Chapter 432

Feeling the gaze of Albus and Ailuo Si, Lu Mian carried the carbide lamp and walked slowly toward the injured giant black spider.

As a "Hunter," he had a sufficiently clear understanding of his two teammates' current attitude:

It was like being in a dark forest where everyone was a hunter, but once one revealed their own weakness, they would become prey, attacked by the others in unison.

Albus and Ailuo Si now wanted to see Lu Mian's state and abilities.

They seemed not to believe that Lu Mian could easily resolve the "Wax Artist," feeling he must have paid a significant price; furthermore, they hoped to figure out the specific sequence and magical artifacts carried by this previous winner of the King Cake game.

Lu Mian had no doubts about taking down the black spider that had already suffered heavy damage, but he did not want to expose his trump cards of "Spirit Realm Shuttle" combined with the "Hum-Ha Technique" to Albus and Ailuo Si.

As he approached the black spider, his thoughts raced, considering what fighting method would cost the least, take the shortest time, and appear the most effortless.

Lu Mian's gaze swept over the black spider, which had a large tear on its side, dark red blood still seeping out, and was unable to escape the current hall like others of its kind. With a relaxed posture, he reached his left hand into his pocket, took out a silver-white ear clip, and attached it to his left earlobe.

"Lie"!

Having thoroughly digested the "Pyromaniac" potion, Lu Mian's emotions were a bit more stable, allowing him to use "Lie" while secretly carrying the "Torture" gloves.

Around his body, one after another, crimson fire crows condensed.

Almost simultaneously, the black spider responded; the shriveled heart on its back flashed with dark red light, creating a large number of dangerous fireballs just as before, as if weaving a crimson net that could protect it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—the fire crows around Lu Mian flew out, tracing different trajectories toward the target.

The hundreds of crimson fireballs on the black spider's body surface were triggered by the stress and shot out with a whistle.

Boom—!

In an instant, some fire crows were intercepted by fireballs, while others detonated them, causing chain explosions around the black spider and sending up one burst of fire after another.

Just at this moment, a bright fireball flew out from the side, attempting to be thrown toward the exit of this hall.

Lu Mian was waiting for this opportunity; he raised his left hand and snapped his fingers with a *pop*.

With a *bang*, that bright fireball lost its balance and fell to the ground.

It did not explode, but fire flared upward, revealing the figure of the black spider.

Lu Mian charged over fiercely, his left hand pressing down, his palm spewing out streams of crimson fire.

They wrapped around in layers, compressed until they were almost white.

After sprinting to the side of the black spider, which was dizzy from hitting the ground, Lu Mian leaned his body forward, flicked his left arm with a *pop*, and pressed that searing white fireball directly onto the gruesome tear wound, letting it enter the target's body.

Amidst the sound of limbs twitching frantically, the black spider barely managed to turn its body, while Lu Mian had already leaned back, rolling continuously to put distance between them.

His figure appeared beside the crimson ocean created by the fire crows and fireballs, far away from the target whose aura had turned violent.

Boom—!

The searing white fireball exploded inside the black spider's body. The burning was not very obvious, but the rapid expansion of gas completely tore the supernatural creature apart, causing the chitinous shell on its body surface to be thrown out in chunks along with flesh and blood.

The black spider let out a squeaking scream, its eight bristle-covered legs stretching and contracting frantically.

Lu Mian did not give it a chance to recover; he had already condensed a spear of crimson-white fire and threw it at the target.

The spear formed by entwined flames flew through the air, accurately piercing into the huge tear wound and pinning the black spider to the ground.

The spear then disintegrated, burning the internal organs. After twitching a few times, the black spider lost all movement.

Lu Mian did not rush to approach the prey. He turned his body, looked at Albus and Ailuo Si, and while taking off the "Lie" ear clip, smiled and said:

"Resolved."

While speaking, he condensed dozens more crimson fire crows, letting a batch of them fly toward the seemingly dead black spider.

Boom—!

The black spider jumped up again, actively detonating its own body.

It had been playing dead just now!

Unfortunately, Lu Mian was far from it and did not fall into the trap, only sacrificing a dozen fire crows.

The remaining crimson fire crows all flew out, "tearing" at the black spider's tattered body, letting it return to "peace" once more.

Seeing this scene, Albus nodded slowly and said reluctantly:

"Not bad."

Ailuo Si watched thoughtfully, not responding to Lu Mian's announcement.

Lu Mian turned to the black spider that was no longer moving, and only walked over after a bit of iron-black light precipitated from its body.

After observing the black spider's situation just now, he had decided to bully the weakness that it was heavily injured, its fire control ability was likely decreased, and its movements were no longer swift and agile, so he activated "Lie," utilizing its "Flame Manipulation" characteristic to coordinate with his own speed and agility.

The iron-black light did not aggregate toward the black spider's compound eyes as Lu Mian had expected, but flowed like a small stream into the shriveled, blackened heart embedded in its back.

Lu Mian stopped beside the prey, looking at this scene in confusion. Only after the Beyonder characteristic had completely precipitated did he hold the thought of taking it away first to confirm later, prying off the shriveled heart, the black compound eyes, and the poison glands within the mouthparts, packing them into different dark bags and small metal bottles.

"You aren't just a 'Pyromaniac' who hasn't become a 'Conspirer' yet, are you?" Albus's mocking voice rang out.

*You aren't unaware that when I joined the 'Iron and Blood Cross Order,' I hadn't been a 'Pyromaniac' for long... * Lu Mian muttered to himself, straightened his body, and smiled:

"Yeah, I'm still just a 'Pyromaniac'."

"'Pyromaniacs' can't kill 'Wax Artists'..." Ailuo Si muttered in a low voice.

Albus's gaze swept over the pocket where Lu Mian had put the "Lie" ear clip, and he said nothing more.

*See, everything I said was the truth. If you don't believe me and suspect this and that, there's nothing I can do... * Lu Mian chuckled, picked up the carbide lamp, and took the lead toward the exit of this hall.

After another dark corridor, they arrived at a deep, quiet room.

Amidst the yellowish light, one after another, tin soldiers wearing blue coats with gold trim appeared in the room.

Unlike children's dolls, each was nearly two meters tall, and the spears they held flashed with cold light and were very sharp.

"If these came to life, it would be an army," Albus remarked with pointed meaning.

*Army, soldiers... * Lu Mian suddenly associated this with the feeling of wanting to submit in the King Cake game, with the performance of the wax figures when they attacked him, and with the embarrassing hierarchy within the "Iron and Blood Cross Order"—"Legion Commander," "Deputy Legion Commander," "Officer," "Non-commissioned Officer," and "Soldier."

Amidst various thoughts, Lu Mian had a certain guess:

"Does the 'Hunter' pathway involve armies, obedience, and hierarchy as it goes up?

"Are the wax figures driven soldiers, and these tin dolls as well? Do high-sequence powerhouses of the 'Hunter' pathway have the ability to create their own special soldiers?

"The underground palace of Red Tianebao really has traces of the 'Hunter' pathway everywhere. No wonder I frequently encounter monsters of this pathway..."

And this also allowed Lu Mian to have corresponding gains without searching, just by fighting.

*What a dangerous hunting ground that could be prey and could also have rich harvests! * he sighed sincerely.

Lu Mian then saw Albus Medici create one after another of layered, compressed searing white fireballs, throwing them casually into different parts of the room.

These fireballs did not explode, staying quietly on the ground, on the shoulders and hats of the tin soldiers.

After the three of them left this room, Albus handed the carbide lamp to his left hand, raised his right palm, and snapped his fingers with a *pop*, imitating Lu Mian.

Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!

In the room behind them, those searing white fireballs exploded one after another, igniting each other, causing even the ground to shake slightly.

"Delayed Explosion"!

One of the abilities of a "Pyromaniac," "Delayed Explosion"!

Although the tin soldiers in the room were all made of metal, under the huge shockwave, they were either missing arms or legs, or their internal parts were damaged, and some were buried in stone bricks by the collapsed walls.

Seeing Lu Mian look over, Albus smiled:

"Eliminating hidden dangers, just like how you deal with those wax figures."

"I thought you wouldn't dare," Lu Mian returned the smile.

Regarding Albus's performance, he had known the other's purpose when he saw it just now. What surprised him was that the underground palace of Red Tianebao seemed to have some kind of self-protection mechanism; no matter how big the explosion or how big the fire, it could only affect one room and would not spill over.

*Well, without this self-protection, with the state of monsters running rampant here, Red Tianebao would have collapsed long ago... * Lu Mian saw another corridor ahead that sloped downward.

At the end of the corridor was a pair of heavy iron doors, with large patches of red scattered messily on the deep black background, as if someone had splashed fresh blood on them.

Ailuo Si took a slow breath and walked to the front of Lu Mian and Albus.

She reached the gate, put down the carbide lamp, stretched out both hands, leaned her waist and back forward, and pushed with force.

Amidst the teeth-aching sound of friction, the iron-black double doors slowly opened backward.

Lu Mian immediately saw a large expanse of candlelight, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

That bronze coffin that appeared in his nightmares was truly reflected in his eyes.

At this time, nearly a third of the white candles around the coffin had gone out, and a large portion were still burning.

In the flickering candlelight, the gate was fully opened. Lu Mian quickly looked around, not finding any other figures.

The three "Hunters" stayed at the entrance, and no one moved forward for over ten seconds.

Finally, Albus Medici turned his head and asked in a mocking tone:

"Why aren't you going in?"

"Why did you stop too?" Ailuo Si Einhorn asked back instead of answering.

"We are waiting for you to go first," Lu Mian smiled in a relaxed manner.

*This hall looks very dangerous at first glance and hides a very big secret. Of course, I have to let others scout the path first! *

Lu Mian discovered that not only did he think this way, but Albus and Ailuo Si thought so too.

Albus withdrew his gaze and laughed in a low voice:

"Since you are all cowards, I have no choice but to do it myself."

After speaking, he suddenly knelt on one knee and supported his hands on the ground.

Two crimson fire snakes slithered out silently, heading straight for the bronze coffin.

*Hey! * Lu Mian's eyes narrowed; he didn't expect Albus to be so reckless.

*Attacking the thing that might be the biggest problem without doing any scouting? *

Ailuo Si's expression also froze, her right hand subconsciously reaching forward, as if wanting to stop Albus.

(End of chapter)