Sensing the questioning sights from both flanks, Qin Ruo looked at the dark region below them and grumbled. Finally, he nodded.

“Since we’re already here, we can’t return empty-handed. Perhaps that’s our destination… The Underworld Abyss that Yaeger talked about, where the Mythical Warp Portal might be!”

Qin Ruo had been thinking long and hard about that place.

When he browsed through Evildoer’s memory, the Underworld Abyss appeared to be a place full of despair. The region was occupied by countless Abyssal Vampires and even Bosses of a higher tier that were much more powerful than the Lich.

Of course, Qin Ruo was not arrogant enough to think that the three of them could survive in the Abyss. After all, it was a place where even the Demigod NPC found hopeless.

Though two of them had their Defense as well as Attack greatly boosted by the Demigod Equipment, and despite the fact that they had attained strength unmatched by their previous Tier 5 selves, the chance of getting killed in such a dangerous zone was still very high.

The purpose of Qin Ruo’s visit was to confirm how obscure the Underworld Abyss really was with his own eyes. At the same time, it would be convenient if there was an opening that he could sneak in through and complete the second Reputation Quest given by Delia.

Two hundred Reputation Points were equivalent to demolishing twenty large gatherings of the Undead. With those points, he could at least enchant four full sets of equipment for his Party. That would greatly enhance their survival rate during their upcoming scheduled Dungeon in the next few days.

After Qin Ruo flew one lap around the dark region and confirmed it was safe for him to land, he asked Homme Fatale and Black Rock to stay in the sky and wait for news from him. Then, he disguised as a Vampire once again and dexterously plunged into one of the hills at the edge.

***

On the hilltop, Qin Ruo was further alarmed by its emptiness. He found neither living nor dead creatures around him.

A place in the Underworld uninhabited by any Undead every few hundred meters was almost unheard of. The only plausible explanation was that the region shrouded by dark fog was probably occupied by a supernatural force, frightening even the normal Undead and repelling any creature that tried to get near.

It pointed to only one fact—the dark region was extremely unsafe!

“This is problematic.” Qin Ruo frowned and observed the zone in front of him closely. Visibility was at best about ten meters far, and Elemental Perception was completely useless against the fog. The narrow field of vision meant that avoiding a long-range attack from the monster inside the region was close to impossible.

Suddenly!

Qin Ruo heard a weird and faint sound.

“Huh?” Nervous, Qin Ruo stepped back reflexively. He raised his alertness while he widened the gap between him and the dark region. The odd noise was undoubtedly coming from inside the dark region.

Though he currently appeared as the Predator with the help of Mimic, he was unsure if other Boss-tier Undead monsters existed in the region. The approaching rhythmic sound was apparently targeting him, the only moving object around.

Nevertheless, Qin Ruo was still rather confident in his Mimic ability, which was granted by the Ring of Honor. This explained why he had only taken two steps back and did not take more precautionary measures.

Just as he stopped retreating, the unusual sound suddenly turned into a piercing noise that tore through the air. It seemed that the slow approaching object had drastically sped up all of a sudden. Moreover, judging from the sounds, there were actually a few of them.

In just a matter of seconds, more than ten serpentine objects shot out from the dark region like flying arrows. They whipped furiously towards the “Predator”, Qin Ruo!

“Sh*t!” Qin Ruo was shocked by the random attacks that came out of nowhere.

‘Physical Attack!’

More than ten of such attacks were sufficient to destroy his Darkfrost Shield and most of his barrier’s Endurance.

‘This is dangerous.’

He flapped his wings with all his might while he immediately summoned Poochie out to rescue him.

Just in time, a sharp penetrating voice sounded closer than ever near his shoulder.

Shadow Howl!

Unfortunately, the usually effective life-saving skill did not work this time.

Whip!

The attacks came relentlessly from within the dark region and reached Qin Ruo swiftly. They hit his Frostbarrier with force.

It was only when he was hit by the attack that Qin Ruo managed to make out the true identity of the “arrows”.

‘Vines…’

Those serpentine objects were actually black vines covered by a pungent liquid.

Oddly enough, he did not receive any data feedback when he looked at the vines.

Attacked by Ancient Ghostvine.

Darkfrost Shield has been destroyed.

Frostbarrier’s Endurance reduced by 237 points.

Received 2,371 damage.

More than ten Ghostvines hit his barrier almost simultaneously. His Darkfrost Shield was instantaneously shattered, and his inner barrier trembled vigorously as well. One after another, tiny rifts began to appear on its surface.

The bizarre power demonstrated by the monster perplexed Qin Ruo…

Luckily for him, the vines were retracted at an even quicker speed after the attack. That gave Qin Ruo an opportunity to retreat more than thirty meters away from the dark region.

No further movement was detected after Qin Ruo fell back. It appeared that the creature inside was unable to leave the shrouded area.

It was as if the danger that almost took Qin Ruo’s life was non-existing. If it had not been for his dilapidated barrier and the numerous cracks on it, Qin Ruo might have thought that the incident a while ago, which happened in a flash, was just in his imagination.

Thud! Thud!

After two light sounds, Homme Fatale and Black Rock landed near him at the same time. They quickly shielded Qin Ruo behind them with a concerned look on their face. What happened earlier was equally nightmarish to them.

The two Demigod Champions had failed to react in time. They watched helplessly as the more than ten black vines hit Qin Ruo while he was retreating. The attack instantly broke his Darkfrost Shield, and the resulting damage put Qin Ruo on the verge of the Weakened State.

“Are you all right?”

“What was that… thing?”

The two of them asked simultaneously.

“I’m not sure.” Qin Ruo took a deep breath. Protected by the Grand Reaper, he swiftly recalled the Darkfrost Shield and a brand new Frostbarrier. After he was done, he muttered, “But I’m certain that those attacks came from a greater monster in there.”

Homme Fatale and Black Rock were silent.

They gazed in the direction of the Ancient Ghostvine’s attack. They nodded in agreement. ‘Qin Ruo’s right. The system notification only reported once, not multiple times.’

‘Anyway, what’s this thing known as the Ancient Ghostvine? What kind of monster is it? That attack just now was bloody scary!’

It ignored the decelerating effect of Shadow Howl and one round of its attack almost instantly killed a Demigod Champion. Not to forget, the heavily-injured Tier 6 Champion was protected by splendid Legendary and Demigod Equipment.

Suddenly, the three of them grew fearful of the Ancient Ghostvine, which was hiding inside the dark region.

“I think we’ve reached an extremely hostile place.”

“Qin Ruo, we’ve most likely encountered a Tier 6 Boss that excels in Physical Attacks. It’ll be very difficult for us to face such a foe under this circumstance. Do you think we should back off?” Black Rock intended to withdraw after he witnessed how Qin Ruo had been beaten a while ago.

If even the famous Winter Demon was unable to sustain the attack, then fighting the monster would be no different from fighting the Grand Reaper. Being killed by a Boss-Tier monster would result in a hefty punishment. He worried that dropping a Demigod Grade Equipment there would make them a laughing stock of the Demon Faction players.

“Back off?” Qin Ruo stared at the dark region coldly. A wave of insatiable anger burned within him after he was whipped by the vines in a humiliating manner.

‘How can we give up so easily? Are we going to go back and tell them we were forced to turn back because I was almost killed by a monster that never appeared?’

Anyhow, Black Rock’s worry was also justifiable.

The unknown creature, the Ancient Ghostvine, had exerted such dominance without even showing its true form. It posed a legitimate threat to the three of them.

Such prowess was almost equal to a Tier 6 Physical-Type Megaboss.

Normally, they were more than capable of dealing with a monster at that level. But fighting without Elemental Perception and with handicapped vision made it nearly impossible to defeat the unknown enemy.

Qin Ruo suggested after he pondered for a long time, “I suspect the Ancient Ghostvine is unable to leave the zone shrouded by the fog. Let me try one more time. We need to at least get more details and learn about its level before we retreat.”

“Why not send out the Grand Reaper? With the Death Barrier, I believe Little Face will last longer than you,” Black Rock proposed.

“Better not.” Qin Ruo shook his head. “Every time the Death Barrier is destroyed, it requires another hundred and eight souls to be reconstructed. We still need it to cover us if we’re forced to flee in case of an unforeseen predicament.”

Qin Ruo continued after he rejected Black Rock’s goodwill. “Don’t worry, I was at lost just now because I was caught off guard. It won’t happen again.”

It was true that Qin Ruo never expected an assault when he was in a perfect disguise. It just so happened that the attack mode used was none other than the Achilles heel of an Elementalist—a long-range Multiple Attack with Physical Damage.

Not only did Shadow Howl fail to work, but he was almost instantly killed by the monster.

This time, he was ready and determined not to allow the same scenario from happening again.

For insurance, Qin Ruo decided to ditch his disguise. He then strengthened his defense by adding another layer of dense Water Element ribbon on top of his outer shield.

Besides, Qin Ruo had also secretly accumulated sufficient mana to release a Chaotic Frostrampart at any time.

Once everything was set, Qin Ruo nodded at Black Rock and Homme Fatale. He then held up a staff, beaming with silver luster, and once again approached the mysterious zone with a heavy heart.