I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

The passage led sloping downwards for an unknown amount of time before suddenly opening up into a wide-open space ahead.

It was a small cavity with a low ceiling. The walls were pitted and uneven, with marks from claws digging out a large area of ​​soil.

In the center of the cavity stood a bronze pillar so thick that it would take two or three people to encircle it.

Only a section of the pillar was exposed, and the mud on the cross-section was still fresh, indicating that it had been dug out of the ground by the ghouls not long ago.

Lu Yuan immediately understood how this cavity came about.

The bronze pillars were buried underground, often with only their tips sticking out. In order to gnaw on the bronze, the ghouls would dig around the pillars little by little, and as they dug, a cavity would appear around each pillar, densely packed like a honeycomb.

The red figure stood at the other end of the cavity, on the path that continued downwards, turning back to wait for them.

But it wasn't something to wait for empty-handed.

Something was wrapped around that bronze pillar.

The gray-green trunk coiled upwards around the pillar, initially resembling a serpentine inlay. Lu Yuan only realized upon closer inspection that it was a Forest Spirit, a gigantic Forest Spirit.

The root-like trunk burrows into the patterns of the bronze pillar, inching closer and closer, the inscriptions on the pillar becoming dim and flickering due to erosion.

The red figure swayed and retreated deeper into the area.

The saplings that had been wrapped around the pillar detached themselves, their gray-green trunks sliding back down the pillar to the ground and disappearing into the soil.

Everyone understood instantly.

It is provoking everyone.

It showed off its power in front of everyone, demonstrating its ability to control these things and accelerate their erosion of the bronze pillar.

If this pillar collapses, what about the next one? There are so many pillars beneath the Bronze City; if they were all dismantled one by one...

This forces them to continue.

Lu Yuan glanced at the pillar. After the special individual left, the huge roots went back underground, but the inscription light on the bronze pillar stabilized again after a short time and returned to its original state.

But the Ascended Ones soon discovered that the signs of battle that should have existed here, as well as the piles of ghoul corpses, had all disappeared.

"It can even clean up the corpses of its companions?" The Ascended One looked at the special individual that was constantly attracting everyone's attention, and his curiosity grew even stronger.

This thing seems to have developed a structure resembling human society?

"So how exactly did it evolve?"

The march of the column gradually quickened.

The intentions of the special individual gradually became less concealed; clearly, it was preparing to lure everyone to a place where a battle could take place.

At this moment, all the other side roads were blocked by a large number of ghouls and root systems composed of some forest species. The only way to go was in the direction where the red figure disappeared.

It was a winding, downward-sloping path, so dark that the end could not be seen, and it was a place that had not been explored last time.

Klaus looked in the direction where the red figure disappeared, then turned to the others and said.

"It's now almost certain that it has other companions."

The Ascended One squinted and asked, "In that case, should we change our battle plan?"

Klaus shook his head.

"No. Their intelligence is already quite high. If we don't fall into their trap this time, what will they do?"

As someone who witnessed the event firsthand, the Great Ascendant knew very well the figure's combat strength; he was no match for it in a one-on-one fight. If there were more of these creatures, their arrival in Bronze City would be catastrophic. There would be no need to even consider the possibility of collapse; Bronze City would be utterly annihilated.

The archbishop then spoke up: "I have no problem. Since I'm already here, and the angels have given me their instructions."

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes slightly, adopting a devout expression.

The attendants remained silent. Clearly, Margaret and Lu Yuan felt the same way; Klaus's opinion was their opinion.

Klaus then stopped wasting time and stepped inside first.

After entering this passage, the surrounding roads became noticeably wider.

Lu Yuan, who was walking at the back, saw the phantom behind Klaus fall silently again and disappear into the soil next to the bronze pillar.

This passage was much wider than the previous one, and the ghouls around them visibly scrambled to make way. The air was filled with a strange, fishy stench, which intensified with each step they took, while the slope beneath their feet grew steeper. Clearly, they were heading towards the real abyss, but apart from Lu Yuan, no one else seemed to be affected.

Finally, after passing through this long, sloping passage, the group arrived at a hollowed-out area around a bronze pillar, and they were now positioned diagonally above the hollowed-out area.

The cavity was almost identical to the previous one, and there were no traces of ghouls here.

Lu Yuan slightly activated the connection between his fragments, and found that the third fragment was not on the bronze pillar in front of him.

Margaret followed Lu Yuan, taking out paper and pen and sketching something, clearly drawing a map of the abyss.

Without lingering there, the special entity continued to guide everyone downwards.

"Shall we continue?" This was the servant's question.

Clearly, they were now quite a distance from the ground. If a ghoul wave were to occur, or if two or three special individuals were to block the entrance, they would be in serious trouble.

Klaus hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to continue following, but only to the next similar void. If this particular entity continued to lead them downwards, they would turn back immediately.

As the group descended from the cavity and continued along the next passage, they arrived at an unprecedented depth.

They are at least a kilometer above the ground at this moment.

The surrounding rock walls were no longer the original soil, but some kind of extremely hard stone. On the stone passages, one could see countless claw marks dug by ghouls, clearly indicating that these passages were dug by the ghouls themselves.

Just then, the red figure finally stopped retreating and stood at the entrance of a dark abyss. As the group approached, it took a few more steps deeper into the darkness.

At the same time, Klaus scattered the green light in his hand in all directions of the passage, and the originally dark entrance suddenly lit up.

This is still a cavity, a hollow that has been dug out, but unlike others, there is also a bronze pillar here.

Unlike the previous one, the patterns on this bronze pillar were extremely clear, and several dark golden rays of light flowed along the patterns, as if it had never been touched by anything. Clearly, it had just been unearthed.

Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, because a faint connection was spreading from this bronze pillar, and the new fragment was very likely inside this bronze pillar, or rather, nearby.

Just as Lu Yuan put the thought aside and was thinking about how to get closer, he suddenly felt his feet sink.

Behind them, the ground suddenly bulged up, but it didn't collapse. Instead, countless gray-green branches emerged from the depths of the soil, one after another, densely intertwined into a net. The roots, covered with bits of flesh and soil, completely blocked the path.

It was Mori who blocked the road.

Lu Yuan instinctively turned around, only to see the branches flash by in the light.

This completely blocked the way they came.

There's no way out.

Margaret instinctively turned around and punched the intertwined roots, but it didn't have much effect; the thing was so hard that it couldn't be broken in a short time.

"No, we can't go." She turned back and said to Klaus in front of her.

Klaus was well aware of Margaret's power. If she said it wouldn't work, then it couldn't be destroyed in a short time.

In that case, it seems that its goal has been achieved.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan quickly surveyed his surroundings. Among the densely packed sources of pollution detected, no other unusual individuals appeared. Clearly, even if there were more, they were still on their way.

Besides the entrance being blocked, the cavity in front of us also had many openings, about seven or eight in total, leading to other underground networks. The special entity only blocked the entrance and ignored the other passages.

It seems this is the place where the final battle will take place.

Lu Yuan immediately realized this, and the others in front of him also noticed it.

The purple light emanating from the attendant began to flicker.

Margaret abandoned her attempt to dismantle the roots behind her, her face flushed as she gazed at the figure in the distance. Clearly, her interest in fighting had been reignited.

The Ascended One's mechanical gaze darted around, searching for any other special individuals lurking nearby.

Klaus remained expressionless, staring intently at the other end of the cavity, where the figure was standing.

Lu Yuan also took this opportunity to turn his attention to it.

The red figure made no further attempt to hide and gradually emerged from the shadows. Its crimson flesh glowed eerily against the green light emanating from Klaus's body. Its entire skin was gone, leaving exposed muscle bundles that writhed and twisted.

The slit across his face slowly opened, revealing not an eyeball, but a pus-filled mass of flesh and blood.

It raised its hand and placed its palm on the bronze pillar next to it.

Lu Yuan saw it clearly. The moment its finger touched the surface of the bronze pillar, a large number of gray-green roots sprouted from its arm and spread wildly along the inscription patterns on the pillar. They were dense and covered the entire bronze pillar in just a few breaths.

The next moment, it turned its head and looked at the crowd in front of it.

Its lipless mouth twitched a few times, as if something was stuck in its throat and it couldn't spit it out.

Lu Yuan stared at it, as if he had realized something, and a chill ran down his spine.

Is it... talking?

The next moment, a short, intermittent noise squeezed out from the crack, clearly searching for a frequency to make a sound. Something that had never spoken before was now trying to learn to speak.

Then, it opened its mouth.

"Humans."

The blood-red figure had a hoarse and broken voice, uttering words one syllable at a time, making the voice sound as if it had been crushed.

"You will die."

Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

"You... will surely repay the suffering of my lord."