Chapter 12: A Worthy Opponent! Yet Again, That Calamity-Grade Monster!

Today was the 38th day after Awakening Day, and Mu Yunlan, who possessed the rare class "Sword Cultivator," already had the strength of level 22.

Previously, out of safety concerns, her family had never let her enter dungeons above level 20 to level up, and that remained the case even after assigning her a level 53 first-ascension guard.

Only today was she finally able to come to the Underworld Demon Lair.

Whether it was the Forest of Red Demons or the Underworld Demon Lair, as long as she was allowed to enter, she was very happy.

Before entering, she glanced in the direction of the Grayrock Highlands.

"Lu Zheng, although your talent is very poor, I believe you are a worthy opponent. You must be chasing after me with all your might, right? I won't slacken either. I will give it my all — this is my respect for you!"

Meanwhile, deep within the Underworld Demon Lair below, the already level 26 Lu Zheng had just slain a LV. 28 Dark Minotaur. He sighed as he glanced at his experience bar, which had increased by a negligible amount.

"It seems leveling up by killing monsters on my own isn't realistic. The speed is far too slow — I still need to keep cultivating more powerful summon beasts!"

Currently, the highest-level one under his command was the LV. 27 Three-Tailed Spirit Fox, followed by the LV. 26 Phantom Spirit Cat and the LV. 25 Crescent Eagle. Taotie and the Cave-Dwelling Pale Serpent had both reached LV. 24.

He had kept Taotie starving for a while now; Lu Zheng hadn't let it loose, only occasionally allowing it to kill for a spell, and never permitting it to use Dharma Avatar of Heaven and Earth or Black Hole Devour, for fear of drawing trouble upon himself.

Coming down into the Underworld Demon Lair today was precisely to let it have a full meal.

The underworld passages wound ever downward, the paths branching into many routes, but all of them connected to a large open space, forming layer upon layer of structures. The closer to the bottom layers, the higher the monsters' levels and the denser they became.

During his years at the academy, a very important part of the curriculum had been the study of monster information and dungeon information.

Lu Zheng knew that this Underworld Demon Lair had a total of sixteen layers. Once past the bottom six layers, not only were the monsters all at least level 26 or above, but there was also a demonic qi suppression that weakened all professionals.

But such an environment had no effect whatsoever on Taotie — it could devour all forms of energy, including this demonic qi.

To avoid causing trouble, Lu Zheng had Taotie descend directly to the bottommost sixteenth layer. The space within the Underworld Demon Lair was limited, so after using Dharma Avatar of Heaven and Earth, Taotie's body size could only reach a little over eight meters tall, but this did not affect its slaughter of the creatures here.

Opening its maw and unleashing the "Black Hole Devour" skill, an immense gravitational force was generated. All the monsters on this layer were pulled toward it, and by the time they reached its mouth, the powerful gravitational distortion had already torn them apart, turning them into food that entered Taotie's belly, bringing a massive amount of experience points in return.

The entire underground sixteenth layer was soon sucked completely clean! Immediately after, through the network of underground passages, the fifteenth layer was also affected by the gravitational pull. The monsters on this layer were likewise torn apart and flew in through those passages, converging into Taotie's mouth.

This was a gravitational force, and the closer to Taotie's mouth, the greater the power and the harder it was to resist.

And at least within fifteen layers, not a single monster could resist this force.

Furthermore, as Taotie's level increased, its control over this gravitational force grew increasingly precise. It could now clearly apply gravitational pull to targets it sensed, so it could sweep up only the monsters within the Underworld Demon Lair without causing any destruction to the environment here.

Having drained the fifteenth and sixteenth layers, Taotie gained a level. Next came the fourteenth layer, the thirteenth...

At this time, within the fifth layer of the Underworld Demon Lair.

After Mu Yunlan released a burst of sword qi and easily slew a LV. 23 Dark Gnoll, she said with considerable confidence, "Uncle Zhao, the monsters on this layer are far too low-level. Let's go down to the next layer!"

Looking at the corpse of the Dark Gnoll that had just been slain, Zhao Kai nodded in satisfaction.

"Indeed. The monsters here no longer pose any threat to you and cannot temper your combat abilities. Let us proceed to the next layer."

Saying so, the two entered the passage leading from the underground fifth layer to the sixth.

But just as they reached the passage's exit, suddenly, a tyrannical force swept over, causing Mu Yunlan and Zhao Kai's bodies to involuntarily fly toward the deeper layer below.

Zhao Kai was a veteran warrior, after all. As the possessor of the 【Berserker】 class, he reacted in an instant. Frenzy!

Mental resistance was halved, while Strength and Constitution attributes doubled within a short period of time.

In a flash, he grabbed Mu Yunlan by the shoulder with one hand while forcefully plunging his greatsword into the ground with the other.

"Miss! Plunge your sword into the ground, quickly! Get low and press yourselves against the ground!"

He roared, looking extremely anxious.

Mu Yunlan immediately did as told. The next moment, large numbers of monsters came flying out of the fifth layer's passage exit. They were torn to pieces by an inexplicable force, as if swept up by a flood, surging toward the entrance leading to the deeper underground layer!

Pressing against the ground, along with gripping their weapons, spared them from being swept along.

"What — what is happening!?"

Seeing this sight, Mu Yunlan was utterly horrified in her heart, but in the next moment, she noticed something else. Apart from that brief instant of pulling, her body was no longer subjected to any force.

"It seems that gravitational pull is gone."

Hearing her say this, Zhao Kai also noticed that the gravitational force seemed to no longer be targeting the two of them, though the monsters were still being drawn over in large numbers. Yet he did not dare let his guard down.

"Don't let go, don't let your guard down. Once everything calms down, we leave here immediately!"

Zhao Kai said sternly.

As a guard of the Mu family, his duty was to protect Mu Yunlan. The current situation was completely beyond the scope of his understanding and even more impossible to control. He had to get away as quickly as possible to ensure Mu Yunlan's safety.

Mu Yunlan was no fool and knew how dangerous this situation was. If they hadn't held on just now, or if this force had not dissipated from the two of them, they would likely have been torn apart long ago.

This was not a force below level 30 at all — even Zhao Kai, after his first ascension, could not resist it! Though curious, she certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to go investigate.

"Look, those are monsters from the first layer — LV. 21 Dark Demon Rats! This force has likely swept through the entire Underworld Demon Lair! It's far too dangerous. We must get out immediately — this place could collapse at any moment!"

Zhao Kai said with some alarm. He thought of the rumors he had recently heard about the calamity-grade monster in the Black Pine Forest and the Forest of Red Demons, and could not help but gulp.

It seemed that fellow was the one who used a gravitational force to sweep up and devour everything!

He had assumed that creature shouldn't exist in this place, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect — what you fear most is exactly what comes.

Run — they had to get out of here as fast as possible!

By this time, the flood of monsters no longer poured through the passage entrance. Zhao Kai quickly pulled his greatsword from the ground.

"Miss, let's go, quickly! That calamity-grade monster that nearly destroyed the Black Pine Forest and the Forest of Red Demons is very likely hiding at the very bottom!"

Hearing this, Mu Yunlan's face also drained of color in shock.

Though she did not know much about that calamity-grade monster, she had heard that it was a creature that left even second-ascension patrol envoys helpless — a monster that had twice put the entire Liyang City on level-two alert. It was absolutely not something a mere level-20-plus Sword Cultivator like her could contend with.

The two immediately fled for their lives.

Meanwhile, Lu Zheng had no idea he had once again caused panic. He was currently opening treasure chests!

(End of this chapter)