69: Reduction in staff

However, after the very first teleportation, the Prosperity team suffered heavy casualties.

The three backline members were fine, and Lin Ye only sustained minor injuries, but Chen Ou was almost critically wounded, nearly getting instantly killed.

Wang Mengmeng used all her Star Power to heal Chen Ou, her face turning pale from the over-exertion.

Chen Ou's face was ashen. Having returned to his normal size, his body was covered in wounds, especially his right chest, which was pierced through, revealing his faintly beating heart.

The wounds were one thing, but the toxins were even more agonizing.

Wang Mengmeng simply cleaned and stitched his wounds, but the toxins had already invaded Chen Ou's body.

Fortunately, he possessed an Indestructible Body, and his Colossus and Earth Power continuously cleared the toxins and healed his wounds; otherwise, he would have likely triggered his Life-saving equipment and left long ago.

Lin Ye stood guard, fully activating his Star Eyes.

The two mages collected the Bloodmane Scorpion-tailed Lion's loot and handed it to Lin Ye for safekeeping.

"Let's leave quickly; this is not a place to linger," Chen Ou decided decisively.

Everyone nodded.

The sounds of battle and the scent of blood and flesh would attract many predators.

They didn't bother to bury or burn the bodies; that was too difficult to manage, as the enhanced senses of the exotic beasts were terrifying.

Even using deodorizers wouldn't dissipate such a wide-ranging smell.

Lin Ye carried Chen Ou, activating his Star Eyes to avoid threats, while the three backline members followed behind. Bai Ziqing occasionally cast a Lightness spell on them to reduce their burden.

They hurriedly found a rock wall with a hidden cave.

Lin Ye set Chen Ou down, went up to inspect it, and found it to be a long-abandoned cave with no dangers.

He pulled out a rope from his spatial storage, threw it down, and helped everyone up.

After treating their traces with a scent-disrupting potion, they finally settled down.

"This was too dangerous; we almost got wiped out," Wang Mengmeng said, still shaken.

If Chen Ou had been instantly killed, none of them could have withstood the Bloodmane Scorpion-tailed Lion's scorpion tail attack. It would have been one hit, one kill, and only Lin Ye would have been able to escape.

"This lion was at least a Challenge Level 2 exotic beast. If we hadn't been lucky, and the Captain hadn't seized the opportunity to firmly restrain its killing weapon, we probably would have been wiped out," Lin Ye also felt lingering fear. No wonder everyone said this Chaotic Abyss was terrifying.

Bai Ziqing asked, "Lin Ye, have you awakened a detection skill? If you hadn't warned about its scorpion tail just now, the Captain probably wouldn't have used all his defenses."

Lin Ye nodded, "It's just that my skill has improved, and I happened to discover it."

He didn't plan to expose his Star Eyes; after all, using Star Eyes didn't cause any noticeable fluctuations.

Having one spatial skill for a Star Spirit was acceptable, as some people's Star Spirits also awakened, but having multiple skills would be quite astonishing.

Chen Ou recovered his breath and said solemnly, "Fortunately, Lin Ye still has trump cards. Lin Ye, for this mission, your priority is to ensure your own survival. If we're talking about who can laugh last, only you can do it."

Lin Ye nodded.

Zhao Wenlong joked, "Captain, why do you look like you're making your last arrangements? Didn't we just escape a disaster?"

Chen Ou rolled his eyes at him and continued to instruct, "With this cave, we should be able to hide for a long time, but if something happens, Lin Ye, you run first. This is a competition; with Life-saving equipment, we won't have any serious problems."

Lin Ye stated that if he was in danger, he would definitely be the first to run, which satisfied Chen Ou.

This place was indeed relatively safe. The sounds of fighting occasionally coming from outside didn't disturb their rest.

The Colossus's inherently strong recovery ability, combined with Wang Mengmeng's healing, allowed Chen Ou to recover almost completely, though his armor couldn't be repaired.

Speaking of equipment, it was amusing; in every battle, these silver-grade pieces of equipment were the first to be destroyed.

But there was nothing they could do; their opponents were always seven-tier combat powers.

Attacks exceeding the equipment's limits would naturally destroy the equipment.

In professional competitions, especially world championships like theirs, due to the excessive power gap, the role of equipment was very small.

In fact, they could already equip gold-grade equipment. Although it would be somewhat strenuous to use and consume a lot of energy, it would prevent them from being instantly broken through.

However, the competition rules prohibited their use.

After half a day of peace, danger still arrived.

Lin Ye discovered a seven-tier Dark Shadow Devourer.

It was over ten meters long and four meters tall, with eight tentacles like an octopus, but it had a hippopotamus-like large mouth and a huge abdomen.

It had already discovered them and was climbing up the rock wall.

Everyone had already sensed its movement.

Chen Ou took a deep breath.

He jumped down, quickly transformed, and fell to the ground like a towering giant, kicking up a layer of sand and rocks. He unleashed all his skills and fought the Dark Devourer.

No, it wasn't a fight; it was more like being brutally massacred.

The Wind and Fire Dual Mages condensed their ultimate move, a greenish fireball, and hurled it down, but it had no effect. A layer of black light appeared on the Dark Devourer's body, swallowing the fireball.

"Run, this thing is even fiercer than the Bloodmane Scorpion-tailed Lion!"

Lin Ye quickly led the backline in a group teleportation to escape.

The ultimate greenish fireball condensed by the Wind and Fire Dual Mages was actually useless against this monster; it seemed to be extremely effective against mages.

"Don't worry about me, sell me out and run!" Chen Ou roared, desperately grabbing the eight-tentacled monster, turning into a small mountain.

"Captain~"

Tears welled up in everyone's eyes.

Lin Ye made a decisive decision, grabbing Wang Mengmeng and running wildly.

Someone had to cover their retreat. If he teleported to rescue Chen Ou, the unhindered Dark Devourer would catch up sooner or later.

Seeing this, the two mages didn't hesitate either, each casting a speed-boosting spell on themselves and keeping up with Lin Ye.

Chen Ou was completely relieved. After holding it off for a while longer, he was bound by the chaotic eight-tentacled creature. As the binding force gradually tightened, he completely lost his combat ability, triggered his Life-saving device, and was teleported away.

The Dark Devourer, seeing its prey vanish, was filled with rage.

It pursued in the direction of Lin Ye and his group.

Lin Ye knew the crisis wasn't over. He used Escape Void to conceal his aura, but because his cultivation wasn't perfect, he couldn't conceal his teammates' auras.

And Captain Chen Ou wouldn't last much longer.

The Dark Devourer would catch up sooner or later.

How to break the stalemate? Should he really abandon his remaining teammates?

Lead the trouble to others?

Bluff and intimidate?

Various ideas exploded in his mind.

The Dark Devourer was very fast. Logically, such a creature shouldn't be fast, as its bulk was too large, and its body structure wasn't suited for running.

But it was a seven-tier, capable of flight.

The Dark Devourer quickly caught up. Lin Ye had no choice but to let his teammates run first while he teleported to stall it.

He led the Dark Devourer to another exotic beast, but that beast, seeing it was the Dark Devourer, immediately took off running.

Oh, so when facing the weak, I'm the chaotic, murderous king of the Dark Abyss, but when encountering the strong, I instantly sober up, huh?

Lin Ye saw through the true nature of these Dark Abyss exotic beasts.

As his proficiency with Escape Void increased, the number of times he could teleport with people increased significantly, but it was futile; they would be found eventually.

He could only stall, letting his teammates run first.

The Dark Devourer initially tangled with him for a bit, but then, seeing how agile he was, it no longer bothered with him.

It single-mindedly pursued the three backline members.

Lin Ye's mind exploded.

He could accept that creatures of the Chaotic Abyss weren't chaotic, as Life was above all else, but why was their intelligence so high?

Did it inherit the intelligence of an octopus?

But he was helpless, watching his teammates being caught up to.