Chapter 331: Yang Dongqing: Why Is Everyone Stronger Than Me!

Yang Dongqing followed silently at the back of the group, occasionally glancing at Su Qing's petite back. He couldn't understand how such a frail-looking body could unleash such terrifying power.

Did a T-Rex live inside her?

The group hadn't gone far before the ground began to tremble. The shaking grew increasingly violent, and the nearby volcano erupted continuously, sending rolling magma pouring down.

The next moment, magma spewed from the dense network of fissures tearing through the earth. Ten-meter-tall lava giants stepped out of the molten rock one after another.

Ten, twenty, thirty... The numbers kept climbing.

The terrifying heat warped the air, and everyone's hair began to curl slightly.

These lava giants seemed incapable of communication. As soon as they appeared, they charged wildly at the group.

As the group was forced into battle, a flash of excitement crossed Su Qing's delicate face. She waved her small fists and took the lead, charging straight ahead.

Lin Nanxing silently drew his bow and retrieved several ice-element Totem Stones from his coat, and began to load them.

Yan Wu stood like a loyal servant, guarding Su Mu without a word as he waited for instructions.

As for Lin Lingling, she yawned as if none of this concerned her, then casually pulled out a Gold Artifact. It was a compact pink handgun wreathed in black mist, exuding an ominous aura. The color clearly wasn't originally pink; she had painted it that way herself.

Right then, a lava giant rose up behind Yang Dongqing. Its massive fist, carrying terrifying heat, descended from the sky.

Yang Dongqing's expression hardened. His muscles bulged slightly as he charged toward the lava giant.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Su Qing going on a killing spree. He wondered if these lava giants were just for show and would shatter at the slightest touch.

With that thought in mind, he leaped into the air and threw a punch to meet the giant's impossibly large fist, and then...

Bang!

Like a tennis ball struck by a racket, he smashed viciously into the ground.

A surge of magma swallowed him. Even his tough Mithril Body began to melt, and the agonizing pain of his entire body burning made him tremble uncontrollably.

'Damn it! This monster is actually this strong!?'

He struggled up from the magma, his injuries healing rapidly. Refusing to give up, he glanced at his teammates, only for his fragile ego to take a massive critical hit.

Su Qing moved through the horde of lava giants as if entering an uninhabited realm, fighting with broad, sweeping strikes and crushing everything in her path.

Lin Nanxing fired several arrows at once. The Mithril long arrows tore through the air, curving across the sky to strike the lava giants. Massive bursts of frost erupted, extinguishing the magma on their bodies.

Lin Lingling was even more absurd. She ran without even turning her head, simply aiming her handgun behind her and firing blindly. Dozens of lava giants were chasing her when—bang!

A pitch-black bullet carrying a cursed aura struck a rock on the ground, then ricocheted at an unimaginable angle to hit a lava giant in the leg.

The terrifying power of the curse exploded. The giant's calf joint instantly turned pitch black, and it completely lost its balance, toppling to the side. As luck would have it, it crashed right into another lava giant.

That second giant had already thrown a punch at Lin Lingling, but the collision forced its fist off course, planting it squarely in the face of a comrade beside it.

In the end, all three lava giants crashed to the ground.

Yan Wu also made his move. A translucent phantom octagonal cage enveloped one of the lava giants. The crimson flames on its body instantly went out, exposing its true rocky form. With the magma's threat gone, Yan Wu moved with extreme agility, systematically dismantling the creature's body.

"This..." Yang Dongqing was too shocked to speak. He hadn't expected these seemingly frail teammates to be so ridiculously strong.

The one who looked the strongest, Yan Wu, was actually the weakest among them.

"Stop," Su Mu, who hadn't made a move yet, suddenly said.

Everyone immediately stopped and flashed back to Su Mu's side. Numb with shock, Yang Dongqing climbed up from the ground on pure instinct and obeyed Su Mu's command.

He was slowly rediscovering the feeling he'd had back in the day.

"What is it, Captain? Did you find something?" Lin Nanxing asked.

Su Mu shook his head. "I just broke through to Silver 2 recently. I'm going to test out a new ability. All of you, step back."

'Silver 2? Su Mu broke through?'

Yang Dongqing froze. 'He told us all to step back... is he planning to take on all the lava giants by himself? He's just an Illusion Technique user, and illusions obviously won't work on these things.'

The others hurriedly retreated. Yang Dongqing hesitated for a moment before following their lead and stepping back.

Then, Su Mu slowly took off his Tinted Glasses. A gleam of crystalline blue light flashed in his eyes, dazzling like the stars!

The next moment, boom, boom, boom...

Dozens of lava giants were simultaneously crushed by some invisible, massive force. Starting from their heads, they were flattened instantly like empty soda cans stomped beneath a foot.

Crimson magma burst violently, setting off magnificent fireworks across this Land of Lava.

Yang Dongqing's eyes froze. He stared, completely dumbstruck, at the terrifying scene before him, then strained to turn his head to look at the completely unfazed Su Mu.

That elegant figure stood tall on a jutting rock. Beneath his feet, the earth was torn apart with scorching magma flowing through the cracks. The magma erupting from the shattered lava giants flew all around him, flashing like a host of stars guarding the sun.

'Why... is he so strong?'

He didn't understand. He couldn't wrap his head around it at all. His former good friend had become so powerful that he was completely unrecognizable.

He had thought Su Mu only knew Illusion Techniques. He figured that as long as he was careful not to get ambushed by an illusion, he could close the distance quickly and easily defeat him with a single punch.

But looking at it now, if he actually managed to dodge Su Mu's illusions and get close, he would find out that he would have been better off just falling for the illusion.

Gradually, a surge of anger rose in Yang Dongqing's heart. 'Why! Why is it like this!?'

'What was all my bitter training during this time for? What were all the experiments I went through even for!'

'I suffered so much and didn't dare to rest for a single moment. I even had a Gold expert as my teacher! So why, in the end, is the gap between him and me only getting wider!?'

'Why is everyone stronger than me!'

'I can't even be invincible among my peers, so how can I even talk about advancing to Gold? How am I supposed to resurrect Jasmine!!'

"That's our Captain for you!" Lin Nanxing said in admiration. "But you should hold back a little, Captain. Don't accidentally kill all the monsters in the entire Land of Lava. If the Nightmare shatters, we'll be sent straight back."

Su Mu gazed at the towering volcano looming over the Land of Lava and said softly, "It's not that simple here. There's a big one coming out."