"Roar!"
A piercing, anguished roar suddenly echoed through the floors.
Wu Cheng instinctively raised his hands to cover his ears, a trace of surprise in his eyes. Wait, there really is a Calamity Beast here?
Not far from him, Wang Hai frowned slightly, his gaze instinctively turning toward Han Ling.
Han Ling seemed to have lost consciousness, her body falling limply.
"Wei Leyang!"
Wang Hai's shout echoed through the floor.
Enduring the stabbing pain in his eardrums, Wei Leyang glanced up at the falling figure and answered loudly:
"Got it!"
As he spoke, he swiftly raised his hand. A thread with a slightly swollen tip shot from his wrist like lightning, slicing through the air with a swishing sound at its sheer speed.
Thwip!
The thread pierced the concrete wall with pinpoint accuracy. Immediately afterward, its swollen tip split open, and fine yet extremely tough threads swiftly burrowed into the surrounding ceiling like nimble little snakes.
In the blink of an eye, these threads formed an invisible net, anchoring that end firmly to the ceiling.
The instant the thread pulled taut, Wei Leyang began moving rapidly through the floor like a pendulum swung with tremendous force.
Within moments, the thread flung him outside the building like a slingshot.
Then the thread rapidly extended, and Wei Leyang plummeted like a meteor, disappearing from this floor in an instant.
"That's... really Spider-Man!"
Shen Heng pressed a hand against his head, watching the scene before him in astonishment.
He had thought Wei Leyang was joking when he said he could be like Spider-Man during their first meeting. After all, his threads were not spider silk; they were not sticky and could not adhere to buildings. He had never expected them to embed themselves like arrowheads instead, replacing the adhesion of spider silk.
After Wei Leyang set off to rescue her, Wang Hai quickly turned toward Shen Heng.
"Shen Heng..."
But the question he had intended to ask about the Calamity Beast's location stopped short when he saw Shen Heng supporting his head with one hand, a trace of pain on his face.
"What is it?" Shen Heng looked toward Wang Hai, forcing himself to endure the pain in his head.
"How are you holding up?" Wang Hai asked.
"I'm fine. This Calamity Beast's attack might just affect me a little more than you!" Shen Heng gave a bitter smile.
Only now did he realize that sonic attacks actually countered his ability. Although the effect was not particularly severe, it still had some impact.
"Can you still use your ability?" Wang Hai asked.
"Yes, no problem!" Shen Heng took a deep breath.
"Where's the Calamity Beast now?"
Enduring the pain in his head, Shen Heng focused and listened for a while.
A moment later, Shen Heng spoke again. "The thirtieth floor. It's still climbing!"
Wang Hai nodded and turned to look outside the building.
There, the thread was rapidly retracting, accompanied by the rustling sound it made as it drew back.
Soon, two figures reappeared on this floor. Holding Han Ling by the wrist, Wei Leyang stepped back onto the floor.
Han Ling's hair was somewhat disheveled, and she still looked a little shaken, but fortunately, she was otherwise fine.
"How are you? Are you hurt?" Wang Hai looked at Han Ling with some concern.
"Other than my head still hurting a little, I'm fine!" Han Ling said, holding her head with a slight frown.
She gently shook her head, trying to ease the waves of pain, a trace of weariness showing in her eyes.
"That's good!" Wang Hai nodded, his expression relaxing a little. Then he asked, "Did you get a clear look at what kind of Calamity Beast it was? What tier?"
"It's ugly. Its upper body looks human, and its lower body is just a tail. Tier 2!" Han Ling replied.
Hmm, I don't think there's a Calamity Beast like that in the Supervision Bureau's bestiary... Shen Heng listened quietly from the side.
He was not surprised by this. After all, the Calamity Beast bestiary had not fallen from the heavens. It had been slowly compiled from records made by inspectors across the country over the course of mission after mission. It was perfectly normal for previously unseen Calamity Beasts to appear.
Tier 2... Wang Hai nodded, then turned toward Shen Heng to confirm once again:
"The Calamity Beast's location!"
"The thirty-fourth floor!" Shen Heng replied.
Wang Hai nodded, then turned toward the others and asked:
"Let's take a break and give Han Ling and Shen Heng some time to recover. We can discuss how to deal with this Calamity Beast while we're at it. Any suggestions?"
They exchanged glances and fell into thought, searching their experience and knowledge for a possible solution.
This Calamity Beast isn't all that strong. It's just hard to catch. The terrain gives him too much of an advantage right now!
Shen Heng glanced at everyone. Seeing that no one seemed inclined to speak, he hesitated before saying:
"How about we establish what abilities this Calamity Beast has first?"
Wang Hai nodded in agreement with the suggestion.
Wei Leyang spoke first. "He can climb walls and move between floors faster than us. He also has a sonic attack. And with that long tail, it should be one of his means of attacking too!"
"His perception seems pretty good too. Just now, he started moving before we even got close. At the farthest, I think there were five floors between us!" Han Ling added.
"He moves between floors faster than us, and his perception is pretty good too. That means it'll be hard for us to confront him head-on, because once we get close, he'll start running!" Shen Heng said.
Wang Hai nodded silently. Does that mean I might not be much help this time?
All his combat strength lay in close combat. If the Calamity Beast only climbed one or two floors, he could try grabbing onto the ceiling and climbing up after him. But since this Calamity Beast could scale walls, he clearly would not give him a chance to fight at close range!
"Then what should we do?" Wu Cheng asked.
Shen Heng said, "Against this kind of Calamity Beast, we either attack from range or set traps!"
"How would we attack from range, and how would we set traps?" Wang Hai watched Shen Heng, a hint of appraisal seemingly in his eyes.
Shen Heng said, "For ranged attacks, Han Ling and Wu Cheng can wait at opposite corners, each covering two walls. I'll warn you when the Calamity Beast is about to show himself. Then attack as soon as you see him appear. You don't have to kill the Calamity Beast, but you need to stop him from getting downstairs smoothly!"
"As for traps..." Shen Heng pondered for a moment, then said, "No need for traps. Wei Leyang can start with the floor above us and fill the open spaces along the walls on every floor with threads. Just keep the Calamity Beast from slipping inside the floors easily!"
"That way, if the Calamity Beast heads down, the threads will block him from getting inside the floors, leaving him as nothing but a target to shoot at!"
"If he heads up, he'll eventually have nowhere left to run, and the captain will chase him to the top floor and beat him to death!"
Wu Cheng sucked in a sharp breath at that.
"Hiss... that's so underhanded!"