On top of Kukuru Mountain, thick black smoke drifted out from the crater, and the dense smell of sulfur spread through the air. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Su Xiao and his companions stood in front of the crater, which had a diameter of about thirty meters. Inside, it was grey and black, making it impossible to see the situation below. The scattered volcanic ash carried terrifyingly high temperatures.

"From here, we go down?"

Su Xiao frowned. If his guess was right, there should be a vast amount of lava below. Even if there wasn’t, the temperature of the volcanic ash was too high, and it was pervasive.

"Yes, from here. Don’t be surprised by anything you see after going down. Kukuru Mountain... doesn’t really belong to this continent."

By this time, Maha had already changed into a grey robe and was carrying a huge backpack.

"Looks like you have a good relationship with the V5 Organization."

Su Xiao learned an hour ago from Maha that one of the main reasons the Zoldyck Family resided in Kukuru Mountain was to observe and monitor this special volcano. This was part of an agreement Maha made with the V5 Organization, so the Zoldyck Family was able to legitimately become an assassin family.

"Zeno, get started."

At Maha’s signal, Zeno’s Nen surged out as he bent forward and placed his hands in a phantom grip at his waist.

"Dragon Head Play Painting."

A golden Nen sphere appeared between Zeno’s hands. His veins bulged on his forehead as he pushed his hands toward the sky.

"Ha!"

A golden dragon, entirely formed of Nen energy, shot into the sky. This golden dragon was at least a hundred meters long and four to five meters thick. Zeno had nearly exhausted his Nen energy, aiming to maximize the ’Dragon Head Play Painting.’

The golden dragon circled once in the air and, under Zeno’s control, charged straight into the volcano’s crater.

Boom!

Volcanic ash splattered as a 50-point strength energy shield appeared in front of Su Xiao. Next to him, Killua, showing remarkable agility, quickly stepped behind Su Xiao.

"Thank you, much appreciated."

A smart yet polite little kid.

Su Xiao ignored Killua, keeping his gaze fixed on the volcano’s crater.

Bam!

The golden dragon seemed to collide with some liquid, and the blast wave cleared the volcanic ash within the crater, revealing the mountain’s interior.

The inside of Kukuru Mountain was almost hollow, resembling a vertical shaft. The rock walls were black due to years of exposure to high temperatures, showing signs of vitrification.

At the bottom of the mountain was a massive lava lake. Under the dragon’s impact, the dark red lava splashed up high.

"The ash has cleared, now’s the time!"

Maha, holding Yaluga beside him, jumped directly into the crater.

Su Xiao deactivated the energy shield, and Killua immediately raised his arms cooperatively. Seeing this cooperation, Su Xiao grabbed Killua by the back of the neck, causing the young Killua’s mouth to twitch.

Whoosh~

Su Xiao leaped into the crater, followed closely by Bubu and A Mu. Bubu had experienced many Derivative Worlds, so there was no concern, and A Mu was thick-skinned. Even if it fell into the lava, it wouldn’t burn to death immediately, and besides, A Mu wasn’t dumb enough to jump into the lava.

Just as Su Xiao jumped into the crater, a wave of heat hit him. Directly below was a lava lake with a diameter of 300 meters, surrounded by a half-meter-wide stone platform.

This stone platform was made of honeycomb material, very brittle, likely unable to support too much weight.

The Boundary Line in Su Xiao’s left hand extended, its hook lock anchored into the rock wall, and as he pulled it, his falling speed accelerated sharply.

Gripped by Su Xiao at the back of the neck, Killua felt nervous, realizing how fragile the landing spot was. Right now, he really wanted to say, "How about I jump myself? I’m very light."

The two of them dived down rapidly, and just as they were about to reach the honeycomb stone platform, the Slaughter Dagger appeared in Su Xiao’s hand.

Clang.

The Slaughter Dagger stabbed into the stone wall, cutting through the rock and reducing Su Xiao’s falling speed until he landed steadily on the half-meter-wide stone platform, three meters above the vast lava lake.

Crack.

Cracks appeared on the honeycomb stone platform, which could shatter at any moment.

Zizizi~

A scratching sound came, and when Su Xiao looked up, he nearly laughed at the scene.

Bubu Wang was plastered horizontally against the inside of the crater wall, its front claws digging into the rock as it slowly slid down.

A Mu was below Bubu Wang, holding onto Bubu Wang’s hind legs. Due to A Mu’s weight, Bubu Wang left eight claw marks on the rock wall, descending at a steady pace.

What was even more amusing was that Bubu Wang’s once white and clean chest and chin fur were now pitch black, much to Bubu Wang’s displeasure. It kept swatting its tail at A Mu behind it.

Amidst blackened stone debris, Bubu Wang and A Mu reached the vicinity of the stone platform.

Due to A Mu’s weight, it would undoubtedly collapse the entire stone platform, and realizing this, Bubu Wang quickly adjusted A Mu.

The alchemy array diagram in A Mu’s eyes flickered, and it leaned its bull head back, then rammed into the rock wall, sinking its horns deep into it.

Bang!

A Mu was anchored to the rock wall, and Bubu Wang sat right on top of A Mu’s head.

So much joy with these two, the glutton and the goofball combined for more laughs.

The group safely entered the crater, but that didn’t mean they were safe yet.

Crack, crack, crack...

Cracks spider-webbed across the honeycomb stone platform. Even if Su Xiao or Maha fell into the lava lake, they would be severely injured, and burning to death was a real risk.

"The ash is coming out fast."

Standing on the stone platform several meters away, Maha shouted, his eyes fixed on the lava lake below.

"Keep jumping?"

Su Xiao glanced at Maha, then at the lava lake below.

"Yes, keep jumping."

"..."

Su Xiao’s gaze fell on Killua, and the idea of tossing this little kid down for a ’test swim’ was tempting.

"Hey, hey-hey..."

Cold sweat formed on Killua’s forehead. He seemed to catch on to Su Xiao’s thought.

Gurgle, gurgle...

A large number of bubbles appeared in the lava lake, and soon, a cloud of grey-black ’volcanic ash’ emerged from the lava, but this was not ordinary volcanic ash.

"Once enough ash gathers, it will absorb the surface heat from the lava lake. Before the ash completely spreads here, we jump into the lava lake. By then, the surface temperature will only be around 200°."

Maha took a metal tube from his large backpack and tossed it into the lava lake. The metal tube quickly turned red-hot, slowly sinking into the lava as Maha tested the temperature.

"Don’t go more than 10 meters deep into the lava lake; the temperature there is beyond what you or I can withstand. Once inside the lava lake, there’s a passage on the left side of the rock wall. Break through the crystal layer in front of the passage, then just run. Once the crystal layer is broken, the high-temperature ash there will become very unstable."

Maha had attempted to delve into Kukuru Mountain many times, each time resulting in failure.

The grey-black ash gradually spread out, and Maha was right. This ash indeed absorbed the lava’s heat. Being enveloped in this ash would be worse than soaking in lava.