You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

He instructed Darksea Abyss to sneak along the outer edge of the whirlpool to find a foothold, while Abyss Throat prepared to set up heavy crossbows on the shore.

Just then, the eyes of the beast-shaped relief on the stone gate suddenly lit up, the water flow abruptly reversed, and a huge suction force rushed straight towards the bone ship—as if the entire underground river was being pulled into that unseen mouth.

The suction was so strong that the chains of the bone ship were pulled so hard they snapped, and several broke off. The two ships at the stern were instantly pulled into the whirlpool.

Ron grabbed a mooring post on the deck, signaling the entire Dark Sea Abyss crew to enter the water and protect the main ship.

The center of the whirlpool was like a living well, with walls of water swirling around them, mixed with gold dust and stones.

In their field of vision, the vortex-like opening of the stone gate grew larger and larger, and the eyes of the relief-carved beast gleamed with an eerie golden light.

The next moment, the entire bone ship was pulled in.

The roar in my ears suddenly turned into a deep echo, and the water temperature dropped sharply.

Ron opened his eyes and found himself and his fleet being swept by a rapid current into a huge lower dome.

Countless crystals hung from the dome, reflecting a dark golden light and making the entire water surface look like a shattered mirror.

The waterway soon slowed down, and they entered a calm, dark lake.

The lake shore is a gray-white sand beach, with broken metal pillars and broken bones stuck in the sand, like the remains of some extinct giant beast.

The Abyss Throat landed first, and the Wall Climbers scattered to explore routes among the dunes and cliffs.

The lurking monsters of the Dark Sea Abyss retrieved several oddly shaped metal pieces from the bottom of the lake. Their surfaces were covered with dense runes, clearly not from the Southern Territory.

Chapter 155

Just as Ron was about to split up to investigate, a huge bubble suddenly rose from the surface of the lake, bursting with a low roar—and a giant beast covered in dark gold scales emerged from the water.

Its back rises above the lake shore, its eye sockets glow with a pale white light, and every step it takes in the shallow water creates a shockwave.

Claudia immediately ignited the molten stone, and the flames reflected on the lake surface like a burning line.

The armored beasts and ironback beasts formed a defensive formation, while the slime horde surged to the edge of the beach, forming a thick, sticky wall.

The beast let out a second roar, and the water at the bottom of the lake began to surge in the opposite direction, as if to drag everything on the shore back to the center of the lake.

Ron raised his hand, his tone cold and hard: "Don't wait for it to move, bite off its foot first."

As soon as the dark gold behemoth's claws stepped into the sticky wall, the swarm of slimes immediately wrapped themselves tightly, making a sticky pulling sound.

It let out a low growl and suddenly raised its foot, tearing the slime apart and sending it flying in all directions. But that momentary pause gave the armored beast an opportunity to charge.

The first row of heavily armored beasts lowered their heads and crashed into its knee joint, their bone horns deeply embedded in the seams of its scales.

The Ironback Beast followed closely behind, using its bone shield to force the giant beast to tilt its center of gravity backward.

The wall-climbing beast of the Abyss's Throat climbed up the giant beast's tail, and the Shadowscale Golem stabbed its knife through the gaps in the scales on its back, spraying black blood into thin streams that splashed into a black mist on the lake's surface.

The people of the Dark Abyss emerged from the bottom of the lake, strapped the explosive sacs to the base of the giant beast's hind legs, and then suddenly retreated.

Several muffled thuds followed one after another, as the scales were blown off, revealing the grayish-white bone underneath.

Claudia seized the opportunity and hurled the molten stone into the wound. The flames spread along the wound, burning the inner layer of the scales until they became brittle.

The giant beast lashed out in pain, whipping its tail wildly. Waves several meters high surged up the lake, knocking over several ironback beasts on the shore.

Ron stepped onto the overturned bone shield, using the momentum to leap onto the giant beast's shoulder, and plunged the bone blade straight into its neck joint.

The moment the blade pierced through, the runes lit up, burning all the way down the blood vessels to the brain.

The giant beast froze instantly, then let out a deep, muffled roar as its massive body crashed into the center of the lake, the spray forming a curtain that blotted out the sky.

The sound of water gradually subsided, leaving only floating scales and churning bubbles on the lake surface.

Ron landed on the shore, wiped the black blood off his knife, and looked at the other side of the lake—in the depths of that shadow, he could vaguely see a row of neat stone pillars and archways, like an entrance to a deeper dark realm.

He instructed Claudia: "Squads, clear the battlefield and collect all the scales and skeletons. Cross the lake in half an hour."

The waters of the dark lake gradually returned to calm, but the strange pulsation deep within the lake seemed to be reminding them that the giant beast they had just encountered might only be the first obstacle guarding the gate.

Half an hour later, the lake surface had been almost completely cleared, the skeleton of the dark gold behemoth had been dismantled into several sections, and the scales were strung together with bone hooks and piled up by the dock.

Ron ordered the boat to cross the lake, and the bone boat glided across the calm surface, heading toward the archway in the shadows.

Upon closer inspection, the row of archways is taller than expected, and the same swirling runes are engraved on the lintel of each door, though the runes have faded and turned gray, as if they have been dormant for a long time.

Thick iron chains hung between the gateposts, their bodies submerged in the lake water and covered with a layer of silvery-gray mineral crust.

The lurking monsters from the Dark Abyss went into the water first, circling around to investigate behind the archway.

They quickly surfaced and reported that the other end of the chain was connected to a huge stone wheel at the bottom of the lake, which appeared to be a mechanism used to block the waterway inside the gate.

Ron gestured for them not to touch anything, and he led his men directly up the stone steps in front of the archway.

The stone steps were slippery and studded with countless tiny fossilized seashells, making a slight crunching sound when stepped on.

Behind the archway is a sloping stone corridor, the walls of which are covered with ancient murals—the creatures in the paintings have the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of fish, holding strangely shaped halberds and standing on giant waves.

The further you go in, the more humid the air becomes, with a faint fishy smell mixed in.

At the end of the stone corridor is a spacious cavern with a shallow pool in the center. The water glistens and seems to flow into a deeper passage.

Claudia crouched down to test the water temperature, then looked up and said, "The water is warm; there's a heat source down there."

The wall-climbing beasts of the Abyss's Throat climbed up the four walls of the cave hall and, near the top, discovered a skylight sealed off by stone.

A round rune stone was embedded in the stone seal, and the rune pattern was exactly the same as the vortex on the lintel.

Ron reached out and pressed his hand on the runestone. The rune on the end of the bone knife hilt lit up, aligning with the patterns on the runestone.

The next instant, the entire cavern trembled slightly, a tiny bubble rose from the center of the pool, and the undercurrent leading to the depths began to accelerate.

"The real entrance is below."

Ron withdrew his hand, a cold glint in his eyes. "Go into the water and see what's hidden in this dark realm."

One by one, the monster legion leaped into the pool, the splashing water echoing through the cavern before being swallowed by the undercurrent, leaving only ever-deepening darkness.

As soon as the pool water entered my body, I was immediately swept up by the undercurrent and dragged downwards.

The water temperature gradually rose, and a deep rumble came from my ears, like a huge heart beating deep inside.

The lurking monsters of the Dark Abyss led the way, their dorsal fins outstretched as they paddled vigorously, leading the group along the undercurrent into a natural stone channel.

The rock walls of the stone canal gleam with a dark golden light; upon closer inspection, they reveal a thin layer of metallic crystals.

The current was getting faster and faster, and everyone was swept into a huge water cave. In the center of the cave hung a round object that emitted a faint light. Its surface was engraved with swirling runes, and it seemed to be controlling the direction of the water flow.

As soon as they rounded the object, the water ahead suddenly darkened, and they could vaguely see shadows moving about.

The shadows quickly became clear—they were several humanoid creatures, slender and with grayish-blue skin. Their eyes shone like cold sapphires in the water, and they held long, thin bone spears in their hands, moving as nimbly as fish.

One of them charged to the front, thrusting his bone spear underwater, only to be parried by a lurking monster from the Dark Abyss using its bone hook.

The remaining few immediately dispersed and flanked the enemy from above and below.

Ron made a downward pressing gesture in the water, and the armored beast exerted force from behind, forcefully smashing a gap in the encirclement line.

The wall-climbing beast from the Abyss's Maw slid down the rock wall, hooked its barbed chain around the waist of a gray-blue creature, and with a sudden jerk, dragged it into the middle of the group.

The creature struggled underwater, screeching in a sharp language. The sound carried along the current, and soon, more of its kind surged out from the dark waters ahead, their numbers multiplying.

Claudia took out a molten bladder and crushed it underwater.

The intense heat instantly forced a ring of air bubbles into the surrounding water, and the shockwave sent the gray-blue creatures at the front of the pack tumbling over.

Taking advantage of the lull, Ron pointed to the darker waterway below—the only exit to the depths of the Dark Realm.

"Let's take the deep end, not waste time here."

The team descended rapidly along the deep channel, the sounds of gray-blue creatures chasing them echoing behind them, like a group of angry deep-sea hunters, but they were quickly drowned out by the surging sound of the water.

The water ahead gradually turned white, and a blurry light was emerging from the depths.

The water grew increasingly bright, and the group was propelled by the undercurrent out of the deep channel, suddenly plunging into a vast lower bay. The lake water was milky white, like a hot spring mixed with fine sand, and emitted a faint mineral scent.

The bay is surrounded by steep rock walls, with layers of circular platforms embedded in the walls. Hundreds or thousands of cool blue light beads shine on the platforms, like an inverted starry sky.

Those light beads are bioluminescent capsules fixed to a metal frame, which sway gently with the airflow.

Between the platforms are crisscrossing stone bridges and ropeways, and on the bridges you can see the gray-blue-skinned indigenous people moving back and forth, their movements agile and their feet barely making a sound.

Dark Sea Abyss was the first to climb onto the lake shore and use bone hooks to secure himself to the slippery stone surface.

The armored beasts and ironback beasts were led ashore, their footsteps making a low, muffled sound as they stepped onto the milky-white sand.

Several small boats made of skeletons and leather were moored on the shore. Each boat had a whirlpool symbol engraved on its bow, just like the symbols in the archway and the undercurrent.

As the Abyss's Throat climbed up the rock wall, it encountered two guards on the first platform. They held long spears with gleaming tips and leaned forward like predators ready to pounce.

The climbing beast suddenly sprang up, knocking two guards into the water beside the bridge. The splashing water startled more indigenous people on the upper level.

Soon, a deep horn sounded throughout the first platform. It wasn't a horn, but a whistle made of hollow bones, with an eerie tone that echoed between the rock walls as if coming from all directions.

Gray-blue figures began to emerge from the passages of various platforms, carrying bone spears, scimitars, and short bows with barbs.

Ron stood on the lakeshore, looking at the ring-shaped city, and said calmly, "Seal off the waterways and don't let a single person escape back."

The Dark Abyss immediately submerged back into the lake and occupied the entrance and exit.

The Abyss Throat flanked the rock face from both sides, while the main force advanced along the stone bridge in front.

The first wave of conflict erupted at the bridge entrance, where bone shields and bone spears collided with a piercing clang. Taking advantage of the chaos, hordes of slimes climbed onto the bridge and dragged the enemies into the slime.

The cold blue light beads high up were shaken, and the light across the entire bay undulated like waves.

Ron raised his bone knife and pointed to the higher central platform—where stood a stone tower taller than all the others, its radiant sphere at the top larger and brighter than the others, like the heart of the entire bay.

"That tower, pull it out first."

The central stone tower stands atop the innermost rock face of the bay, connected to the outer platform by three winding stone bridges like chains. At the end of each bridge stand elite guards of the indigenous people—clad in dark silver armor plates that move like fish scales, their spears long and barbed, specifically designed to hook prey in close combat.

Ron didn't intend to split his forces to probe, but instead ordered the main force and the Abyss's Throat to press towards the bridge entrance, while the Dark Sea Abyss moved from beneath the lake to the base of the tower, looking for an opportunity to destroy the bridge pillars.

The defenders at the first bridge were in a tight formation, their spears like a forest.

The Ironback Beast charged forward against the bone shield, its spear tip piercing the shield but being deflected by the rune power, and then forcefully shattered by the heavy armored beast.

The slime swarm spread across the bridge, and the slime, once it touched the enemy's armor plates, slowed their movements, making them feel as if they were stuck in mud.

Claudia raised her hand and threw out the molten lava chamber, the exploding flames engulfing the first line of defense.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the wall-climbing beasts of the Abyss's Maw scaled up the side of the bridge, while the Shadowscale Puppet cut into the enemy ranks, leaving bloody gaps in the bridge surface.