An endless expanse of fog filled Chen Daolin's entire field of vision. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but fog. By his rough estimate, it covered an area at least a hundred miles across.
"Something's not right!"
Chen Daolin's instincts told him as much. But with the King Level Monster, the Cyan Winged Snake, hot on his heels, and pain throbbing through his body, he still decided to take a risk.
"If I charge in, I might have a chance. The fog covers such a huge area that it must interfere with perception. Once I get in there, if I move fast enough, that King Level Monster won't be able to catch me."
Chen Daolin made up his mind. Gritting his teeth, he surged forward even faster.
"Gah—!"
Seeing Chen Daolin charge into the fog, the giant cyan snake with a pair of leathery wings—the Winged Snake King—grew frantic. It steeled itself and lunged at him with all its strength once more, as a hazy cyan glow surged toward him.
"Hm? Again?"
Chen Daolin gave a cold smile. The first time the cyan glow had caught him off guard and bound him, the Winged Snake King had knocked him flying. Since then, he'd been on guard. During the chase, the Winged Snake King had used its cyan light once more, but Chen Daolin had been prepared and unleashed his full strength. The light had only slowed him by thirty percent, allowing him to escape the Winged Snake King's Strangulation.
As the cyan glow surged toward him like a tide, Chen Daolin stamped both feet hard against the ground. The earth exploded beneath him under the force of his blow, and he shot forward like a cannonball, escaping the glow's reach in an instant.
Whoosh! The Winged Snake King followed right after. It was still faster than Chen Daolin, but it couldn't do much against the slippery, nimble little pest. The Black God Set's defenses were simply too strong, and Chen Daolin kept unleashing himself recklessly, always managing to escape the Winged Snake King's pursuit.
The Winged Snake King sprang forward like a tightly wound spring released. Moving at an unbelievable speed, it reached Chen Daolin in the blink of an eye. Its massive jaws gaped open and snapped at him. Chen Daolin could just make out two long, thick, snow-white fangs gleaming with a bone-chilling light, along with its blood-red, forked tongue.
Chen Daolin's gaze was sharp, his face taut. His voice rang out like thunder. "Get lost!"
His voice boomed across the wilderness. At the same time, he gripped the cold spear in both hands, raised it above his head, and brought it crashing down on the oncoming Winged Snake King in a mighty overhead strike.
"Boom!"
The sound of thunder seemed to explode, making the grasslands ripple. Then came the pained hiss of a giant serpent.
The force of their collision sent Chen Daolin hurtling faster into the fog. In an instant, all he could see was a sea of white.
"I made it."
Every part of his body spasmed with pain—not just from colliding head-on with the giant serpent, but also from using King Kai Fist too many times. His body was already close to its limit. Still, he should have managed to escape the serpent. His heart eased. Hanging in midair, he drifted lightly toward the ground. Before long, he saw rippling water below.
"Water? Is that a lake?" Chen Daolin realized at once.
Splash!
A huge shape burst out of the water, sending a column of water soaring skyward. A monster fish covered in black scales, with a huge head and round body, leaped dozens of meters into the air. Its enormous mouth, ringed with rows of sharp teeth, snapped at Chen Daolin. His expression darkened. He swung his spear, and a violent burst of air cracked through the sky. The spear slammed into the black-headed fish's mouth with the force of a thunderbolt, smashing its head open and sending broken teeth flying. It plunged back into the water even faster, raising towering waves.
Chen Daolin looked around. With his exceptional eyesight, he could see only a dozen or so meters ahead, but he could tell that he was in a vast lake.
"This is bad." Chen Daolin furrowed his brow and glanced behind him, only to find that the King Level Monster hadn't followed. A shadow settled over his heart.
Damn it, could there be a King Level Monster here too...?
Chen Daolin thought quickly. He realized he had no choice but to head forward and see what lay ahead. Surely he couldn't be so unlucky as to run into two King Level Monsters one after the other in such a short time.
With his current strength, he should be fine as long as he was careful.
Chen Daolin made up his mind.
Whoosh. His body dropped toward the water. The black-headed fish had disappeared, leaving only turbulent currents rippling across the surface. Chen Daolin plunged straight into the lake and sank rapidly. It was his first time in a situation like this, but he stayed calm.
A current suddenly swirled beside him. Chen Daolin vaguely made out a long, massive shadow swimming toward him. The corner of his mouth twitched. There really were a lot of monsters in this lake.
It was hard to find leverage in the water, and his strength was greatly reduced. But with his current abilities, Chen Daolin could still handle ordinary monsters without losing his composure.
His spear shot forward like lightning. The unknown lake monster that seemed to be trying to attack him cried out in pain, blood gushing from its wound as its body whipped wildly toward him.
"Die!" Chen Daolin's gaze was cold. He didn't have time to get tangled up with these lake monsters. He had to find land and rest as soon as possible.
Suddenly, Chen Daolin's expression changed. Within range of his perception, several enormous living things were rapidly swimming toward him. The smell of blood must have attracted them.
"What kind of godforsaken place is this? Why are there so many powerful aquatic monsters?"
In the brief clash, Chen Daolin had already spotted more than ten Lord Monsters. Two of them were high-level Lord Monsters!
Even Chen Daolin felt his scalp go numb.
"Could there really be a King Level Monster here?" He couldn't help wondering again.
But he had no way back.
The Cyan Winged Snake had cut off his escape route, his body was nearing its limit, and he couldn't hold his breath underwater for long...
"Die!"
Chen Daolin went truly berserk!!
If he couldn't fight his way out this time, he would die.
Either the monsters would kill him, or he would kill his way out.
Kill!
Chen Daolin's eyes turned blood-red. A vast stretch of the lake churned violently. The enormous corpses of monsters surfaced from time to time, while countless others rushed in, drawn by the battle. The whole lake was in chaos.
At the brink between life and death, Chen Daolin's mind went blank. He could only swing his spear on instinct, thrusting as fast as he could, each strike as powerful as possible. A massive purple python, over a hundred meters long, coiled around him, while several enormous tentacles whipped toward him. Under the pressure of death, Chen Daolin's potential erupted completely.
The power of his spear suddenly surged.
World Destroyer, third layer—break through!!!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions erupted in rapid succession beneath the water. Vast stretches of the lake quickly turned red with blood, and chunks of mangled flesh floated to the surface.
Waves lapped gently against the quiet shore of a beach.
Splash! A figure burst out of the water, drenched in blood and covered in scraps of monster flesh. It was Chen Daolin. Clutching his spear, he fell from above and landed on the sand with a sharp thud, dropping to one knee. Blood mixed with lake water ran down his soaking black hair. His dark skin hid his features, leaving only his cold, frenzied eyes visible. Bloodlust surged through his body, wrapped in a terrifying aura of slaughter. Any ordinary monster that sensed the bloody stench of so many powerful Lord Monsters would have fled long before getting close.
This was a terrifying human!
"Hah... hah... ha... ha..." Chen Daolin knelt on the beach, closed his eyes, and gasped for air.
A powerful wave of weakness and exhaustion washed over him.
At last... he had escaped.
Thinking of how countless aquatic monsters had surrounded him at the bottom of the lake, Chen Daolin was still shaken.
The lake was a hundred miles across, and he had encountered more than ten high-level Lord Monsters. There were probably nearly a hundred of them in the entire lake!
It was every bit as dangerous as City 003, which was infamous as a monster lair—or perhaps even worse.
He hadn't seen any information about this lake in the available records. Maybe it had to do with the vast expanse of white fog and the lake's dense population of dangerous monsters.
Normally, warriors rarely trained in lakes or at sea, because their strength was diminished underwater while aquatic monsters grew stronger. That was why humanity had never been able to deal with the monsters in the ocean, and had always been on the defensive.
"There's actually a Lake Heart Island in this lake." Chen Daolin slowly stood up, only then realizing he was on the sandy shore of an island. Dense forest stretched out before him. The island was like a primeval forest, with many thick trees and lush vegetation.
A lake shrouded in mysterious fog across a hundred-mile radius, filled with a shocking number of powerful monsters—and an even more mysterious Lake Heart Island within it.
Chen Daolin stood on the beach and stared at the eerily silent forest before him. He furrowed his brow.
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