Chapter 726: The Tide of Evil Beasts

Deep within the labyrinthine rock caves, the tremors overhead grew louder and louder.

Pasha knew they were closing in, numerous, vast in scale, and coming with overwhelming force.

She extended her limbs into the earth, spreading towards the layers below, and then "saw" everything happening outside the mountain – hordes of black evil beasts ran between the mountains, and several entrances to the maze ruins were blocked by burly Hell Dreadbeasts, so that the mixed breeds behind them frantically tore at the Dreadbeast's body and internal organs until they opened a new passage from its body – if they didn't do so, they would be squeezed to death at the entrance by other evil beasts.

But it wouldn't be long before this passage was blocked again, and the way to clear it was to repeat the same process, with the result that the scene at the entrance was like a meat grinder of blood before the evil beasts even attacked the core area of the ruins.

And the layers of earth were equally restless, with Wasteland Beasts traveling through them. Their mouthparts, full of sharp teeth, were the most effective digging tools, and their oily, moist skin allowed them to wriggle effortlessly underground, carrying a large number of symbiotic mixed breeds in their long shells. Once these monsters broke through the defense, they often caused huge casualties to the defenders.

Even mutated flying beast species appeared in the sky, but they couldn't enter the interior of the ruins and could only hover and howl in the air.

It was an indescribable experience. Although she didn't directly witness any of it, every hiss in the mountains and sky, every tremor on the surface, and the sound of the earth rubbing together were accurately transmitted to her brain through thousands of tentacles, forming countless vivid pictures.

This was the largest evil beast invasion since the start of winter.

Pasha retracted her limbs and sank into the deeper layers of the earth.

From time to time, fine bits of soil fell from the top of the cave, causing the braziers on both sides of the passage to crackle – she didn't need firelight to see every pebble on the ground, but those companions who had transformed into God's Punishment Warriors did. But at this moment everyone had already moved to the maze hall, and she extinguished the open flame in the brazier as she passed.

"What's the situation above?"

As soon as she entered the hall, Er'mu's voice rang in her mind.

"The nearest Wasteland Beast is about to break through to the third layer," Pasha projected her answer into everyone's consciousness, "What about the situation below the maze?"

"No anomalies found," Er'mu replied, "But I saw a few charred corpses."

Since changing her new body, Pasha's understanding of combat had changed dramatically. The previously flat world suddenly became three-dimensional. Since enemies could move freely underground, the survivors had to pay attention to the situation under their feet at all times – as long as they weren't standing at the end of the abyss, they shouldn't ignore the threats lurking deeper.

Fortunately, beneath the ruins was a flowing river of lava, sealing off most of the maze's substructure, saving them a lot of trouble. As far as she could see, there were no evil beasts that weren't afraid of fire.

"How long until the Heavenly Tribulation Instrument is ready?" Pasha looked at Celine.

"I don't know, half an hour, or an hour?" The latter's anxious voice came from the magic core, "I'm doing my best, but the damaged area in District 43 has just been repaired, and Eleanor needs time to calculate!"

"Don't worry, they can't get here that fast," she reassured, "The large mixed breeds will be stuck outside the caves, let us deal with the smaller evil beasts."

"That's right, let's treat it as a daily exercise," Aylana said, "With us here, the evil beasts won't be able to attack the hall."

"Actually, I don't think we should take back the Divine Relic so quickly. Wouldn't it be better to let Fallen Star City consume itself for a while longer?" someone said.

"Then they have to defend Hermes, without the God's Punishment Army, those mortals are useless!" Er'mu retorted.

"The city walls can effectively block the evil beasts, and fire oil and trebuchets can still give these beasts a head-on blow. We only need to lurk in the Shrine of the Holy Secretaries, and retrieve the relic when they break through the city."

"There are hidden mechanisms under the cathedral, what if they trigger the collapse trap? Being buried alive is a small matter, it would be all over if the relic fell into the hands of the devil. In any case, we can't afford to take this risk."

"Stop arguing," Pasha interrupted, "Since we've already brought back the relic, there's no other way to go. Have you forgotten what Nataya said? Arguments should only be made before making a choice, no matter what decision we make, we shouldn't regret it."

After she spoke, no one else's consciousness sounded again, apparently defaulting to this statement.

In the Tarchiha era, this situation would basically not occur, and lower-level witches had to unconditionally obey those in higher positions, and violators would be severely punished. The most serious dispute in the Union was the dispute between Nataya and Akalys. Before breaking away from Fallen Star City, Nataya said those words to all her followers, and then launched an attack on the Meteor Queen.

Since then, the survivors of Tarchiha no longer had a distinction between superiors and inferiors, and disputes gradually increased. But Pasha didn't mind these things at all – compared to the cold system, she preferred a vibrant organization.

As the others changed the subject and discussed how to block the evil beasts, Pasha suddenly felt an unusual message from a tentacle!

Violent tremors echoed in the rock layers, as if something heavy had fallen down, so fast that it seemed like there was no obstruction, breaking through several layers of the maze almost continuously, and approaching the depths of the hall in a few breaths!

How was this possible?

The ground was full of dense soil and rocks. Even for a Wasteland Beast, it would take several quarters of an hour to dig down one layer. This wasn't on the surface, how could it move so quickly?

Pasha quickly transferred more tentacles to the direction from which the movement came – the more tentacles monitoring an area, the more "images" she received.

Then her heart sank.

A longitudinal crack of six or seven miles had appeared in this area at some point, dividing the earth into two, looking like a cliff extending into the ground. A Savage Beast happened to drill through the mountain wall and rolled all the way down, actually landing right above the hall.

"Prepare to meet the enemy!" Pasha raised the consciousness warning to the maximum, "Magic Core direction!"

As everyone was slightly stunned, the stone slabs at the top of the hall shattered suddenly, and a long Savage Beast slid down from the crack. Its body, covered with scratches and bruises, emitted a dim light under the illumination of the magic core – obviously the fall had caused it great damage, but even so, it still used its last breath to complete its mission.

At the moment when the giant beast landed, dozens of mixed-breed evil beasts tore open its belly and pounced on Celine, who was the closest.