Chaos.
The Shock Beasts gathering here from all directions had evolved into all kinds of forms.
None of them looked quite normal.
Those that had grown extra appendages were the most common.
Three-legged ones, four-legged ones, centipede-shaped ones...
Their legs came in all sorts of forms as well. Some had webbed feet, while others bore hooked spikes.
These differences in evolution had resulted from their arrival from different places.
Some even spread out the spherical Metal Mesh on their bodies, shortened their appendages, and transformed into birdlike structures capable of soaring.
The Shock Beasts that had just arrived at the Great Pit were quickly blocked by their own kind.
The worms had unleashed the Shock Beasts' instinct to attack their own kind.
These differently shaped Shock Beasts began a chaotic melee.
The centipede Shock Beast kept forcing its way deeper, charging recklessly ahead.
The constant vibrations drew the attention of the surrounding Shock Beasts, and they began to swarm it.
Those with hooks stabbed their appendages into the centipede's body, pinning it firmly in place.
Birdlike Shock Beasts glided down from above, attacking the centipede's head.
They were then caught by the Metal Mesh on its head and flapped helplessly where they were.
In the end, the group of Shock Beasts became a ball shaking madly.
Their appendages locked them tightly together. None of them let go, leaving them locked in an eternal stalemate.
The little cart had barely entered the pit before various Appendage Balls blocked its path.
Fortunately, these Shock Beasts were obsessed with attacking their kind that produced greater vibrations and showed no reaction to the cart.
Li Luo carefully drove around the area of battle.
They arrived at a somewhat quieter area.
But this "quiet" only meant there was less sound of metal clashing.
A huge, muffled roar of vibrations continued without end.
It came from underground.
In Mo Ling's field of vision, the ground was filled with Appendage Balls formed from Shock Beasts.
The Appendage Balls created by the melee did not simply vanish into thin air.
Instead, they continued vibrating until they eventually sank into the soil.
But evolution continued.
The stronger Shock Beasts forcibly broke free from the prison of appendages.
After evolving for some time longer,
they broke through the earth.
Some took on the form of moles, their appendages turning into claws.
Others abandoned one leg, while the remaining leg transformed into a wriggling earthworm-like form.
But even more took on all kinds of insect forms.
Cicadas, centipedes, ants, mole crickets.
Mo Ling was utterly stunned.
This was convergent evolution.
They had nothing to do with the creatures of distant Earth, yet because their environments were the same, they had happened to evolve similar structures.
At the same time, these creatures that burrowed out of the ground shared another trait.
They were enormous.
A gigantic, savage ant-like Shock Beast burst from the ground and headed toward the center.
It blotted out the sky, and the cart was instantly covered by the shadow of the ant's body.
The terrifying creature paid no attention to the movement beneath its feet, or perhaps it no longer considered it an obstacle.
The vibrations forced Li Luo to stop the cart. She stared blankly as the ant walked onward.
Meanwhile, Mo Ling was tossed about inside the metal cube until he was thoroughly disoriented.
Only after the ant had gone far away did he recover from the vibrations.
"Too terrifying."
The space inside the Cube was limited, and Mo Ling had no way to deal with such a massive creature.
Li Luo's face was also filled with fear, but after the ant left, she still started the cart without hesitation.
The cart headed toward the center, and from afar, they could see a mountain.
A mountain formed from Metal Appendages.
Countless enormous Shock Beasts stopped beside the mountain and became part of it.
Massive size meant massive weight.
The ant from before reached the mountain and struggled to climb it, but because it was too large, it slipped back down.
Scattered Metal Appendages fell with the ant and pressed down onto its body.
The same thing was happening elsewhere on the mountain. Gaps formed by Metal Appendages trapped those advancing toward the center.
Their enormous bodies had now become obstacles.
Finding the empty shell of an earthworm-like Shock Beast, Li Luo barely managed to drive the cart up onto it.
Bumpy.
The hard inner walls of the metal cube left Mo Ling aching all over.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the cart to reach the top of the mountain.
It was a flat-topped mountain. Damaged metal cubes filled the gaps across it, and at last the cart no longer had such difficulty moving.
The sounds of vibration continued to come from outside the mountain, yet the mountaintop was extremely quiet.
Only faint rustling sounds came from beneath their feet. Listening closely, they were the sounds of metal scraping together.
Mo Ling saw countless Metal Mesh balls rolling along the mountain's cracks and squeezing toward the center.
These rolling balls had abandoned their enormous bodies, but they had not expected the cracks to become narrower and narrower until they led to dead ends.
Instead, they filled the cracks themselves and became the mountain's support.
Li Luo got out of the cart and saw the mountain's interior through the cracks.
After making her records, she slowly drove onward again.
The cart followed behind, and Mo Ling's field of vision reached the edge of that red pool.
The lake surface had looked incomparably calm from afar, but only upon approaching did they discover that was not the case.
The Flesh Slimes had abandoned their metal shells and squeezed through the cracks into the center with great difficulty.
The pool moved and churned endlessly as though it were a living creature.
The slimes had indistinct edges and mingled together, constantly rising, falling, and spinning within it to form whirlpools.
At the edge of the pool, the Black Horn wrapped in red waves came into Mo Ling's view.
It was not an illusion. It was truly pure black!
Mo Ling had never seen anything so black.
The black objects he had seen before all reflected a little light, and even stains on them had color.
But the Black Horn surrounded by the slimes seemed to absorb all light.
Amazed by the strange nature of Abyss creations, Mo Ling also recalled Li Luo's earlier plan.
They had come here at enormous risk just to obtain the Black Horn.
They were close enough now. He would first try bringing the Black Horn inside.
Mo Ling aimed at the Black Horn and willed it, and it appeared within the metal space.
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
The instant Mo Ling stored the Black Horn in the space, the vibrations stopped.
What happened?
With his vision restricted, Mo Ling did not know what had happened.
He only noticed that within the range of his perception, the muffled sounds of vibration no longer came through.
The red pool that had been constantly churning suddenly became stagnant water.
The Flesh Slimes had stopped, as if they were dead.
The Metal Balls that had been constantly rolling deep within the appendage mountain lost their momentum and rolled into the deep cracks under gravity.
Li Luo also looked bewildered.
The instant the Black Horn vanished, she had already climbed into the cart and prepared to flee.
The current situation had clearly exceeded her expectations.
Mo Ling looked at the Black Horn lying quietly on the ground and did not dare breathe.
He felt as if the air had suddenly congealed.
Fortunately, the girl reacted quickly as well.
After only staring blankly for a moment, she drove away from the center.
The mountain's outskirts remained endlessly silent.
Mo Ling had already grown used to the sounds of vibration, so the sudden silence inevitably felt strange.
Before you continue