Black Hearted Mage

The salamander seemed a bit bewildered at the moment. The piece of food it considered was struggling to get into its throat. The speed was astonishing, and it had successfully drilled into its stomach in the blink of an eye. It didn't even taste the delicious "food"!

Seeing this, Kaisas was dumbfounded, thinking to himself: Is there really something wrong with the IQ of this lava puppy? It actually came so voluntarily and became food for the fire lizard.

For a fire lizard of this size, the lava puppy can only be regarded as a small dessert before the meal, and Caesars is the main dish that this beast really covets.

At that moment, the fierce-eyed salamander slowly opened its mouth, revealing a row of razor-sharp fangs. Its ferocious appearance seemed capable of tearing everything in the world apart in an instant. Its eyes, filled with longing, fixed on Caesars, like a hungry wolf stalking a fat lamb. Simultaneously, the salamander's sharp claws dug deep into the volcanic ash beneath its feet, gripping the ground firmly. This action was a clear sign of its impending attack.

Then, accompanied by a low roar, the fire lizard suddenly exerted its strength, and its huge body covered with hard scales rushed forward like an arrow. At the same time, its tail behind it, like a steel whip, began to swing wildly left and right, stirring up clouds of dust.

The whole scene became extremely tense and exciting, and a thrilling life-and-death battle was about to begin.

Kaisas began to activate the magic shield, and at the same time, his low and rhythmic spells echoed in the air. However, at this critical moment, a scene that left Kaisas dumbfounded and unexpected suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The once majestic fire lizard suddenly let out a heart-wrenching roar of agony, its shrillness seemingly piercing the heavens. Its massive crimson body, like a ball of blazing flame, writhed and twisted frantically on the hard ground. Each tumble was accompanied by a tremendous impact, raising clouds of dust that instantly shrouded the surroundings in a gray haze, completely obscuring vision.

Faced with this sudden change, Caesars quickly retreated several steps. All he could see was a cloud of smoke and dust several meters high, like a thick curtain, completely obscuring everything. Aside from the salamander's gradually fading screams of pain, which still lingered in his ears, he could not see the salamander's specific situation.

Time passed minute by minute, and after about two or three minutes, the salamander's tumbling finally came to a halt. The roar coming from the diffuse dust became weaker and weaker, until it was almost inaudible.

Another two minutes passed, and when the dust finally settled, the sight before them was horrifying. The previously ferocious salamander lay sprawled on its back, motionless. From its gaping mouth, streams of hot, stinking blood flowed continuously, forming a shocking pool on the ground. Even more eerie, something could be vaguely seen wriggling within the salamander's abdomen.

There was a crisp "sizzle" sound, and the extremely tough leather was torn apart. Then, a bloody, bizarrely shaped object suddenly emerged from it and howled twice in the direction of Caesars, the sound sounding very childish.

"Don't move, you're so dirty!"

The lava puppy swung its straight tail, sending tiny droplets of blood everywhere. Caesars took out a bottle of water, rinsed the lava puppy all over, and set it aside. He squatted down and began to examine the corpse on the ground, trying to figure out how the puppy had killed the salamander.

The magical tentacles penetrated deep into the fire lizard's abdomen, where the lava puppies had emerged. A careful examination revealed that the fire lizard's body was largely intact, missing only half its heart. The remaining heart was covered in dense tooth marks; the puppies had apparently eaten the fire lizard's heart alive.

The leather of the fire lizard can be sold for a lot of gold coins, so this corpse can only be put away for now and dealt with after Rodman is found.

When the fire lizard was taken away by Caesars, the lava puppy found that the food was missing, and it searched around on the ground following the smell.

Kaisas followed the ditch all the way south, and when he encountered a fire lizard, he chose to hunt it directly. He was now a great magician, and hunting fire lizards was just a matter of a dark spear.

Before dusk, Caesar saw a figure ahead. Rodman was not alone, but seemed to have brought a companion. Caesar quickened his pace, and by then Rodman had already spotted him.

"Kaisas, why did you bring a puppy to the Southern Continent? If it falls into the lava, it will be burned to death!"

Rodman, wearing leather armor, looked obviously a little strange. His companion was a young female mercenary who was also an archer.

"Rodman, its fire-type monster cub can bathe in the lava river. By the way, are your companions also from the trading company?" Kaisas asked.

"no!"

Rodman hesitantly answered the question and winked at Caesar. The profound meaning behind a single man and woman coming to the Southern Continent was self-evident.

"Rodman, why don't you introduce your friend?" The female mercenary spoke at this time, looking Caesar up and down.

"Stella, he is Caesars, and he beat up the people from the Magic Guild in Fire Maple City!"

"He's a great magician, but he's so young!"

After hearing Rodman's introduction, the female mercenary with red hair and leather armor exclaimed.

"Caesars, we need your help with something!" Rodman suddenly spoke as if he had thought of something.

"Rodman, if you have something to say, just tell me!"

"We discovered an extremely secret cave in the Yellowstone Mountains. It's filled with dark-type monsters. Although the level of the monsters is not high, the number of them is a bit terrifying!"

"Are we going just the three of us?" asked Caesars.

"Five people, a warrior, and a little mage!" Stella said, and Rodman on the side nodded.

The Yellowstone Mountains are very close to the Violet Alliance, right on the edge of Felwood Forest, and Caesars gladly accepted this request. The Yellowstone Mountains are located in the south of Roland Continent. The mountains are very steep and there are very few caves, let alone hidden caves.

"Are you looking for Fire Crystals to burn those dark monsters to death?"

Thinking of the large number of dark monsters, Kaisas asked.

"Kaesas, that cave has not been fully explored, but it smells of kerosene and toxic methane. You can't set a fire there, otherwise it might explode. The temperature inside the cave is very low, and the fire crystals are prepared for heating!" Rodman explained.

Hearing about kerosene and methane made Caesars even more eager to explore. This was a defensive measure used by ancient tomb builders; igniting an open flame would cause an explosion. The fact that kerosene and methane could be preserved for so long must be a product of alchemical creation, and low temperatures were the means by which these things were preserved for such a long time.

There are records of these alchemical creations in books. As long as the temperature rises slightly, these alchemical creations will slowly melt.

"Rodman, did you light a fire in the cave?" Caesar asked.

"The cave was very deep and cold, so we made a fire. The smell of kerosene suddenly became strong, so we had to retreat," Rodman explained.

"Rodman, we need to make some preparations before entering the cave. By the way, did you take any videos of the interior of the cave?"

Rodman nodded and said, "We've recorded the video, but the photo stone is in the hands of the magician!"

"There might be a huge tomb inside, so we can't rush now. We can make plans after we see the photos. Rodman, when are you going back to Violet City?"

"We'll go back tomorrow. We've been in the Southern Continent for two months now, and we have enough magic materials!"

"Okay, I'll hunt some salamanders on the way back. This pup has a really good appetite and needs to eat six or seven times a day!"

"It eats salamanders?"

Rodman exclaimed, looking at the chubby, fleshy lava puppy in disbelief. It was running around on the scorching ground, as if looking for something.

"That's what I eat. Salamander meat has a sour taste, and I don't really like it!"

At this moment, the puppy howled twice from the ravine. A moment later, it seemed to be holding something in its mouth and dragging it back with great effort.

"Red-scaled viper!"

Caesars saw that the red viper was thicker than his arm, and the puppy was actually biting the red phosphorus viper's tail and dragging it towards him. The red viper struggled hard, suddenly turned around and bit the lava puppy.

"Ow!"

The puppy opened its mouth, howled twice, then quickly bit the snake's tail and continued to drag it.

"They would fight for a bite of food!" Caesars couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the puppy.

The red-scaled viper was dragged to Caesar's side. He reached out and grabbed the viper's neck, squeezing it hard. Only the sound of bones breaking was heard.

"Kaesas, why don't you feed this puppy the antidote? It was just bitten twice by the red phosphorus viper!" Rodman asked with some concern.

"Rodman, do you see any signs of poisoning? Look, the wounds on this guy's back have healed!"

Caesars collected the viper's corpse and held the dark red puppy in his hand. Under the dark red fur that was so short that it was negligible, the wound left by the viper's fangs was completely invisible.

"Don't move! Let Rodman see it too. I'll give you a cream puff!"

The struggling puppy heard the soufflés, and Caesars placed them in Rodman's hands, where they remained motionless. When a soufflé was taken out, the puppy leaped out of Rodman's hand, bit the soufflé in mid-air, and after landing, it quickly ran behind Caesars.

"It was so fast that I couldn't react!"

Rodman was a little surprised. The puppy was very fat and he didn't expect it to be so fast.

"Kaesus, where did it come from? I have never seen this kind of dog-like monster!" Rodman asked curiously.

"The elder gave it to me. I came to the Southern Continent just to hatch it!"

Kaisas made up a white lie that Stella was an outsider and he could not tell her about the abyss plane.

"Hatch? It was an egg before!"

"Yes, it's an egg with a very rough surface. It looks like a pebble formed from volcanic rock."

Caesars looked up at the sky. It was about to sunset, so he needed to hurry and hunt some salamanders.

"Rodman, where are there more salamanders?"

"There are more of them near the Lava River, especially on the north bank. On the south bank, west of the Twin Peaks Volcano, there's a ground dragon's nest. It's eaten almost all the nearby salamanders!"

The Earth Dragon is a super monster. Caesars does not have the ability to kill it now, and Rodman does not have this ability either.

"Then you guys keep busy. I'm going to hunt Salamanders in the Lava River!"

"Kaisas, to get to the other side of the lava river, we have to go around from the west. It will take almost a day!"

"It's okay, I'll wait for you on the other side!"

Elemental Wings was inconvenient to let Stella know. If it was just a stranger, Caesars wouldn't mind. He walked towards the lava river, only about twenty miles away. The dark red puppy followed closely behind him, sniffing everywhere for the scent of food.

Nights in the volcanic region are rarely completely dark. Fire crystals and fire flowers glow faintly, and the flowing lava resembles a vast bonfire. On the ground between the rocks, there's also a faint glow of tinder moss. This tinder moss is a favorite of mercenaries. Once dried, it ignites easily. The slightest spark will cause it to burn quickly, and it's also very resistant to fire.

There is nothing that Lava Puppy won't eat, and he'll accept almost any food, but his favorites are those lively and lively things.

At this moment, the little creature was beneath a massive volcanic rock, sensing a mouth-watering aroma. However, the rock was too high and too large, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't reach the "delicious food" beneath. The impatient lava puppy howled at Caesars, who was standing nearby, as if asking for help.

Caesars gazed at the volcanic rock, more than a man's height, and wondered what kind of treasure lay beneath it. A swarm of wriggling insects? Or perhaps a curled viper? But he didn't dwell on it. He took a deep breath, then mustered all his strength and shoved the heavy rock over.

In a flash, the lava puppy that had been waiting nearby pounced and rushed straight towards the newly exposed target. The little guy ran out staggeringly with a creature in his mouth.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a massive scorpion covered in a vibrant red carapace! This scorpion was no ordinary creature; it was a fire scorpion, an extremely dangerous beast, even more dangerous than the red-scaled viper. The fire scorpion's stinger contained a highly toxic venom. If stung by one, a sharp, burning pain would immediately rip through the wound. Over time, this pain would rapidly spread throughout the body, leaving the victim in excruciating agony, ultimately leading to death in unbearable agony.