Special Permission

The stench, the darkness, the suffocation, the sweltering heat...

Luo Jun felt as if he were enveloped in a clump of slime, making him extremely uncomfortable!

In the darkness, he summoned his Longitudinal and Horizontal Warhorse, grabbed its neck with both hands, and unleashed a burst of high-temperature flames from the thrusters on its back. The flames illuminated the darkness while scorching the monster's soft mouth. Stimulated by the intense heat, the monster's massive throat convulsed, its mouth opened wide, and with a "poof," it vomited Luo Jun and his horse out!

Luo Jun held his Longitudinal and Horizontal Warhorse, surrounded by the dark, seawater. Looking up, he couldn't see the sun above the water...

It must have been at least several hundred meters underwater... How could this monster have descended so quickly after swallowing him?

Luo Jun mounted the Crisscross, its hooves gliding at high speed, keeping it suspended in the seawater. Luo Jun held his breath and looked around.

The Strength attribute naturally enhances his breath-holding ability, and after reaching 100 points, each point reduces his dependence on air. Currently, although Luo Jun cannot completely abandon breathing, he can at least hold his breath underwater for an hour or two without any problem.

In addition, his exceptional senses allow him to see far and hear clearly even in the dim light of the water.

The monster disappeared after spitting me out... but it didn't go far; it was still hiding, preparing to ambush me.

Suddenly, Luo Jun felt an unnatural disturbance from his right. He turned his head and saw a huge black shadow rushing towards him.

This is a huge, strange fish. Its body is long and thin, somewhat like a ribbonfish, but many times larger. Its head alone is as big as a bus, and its body is tens of meters long. When it swims in the water, it shimmers with silver light, like a silver dragon rushing in!

Facing the monster fish's gaping maw and sharp fangs, Luo Jun drew his Azure Dragon Crescent Moon Crisscross energy from his crotch, and charged forward against the resistance of the seawater!

With a flash of light, several of the strange fish's teeth snapped off, and a long, thin gash was ripped open in its mouth, extending all the way to the back of its gill covers. Blood splattered in the seawater, and the strange fish flicked its tail, disappearing into the darkness using the blood as a cover.

Moreover, it's very agile underwater. On Luo Jun's side, while the Longitudinal and Horizontal Warhorse's jet propulsion is fast enough, it requires a short charging time and can't propel continuously. Furthermore, its direction is difficult to control underwater. Relying solely on its four hooves to paddle is too slow...

He had collected quite a few low-level magical artifacts in the Savage Wilderness during this time, originally intending to take them back to the Main World and find an opportunity to sell them for money. It seems that they will come in handy today.

Generally, this thing is used to cushion falls from great heights, block obstacles, absorb damage, or even be used as a jack. But today, Luo Jun used it to give this strange fish a boost!

Seeing the strange fish swell up like a sausage and float upwards, Luo Jun hurriedly spurred his horse to follow, leaped out of the water, and landed on the strange fish.

"You're out too?" Du Jincai smiled when he saw Luo Jun. "I just came out not long ago. You're all wet; were you fighting underwater?"

This giant fish has a body of copper and iron. Even if you throw a few grenades into its belly, it will only make it burp a couple of times. But this thing is different. Inflating it might not kill it, but it can greatly increase its buoyancy and force it to float to the surface!

Its gaping maw resembled a city gate, filled with jagged, sharp teeth; even with a few broken, its terrifying attack power remained unaffected!

Luo Jun narrowed his eyes, seized the opportunity, and just as the strange fish was about to bite, he released his energy and leaped away on his horse. At the same time, he flicked his wrist and threw the "grenade" into the strange fish's throat!

Unless we can restrict the movement of this giant fish!

A sense of familiarity washed over him; Luo Jun felt as if he had encountered a similar predicament in the Savage Wilderness. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. He touched his watch and pulled out a round, apple-sized object that looked like a hand grenade.

Luo Jun held the object in his hand, maneuvering his Longitudinal and Horizontal Warhorse to wait in place, constantly monitoring the surrounding movements. A moment later, accompanied by the disturbance of the water, the strange fish charged again!

A giant beast, tens of meters long, swallowed something the size of an apple, much like an ordinary person swallowing a grain of rice—it felt nothing at all. After its jaws emptied, it turned its body and tried to chase after Luo Jun.

Just then, Gate Seven suddenly opened, and a figure flew out, rolling several times on the ground before coming to a stop...

This giant fish is no ordinary creature. Although its attack power is greatly reduced due to underwater resistance, a single slash could probably rip open not only a living creature but even a submarine. Yet, this fish only managed a single cut. Its physical strength is almost like that of copper and iron.

He wasn't the first one this time; there was already someone outside the door—it was Du Jincai.

As for Luo Jun, he was also thrown off course by the impact of the strange fish, and he and his horse were swept away in the current. He had to spray water again before he could regain his footing.

Even if you float to the surface, there's no land to stand on, so it doesn't make much difference...

Luo Jun chuckled. The thing he had just thrown was called an Inflated Grenade, a Rare-level consumable item. When detonated, it would generate a large amount of gas, forming a giant balloon. This balloon was made of a very tough material and was also extremely malleable, able to adapt to various shapes.

Luo Jun nodded, then shuddered, causing the water glass hanging on his clothes to fog up, now mostly dry. He checked the time; just five minutes had passed.

The giant sea monster sat upright on the water, resembling a large ship. Luo Jun sheathed his Crisscross, walked to the bow, raised his Azure Dragon Crescent Blade, and stabbed it into the monster's head!

It has to be said that this thing was huge and hard, with thick skin and flesh. The broadsword in Luo Jun's hand was barely longer than a toothpick in front of it. It took several slashes to finally cut open its skull, hit a vital spot, and end this monster.

A large door appeared on the water not far away, allowing him to leave. Luo Jun leaped over, opened the door, and slipped out.

"Zhu Sanyang?!" Du Jincai was startled and went over to help him up. "What happened?"

Just then, the strange fish suddenly shuddered, and then its slender body suddenly thickened in the middle. It seemed to feel pain and twisted its body frantically, but after a few twists, its entire body thickened and straightened, and then it began to drift uncontrollably towards the surface of the sea.

Zhu Sanyang took a few deep breaths. "Outside the door is a high altitude where you can't see the ground. As soon as I went out, I started freefalling. The monster was a Strange Bird. I fought the whole thing in the air. After I won, a door suddenly appeared beneath my feet, and then I fell in."

"Five minutes of free fall couldn't possibly reach this speed." Du Jincai shook his head. "When you passed through the door, Chaos must have altered your relative velocity."

Zhu Sanyang nodded. "Speed isn't important. The main thing is that I've never experienced a battle like this before, so it's hard to describe the strength of that Strange Bird."

"Me too." Luo Jun nodded. "My door is right outside the sea, and my opponent is a strange fish. We fought almost the entire time underwater. I've never encountered anything like this before, so it's hard to make a comparison..."

"As expected..." Du Jincai sighed, "Me too. It was pitch black outside, and I couldn't see anything at all. To be honest, I couldn't even describe what the opponent looked like. I could only guess that it was a nocturnal creature. I was attacked several times, and I managed to withstand it all by relying on my internal energy. Finally, I found an opportunity to grab it and successfully Counter-kill!"

"So they're all fighting under unfavorable conditions..." Luo Jun analyzed, "Judging from that, the others must be in the same situation."

Du Jincai nodded. "The monsters we fight all have the advantage of terrain, so the difficulty of the battle is largely related to the environment, making it difficult for us to judge the true strength of the monsters."

"It seems that the first vote is the easiest, and each subsequent vote will be more difficult!"

Soon, Cui Zheng Hai and Elisa also came out of the room. The two described the world behind the door, which, like the others, was a battle fought in extreme conditions.

Now, only Lao Miao Miao from Gate 3 and Zheng Ji from Gate 4 haven't come out yet.

Having learned from the previous experience, everyone was mentally prepared for Lao Miao Miao's stalling tactics, but it was really strange that Zheng Ji couldn't come out.

While they were taking this opportunity, the five of them took a quick photo of the sequence.

However, as analyzed before, due to the unique combat environment, it is difficult to find comparable monsters, making the sorting process not as easy as last time.

"This time, we can compare ourselves not only with others, but also with our opponents from the last round," Cui Zheng Hai reminded them. "I estimate that the monsters in all three rounds should be roughly the same strength, so comparing them with the monsters from last time will give us a rough idea of their ranking."

That's one way to think about it. Du Jincai considered it for a moment and said, "My monster in the dark is easy to kill in a normal environment, so I'll just put it at the bottom for now..." As he spoke, he placed his number five card at the very bottom.

Zhu Sanyang considered for a moment and placed the sign in fourth place. "This Giant Bird and the monster from last time gave me about the same sense of pressure, but considering that I was able to defeat my opponent last time, this Giant Bird should be weaker than the soft-bodied monster."

Luo Jun then took the sign and placed it directly at the first position.

Even disregarding the underwater environment, this strange fish far surpasses the previous Mechanical Knight in both strength and power.

Cui Zheng Hai and Elisa also compared the shooting order.

Finally, the thirty-minute time limit was almost up, and Gate Number Three opened, with Lao Miao Miao walking out.

But Gate Number Four remained unopened, Zheng Ji... died inside!

Everyone sighed, but in the Chaos Mission, deaths were common, and time was of the essence, so they didn't waste any more time on it.

"My opponent this time is a Frost Giant, and the environment is the frigid polar region," Lao Miao Miao said. "He's much more difficult to deal with than the last one."

After a brief discussion, the final ranking was as follows.

Number 1 (Luo Jun), Number 3 (Lao Miao Miao), Number 7 (Zhu Sanyang), Number 2 (Cui Zheng Hai), Number 6 (Elisa), Number 5 (Du Jincai)

As for Zheng Ji, who didn't survive, there are two possible positions. One is between the first and second positions. According to the description, Luo Jun's strange fish and Lao Miao Miao's Frost Giant have a large difference in strength, so someone might be placed in the middle.

The second is the position after Du Jincai number five). According to Du Jincai, this monster, although relatively weak, is still slightly stronger than Elisa's previous description.

It's unlikely that he would be killed even when facing the weakest monster, so after discussing it, the group decided to put him in the second slot.

After confirming that no changes will be made, we await the final announcement.

Congratulations everyone, the sorting is correct!

"That's awesome!" Everyone cheered, and then came the clue and voting round.

Luo Jun held onto his last Dice Opportunity. This time, he had to take a gamble. As for the description of the event... he decided to revise it.

Instead of choosing the mole, they chose the person the clues pointed to.

Because it's obvious that the concept of a "mole" is problematic, and there might even be multiple "moles" with different identities, but the clues should point to a relatively clear person. Perhaps catching this person will lead to new mission information!

But I wonder if people will listen to him this time...

Just as Luo Jun was making his calculations, several large characters suddenly appeared in the center of the arena.

"Someone has used Special Permission, so this round of the insider voting is canceled. However, you will all receive an extra clue!"

(End of this chapter)