Full-Time Magister: The Calamity of Fire, the Emperor's Flame Burns the Heavens

Chapter 22: Venturing into the Purple Forbidden Zone—Dongting Lake, the battle is exhilarating!
The next morning, when Mo Fan and the others woke up, they found that the area belonging to Hua Yu was completely empty.

"Didn't this guy say he was coming to protect me? Why did he leave first?" Mo Fan scratched his head and asked in confusion.

Lu Zhenghe, who already had a problem with Mo Fan, saw that Mo Fan was still standing there staring at the empty space and had no intention of following them.

"Mo Fan, are you leaving or not? If you're not leaving, you can go back directly. Don't waste our time!" Lu Zhenghe finally found an opportunity to criticize Mo Fan.

However, Mo Fan was no pushover, and he would never allow Lu Zhenghe to attack him unilaterally.

"Don't think that just because you've become the team leader you're capable. Even Mu Ningxue, the strongest student at your Imperial Capital Academy, hasn't said much about it."

"If you're not satisfied, we can have a go right now!" Mo Fan crossed his arms, his roguish face full of disdain.

Seeing the two arguing again, Mu Ningxue said, "Hurry up and leave, don't waste time here." Mu Ningxue's face showed no emotion, but her tone revealed her impatience.

So Mo Fan and Lu Zhenghe stopped arguing, and the seemingly normal group headed towards Jinlin City.

------

Hua Yu meditated in his tent all night, and then at dawn, the first rays of sunlight shone on his tent.

Hua Yu finished his meditation on time. He didn't want to play house with Mo Fan and the others, so he packed up his things and left the area early.

Even if he's not there, they'll continue their investigation according to the original story. He's not their babysitter, so there's no need for him to follow them anymore.

Next, all that was left was to wait for Lu Nian's arrival. However, to make the wait less boring, Hua Yu skipped Jinlin City and headed straight for Dongting Lake.

As a forbidden zone, Dongting Lake is teeming with demons. It is rare to see a commander-level demon in Dongting Lake, but they are roaming around everywhere.

On the way to Dongting Lake, Hua Yu encountered a giant lizard pseudo-dragon flying towards Jinlin City.

Hua Yu did not intervene to stop it. If the giant lizard pseudo-dragon had not appeared, Mo Fan and his group might not have given up so easily.

However, it must be said that the decision made by the higher-ups of the two universities this time was extremely brain-dead. Sending a group of mid-level university students to Jinlin City, which is full of demons, to conduct an investigation is just sending them to their deaths.

According to the original story, Jinlin City is a place that even military mages dare not easily come to clean up. Although most of the demon races have already migrated, it is still too difficult for a group of mages who do not have much experience in hunting demons.

Hua Yu had now entered the Dongting Lake area, much like a lamb entering a wolf's den, except that the roles of wolf and lamb should now be reversed.

"Kacha!"

Hua Yu's boots crushed the skull of an unknown demon with a crisp sound.

The air was thick with the stench of rotten lake water and the secretions of demons, enough to make an ordinary person vomit uncontrollably, but Hua Yu didn't even flinch, as if he was already used to such an environment.

"Found you!" A dazzling light flashed in Hua Yu's dark pupils.

Before Hua Yu stood three almost identical Commander-level Martial Shell Giant Lizards.

“Three commander-level demons,” Hua Yu muttered to himself, a hint of pleasure in his voice. “Perfect for stretching my muscles. Those little minions weren’t even enough to warm me up!”

Three monitor lizards formed a fan shape around us, their backs covered in metallic bluish-gray shells that gleamed coldly in the dappled sunlight.

The giant monitor lizard's scarlet eyes were fixed on the human who dared to trespass into their territory alone.

In an instant, towering, magnificent flames surged around Hua Yu, making him appear like a king bathed in fire.

"Let's experience fighting monsters with our own bodies today!" Hua Yu said excitedly.

As if responding to his provocation, the three giant katana on the left launched the first attack. Its thick tail swept across, creating a piercing whistling sound, and in its path, ancient trees that would take three people to encircle were snapped in half.

Hua Yu neither dodged nor avoided.

"Boom—" The moment the giant lizard's tail touched the outer edge of the flames, its armor, which was said to be able to withstand countless high-level magic spells, melted like wax meeting a hot knife.

"Hiss—" The giant lizard hissed in pain and staggered back several steps. A third of its tail had turned to charcoal, and molten carapace liquid dripped from the severed end.

Seeing this, the other two monitor lizards pounced from both sides simultaneously. One opened its mouth and spewed out a dark green venomous mist, while the other swung its forepaws, its sharp claws drawing five streaks of cold light.

Hua Yu raised his right hand slightly, and the dazzling flames split as if they were alive, forming two waves of fire to meet the attack.

The poisonous mist evaporated the moment it touched the flames, while the giant lizard that had been waving its claws let out a miserable cry as its entire forelimb charred and disintegrated in the firelight.

"Too slow." Hua Yu sighed softly, then suddenly disappeared from the spot.

When he reappeared, he was standing on the back of the giant lizard in the middle.

The armor beneath his feet creaked under the strain, and Hua Yu pulled his right fist back, seven-colored flames flowing between his fingers.

"boom!"

A simple, unadorned punch landed, and the instant the fist made contact with the carapace, brilliant flames pierced through like a high-pressure water jet.

The giant lizard's massive body convulsed violently, and colorful flames spewed from its seven orifices.

The next second, it burst open from the inside, scattering burning chunks of flesh and shell fragments everywhere.

Hua Yu's body was scratched by flying fragments of the weapon shell, but the wounds quickly disappeared.

He reached out and caught a burning giant lizard heart, his five fingers closing in.

"Thump." A clear heartbeat came from the palm of his hand. The flesh quickly withered and turned into ashes that flowed through his fingers. The light in Hua Yu's pupils intensified.

The remaining two monitor lizards finally realized that what lay before them was not prey, but death itself. They turned and fled, one running towards the lake and the other darting into the dense forest.

"Trying to leave?" Hua Yu chuckled and snapped his fingers with his right hand.

As the giant lizard rushed toward the lake, seven-colored ice crystals suddenly formed beneath its feet. The ice layer spread rapidly, freezing half of its body. The giant lizard struggled frantically, but Hua Yu made a grasping motion from afar.

"Crack!"

The ice crystals shattered along with the lower half of the monitor lizard, and its upper body crashed onto the ice, dragging its entrails as it crawled, leaving behind a horrifying trail of blood.

Hua Yu walked slowly across the ice, each step creating a new ice crystal platform beneath his feet. He looked down at the dying giant lizard and raised his right foot.

The giant lizard couldn't understand why the seven-colored ice crystals were burning its body like flames.

"Pfft."

The sound of the boot sole crushing a skull was exceptionally crisp.

Then he turned to look at the last one, which had already escaped a hundred meters away and was about to disappear into the dense forest.

Hua Yu calmly raised his right hand, making a gun shape with his index finger and thumb.

"Bang," he whispered.

A streak of seven-colored light shot from his fingertips, instantly traversing a hundred meters and precisely piercing the giant lizard's head. The massive body, propelled by inertia, flew another dozen meters before crashing to the ground.

Hua Yu strolled away, and wherever he passed, the flames automatically parted to create a path.

(P.S.: This refers to the Bone Spirit Cold Flame's ability, not the ice element. The absorption and devouring mentioned above is the Void Devouring Flame, and the healing effect is the Three Thousand Burning Flames, all of which are effects of the Emperor Flame.)
(End of this chapter)