David exchanged a glance with Hoenhem, who nodded, and stood at the center of the crossroads, releasing a Fireball Technique down each of the three paths.

Three orange-red flame balls slowly flew in different directions,

colliding with objects almost simultaneously, exploding, and then extinguishing.

The objects the fireballs hit were also wooden doors, similar in structure to the ones the players had seen before, but slightly smaller in size.

The three wooden doors did not close completely, and opened when the fireballs hit them, revealing three large rooms.

The left one was a forest (all the plants were dead, and the ceiling was covered with a layer of withered moss, which might have had luminescent functions after examination),

the center one was an Oriental garden with a pool,

and the right one was a medieval village.

Apart from differences in size and shape, the rooms all had dried bloodstains and combat marks on the floor, walls, and ceiling,

and on the walls opposite the entrances, there were also three wooden doors, leading to three more different rooms after being pushed open.

"The entire Underground Palace is made up of numerous different rooms, each containing monsters and rewards. The Hero Team needs to clear them room by room, find the task goal in the end, gain the reward, and exit the Underground Palace.

To allow replayability, both the Underground Palace and each room will reset every 24 hours, rearranging the rooms and monsters."

Returning to the crossroads, David whispered, "In a video game, this might be a fairly standard dungeon design.

But in reality... it's terrifying."

"To achieve a complete reset over such a large scale, the energy required would be astronomical."

Hoenhem said calmly, "Unless there's a masterfully crafted, highly energy-efficient array maintaining the operation."

"But that array should have been scrapped a long time ago."

Li Ang pushed open the central wooden door and entered the Oriental garden room with the pool.

The water at the edge of the garden hadn't flowed for who knows how long, covered with a layer of green algae and some viscous debris. Through the murky water, stones and bits of wood could be seen settled below the surface.

"The smell of corpses is ahead."

Li Ang retracted his fingers from the water's surface and stood up, heading toward the wooden door at the far end of the Oriental garden room.

The group passed through several rooms, and the putrid smell grew stronger as they progressed,

until they pushed open a wooden door left ajar, finally discovering the source of the stench.

This was a spacious room with walls scarred by the densest beast claw marks they'd seen, almost as if the walls had been drilled through.

In the center of the room stood a peculiarly shaped hill—a mound surrounded by a ring of turquoise water, with its surface extending numerous tufts of fuzz.

Wait, those weren't tufts.

Hoenhem immediately halted the Fireball Technique, raising his arm abruptly to stop Ding Zhensi from using a spotlight to illuminate the hill ahead.

[Group Dim Vision]: Doubled field of vision in dim environments.

[Group Night Vision Technique]: Enhances visual capability in dark environments.

Hoenhem drank a magic potion, and quietly cast two layers of buff magic on everyone,

despite the fact that such group buff spells consumed substantial power in low-magic environments and greatly reduced the duration and effect, it was enough for the players to see the true shape of the hill.

It was a hill formed from a pile of mass biological remains,

with scattered materials discernible to the players, barely identifying some of the remains belonging to goblins, two-headed ogres, trolls, jackalmen, and other typical fantasy world creatures,

while other remains appeared as if they were pulled from video games like "Serious Sam" or "Dead Space", bizarre and otherworldly, their severed limbs making it tough to distinguish them individually.

What seemed like fuzz on the hill's surface were actually body parts protruding from the remains, along with various weapons.

The circle of green water beneath the hill was, in reality, a vast quantity of blood in this enclosed space.

The scale of the entire hill was so immense that it had undergone some kind of mutation—the hill's surface was shrouded in a swirling, dense black fog, slowly rotating, forming vortices around the forest of limbs on the surface.

The hill shuddered slightly every few seconds, as if it were alive.

At the very top of the hill sat a large shadow, resembling a silverback gorilla, which appeared to be the source of the black fog.

Given the circumstances, Li Ang quietly activated the Group Sympathy again,

forming a mental network,

in which Ding Zhensi whispered, [That enormous beast shrouded in shadow on the hilltop—is that the creature the village chief mentioned, the one that stole the Holy Mountain Gate Stone?]

[Possibly, we should prepare first...]

Before Hoenhem finished speaking,

the shadow atop the hill suddenly raised its head,

with two scarlet eyes glaring intently from within the thick black fog at the players at the room's entrance.

Swish—

The enormous shadow slowly straightened,

and the biological remains on the hill's surface cascaded down like an avalanche, splattering turquoise-green blood.

Detected.

Unfazed, Hoenhem was lifted into the air by currents at his feet. With Sound Amplification Magic, he addressed the shadow loudly, "Hello, we are the Hero Team exploring the Underground Palace..."

"Roar!!"

The Shadow Monster lifted its head, unleashing a fierce roar,

swinging its robust arm heavily downward, causing the black gas in the room to pour down like a dragon upon Hoenhem.

"Tch, negotiations weren't possible then."

Hoenhem wore a dark expression, having earlier cast a temporary charm-boosting spell on himself, along with [Charm Monster] and [Charm Human], hoping to persuade an ordinary monster.

Sadly, it had no effect on the Shadow Monster,

which was expected, given his limited charm, few attribute enhancements, and lack of charm-boosting equipment.

Facing the Black Mist Dragon, Hoenhem's figure flickered, instantly flashing to the opposite end of the room,

evading the attack and flipping through the Book of Sand, casting multiple attack spells within a breath.

[Burning Technique], [Electric Blast Magic Sphere], [Light of Machu Picchu], [Stone Explosive Technique]...

Each spell had different attributes, functions, trajectories, and effects,

and ordinarily required a mage to prepare extensively through chanting, gestures, spell materials, etc., to cast successfully,

yet, with the Book of Sand, an ancient Bell Tower artifact, Hoenhem bypassed the lengthy casting preparation, simultaneously launching multiple types of spells.

Boom!

Various spells blasted onto the Black Mist Dragon, easily shattering it, and continued on to strike the surface of the Shadow Beast's body.

In an instant, flames erupted, thunder rumbled and flashed, and the splash effects of different attribute spell attacks smoothed a part of the mountain's surface debris,

However, the main body of the black mist, the Shadow Beast in the shape of a hard-backed gorilla, took all the effects of the spells head-on,

raising its two arms and pressing heavily on the surface of the mountain.

Buzz—

The cyclone on the mountain's surface began to flow rapidly,

and the black mist that had just been shattered by Hoenhem instantly recondensed and suddenly struck Hoenhem.

The latter was caught off guard, the glow of the protective spell on his body flashed and disappeared in an instant,

and when the smoke dispersed, he was surprisingly gone from where he stood.

It wasn't just Hoenhem,

David and Amber standing at the forefront were similarly attacked—the black mist surged rapidly from the mountain, walls, and ceiling, like a tide, sweeping them along,

causing them to disappear just like Hoenhem.

Li Ang's pupils contracted suddenly; in his mental network, the signals of these three people almost disappeared without a ripple.

This is...

No time to think, the black mist that dealt with David and Amber howled towards Li Ang, who drew the Tyrant Halberd, and struck it hard on the ground,

using the thrust to soar into the air, then activating the [Cloud Ascending Ladder] skill to create invisible steps at his feet to provide loss support,

bearingly avoiding the pitch-black mist.

"Don't let this mist touch you!"

Li Ang shouted in a low voice,

Standing behind, Liu Wu Dai, hearing this, had his shoulder armor quietly unfold like bird tail feathers, and flapped violently to provide upward thrust,

Ding Zhensi's Kui Ox mecha also started the vector nozzle mouth,

making its heavy body dodge the black mist attack with surprising agility not fitting its size.

Bam!

The Colt Revolver trigger was pulled towards the Shadow Beast, and the silver demon-busting bullet spun at high speed, crossing a long distance, skimming past the Shadow Beast's head—

The entirety of the beast was cloaked in shadow, making its actual size much smaller than it seemed, so the first bullet didn't cause much damage.

After one shot, the other party seemed aware of the power of the demon-busting bullet; it dug its arms into the mountain top, retrieving a broken shield as large as a city gate and an exaggeratedly large rusty two-handed great sword, blocking in front,

stomping heavily on the mountain, its entire body shot like a meteor, wrapped in black mist to the extreme, slanting downwards.

It can use weapons?

Without hesitation, Li Ang pulled the Colt Revolver trigger again, firing four demon-busting bullets as fast as possible,

Three silver bullets were deflected, only one slipping through the gap in the broken shield, hitting the Shadow Beast's left arm holding the shield, splashing a scarlet blood flower.

But it was only a splash of blood.

In a breath, the Shadow Beast with the gorilla outline fell from the mountain peak, wielding the giant sword with both hands, slashing down towards Li Ang.

The two-handed great sword, though corroded and rusty from blood and flesh, could still, under sheer brute force, slice the air with whistling sharpness.

Boom!!!

Li Ang stepped on the invisible ladder created by Cloud Ascending Ladder, dodging to the right, barely avoiding the simple and unadorned great sword slash,

left hand Colt Revolver finished aiming, and shot the last demon-busting bullet at the neck of the Shadow Beast, where the shield did not cover.

The silver bullet silently hit the target,

the Shadow Beast's neck was blown open, flesh exploding and flying off in a large chunk.

"Roar!"

The beast, in pain and fury, roared, and the surrounding black mist surged wildly, sweeping in viciously towards the remaining three players, blocking all escape paths.

The black mist is formless and intangible; it can be shattered by energy attacks like the [Fingers Dissociation Technique], but its total volume is simply too much—every crack and crevice in this room's stones was endlessly spewing black mist.

Through the mental network of Group Sympathy, Li Ang quickly said: [Hoenhem, David, and Amber are not dead, they were transported to other corners of the underground palace upon contact with the black mist. This beast has an instinctive combat intelligence, choosing to transport enemies with the highest energy level and most difficult to deal with first, then breaking them down separately.]

Without invoking the Divine Power stored in the Divine Mark, Li Ang's total Spirit Energy Value is only at a medium level (not enough support from the Ripple Breathing Method and Alchemy), plus the Mirage Dragon Red Mane Coat's cover effect,

leading the Shadow Beast to mistakenly think his overall strength was on par with Liu Wu Dai and Ding Zhensi.

However, this also proves that the beast's strength is not as high as imagined, at least not enough to crush the entire player team.

The speed of thought interaction through the mental network is much faster than in the real world's verbal communication,

Li Ang quickly said: [The real body of this beast withstood Hoenhem's spell bombardment without any harm; it has strong magic resistance but relatively low physical defensive power, and high-grade silver demon-busting bullets can cause damage. If we close the distance, I'm confident I can take it down. The only problem now is, Comrade Ding, do you know how to perform a flower hand?]

[???]

The more serious Li Ang's tone, the more genuine Ding Zhensi's bewilderment was.

Fortunately, the next moment Ding Zhensi realized,

He took a deep breath, immediately spinning his form, facing the sweeping black mist head-on with the Kui Ox mecha.

The two mechanical arms held the high-frequency cutting blade,

with command instructions transmitted from the cockpit along the internal cables of the mecha, passing into the high-frequency cutting blade,

making the blade's two ends fold up and down into the structure of a wind turbine fan blade.

Spin!

The Kui Ox mecha's arms spun the high-frequency cutting blade's handle,

and the advanced technology of the Special Affairs Bureau condensed in the mecha's arms spun the cutting blade like a helicopter rotor,

creating a howling gale, directly confronting the black mist.

Whoosh—

The dense black mist was suddenly blown open to create a gap under the howling gale,

Li Ang and Liu Wu Dai sprang through the gap,

the latter drew his bow to a full moon, shooting countless golden arrows, sealing off the Shadow Beast's surroundings,

while Li Ang's tyrant halberd in hand silently sliced towards the beast's neck, which was just hit by the demon-busting bullet.