Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

The Nether Tiger Soul Fire fluctuated, conveying the message "Energy unstable, positioning failed".

Lynn frowned slightly: "Continue."

Second attempt.

The Nether Tiger adjusted its soul energy output frequency, and the light from the rune on its forehead turned dark red.

This time, the crack opened up even wider, about the size of a washbasin, and one could even vaguely see the swirling gray mist and several blurry shadows rushing past on the other side of the crack.

But just as something seemed to be struggling to break free, the energy structure at the edge of the rift suddenly became disordered, like a taut string snapping, and the entire passage collapsed once again.

Still nothing.

The aura of the Nether Tiger had clearly weakened—forcibly opening the passage twice had consumed nearly 15% of its soul energy.

Lynn didn't call for a stop; she just watched quietly.

The third attempt.

The Nether Tiger concentrated its soul fire, and the 99999 courier souls on its body surface simultaneously emitted a deep resonance, continuously injecting a vast amount of soul energy into the rune on its forehead.

This time, the color of the runes was deep and stable, an almost black "darkness of the Styx".

"Sizzle—!"

The air was violently torn apart, and a stable rift, two meters high and one meter wide, formed ten meters in front of Lynn!

A viscous black energy flowed along the edge of the fissure, and the interior was clearly visible—

It was a dark space without sky or earth, where countless translucent, twisted spirits drifted aimlessly.

Deeper inside, one can vaguely see some strange terrain made of bones and resentment, as well as several dilapidated black temple phantoms floating in the void.

As soon as the crack stabilized, a thin, dark figure rolled out of it as if it had been ejected!

"squeak--!"

A piercing shriek rang out.

It was something that could barely be called a "living being".

It is about half a meter tall and looks like a monkey that has been skinned and soaked in formaldehyde for many years. Its skin is a dark grayish-brown and covered with wrinkles and ulcers.

His limbs were long and thin, and his fingertips were black bone spurs.

Its head was disproportionately large, taking up a third of its body. It had no eyes on its face, only a mouth that stretched almost to its ears and was covered with fine, sharp teeth.

It exudes a faint but pure "aura of the underworld," with an energy level... roughly equivalent to lv0.5, not even reaching the official lv1.

They're really pitifully weak...

What's the use of summoning this thing? After landing, the monkey-like creature from the underworld seemed a bit lost. It circled around twice before it "smelled" the rich soul aura emanating from Lynn and the others.

It immediately let out a greedy hiss and pounced on Lynn, who was the nearest one, with all four limbs at a not-so-fast speed!

Megatron was too lazy to even move, only exhaling a wisp of deathly breath carrying sparks from his nostrils.

The Decepticons were even more direct—they didn't even use their summoned spirits, they just raised their front paws and casually slapped downwards.

"Pfft."

Like crushing a rotten fruit.

The creature from the underworld didn't even have time to scream before it was smashed into a pool of dark red, oozing black smoke.

The minced meat twitched twice on the ground, then visibly shriveled and carbonized, finally turning into a small clump of black ash, which was scattered by the night wind.

Nothing was left behind.

There was no soul fire, no materials, and not even a trace of residual energy to absorb.

"This is... a creature from the underworld?" Lynn raised an eyebrow.

"Weak and worthless."

The Decepticon Soulfire conveyed a sense of "awkwardness" and frustration at "consuming a lot but gaining nothing".

"A few more times," Lynn ordered. "Let's see if there's anything even remotely decent."

In the next hourglass, the Decepticons attempted the Underworld Passage seven more times.

Four of these attempts failed due to unstable energy or positioning deviation.

The first two attempts successfully summoned similar "skinned monkey" variants, one with an extra tail and the other with bone spurs on its back.

These summoned creatures seemed to be beyond the control of the Decepticons. As soon as they appeared in this world, they couldn't wait to launch an attack, only to be easily crushed and turned into black ash.

Until the very last time.

The Decepticons exhausted almost 80% of their remaining soul energy before they could barely tear open a crack that was slightly more stable than before.

This time, what crawled out was a Netherworld creature that barely reached the level 1 threshold.

It looks like a mutated beetle with a broken shell, and is nearly one meter long.

The carapace is dark purple, with a surface covered with honeycomb-like holes, constantly oozing a viscous black liquid.

It has a pair of short tentacles on its head, as well as a mouthpart hidden under its carapace.

"Squeak—!"

This beetle seemed more aggressive. As soon as it appeared, it vibrated its tattered elytra, making a piercing noise, and at the same time opened its mouthparts to spray out a stream of black acid with a strong corrosive effect!

The acid was sprayed towards the Decepticon's face.

A hint of impatience flashed in the Decepticon's eyes—this kind of attack wasn't even good enough to polish its Soul Crystal Armor.

It didn't even move; a wisp of spirit on its body automatically condensed into a palm-sized shield of soul matter, blocking the path of the acid.

"laugh..."

The acid struck the shield, producing a few wisps of smoke, and then nothing more.

Decepticons got tired of playing around. A soul-like chain shot out from the ground, instantly binding the beetle and tightening its grip!

"Snap! Pfft—!"

Its shell shattered, its body fluids splattered, and the beetle struggled for a moment before falling silent.

As before, its body quickly shriveled and carbonized, eventually turning into a slightly larger pile of black ash that drifted away in the wind.

There was still nothing.

The Tyrant's aura was already quite weak, its soul energy was excessively consumed, and even its soul fire had dimmed considerably.

Lynn waved his hand, signaling it to step back.

He walked to the pile of dissipating black ash, squatted down, and picked up a little with his fingers.

The ash is cold to the touch, with no energy residue, and its texture is like the lowest quality charcoal powder.

"It seems that creatures of the underworld and the dead are two completely different kinds of beings."

Lynn stood up and clapped his hands.

"Undead are composed of death energy and fragments of soul. When they are killed, they will leave behind at least soulfire or soul dust."

"And the creatures of the underworld... seem to be the embodiment of the rules of the underworld. Once they die, they return to the rules themselves without leaving a trace."

He looked at the Nether Tiger: "This ability, at present, has limited value. It consumes a lot of resources, summons weak creatures, and yields no benefits, unless..."

A thoughtful look flashed in Lynn's eyes: "Unless you advance your skill level, or you can stabilize the passage enough to allow even more powerful Netherworld creatures to pass through."

"If a way can be found to 'imprison' their core rules before they die and forcibly transform them into usable resources, that would also be of some value."

"The underworld... is also one of the countless dimensions, and its rules are perhaps worth analyzing as well."

But now is not the time.

The underworld was still too far away for him.