22: Are you leaving first? No, I refuse to put on a tragic show!

“Roar—!”

Dozens of Abyssal Lurkers let out a roar.

The next second, they transformed into dozens of black shadows, pouncing towards Lin Yuan and Su Wanqing!

“The left side is mine.”

Before her words even fell, Su Wanqing had already moved.

A chilling aura erupted from her!

“Crack—!”

The moisture in the air condensed into two crystal-clear ice blades, falling into her hands.

She actively charged into the beast horde on the left.

Weaving through the monsters, each flash was accompanied by the sound of ice blades cutting through flesh.

Just as one Lurker leaped into the air, a blue light flashed, and blood bloomed simultaneously from its limb joints, causing it to crash heavily to the ground, unable to move again.

Another one ambushed her from behind, but Su Wanqing didn't even turn her head.

With a backhand ice blade, she precisely stabbed into the monster's eye socket, piercing through its brain.

Clean.

Decisive.

This was the fighting style of the Ice Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Lin Yuan’s fighting style was a complete extreme.

“Bring it on!”

Instead of retreating, he advanced, colliding with the dozen or so Lurkers pouncing from the right!

He wielded the thunderfall battle staff with one hand, swinging it with fierce power!

“Bang!”

The first Lurker was smashed from head to toe directly into the concrete ground by his staff, turning into a puddle of gore.

“Zzzzz—”

He directly infused the energy of Palm Thunder into the battle staff.

The entire black metal staff was instantly enveloped by purple electric arcs.

“Die, all of you!”

Lin Yuan roared, sweeping the battle staff horizontally!

“Boom!”

Lightning exploded, forming an electric net that simultaneously enveloped three or four Lurkers.

The abyssal energy within them, stimulated by the lightning, exploded from the inside, turning them into charred lumps.

This was the fighting style of the Primordial Thunder God Body!

There was no verbal communication between the two, yet a strangetacit agreement formed.

Su Wanqing was responsible for crippling the monsters' mobility and creating chaos.

Lin Yuan was responsible for physically eliminating those defenseless targets one by one.

In just under a minute.

Dozens of Abyssal Lurkers, comparable to D-rank superhumans, were completely wiped out by the two of them!

Silence once again fell over the workshop.

“Not bad, Beautiful Older Sister.”

Lin Yuan, carrying his battle staff, grinned, “Looks like this bonus is ours.”

Su Wanqing ignored his banter, her gaze fixed on the center of the workshop.

That pulsating mass of flesh and blood, the abyssal lair.

The threat had not yet been eliminated.

“Prepare to assault, destroy that lair core as quickly as possible!”

Su Wanqing issued the command.

However.

Just as they were about to charge again.

An anomaly re-emerged!

“Thump... thump... thump... thump!!”

The pulsating of that deformed heart suddenly intensified!

Each beat was like a heavy hammer, striking hard against their chests.

An energy fluctuation far exceeding any previous Lurker erupted from the center of the abyssal lair!

“Not good!”

Su Wanqing’s expression changed drastically.

She condensed an ice shield in front of her.

“Boom—!!!”

The energy shockwave slammed hard against the ice shield.

The ice shield’s surface instantly covered in cracks, then shattered!

Both of them were sent flying backward, tumbling several times on the ground before stopping.

“Pfft—”

Su Wanqing’s throat tasted sweet, and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted out.

Lin Yuan wasn't much better; he felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and his blood and qi churned.

“Crack... rumble...”

The floor in the center of the workshop tore apart.

A colossal figure slowly rose from deep underground.

It was a bloated, obese female upper body.

She had six arms, but no facial features on her face, only a constantly opening and closing mouthpart.

Her lower body consisted of dense, spider-like segmented limbs.

Numerous fleshy tubes connected to her abdomen, with the other end connected to the entire abyssal lair.

More Abyssal Lurkers were continuously crawling out from the shadows beneath her.

The Abyssal Lair Matriarch!

A Warlord RankMythical Beasts!

A terrifying existence equivalent to human C-rank powerhouses!

Su Wanqing’s thoughts raced.

It's over.

This was no longer a reconnaissance mission.

This was the difficulty of a C-rank annihilation mission!

A Warlord Rank Matriarch, combined with an abyssal lair that could continuously produce cannon fodder, was enough to easily destroy a fully armed team!

They, just the two of them, absolutely could not win!

“Hiss—!!!”

The Abyssal Lair Matriarch let out a shriek, its massive mouth aimed at Su Wanqing.

It could sense a very fragrant aura on this woman.

“Lin Yuan!”

Su Wanqing suddenly turned her head, issuing a command to Lin Yuan, who was still gasping on the ground.

“You retreat first! Immediately! Now!”

“I am C-rank, my Ice Phoenix Bloodline can temporarily freeze its movements, buying you time!”

“Remember, this is an order!”

She was prepared to burn her bloodline power to create a glimmer of hope for this S-rank rated “monster rookie.”

This was her only choice, as a partner, as a senior.

However.

Lin Yuan leaped up from the ground, grabbing Su Wanqing, who was about to rush forward and fight to the death.

“It’s not time for a tragic hero act yet, Beautiful Older Sister.”

Su Wanqing: “...?”

She was momentarily stunned by Lin Yuan’s inexplicable words, then angrily said, “Let go! This is an order! You…”

“Remember that substation outside? As long as we can break through there, I have a way to blast all these abominations into dust!”

Lin Yuan looked at her with burning eyes.

Substation?!

Su Wanqing's mind flashed back to Lin Yuan's performance in the Thunder Pool during training.

An utterly absurd thought surfaced in her mind.

She looked at Lin Yuan like he was a monster, her voice changing pitch: “Do you know what kind of place that is?! The high voltage electricity will…”

“Trust me.”

Lin Yuan interrupted her, the madness and confidence in his eyes making her heart tremble.

“You just need to trust me this one time.”

A request with no logic, yet incredibly specific.

At the brink of death, he asked her to stake everything on a plan that sounded no different from suicide.

Just then.

All the newly born Abyssal Lurkers, along with the monsters that had previously crawled out of the abyssal lair, totaling nearly a hundred.

They launched a charge towards their location!

The ground shook!

Facing that surging wave of death, Su Wanqing evaluated all her options.

Holding the line, sacrifice... the ultimate outcome of all plans was an inescapable total annihilation.

Only Lin Yuan’s crazy plan held a theoretical sliver of hope.

“Alright.”

“I’ll cover you to break through. But remember, this is our only chance.”

With her words, the two no longer hesitated.

They turned around and began their breakthrough towards the only direction where hope could be seen!