In the deep, frigid underground passage, the damp, earthy stench mingled with the reek of alien beasts, permeating every corner.
Before long, Zhang Xiao emerged from the pitch-black depths of the underground cavern, staggering as she shielded a group of lightly wounded Beast Hunters. They gulped down the fresh air from outside.
Yet Liu Jialin and the hunter Tao Qian, who had stayed behind to cover everyone's retreat, were nowhere to be seen. They remained trapped in the peril-ridden depths underground.
Zhang Xiao stood at the edge of the cave entrance, pacing back and forth without pause, her eyes locked on the ink-black cavern, her heart a tangled mess of panic and confusion.
She murmured softly to herself, "With the captain's strength, and that Beast Hunter's, they should be able to shake off those alien beasts safely."
Though she kept trying to reassure herself, she knew perfectly well that she absolutely could not rush inside recklessly right now.
These wounded hunters were all weak from head to toe, unable to move. If she went in too, there would be no one left outside to watch over them.
Should anything unexpected happen, these people would have no ability to protect themselves. The consequences would be unthinkable.
Just as Zhang Xiao waited anxiously at the entrance, unable to sit or stand still, the situation deep within the cavern had already collapsed into something far worse.
The two who had been locked in battle were now tightly encircled by five enormous Purple-Spotted Earthworms, thoroughly trapped in a desperate encirclement.
Ever since the second Purple-Spotted Earthworm had appeared, the underground soil had been trembling faintly without cease.
Not long afterward, three more Purple-Spotted Earthworms burst from the earth in succession.
The five alien beasts attacked at once, their siege ferocious enough to make breathing