The Hero in Exile

The visibility in the dim cave was only about ten meters. For some reason, the torches on both sides had been extinguished, leaving only a bare wooden stick on top.

After walking inside for a few minutes, the only living creatures inside were mice squeaking in dark corners, but the further we went inside, the less sound of mice there was, only the creepy sounds.

The pillars supporting the cave kept making noises somewhere, and sometimes you could hear pillars breaking in other places, as well as the sound of stones colliding in the cracks in the rocks.

The team was much quieter than it had been a few minutes ago. At least no one was talking anymore and everyone was paying attention to the front. The energy of the riot in front and the vibrations around them became stronger the further they went in.

Arrived.

A huge and dark space, in which a transparent crystal emitting energy is floating.

The energy emitted was exactly the same as the violent energy just felt outside, and this energy could be clearly felt enveloping everyone present.

"Illumination."

I didn't use the lighting technique just now because I was worried that it would discover my whereabouts. Now that I'm completely exposed, I might as well use the lighting to see the situation more clearly.

An inconspicuous ball of light gradually flew to the top of the cave and emitted light, and the elemental monster did not stop it, but the crystal moved towards the direction of the light ball, as if it was looking at it like a person.

The light in the cave returned, everything around became clear, and the appearance of the monster could also be seen clearly.

The simplest evaluation of it is a constantly changing stone. Under the control of its core, its body is just a pile of stones surrounding the crystal and guarding it.

The number of manipulations occupied one-third of the entire cave, but the only thing to be thankful for now was that it had not shown any aggressiveness yet.

"Who...who are you?"

After sensing the gazes of the few people, the elemental monster used stones to transform into a human-like creature, and spoke haltingly like a child who had just learned to speak.

"It's really bad that this damn thing can talk."

Bronzebeard couldn't stop marveling at this thing. It took less than a month from the time this thing was discovered to the time it was found, and in such a short time it had become a creature with intelligence and a strong learning ability.

"If you leave it alone, you might become an elemental lord in a few years. You're lucky you found out later and it's not just that."

Moran's face no longer had the calmness it had before. The energy he had felt when he came in had given him a subtle sense of oppression. This was a blood-related feeling, and the only thing that could bring about this feeling was the disgusting holy light.

"So what is your plan? How are you going to deal with this big guy?"

Lingyu also took out the holy sword and prepared for battle.

"I originally imagined the possibility of fighting this guy, but I really didn't expect its strength to be so outrageous. Anyway, we definitely can't defeat it head-on, but now it has no hostility, we can try a surprise attack."

"Hey, don't tell me the plan you made was a sneak attack. It really doesn't seem like a risk a profiteer would take."

Bronzebeard smiled bitterly and gripped the forging hammer tightly.

"This is the only solution. Brave Demon King, I'll trouble you to break the stone in front of its core. The boys cover them, and I will be responsible for smashing the damn core with a full-strength blow."

"What a reasonable plan. I almost suspect that you were sent by the church to kill us." After hearing the plan, even Lingyu, who is usually good-tempered, couldn't help but complain.

Moran also drew out his magic sword, and the demonic energy on his body slowly grew.

Seeing that Moran was about to enter the devil state again, it seemed that he could not let him go.

The holy wings returned to the hero's body again. The last time the two of them were in this situation was in the Demon King's Castle, but now there is a brand new enemy.

"Lingyu used his strongest attack to break it!"

"I know that without you telling me!"

A dark beam of light filled with violence and a holy beam of light filled with power rushed towards the core. The two forces intertwined with each other and originally counteracted each other, but at this moment they merged together to burst out unparalleled power.

The elemental monster reacted immediately when it sensed the two people running towards it at a rapid speed and their power that could not be underestimated.

The originally floating stones were ordered to surround the core, and the other slightly smaller stones instantly turned into spears and stabbed towards Moran and Lingyu.

"Boys, it's your turn. Use your iron bodies to protect the heroes and the Demon King! Deploy the field!"

The field centered on Bronzebeard gave the soldiers great strength. The surrounding minerals attached to the soldiers' weapons and armor greatly improved their defense. The arms of the two strongest soldiers even showed some metalization.

Among them, the two metalized soldiers went to intercept the more threatening boulders, while the other soldiers blocked the remaining stone spears. Bronzebeard was now completely metalized, and the forging hammer in his hand had also absorbed the energy of the adamantine core and was about to explode.

Under the cover of the dwarves, Lingyu and Moran quickly passed through the attack and arrived in front of the elemental monster. The layers of thick stones contained hard minerals and with the reinforcement of the core, the hardness was almost as hard as refined gold.

"Hurry up, you two! My sledgehammer is about to burst. It's absorbing too much energy. If I don't deal with it, it will be bad."

Why did these words sound weird? Lingyu no longer had time to complain about this dishonest king. Moran and Lingyu looked at each other and found a weak point on the sword, and poured their strength into the tip of the sword.

The focus of holy light and demonic energy emits enough energy to explode.

There was a huge explosion after the bright light. The impact of the explosion raised dust. The dwarf, who was on the periphery, protected his eyes with one hand and thrust his weapon directly into the ground to avoid being blown away.

"Hey you two guys okay?"

As soon as Tongxu finished speaking, he saw a dark figure carrying Lingyu coming to the side.

"I've really been squeezed dry."

Lingyu on his back was wailing as if he was dying, while Moran had absorbed a lot of strength before, and although it wasn't much, it was definitely enough for him to escape.

"I'll leave the rest to you. That guy was severely injured and his core was exposed. He should be in a short coma."

Moran carried Lingyu on his back and walked towards the cave entrance without looking back, and from time to time he screamed as if he was exhausted to death.

When the dust settled, it was just as Moran had said, and the core energy of the elemental monster was floating unsteadily above the pile of rocks.

"You guys can go now. My blow might cause a cave-in."