After resting at the fire for a few hours with Vedora, Michael resumed his journey through the Demons grave. Instead of buying the map of the demons grave, Michael wandered aimlessly. Eventually, he came across a meadow once that looked as if it was stripped out from the pages of a storybook. The grass was Eden-green and thigh-high to a thrush. There was a volcanic mountain in the distance that had peaks that looked as cruel as a hag's teeth. The mountain looked off in some mysterious way. Yet again, everything in the demons grave looked eerie, especially when a thin veil of mist was covering them. Compared to the swamps and the dark forest Michael came through, the meadows were a paradise.

Except for the white mist covering the meadows, everything else looked peaceful. It wasn't just the sights that pleased the senses, but also the air had a tinge of sweetness to it. The pitch-black sky above the meadow added an extra charm to the place, and the only light source Michael had was the fuming volcanic mountain in the distance. The lava oozing out of the mountain dimly lit the meadows with its hue of orange. Michael walked through the meadows, gently brushing the grass and flowers with his hands. It was a feast for the eyes. The meadow stretched as far as the eye could see, with no monsters in the near vicinity. Vedora flew out from his shoulder and chased what seemed to be fireflies in a dance of life and death.

Almost fifteen minutes later, Michael noticed a neon-blue ribbon of river running through the meadow. The song of the river was very gentle as it went plinking and tinkling over the gravel bed. Michael halted his steps for a moment and bent down to wash his face with the clear river water. He immediately felt refreshed by the cold water. As he was washing his face, a cold breeze brushed past him. The grass waving with the wind, coupled with the river, sounded like music to Michael's ears. Since Sarba had enhanced senses, he could smell the sweetness of cherry blossoms and the soft caramel scent of flowers in the air. It was so soothing that he wanted to lie down against a mossy rock and drift into a deep sleep. The humidity rendered into dewdrops on the grass. For a few minutes, the sky drizzled. But the cloud soon passed, leaving the grass and earth to steam gently like druid- smoke.

Michael thoroughly washed his face, head, and the back of his neck. He even dipped into the river and came back to wash off the mud from his robes. The swamp really did a number on his outfit. Fortunately, the river was shallow enough for him to cross to the other side. His target was the volcanic mountain in the distance. The volcanic mountain held three items he needed to forge the dark swords. After getting those items, he planned to venture deeper into the demons grave to change their financial status. But he doubted either of these tasks would be easy.

He had the feeling the peace and quiet he was enjoying might come to an end soon. As he expected, he sensed a Half Immortal being nearby. The being was on his way to the mountain.

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"Did you sense it?" Sarba asked Michael as Vedora flew back to Michael.

"Hmm," Michael nodded. Instead of heading straight toward the being, Michael flicked his wrist as several drones materialized above him. All the drones flew in the monster's direction as Michael concentrated on their feeds. To Michael's surprise, he did not see any monster through the drone feeds. The meadows looked peaceful and quiet.

"I am not seeing any monster," Michael said to Vedora.

"It can't be. I sensed a powerful being. Something is there, Ghost," said Sarba. He was absolutely certain that he sensed a monster near them. If he had to bet, he would say it was waiting for them twenty meters ahead of them. The howling wind breezed past Michael. He was not in a rush but strolled toward the monster. If he could fly, he might have flown around the monster instead of fighting. However, he decided to fight the monster because he wanted to challenge himself. Plus, slaying a Half Immortal monster would give him millions of experience points. After Gaya killed the dwarves, Valmans, and his bodyguards, Michael needed only four hundred thousand experience points to reach the next level.

The closer he got to the monster, the shakier the ground felt. Michael halted his steps and looked at the meadows before him. At first look, the meadows looked no different than the rest. But when Michael looked closer, he noticed an unevenness on the ground, as though something was hiding beneath the meadows. Michael raised his hand as a pebble flew straight into his hand. He then threw the pebble at the ground, where he suspected the monster resting.

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Thud!

The pebble hit the ground with a thud, yet nothing happened. Michael threw another pebble, hoping to rile up the monster. He had a feeling the monster was waiting to ambush him. Poor bastard didn't have any idea that Michael had already sensed it. When Michael threw the third pebble, he heard a muffled roar. Brown dust storm emerged from the ground as Michael heard something heavily exhaling. Soon, the ground beneath him trembled. Michael took a step back.

The monster hiding beneath slowly emerged from the ground, revealing his full body. It was a long reptilian monster that looked like a hybrid of a salamander and a centipede. The monster crawled out of the hole with its hundreds of tiny golden legs, sticking his long tongue out. Silver scales covered his body from top to bottom. The gigantic monster was at least fifty feet in length. It hissed at Michael, staring at him with its tiny blue eyes. Suddenly, the monster dived down, digging into the ground.

Michael immediately activated his X-ray eyes to locate the creature in the ground. The monster dug its way out of the place where Michael was a second ago before jumping away. The area suddenly grew darker as Michael cast the death range. Moreover, the cloud of darkness shrouded Michael's body, completing his Dark Lord form.

The dark beams shot out of his eyes. To his surprise, the dark beams bounced off the shiny scales covering the monster. The dark beams didn't even put a dent in the monster's body. Someone else would have been shocked and felt discouraged, but Michael felt excited. As a Blacksmith, he could do wonders with scales as strong as these. Since gravity restricted him from flying, Michael couldn't use aerial attacks. Hence, he cast the lightning dash to move around the monster.

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The monster's scales let out a dim jade light as it fired a blob of boiling hot poison toward Micheal. He was lucky enough to dash away, but when the poison hit the ground, everything around it for a one-meter radius turned into nothing but ash. The ground sizzled like hot oil. Meanwhile, the monster kept firing blobs of poison repeatedly. Despite its gigantic size, the monster was extremely agile and quick.

If the poison was not enough to burn the meadows, Michael cast the ring of fire and fired waves of dark flames at the monster. The dark flames burnt everything to ashes on their way. Although the dark beams bounced off the monster's scales, the dark flames managed to burn the monster. It roared in pain. But it didn't suffer much damage as Michael wanted it to.

"Ignitia," Michael cast the spell as black lightning bolts shot out of his fingertips. The air was electrified with his lightning bolts. Vedora heard the crackling lightning bolts and the creature's roar and flew away from Michael and the monster. When a Half Immortal and an Immortal were fighting, it was not a good idea to be in their way. Sabra saw the energy around them going haywire. As a result, dark clouds appeared out of nowhere above them, threatening them with a heavy downpour. Thunder claps echoed through the demons grave.

The monster kept disappearing into the ground and jumping out to catch Michael off guard. Michael fought the monster with lightning bolts and dark flames. Suddenly, the monster sprayed poisonous liquid from its mouth. The poison immediately enveloped them, hindering Michael's sight. Fortunately, the Dark Lord armor had a mask he bought from the system and fitted with a filtering system he built inside. The mask filtered the poison ion in the air and gave him fresh air. Michael thought he had overcome the poisonous air with his mask. But he didn't expect the monster to light the poisonous cloud with sparks. When the monster opened its mouth, sparks flew out. The poisonous air exploded in the blink of an eye. The explosion sent Michael flying. Although the responsive shield and the cloud of darkness saved him, he wasn't completely unharmed by the explosion. His whole body was cut and bruised, as well as had a couple of broken ribs. The explosion would have reduced a Fusion stage cultivator if they were caught in one.

It was powerful enough to hurt a god. Michael slowly picked himself up as the APD pumped a healing potion into his body. His poor armor was half burned and had countless holes and cuts. Michael wiped off the blood dribbling down his mouth. The monster hissed, crawling toward Michael without waiting for him to retaliate.

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"Why isn't he moving?" Ayag asked, looking at Michael standing still. The monster moved closer and closer to Michael. It opened its mouth wide to bite and swallow his body as a whole. The ground near Michael trembled as the monster moved closer to him. Still, he didn't even budge from where he was standing. The monster was just an arm-reaching distance from him. It raised its body, opening its mouth wide. Ayag almost closed her eyes when she saw the monster reach Michael. But to her shock, she heard a loud bang before the monster went flying away.

The monster crashed down on the ground. Vedora was stunned. They all turned their gazes back to Michael to see the Doombringer emanating coldness in his hand. Only Cain saw the doom bringer appear in Michael's hand, and him swinging it with enough force to send the giant monster flying. Several scales on the monster's body tumbled down, leaving the monster's soft skin exposed.