Long Staff Through the Throat, Kill!

Yet, what they feared most came to pass.

Just ten meters after they had left the restroom entrance.

"ROAR!!!"

A roar filled with violence and hunger exploded from the corner ahead, and a massive, dark green figure lunged out!

Close behind it, two more followed.

Three pairs of blood-red wolf eyes locked onto the group, their bared, hideous fangs and massive bodies covered in dark green scales all exerting immense pressure.

They were Corrosive Abyss Wolves!

They had clearly slaughtered all the living people downstairs and were subsequently drawn up by the voices and movements from this floor.

Seeing living prey, the lead Corrosive Abyss Wolf kicked off its thick hind legs, bringing a foul stench as it lunged straight at Lin Yi, who had blocked the front of the group.

Its cold, gleaming front claws whistled through the air, slashing viciously toward Lin Yi's chest, while its scorpion-like bone tail whipped out in a sharp arc.

Splat!

A glob of dark green corrosive liquid, emitting a pungent, acidic odor, shot directly at the Female Office Worker who was already screaming in terror behind Lin Yi.

"Watch out!"

Lin Yi's expression shifted; he seemed flustered by this sudden double attack.

Almost instinctively, he took a slightly clumsy step to the right, while simultaneously using all his strength to kick the side of the terrified Female Office Worker's hip.

"Ouch!"

The Female Office Worker shrieked as she was kicked, tumbling to the side and narrowly avoiding the glob of corrosive liquid.

The liquid hit the carpet where she had just been standing with a "hiss," instantly corroding a charred hole into the floor.

But this step and kick left Lin Yi completely exposed to the first Corrosive Abyss Wolf's attack.

The ghastly white fangs and scaled claws were already inches away; it was too late for him to dodge or block.

"Urgh!"

Lin Yi acted as if he were terrified, managing only a short gasp before subconsciously raising his armored left arm to defend, while stumbling back a step in an attempt to create distance.

SCREECH!

A harsh sound of tearing metal rang out as the Corrosive Abyss Wolf's sharp claws raked across Lin Yi's left arm and chest armor, instantly carving several hideous gouges into the sturdy Titanium Alloy Armor.

The massive impact made Lin Yi grunt, his body staggering back several steps, nearly falling over.

Had it not been for the armor, that claw would have disemboweled him.

"Ah! Go to hell!"

A flash of "enraged" ferocity crossed Lin Yi's eyes.

Using the momentum of his retreat to steady himself, he gripped his long staff with both hands. Without any fancy technique, relying purely on the raw power of his waist and stance, he swung upward with a heavy, horizontal strike toward the relatively soft flank of the Abyss Wolf, which had just landed and was preparing to pounce again.

BANG!

The long staff slammed solidly into the Corrosive Abyss Wolf's ribs, the dull thud of shattering scales accompanied by the clear sound of cracking bone.

"Awoo!"

The Corrosive Abyss Wolf let out a pained howl and was sent flying sideways by the heavy blow.

It slammed hard into the wall before sliding down limply, clearly dead.

Lin Yi panted heavily, a wave of stinging pain and numbness radiating from his left arm, the claw marks on his armor looking shocking.

His hands gripping the staff trembled slightly, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the thrill of the encounter.

However, the crisis followed in quick succession!

The second Corrosive Abyss Wolf didn't give him a moment to breathe. Taking advantage of the gap where Lin Yi's old momentum had faded and his footing was unstable, it pounced from the flank like a phantom. Its gaping maw, reeking of rot, bit viciously toward the junction of Lin Yi's right shoulder and neck—the area exposed by his swing and not fully covered by armor.

"Brother!"

Zhou Mengmeng couldn't help but let out a terrified scream.

As the shadow of death loomed once more, Lin Yi's pupils constricted sharply, his face etched with "horror."

He seemed completely unable to dodge or block.

Yet, at the critical moment, he seemed to unleash the ruthless grit of a Young Man facing a desperate situation.

Lin Yi didn't retreat; instead, he gritted his teeth and made a crazy move.

He moved forward instead of back!

He jerked his upper body to the left, and while holding the middle of the long staff with both hands, he stopped swinging. Instead, like someone wielding a massive short spear, he used all his strength to thrust upward with a fierce, violent jab directly into the gaping, fang-filled maw of the second lunging Corrosive Abyss Wolf!

"Get lost and die!!"

Splat... CRACK!

The tip of the long staff, carrying the entirety of Lin Yi's strength, rammed into the depths of the Corrosive Abyss Wolf's mouth like a battering ram.

Shattering the fangs, piercing through the upper palate, and driving deep into the brain.

"Ugh... hrrk..."

The pouncing motion of the second Corrosive Abyss Wolf froze instantly in mid-air, its blood-red eyes bulging wide.

Viscous blood mixed with shattered bone fragments gushed from its mouth, and its massive body, as if struck by an Immobilization Spell, crashed heavily to the ground, collapsing right at the feet of Lin Yi.

Immediately following this, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The two Corrosive Abyss Wolf corpses lying on the ground suddenly began to disintegrate, as if they were paper dolls tossed into an invisible fire, crumbling and dissolving at a speed visible to the naked eye, silently turning into countless fine, dark-gray particles like dust.

Swish... swish-swish...

The ashes drifted slowly onto the carpet with an eerie sense of stillness, as if the physical vessels of these monsters that had brought the terror of death were being rapidly erased by some unseen rule.

Amidst this silent dance of ash, at the very center where the two Corrosive Abyss Wolf corpses had dissipated, a faint light emerged without a sound.

It was not a dazzling radiance, but rather a grayish speck of light, as if the embers of death had condensed into a single point!

It hovered a few dozen centimeters above the ground, roughly the size of a fingertip, like the highly concentrated crystal core of an otherworldly entity, pulsing slowly and irregularly with a dim glow; each flicker seemed to silently proclaim the gathering of energy and the alteration of rules.

Lin Yi felt a stir in his heart.

Gray Spirit Shine Crystal!

However, even though the item he needed most in these early stages was within arm's reach, Lin Yi could not spare a moment to retrieve it.

He took a few heavy, ragged breaths, gripped his staff with both hands, and kept his gaze locked unblinkingly on the final Corrosive Abyss Wolf.

Because the first two had died so quickly in the blink of an eye, the third one, which had been trailing slightly behind, had only just reached him.

But it did not launch an immediate attack; instead, it slammed on the brakes, stopping a few meters in front of Lin Yi.

This Corrosive Abyss Wolf stared fixedly at Lin Yi with its blood-red eyes, then swept its gaze over the claw marks on his armor, and finally settled on the ashes of its kin, emitting a low, wary whimper from its throat.

It then crouched low, slowly backing away.

Not until it retreated to the corner of the stairs did it cast one last look of venomous hatred at the panting Lin Yi, before turning abruptly and vanishing into the darkness.

Immediately after.

"Awoo... woo..."

A shrill, long-drawn-out howl of a wolf suddenly erupted from downstairs.