Chapter Sixty-Eight: Underground Crisis

In an instant, Colin and the others near the tunnel entrance became alert. It wasn’t until they saw the glow from below and heard normal footsteps that they relaxed slightly.

Soon, with hurried footsteps approaching, three servants jogged out. Their expressions were forcedly calm, but their faces were pale, as if they’d just experienced something unsettling.

However, upon seeing the bright lights above the entrance, the three finally breathed a sigh of relief.

A rope, already prepared, was thrown down. After the three were hauled up, Colin took the lantern handed to him and looked at their pale faces. “What happened down there? What did you encounter?”

“Reporting to the lord, below there’s a staircase that descends for about five or six minutes. At the end, we found the gray mist had disappeared…” the lead servant answered, still shaken.

At the bottom of the stairs was a vast hall, free of mist but covered in thick tree roots. They had tried to enter, but the moment they stepped inside, a predatory aura enveloped them—a presence of a higher hunter.

Remembering Colin’s warning, they withdrew immediately, avoiding danger and unforeseen accidents.

“A hall tangled with tree branches, possibly housing an unknown lifeform…” Colin mused aloud. “Did it feel stronger than a lord-level aberration?”

He wasn’t worried they would misjudge; these three were from Team One, one of five frontline squads in the extermination campaign, and had faced such creatures at close range before.

“No, not even close…” the loyal servant shook his head.

It was dangerous, but lacked the terrifying oppressive force of a lord-level aberration.

“That’s good. It’s probably a strong elite aberration…” Colin exhaled, relieved. If it were lord-level, it would mean another grueling battle.

From the world channel discussions, each lord-level aberration specializes in a different domain, possessing its own uniquely terrifying traits.

Without more information, attacking it would be suicide—and a thorough one at that. Especially underground, where there was little chance to bombard it with tons of explosives…

In that moment, Colin realized, with a twinge of despair, that apart from relying on vast quantities of black powder to harm lord-level aberrations, they had almost no means to deal with such entities…

Even the possession of powerful mystical items was useless for some, for their own attributes were too weak. Even if a mystical item could briefly block the attack of a lord-level aberration, the wielder would likely perish from their own frailty in the collision.

Just a careless glance, a moment’s lapse, and they would die in the most miserable fashion.

Take, for example, the infamous “Abyssal Valley Campaign” discussed in the chat channel.

Over a hundred lords, accompanied by hundreds of servants and armed with seven mystical items, launched a well-prepared assault on a lord-level aberration deep within a canyon. In the end, less than ten lords escaped alive; the rest were wiped out.

Had it not been for the powerful effect of one mystical item, they might have been annihilated completely.

The survivors recounted the battle, and it was repeatedly analyzed in the chat channel. The consensus was unanimous: these creatures’ attributes were terrifying beyond reason.

Another example was the “Silent Sentinel” Colin encountered. Even while severely wounded, it could easily lift a three-branch candelabrum weighing over six tons.

A wounded state should reduce base attributes by seventy percent…

This meant that, in its full form, assuming one point of strength equals fifty kilograms, its strength attribute alone would reach a hundred or even two hundred—enough to inspire hopelessness.

The highest strength attribute among Colin’s companions was Shana, who had just seven points—not even a fraction.

Without massive amounts of black powder, victory was impossible.

Colin’s own kill had been largely accidental and fortunate—not something others could replicate. If this lord-level aberration had the same stealth abilities as the one in the “Abyssal Valley Campaign”…

The outcome would be an unknown yet again.

Now, all they needed was time to grow stronger, to truly unleash the power of their mystical items. Yet, time was what they lacked most.

The countdown was too urgent—only six days remained, not nearly enough for gradual growth.

They didn’t know what they would face, but instinctively guessed it wouldn’t be any less daunting than confronting a lord-level aberration.

Perhaps, from the very start, this enigmatic and contradictory “game system” never intended for them to survive…

Shaking his head, Colin gathered his scattered thoughts and said, “We’ll end the exploration here for now.”

He wasted no time leading the team away, boarding the armored vehicle and quickly heading toward the mining area.

A few minutes later, a collapsed earth pit appeared before Colin, roughly two to three hundred square meters and about two meters deep.

Nearby, two armored vehicles were parked, their headlights illuminating the interior of the pit.

Below, several lanterns flickered, suggesting exploration underway.

When Colin arrived, Li Hang and others emerged from a sloped path made of stacked stone by someone unknown.

“Boss, nothing much found…” Li Hang regretfully shook his head, handing over his meager harvest—just a few “Sunshine Mushrooms” growing on “Luminous Stone.”

“Alright, I’ll take a look myself,” Colin nodded. After a brief greeting, he carried a lantern down into the collapsed pit, surveying the area.

[A semi-natural collapsed earth pit. From the water-scarred rock walls and ground, you surmise this was once a subterranean river channel.]

[But now, the channel has dried up, and its structure is fragile. A chance event caused its collapse.]

Could this “chance” have been caused by the Silent Sentinel passing through? Remembering its terrifying weight, Colin found it plausible…

He didn’t linger on the thought, and without more information, he focused on the obvious traces on the ground.

[Many chaotic footprints cover the ground. From a simple analysis, you estimate at least ten survivors passed through here…]

[The subterranean river channel extends toward the rear of Raven Mountain. About a hundred meters away, there’s a recently collapsed obstruction.]

[Beyond that, you seem to feel a familiar aura slowly emanating—a presence you once felt at the nearby chapel…]

[Perhaps the two paths lead to similar destinations.]

“Tsk, similar destinations. If this path leads straight ahead, isn’t it right behind the church’s underground tunnel? Didn’t they just plunge headfirst into that dangerous area?”