I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 410: Chapter 407: Celestial God Volcano

Pitch-black clouds blanketed the entire sky over the volcanic plain, and countless fine particles of volcanic dust continuously pelted Mo Ling’s body.

Some of the volcanic ash swept up into the clouds still carried intense heat, causing an occasional, strange red glow to flash within them.

This hot dust slammed into Mo Ling’s body, burning charred-black holes into his sponge-like form.

Faint waves of hostility welled up within Mo Ling, signals of the danger lurking in the clouds.

But now, Mo Ling could ignore this hostility. By making a slight adjustment to his body, the holes would completely regenerate.

Finally, after passing through the thick black clouds, a massive volcano crater appeared before him.

This was the summit of the Celestial God Volcano.

Endless smoke and dust spewed from the crater, beneath which glowed a high-temperature red light. The gushing heat washed over the surroundings, and after standing nearby for only a moment, Mo Ling’s body began to go limp.

The heat felt like it was about to melt him.

A deep rumbling emanated from the crater—the sound of volcanic activity. But mixed in with the noise were terrifying beastly roars.

’Could there really be others of my kind in there?’

Filled with doubt, Mo Ling continued to fly toward the crater.

As he crossed the rim, the temperature instantly soared. Mo Ling had no choice but to thicken his carapace further to resist the terrifying heat.

Descending along the crater wall, Mo Ling came upon a lake of lava. Cooled rock had formed a thin crust on its surface, creating a chain of landmasses connected like small islands.

Thick smoke and red light made the visibility here extremely poor. The intense heat even distorted the air, and a sizzling, searing sound echoed in Mo Ling’s ears.

After adjusting his physical structure once more, Mo Ling flew in the direction of the beastly roars.

Lava surged and the ground trembled. Dodging countless perils, Mo Ling reached the center of the lava lake.

This was the very center of the Volcano, the hottest point. Countless warnings of hostility flooded Mo Ling’s senses.

But Mo Ling was in no mood to heed the warnings.

The moment he arrived, he saw two creatures battling at the lake’s center.

One resembled a Pangolin covered in sharp spikes. It was enormous, taking up almost the entire center of the lake. Its sponge-like body had completely transformed into black volcanic rock. If not for the constantly shifting sponge at its joints, Mo Ling would have mistaken it for another species entirely.

The other was also a sponge creature, but it appeared much weaker. A long, sponge-like thread trailed from its spherical body down into the lava, making it look like a balloon.

Although it looked incredibly frail, Mo Ling knew it couldn’t be as simple as that. This was the very heart of the Celestial God Volcano; the weak had no right to be here.

Just as Mo Ling suspected, the battle between the two creatures was incredibly fierce.

The Pangolin stood its ground in the lake’s center, each movement churning up massive waves of lava. But the balloon dodged them all with ease, weaving through the gaps around the Pangolin’s enormous body.

”Stop dodging! Fight me head-on!” the Pangolin roared. It rolled in the lava lake, and the volcanic rock spikes on its body suddenly shot out, flying toward the balloon like missiles.

But the balloon merely floated in place, perfectly still, letting the spikes plunge into the lava lake around it.

”I’m not dodging. You just can’t hit me,” the balloon stated calmly.

Enraged by the balloon’s taunt, the Pangolin leaped into the air and bore down on it.

But still, the balloon didn’t move. It simply watched as the Pangolin’s massive body descended upon it.

”You have too many openings. You’ll never kill me like this.”

”Die!” The Pangolin paid it no mind, spreading its body out completely to leave the balloon no room to escape.

”Your use of hostility is too simplistic, still at the most rudimentary stage. An attack like this is useless—nothing but a waste of energy.” The balloon still didn’t move, quietly watching the airborne Pangolin as it drew ever closer.

”Zero-point-five... zero-point-three...” the balloon seemed to be murmuring.

Just as the Pangolin was about to crush the balloon, the unexpected happened.

The lava beneath the balloon suddenly began to churn violently before erupting upwards. The balloon rode a thin slab of rock crust, soaring into the air.

The Pangolin, on the other hand, was unable to control its momentum and crashed straight into the erupting pillar of lava. The scorching magma instantly enveloped it, seeping into its vulnerable, sponge-like joints.

”NO!” the Pangolin shrieked, collapsing into the lava lake.

Meanwhile, the balloon rode a fractured shard of volcanic rock down the pillar of lava as if it were surfing, an image of pure elegance.

It slowly glided to a stop before the fallen Pangolin, looking down at its vanquished foe.

”You still can’t kill me.”

The words were delivered with utter calm, but they were a cruel fact.

The Pangolin tried to shift its sponge-like form, attempting to heal its joints, but the lava’s corrosion was faster than it had imagined. In the blink of an eye, the magma seeped into its pores and cooled rapidly, leaving it immobilized.

”Why? I’ve already conquered this scorching lava, so why can’t I kill you?” the Pangolin asked in agony.

”Conquer the lava? Why would you want to conquer lava?” The balloon lifted its sponge-like thread and tapped the menacing volcanic spikes on the Pangolin’s body. ”Are you talking about this thick shell?”

The balloon sounded almost exasperated. ”Your entire approach is wrong. We shouldn’t pursue physical strength. The omnipresent hostility is our greatest power. Do you understand?”

”Hostility?” The Pangolin clearly didn’t understand.

”Yes, hostility. You haven’t tried to truly feel it. You’ve only copied other creatures, creating hard shells and sharp claws. You just roll, charge, and pounce like some wild beast... That is not our way.”

The balloon looked at the Pangolin and repeated its earlier words:

”Like this, you will never be able to kill me.”

The Pangolin fell silent. It was hard to tell if it understood the balloon’s meaning, or if its body could no longer support speech.

White smoke billowed from its black body as the cooling volcanic rock trapped it in place. Its immense size had now become a liability.

”Can... you kill me?” it whimpered. The ferocious behemoth was actually pleading with the seemingly frail balloon before it.

The balloon circled it, occasionally tapping the thick shell with its sponge-like thread.

”Kill me. Grant me an honorable death. To have fought you was worth it all...” the Pangolin pleaded, its voice growing faint and intermittent.

The balloon still didn’t respond.

The lava churned. The balloon completed a full circle and came to a stop before the Pangolin once more.

That same calm voice sounded once more.

”Kill you?” the balloon murmured.

”You are not yet worthy...”