Lily sent all of her ground golems into the tunnel.
However, only one of them was at the very bottom at any given moment.
After all, they couldn't possibly fight a Metal Elemental.
If a Metal Elemental appeared, it would destroy everything it found.
In this case, that would be the sole golem Lily had sent to the bottom.
The remainder of the golems mined ore out of the walls of the tunnel.
Sure enough, after just one hour of mining, Lily lost contact with the golem at the very bottom.
Due to the distance, she didn't get any detailed information.
She only knew that her golem was destroyed.
It could only have been a Metal Elemental.
After that happened, everyone waited for an hour.
Then, Lily sent the next golem down.
It didn't immediately die and continued where the first one left off.
While the golem continued mining, Lily used the freshly mined ore to create more golems.
Even better, the abundance of high-quality ore also allowed her to make better golems.
Like this, everything continued for a long while.
Every couple of hours, a Metal Elemental appeared that would destroy the bottom golem.
By now, it had become clear what had happened to the previous owners of the tunnel.
They had most likely been a powerful team sent by the Skysand Kingdom.
Most likely, this had been an operation with several people in the Initial Third Realm.
They managed to deal with the Earth Elementals without issues, but as soon as they reached the depth of the Metal Elementals, they ran into troubles.
They had probably been picked off one by one.
Did they also have an Artificer?
Probably.
But then, why did they stop?
The team didn't know.
Something must have happened.
Lily continued digging.
Sadly, progress was slow since more and more Metal Elementals appeared.
After an entire week, the team only managed to dig half of the remaining distance to the Ether Essence.
And then, the team found out why the last team had stopped digging.
Lily's eyes widened as she noticed that one golem after the other was being killed.
It started with the bottom one, and the trail of destruction was rapidly traveling up the tunnel.
"Run!" Lily shouted from the tunnel's entrance.
Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and jumped onto Lily's flying golems.
The ground beneath them shook.
Seconds later, a shimmering figure charged out of the tunnel.
It was around three meters tall and looked like one of Lily's golems.
In fact, it didn't just look like them. It looked EXACTLY like them. As the team saw the figure, a cold feeling of terror washed over them.
Death!
This thing represented certain death!
Luckily, everyone was already flying upwards on Lily's flying golems.
As soon as the figure appeared, it looked around.
And a moment later, its eyes locked onto Lily.
That was when Lily realized something horrifying.
She could sense the Metal Elemental!
It was like it was one of her golems!
Yet, she couldn't even attempt to order it.
And since Lily could sense the Metal Elemental…
The Metal Elemental could also sense her.
BANG!
The Metal Elemental charged up one of the mountains with ridiculous speed!
Kyle wasn't sure if he had ever seen anything move this fast.
Just based on estimation, this thing was clearing over an entire kilometer per second!
Lily ordered her golems to fly as quickly as possible, but there was no way they were faster than the Metal Elemental.
Luckily, they had already had a head start of almost two kilometers.
"Lily!" Kyle shouted. "You have to be the lowest! Trust me!"
For a moment, Lily couldn't believe what she had heard.
This thing was chasing her!
If she were the lowest, it would kill her immediately!
Was Kyle trying to sacrifice her?!
"Trust me!" Kyle shouted with urgency as the Metal Elemental reached the peak of one of the closest mountains.
Lily gritted her teeth.
Her own golem slowed down, while the others continued rising.
She had decided to trust Kyle, even though it sounded like suicide.
The Metal Elemental jumped.
BOOOM!
The peak below it exploded under its sheer power, crumbling into pieces.
It shot towards Lily like a bullet.
Lily just looked at the rapidly approaching Metal Elemental with horror.
Her life was flashing before her eyes.
BANG!
Suddenly, an explosion appeared between her and her flying golem.
Lily's body was shot upwards due to the powerful knockback of the fiery explosion.
The Metal Elemental tried to grab Lily, but the explosion launched her out of its reach.
The Metal Elemental destroyed the flying golem and started falling.
"Falk!" Kyle shouted.
Falk gritted his teeth.
Then, he jumped down from his own flying golem.
He flew right towards Lily.
He carefully took hold of her fragile body and infused her with Wind Ether.
Then, he threw her towards Kyle's flying golem.
While Lily was flying through the air, she commanded Kyle's flying golem to approach her.
Kyle grabbed Lily out of the air, and they continued ascending.
Meanwhile, Falk was falling towards the ground. He had saved Lily's life…
But at what cost?
The Metal Elemental landed on another mountain.
Then, it looked at the falling Falk.
Falk couldn't possibly evade.
Yet, a moment later, it changed its focus to Lily again and jumped.
Another peak was destroyed under its power.
By now, the other soldiers had noticed the commotion, and they watched in terror.
A Metal Elemental!
If this thing rampaged in this place, everyone would die!
The Metal Elemental flew right towards Kyle and Lily.
While this was going on, Selene jumped towards Michael's golem, grabbed Michael, and jumped away.
Kyle jumped from his flying golem.
CRACK!
The Metal Elemental destroyed the flying golem but missed Kyle.
Once more, it started to fall.
Lily commanded Selene's former flying golem to catch Kyle and her.
Meanwhile, Selene, Michael, and Falk were still falling.
Yet, the Metal Elemental wasn't even looking at them.
It was fully focused on Lily.
It took almost three seconds for the Metal Elemental to land, and as soon as it did, it charged towards Kyle and Lily again.
Once more, it jumped, and Kyle carried Lily to Falk's former golem.
BANG!
But then, Kyle's eyes widened.
The Metal Elemental hadn't destroyed Lily's golem.
Instead, a humongous maw opened on its body, and it consumed Lily's golem.
It started falling again.
Yet, as it fell, its body became liquid and changed shape.
After three seconds, its new form solidified…
And it looked just like one of Lily's flying golems!
By now, Kyle, Lily, and the Metal Elemental were high in the air.
They could be seen by everyone, even the people of the Winterfire Kingdom.
Everyone was watching.
Then, the Metal Elemental flapped its wings.
BOOOOM!
It shot forward like a bullet.
It reached them in almost no time.
Kyle threw Lily away from him, leaving him between the Metal Elemental and her.
Ether gathered around him and his hammer.
The Metal Elemental approached.
Kyle stomped onto the golem below him, breaking it into pieces.
He started to fall.
The Metal Elemental's trajectory was always pointing towards Lily.
The Metal Elemental passed over Kyle.
And Kyle swung his hammer.
BOOOOOM!
A huge explosion occurred midair.
Kyle felt like he was hitting a mountain made of metal, and his entire body shook.
Not even a scratch appeared on the Metal Elemental.
But that hadn't been Kyle's goal.
Due to the exchange of forces, Kyle shot towards the ground…
And the Metal Elemental was thrown further into the air. The Metal Elemental's trajectory had been changed, and it missed Lily.
Due to its speed, it flew for over five kilometers before coming to a stop in the middle of the air.
It looked back at the falling Lily.
Kyle was too far away to help her.
The last flying golem was too far away, and it wouldn't be able to help Lily anyway.
With the next charge, the Metal Elemental would kill Lily.
The Metal Elemental flapped its wings.
Finally…
The World Peak shook.
And then, a huge claw appeared on the World Peak.
Everyone noticed what was going on and looked over in horror.
The next moment, the humongous head of a dragon appeared from behind one of the walls of the World Peak.
The World Wyrm!
They had drawn its attention!
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