Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

The roar behind us grew closer and closer.

Ian could "sense" that the thing was coming after him without even turning around.

The soft rustling sound of the silk threads rubbing against the rocks behind me was dense and continuous, like the tide washing over the beach.

The stale smell in the air was replaced by a stronger fishy odor, which tightened my throat when I inhaled it.

[Furnace Tempering Technique] Full power activated, a frantic, deadly sprint.

The effects of the [Civet Elixir] are still present; my body feels as light as a feather, and my reactions are as fast as lightning.

But the path beneath his feet was deforming, the walls on both sides of the corridor were squeezing inward, and the eyes of the faces on the reliefs were all open, staring intently at him.

"Left!" Gaga shrieked on his shoulder.

Without thinking, Ian swerved sharply to the left.

boom!

The passage we had just run through collapsed, boulders crashed down, and dozens of dark red threads emerged from the dust, writhing and reaching out like tentacles.

"So close..."

He gritted his teeth and took out a black hole potion from his dimensional ring, clutching it in his hand.

It cannot be used indiscriminately now.

This thing is powerful, but its range is small. After using it, it will leave a few seconds of energy disturbance in the place where you stand. If you run too slowly, you might get caught in it.

We have to wait for an opportunity.

The corridor ahead suddenly widened, revealing a crossroads.

Ian paused.

From the depths of the left passage, the sounds of magical bombardment and screams could be heard.

It was the voice of a wizard, and the flash of magic exploding.

The passageway to the right was quiet, but the reliefs on the walls were more distorted, and a faint gray mist hung in the air.

The road directly ahead was blocked by a pile of collapsed rubble, leaving only a narrow gap above.

The rustling sound of the pursuers had closed to within a hundred meters.

Ian's eyes flashed, and he rushed to the left.

"Gah! There's a fight over there!" Gaga cried out urgently.

"We need people," Ian growled.

He rushed into the passage, and the sight before him made his pupils shrink.

Four gray-robed men were fighting a group of gargoyles that had crawled out of the wall.

They are from the Withered Council. Judging from their attire and aura, they are likely the remaining four members of the Cursed Undead squad.

Samael had previously mentioned that the team consisted of five people; he was hunting down Ian alone, while the other four were operating elsewhere.

These four were all experts in liquefying spiritual energy, yet they were now fighting in a sorry state.

There weren't many gargoyles, only seven or eight, but each one was over five meters tall, covered in black stone, and its claws were sharp enough to tear apart protective auras.

What's more troublesome is that once they're broken, the fragments will reform unless they're completely pulverized.

A gray-robed witch was cornered against a wall by two gargoyles, looking extremely disheveled.

Her death ray struck the gargoyle, leaving only a few shallow craters.

A male wizard nearby tried to help, but was ambushed from behind by another gargoyle.

The protective aura shattered with a "crack," and three deep, bone-revealing bloody gashes appeared on his back.

"Where is Captain Samael?!" a tall, thin man in a gray robe shouted as he fought, his voice filled with panic.

"I don't know! We can't get in touch with them!" another burly man replied.

He held a bone sickle in his hand, and with one blow he cleaved the head of a gargoyle, but the fragments immediately began to come back together.

The moment Ian rushed in, all four of them saw him.

The tall, thin man's eyes lit up, then turned vicious.

"It's you... Captain Samael went after you, where is he now?!"

Ian completely ignored him.

He glanced at the battlefield and quickly made a decision in his mind.

The gargoyles were blocking the middle of the passage, and the pursuers were fast approaching. These four people... were just right.

He kept moving and charged straight towards the gargoyles.

"You're asking for it!" The burly man sneered, turning his bone scythe to try and strike Ian.

But Ian was too fast.

He moved like a shadow between the two gargoyles, his right index finger pointing repeatedly.

Frost Ray!

It wasn't a full-force attack, but rather scattered, extremely fine frost-white cold air.

Like dozens of needles, they precisely pierced the joints of the gargoyle.

Click, click, click!

The gargoyle that was hit froze instantly, its joints covered with a thin layer of ice.

Although they were shattered in an instant, that momentary delay created gaps in their formation.

Ian squeezed through the gap and continued rushing forward without looking back.

The four men in gray robes were taken aback.

"He's trying to run!" the tall, thin man shouted angrily, realizing what was happening.

"Stop him! Captain Samael must be in trouble!"

But they were entangled with the gargoyles and couldn't break free.

Just then, Ian had already rushed to the other end of the passage, more than fifty meters away from them.

He suddenly stopped and turned around.

Raise your right hand, palm facing up.

A transparent crystal ball, about the size of a walnut, with three colors of energy slowly flowing inside, lay quietly in his palm.

Black Hole Potion.

The four gray-robed men saw the thing, and although they didn't know what it was, they instinctively sensed danger.

"What are you doing?!" the tall, thin man exclaimed.

Ian's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything.

He used all his strength to throw the crystal ball hard in the direction in front of them.

It wasn't hitting people, it was hitting the ground at the entrance of the passage.

The crystal ball traced an arc before landing.

Click.

A soft sound.

The tall, thin man turned around and saw the small, transparent ball roll twice on the ground before stopping.

A hairline crack appeared on the surface.

Alarm bells were ringing in his head: "Hide..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

hum...

There was no loud noise, only the muffled sound of space being torn apart.

An absolute black sphere, two meters in diameter, burst forth from the crack and expanded instantly.

At the entrance of the passage, the ground, walls, air... everything was swallowed by darkness, its surfaces smooth as a mirror.

But what's even more terrifying is that the moment the black ball appeared, the rustling sound that had been chasing Ian suddenly stopped.

Immediately following, a chilling, greedy, and intensely dramatic atmosphere filled the air: Update! Come check out Cola Novels! Driven by an insatiable hunger for power.

Like a real tide, it surged in from outside the entrance of the passage!

It "saw" the annihilation energy of the black hole potion eruption.

They also "saw" the four gray-robed figures, radiating vibrant life, fighting the gargoyles in the passage.

"hiss!"

A non-human, involuntary inhalation sound, like countless overlapping sounds, resounded in everyone's mind.

The four gray-robed men froze simultaneously, their faces drained of color.

They sensed it.

What is that thing... colder than death, hungrier than the abyss?

"Run!" The burly man was the first to react, shouting hoarsely.

But it was too late.

At the entrance of the passage, the moment the darkness dissipated, dark red threads surged in like a flood bursting its banks!

Not just one or two, but thousands upon thousands, densely packed, interwoven into a writhing wave.

Wherever the silk threads passed, the walls were peeled away, and the gargoyles were entangled, decomposed, and absorbed, leaving not a single fragment behind.

Extremely fast.

"No!" the gray-robed witch screamed, turning to run, but tripped and fell to the ground.

The silk thread wrapped around her ankle.

She screamed and frantically unleashed death rays, but the rays hit the silk threads without even a ripple.

The silk threads climbed up her legs, wrapping and tightening.

The witch's skin shrank at a visible rate, her eyes bulged out, and she made a "hoarse" sound from her throat.

A few seconds later, it turned into a skeleton covered in skin, and then even the skeleton was swallowed up by the silk threads.

The tall, thin man and the burly man were terrified and ran forward as fast as they could.

But Ian looked at them coldly, showing no intention of making way.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" the tall, thin man roared.

He conjured a ball of ghastly green, corrosive energy in his hand, intending to blast Ian away.

Ian didn't move.

The creaking sound on his shoulder twitched.

The little crow flapped its wings and activated [Eye of Calamity] at full power!

The tall, thin man's vision blurred, as if he saw countless vengeful spirits rushing towards him, causing him to slow down his movements by half a beat.

Just this one shot.

The waves of silk threads behind him caught up with him.

"what!"

A short, agonizing scream, then it vanished.

The burly man was even more ruthless. He bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence, which transformed into a bone shield behind him.

At the same time, his body slammed into Ian like a cannonball, trying to force his way through.

Ian made a move this time.

He took a half step forward with his left foot, clenched his right fist, and the jade-like luster beneath his skin exploded.

[Furnace Tempering Technique] A punch delivered at full power slammed into the chest of the short, stocky man.

Bang!

The bony shield was shattered, and the sternum was depressed.

The short, stocky man flew backward, spitting blood, and landed right in the spreading waves of silk threads.

"You... will not have a good end..." The curse was swallowed up by the silk threads before it could be finished.

The last injured wizard was terrified and collapsed to the ground, his crotch soaked.

The silk threads entangled him, and before he could even scream, he became nourishment.

The four liquefied level one wizards were all wiped out.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.

Ian watched expressionlessly as the threads swallowed the last person, then his "gaze" shifted to him.

Cold, greedy, hungry.

He turned and ran.

The silk threads caught up, but seemed a little slower.

It devoured four wizards, making it "full" for a moment.

That one moment is enough.

Ian rushed to the end of the passage, where there was only a dead end and a narrow gap above.

He pushed off with his feet, jumped up, grabbed the edge of the gap with both hands, exerted his strength, and squeezed through like an eel.

Gaga followed closely behind.

On the other side of the crevice was another corridor, even more dilapidated, but the fishy smell in the air was much fainter.

Ian landed and, without stopping, continued running.

The rustling sound behind me started again, but the distance between us had increased.

He was panting, his chest burning with pain, his mental energy mostly depleted, and the effects of the [Spirit Cat Potion] were beginning to wear off.

But we can't stop.

After running for about five more minutes, a light appeared ahead.

It is an export.

Ian rushed out, and suddenly the view opened up before him.

It is a huge underground cave with a dome so high that it is invisible, and the ground is covered with jagged rocks and a dried-up riverbed.

There was a faint light source in the distance, like some kind of glowing moss.

Most importantly, there are no distorted reliefs here, nor is there any fishy, ​​pungent air.

"Safe...for now."

Ian leaned against a boulder, slid down to the ground, and gasped for breath.

Gaga rolled off his shoulder and collapsed on the ground, its little belly rising and falling.

"Exhausted...terrified..."

Ian patted its head and took out two vials of potion from his dimensional ring.

One vial for mental recovery, the other for physical replenishment. I drank one vial myself and fed a few drops to Gaga.

The coolness and warmth spread through my body at the same time, relieving my fatigue.

He listened carefully, but the rustling sound behind him did not follow.

That thing... seems to only exist in the illusionary corridor.

"We're safe for now," he said softly, his eyes growing even more serious.

He heard what the four members of the cursed undead squad said before they died.

And the Crimson Court, Blood Butcher is dead, Phoenix must know that.

What's more troublesome is that he now has five Void Anchor Stones, as well as the token and record crystal he stole from Blood Butcher.

The objects deep within the underground palace clearly reacted to the anchor stone.

"We need to figure out what's hidden in this underground palace as soon as possible." Ian looked into the depths of the cave, where there was light.

He rested for ten minutes until his breathing stabilized, then stood up.

"Gaga, let's go."

"Where are you going?"

"Let's find a safe place and see what we actually got."