer's eyes widened in surprise.

He didn't expect that the ape's strength would suddenly become so great, and the touch would be different from what he had experienced before.

When the second punch was about to come, Mercer looked at its fist and saw that the lava that had just covered the fist had now solidified, as if it had formed a pair of gloves.

In order to be able to swing this pair of gloves freely, it means that the ape must attack with all his strength with every punch.