Three searing beams of fire were about to engulf Shi Feng when the cast bar before his eyes finally reached 100%.
Just as the three beams of fire were less than ten yards from Shi Feng, a barrier formed around him, composed entirely of divine runes. When the beams struck the barrier, it shuddered violently, and Shi Feng himself was sent hurtling away like a cannonball.
With a thunderous boom, Shi Feng was driven deep into the hard rock wall.
The rock surrounding him had been burned smooth as a mirror by the flames, faintly glowing with a crimson light.
"What terrifying power." Shi Feng watched as everything the flames touched had been reduced to nothing, the terrain completely reshaped, and couldn't help but feel a chill. He hadn't expected that each of the three split Lava Hounds still possessed such terrifying strength.
This was the Source Fire Vein. The surrounding rock walls were not only incredibly hard but also highly fire-resistant. The Source Fire ore in particular couldn't even be smelted by ordinary flames, let alone burned to nothing—the temperature of those flames was unimaginable.
If a player were hit, even Dark-Gold equipment reinforced with magic formations would likely be destroyed. Only Epic-grade equipment could withstand it.
If he hadn't possessed the Absolute Domain invincibility skill, that single hit would have killed him.
"Retreat! Everyone, pull back immediately!"
As the flames dissipated, Shi Feng immediately issued the evacuation order in the party chat.
He could have Ke Le barely hold off a single Lava Hound, but facing three miniature Lava Hounds with their full strength, he didn't want to stay even a second longer.
He immediately swapped the Earth Ring for the Sky Ring, preparing to leave.
"Awooo!"
Just as Shi Feng was about to use spatial movement to escape, all three Lava Hounds howled in unison, sending out three pale red ripples. In an instant, the surrounding space seemed to solidify, and the spatial power of the Seven Luminaries Ring couldn't tear even the smallest crack in it.
"Spatial Lock?" Shi Feng watched the rift he'd painstakingly opened dissolve into nothing, his expression darkening.
For players, facing monsters of such overwhelming strength that could also use Spatial Lock was nothing short of a nightmare—or rather, a death sentence with zero chance of survival.
Monsters already had vastly superior stats, surpassing players in both strength and speed.
Players could only rely on spatial movement-type abilities to escape, but with that option sealed off, the outcome was all too obvious.
Yet monsters capable of Spatial Lock were exceedingly rare in the Divine Realm. Usually, only top-tier NPCs could achieve this, and Shi Feng had never imagined that elemental-life Lava Hounds would be capable of such magic.
"You have violated the taboo of the great Fire God! Surrender your soul and receive the Fire God's forgiveness!" The three Lava Hounds fixed Shi Feng with icy stares, their voices cold, and lunged toward him.
Though each Lava Hound was barely over a meter tall and appeared small, their movements caused the very space around them to tremble. Their power was no less than that of the original combined Lava Hound.
They encircled Shi Feng from three different directions, their combat tactics virtually indistinguishable from those of an NPC.
"Guardians created by gods?" Shi Feng watched the three Lava Hounds rushing toward him, his expression turning grave.
It was perfectly common for powerful monsters to serve as guardians of treasure in the Divine Realm, but among guardians, there existed some of extraordinary power.
Those were guardians created by gods themselves.
These beings were carefully crafted by gods specifically to guard their treasures. They possessed eternal life, were essentially immortal, and wielded extremely powerful magical abilities—making them far more troublesome to deal with than primordial species of the same level.
"It's do or die." Shi Feng gritted his teeth and activated Divine Dragon's Power and God's Shadow Steps.
Ten clones appeared, identical to the original in every way—even their aura and presence were indistinguishable—and charged straight at the three incoming Lava Hounds.
Though the three Lava Hounds were formidable, Shi Feng used the substitution technique between his clones to render them completely helpless.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng seized the opportunity to flee toward the cave entrance.
Guardians would automatically disengage once their charges were left outside a certain range, so he only needed to get far enough away to shake off the Lava Hounds.