Chapter 006: Iron Devourer

“That’s a problem!” Upon hearing the dwarves say this, Du Fan immediately spoke up.
If the issue of quickly clearing the smoke wasn’t resolved, even if there were piles of crushed ore, people could still be sent in to collect it!
As Du Fan kept thinking, suddenly movement appeared on the blasted rock surface across from him!
The pile of crushed stones began to move continuously. Clearly, there was some unknown substance behind the rocks!
Soon, a black creature about half a meter tall and over a meter long crawled out.
“An Iron Devourer!” One of the dwarves shouted loudly upon seeing this strange beast!
“An Iron Devourer?” Hearing the dwarf’s words, Du Fan immediately asked in confusion.
“Yes! This is an adult Iron Devourer! These magical beasts survive by devouring iron ore, but their feces are actually very useful!” the dwarf said excitedly.
“What are their feces?” Du Fan asked right away.
“Duke Du Fan, these magical beasts that feed on iron ore transform it into a new substance after digestion. This substance is called ‘iron devourer’. It has a strange ability—It can rapidly corrode metal! metal! So, when used in weapon manufacturing, adding a certain amount of iron devourer can greatly enhance the sharpness of the weapons!” the dwarf explained.
While the dwarf was explaining, the Iron Devourer seemed to sense someone over there. With its grayish eyes, it rushed toward Du Fan.
From the Iron Devourer’s appearance, Du Fan could clearly tell that it was born blind. Throughout its life, it lived in the dark underground, causing its eyes to lose all function. Over time, its eyes completely degenerated, becoming mere decorations with no practical use.
On the contrary, in the darkness, its sense of hearing became extremely sharp. By detecting sound waves, the Iron Devourer quickly determined everyone’s location.
The Iron Devourer headed straight for Du Fan, who was the closest to it.
Just as the dwarf who had been explaining the Iron Devourer finished speaking, the beast arrived in front of Du Fan, its two claws emitting a faint black glow as it lunged at him!

On his way toward Du Fan, the small Iron Devourer even made a thudding sound. Just as it got close to him, Du Fan quickly punched it in the stomach! The punch felt as if it had hit an iron block! Hit in the stomach by Du Fan’s punch, the Iron Devourer was sent flying and landed in the pile of rocks across from him. It let out a few cries before immediately turning around and fleeing—right back into the pile of rocks where it had first appeared. “Let’s go, check it out!” Du Fan said immediately upon seeing where the Iron Devourer had disappeared, waving his hands repeatedly as wind magic was continuously released. The rocks across from them were cleared to create a path, and soon they heard the sound of rocks falling deep underground. Du Fan and his group immediately realized there was a huge cavity behind that path! Soon, Du Fan cleared a large area through the path. After that, everyone followed him slowly forward. Soon, before Du Fan, appeared a scene that resembled a cliff—where they stood was right at the edge of the cliff! About a hundred meters below, densely packed, were thousands of Iron Devourers! “So many!” exclaimed a dwarf upon seeing the numerous Iron Devourers. Such rare creatures—even this dwarf miner who had worked as a miner for over two thousand years had only seen them four times in that time! This showed just how rare these magical beasts were. Looking at the faint figures of the Iron Devourers below, Du Fan condensed his light combat energy into a glowing sphere. As soon as the sphere appeared, the entire area below the cliff became clearly visible. The moment Du Fan’s glowing sphere formed, a dwarf suddenly shouted, “The Iron Devourer King! The Iron Devourer King! Come and see!” Indeed, as soon as Du Fan’s glowing sphere appeared, many people saw it. Among the crowd of Iron Devourers, there was one that was entirely golden!

At first glance, this golden Iron Devourer was clearly different from ordinary ones! Not only was its entire body covered in a brilliant golden glow, but its size also indicated that it was an Iron Devourer King—there was a huge difference in size compared to the ordinary ones below. This golden Iron Devourer King was four times the size of the other ordinary ones! With a height of nearly two meters and a body length of over six meters, it suddenly rushed toward Du Fan’s position. As the Iron Devourer King approached, Du Fan clenched his fists, preparing for the next move. With another simple punch, it seemed as if the Iron Devourer King deliberately offered its belly to Du Fan, and with that punch, it was sent flying back into the cliff by Du Fan. “Du Fan! The feces of this Iron Devourer King can be used to extract large amounts of Red Gold!” Seeing Du Fan knock the Iron Devourer King down, the dwarf who knew about these beasts started talking again. Red Gold—upon hearing that term, Du Fan immediately remembered! Red Gold was a very precious metal. It could store a great deal of energy and also provide strong magical defense. When crafting space rings, adding just a little Red Gold could greatly increase the ring’s storage capacity! After watching the Iron Devourer King fall into the cliff, Du Fan quickly followed it into the depths. He did this with a purpose: to follow the beast, subdue it, and then take control of the entire herd. After falling into the cliff, there was a loud noise! Having eaten iron ore all day, the density of this beast’s body was unimaginable. Du Fan’s earlier punch could even crack iron, and yet it still managed to knock the Iron Devourer King down, but it quickly got back on its feet. “Ugh!” The Iron Devourer King let out a loud roar, and soon, more than a thousand of the beasts below began surrounding Du Fan! Seeing the dense crowd of beasts around him, Du Fan smirked. Instead of using the Thunder Sword, he chose to fight with his fists.

With the godly quality of the Thunder Sword, Du Fan was afraid it might harm the lives of these Iron Devourers. After hearing what the dwarf said, Du Fan immediately realized that these Iron Devourers were nothing short of treasures! They could consume iron ore and produce a rare metal, which was equivalent to an inexhaustible source of precious minerals!

Iron ore was very common on the continent, but Iron Devourers, let alone Red Gold ones, were extremely difficult to find. Moreover, even if those two types of minerals existed, they usually occurred alongside other mineral veins in extremely small quantities, and extracting a little would leave even less!

However, with these Iron Devourers, as long as there was enough iron ore to feed them, those two rare metals could be obtained continuously.

After surrounding Du Fan, those Iron Devourers, seemingly fearless, leaped into the air one after another and charged at him!

In terms of speed and strength, these small Iron Devourers were no less than ordinary level-9 magical beasts! If not for their small size, which made them unsuitable as mounts, Du Fan would have considered capturing a few of them to use as mounts for certain people.

Of course, the Iron Devourer King could definitely be used as a mount. But facing the only Iron Devourer King in this group, Du Fan definitely wouldn’t use it as a mount. Besides, he still needed the Iron Devourer King to provide Red Gold.

Under the attack of thousands of Iron Devourers, Du Fan punched each one of them that rushed at him, sending them flying one by one!

This time, Du Fan was determined to subdue the entire Iron Devourer colony! So, he decided to fight these Iron Devourers until they submitted!

Thanks to his Absolute Protection Field, Du Fan didn’t have to worry about their attacks at all! This gave him a huge advantage. These Iron Devourers didn’t know magic at all. Relying on their innate ability to produce rare metals, their claws were essentially made of Iron Devourer material. Their claws were extremely sharp, and with the rare metal of Iron Devourer, there was basically nothing on this continent that they couldn’t pierce—except for artifacts crafted by humans.

But he happened to encounter a pervert like Du Fan. Unless all the energy in Du Fan’s supply area was exhausted, even attacks from the twelve major gods would have no effect on him. Of course, with Du Fan’s current level of cultivation, if the twelve gods really decided to attack him, his current absolute protection field wouldn’t be able to withstand even a single strike. Punch after punch, Du Fan kept sending the Iron Devouring Beasts flying away from him! He mastered the force perfectly—each punch neither killed these beasts nor made them think their opponent was weak, as every punch caused unbearable pain to the struck beasts. With each punch, Du Fan not only relied on his formidable physique but also unleashed mental magic after hitting the beasts! Such magic made these soldiers feel fear of Du Fan deep in their hearts. However, the Iron Devouring Beasts not only had extremely high physical defense but also very high magical defense as well! Living by devouring iron ore, these beasts already exhibited properties similar to metal in certain aspects! Even mental attacks, when directed at them, had less than half of their usual power! The dwarves standing on the cliff were discussing how long the battle below would last. Watching Du Fan continuously send the beasts flying, they gradually felt more at ease. Meanwhile, the King of the Iron Devouring Beasts began to show signs of impatience.