CHAPTER 239: Couldn't Help It

The terrifying sound wave of the Lord of Flames carried a savage and earth-shattering power. It caused all the erupting magma to stop and then fall down into the lake of fire with even more ferocious speed.

At that moment, not only was the magical barrier no longer able to rise, but the reverse flow of the magma caused it to fall rapidly towards the lake of fire below.

"This is bad!" Marceau exclaimed anxiously, his face filled with shock. "The Lord of the Flames is controlling the magma and making it fall. I just used too much mental power and have no way to control the boundary and fly out."

Han Shuo had been resting with his eyes closed and suddenly opened them. He looked at Marceau, "So we're stuck in the lake of fire?"

The kind-hearted Knight Sophie was equally helpless in this situation and looked anxiously at the scorching magma that was rushing towards them, completely unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, Marceau showed a resigned expression and said to Han Shuo and Sophie, "I'm very sorry, I don't think I can leave the Fire Lake if I bring you two with me. I'm sorry!"

A strong pulse of magic suddenly travelled out from where Han Shuo and Sophie were standing. It felt the same as the last time Han Shuo had left the boundary. As fiery sparks flew, the section of the boundary where Han Shuo and Sophie were was directly cut off from Marceau's boundary, as if it had been sliced off by a sharp weapon.

Without the support of Marceau's magic, Han Shuo and Sophie were instantly drowned by the flowing magma as they fell into the lake of fire.

"Instead of the three of us dying together, I might as well escape alone. It couldn't be helped. Please don't blame me!" Marceau muttered to herself from afar as she watched the two people fall and be quickly covered by the magma.

"ROAR..."

The earth-shattering roar came closer and closer. Marceau's expression turned to shock as she heard this, and she dared not stay. She took control of the boundary that was clinging to her and moved upwards against the magma that was falling like a waterfall.

"Ahhh..."

Sophie's cry as she fell towards the lake of fire was completely drowned out by the roar of the Lord of Flames. Apart from Han Shuo, who happened to be right next to her, no one else heard her cry of despair.

Even a female knight with extraordinary abilities would instinctively reveal her weak side in a life-or-death situation, so this cry of despair was not a shameful act.

However, no one could stand to have such a piercing scream ringing in their ears. Han Shuo was no exception, of course.

"Miss Sophie, can you stop screaming!" Han Shuo couldn't help but say to Sophie with a look of annoyance as he held Sophie's slender waist with one arm.

To his surprise, the remaining magical boundary between the two of them did not suddenly burst due to Marceau's departure. Instead, it was shrouded in a dark light. The dense magma in the surrounding area kept crashing into this dark boundary, but it didn't move or crack. Only rays of ghostly light slowly seeped out from Han Shuo's body and stuck to the dark boundary.

Sophie quickly realised the situation they were in after Han Shuo's scolding. Her clear eyes quickly scanned their surroundings and she exclaimed happily, "We're actually not dead!"

"Of course, I just regained some strength. I think we can hold on a little longer until we leave this mysterious place!" Han Shuo smiled faintly and comforted Sophie.

Sophie suddenly realised that Han Shuo still had an arm around her waist. She immediately straightened up uncomfortably and struggled out of Han Shuo's arm to keep a safe distance from him.

Seeing that Sophie had recovered from the shock, Han Shuo no longer deliberately took advantage of her. He smiled apologetically and said, "It couldn't be helped now, I hope you don't mind. The Lord of Flames will be back very soon, we must leave immediately!"

"That Marceau is actually a famous person from the Brut Merchant Alliance, I didn't think she could actually do something like that. What a petty character!" The friendly Sophie swore angrily as she was still very upset by Marceau's actions.

Han Shuo, on the other hand, felt that it was only natural. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Marceau. After all, the three of them had just met and there was no real friendship between them. When in danger, each had to think for himself. Marceau had been forced to do what she had done, so Han Shuo didn't feel any resentment towards her.

After all, he would have done the same thing if he had been in her position!

However, Han Shuo didn't say much, just shrugged his shoulders and smiled, concentrating on circulating his magical yuan as they slowly flew up through the falling magma.

At Han Shuo's level of magical cultivation, he could naturally form a protective barrier around himself by manipulating the Magical Yuan. As long as he didn't run out of magic yuan, he could continue to maintain the barrier so that it wouldn't break, and use it to stop the invasion of magma and flames.

Compared to Marceau's barrier from earlier, the inside of Han Shuo's barrier had a more moderate temperature. None of the various threats in the environment were able to penetrate the barrier. After the barrier surrounded Han Shuo and Sophie's body, their flying speed actually increased greatly as they broke through the obstacles of the magma layers. They quickly spotted a narrow crack and charged upwards against the searing sparks.

Sophie concentrated on observing Han Shuo's protective barrier and wore a puzzled expression. She even cautiously reached out her hands and touched the barrier with the black light flowing through it, then mused blankly as she felt the strange texture.

Han Shuo's expression was carefree and confident, without the pain and suffering he'd shown before, as they charged upwards. This made the watching Sophie very confused. In the end, she couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "Are you really injured or not?"

Han Shuo understood her meaning the moment she said it and turned to look at Sophie. He smiled wryly and said, "Don't think I'm fine just because my expression is carefree. I'm actually in excruciating pain. It's just that I have to show my strong side in front of a beauty, only then will I leave the image of a powerful man in your mind!"

Sophie obviously hadn't expected Han Shuo to say that. These words were full of ambiguity, which Sophie naturally heard as well. At first she remained blank, then she rolled her eyes at Han Shuo in annoyance and laughed, "You are so interesting, who says such things!"

Han Shuo shrugged his shoulders and pretended to be in pain. He even used his magical cultivation to force himself to break out in a sweat, his face turning horribly pale. Panting, he said, "Look, this is my real situation. I might fail at any moment, and then we'll both fall into the lake of fire to see that beautiful lotus!"

Sophie was extremely unaccustomed to Han Shuo's sudden change in appearance. She said anxiously with great shock, "Don't scare me, I don't care if it's real or not, but I want to see your carefree look from just now!"

"No problem!" Han Shuo laughed heartily as the painful expression vanished from his face in an instant. The sweat on his forehead miraculously disappeared as well, and he winked at Sophie with an evil smile. He teased casually, "Is that better?"

"Pfft!"

Unable to hold back her laughter, Sophie waved her firsts at Han Shuo's chest. She huffed as she angrily waved her fist in front of Han Shuo, "You evil person, you were tricking me the whole time!"

"Haha!" Han Shuo laughed proudly. He then broke through the layers of magma with Sophie in tow and rushed directly towards the crack above.

"You guys are actually okay?!" Marceau of the Brut Merchant Alliance suddenly shouted from the magma-enshrouded barrier below Han Shuo and Sophie's body.

At that moment, Marceau looked like she had been soaked by rain. Her body was drenched in sweat and her face was pale as she huffed and puffed weakly. She moved the magical boundary with difficulty and slowly inched her way up.

Her current appearance was similar to the one Han Shuo had faked. It was obvious that she'd used up a lot of mental energy and was finding it harder and harder to hold on. When she noticed that Han Shuo and Sophie had passed her like an arrow as they flew straight towards the surface, she was even more shocked.

"Hi, let's meet up there!" Han Shuo casually looked down at Marceau beneath his feet as he replied with a smile. He then activated his magical Yuan, ignoring Marceau's focused gaze as he rushed towards the crack in the ground that revealed the sky.

One of his Yin Demons had been left near the underground fire lake, while the other two had remained in the valley all this time. This had allowed Han Shuo to see everything clearly through the watchful eyes of the three Yin Demons.

When the Lord of Flames had unhesitatingly left his three enemies behind to return to the Kingdom of Flames, the giant silver monkey had been the only one to try and stop him, but he had been easily beaten back by the fury of the Lord of Flames.

Without the help of the Golden Dragon and the Cyclops, the giant Silver Monkey was unable to defeat the Lord of Flames, and could only watch as the Lord of Flames entered the largest crack in the ground and was carried underground with the flowing magma.

As the tracks of the Lord of the Flames disappeared, the proud golden dragon seemed to remember why it had come to the valley and immediately began to attack its former ally - the Cyclops. The Cyclops seemed to know this would happen, for it began to fight the Golden Dragon. It carved a passage through the valley as it fought with the Golden Dragon, making its way to the exit.

When the Lord of the Flames landed in his kingdom of flames, the giant silver ape knew it didn't stand a chance and left the path the golden dragon had torn out after beating it on the chest. It disappeared with a few jumps.

Han Shuo saw all this through the two Yin Demons he'd left in the valley. The Yin Demon left around the lake of fire also noticed the huge body of the Lord of Flames at that moment. Mixed with the flames and magma, it was slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake.

"Phwee..."

A long whistle rang out from a crack in the ground as a black arrow shot out of it, hovering in the sky above the valley.

Having managed to escape danger, Han Shuo let out a long whistle as the barrier of black light flowing around him cracked like an egg shell. Rays of black light seemed to wrap around Han Shuo like lightning before slowly sinking into his skin.

These black bolts of lightning wiggled beneath his exposed skin. They seemed to be like moving tattoos, displaying a shocking beauty. With Han Shuo's long whistle, the black light slowly faded away as his skin colour returned to normal.

"How long are you going to hold me?" Sophie looked at the series of changes on Han Shuo's body and couldn't help but glare when she saw that he refused to let go of her slender waist.

Due to the crack in the protective barrier, Han Shuo had been afraid that Sophie would fall from the sky and had just held onto her slender waist in haste. When he felt the soft elasticity of Sophie's slender waist, the long whistle earlier had also been indescribably comfortable.

"Eh... I couldn't help it, hehe, couldn't help it!" Han Shuo didn't feel embarrassed at all as he chuckled. "I don't know, if I let go, would you fall straight to your death?"

Sophie gave Han Shuo an unfriendly look and then pointed down. "I am only a few metres above the ground. The surrounding area has not yet been covered by lava. Do you think a knight who dared to come into the Dark Forest alone would fall to her death from a few metres up?

"Ugh... I guess not, you should have reminded me earlier!" Han Shuo touched his head and said with a laughing expression. He tightened his right hand around Sophie's slender waist, then took one last feel of the wondrous softness of her waist before letting go and falling to the ground.

"Awroo..." The Lord of Flames' strange roar suddenly rang out from deep within the ground.

Using the Yin Demon underneath to investigate, Han Shuo found that the huge body of the Flame Lord had completely merged with the lake of fire. The fire lotus that had been submerged in the fire lake was now raised in his huge palm. A powerful feeling radiated from the Lord of Flames towards the Fire Lotus through some sort of mystical power.

Just as Han Shuo was getting worried, the Lord of Flames suddenly looked up and shouted, then carefully caressed the closed Fire Lotus as if it were a treasure. The murderous air around him was nowhere to be felt. Instead, it was more like a mother as it held the fire lotus to its chest, a strange motherly love filling the entire lake of fire.

"No way, it's not treating the Fire Elite Zombie as its child, is it?" Han Shuo guessed in confusion as he was completely stunned.