750: Right Answer

Right Answer

Unlike all the other levels, the third one did not have any hallways connecting one section to the other. Instead, it was a wide-open space devoid of any obstacle to provide cover or hide behind, filled to the brim with thousands of different creatures. 1

Burak couldn't believe his eyes.

"H-How is this possible? It wasn't like this when we passed through here on the way down!"

Each level was almost identical in the sense that there were no sources of light and the winding pathways more often than not were fraught with danger at every other corner.

The last four levels had been the same so, why was this one different?

Instead of answering, Hao Xuan first gestured towards the sides and what little floor that was still visible underneath the swarming creatures.

"They went down," he muttered in a low voice, "All the walls retracted into the floor for some reason, expanding its overall size and removing any hurdles."

"But...why?"

"No idea. Maybe it was a built-in function in case the facility lost power. Swarm one level with most of the creatures from other levels so no one can walk back out?"

"Huh? Facility? Function? What are you talking about?" Burak didn't understand half the terms Hao Xuan used but that didn't matter anymore. The more pressing question was how they were going to cross this teeming horde?

Isak, Tasgall, and the others caught up to them, walking up behind the duo to see what the holdup was about and having much the same reactions as Burak.

The entire third level was, at a first glance, more than 3.5 kilometers wide and 400 meters high, from one corner to the other.

The spot they were standing on was the bottom left corner which was overlooking the entire level and was one of the two exits leading to this area.

The entrance to the second level was on the other side, exactly 3500 meters away and in between them was a literal sea of all manners of horrendous beasts and creatures the likes of which Hao Xuan had never seen before.

From as small as a few inches to as large as hundreds of meters, all shapes and sizes were present here.

There were five creatures among them that stood out from all the rest, mainly because of their immense stature or deadly aura.

The first one was a four-legged dog-like beast that was close to 90 meters long. Its skin was the color of dirt with actual mud constantly dripping down onto the floor, creating a completely separate area around its body where much smaller similar-looking creatures were enjoying themselves.

The second one was quite a peculiar-looking creature, one that was oddly out of place even here. It looked like a prehistoric bird from earth but its skin was hard as rocks. The four pairs of eyes adorning its wide face each looked in a different direction and in place of wings, it had another pair of long talons. In total it was probably over 200 meters long.

There were some vestigial wings hidden underneath its body but they appeared to be far too short for flight. It was hanging upside down from the ceiling, the sharp talons ripping into the metal that the pyramid was made of.

The other three creatures were similar with one of them even being a humanoid creature towering over most others at over 110 meters of height. It looked like a draconic humanoid species with a ring of horns on its head.

They all looked very different from one another along with the deadly auras they gave off but one thing they all had in common was that each of them cultivated at least one law.

Hao Xuan could physically see three of their territories with the naked eye and in turn, calculate how dangerous they were.

Going by his gut feeling and instincts alone, Hao Xuan judged the dog creature to be the weakest or easiest to deal with simply because its law had something to do with mud or earth. The bubbling swamp around it was its territory which was most obvious.

The aura of the humanoid and the bird creature was so terrible that he couldn't tell which one was more dangerous. But logically speaking, the humanoid should be worse since it might have higher intelligence to go along with whatever powers it had.

It was the only one calmly sitting down in one corner while all the others moved about in their own areas.

The floor was divided among these four while the entire ceiling belonged to the bird creature. It squawked and shrieked while moving back on forth, trying to pick fights with the other four.

'Even if we manage to somehow avoid all the others, that one will see us no matter what,' Hao Xuan concluded.

It was like a puzzle but there was no right answer.

pqdm.com