After reconfirming the route to the Magma Cave with Mohai, the Ghost took control of the Fire Raven's body and flew over there right away.
After the Ghost flew away, Mohai led his bandit leaders towards the brightest spot. "Let's go!"
He knew a lot about the major guilds, and as expected, all three guilds were already fighting the Magma Golem.
With the three major guilds here, they might not be able to kill the Magma Golem, but they might be able to pin the Boss down.
Even though the Magma Golem was not in the Magma Cave, he could still wipe out all three guilds with ease and it would not take long either.
Mohai had to reveal himself and seize the opportunity to kill more monsters from the cave for their souls. Otherwise, if he wanted the souls of the monsters the next time, he would have to go to the Magma Cave himself.
The Magma Cave was the Magma Golem's territory, so venturing there with his bandit leaders would be dangerous.
Other than that, he had to reveal himself because he had to provide cover for the Ghost. As long as the Magma Golem knew he was still in the Monolith Stronghold, the fiery Boss would stay for a longer time.
Mohai had gone through the mill to lure all three guilds out and he did not want his efforts to fall short at the last moment. It would be difficult for such a golden opportunity to happen again in the future.
…
The Ghost flew very fast. It was already an Elite monster, and since he possessed the Fire Raven's body, he amplified the Fire Raven's stats and made it fly even faster.
However, he remembered what Mohai said and dared not fly too fast. He simply flew according to the Fire Raven's normal speed.
Even so, he spent around 20 minutes to reach the center of the Magma Zone and arrived at a giant red volcano. He then found the entrance to the Magma Cave at the spot Mohai told him about.
There were two tall Flaming Warriors at the entrance, so the Ghost carefully flew over.
He knew Mohai was right when the two Flaming Warriors let him pass after a quick glance. The monsters in the Magma Cave would never know that the Fire Raven was the Ghost in disguise.
Other than the two Flaming Warriors, the Magma Cave was mostly empty because most of the monsters had followed the Magma Golem out. The Ghost was able to fly freely in the cave, but he still met one or two monsters occasionally and it scared him a little as he was worried that they might see through his cover.
"I'm here!"
A while later, the Ghost made it to the deepest part of the cave, the Magma Hall, where the Magma Golem usually lingered.
Only the Magma Golem, the Fire Demon, and the Fire Raven could access this place, and with all of them out, the hall was empty.
After making sure the hall was really empty, the Ghost flew up and searched for the secret entrance at the fiery red wall.
"The boss said there's a hidden entrance at the wall where the lava flows…Here! Got it!"
There was lava oozing out of the red wall. It trickled to the ground and converged at the lava pool on both sides of the hall.
With Mohai's hint, the Ghost quickly found the secret entrance at the wall on the left side of the lava pool. The secret entrance was a crack on the wall that was the size of half a man. The Ghost shrunk his wings, swooping through the lava and entered a red stone chamber.
The lava in the Magma Cave could inflict huge damage to the players. In the past, it took a long time for players to discover the red stone chamber even after the players could clear the Magma Golem with ease. Without Mohai's hint, the Ghost would never have discovered the secret location.
The stone chamber was hidden really well.
"Huh? There are more chests in here than the boss said," grumbled the Ghost as he looked at the five red treasure chests.
The boss said there were three but there were five instead.
The five red treasure chests were actually burning, and unlike the treasure chest in the wild, no keys were required to open them. However, the players would not be able to open the chests as long as the fire kept burning as they would be damaged upon being touching the chests. Once damaged, the progress bar would be disrupted.
At first, the only way to extinguish the fire was to kill the Magma Golem, so the players went with it. Therefore, the treasure chests were considered extra rewards at that time.
However, after the players reached a higher level and had access to more tricks and tools, some of the players used the Fire Mantle to change their attributes to fire and they were able to steal the treasure chest without killing the Magma Golem.
It caused a lot of problems for the newer guilds ever since players exploited this trick. They went through the mill in the battle with the Magma Golem just to find out that the treasure chests in the secret chamber were all empty.
The Ghost's attribute was fire and so was the Fire Raven's.
When Mohai first recruited the Ghost, the Ghost's level might have been low, but after he saw the [Possession] ability, he came up with this plan right away.
"Fire Crystal…That's not what the boss mentioned."
"20 Gold? Tsk, this Magma Golem is really rich!"
"Mutated Magma Fruit...also not what the boss wanted."
"I've opened three chests and still haven't found what the boss said. Am I looking at the wrong place?"
The Ghost opened three treasure chests, but the contents were not what Mohai told him to search for.
He was starting to get nervous. Then, he remembered the boss telling him not to stay too long in the cave. He discarded the nervous thoughts and flew to the last two treasure chests.
The last two treasure chests had a fiery red paper and a black crystal orb. The Ghost got excited because he was finally able to complete the mission.
"The first page of the Book of Fire! The Darkness Orb! Yes! Hahaha! I've got what the boss wants!"
The last two chests sunk into the ground after the Ghost took the items out, unlike the first three that stayed behind.
"Let's go back!" The Ghost turned around and wanted to leave.
Just as he wanted to leave after he came out from the crack, his eyes somehow landed on the lava pool.
"Huh? A fossil egg? I didn't see this when I came in."
There was a rather big fossil egg floating in the lava pool.
If he remembered correctly, the fossil egg had not been there when he went into the stone chamber.
"Hmm, whatever. I'll just take it back. Maybe it's useful!"
There were already cracks on the fossil egg when he checked it. The Ghost thought for a moment before he grabbed it and loaded it into his bag.
He still met some monsters along the way back, but since he was fine when he came in, he would be fine when he went out.
…
"Roar! Die! All of you!"
Back at the Monolith Stronghold, the Magma Golem's rage reached its boiling point.
The Adventurers had stalled him for more than two hours, but he killed a lot of them. The first wave of Adventurers were actually all wiped out.
He thought that no one would disturb him anymore after the first wave, but to his surprise, the Adventurers kept on coming. The second wave and beyond did not have as many players as the first, but they were relentless and they were irritating as flies.
Mohai did not expect this to happen either. He originally only wanted the three guilds to stall the Magma Golem and buy him enough time to do his things. At the same time, he also wanted to feed the three guilds with some wrong information about the Boss.
The Magma Golem's power was greatly weakened when he came out of the Magma Cave, and if the three guilds assumed that the welcome they received in the Monolith Stronghold would be the same as in the Magma Cave, they would surely suffer.
The three guilds died at the hands of the Magma Golem as expected, but after they were wiped out, more players swarmed over after they heard what happened.
Their appearance lifted the burden off Mohai's shoulder. Otherwise, he would have to use the Monolith Stronghold's terrain to dodge the Magma Golem and his monsters.
"Boss, I'm back!" The Ghost had to search around for Mohai even after he flew back to the Monolith Stronghold.
"Did you get what I told you?" Mohai was thrilled when he saw the Ghost come back in one piece.
Although he knew that the Ghost's cover was perfect, he could not guarantee the Ghost's safety inside the cave. If the Magma Golem left behind some precautions, the Ghost would have to force his way through and he might or might not return safely.
"I got it! I got what you asked me to!" The Ghost obediently handed everything he got from the chests to Mohai.
Mohai was stunned—shocked in fact—when he saw what the Ghost gave him.
'Holy hell, did you empty the Magma Golem's vault or something?'
The spoils were so much better than he expected.