Chapter 74: Unknown Monster

Su Li swam toward the opposite room. The back wall was shaking. One of the Nightmare Beast’s forelimbs had punched a large hole in the wall, and its other claw stretched out, ready to completely rip the wall down.

Suddenly, the monster’s tentacles violently flared out, as if it had been startled by something. It abruptly retreated. Immediately following this, the water outside began to violently churn, as if some monster was struggling fiercely.

Su Li’s heart leaped when he saw this. He immediately swam quietly closer, peering out through the hole the Nightmare Beast had punched in the wall. He saw the Nightmare Beast struggling desperately outside, its tentacles flailing wildly, appearing to be in a frenzy.

Transparent, translucent tendrils were embedded in its vulnerable abdomen, which lacked the protection of its hard shell.

The Nightmare Beast used its tentacles to wrap around these tendrils, trying to pull them out.

“It’s finally here,” Su Li thought silently. He was shocked by the sight, yet it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

He saw floating corpses in the water outside. Each corpse had a translucent tendril emerging from it. These tendrils were now being pulled out of the corpses and were gathering, constantly wrapping around the Nightmare Beast’s body.

The multitude of tendrils intertwined, forming a giant net that was slowly contracting from all sides, with the Nightmare Beast as its target.

The Nightmare Beast, with its immense power, fought back desperately. Its tentacles and foreclaws swung out, frequently tearing off the translucent tendrils. However, more and more tendrils appeared from all directions. It attempted several times to tear apart the forming net and escape but failed.

The Nightmare Beast’s fight against this unknown entity continued, but it was clearly at a disadvantage. Of course, if the two minutes were up and its ultrasonic/infrasonic attack energy recovered, the outcome of the fight would be uncertain.

Su Li only watched for a moment to confirm the situation. He then quickly swam toward the other side, shooting out of a different window of the building. Two thoughts were intertwining in his mind.

One was to immediately surface and flee the area. The other was to dive deeper.

Su Li was not overly surprised by the appearance of this unknown entity, which was even attacking and binding the Nightmare Beast. In fact, it was partially within his expectations.

From the moment he lured the Nightmare Beast onto the roof, Su Li had been planning around the massive pile of corpses up there.

Based on the pattern Ding Longyun had discovered, throwing more corpses into the water would attract more and stronger monsters. The experiment last night had confirmed the viability of this rule for Su Li.

So, when he lured the Nightmare Beast to the roof, one purpose was to create an opportunity for Ding Longyun and the other two to escape and then return to help him. The other was to throw the large quantity of corpses from the roof into the water. Would throwing a massive amount of bodies into the water lure some kind of truly powerful creature?

Based on his previous observations, he knew that the monsters’ target was not exclusively humans. There was competition among the monsters, and the flesh and blood of higher-level or unique monsters were more appealing than human flesh.

That was why, when they threw the corpse of the Level 2 Leader-class One-Eyed Frog King into the water, it attracted so many Corpse Beasts and Sea Spiders.

The first priority of these Corpse Beasts and Sea Spiders was the One-Eyed Frog King’s corpse. Only those monsters that couldn’t reach the One-Eyed Frog King’s corpse chose to attack them as a secondary option.

If the flesh of a Level 2 Leader-class monster was so tempting, how much more tempting would the Nightmare Beast’s flesh be?

The Nightmare Beast was a Leader-class monster whose level he couldn’t even peer into. Its allure would naturally far surpass the One-Eyed Frog King or low-level Spiritual Source Wielders like themselves. Similarly, for the Nightmare Beast, the blood and flesh of this powerful, unknown creature might also be more alluring than his own.

When Xu Xuehui mentioned “corpses, flower, and treasure” underwater, Su Li had explored briefly. He found that a large number of corpses were indeed floating deep underwater, each with a translucent tendril trailing into the depths. They had retreated due to fear, choosing to leave without looking closer.

Su Li had already vaguely guessed that a terrifying, bizarre monster must be hidden in the depths. Perhaps their low levels made them uninteresting to it, or perhaps it was dormant and hadn’t noticed them at the time. Whatever the reason, the unknown monster hadn’t attacked them, allowing them to leave safely.

Su Li threw the corpses from the roof down, intending to provoke this unknown monster in the depths. He wanted to pit this creature against the Nightmare Beast. With an unknown mysterious monster on one side and the powerful Nightmare Beast on the other, if they truly fought, it would be a case of the clam and the snipe fighting, benefiting the fisherman. Su Li was eager to be that fisherman.

Of course, this plan was extremely risky and fraught with danger. A single misstep could be fatal. Su Li had no confidence in the probability of success.

However, they were targeted by the Nightmare Beast. If the four of them stayed together, they couldn’t escape. The final result would likely be all four of them being killed by the Nightmare Beast. Worse, if they were captured alive, the fate would be a hundred or even a thousand times more terrifying than death.

Since death was a distinct possibility either way, it was better to take a risk. Maybe they could find a chance to survive.

It was with this mindset that Su Li chose to have the other three flee downward while he went alone to the roof to draw the Nightmare Beast away.

Now, seeing the countless translucent tendrils emerge and weave into a net, it was clear that the unknown creature in the depths had been fully awakened. Just as Su Li had guessed, it ignored the insignificant Su Li and sought to capture the Nightmare Beast.

The Nightmare Beast was powerful and resisted fiercely. The two immediately clashed. Although the tendrils were piercing the Nightmare Beast’s abdomen, the monster was tearing off many of the tendrils. It seemed the brutal fight wouldn’t end quickly. At the very least, it wouldn’t be easy for the mysterious monster to fully capture the Nightmare Beast.

Su Li seized the opportunity. He shot out of the building through a window on the opposite side, quickly floated upward, and broke the surface. He took a long breath to refresh his lungs, and then submerged again.

Just now, he had finally made up his mind. He did not flee immediately. Instead, he dove downward at full speed.

The fight between the unknown monster and the Nightmare Beast would take time to resolve and wouldn’t allow the combatants to pay attention to him.

Since he still had a little time, Su Li decided to risk it and check out the treasure Xu Xuehui had mentioned.

(End of Chapter)