It was as if an empty soccer field had suddenly swelled with a surging crowd.

Nearly seventy to eighty Giant Beasts crammed the entire crevasse in an instant. Their roars resounded, and massive tremors shook the earth, creating incessant eruptions of violence. Everywhere one looked, there was vicious and brutal combat.

How did they suddenly start fighting?

As the instigator of the war, a certain canine creature had no clue.

Then it realized that it seemed to be blocked by all its pack members.

It was like at Rome's graduation ball where, amidst melodious tunes, all the classmates had already paired up to dance. Only a dead nerd, unable to find even a single unpartnered girl, was left to look around in confusion, alone amidst the noise and bustle.

No one paid him any attention.

From rising star to being ignored in an instant, such a complex psychological journey left Huai Shi somewhat astonished.

Why is no one coming for me?

Even when he tried to join a fight, he was forced back by the disdainful and resistant gazes of his potential teammates.

Dog-headed creatures were unwelcome everywhere.

As a giant Husky wandered aimlessly around the battlefield, looking about in confusion, it suddenly heard a sharp whistling sound by its ear.

Huai Shi, on instinct, tilted his head.

He skillfully dodged the imminent killing intent, a hair's breadth away, thanks to his Death Perception.

Then, amidst the harsh sound of grinding steel, a dreadful gash appeared on the horn on Huai Shi's forehead; it almost snapped off!

Only then did the roar of the Space Break erupt.

Within the piercing shriek of the wind, an arrow crafted from sharpened bone gouged a fissure on Huai Shi's horn before deeply embedding itself into the wall beside him, leaving a thumb-thick piercing crack that was bottomless.

When Huai Shi abruptly turned his head, he didn't see the archer but instead heard a scream… a pain-wracked screech from the armored Groundhog.

It was filled with disbelief and despair.

In full view of everyone on the battlefield, the gray owl it had been fighting suddenly shuddered. Bathed in blood, it laughed maniacally as it embraced evolution. But this evolution quickly turned its ecstasy into shock, and finally, into a wail.

Like an inflating balloon, the iron-gray giant owl swelled rapidly, its feathers ruffling up, while the skin and muscles beneath twisted and deformed abruptly.

It was as though something sinister had parasitized it.

Half of its feathers quickly fell off. Then, from beneath the twisted and shriveled skin, pustules and spots resembling distorted faces emerged.

Layer after layer of keratin grew from beneath the cracking and peeling skin, and slender mycelia swiftly sprouted within its blood, as if drawing on the blood to spread.

In a brief moment, it transformed into a monstrosity: one half a distorted giant owl, the other half covered with bizarre, spotted fungi and face-like patterns.

A chilling Abyssal sediment rose from its form.

"Solidify!"

In an instant, everyone on the battlefield scrambled away in terror: the solidification from Hell had appeared on an Explorer.

Finally, someone had paid the price for a failed evolution!

During the earlier Bloodline Sublimation from its metamorphosis, hidden dangers and flaws within its design—whether from its own will or that of its Creator—were triggered.

The flaws hidden in the evolutionary tree led to corruption. As its Soul was dragged into darkness by Abyssal gravity, the Astronomical Society's warning measures ejected the Explorer's consciousness, replacing it with a twisted, bestial spirit akin to an original Erosion species from the plains of Hell.

And the appalling mutation had only just begun!

As wisps of pitch-black miasma rose from the soil, the fungal giant owl began another frenzied round of Hell Evolution.

It was as if something that had parasitized its shell had awakened and broken free!

Its rigid carapace suddenly sprouted several holes, and a tangled chitinous exoskeleton oozed out. Ghastly white bone enveloped the giant owl, warping and elongating… It underwent a second and even third metamorphosis!

Leaping recklessly up the evolutionary tree, it gained tremendous power from the taboo. In addition to the pair of wings covered in fungal patterns and faces, two other pairs of bony wings burst from its back.

Its deformed figure began to blur.

It was as if enveloped in a thick fog…

As a tentacle shot out without warning from its spine, a Griffin, soaring high, was suddenly plucked from the sky and sent tumbling to the ground.

Then, the mutated Erosion species pounced, indulging its desires, venting its insatiable hunger and innate greed.

"Quick, dispose of it!" Emperor Penguin Shuangyue shouted urgently from a distance. "Don't let the mutation spread!"

At his words, many Great Spirits who had been fighting shifted their attention to this spot and, by unspoken agreement, ceased combat, rushing towards it.

But then, the mutated giant owl's blood-red eyes turned towards an innocent-looking Huai Shi nearby, its mouth gaping with hunger as it screeched shrilly.

Thereupon, the approaching Great Spirits unanimously turned back, indifferently withdrawing their gazes and resuming their former battles.

It was as if it were merely a halftime break.

"Hey, wait… why are you all like this?" Feeling the cold shoulder from his peers, Huai Shi looked up in astonishment. "Isn't this the time for everyone to work together to fight a common enemy?"

"Go for it!" someone cheered loudly from somewhere. "Beat it! You have to believe in yourself; you can do it!"

His tone was filled with enthusiasm and expectation, though it wasn't clear whether he was cheering for Huai Shi or the Erosion species…

Amidst ghastly shrieks that resembled malicious laughter, the mutated giant owl spread its wings, the face-like patterns on all three pairs of wings baring gruesome expressions in unison.

Feeling everyone's encouragement and anticipation, the Erosion species leaped voraciously towards the poor, weak, helpless, and edible giant Husky.

Then, a crisp THWACK! was heard.

The pouncing, deformed giant owl collided with Huai Shi's sharp scales as if it had hit an iron wall. Its swift speed converted into a massive impact force, and the entire creature was smeared across the sharp scales.

Huai Shi felt as though he had been punched. Yeah, through a bulletproof vest.

Just as Huai Shi raised his claw to press down fiercely, the giant owl's figure suddenly flashed and disappeared from its original spot, reappearing tens of meters away in an extremely abrupt manner.

It was as if it had performed a spatial jump.

Huai Shi turned his head and spat at the spot where he had just been struck.

After the scorching heat, any pus, blood, and germs that had tainted his scales instantly vanished, leaving no threat of infection.

"Be careful. My Psychokinesis has no effect," Fu Yi's voice sounded in his ear. "The plugin says the skill is called 'Phase Jump' or something…"

Phase Jump? Huai Shi was dumbfounded. Is it that high-end? Compared to my own Metal Spit, it's ridiculously low-tech… Why is all the core technology in someone else's hands?!

Following that, the deformed giant owl shook once more and vanished from the spot. A rush of wind hit Huai Shi from behind.

BANG!

The sharp end of the tentacle smashed against Huai Shi's throat, delivering a faint impact through the thick scales and carapace.

HP-1. Giving Bro Owl some face, only one drop of blood was deducted. It didn't even break his defenses.

Even transformed into a beast, the giant owl froze in disbelief. Then, it saw the impatient Wolf Beast turn its head and glance sideways at him.

"All this fancy trickery, is it useful?!"

With a sweep like an Iron Whip, the steel tail whistled with a low sound of Space Break. The sword-like edge slashed, its speed almost breaking the sound barrier. Before the giant owl could react, the tentacle was bisected right down the middle.

One became two. How nice.

But then, Huai Shi's beheading strike unexpectedly met resistance. That mysterious arrow, appearing from nowhere again, blocked the blade for a moment, allowing the giant owl to comfortably use Phase Jump again, reappearing on the other side to launch a vicious attack.

This time, Huai Shi finally felt pain.

Despite his intact scales and carapace, its attack directly affected the inside of Huai Shi's body, causing the gigantic Wolf Beast to twitch and let out a pained growl.

But as he focused on searching for the archer, the dark arrow once again vanished without a trace.

He could only hear mocking, low laughter, like an illusion.

This was clearly someone intentionally tripping Huai Shi up, hoping he and this Erosion species would badly injure each other—or even better, perish together…

Sensing the faintly mocking and indifferent gazes from the surrounding Great Spirits, Huai Shi spat, then bared his teeth, his sharp fangs scraping against the heavy sword edge.

Scintillating hot sparks, enough to make one's eyes twitch, continuously flew from the Sword Blade.

The piercing sound of grinding steel cut through the din of the battlefield.

It was as if he were sharpening the blade.

The Hand of Confinement attached the Power of the Axe of Anger to one end, and then the Power of the Spear of Compassion to the other. The double-edged sword lit up with a cold, steely glint.

It was thanks to his enormous body that Huai Shi had such a lavish supply of Source Substance to squander.

Finally, Huai Shi spat a mouthful of molten iron onto it, searing the Sword Blade to a crimson hue.

Attribute damage infusion complete.

"Laughing at my expense, are you?" he sneered, glancing around. His gaze finally landed on the giant owl, which sensed the danger, and he suddenly asked, "Do you know that in the game of word chains, besides 'doing whatever one pleases,' there's another phrase that can make you unbeatable?"

"…"

The giant owl had no idea what this giant Husky was rambling about, but the bone-chilling sense of crisis grew ever more intense.

Then, it saw the Giant Wolf slowly lower its stance, as if gathering strength, its muscles contracting, causing the heat beneath its scales to rise like a furnace.

It grinned viciously, smiling at the owl.

"That is…"

An explosive sound of Space Break suddenly erupted. The Fourfold Yu Step, powered by the Giant Wolf's unreasonably strong muscles, burst forth. Its limbs instantaneously trampled the ground, leaving deep indentations, and the Giant Wolf had already broken the sound barrier, appearing abruptly.

It was already within striking distance! And a cold whisper echoed in the giant owl's ear,

"Two birds with one stone!"

Instinctively, the giant owl screeched, desperately unleashing Phase Jump again, just before the massive sword could slice it in two!

A severed bone wing and a small chunk of its body fell from the sky, while its figure had already vanished from the spot.

"Eight o'clock," Fu Yi's voice came at just the right moment in Huai Shi's consciousness. The Giant Wolf, which had been sprinting forward, turned without warning.

It pounced on the bewildered giant owl hundreds of meters away.

You offended the Prince and think you can just leave?