CHAPTER 391: CHAPTER 382: GUARDIAN OF THE FLAME IRON ORE (PLEASE SUBSCRIBE)

"It’s not that I, Han Qiwu, don’t want to look for bait materials. Honestly, there are just too many Ruby mining spots here, and there isn’t even a Guardian nearby. I can’t fight anyway!" Han Qiwu muttered while bending over, diligently digging for rubies.

Five minutes later. All the Ruby mining spots within his view had been wiped out.

"Huff, huff."

Han Qiwu wiped the sweat off his face and glanced down at his sweat-soaked tank top. "I’ll see if Aunt Guo can make a quick-drying shirt later. Wearing this wet thing all the time is unbearably uncomfortable."

Seeing that there wasn’t much left to do at the moment, Han Qiwu opened the map and decided to check out the Flame Iron Ore mining spot. Since the map notes mentioned Frost Slimes and Flame Iron Guardians were mortal enemies, that obviously meant there’d be monsters there.

After examining it for a bit, he found that the nearest Flame Iron Ore mining spot was just inside the third alley next to him.

Han Qiwu took out his Ice Slingshot and gripped it in his hand, carefully making his way toward the third alley.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Boom boom boom!"

As he got closer, Han Qiwu heard a continuous series of metallic clanging noises, sounding as if someone was hammering away in there.

"What’s going on? Is someone stealing my ore?" Han Qiwu quickly moved closer, brazenly standing at the alley entrance to take a look.

He initially considered sneaking along the rock wall, like he did in the Frost Mines before, moving slowly to keep quiet and maintain a good view.

But he couldn’t do that here!

The temperature of the rock walls in the lava mines was so high that if he stuck close to them, Han Qiwu felt he might actually get roasted.

"Forget it! I, Han Qiwu, have lived my life in a straightforward and honorable manner!"

"Head-on it is!"

Standing firm in his position, he was shocked to see hundreds of Flame Iron Ore mining spots surrounded by a group of stout, small creatures with metal helmets banging into each other. Below each helmet were two short, stubby legs for movement.

Every time they collided, a loud noise echoed out, and with so many of them gathered, the clanging sounds overlapped into a cacophony.

"Ah, so no one’s stealing my ore." Han Qiwu exhaled in relief. Just as he was pondering how to lure two of these tiny metal creatures over for an attack, he suddenly noticed one of them seemed to be heavily injured — its helmet had a visible hole in it.

"This one’s a good pick. Let’s bring it over and bully it a bit." Han Qiwu grabbed a pebble and loaded his Ice Slingshot.

Just as he aimed, the heavily injured metal creature casually grabbed a chunk of Flame Iron Ore from nearby and stuffed it into its helmet.

In just a few seconds, the creature’s injuries disappeared entirely.

"That’s *my* ore!" Han Qiwu stretched the slingshot and launched the pebble, striking the metal creature precisely.

"Clang!"

The sharp, resonant sound on the metal creature’s body echoed like hitting a bell.

[Metal Bighead]

[Level: 82]

[Attack Modes: Collision, Self-Healing by Devouring Iron, Armor Breakdown, Combined Attack]

[Traits: Immune to Knockback]

[Notes: Metal Bigheads are the most loyal Guardians of Flame Iron Ore]

"So this thing’s called Metal Bighead? Immune to knockback, huh?" Han Qiwu immediately heightened his awareness.

Being immune to knockback meant he couldn’t just bully it recklessly.

As for its attack skills like Armor Breakdown and Combined Attack, Han Qiwu wasn’t particularly curious.

"I mean, it’s not like it’s an Armored Warrior—what’s the point of having those skills?"

"Buzz buzz."

Having been targeted, the Metal Bighead turned and charged straight toward Han Qiwu. In its mind, this tall intruder had dared provoke it, so now it’d see how to smash his brain to pieces!

"Good! I’ll make sure you spit out every single thing you ate!" Han Qiwu retreated a dozen paces, luring it to a spot without any Flame Iron Ore nearby.

First, he couldn’t let it heal itself, and second, he couldn’t let it call on its companions.

When it was finally in place, Han Qiwu decided to test whether Explosion Snowball would be affected by the environment here, so he shot one directly.

"Whoosh!"

The Explosion Snowball sped toward its target but slowed down slightly due to the fiery winds. Upon contact with the Metal Bighead, its blast wasn’t particularly powerful, only denting three or four spots on the metal helmet.

"Explosion Snowball isn’t strong enough here — I’ll need a replacement." Han Qiwu anticipated as much and raised his right hand, activating Fire Ring to gather a glowing, smoky-red fireball.

To be cautious, he refrained from fully charging the fireball to its maximum capacity. After two seconds of charging, he hurled it out.

"Whoosh!"

The fireball expanded with the warm winds, growing to 1.5 times its original size before landing directly on the Metal Bighead.

"Boom!"

The fireball hit the center of the Metal Bighead’s helmet, instantly transforming into a wave of heat that engulfed its entire body, dealing a series of damage.

"Fire abilities deal high damage here thanks to the environmental boost from Flame Leggings." Han Qiwu nodded in affirmation, swapping to an Ice Staff in hand. Instead of retreating, he advanced toward the Metal Bighead, now bathing in flames, and swung down hard.

"Bang!"

"Buzz buzz buzz!"

The forceful strike on the metal helmet sent a shockwave up through the Ice Staff and into Han Qiwu’s shoulder.

"Ouch."

The hit didn’t deal much damage to the Metal Bighead but left Han Qiwu shaking from the recoil.

At least it wasn’t in vain — the Metal Bighead now had two new words hovering over its head.

[Stunned]

Han Qiwu quickly shook his hand to alleviate the shock and switched from striking to poking, specifically targeting the Metal Bighead’s legs.

"Can’t dent its helmet? Fine, I’ll stab its legs."

Recovering from the stunned state, the Metal Bighead looked bewildered. It hadn’t managed to ram anything yet, and now its legs were almost gone.

It was about to turn into a metal invalid.

Outraged, the Metal Bighead lowered its head, charging toward Han Qiwu with impressive momentum.

"A slow charge is meaningless." Han Qiwu shook his head and sidestepped easily, dodging its impact to continue applying a bleeding status effect to its legs using his Ice Staff.

"Buzz buzz, bang bang, pop pop, boom!"

Feeling cornered, the Metal Bighead slammed itself into a nearby rock wall, creating a rhythmic series of sounds.

At this commotion, two nearby Metal Bigheads shuffled their stubby legs over.

"What? Calling for backup now?" Han Qiwu sped up his attack.

Five seconds later, the original Metal Bighead begrudgingly dissolved into white light and disappeared.

Even in death, it couldn’t understand why this tall guy refused to play head-butting games.

"You’ve got to use your brain to play games. Powerful monsters like this can’t be tackled head-on." Han Qiwu remarked. He bent down and grabbed the Metal Bighead’s loot, glanced at the other two Metal Bigheads, and quickly activated Ice Phoenix Wings to flee the scene.

"Can’t mess with them, nope."

Behind him, the two charging Metal Bigheads advanced like tanks, steamrolling everything in their path.

"Absolutely ferocious."

Using the boosts from Flame Leggings and Ice Phoenix Wings, Han Qiwu swiftly left them behind. Catching his breath, he pulled out the loot and inspected it thoroughly.

[Flame Iron Essence]

[Use: Forging Material/Crafting Material]

[Price: 400 Gold]

[Notes: This is the essence condensed by Metal Bigheads, essential for crafting certain items]