As if struck by an earthquake, the ground and rock walls trembled, causing the surrounding rivers of magma to sway violently.
Kuro transformed into a straight streak of black smoke, darting toward Law's location. Behind him, a horde of magma elementals in various forms pursued closely in formation.
Among the many elementals, some were as small as a palm, while others were as large as a building. However, the most threatening wasn't the elementals.
In the distance, within sight, a bright red line appeared. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be… a massive wave of magma, directly overhead!
Law's face turned pale. He had seen giant waves and towering tidal surges, but he had never witnessed a magma tide resembling an ocean wave.
Judging by its faintly visible height, it was enough to fill the entire spacious cavern.
"What did you do?" Law shouted angrily, grabbing all the loot and decisively turning to flee.
"I don't know either! I just kicked the 'ball' a little farther away," Kuro replied, bewildered. He still didn't understand what had happened. The 'ball' he referred to was Burning Feather's head.
"Idiot!" Law cursed without looking back.
If Kuro were in his physical form, he would undoubtedly have looked wronged.
The massive magma surge pushed forward everything in its path, advancing rapidly. It soon overtook all the elementals, filling every crevice between the rock walls, and continued to surge onward.
There was no time to ponder where this magma wave had emerged from, nor any opportunity to lecture Kuro.
Law directly left Kuro behind, not caring about the specifics, and repeatedly used the swiftly executed [Sky Walk], narrowly avoiding one searing, overhanging rock wall after another as he headed toward the exit.
In a hurried glance backward, he felt a chill in his heart.
That wave wasn't seawater… it was genuine magma. If struck by a single crest of the wave, his bones would likely turn to ash within a second.
Fortunately, the speed of the magma surge wasn't as fast as a tsunami.
After a while, Law was getting closer to the exit, while the magma surge showed no signs of abating.
Moving swiftly through the air, Law sidestepped a scalding rock wall and abruptly dashed out of the earth's core area's exit. Immediately, he spotted Biscuit and Tonpa waiting at the outer edge.
Seeing Law rush out, Biscuit and Tonpa's hearts, which had been in their throats, slowly settled.
Biscuit was worried Law might have encountered an accident, while Tonpa was concerned that if Law died, he would lose a sturdy protective barrier.
Before Biscuit could ask anything, Law, holding Burning Feather's bare body in one hand and using his clothes to wrap the Chasefire Stone and flame-patterned egg, said, "Let's get out of here."
As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out, picked up Bruna, placed her on his shoulder, and headed back the way they came.
Without time to ask what had happened, and seeing Law's exaggerated reaction, Biscuit and Tonpa realized something must have occurred in the earth's core area.
Without another word, they followed Law's footsteps.
At that moment, Kuro darted out of the earth's core area, moving so fast that he quickly overtook Tonpa and closely trailed behind Biscuit.
Boom!
A blast of scorching magma gushed from the earth's core area's entrance. In an instant, a wave of heat surged far behind Law and the others.
Dongba, who was lagging behind, glanced back, his face suddenly turned pale, and he shouted, "Wait for me!"
Transformed into black smoke, Kuro looked back at Tonpa, who was running last. For some reason, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
How to describe that feeling? It was as if he had always been the straggler, but one day he discovered there was someone even slower than him.
No one paid attention to Tonpa's shouts, focusing instead on putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the danger.
No matter what, the magma originating from the earth's core area couldn't destroy the entire underground world.
During their retreat, they could see many creatures of the underground world also fleeing, avoiding the magma gushing from the earth's core area.
Poor Tonpa… with magma behind him and dangerous creatures on both sides. Fortunately, those creatures were too preoccupied with escaping to bother with him.
After running a considerable distance, Law and Biscuit finally stopped. They waited for a while until Kuro caught up, while Tonpa was left far behind.
From their vantage point, he was only a small speck of light, and it would likely take him some time to reunite with them.
"Did you two do this?" Biscuit asked, gazing fearfully in the direction they had come from. The momentum of the magma surge was even more exaggerated than any volcanic eruption she had ever seen.
"Ask him," Law said, casting a cold glare at Kuro.
Kuro materialized into his physical form, shrinking his neck timidly, "In all fairness, it shouldn't have anything to do with me. I was just tired of playing with that chicken's head and wanted to kick it a bit farther. I hardly believe it could cause such a terrifying commotion." He said weakly.
At this point, perhaps feeling that pinning the blame solely on him was too weak an argument, he raised his voice slightly, "I really don't believe that chicken's head could have that much power."
"Where did you kick it?" Law frowned. He had originally planned to secure the loot and continue exploring deeper, but the magma wave, capable of filling the entire earth's core area, had forced him to retreat.
"Uh…" Kuro gestured with his paw, "A little bit far."
Law sighed, too tired to dwell on the matter further, and placed the loot on the ground.
Biscuit walked over, knelt down, and closely examined the items Law had brought out.
A fist-sized egg with beautiful flame patterns on its surface.
A stone the size of a chess piece, with a twisting [M]-shaped pattern that flickered between bright and dim, possessing a unique aesthetic.
A plucked chicken, every inch of its meat snow-white and flawless, resembling fish meat more than chicken.
Just by their appearance, it was clear these were ingredients of exceptionally high quality.
Moreover, having been brought out from a place like the earth's core area, they deserved to be called one-of-a-kind.
Compared to the egg and chicken meat, Biscuit's attention was more focused on the Chasefire Stone. She reached out to pick one up for a closer look.
"That's the Chasefire Stone. If even a speck of dust is scraped off, it will spontaneously ignite a large fire. Be careful." Law said, not stopping her but offering a warning.
"Oh?" Biscuit was surprised. She hadn't expected this stone with the [M]-shaped pattern to be the Chasefire Stone.
She carefully picked up the stone. It didn't feel particularly unusual to the touch, but she knew this small stone was anything but ordinary.
Law also picked up one. At that moment, Kuro eyed the flame-patterned egg, tempted to secretly swallow one, but Law kicked him away.
"Want to see its power?" Law shook the Chasefire Stone in his hand, then looked around. The underground creatures that had fled earlier were now gathering nearby, likely attracted by the scent of the chicken meat and flame-patterned egg.
Biscuit also glanced at the commotion around them and nodded slightly.
"Bruna, go to Biscuit." Law said.
Bruna nodded and floated toward Biscuit.
Law walked forward a short distance, first glancing toward Tonpa's location, then at the creatures closing in. He raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist.
The creatures, completely unaware they had become subjects of Law's experiment, gazed greedily at the chicken meat and flame-patterned egg… delicacies they rarely had the chance to encounter.
"You're out of luck." Law said coldly, his eyes chilling. He pointed his right hand forward and suddenly flicked his thumb. Dozens of faintly glowing specks of dust flew forward.
In less than a second, a single spark started a prairie fire, transforming into a wave of flames that spread out in a fan shape, instantly engulfing the approaching creatures.
For a moment, layers of agonized screams erupted.
The fire blazed brightly, illuminating the area as if it were daytime.
Watching this scene, Biscuit was left speechless. Bruna curled up timidly, and Kuro's silver eyes contracted sharply.