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

But judging from the undulations of the surrounding sand, it seems that it is always looking for opportunities to sneak attacks.

"hiss--"

With a long roar, the sand centipede broke through the gravel and flew out like a cannonball. It opened its jaws and teeth towards Mercer in the air, but Mercer easily dodged it.

But at that moment, the Sand Centipede turned its head in the air and sprayed out a large amount of sand.

The gravel contained the stomach acid of the sand centipede and shot towards Mercer. His body was hit and he seemed to be wrapped in mud.

The wings were unable to maintain their flying posture due to the constraints of the mud, and Mercer fell from the sky.

Mercer rolled around on the ground twice in a slightly embarrassed state, anger appearing in his eyes.

The sand centipede's attack followed, and its remaining pincers grabbed Mercer's shoulders and dragged him under the sand.

During this period, it and Mercer fought, with fire and stomach acid spitting out of their respective mouths.

At the same time, the sand centipede kept trying to cut off Mercer's arm. However, this time, it found that it could not hurt it at all. Even the most violent stomach acid only left repeated wounds on the black dragon's body. Black smoke.

On the contrary, it was himself, whose body was already full of scorched scars.

Thinking of this, the sand centipede decisively let go of Mercer, and its large number of limbs began to crawl, allowing it to swim like a spiritual snake in the sea even in the desert.

The surroundings instantly became silent, and only rustling sounds coming from nowhere could be heard around Mercer.

Vision was of no use in the desert. Mercer had already closed his eyes and used his ears to sense the surrounding sounds.

——For some reason, he suddenly felt that this scene seemed familiar.

You also have to close your eyes in the lava and rely on your hearing to perceive.At the same time, recently, I also had a very strange feeling in the volcano. This situation is somewhat similar to now.

If the sound I hear now corresponds to the reaction I feel in the magma, then who does the sand centipede that makes the sound correspond to...

Such a thought suddenly flashed through Mercer's mind. A flash of realization flashed in his mind, and then he decided not to hold back any longer, and [Roar] roared out from his mouth.

Creatures ambush in the desert mainly rely on hearing to sense the existence around them, and the same is true for sand centipedes. After hearing the roar of the target, they immediately let out a painful scream.

It crawled directly out of the desert, its body twisted, saliva dripping from its jaws and teeth.

Seeing this, the surrounding wolfdogs swarmed up and tore off its limbs one by one, letting out long roars of excitement.

Mercer crawled out of the desert and shook off the sand from his body. The mud just now was also rubbed by the sand and fell off his body.

Looking at the sand centipede struggling on the side, Mercer did not show excitement. Instead, he hummed at Lika and let it handle itself, then flapped its wings and left.

Chapter 75: Capturing the Scourge

In the cave in the volcano, Gulu sat on a chair and read the book on hand, glancing at the container aside from time to time.

"Hey."

After a while, he sighed silently and suppressed the restlessness in his heart.

It had been a month since his transaction with Kongdao. He had also read through the installation and operating instructions for the iron-making furnace, but he still had no time to install it.

After all, no one knows when this volcano will erupt suddenly. If it takes a long time to disassemble and assemble it, it is not worth it.

Logically speaking, they should have left the place after feeling the earthquake, but what kept them from leaving was the black dragon.

It basically comes here every other month and devours their refined metal before leaving.

Although judging from the efficiency of the forging people and the abundance of minerals around them, they can fully afford Mercer's food, and even have room to trade with Sky Island.

But in this way, they were naturally bound together by the black dragon. If they left like this, Gulu was afraid that he would be angered by the black dragon.

After all, he didn't think the black dragon would be kind enough to let them go.

However, they were not willing to just wait to die in the volcano, so they could only find ways to avoid the black dragon's sight.

Thinking of this, Gulu recalled the scene a year ago when they tried to escape but were caught by the black dragon, and couldn't help but hold his head and let out a long sigh.

......

At the same time, on the other side, a spaceship parked on the floating island towering into the clouds.

"Hey...it's back again."

The captain raised his head and looked around the port, his original contentment gradually diminished.

"You move those metals to the old place, and I'll submit the inventory."

After giving instructions to his men, he took the lead in stepping off the spacecraft and came to a tall building nearby.

After walking through the silent stairs, the captain stood in front of the door at the top. He first solemnly straightened his clothes, and then knocked on the door.

"Mr. Duanmu, this is the list of transactions for blacksmiths."

He said, and after a while, a voice sounded from the door:

"I understand, come in."

The captain pushed open the door and walked in. Sitting on the office chair at this time was a middle-aged man with gray hair on his temples, with a majestic and unsmiling expression.

The captain handed him the list, and Duanmu took it and started reading it.

"...Iron-smelting furnace, fire-proof clothing, burn medicine...and three refined bed crossbows and several bondage crossbow bolts? You care about your friends."

"Yes...the ones at the back are all gifts I gave him, and I paid for them myself."

The captain laughed, nodded and explained.

"Haha." Duanmu chuckled and tapped his fingers on the table, "Then the materials exchanged for them still belong to the Sky Island Federation. Your idea is really exciting."

"Yes, as expected of you..."

The captain bowed again and smiled.

Duanmu shook his head maturely and changed the subject:

"——However, it is a good thing that you have such a heart, but it is still too wasteful to give people such a precious bed crossbow. After all, you are a member of Sky Island, and you must have the consciousness to make the best use of everything."

"You are right, I will pay attention next time."

The captain said in agreement, but murmured contemptuously in his heart: "It's none of your business that I bought it with my own money and gave it away. You're a tough guy who won't even pay for the reimbursement."

Duanmu was completely unaware of the thoughts in his mind, but after glancing at the list again, he pondered for a moment and said:

"Is there no lava crystallizing there among the blacksmiths?"

"No, I asked specifically."

The captain said, taking out a wrapped ore from his arms and handing it over: "This is a sample, please take a look."

Duanmu took the sample and nodded without even looking at it:

"Well...that's okay, you can go back."

"Ok."

The captain breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, left in a formal manner, closed the door, and left with light steps.

After Duanmu sat on the office chair for a while, he stood up again and left.

After a while, he arrived at the building of the Institute of Ecology, went upstairs and knocked on the door.

Only this time, his expression was exactly the same as that of the previous captain.

"It's me, sir. Duanmu."

The house was quiet for a while, and then an old voice came out:

"Come in."

He obediently opened the door and entered.An old man was standing in front of a round table in the center of the room, looking at the situation under the microscope.

"This is the sample you requested." Duanmu held the stone in both hands and handed it to the old man.

The old man took it, opened the package, took out the hammer, knocked one off, picked it up with tweezers, and placed it in a test tube containing an unknown liquid.

At the same time, he also asked:

"Are there still lava crystals in the cave?"

"The blacksmiths said there is no more." Duanmu immediately replied.

"That's good."

Nodding, the old man showed a smile on his face.

Duanmu saw his expression for the first time and was stunned for a moment.

He knew that given the old man's status, something that made him care so much was no small matter.

Duanmu once asked him the reason for doing so, but he was always rejected on the grounds of "not qualified".

After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but asked tentatively: "Sir, what is the situation of this lava crystal? What is it that makes you care so much?"

"..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man turned his head and stared at him, his old eyes seeming to examine Duanmu thoroughly. After a while, the old man withdrew his gaze:

"Lava crystallization...that's a very special substance."

Seeing this, Duanmu's face showed joy.Being able to let the old man tell him this reason means that he is now different from what he used to be, and it also proves that his status is higher than before.

At that moment, the pursuit of status trumped his curiosity for facts.

The old man continued, his eyes becoming deeper: "Speaking of its origin, I'm afraid it can be compared with the history of Sky Island - in order to resist the harm of [Catastrophe], humans at that time made many plans , and within it, there is a radical plan.”

He paused at this time and glanced at Duanmu, who immediately showed an attitude of listening.

"...Exhausting the whole country's efforts, they caught a new born natural disaster and tried to gain power from it." At this point, a hint of fanatical excitement flashed in the old man's eyes, and he murmured: "It's great to be able to study natural disasters..."

"Natural disaster! Sir, natural disaster refers to..." But at this time, Duanmu's mood was not so calm, and he asked a little lost his voice.

"——Yes, it is a natural disaster-level creature." The old man nodded slowly, confirming his idea.

"..." Duanmu felt a sense of illusion.That was a natural disaster!Is there any proof of its capture in ancient history? !

"After, what about later?"

"Later." The old man narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Although they restrained the natural disaster, they could not stop its power. About a few decades after that, the land turned into a volcano."

The old man picked up the test tube and looked at the liquid in it: "The so-called lava crystallization is the power of its dispersion."

"Then the disappearance of the lava crystals means that the natural disaster is dead!" Duanmu opened his eyes wide and looked at the old man excitedly.

But at this time, the old man didn't make any move, he just stared at the liquid in the test tube turning red little by little.

After a long time, he turned his head and looked at Duanmu expressionlessly.

"No, it's still alive."

Chapter 76: Lava Bird, whose name is Red Phoenix

Mercer returned to the volcano. He frowned slightly as he looked at the increasingly hot lava in front of him.

He has lived in this area for several months, and he can only say that he has some understanding of the surrounding environment.

——After passing through the tunnel where I am now, I came to the center of the volcano, which is the area where the lava is the hottest.

There are many creatures living in the center of the volcano, mainly swimming fish.However, due to the recent changes in the volcano, they have fled here one after another.

As for the cause of the mutation... Although he didn't dare to believe it, Mercer naturally believed that it was caused by a creature because of the experience of fighting his father.

And the sound he heard in the magma was caused by that creature.

If this continues, this volcano will be destroyed. In order for him to continue to eat more high-quality metals, he feels that he still needs to stop it.

If you can talk, talk. If you can't talk, fight. If you can't fight, run away.It's that simple.

He closed his eyes, dived his body into the lava, and gradually went deeper along the tunnel.

When the space became a little brighter, Mercer began to float up and shook the lava on his head.

Looking at the scene around him, a trace of worry flashed in his eyes.

If I guess correctly, the "water level" here is higher than before, and so is the temperature.