Joseph took out a map from his chest and looked at it, just to be safe.
"This is where I am, so the end of the tunnel is here!"
Carefully looking at the terrain around him on the map, Joseph immediately frowned.
"Lava flow!"
Looking at the fiery red river on the map, he finally understood why the temperature around him was rising rapidly.
He had not expected that there would be an active magma in this place. No wonder the magical beasts around him became fewer as he moved forward.
"Meow!"
Just as Joseph was thinking whether he should continue moving forward, Pistachio jumped down from above his head and ran into the depths of the tunnel.
"Pistachio, it's dangerous there..."
However, before he could finish speaking, Pistachio's pure white figure had already disappeared at the end of the tunnel.
"I really owe you, but if I run into any danger this time, I'll definitely teach you a good lesson when I go back!"
There was nothing he could do. Joseph had already treated Pistachio as his family. He could not leave Pistachio alone.
Thus, he could only go through the tunnel in the direction where Pistachio had disappeared.
"Cough, cough!"
The hot air made it difficult for Joseph to breathe. Just as waves of heat blew past his body, Joseph, who was wearing plate armor, was already drenched in sweat.
"Pistachio, you annoying little guy, come out now!"
Joseph called out to Pistachio as he moved forward, wanting to bring the little guy out of this dangerous area.
However, he did not receive any response to his call. He had no choice but to brace himself and continue moving forward.
"This..."
When he turned a corner, Joseph suddenly felt a strong light in his eyes, causing tears to flow out of the corners of his eyes.
When the discomfort in his eyes slowly disappeared, Joseph opened his eyes again with a shocked expression.
"How is this lava flow? This is an active volcano that can erupt at any time!"
In the center of the lava flow, a volcano that was nearly a hundred meters tall stood quietly. The surroundings were completely filled with red and yellow colors.
There was red lava and yellow soil. There were no signs of any living creatures.
Just as Joseph stood rooted to the spot, he suddenly heard Pistachio's cry.
"Pistachio, where are you?"
Joseph called out as he looked for the source of the voice.
Finally, he found Pistachio, who was digging with his claws at a corner of a wall.
"Let's go, Pistachio. It's too dangerous here!"
Joseph was worried that the volcano would erupt at some point, so he quickly took Pistachio away from this dangerous area.
However, the moment he stretched out his hand, he saw Pistachio's red eyes. His hand was suspended in midair, and he could not drop them for a moment.
"Get out of the way. I don't know how long it'll take for you to dig!"
Even though he did not know what Pistachio wanted to do, Joseph knew that Pistachio had its reasons.
He simply did not ask any more questions. Instead, he picked up a shovel and replaced Pistachio's position. He dug down one shovel after another.
Digging at this place was much more difficult than usual. The extremely high temperature was already too much for Joseph to bear.
However, there was nothing he could do. This was because Pistachio was looking at him with eager eyes.
One shovel, two shovels. They dug a three-meter-deep pit, but they did not find anything.
"It's buried deep!"
Joseph mumbled as he continued digging. He had no intention of giving up, because he knew that Pistachio would not lie to him.
When he finally dug five meters deep, even the ground beneath his feet began to heat up. Only then did he come into contact with a hard object.
"Meow!"
Just as the sound rang out, Pistachio became agitated again. Its thin, small cat claws continued digging into the ground.
Soon, a large eggshell appeared in front of Joseph.
"Why is this eggshell so familiar?"
Joseph looked at Pistachio, who was lying on the eggshell and crying nonstop. He felt that it was very familiar.
After thinking about it carefully, he realized that the eggshell looked exactly the same as Pistachio's. Other than the difference in size, even the fine lines on the eggshell were the same.
"Crack!"
Pistachio carefully opened the eggshell. At that moment, the temperature in the surroundings suddenly soared. It was like a large steamer.
It was as if Joseph was about to be roasted into a tin can.
"Pistachio, if you don't leave, I'll really leave. If you stay any longer, you can collect my corpse!"
Feeling that his body was about to reach its limit, Joseph quickly spoke to pistachio.
"Meow!"
When Pistachio saw that Joseph was feeling uncomfortable, he jumped into the eggshell and took out something from it, signaling that Joseph could leave.
With Pistachio in his arms, Joseph followed the steps he had dug up earlier and quickly climbed up.
When they had just reached the ground, Joseph noticed that the entire lava flow had become violent. Streams of hot lava continuously hit the mud walls around them. Even the volcano in the distance was slowly emitting black smoke.
"Let's go. If we don't leave now, we'll really become barbecued meat!"
With Pistachio in his arms, Joseph ran toward the tunnel in the distance. Even the sudden heat around him could not affect his speed.
"Rumble!"
The volcano violently spewed out streams of lava which looked like brilliant fireworks. It looked dangerous and beautiful.
However, Joseph did not have the mood to turn his head back. The lava had already covered the walls and was spreading toward the ground.
"Water Ball Skill!"
Joseph used the Water Ball Skill to wet his plate armor as he ran to prevent it from melting due to the high temperature.
However, the speed of the lava spreading far exceeded Joseph's imagination.
When he had just stepped into the tunnel, the lava behind him had already spread until it was less than ten meters away from him.
"You've really brought trouble to me this time!"
Joseph complained to the little guy in his arms as he increased his speed.
"Gulp!"
Pistachio let out a clear gulp, and his white fur turned bright red as if it was blood.
"What time is it? You still have the mood to eat?"
"If you manage to escape alive this time, Emperor Joseph will definitely teach you a lesson. Seriously!"
Joseph threatened with a smile. Even if there was lava chasing after him, what could he do?
There was hope as long as he was alive!