Chapter 1844 – Underground Country

System: Congratulations! You have discovered the Fire God’s Ancient Land.

Flame Demon’s Valley Region System Announcement: A player has triggered the new expansion pack “Underground Country” and activated the primordial taboo seal. Players may enter the Underground Country in ten days.

The system announcement repeated three times, the system’s indifferent voice echoing in everyone’s minds for quite some time.

Underground Country? Shi Feng was stunned. Fire God’s Ancient Land?

He had never heard of the Flame Demon’s Valley containing some kind of Underground Country during his previous life. He only knew that the Fire Demon’s Valley’s monsters had a high drop-rate for Source Fire Ore and Magic Crystals, and a few superpowers had fought fiercely over the area.

However, this new expansion pack had never been triggered in the past.

Although he had never heard of the Fire God’s Ancient Land before, he was very familiar with Ancient Lands.

Any location that was considered an Ancient Land had existed before the Great Destruction. Only, these locations had disappeared from the public eye after the Great Destruction. Meanwhile, these Ancient Lands were rumored to have been blessed by Ancient Gods, which was why they had survived for so long. But as time passed, these Ancient Lands had become relics.

Among the various Ancient Lands that had been discovered during Shi Feng’s life, some contained items that had even been famous during ancient times. These items had all been highly sought after by the various superpowers. Hence, the various superpowers had fought desperately to claim any discovered Ancient Lands in the past.

Shi Feng had never thought that the Source Fire vein they had found was actually an entrance to the Fire God’s Ancient Land.

This rendered Shi Feng speechless.

Now that the system announcement had been made, the Underground Country in the Flame Demon’s Valley would be exposed sooner or later. The Source Fire vein would definitely be discovered as well. Meanwhile, the Flame Demon’s Valley was tens of thousands of miles away from Star-Moon Kingdom. If the Fire Dragon Empire’s superpowers wanted to claim the vein, he’d be powerless to stop them.

Fortunately, it wasn’t easy to reach the Flame Demon’s Valley’s core. Players would need high enough Fire Resistance to do so.

Triggering this new expansion pack also excited Zero Wing’s members. Although they didn’t know what the Underground Country was, they knew that this expansion pack represented a huge opportunity.

Every kingdom and empire had its own specialty products, and no player had ever explored this Underground Country yet. This meant that they could monopolize the Underground Country’s specialty products. Depending on the items’ value, they could make a fortune by reselling them.

Although Zero Wing’s members were excited about the new expansion pack, when they returned their attention to the horrific number of approaching monsters, they suppressed their excitement and focused on their enemies.

As for Shi Feng, after a moment of surprise, he quickly charged into the Source Fire vein and started building a marker for a Teleportation Magic Array.

Trying to get all of his team members into the Flame Demon’s Valley’s core had already been incredibly difficult, not to mention sending an army into the valley. No Guild in God’s Domain would be able to do so at this stage of the game, so it was impossible to mine this Source Fire vein long-term.

However, while this task might be impossible for other Guilds, the same was not true for Zero Wing.

As long as he set up a teleportation marker, he could transport players via teleportation array. Not only would it save his players a lot of travel time, but they could also avoid unnecessary battles in the Flame Demon’s Valley.

Unfortunately, due to the massive distance between teleportation arrays, the Magic Crystal cost would be considerable.

But compared to the Source Fire vein’s value, the teleportation fees were almost negligible. Aside from the fact that Magic Crystals could drop from the Source Fire vein, the Source Fire ore was incredibly valuable. It also had a small chance of dropping Flame Source Crystals.

Meanwhile, in a hot, sandy area in the Flame Demon’s Valley’s inner region...

Melody and her team worked on clearing out the monsters in an ancient ruin. When Shi Feng entered the Source Fire vein, they, too, had heard the regional announcement regarding the new expansion pack.

“Amazing! Someone actually triggered a new expansion pack in the Flame Demon’s Valley!”

“That should be Zero Wing’s doing. Is it the matter they mentioned earlier?”

“Although I don’t know what the Underground Country is, it must have a lot of valuable items. Our Ninth Heaven has struck gold! The only other Guild that should be in the Flame Demon’s Valley is Zero Wing. Our two Guilds should be the only ones who know about this Underground Country. We’ll make a fortune by reselling the items from it!”

...

Excitement flashed in the eyes of the Ninth Heaven’s members when they heard the system announcement.

Traveling into human kingdoms and empires was intensely difficult for neutral races, so any items they purchased in Forest City were far above market price.

Now that they had discovered the Underground Country, they could sell its unique items in Forest City. They’d be able to make a fortune and rapidly develop their Guild.

So, this is Zero Wing’s strength? Melody revealed a bitter smile when she read the system announcement.

She had been smug and satisfied because she had accepted a high-ranked quest with an extraordinary reward. In contrast, Zero Wing had triggered a new expansion pack in the Flame Demon’s Valley. The difference between them was immense.

Previously, she had still suspected Zero Wing of targeting Ninth Heaven.

But now, her suspicions were laughable. To Zero Wing, her high-ranked quest wasn’t likely worth a second glance.

While Ninth Heaven’s members envied Zero Wing for activating a new expansion pack, Shi Feng frantically set up the teleportation array’s marker.

Setting up a teleportation marker was not an easy task. Players needed a considerable understanding of magic arrays to succeed. The procedures were extremely complex, and normally, a player would need a lot of time to set up the marker and connect it to a teleportation array.

However, to Shi Feng, who was adept in drawing Advanced Magic Arrays, this task was easier. He swiftly etched magic arrays on one crystal after another before placing the crystals on a large magic array he had carved into the ground.

Very quickly, the Mana in the mine started to gather in the magic array.

Shi Feng could feel the mine’s dense Mana begin to dwindle.

Awooo!

Suddenly, Shi Feng heard a furious howl from outside of the mine, echoing on the mine’s stone walls.

“Guild Leader, trouble! The Lava Hound went berserk and is charging towards you! It’s ignoring aggro completely!” Aqua Rose shouted in the team chat when she saw the enraged Lava Hound rush back to the canyon.

To current players, a berserk Level 80 Mythic monster was an absolute nightmare.

Cola had tried to stop the Lava Hound with his shield but had instantly lost over 30,000 HP when the Boss had responded with an angry swipe. The Lava Hound’s Strength was terrifying. If anyone else had taken that attack, they would’ve likely died instantly.

As soon as Aqua Rose fell silent, the Lava Hound arrived before the mine’s entrance. Fortunately, the mine entrance was too small for the Lava Hound, so the Boss couldn’t get in. Seeing this, Aqua Rose and Cola breathed a sigh of relief.

However, something then happened that stupefied Zero Wing’s members.

The gigantic Lava Hound split into three miniature copies. Each copy was still a Level 80 Mythic monster, but they did have slightly lower Basic Attributes.

Before Zero Wing’s members could react, the three Lava Hounds charged into the mine.

Hurry! Hurry up!

Shi Feng could already hear rapidly approaching footsteps. It was obvious that the Lava Hound was almost to him. Meanwhile, he only needed to insert one last crystal into the ground to set the spatial coordinates. Unfortunately, the loading bar, which had swiftly filled before, felt extremely slow to Shi Feng. It was only 70% full.

While conducting the merging process, Shi Feng couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even activate a Skill.

When the loading bar reached 90%, three one-meter-tall Lava Hounds appeared before Shi Feng.

“Despicable mortal! You dare violate this sacred ground! You’ll pay for your crimes with your soul!”

The three Lava Hounds spoke in the human language, rage flaring in their eyes as they spat three scorching, white beams at Shi Feng. Like lasers, the white beams vaporized everything in their path.