Landing 500 Years Early, I Became a God by Digging for Treasures 21

Chapter 21: Lu Yuan and the World

Intense heat enveloped everything within the trap. The raging flames turned the stones into glowing red magma, which dripped down in clumps.

A thin, shimmering membrane appeared on the surface of the fire lizard’s scales. This membrane protected it from the intense heat.

The fire breath—a technique used only against powerful enemies—was unleashed here. This skill required a significant amount of energy and relied on its internal fuel reserves, making its use limited.

Its massive body trembled slightly. After incinerating the insignificant ant before it, the fire lizard felt its own weakness. It needed to retreat to its lair to heal its wounds.

…

“Thank goodness I wasn’t directly hit…”

Lu Yuan felt both anxiety and fear. A massive surge of adrenaline put him in a state of extreme excitement, his blood practically boiling in his veins. After using his eye-gouging technique, he immediately hid in the Astral Space, avoiding serious injury.

Looking at his left arm, he saw it was covered in hot fuel, burning painfully. Just 0.1 seconds later, he would have been ignited and burned to death.

[A special type of fuel, upon ignition, reaches a temperature of approximately 3000 degrees Celsius.]

“So dangerous…”

Lu Yuan immediately took off his clothes and wiped off the fuel. His mind raced.

“I blinded one of its eyes!”

“The spear was coated with poison… and the eyes are closer to the brain, so the poison spreads faster.”

“I should just figure out a way to blind its other eye!”

The enraged fire lizard, having exhausted its fuel reserves, slowly weakened. As it was about to crawl out of the pit, Lu Yuan once again deactivated the Astral Space, grabbed a scale on its body, and stabilized himself.

“Your grandpa’s here!”

This move was incredibly dangerous but necessary. Without climbing onto the fire lizard, Lu Yuan couldn’t harm the behemoth, nor could he pursue the fleeing beast.

The fire lizard sensed the foreign object on its body and struggled wildly, leaping high, attempting to shake Lu Yuan off.

With a “boom,” its enormous body collided with a nearby rock. Lu Yuan struggled to hold on, the violent jolting threatening to shake his insides out.

“Aoooowww~~” the Old Wolf’s howl echoed again.

Lu Yuan’s eyes widened. Suddenly, the world seemed to turn upside down, the fire lizard’s body pressing down on him. He realized this was the “death roll”—the fire lizard was trying to crush him to death with its weight.

“Astral Space!”

*SNAP!*

The fire lizard’s back hit the ground, splashing up a great deal of water. Their spaces overlapped, and Lu Yuan vaguely saw the beast’s flesh and writhing organs, like a dense mass of red muscle squeezed outside a soap bubble.

To describe the phenomenon, one could say: Lu Yuan and the fire lizard were on opposite sides of a sheet of paper. No matter how much damage the fire lizard inflicted, it couldn’t affect the other side of the “paper.”

However, Lu Yuan’s Astral Space ability had its limits. Activating it multiple times in a short period consumed a significant amount of mental energy. The Astral Space didn’t activate instantly, requiring approximately 0.1-0.2 seconds. The worse his mental state, the longer the activation time. Also, besides his own body, the entry and exit of other objects would disrupt the integrity of the Astral Space.

Projecting a spear from within the Astral Space was impossible. He had to deactivate it first, then throw. Otherwise, if the spear touched the boundary of the Astral Space, the entire space would shatter, inflicting severe mental trauma.

Therefore, each time he acted as a “sneak attacker,” he had to deactivate the Astral Space before launching an attack.

“It’s stopped… it’s tired… I…”

Having come this far, Lu Yuan refused to give up. After deactivating the Astral Space, he immediately grabbed a scale, attempting to climb onto the fire lizard’s back. His skin was flushed, veins bulging on his arms like an enraged beast. The fire lizard’s scales were incredibly rough.

The rain intensified. The already exhausted fire lizard, finding its opponent clinging to it like glue, roared in fury, leaping from the ground, trying to throw Lu Yuan off.

“Come on, let’s see how much longer you can last!” Lu Yuan used his spear to brace himself between two scales. He roared, though he too was nearing exhaustion, unsure how much longer he could hold on.

Whenever the fire lizard initiated its death roll, trying to crush him with its immense weight, Lu Yuan immediately activated the Astral Space to avoid it. When the fire lizard calmed down, he would deactivate the Astral Space, provoking it to exert itself further.

“I have to hold on!!!” Lu Yuan told himself. If he was thrown off or pinned down, he would have no chance.

This slowly turned into a protracted war of attrition. The rain poured down like tears from the sky, nourishing the earth. The moonlight was hidden behind the clouds, hazy and indistinct. The massive fire lizard faced an opponent as persistent as glue, swaying, rolling, and exhausting almost every trick. It never imagined it would encounter such an indestructible foe.

Several times, the fire lizard seemed exhausted, motionless. Lu Yuan would try to climb to its neck and strike its other eye, only to find the beast regain its strength and struggle wildly again. So, he had to reactivate the Astral Space to protect himself.

As the intense struggle continued, the spider venom slowly invaded the fire lizard’s nervous system, and the considerable blood loss drained the beast’s life force. Its movements were indeed slowing down.

Once both creatures’ adrenaline reserves depleted, it became a test of willpower. The rain gradually ceased. Lu Yuan’s entire body burned, and he didn’t know where he was injured. The frequent use of the Astral Space had nearly reached its limit, his vision becoming blurry.

Without the Astral Space’s protection, the fire lizard could kill him in less than a second. To be or not to be, that was the question.

His arms and legs felt like lead, refusing to move. The world was truly cruel. Why were Transcendent beings so powerful? Should he continue? Could he truly defeat his opponent?

His mind grew hazy. In a daze, he saw the ghostly images of his family, their familiar faces smiling at him. Lu Yuan couldn’t help but think: If I die, perhaps this damn nightmare will end?

Then he turned his head and saw the Old Wolf. The wolf’s front legs were dragging on the ground, slowly crawling through the bushes, only its head visible. Its single eye glowed green in the moonlight.

This was a wolf filled with the will to survive, just as Lu Yuan had seen it at first, still striving to live despite its injuries.

(End of Chapter)

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