A white light flashed, then quickly receded.

The scene before Zhou Huai's eyes instantly switched from the stone tablet at the dungeon entrance to a vast, dark, and deathly silent cave.

The air was filled with a strong, putrid smell, a mixture of rotting vegetation and damp earth.

The cave ceiling was extremely high, with faint, sickly green glowing moss casting dappled light, but it wasn't enough to dispel the profound darkness.

All around, there was only the 'drip-drip' sound of water falling from stalactites into puddles, echoing long and adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Zhou Huai didn't hesitate; his consciousness decisively withdrew from Yasuo's body.

The upcoming battle could be left to the Smart Core AI.

He only needed to be like a spectator, quietly enjoying this feast of slaughter.

Buzz!

Just as Zhou Huai's consciousness returned to his main body, a swift, unparalleled black shadow shot out from the side shadows without warning!

It was a forked, whip-like tongue, its tip gleaming with a dark green poisonous light, striking directly at Yasuo's temple!

The speed was extreme!

If Zhou Huai himself were controlling it, he might not even have time to react.

However, Yasuo's body moved.

He leaned back slightly at an incredible angle, narrowly dodging the fatal blow.

The long tongue brushed past his nose, almost touching it.

The fishy wind it stirred up rustled the short hair on his forehead.

Immediately after, before he had fully stabilized, the wild one's longsword in his hand had already transformed into a bolt of lightning, slashing upwards against the momentum!

Rip!

Lightning flashed, and blood splattered!

The long tongue was severed at its base, and black blood sprayed out.

-890!

A shocking damage number floated up from the shadows.

A painful hiss followed.

The black shadow, in pain, paused, finally exposing itself under the dim green light.

Only then did Zhou Huai see its appearance.

It was a giant lizard, nearly three meters in size, covered in dull scales that almost blended with the surrounding rock walls.

If not for the Smart Core AI's reaction speed, which surpassed human limits, if he had been in control himself, that blow just now would have left him severely wounded, if not dead.

【Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizard LV18 (Elite)】

【Health: 4110 / 5000】

【Skills: Venom Stab, Shadow Sneak, Scale Hardening】

【...】

Even an elite monster had such high defense.

Yasuo's single sword strike only reduced its health by less than a fifth.

However, the trouble had just begun.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The next second, dozens of crimson eyes suddenly lit up from the darkness in all directions!

Immediately after, dense sounds of rushing air followed one after another!

Dozens of poisoned long tongues, from various tricky angles, wove into a large net of death, completely enveloping Yasuo and Gandalf!

"Bring it on!"

Yasuo, instead of retreating, advanced decisively, taking a step forward to shield Gandalf behind him.

【Thunder Armor】!

Boom!

Violent thunder power shot up into the sky, instantly forming a majestic purple electric armor on his body!

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Countless long tongues lashed fiercely against the Thunder Armor, emitting a series of crisp metallic clangs.

-215!

-231!

-208!

...

A series of damage numbers floated densely above Yasuo's head.

The glow of the Thunder Armor visibly dimmed.

But Yasuo didn't care.

His eyes narrowed, and the longsword in his hand danced into a blur of lightning, frantically slashing at the Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizards that were close at hand!

-977!

+297!

-1012!

+301!

The lifesteal attribute on the wild one's longsword played a crucial role at this moment.

With each sword strike, while dealing massive damage, a pure life energy flowed back, rapidly replenishing his lost health.

With this give and take, Yasuo actually managed to withstand the concentrated fire of dozens of elite monsters!

At the same time, Gandalf, who was behind him, finally made his move.

He slowly raised his unadorned wooden staff.

Ancient and obscure syllables spilled from his lips beneath his hood.

In an instant, the temperature of the entire cave began to drop sharply!

Visible ice crystals condensed in the air, and a layer of frosty white frost rapidly spread across the walls and the ground!

"【Forbidden Spell: Thousand-Mile Ice Seal】!"

Buzz—!

A pure, extremely cold wave, as if capable of freezing the Soul, spread wildly in a circular pattern from Gandalf's center!

Crack! Crack! Snap!

Wherever it passed, all things withered!

The ferocity and brutality on the faces of the Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizards, who were frantically attacking Yasuo, instantly froze.

Their movements stiffened, and their bodies were rapidly covered by a thick layer of solid ice.

Within a mere second, the entire battlefield transformed into an exhibition hall of ice sculptures.

Only then did Zhou Huai clearly see that there were more than thirty Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizards attacking them!

If it were any other level 15 adventurer team, facing such a terrifying ambush, they probably wouldn't last even a minute before being wiped out on the spot.

-3990! (Freeze Damage)

-3905! (Freeze Damage)

...

A terrifying array of damage numbers popped up simultaneously above the heads of all the ice sculptures.

Nearly half of the Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizards, whose health was already low, turned into scattered points of light within the solid ice before they could even let out a whimper.

The remaining ones were all in a 【Deep Freeze】 state, unable to move, becoming lambs to the slaughter.

Yasuo didn't hesitate at all, stepping forward with his sword drawn, and began to harvest frantically.

Sword light flashed, and ice shards flew.

One by one, the ice sculptures shattered in response.

【Killed Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizard LV18, gained 560 experience points!】

【Killed...】

Screen-filling notification sounds kept ringing.

When the last Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizard was dealt with, a golden light of leveling up also shone from Gandalf's body.

His Rank reached LV6. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The two quickly cleaned up the battlefield, collected all the dropped Materials, and then walked deeper into the cave.

This cave was even larger than Zhou Huai had imagined.

The further they went in, the more open the space became.

The glowing moss on the ceiling also became denser, illuminating the surroundings with a sickly green light.

Ahead, a massive underground swamp appeared.

The dark green mud pit gurgled with bubbles, emitting a nauseating poisonous miasma.

Zhou Huai tried to have Yasuo's toes touch the edge of the swamp.

-10

A negligible damage number floated up.

Although the damage was low, once deeply stuck, movement would probably be severely restricted, and then they would become living targets.

Yasuo still led the way, activating 【Thunder Armor】, and proceeded cautiously along the solid ground at the edge of the swamp.

From time to time, some even stranger-looking beasts would leap out of the swamp and launch sneak attacks.

But without exception, they were all cleanly cut down by Yasuo's sword.

About five minutes later, the path ahead was completely swallowed by an endless swamp.

There was no way forward.

Most other adventurer teams, upon reaching this point, would choose to detour along a narrow, rugged path on the other side.

That path, though long, had the advantage of being safe.

But they didn't need to.

Gandalf silently walked to the swamp, observing it quietly for a moment.

He raised his staff again.

"【Forbidden Spell: Thousand-Mile Ice Seal】!"

The same move, but the effect was even more stunning.

The extremely cold energy, like an invisible giant hand, swept over the vast swamp before them.

The bubbling mud pit instantly calmed.

The gurgling poisonous Qi was frozen into sickly green ice crystals.

A frost avenue, hundreds of meters long and nearly a hundred meters wide, appeared out of thin air above the swamp!

Yasuo gently stepped onto it; the ice surface was as hard as iron, like walking on flat ground.

The ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ two walked one after another on the frozen swamp.

Through the crystal-clear ice layer, one could clearly see countless strange swamp beasts below, frozen in the mud, maintaining various struggling postures.

Zhou Huai's experience bar began to jump wildly again.

Just as the two reached the middle of the frost avenue.

The ice surface beneath their feet suddenly vibrated slightly.

Immediately after, a deep, thunderous roar echoed from beneath the ice layer!

Rumble—!

The entire ice surface trembled violently.

Huge cracks began to appear in the ice layer ahead, spreading rapidly like a spider web!

An aura far more terrifying than all the previous beasts combined was rapidly awakening!

Boom!!!

A deafening roar.

The ice layer a hundred meters in front of them suddenly exploded!

Countless ice chunks and dark green mud shot up into the sky!

An incredibly massive black shadow, amidst a cloud of mist and mud, slowly broke through the ice!

【Lord of the Shadow Swamp: Kraken LV20 (Calamity-Rank BOSS)】

【Health: 100000 / 100000】