Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time
Chapter 220: Observing The Caldera

Chapter 220: Observing The Caldera

A little while later when Han Yu sat up and looked forward—

His breath caught.

The caldera lay below like a wound in the world, vast and steaming. Rivers of slow-moving magma glowed with lazy menace, threading between fields of black rock and ash dunes. In the center was what looked like a crater within a crater, and within that crater—

A massive, blackened skeleton.

Charred. Ancient. Half-buried in obsidian.

A creature the size of a building, curled as if in death throes. The earth around it pulsed faintly with heat and red light. Something in Han Yu’s gut told him that’s where the Fireborn Beasts would be and where he could get their ashes.

But getting down there, especially with Mist Eye disciples possibly lurking around?

That would be a whole new nightmare.

Han Yu remained crouched on the ridge, his eyes fixed on the titanic skeleton below. The heat of the caldera rose in shimmering waves, but it was not enough to blur the awe-inspiring scale of what he was seeing.

Even collapsed in death, the skeleton reached nearly ten stories tall. Its massive spine was partially buried in cooled magma, black and cracked with age. Jagged ribs jutted out of the lava field like the bleached remains of a sunken ship.

Each one was thick enough for Han Yu to walk along its length without falling off. The skull—if that’s what it was—rested at an angle, shattered down the middle and half-buried in obsidian stone.

He squinted at the remains, trying to make sense of the shape.

"...What in the name of Nine heavens is that?"

From the bone structure alone, it was impossible to tell whether it had been a lizard-like beast, a four-legged monstrosity, or something more humanoid. The shape of the skull looked vaguely draconic, yet the limb structure suggested articulated shoulders, possibly upright posture. It was as if some ancient god had thrown together features from multiple species and breathed life into the result.

Han Yu couldn’t even begin to guess what cultivation realm such a creature had once occupied.

But one thing was clear.

"This thing would’ve made that snake and the clawed lizard look like field mice..."

He gulped and looked around the caldera. If there had been anything in the mission documents about a skeleton like this, even the vaguest rumor, he would have remembered. But there was nothing. Not a single mention in the scrolls or maps. It wasn’t just ancient.

It was hidden, possibly even sealed.

His first instinct was suspicion.

The Mist Eye Sect must be aware of it—or at least had found it recently. Their outpost at the caldera’s edge made more sense now. They weren’t just here to scavenge some Fireborn Ashes or hunt beasts from the volcanic crust. No. They were here for this.

And they didn’t want anyone else to know.

Han Yu’s thoughts snapped into sharp focus. This was critical intelligence—the kind that could elevate his mission status from a High-rank to something far more valuable. Maybe even enough to earn him a promotion of some kind or a large amount of sect merit tokens back at Twin Leaf Peak.

He slid his hand into his inner robe and pulled out a small roll of parchment, yellowed and wrinkled. Alongside it, from a smaller hidden pocket, he pulled a charred finger bone from a the boar he’d fought a day ago—something he had kept only because it was convenient as charcoal.

"Glad I didn’t toss this..."

He knelt in the shadow of the ridge and began sketching. Not with the finesse of an artist, but with the urgency of a man etching history into paper. His strokes were rough, but clear—he mapped the caldera’s inner shape, the location of the skeleton, the orientation of the bones.

He marked the location of the outpost, the paths he took, and even the peculiar heat pulses rising from the ground near the corpse.

Finally, at the bottom of the parchment, he scrawled:

"Massive unknown skeleton. Caldera origin unclear. Likely predates sect records. Mist Eye Sect presence likely connected."

He let the bone cool, blew the ash off the parchment, and carefully folded it several times before sealing it in an oilskin wrap and tucking it inside a deeper, hidden compartment of his robes.

He patted his chest.

"Even if I die in here... someone’s going to find this."

But he had no intention of dying.

Han Yu crouched lower, his eyes scanning the inner crater again. He wasn’t leaving without those Fireborn Ashes.

But now, another thought crept into his mind.

What if the ashes... weren’t just from a Fireborn beast?

What if they were from this thing?

That would explain everything—the density of spiritual energy, the beast activity, the Mist Eye Sect’s secrecy.

He slowly stood, body tense with new purpose.

It wasn’t just about completing a mission anymore.

It was about uncovering a secret buried beneath ash, stone, and lies.

Han Yu braced himself as he began the treacherous descent into the caldera.

The ridge dropped steeply at first, and the only "path" down was a jagged slope of black glassy stone, warped by ancient lava flows and treacherously smooth in places. The air was thick with heat and sulfur; every breath felt like inhaling from a furnace. One slip could mean a tumble into boiling streams of magma or a nest of hungry beasts.

And oh, were there beasts.

Halfway down, Han Yu paused, flattening against a chunk of volcanic stone as he spotted a buzzing swarm approaching—Magma Wasps.

Each wasp was the size of a fist, their carapaces glowing faintly like smoldering coals. He held his breath as they darted overhead, their long stingers dripping with caustic venom that sizzled against rock like oil on a hot pan.

One unlucky obsidian gecko—a dog-sized lizard clinging to a slope—was caught in their flight path. The wasps didn’t hesitate. They peppered it with stings, and the poor beast burst into flames, its charred corpse rolling down the slope like a burning tire.

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