The red dragon looked back, and it was a bearded mercenary who spoke, looking a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

The bearded mercenary smiled and said, "We met in the mercenary bar in Lorysk. ”

Ember remembered, isn't this the bearded man who invited him to join the mercenary group in Chapter 4. also helped himself pay the bill, and the red dragon still had a good impression of him.

Thinking of this, the red dragon nodded: "It's you, what are you doing, are you looking for me to join the mercenary group?"

The bearded man laughed: "No, I just didn't expect to see you here again and say hello." ”

"I don't belong to that family now, I'm a free person now. Ember said.

"I cordially invite you to join the Fire Shield Mercenary Regiment!"

The bearded man's name is Ramirez, and he is the leader of the B-level mercenary group "Fire Shield", and there are six people in the mercenary group, including him, all of whom are old mercenaries.

"I'll say it first, I'll complete this task with you, and I still have my own things to do. Can't be dragged by mercenary groups. Ember said after listening to Ramirez's mission.

"No problem, we rely on you most for this mission, and we will try to meet your requirements. Ramirez patted his chest and said.

This is an A+-level mission, which is to go to the volcano between the raging waves hundreds of miles away to find a rare mineral used to forge high-level equipment, and the completed mercenary group can be upgraded to the A level, but over the years, several B-level mercenary groups have returned in vain, because the volcano is the home of the red dragon, so Ramirez is happy to join Emily.

Without many twists and turns, Ember quickly passed the application and became an F-class mercenary.

Holding the black mercenary badge with the word "F", the red dragon casually played with it and threw it into his bag, after all, the mercenary badges worn by the people around the mercenary union were at least D-level, and the newly registered F-level mercenaries could only take on those low-level tasks of carrying or escorting.

Two days later, Red Dragon followed the Fire Shield Mercenary Group to a small town near the volcano in the Raging Waves.

After two days together, Ember also got to know several other mercenaries in the regiment.

Kit, a young swordsman who wields a two-handed broadsword and has a warm and cheerful personality.

Colin, a calm middle-aged light magician.

Russell, a seasoned mercenary with a longbow, is taciturn.

Luke, a fierce hoplite, wields a meteor hammer and a large shield.

Clancy, a person who doesn't have much presence.

Ramirez, a capable mercenary leader, armed with a one-handed axe and crossbow arrows.

Ember, a red dragon with nothing.

Yes, Ember had deposited all of his belongings, including his armor, in the town's bank and traveled light. Well, except for that snake-like ornament on the head.

I heard Ramirez say that he might need to go to the magma to find things in the magma himself, so it was a burden to bring these things with him.

Ember had never seen a volcano before he was so big, and at the instigation of his inner frenzy, the god sent the ghost to take on the task.

There is nothing on the periphery of the volcano, but as soon as you enter the cave, a heat wave that is unbearable for ordinary people will sweep in, and if you don't have prepared a special cold drink, even a battle-hardened mercenary will quickly lose its combat effectiveness.

The goal of this mission is to find the Hellflame Stone, an ore described in ancient texts buried in the depths of the volcano, with a hellish crimson color that looks recognizable, but is rarely seen by anyone. Moreover, there are terrifying huge monsters in the volcano, and the mercenary groups that came before were either defeated by the monsters or ran out of cold drinks and did not find the Hell Flame Stone.

The Fire Shield Mercenary Regiment had already prepared and brought a bell-like magic item, which had an interesting function, that is, within a certain range, it would ring on its own when it encountered something unknown.

However, after exploring several areas, the bell never rang.

"It looks like we're going to be ready for mission failure. Seeing that more than half of the cold drinks had been consumed, the regiment commander Ramirez couldn't help but sigh.

"Why don't I go and see the lava?" said Ember, who had been hanging at the end of the line.

The mercenaries looked at each other and quickly agreed.

The red dragon looked at the terrain: "Let's meet there later." As he spoke, he pointed to a platform on the other side of the magma lake that required a large circle to pass.

The red dragon took the little blue and the bell in his mouth, and plunged into the magma under the attention of the mercenaries.

After entering the magma, a scorching feeling of comfort came from every cell of the body, this is the home of the fire dragon!

Magma of more than 1,000 degrees is a forbidden area for most creatures, but the red dragon seems to be like a fish in water.

Ember felt that his whole body was now full of explosive power, and if he could open his mouth to breathe fire now, his lethality and speed would definitely be more than twice as strong as usual.

After a moment of excitement, the red dragon slid its limbs and began to explore the magma.

After ten or so minutes, the red dragon emerged on the magma, changed his breath, and by the way, he saw that his mercenary teammates had already walked more than half of the distance, and then dived down to the magma again.

Suddenly, the bell in the red dragon's mouth shook violently, making a crisp bell, startling Ember and Little Blue.

It's around here, no! A huge figure appeared in the red dragon's perception, rapidly approaching him!

Ember didn't hesitate to turn around and run, kidding, this huge monster was bigger than his own size with just one head, and if it weren't for the bell's reminder, he would have faced the monster head-on by now.

"There's a monster!" With a dragon roar, the red dragon rushed to the shore and leaned towards his teammates.

Without hesitation, the mercenaries drew their weapons one after another, and immediately after that, a huge monster flew out of the magma.

"Lava fish!" the mercenaries blurted out, only to see that the monster that jumped out of the magma had a red-black shell, a fish-like body with two thick legs, and no pupils in its round eyes were all whites, which looked extremely terrifying, but what was even more terrifying was its body shape that was more than 20 meters long.

The Lava Fish is a ferocious monster that lives in volcanoes, and its body-covering, solidified lava crust protects its body from the heat and pressure of magma.

Due to the long-term living in a high-pressure environment, the pectoral fins of lava fish have gradually shrunk and have been replaced by unusually developed and powerful feet and tails. The prey attacked by these two things will shed its skin even if it does not die. The most common way it hunts is to spray magma into its target, burn its prey to death, and then tear it apart and swallow it.

"Spread out, attack its head!" the mercenaries quickly dispersed, and Russell, the archer, mounted a black heavy arrow and aimed it at the head of the lava fish.

The black arrow accurately hit the lava fish's head, but was bounced open by the thick lava shell due to the bad angle.

The monster was furious, and opened its mouth to spray a fireball at Russell, but before the fireball could fly halfway, Luke lifted his shield.

Almost as soon as the lava fish opened its mouth, Ramirez shot the crossbow arrow in his hand, and the small crossbow arrow slashed through a flash of light and pierced the monster's jaw accurately.

The red dragon on the side couldn't help grinning, it hurt to look at it.

The wounded lava fish leaped into a rage, its huge body fell to the ground, and it rushed towards Ramirez in a swift snake.

Ramirez desperately fled to the side, narrowly avoiding the huge body, and if he was rubbed, even the strongest person would be crushed into a meatloaf.

Several other mercenaries rushed up and slashed the monster's leg a few times, but they couldn't break the defense, this lava fish is afraid that it has lived for hundreds of years, and the hardness of the lava shell on its body is beyond imagination.

I saw the lava fish jump high on the spot, and then smashed down hard, Luke, who couldn't dodge, was shocked and flew out, and the others were also temporarily shaken by the huge shock, causing them to stand unsteadily.

The situation took a turn for the worse, and the red dragon ran to Luke, who was spitting blood, and under the gaze of Colin, a dazed light mage who rushed over, pinched a small blue snake and let it gnaw on Luke.

After a few moments, Luke patted himself to his feet, raised his shield and rushed forward again.

"It's really spiritual...," Ember muttered as he looked at Blue, and then quickly explained to Colin, "The venom of this little snake I accidentally found is not poisonous but can heal its injuries. ”

Colin nodded blankly.

The lava dragon was running after Kit, and Luke, who was unexpectedly resurrected by full blood, rushed over and smashed his head with a hammer a few times, letting out a mournful roar that seemed to be a little dizzy.

Several mercenaries roared and rushed up and slashed indiscriminately, finally cutting wounds in the monster's legs. Russell, the archer, saw the timing and shot a lava fish in one eye with an armor-piercing arrow.

The giant beast was hit by this great blow, and attacked indiscriminately in a frenzy, and everyone did not dare to be greedy for the sword and retreated. The lava fish finally became frightened, and a fish jumped into the lava and soon disappeared.

"It's definitely not over yet, don't let up. Ramirez said solemnly. Everyone nodded.

After some rest, the mercenaries decided to abandon their mission and start returning the way they came.

Despite heightened vigilance, the unexpected happened. Just as everyone passed between several half-sized stones, these ordinary stones suddenly burst open, and the mercenaries were all knocked to the ground by the impact.

The next moment, the huge form of the lava fish swooped out of the magma, and the huge mouth headed towards the nearest Ramirez cover.

Ramirez hurried to touch the axe that had landed not far away, but it was almost as soon as the lava fish's mouth closed, and the man disappeared!

The other mercenaries scrambled and roared at the lava fish, but the behemoth drove them back with a few casual blows.

The red dragon was extremely angry, and a big living person disappeared in front of him. I saw that the red dragon jumped hard and pounced on the neck of the lava fish and bit down hard.

... I can't bite it!

Claws gripped at the magma shell, and Ember turned around and bit down on the lava fish's throat.

... No, you can bite, as long as you push harder...

The lava fish shook violently, and the red dragon fell down without grabbing it for a while.

The giant beast turned its head and bit the falling red dragon!