180: Underground cavern, Nightmare Crocodile!

Although what Su Diyan said was merely his speculation.

But it had to be admitted that Su Diyan's speculation was indeed built upon a reasonable factual basis.

If it weren't for this, it would be difficult to explain why this Black Young Dragon's appearance was so similar to Nidhogg's.

"Everyone, there's no need to worry too much."

Su Diyan continued, "Even if this Black Young Dragon is truly the continuation of Nidhogg's life, it is currently only in its infancy and is almost impossible to pose any threat to us."

"Therefore, I propose that the Survival Trial continue. Until the Survival Battle ends, it's better not to interfere too much with the New Students."

Jiang Tianqi nodded: "That makes sense. Since there's no immediate threat, let the Survival Trial proceed as usual. We don't need to be overly alarmist."

"Otherwise, if something goes wrong during the first National Freshman Friendship Competition, it would be quite a laughingstock."

"Hmm, indeed."

Wang Ting pondered for a moment and ultimately agreed with Su Diyan's view: "However, since it's a potential disaster, it must be resolved eventually."

"Especially Nidhogg's crystal core; it's best to find and deal with it as soon as possible!"

"In recent years, Yanjing Base City has already begun expanding toward the [Dragon Bone Mountain Range]. If this hidden danger isn't completely resolved, even the birth of one or two more Beast Emperor Level Monsters would be enough to give us a real headache."

Su Diyan immediately stated his position: "Principal Wang Ting is right. Once the Survival Trial ends, I will report this matter to the Military Department and work with them to completely eliminate all hidden dangers within this mountain range!"

...At this moment, Lin Yuan and the others had no idea what kind of waves the Black Young Dragon perched on his shoulder had caused.

They only saw that the drone equipped with a camera had flown away quickly after approaching.

Watching this scene, Lin Yuan couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

What's the situation?

Beside him, Wang Jinze spoke up cheerfully: "Maybe they think we're too boring and can't be bothered to give us any screen time."

Su Muxue teased with a smile: "It's also possible your dad missed you and specifically sent the drone to take a look at you."

"You can't just say things like that."

Upon hearing this, Wang Jinze couldn't help but shudder.

What a joke; if his dad really knew he was slacking off here all day, he'd probably skin him alive when he got back!

However, even though the drone had left, Lin Yuan still felt a faint sense of unease in his heart.

He didn't know if the higher-ups of the various schools had discovered Xiao Hei's existence.

If they had, he didn't know how they would ultimately choose to deal with Xiao Hei.

It seemed that only after the Survival Trial ended would everything be revealed... Deep within the [Dragon Bone Mountain Range], inside an underground grotto.

This underground grotto was not only located in the deepest part of the mountain range but was also extremely well-hidden.

And at this moment, a massive black shadow was slowly crawling within the grotto, carrying the corpse of a giant beast in its mouth!

This underground grotto was filled with the remains of various monsters, looking grim and terrifying!

Soon, this hideous and terrifying giant black shadow crawled all the way to the deepest part of the grotto!

There seemed to be an independent space here, about the size of a football field. Because of this, it was large enough to accommodate the body of this giant beast!

The surrounding stone walls were covered with what looked like fluorescent powder, emitting a faint, eerie blue light!

In the next second, the terrifying shadow opened its massive maw and placed the monster corpse it had hunted at the entrance.

Then, it crawled directly into the stone cave before it.

The ground inside the stone cave rose continuously from the entrance to the center, like a miniature mountain range.

The terrifying shadow followed the rising slope, crawling toward the central position.

Its pair of beastly pupils were as black as ink, emitting a deep and cold aura, and the pupils were as large as millstones.

Under the reflection of the fluorescent stone walls, the figure of this black shadow finally revealed itself; it was actually a giant demonic crocodile of extreme size!

The black scales on this giant demonic crocodile were as large as tiles, appearing coarse and hard, and they emitted a dark, cold light like metal.

Moreover, and more importantly, although this giant demonic crocodile had the body of a giant crocodile, a Dragon's head grew upon this body!

Such a hideous and terrifying appearance made it look as if a crocodile and a Dragon had been forcibly fused together!

If nothing else, this giant demonic crocodile should possess a portion of Dragon Bloodline!

In other words, this was simply a Dragon Crocodile!

Nightmare Dragon Crocodile!

Soon, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile crawled to the very top of the elevated section!

At this moment, its dark and black crocodile pupils were filled with excitement!

However, when it saw the scene before it, the excitement in its eyes quickly faded, gradually turning into astonishment, and then into wrath!

Before it were several shattered crystal core fragments!

Furthermore, these crystal core fragments had completely dimmed, losing all their former luster!

Witnessing this scene, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile could be said to be in an extreme state of wrath!

"Roar!!"

It raised its head high and let out an extremely furious beastly roar!!

Along with this roar, even the entire underground grotto shook violently!!

However, even so, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile still seemed unwilling to give up.

It leaned forward and carefully swallowed those crystal core fragments into its mouth.

But it soon discovered that these shattered crystal core fragments had long since lost all their energy.

At this moment, killing intent flowed through the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile's eyes.

It only wanted to know who had sneaked into this underground grotto and shattered this crystal core while it was out hunting!!

However, after the anger passed, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile also quickly and gradually calmed down.

One must know that even it could not manage to shatter this crystal core.

And within this [Dragon Bone Mountain Range], there shouldn't be any monster more powerful than it.

Could it be... humans?

Indeed, over these past few days, it had sensed many human auras within the [Dragon Bone Mountain Range].

There was even a human who appeared within a distance of two or three thousand meters from it.

But at that time, the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile had forcibly suppressed the killing intent in its heart.

After all, a monster that had reached its level of strength possessed intelligence no different from that of a human.

Under these circumstances, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile naturally understood that once it chose to kill this human Beast Soul Master, it would inevitably attract a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Now, it already possessed the strength of Lord Level nine-star Peak.

It was only one step away from becoming a Beast Emperor Rank monster!

At such a critical juncture, this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile naturally did not want any mistakes to occur!

And the reason it was able to possess such powerful strength now was all thanks to that mysterious crystal core!

It still remembered that five years ago, it was not yet the current Nightmare Dragon Crocodile, but merely a Beast King level monster that had mutated due to the influence of nuclear radiation.

Simply because it had accidentally stepped into the territory of a Lord-level Monster, it had been directly beaten into a state of heavy injury!

Although it luckily managed to save its life, it was already on the verge of death!

Fortunately, it was not meant to die; during its flight, it accidentally discovered this cave and, in the depths of the cave, was very lucky to find that crystal core!

Moreover, it discovered that within that crystal core, there was an extremely massive amount of energy!

For it, being on the verge of death, that was simply a gift from heaven!

Without any hesitation, it immediately sealed off the exit of this underground grotto and hid within it, crouching beside this crystal core and absorbing the energy within it day and night!

In the process of absorbing energy, the injuries on its body were soon completely recovered!

In just a few short days, it had recovered from a state of being near death back to its prime!

Not only that, but it also turned a misfortune into a blessing, breaking through and directly and successfully surpassing its current Realm!

And this made it recognize the value of this crystal core even more!

However, at that time, the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile had not yet realized that this crystal core within the underground grotto was the crystal core of The Final Black Dragon Emperor, Nidhogg!

To it, this crystal core was simply a supreme treasure that changed its fate!

After its injuries had completely recovered, it used this underground grotto as its base. Except for occasionally going out to hunt, it never stepped out of the grotto even half a step.

And this allowed its own strength to advance by leaps and bounds under the effect of the crystal core's energy!

In just half a year, it successfully broke through from the Beast King Level all the way to the Lord Level!

Furthermore, due to absorbing a large amount of the crystal core's energy, a trace of the black dragon emperor's Bloodline also appeared in its body, and it successfully evolved into the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile!

And after breaking through to the Lord Level, the first thing the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile did was take revenge!

It quickly found the Lord-level Monster that had previously beaten it to the point of near death and killed the opponent using the most cruel methods, tearing it into countless fragments of flesh and blood!

After killing that Lord-level Monster, the Nightmare Dragon Crocodile also proceeded to seize the opponent's territory!

And the pleasure of successful revenge also completely stimulated this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile's desire for power!

As long as one possessed power, one could possess everything!

And its power... all originated from that crystal core within the underground grotto!

Thinking of this, an incredibly crazy idea suddenly popped into this Nightmare Dragon Crocodile's mind back then!

If it were to directly devour that crystal core, would it be able to obtain unprecedented power?