Please be my partner.

When it comes to dealing with the dog, Mellen naturally doesn't need to go through so many twists and turns. When Spike wanted to leave, he sat on the ground and held it, not letting it go.

The dog in front of him had good talent and its strength had reached the third level. More importantly, it seemed to be alone and had no worries, so he could be abducted.

Hearing Mellen's words, the golden retriever seemed to be a little moved, but suddenly seemed to think of something. He first shook his head at Mellen, rejecting the proposal, then used his head to push Mellen back a few steps, signaling him not to go any further, and finally turned around and ran, disappearing into the darkness in a few seconds.

Mellen looked at the golden retriever's departing back in confusion. He could feel that the golden retriever was not opposed to leaving with him, but seemed to have some concerns.

I can’t figure it out for now, so I won’t think about it anymore. He will be staying here for a while anyway, and there should be a chance to meet him again later.

Mellen called Spike to continue moving forward, and according to the map in his mind, he walked through the intricate passages and gradually went deeper.

When he came to a fork in the road again, Mellen stopped because the information he had received ended there. He looked up and saw that he was about two hundred meters above the ground. He needed to explore the road below bit by bit by himself.

Garuru jumped out and waved his claws, and the mechanical puppet wolves split into several teams and quickly ran towards different passages.

Xiao Honglian found it interesting and waved her claws. The blood mist condensed into two third-level and dozens of second-level blood-colored minions, which entered different passages.

Garuru looked at Senior Xiao Honglian with some envy. Compared to him, his own subordinates were far inferior.

Noticing Garuru's gaze, Xiao Honglian raised her head slightly, with an expression of "I'm really awesome, right?"

Mellen watched the interaction between the dogs with a smile.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the dogs who were exploring the way came back with news one after another. Among the five passages, one was a dead end, new forks had been found in the other three, and the last one had not been fully explored.

Mellen chose a forked passage and then repeated the process.

His goal is to keep going deeper, so as long as it is a passage that can continue downward, it is the right path for him, even if it is farther or more roundabout, it doesn't matter.

Several hours passed as we explored and moved forward.

Suddenly, Garuru gave a warning sound, and Merlen immediately understood that a mechanical puppet wolf had been attacked.

Melen transferred to the perspective of the attacked mechanical puppet wolf through Garuru and saw the attacker. It was a monster that was on all fours, only about 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, and looked a little skinny.

These monsters are numerous and fearless. Even though they are generally not strong, they all rush towards the mechanical puppet wolf. Even if their bodies are torn apart by sharp claws, they still howl and attack, looking quite crazy.

Even a mechanical puppet wolf with first-level strength and a body of steel was struggling under the siege of dozens or hundreds of monsters.

The monsters jumped onto the mechanical puppet wolf and inserted their claws into the gaps in the machine. They didn't care even if their claws broke and bled.

Just as the mechanical puppet wolf was about to be bitten to death by the ants, two rays of blood shot out and passed through the mechanical puppet wolf. The monsters on its body were immediately drained of blood and died.

Blood light condensed, and it was two blood-colored minions. After helping the mechanical puppet wolf to escape, the blood-colored minions immediately began to slaughter the monsters around them.

The mechanical puppet wolf used its transformation ability to squeeze out the obstructions at its joints and then joined the battle.

Perhaps realizing they had no chance of winning if they continued like this, the remaining monsters suddenly collapsed and fled in all directions.

However, they obviously could not escape the pursuit of the three dogs. After a while, only the last monster with broken limbs was left, lying on the ground and wailing.

The mechanical puppet wolf fixed the monster on its body and began to return, while the two bloody minions continued to explore the passage deeper.

After a while, the mechanical puppet wolf brought the monster to Melen. Melen looked at the gray mist above the monster's head, which was so thin that it was almost invisible, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

He reached out and touched the mist, but perhaps because it was too thin, the attribute panel did not appear, only some scattered and meaningless images flashed by.

Melen looked at the monster. The monster was grinning with a ferocious expression, showing no intention of getting close to him at all.

Melen could accept that the dog didn't get close to him, but this was the first time he found nothing when trying to find information about the dog.

When the wolf-shaped pendant first showed abnormalities, he could only use this to detect the specialness of the awakened dog, which means that the dog must be at least at the green elite level.

As his strength increased, his control over the wolf-shaped pendant also gradually increased. Now, as long as he actively activated it, he could check ordinary white-quality dogs at will. Of course, this didn't make much sense.

Melen had never encountered a gray attribute light ball before. According to his understanding, white was already the quality possessed by the most common individuals in the population, and there was no lower quality.

The appearance of the monster before him undoubtedly refreshed Melen's understanding of the lower limit. Is this considered a defective quality? Or is it caused by some other reason?

However, from this point of view, the golden retriever may belong to the same species as the monster in front of him, but the golden retriever is most likely a mutant individual, so the difference is so huge.

Putting these thoughts aside, Melen continued on his way.

As the exploration continues, more and more monster attacks are encountered. Due to strength issues, the mechanical puppet wolves no longer work in teams, but instead act in groups.

The Scarlet Minions also reduced the number of teams and expanded the size of each exploration team.

This change caused the exploration efficiency to drop rapidly.

Just as Melen descended to about 500 meters and came to a fork in the road again, a group of monsters numbering hundreds rushed out of the passage, howling and rushing towards Melen.

Spike grinned and walked out slowly. Under the impact of the [Heavy Mountain] field, the weak monsters were immediately crushed to the ground and unable to move. Then it rushed into the group of monsters like a tiger into a flock of sheep, starting a bloody massacre.

Garuru was also eager to try. It looked at its master, and after seeing Mellen nod slightly, it also jumped out. Its mechanical body deformed, not only enlarged several times, but also covered with various spikes on the outside, looking like a war machine.

Xiao Honglian stood on Mellen's shoulder and watched the battle between the big dog and the mechanical dog with great interest.

Mellen gently tapped Xiao Honglian's head, and the little guy rubbed against it, with no intention of joining the battle at all.

Melen looked at the battlefield. The hundreds of monsters that appeared this time were obviously stronger than those he encountered at the beginning. Some of them even reached the second-level. Although the attribute light on their heads was still gray, it was extremely condensed, and perhaps some useful information could be detected.

At this moment, a howl suddenly came from one of the monsters, and a group of them immediately split off and rushed towards Melen.

Spike and Garuru knew that Mellen was protected by Little Red Lotus, so they didn't care and continued killing.

Melen reached out and gently stroked Xiao Honglian, and did not let the little guy take action.

Just when the monsters rushed to within ten meters of Mellen, a low roar suddenly came from the passage behind him. A golden light shot out, passed by Mellen, and fought with the monsters mercilessly.

Soon, the battle came to an end.

It can be seen that the golden retriever has not experienced too many battles, so his fighting skills are extremely poor. He only relies on the advantage of his level to fight, so when facing these first-level and second-level monsters, he was actually injured.

The golden retriever whined twice at Mellen, and Mellen understood the meaning. It was urging him to leave here quickly and return to the ground.

Mellen shook his head, rejecting Golden Retriever's kindness, and at the same time extended the invitation again: "Golden Retriever, I can see that you have no worries here. Follow me and become my partner."

The golden retriever hesitated, took a step back, and then ran away again.

The second invitation still failed, but Mellen was not discouraged.

At this time, Spike was walking over with a knocked-out monster in his mouth. This monster was the strongest of all the monsters, and the gray light on its head was the most intense.

Mellen reached in, and the monster's attributes suddenly appeared before him along with a series of pictures...

【Name】：Monster

[Race]: Dog-headed beast (gray and incomplete)

[Racial Level]: Level 2

[Racial Skills]: Dark Vision, Shattered Mind (Gray)

【Evolution direction】: →（???）

……

……

[Dark Vision]: Even in darkness without light, you can clearly observe the surrounding environment.

[Broken Mind (Gray)]: Due to the lack of key factors, after generations of reproduction and evolution, most individuals of this race are born with their minds in a broken state and are unable to generate wisdom.

From those images, Melen also learned about the past of this race called the [Dog-headed Beast].

In the extraordinary era, because of the abundant spirituality, there are countless magical species in this world, and humans are just one of them.

Among many intelligent species, gnolls are relatively weak, but legend has it that they have the blood of dragons. This is also the fundamental reason why dragon vein sorcerers and even gnoll war gods occasionally appear among the gnolls.

Therefore, kobolds usually worship dragons very much and are proud to be their servants.

During the period when the spiritual tide dried up, powerful races left this world one after another to find new habitats. Naturally, the gnolls did not have this ability and could only be trapped in this world.

When spirituality completely disappeared, the dog-headed people who relied on spirituality to open their wisdom degenerated into irrational dog-headed beasts. They reproduced from generation to generation in this environment, and eventually lost all their civilization and completely became beasts.

This is the origin of the dog-headed beasts in the magic cave.

After reading this, Melen felt a little emotional. The survival of civilization has always been difficult. Sudden changes in the external environment may bring about huge disasters. This is also a natural choice.

Only those races that survive these disasters time and time again can stand out from this civilization game and stand at the top of the food chain.

There is no doubt that although humans are born weak, their adaptability to the environment is definitely superior to that of most species.

As for the dog-headed people, when they lost the spiritual nourishment, their advantages completely disappeared. Although they still exist today, these dog-headed beasts in front of us can no longer be considered dog-headed people, but belong to another species.

After expressing his feelings, Melen suddenly had an idea and looked at the devil's cave with many passages.

These should have been dug out by the dog-headed beasts after a long period of time, but why did they insist on digging holes underground and not spread out?

Could it be that something is restraining their movements? !

Chapter 179: The Dragon Egg that Spanned Thousands of Years and... the Silly Dog

Retracting his thoughts, Mellen continued to go down. He believed that as he went deeper, he would always find the answer.

A day later, in Melen's perception, he had gone a thousand meters deeper into the magic cave. The passages here were more complicated and the environment was gradually becoming worse.

Not only did the air become thinner, but the surrounding temperature also exceeded 80°. In this kind of environment, not to mention ordinary people, even a first-level extraordinary person could not bear it. A second-level extraordinary person could only hold on for a while longer at most.

Fortunately, except for Xiao Liuli, no one in Mellen's team cared about this change in the environment.

Little Liuli had returned to the fairy tale kingdom when she had gone about 600 meters deep.

This depth actually gave Melen the feeling of rushing through levels in a game. Now the Mechanical Puppet Wolf could no longer explore alone, because there were hundreds of dog-headed beast monsters encountered every time, and there must be a large number of second-level ones among them. With the strength of the Mechanical Puppet Wolf, it was basically just a meal.

The blood-colored minions are quite useful. Even if they are besieged by a large group of dog-headed beast monsters, they can turn into blood light and escape quickly. The third-level blood-colored minions, together with a few second-level ones, can even fight their way in and out of the dog-headed beast army, and no dog can stop them.

After defeating another wave of dog-headed beasts, Melen rubbed his forehead helplessly and said, "Is the food so abundant underground? Why do these dog-headed beasts seem endless? Moreover, the current exploration efficiency is too low."

Because there were large groups of dog-headed beasts everywhere, the exploration team kept shrinking, which greatly affected the efficiency of Mellen and his team's progress downward.

Mellen looked at those passages and felt a little itchy. He really wanted to advance through violence.

However, this idea was just a thought. Melen was also afraid that if he pushed forward violently, it would destroy the structure of the cave. If the things he found were buried, he would have no place to cry.

I sighed helplessly and decided to continue exploring honestly.

As we go deeper, the environment in the cave becomes increasingly harsh, and more importantly, the boredom brings on irritability.

Although Melen has a fairy tale kingdom and can enter it at any time, he does not rely on it too much. At most, he only releases the fairy tale cottage when he is resting.

The golden retriever was still following behind them. It seemed to understand Mellen's determination to go deeper underground, so it did not stop him. However, whenever Mellen encountered "danger", it would stand up and stand in front of Mellen, fighting with those dog-headed monsters.

Mellen would also take out delicious food to share with the golden retriever.

The golden retriever was so amazed when he ate such delicious dog food for the first time that he almost swallowed his tongue.

Melen laughed inwardly, "You little brat, I can't control you?!"

After a period of contact, Melen also learned some information about Golden Retriever. It was indeed a mutant individual in the dog-headed beast clan. Not only was it not as crazy as its own kind, it seemed to have inherited some dragon blood.

But it seemed that even after its strength reached the third level, the dragon bloodline still showed no signs of awakening. As a result, Golden Retriever was ostracized by the dog-headed beast and was almost eaten as food when he was a child.

So in the Golden Retriever's cognition, the dog-headed beast is not a fellow tribesman, but an enemy and food.

Unfortunately, the golden retriever always kept a certain distance from Mellen, so he was unable to check the specific attributes of the golden retriever.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, a week had passed. When Melen went almost two thousand meters deep, some changes finally appeared. The end of the passage was no longer as dark as before, but reflected a deep red light. The temperature here had reached hundreds of degrees, and the air was filled with a large amount of toxic dust.

In this harsh environment, Garuru and the mechanical puppet wolves have returned to the fairy tale kingdom. Only Mellen, Spike, Little Red Lotus, the third-level blood minions, and Golden Hair following behind are left in the entire team.

Even if Melen himself was not protected by Little Red Lotus, he would not be able to withstand the harsh environment here.

The golden retriever, on the other hand, seemed to be more adapted to the place and didn't seem to feel too uncomfortable.

At this depth, there are no traces of first- and second-level dog-headed beasts, only groups of third-level dog-headed beasts wandering around.

When they reached the end of the passage, the view suddenly opened up and what appeared in their field of vision was an underground lava river.

The lava river releases scorching temperatures and a large amount of harmful poisonous gases, and slowly surges forward.

The dog in [Dog of Corruption] flew out of the ring, breathing in the poisonous gas in the air with a look of great enjoyment.

Melen looked in the direction of the lava river and could vaguely feel that there seemed to be something there.

The golden retriever who had been following Mellen suddenly came to him, with an uneasy look on his face.

Mellen smiled slightly and walked straight ahead.

"Ula Ula!~"

Five third-level dog-headed beasts appeared from nowhere, making strange cries and rushing towards Mellen and others.

These third-level dog-headed beasts are different from those Melen had encountered before.

The third-level dog-headed beasts encountered before were simply a little faster and stronger than other lower-level dog-headed beasts, but other than that, they didn't display any extraordinary abilities.