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

The three-ringed blood groove was still wet. The black crystal shards were put into a bag by Claudia and tied to her waist. Shadow scales were wrapped around the bag opening, as if guarding something.

Ron walked to the front of the line and raised his hand.

"Set off."

As the drums sounded, the grayness of the entire wasteland seemed to tremble.

The mist on the other side of the bone tower stretched out, as if startled.

The black flag trailed long behind the column, its corners fluttering in the morning breeze. Ahead, towards the gate, the darkness deepened.

The group stepped forward without taking a detour. The serene domain stretched out beneath their feet, as if opening a passageway for them. Beyond the passageway, layers of gray mist piled up, neither moving nor dissipating.

The location of the tower gate is getting closer and closer.

The craftsmen who remained in the camp added more fuel to the fire, waiting for the change of flags in the distance.

The military doctor laid out the bandages, and the medicine in the bowl was steaming.

The cook added salt to the pot, put the lid back on, and turned the fire down a bit, waiting for the next group of people to return.

Deep within the bone tower, that sound like striking stone echoed once more.

This time, it wasn't just three times.

Grade 7, Part 2.

Each strike, just like the dark shadow that fell the night before, made my heart skip a beat.

No one in the group stopped; the drumbeats held everyone's steps in unison.

The tower gate was just ahead, cut open by the gray fog.

The crevices were dark, and within the darkness came tiny, audible sounds, like countless fingernails scraping against a stone—fine, dense, and annoying.

Ron gripped his knife, stepped to the side, and walked to the very front of the first line.

Claudia was behind him on his left, and Viser was behind him on his right.

Behind them, the heavily armored beast lowered its head and arched forward, the bone snake's back rising and falling segment by segment.

The crossbow platform was moved along the passageway, and the player fired only after securing his footing.

The runes along the edge of the tower gate were exposed, as if they had been washed with blood, varying in depth.

In the morning light, the runes shone brightly, so bright it made one's teeth ache.

They huddled together, as if trying to carve someone's name into stone.

Ron raised his sword, holding it horizontally.

Inside the tower gate, the gray-white mist shrank inward by an inch, as if it had been inhaled.

He didn't shout, nor did he look at anyone.

He took a step forward and stepped over the threshold.

The people behind followed.

The drumbeats climbed up the tower wall, only to be quickly swallowed by the dust, as if they had never been heard.

The quiescent membrane was attached to the ground like it was attached to a blade; it was incredibly thin, yet it never broke.

The first shriek came from the tower, piercing straight to the skull.

The ranks remained orderly.

Ron continued walking inside.

It's colder inside the tower than outside.

The moment I stepped across the threshold, the ground beneath my feet changed. It wasn't hard, barren earth anymore, but a damp, grayish soil. I sank in with every step, and when I pulled my shoes out, they were accompanied by a cool, damp sensation.

The air was thick with a damp, fishy smell, like a tomb that had been sealed off for years and never seen the light of day.

The wall was not made of solid stone, but rather pieced together from bone fragments. Black water seeped through the gaps between the bones, dripping down one drop at a time.

The procession advanced in column by column, the light from their torches dimmed, barely reaching three feet. Looking deeper, the fog seemed to move, like a living thing, rising and falling as if breathing.

When they reached a depth of twenty zhang, the first wave of monsters rushed out. They were not corpse puppets, but "Soul-Splitting Beasts".

It was half a person's height, with a bent back, limbs covered in bone spurs, and a splitting howl coming from its mouth.

As soon as the sound rang out, several soldiers in the ranks tilted their heads to the side and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Viser immediately charged forward, wielding his greatsword with both hands, slamming the three-headed Soulbreaker into the wall, scattering bones everywhere. The crossbows in the rear also opened fire, firing a dozen heavy arrows in quick succession into the monsters' chests, pinning them to the wall.

But this was just the beginning. The mist dispersed to both sides, and hundreds and thousands of Soul-Splitting Beasts surged out of the Bone Passage, their footsteps scraping the stone ground, their howls echoing in waves.

The team couldn't hold on any longer. The front row took the brunt of the charge, and several people were thrown into the air by the monster. Their heavy armor slammed into the bone walls, denting the metal, and they were already dead when they fell.

Ron plunged the knife into the ground, raised his hand, and a wave of blood rippled out, instantly creating an opening in the front row.

In the gap, Claudia's Shadow Scales pounced out, tearing more than a dozen monsters to shreds, the broken bones landing and scattering mist.

The line squeezed forward, stepping on the cleared path.

The ballista stepped back half a step to continue suppressing the monsters, while the bone snake slithered along the wall, biting down on any monsters that crawled out of the cracks and dragging them back into the darkness so they wouldn't show themselves again.

Half an hour later, the corpses of the Soul-Splitting Beasts were piled up all over the ground, and blood and black water mixed together to form puddles of filth.

The soldiers were panting heavily, their eyes were glazed over, and the screams still echoed in their minds.

Ron didn't stop; he knew these were just the outer guards. What lay deep within the tower was the truly deadly danger.

……

Continuing forward, the bone passage suddenly widened tenfold, opening up into a huge open hall.

The ceiling was so high that it was invisible; only mist swirled above it.

The walls were covered with carvings, like circles of runes, but they were not characters that humans could understand.

The engravings were slowly glowing, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, like a beating heart.

In the center of the empty hall stands a stone pillar, its shaft cracked open, revealing a huge "eye" embedded inside.

It wasn't a complete organ, but a translucent mass of flesh, inside which countless tiny shadows were writhing.

Each time I turned over, a sharp pain shot through the air, like someone was stabbing my eardrums with an awl.

"The true form of the Eye of the Void Soul."

Claudia whispered.

As soon as the words were spoken, the fleshy mass on the stone pillar trembled, and the fog in the entire hall suddenly exploded.

All the torches went out at once, and even the fire rings were forced to retract.

The moment darkness descended, countless soldiers screamed and rolled on the ground, clutching their heads.

Their souls were forcibly pulled out, and white figures emerged from their bodies one by one, pale and weak, before being sucked into the fleshy mass on the pillar.

Ron roared, activating the blood sacrifice array to its full extent. Blood tanks spread out across the hall, instantly illuminating with a blinding red light, severing half of the ethereal soul's pull.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he directly activated system privileges:

[Annihilation Simulation - First Form]

A black and red ripple immediately appeared in the air, reflecting the power of the Eye of the Void back.

The soul shadow that had been half-absorbed suddenly broke free and fell back onto the soldier. The soldier coughed up blood, but was able to get up again.

The Eye of the Void emitted a low rumble, and the mist swirled in all directions, distorting the entire hall.

Wiesel gripped his sword with both hands, roared as he charged forward, the blade blazing with crimson light, forcefully severing a section of the vortex and leaving a bloody path.

Claudia's Shadow Scales had now fully unfurled, covering the entire back row like a cloak and suppressing the fog outwards.

But the pressure continues to mount.

Soldiers fell one after another, their souls barely held back, but their bodies could no longer hold on.

Ron stood before the stone pillar, blood dripping from his palms.

He understood that if he didn't destroy this eye, the entire army would be swallowed up here.

"Full crossbow—aim at the core!"

A heavy roar echoed through the hall as crossbow bolts rained down, striking the mass of flesh. The mass trembled violently, a crack appeared on its surface, and black water gushed out, splashing onto the stone slab and instantly corroding it into a pit.

The Eye of the Void Soul went into a frenzy, causing the entire hall to tremble violently. The runes on the bone walls lit up, and waves of pressure swept over the area.

Ron stepped on the cracked surface and cleaved the knife straight down.

Blood and annihilation intertwined, forcefully cleaving a massive crack in the mass of flesh.

The Eye of the Void emitted a piercing shriek, the sound booming outwards, causing a deafening roar in everyone's ears, and blood gushing from their ears, mouths, and noses.

Ron's knife did not stop.

The bloodshed intensified.

He gritted his teeth and tore the crack open to the point where a whole person could fit inside.

Within the mass of flesh, gray shadows darted about wildly, like countless trapped souls.

The air was so heavy it was hard to breathe, and the entire hall seemed about to collapse.

This is the true core of the Bone Tower.

Within the split mass of flesh, shadows darted about, like countless remnant souls howling inside.

They crashed against the crack, trying to escape, but every time they reached the edge of the crevice, they were pulled back by an invisible force and torn to pieces.

Ron's blade continued to press down, blood gushing out and seeping into the crack, sealing the shadows layer by layer.

But the power of the Eye of the Void Soul was also retaliating fiercely, with streams of gray mist spewing out from the cracks, piercing people's brains like sharp needles.

The soldiers in the first rank couldn't hold on; seven or eight of them collapsed, their eyes rolled back, their bodies convulsed, and their souls were forcibly pulled out of their bodies.

The ghostly shadow howled as it was torn apart by the gray mist, unable to return to its body. The corpse lay in the blood, growing cold in moments.

Viser roared as he charged upwards, his sword engulfed in bloody light, striking the wall of mist and cleaving a gash in its path.

His muscles trembled and cracked, his armor split open, and blood seeped out, but he stood firm and held back the spread of the fog.

Claudia knelt down, placing her hands on the ground.