Chapter 202: The Grimma Staff!

Nie Yan identified the properties of this bead, and it turned out to be exactly what he had been searching for—the Molten Core.

Legend says that the powerful elemental mage, Countess Alicia, created ten Molten Cores using magma from the earth’s core. Although not magical items themselves, Molten Cores possess some extraordinary effects, such as increasing players’ resistance to fire elements. They are among the rare special items.

Countess Alicia used the Molten Cores as a medium to summon powerful lava beasts. She defeated tens of thousands of subterranean invaders in the Molten Forest, leaving behind an immortal feat. However, because she could not control the lava beast, it turned against her, dragging her into the scorching magma where she perished.

Molten Core: Special Item.

Item Properties: Fire Resistance +50, Fire Magic Amplification +20%. It has an attached skill: Molten Core. Molten Core: When this skill is activated, the user gains the power of the Molten Core, becoming immune to fire damage and even able to walk across scorching lava. Duration: 30 seconds. Skill Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restriction: Cannot be used by dark creatures.

This Molten Core is an accessory that only works when placed in the accessory slot. It is most effective for elemental mages and arcane mages, but even for Nie Yan, it is an invaluable treasure. In monster fights or player duels, how much of an advantage would fire immunity provide?

Thirty percent of elemental mages’ spells are fire-based, and many elemental mages rely heavily on fire spells for damage. Once Nie Yan activates the Molten Core skill, it means that 30% of their spells become useless. Additionally, over 50% of arcane mages’ spells contain fire elements. Thus, using the Molten Core skill against arcane mages can reduce incoming damage by more than 50%.

Moreover, a fire resistance increase of +50 is also significant. Nie Yan can now freely traverse maps up to level 50 where fire resistance is needed, and farming fire-element monsters will be much easier.

As for the 20% increase in fire magic amplification, it’s a shame Nie Yan isn’t a mage but a rogue.

He looked at the remaining item.

Skill Book: Mutilate.

Level Requirement: Level 35.

Skill Description: A rogue can slash an enemy’s throat from behind with a dagger, causing a chance of critical strike, and a chance of instant death against players of lower level. Only effective against humanoid creatures.

Skill Properties: When using this skill, an additional 30% bonus damage is dealt, with a 20% chance of causing 200% critical damage and a 10% chance of causing 300% critical damage.

Skill Cooldown: Thirty seconds.

User Restriction: Rogues only, usable by any faction.

Mutilate is a relatively high-level rare skill that provides significant damage bonuses.

Nie Yan couldn’t use this skill yet. He placed the Mutilate skill book into his backpack. After equipping the Molten Core, his fire resistance significantly increased, making him immune to the fire damage in the area. He continued deeper into the earth’s core. Within two or three minutes, Nie Yan arrived at the edge of a scorching lava pool.

The lava emitted scalding heat, spanning approximately 30×30 yards. Looking toward the center of the pool, someone floated motionlessly in the magma. She wore a crimson robe and held a staff embedded with a fist-sized ruby—the legendary sealed Grima’s Staff. Her face floated above the lava, with a delicate facial structure and smooth, translucent skin, beautiful enough to take one’s breath away.

This was Countess Alicia, an elemental mage and a legendary figure.

She had merely fallen into a deep slumber. The lava beast hadn’t killed her. It was said that the lava beast she summoned had gained sentience and developed its own thoughts. With limited intelligence, it had become deeply infatuated with Countess Alicia. It merely wanted to embrace her tightly, sealing her within its own body to prevent anyone else from touching her.

Thus, Countess Alicia remained asleep, and only by defeating the lava beast could she awaken. Moreover, Countess Alicia also carried the main questline for the legendary Grima Armor set.

A legendary armor set!

At its peak, the Holy Roman Empire assembled a team of over 3,000 level 100 players. A rogue lured the lava beast out of the Molten Forest and killed it. However, that battle between players and the beast became the Holy Roman Empire’s most painful memory. Out of 170 groups of twenty players each, sixty were completely wiped out.

At that time, the fortress was also under siege by the Triumph Empire, compelling them to retreat. Later, the Light Holy Flame successfully acquired the main questline for the Grima Armor from Countess Alicia, but ultimately failed to complete it. None of the thousand-man team that ventured into the underground city returned alive.

Thus, this quest became a legend, one of the most difficult to complete.

In the previous life, anyone who approached within two yards of Countess Alicia or touched any of her belongings would summon the lava beast. However, for Nie Yan, this posed a challenge because he was nearly ten yards away from Countess Alicia at the center. If he leapt over, he might return in about thirty seconds, but it would be a dangerous move.

If the Molten Core’s effect ended while he was still in the lava, the scorching magma would instantly consume him.

Nie Yan looked upward. Above the lava were rows of hanging stone pillars. The nearest one was only about three yards from Countess Alicia. He had an idea. Activating the skill on his Ring of the Crawler, he leapt upward, clinging to the cave’s ceiling. With agility, he climbed to above the lava pool and then slowly slid down the nearest stone pillar to Countess Alicia, stopping there.

At the center of the lava pool, Countess Alicia held the magnificent staff, her eyes closed, asleep and floating above the lava, strands of black hair gently floating.

This Countess Alicia was truly a beauty of calamitous allure, no wonder even her summoned creatures were captivated by her beauty.

The staff in Countess Alicia’s hand was carved from blue crystal, with a restrained glow, engraved with various mysterious runes. At the top was a round, fist-sized ruby, with a red flame quietly burning.

This Grima’s Staff possessed powerful fire magic. Even sealed, it still radiated immense power, making it a truly divine artifact!

Grima’s Staff was merely one piece of a legendary armor set, but even a single legendary item was formidable.

It was right in front of him!

Nie Yan’s left hand, the Ring of the Weaver, shot out a strand of webbing. The webbing flew straight and stuck onto Grima’s Staff. With a sharp tug, the staff flew from Countess Alicia’s hand and into Nie Yan’s grasp.

A powerful, uncontrollable elemental force surged from the staff, nearly flinging Nie Yan away.

Nie Yan barely managed to steady himself. Without wasting time examining Grima’s Staff’s properties, he quickly placed it into his backpack and crawled along the ceiling. With a leap, he landed safely outside the lava pool.

The entire lava cave began to tremble. The scorching lava swirled like a tornado, rapidly condensing into a beast-like form. The lower half of this beast was submerged in lava, while the upper half was robust and thick, entirely composed of scalding lava, radiating intense heat.

Nie Yan sprinted toward the exit of the lava cave. Within another one or two minutes, this lava beast would destroy the entire cave.

The lava beast noticed someone had taken Grima’s Staff from Countess Alicia and roared furiously. Cracks spread across the lava cave, which began to collapse. The cave’s rock layers rapidly melted into lava, merging into the lava beast’s body. The beast’s form continuously expanded as it surged toward the surface.

Yu Long hadn’t received any news about Nie Yan for nearly twenty minutes. His subordinates had scoured areas where Nie Yan had been active but found no trace of him. A sense of foreboding gradually rose in Yu Long’s heart.

“Boss Yu Long, we found a cave here, the entrance to the lava cave,” a player reported.

Yu Long frowned. Did Nie Yan already escape the Molten Forest through the lava cave? What was the point of continuing the search here?

Suddenly, the ground beneath them violently shook, cracks spreading rapidly. Yu Long’s expression changed. What had happened?

At that moment, the hundreds of players gathered at the entrance of the lava cave saw a figure burst out from inside, running at top speed toward the exit.

“It’s that rogue, block him!”

The players shouted. Nie Yan’s figure suddenly vanished, slipping past several players while using stealth acceleration.

Dozens of illumination spells ascended into the sky, their white light revealing Nie Yan’s figure.

Dozens of spells struck Nie Yan in quick succession. Nie Yan activated Rapid Retreat, fleeing at maximum speed. He tightly gripped a random teleportation scroll, ready to use it at the slightest sign of danger. Even with his high health, he couldn’t withstand the concentrated magical assault from so many spellcasters.

Seeing his health nearly depleted, Nie Yan consumed a medium instant health potion, instantly restoring his health to full.

He still had several life-saving measures, such as the Scroll of Courage, which could temporarily make him immune to spells, or the random teleportation scroll, which could instantly teleport him away. However, he would absolutely not use them unless absolutely necessary.

Just then, the ground suddenly shook violently. The players were shocked as a red stream of lava surged from the lava cave’s exit, like a tidal wave, rising over ten yards high.

“It’s lava, run!”

“Damn it, everyone run!”

Everyone sprinted desperately toward the exit.

The players’ terrified eyes reflected the terrifying lava flood. In the next moment, they were all engulfed by the scorching lava.