At this moment, whether it was Fang Senyan who was spying or Haimujia, a single thought surfaced in everyone's mind: "That guy must have been swept away by the torrent, right?"

But in that very instant, the patch of ground suddenly exploded!

A mad detonation, like a volcanic eruption!!

Though confined to a rock surface spanning only a few dozen square meters, it truly erupted with fire and molten rock, soaring upwards as if trying to pierce the sky!

Then, a figure, dark grey and black, shot out from within the inferno.

This figure appeared to be only a tenth the size of Haimujia, possessing enormous ram's horns, a sharp snout, and triangular eyes. Its entire body seemed encased in a shell of black, hardened rock. This shell was covered in a dense network of deep fissures, from which crimson, profound flames occasionally spurted.

This was the true form of the fugitive—Balorog the Ashenblaze, an Efreet!

After being submerged by the water flow, he had directly dissolved the rock beneath his feet and burrowed down. Even more remarkably, the creature had managed to perfectly camouflage the path of its descent! Its concealment up to this point clearly indicated it had no intention of merely popping out to wave goodbye to Haimujia with a SAY GOOOOBYE!

While the entire affair made Haimujia, the female octopus, appear to be the perpetual, passive victim, if we consider the perspective of our fugitive, Balorog the Ashenblaze, we find that he too was utterly helpless, powerless, and perhaps even innocent in this scenario.

In truth, for an Efreet burdened by the stigma of 'cowardice' after shamefully fleeing before the Great War of the Efreet clans, he only desired to remain quietly in the deep underground, savoring the darkness, the silence, the heat, and the magma. Hunting small insects that blundered into the abyssal rifts was merely a spice for his monotonous life.

But Haimujia's eggs required sufficient heat to incubate..."Here we are in the Misty Mountains, where the average altitude reaches three thousand four hundred and seventeen meters"... not the southern seas filled with sunshine, coconut trees, and beaches (stop, getting off track!).

Therefore, it was only natural that Haimujia needed to find a source of geothermal heat to incubate the next generation. Unfortunately, the location it found was precisely the Efreet's lair. The geothermal heat it tirelessly sought was, in fact, the Efreet’s own body temperature..."Ask yourself how you would feel if you were comfortably nestled at a perfect temperature in your own home, and suddenly someone started blasting cold air and throwing ice water on you. Even if this Efreet had the best temper, it surely couldn't tolerate such an affront to its face!

What was even more infuriating was Haimujia's erratic spawning cycle—it could be once every few years, or perhaps every few weeks... Thus, while Haimujia loathed the Efreet, how could the Efreet not despise this fool who inexplicably disturbed his peaceful existence? He was, after all, an ancient monster. After deep consideration, this time he was willing to completely extinguish the flames on his own surface, intending to resolve this nuisance once and for all!

A flash of fire seared past, and Fang Senyan felt a searing pain, as if his eyes had been forcefully stabbed! After erupting from below like a descending demon god, the Efreet soared upward, coiled its tail toward its front, and, with indescribable speed, projected its caudal vertebrae—the target precisely between the eyes of Haimujia, the octopus's vital spot.

But Haimujia, a creature of legend, was an equal to him. While grievously wounded, its two main tentacles lashed out simultaneously, throwing up spray and ice shards, whipping the Efreet back over twenty meters. It scraped a long scorched trail across the ground, its black carapace distinctly fractured, revealing a massive, gash-like wound. The blood-red flames it sprayed roared upward, soaring dozens of feet high!!

A mutual crippling blow!!

Amidst the excruciating, piercing howls of both combatants, the word 'stalemate' flashed in Fang Senyan's mind. Yet, instead of rushing forward with the hero’s courage, he quietly crawled backward a few meters, then shamefully scurried toward the upper passage, backing away stealthily.

"Are you kidding me?" Ordinary octopuses have three hearts, and each tentacle is equipped with a ganglion so developed it's practically a secondary brain. The Efreet is rumored to be a living lava monster whose soul can move. To try and profit from these two legendary beings would be inviting a swift death.

"How is it?" Fang Senyan reached the middle section of the cavern passage and whispered to Wuge and Reef, who were observing from above.

Reef shrugged, "It reminded me of the Great Flood in the Bible; those poor fellows look like garbage soaked in the Thames River for four or five days."

He then yielded the best observation point. Fang Senyan leaned over and saw that the narrow valley below was indeed flooded. The ochre-colored mountain torrent previously whipped up by Haimujia still carried residual power, the roaring, surging rapids pounding the surrounding rocks like a resentful, yellow dragon.

Corpses of Orcs and Uruk-hai, their guts spilling out, could be seen bobbing and drifting in the floodwaters, rapidly being flushed downstream. However, in contrast, those tentacled monsters, which appeared clumsy on dry land, were incredibly agile in the water, swimming swiftly upstream in astonishing, acrobatic maneuvers.

"What now?" Reef shot Fang Senyan a questioning look. Fang Senyan shook his head. "We can only wait and see."

Wuge suddenly interjected, "If the mountain flood subsides a bit, we can try to fish in troubled waters and escape the way we came. I can cast a spell for underwater breathing now."

Fang Senyan's eyes lit up, but he immediately shook his head slightly. "With an operation this large-scale, it's impossible Saruman's double isn't present overseeing things. The fact that almost all those who searched the valley were Orcs is proof enough—they were just cannon fodder scouts. This flood was created by Haimujia; it came quickly and will leave quickly. If we backtrack now, we will inevitably run straight into Saruman's main force of Orc warriors led by his double..."

"However, the spell for underwater breathing..."

Fang Senyan murmured this phrase, a thoughtful look dawning in his eyes. He continued, "Opportunities always favor the prepared. Let's keep waiting here. I hope the blessing infused by the Wood Elves into nature is working effectively."

"Oh, right." Fang Senyan paused, stood up, and walked over to Wuge, speaking very earnestly. "I think, if it weren't for me and him, you would already have a way to escape this predicament, wouldn't you?"

Wuge bit her lower lip but remained silent, refusing to meet Fang Senyan's eyes. Finally, she nodded slightly.

Fang Senyan let out a long, relaxed breath. "Very good. The thing I’ve been worrying about can finally be set aside."

Then, Fang Senyan gently lifted Wuge’s chin, looking seriously into her eyes. "Listen to me, beautiful and noble Wood Elf. Neither he nor I are from Middle-earth. In fact, when we face death, our spirits will protect us, completely repelling the specter of death and saving us back to our own plane. So, if there is danger, you must survive; do not worry about us... Do not let me watch you die for nothing!"

Wuge was startled. "Are there other continents besides Middle-earth?"

Fang Senyan smiled. "Think of your Elven sacred sanctuary, the Kingdom of Valinor—is it located on Middle-earth? Since Valinor exists outside Middle-earth, why couldn't our continent exist elsewhere?"

Wuge finally believed Fang Senyan's words, albeit with lingering doubt. As they spoke, the mountain flood below, which had arrived quickly, was also receding quickly, its current already quite gentle. Those seemingly clumsy tentacled monsters had swiftly moved upstream, following the water's source deep into the mountain belly. The Efreet had long since dissolved back into the rock, escaping underground to heal its injuries with the searing magma. Only the giant octopus, Haimujia, remained half-submerged in the subterranean lake, panting.

Although the previous torrent was fierce, most of its power was directed straight ahead. Most of the eggs had been laid in the mountain cavern space near the rock walls, so quite a few eggs had survived. Haimujia, as a female beast and a mother who had just laid eggs, naturally held onto a sliver of hope, trusting that some of her remaining young might have survived. Therefore, she would remain here for a while longer until she was completely disillusioned.

At this moment, a vanguard dispatched by Saruman, a massive tentacled monster, swam up the floodwaters into this huge cavern. Upon seeing Haimujia, it froze instantly. The circle of eyes atop its head flickered continuously, much like the hard drive light on a computer operating at high speed. Clearly, its next action was to directly contact Saruman and report the bizarre situation here.

Soon after, three more giant tentacled monsters rushed into the cavern. The four creatures propped themselves up on their tentacles, forming a line. The eyes on their heads began to slowly glow red, looking as if they were charging up.

Meanwhile, outside in the canyon, a troop of incredibly fierce, robust Uruk-hai were running at an indescribable speed, carrying a massive bone palanquin. Seated atop the palanquin was none other than Saruman's double! The bone palanquin was surrounded by a throng of mobilized Uruk-hai and fully armed Orcs!

Evidently, upon hearing about Haimujia's weakened state, Saruman's double could no longer contain his burgeoning ambition and excitement. He had mobilized all his forces to slay this giant octopus, with the minimum objective being to severely wound the legendary creature and sweep up every single Haimujia egg in the valley! (To be continued.)