"Quick, stop running this way! Turn around and defend yourself!! The Calamity Beast is heading for you!!!"
Wang Hai shouted as he ran toward the sound.
At Wang Hai's words, the footsteps-whether Han Ling's or Wu Cheng's, he could not tell-quickly stopped.
Immediately afterward, a clang rang out in the darkness, followed by what sounded like something flying through the air and crashing into a wall.
"Cough, cough..."
A woman's coughing came from the darkness. Han Ling had been the one attacked!
Wang Hai's heart pounded rapidly. Tonight was dangerous, terribly dangerous!
A mere tier-three Calamity Beast should not have driven them into such a desperate situation, but this lightless underground environment was far too harsh on them. Their combat strength had practically been slashed by seventy or eighty percent.
Wang Hai quickly ran toward the sound, but almost the instant he moved, the Calamity Beast charged at Han Ling again.
That Calamity Beast knocked Han Ling to the side, not toward me. I won't reach her in time! Based on the sounds reaching him, Wang Hai swiftly made his judgment, then shouted.
"Han Ling, quick, get up! It's coming at you again!"
Han Ling did not answer him, or perhaps she had no time to.
A moment later, another clang rang out in the darkness. Just as before, something went flying and then slammed into a wall.
Wang Hai knew without thinking that it was Han Ling who had been sent flying. He adjusted his direction again based on the sound.
Clang! Bang! Clang! Bang! Boom!...
All kinds of sounds rang through the underground passage.
Explosions were mixed among them-the sounds of Han Ling trying to fight back.
Yet the clangs that followed made it clear that Han Ling's struggles were doing little good.
Wang Hai kept adjusting the direction he ran in, but in the darkness, he could not keep up with the rat beast's speed at all. He could only helplessly listen as Han Ling was battered this way and that.
At this rate, Han Ling won't hold out much longer!
I have to think of something!
A way!
A way!!
A way!!!
Clangs and crashes continued to reach Wang Hai's ears, and his heart beat faster and faster.
Farther away.
Wu Cheng crouched in a corner, his shield braced in front of him, keeping him firmly protected behind it.
He could hear the sounds outside too, and could imagine how badly Han Ling was probably being beaten, but there was nothing he could do either.
He was no match for this rat beast even when he could see, let alone now that he could not.
Just then, a shout suddenly reached him.
"Wu Cheng!!!"
Captain?
Wu Cheng poked his head out from behind his shield. He knew he could not see anything now, so what was the point of sticking his head out? Yet he did it anyway.
"I'm here!" Wu Cheng shouted back.
"Quick! Light a fire, give us a light source!!" Wang Hai's voice came from afar.
"Huh? But... my ability is only C-rank! Even if I make a fireball, it'll only light up twenty or thirty meters around me. The Calamity Beast can run out of that range in a second! And the brightness will fade rapidly too!" Wu Cheng shouted into the darkness.
"If you don't want to die, figure something out! Otherwise, we're all going to meet our end here today!" came the roar from the darkness.
"But... I really can't! If I could, I'd have done it already!" Wu Cheng replied helplessly.
But no one answered from the darkness anymore. There were only clangs, explosions, and running footsteps.
"Damn it, that goddamn Calamity Beast!"
Wu Cheng cursed under his breath and stood up. A small fireball, a dozen or so centimeters across, rapidly formed in his hand, illuminating several meters around him.
As Wu Cheng hurried toward the sounds, he thought about how to make the fireball bigger and brighter.
A moment later, he slowly lowered his head and looked at his shirt and trousers.
Bang!
"Cough, cough... pfft!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from Han Ling's mouth, looking especially shocking in the darkness.
Hearing the beast running toward her again, Han Ling endured the agonizing pain throughout her body and used every ounce of strength to get up from the ground.
Her trembling hands gripped her gun tightly as she kept adjusting the muzzle toward the sound of the approaching rat beast.
Eighteen meters! Fifteen meters! Ten meters!
Yet Han Ling did not fire rashly. She had tried many times already. In this darkness, she had to wait until it came within at least three meters before she was confident she could hit the agile rat beast.
The Calamity Beast continued closing in rapidly. Eight meters, seven meters, six meters...
Just then, light suddenly appeared in the passage once more.
"Good work, Wu Cheng!" The corners of Han Ling's mouth lifted.
She narrowed her eyes, enduring the pain as her darkness-adjusted eyes suddenly met the light, and quickly locked her gaze onto the rat beast.
Her finger squeezed the trigger, and the specially made bullet shot out like a bolt of black lightning.
Boom!
The bullet struck the rat beast precisely, then exploded violently.
"Squeak, squeak-"
The powerful impact knocked the rat beast several steps backward. In pain, it let out sharp squeals.
Han Ling quickly raised her gun and braced it at her side. With a clang, she was sent flying and slammed into the wall again.
Lying on the ground, Han Ling had barely taken two breaths before she saw the rat beast appear before her again, its enormous maw opening to bite down savagely at her.
Am I... going to die here?
Han Ling's pupils lost focus slightly.
Suddenly, a figure rushed in and raised his hands into the rat beast's mouth.
Clang!
Metal clashed, and the two began a contest of strength.
"C-Captain?" Han Ling called instinctively, a trace of surprise, joy, and disbelief in her voice.
The next instant, Wang Hai quickly turned his head toward her.
"What are you standing there for? Shoot into its mouth while you have the chance!"
At his words, Han Ling instantly came to her senses and quickly raised her gun.
Sensing danger, the rat beast struggled wildly, but Wang Hai held its jaws in an iron grip.
Han Ling stood in place, her eyes fixed on the rat beast's movements as she predicted them in her mind.
Up, down, up, left, up, down, up, right, up...
A sharp gleam flashed through Han Ling's eyes. Next is...
Up!
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted inside the rat beast's mouth, the powerful impact throwing its head backward.
The rat beast swayed a few times, then its movements grew weaker and weaker.
Wang Hai lowered the rat beast. Looking into its eyes, which still held a trace of life and a hint of pleading, he silently raised his hand.
Shhk-!
His steel-hard arm pierced straight through the rat beast's head, splashing warm blood onto him.
This time, the rat beast was dead for good!
Looking at the rat beast lying completely motionless on the ground, Wang Hai let out a long breath. His taut nerves finally relaxed.
He turned to Han Ling and asked with concern, "How are you? Are you all right?"
Han Ling was just about to reply when her gaze suddenly shifted, as though she had seen something unbelievable. She immediately opened her mouth and screamed.
"Ah! Cough, cough..." The loud scream made Han Ling cough heavily several times, but she paid no attention to that and continued shouting, "Wu Cheng!! Why did you take off your shirt and trousers!!!"
"Wasn't it to give us some light? Besides, I'm still wearing underwear, okay? You just couldn't see it behind my shield!" Wu Cheng walked over with an embarrassed smile, still holding up the bundle of burning clothes. The faint firelight illuminated his slightly reddened face.
Wang Hai shook his head, took off his jacket, which had already been torn by bites, and handed it over. "Cover up a little more!"
"Hehe... thanks, Captain!"
Wang Hai accepted it with a grin and covered his lower body before looking at Han Ling.
"If you can shout that loudly, it looks like you're not doing too badly!"
"None of your business!" Han Ling glared fiercely at Wu Cheng, then coughed heavily twice as soon as she finished speaking.
"Are you all right?" Wang Hai looked at Han Ling with some concern.
"I'm fine. Luckily, I replaced my chest armor earlier. Otherwise, I might have been badly hurt this time!"
Han Ling pointed at her chest. Beneath her slightly torn clothes, a little of her black soft armor, resembling a bulletproof vest, was exposed.
"Although you don't have any external wounds, judging by your condition, your internal organs are very likely injured. We'll call Le Gu Nan over in a bit to treat you!" Wang Hai said.
"Mm, all right!" Han Ling nodded. She could also feel that her body was not in very good shape.
Standing nearby, Wu Cheng looked at the black armor over Han Ling's chest and could not help nodding to himself.
Looks like saving up for a tier-three shield alone isn't enough. I'll have to save up for some other things too!
"But it's finally over!" Han Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
Wang Hai looked down at the rat beast's corpse on the ground and nodded.
"Yes, it's finally over!"
Somewhere they could not see.
In a pitch-black underground passage more than three hundred meters away.
A rat beast slightly larger than the one from before was dragging its enormous belly along the ground, slowly advancing little by little.
From time to time, ripples of movement could be seen across the surface of its belly, as though life were gestating within.
Rustling sounds kept coming from its mouth. If anyone could get close to its mouth, they would hear what it was saying. It was...
"Humans... must die..."
"Humans... must die..."