"Gah--" A miserable cry rang out, and another tusked behemoth collapsed to the ground.

This was the fifth giant beast that Ruoyu had felled, yet her face remained as calm as still water, as if the carnage before her had not stirred any emotion within her.

"Tch... never-ending..." Not far away, Xiaoling muttered as she changed her magazine, "And they're all quite strong..."

"Don't let your guard down, there are many more." Xiao Tan continued to repeat similar lines from the side, though no one knew how he knew these things.

"Heh... don't worry." Juanmeng Huan replied with a smile, "I'm still handling this with ease."

"Me too." Tanlang added, "Although the pace of this battle is a bit tight, our advantage has not been shaken so far."

Just as they were speaking, suddenly...

*Boom*—A violent tremor came from below the corridor. This abrupt change, without any warning, caused the ground beneath the players' feet to crumble like a fragile biscuit.

"Damn!" Xiaoling immediately cursed (before being silenced), then turned around and grabbed Xiao Tan's shoulder with one arm.

Xiao Tan naturally understood what she meant. Without a word, he freed a hand and gripped Xiaoling tightly.

Their actions were not a display of affection, but a tactical response.

In the previous scenario, some may have noticed that Gu Xiaoling had a very obvious weakness—difficulty dealing with falls from high places.

After all, Xiaoling was a player specializing in the shooting specialization, and one with a heavy firepower inclination. The weight of weapons and ammunition she carried (outside her bag) was already exaggerated, and she did not have the support of a high-level combat specialization, so she naturally faced this problem.

Of course, with preparation, she still had a few deceleration methods to choose from; but relatively speaking, when facing a fall... especially a sudden, rapid fall, she had very few ways to cope. At such times... there were usually only two things she could do: first, pray that the drop was not too great; second, quickly grab Xiao Tan.

"You've got to be kidding me... this is inside a building, why is the layer beneath this corridor so deep..." Juanmeng Huan's expression changed drastically as he fell, because when he looked down, he found an open, boundless abyss beneath his feet, with no bottom in sight.

"Could it be..." Tanlang said in a deep voice, "...that while we were fighting, some kind of monster silently destroyed the building structure beneath us?"

As the two spoke, their bodies were not idle. They each used their own methods to adjust their postures in the air and used deceleration techniques.

"Xiao Tan." Ruoyu quickly spoke, she didn't seem to be doing anything special, but her falling speed was about the same as the others, "Is it dangerous down there?"

Xiao Tan was intermittently activating the *Tiandi Nizhuan Shenjue* (Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Art) to control the rhythm of Xiaoling and his own descent. However, he still had the strength to answer the question: "Mm... super dangerous..." As he said this, his eyes inadvertently glanced at his left hand, "Unprecedentedly dangerous..."

"Gah-- Gah--"

Suddenly, two almost overlapping roars came from the abyss.

The players' already taut nerves were tightened again...

"There!" Xiaoling had sharp eyes and spotted the huge, shadowy monster lurking in the darkness at a glance.

"Ah, I see it." Xiao Tan's scouting specialization was also B-grade, and after being reminded, he also spotted the target.

"Steady." Xiaoling added, reaching into the side pocket of her upper garment.

"Understood." Xiao Tan understood, activated his Divine Art, and tightened his grip around Xiaoling's waist.

Take out ammo, load it, aim, and fire...

In five seconds, Xiaoling fired six light bullets in all directions with a set of seamless actions.

[Name: Low-Temperature Constant Light Bullet]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Effect: Emits light one second after being fired, providing illumination within a radius of 12-15 meters]

[Usage Condition: Shooting Specialization D or Machinery Specialization D]

[Remarks: Lasts for 280-300 seconds, will still function after landing, but the lighting effect will gradually weaken over time.]

As the six light bullets fell in a ring, the true face of the roaring monster was revealed.

It was a massive monster about the size of three elephants (adult African elephants). Its body was like a flat crab shell, and its entire body was a shiny black color; its torso had four symmetrical, inverted v-shaped legs on the front, back, left, and right. The ends of these legs did not have fingers or toes, and looked more like hooves.

In addition, the monster had no "head." There was only a gaping, huge mouth on both the upper and lower sides of its flat shell...

"Gah-- Gah--" Seeing the light, the monster roared again (both mouths roaring at the same time).

This time, the players were only a few dozen meters away from the bottom of the abyss. Therefore... the monster's roar became clearer and more ear-piercing... and it was mixed with an indescribable stench.

"Holy crap... this looks like a script Boss level..." The moment Juanmeng Huan saw the monster's true appearance, he muttered this.

Juanmeng Huan was also a worldly person; for him to say such a thing showed the monster's deterrence and aura.

"Heh... don't worry, it's not a formidable character." Suddenly, another voice sounded, his tone frivolous, his voice shrill... sending chills down people's spines.

At this moment, the five players landed one after another. Without bothering to check the Survival and Stamina Point consumption from the fall, they focused their minds and stood guard.

"So that's it..." After standing firm, Xiao Tan let go of Xiaoling at once and turned his face in the opposite direction from the giant monster, "The super dangerous guy... is actually you..."

"Heh... 'dangerous'? Tit for tat." As the owner of the voice spoke, he slowly walked out of the darkness.

Seconds later, he appeared in the players' sight.

This was a humanoid creature, with pure white skin, cheekbones that were higher than those of ordinary humans, and two pupils in each eye.

He wore a black robe, draped with a gorgeous cloak, and every move he made revealed a sense of composure and depth.

"Let me introduce myself." He came to a place with light, put his hands behind his back, and smiled, "I am the Curse Divine Official under the command of the Lord of All Demons... Tariom."

"Gah-- Gah--" The giant monster in the distance did not care about the conversation on this side. It was now just a puppet of v1-God of War and had to act according to a certain pattern. Therefore, when it realized that all the targets had landed, it roared again and came crawling.

"So noisy..." Tariom's expression turned cold, and he glanced at the giant monster, "Low-level trash..."

Before he finished speaking, he raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

The next second, the giant monster let out a weak groan. Then, its limbs broke off as if they had been dismembered, its torso crashed to the ground, and its mouth closed tightly, no longer making any sound.

"Damn it..." Seeing this scene, Juanmeng Huan cursed fiercely in his heart, "I really shouldn't have chosen a nightmare difficulty team scenario, what is this... any random guy who comes out feels like he can kill me instantly!"

"I don't think we've met before, have we?" Xiao Tan did not look back at the giant monster's condition. He kept staring at Tariom and walked towards him step by step, "What do you mean by 'tit for tat'?"

"Indeed, this is our first meeting." Tariom smiled, "But..." His four pupils shifted in unison towards Xiao Tan's left hand, "I sensed your presence as early as when you entered the Monster Kingdom."

"What you sensed..." Xiao Tan said, rolling up his left sleeve, revealing his entire left forearm, "Is this power, right?"

In that instant, Ruoyu, Xiaoling, Tanlang, and Juanmeng Huan all had varying degrees of change in their expressions.

On Wang Tan Zhi's left hand, they saw a scarlet bloodline. The line started from the palm of his left hand and extended towards the location of his pulse... When it reached his arm, it bloomed like a vine, forming a complex, tattoo-like pattern.

At this moment, Xiao Tan's left forearm was covered in this scarlet blood纹 (wén), and those patterns faintly emitted a red light...