Ding Longyun walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down, as if he had spotted something. Muttering to himself, he said, "Something's off tonight."
Su Li followed closely and looked down, seeing the water where the body had just been dumped. Dark shadows were stirring beneath the surface, and as they emerged, he realized they were water rat beasts.
These water rat beasts couldn't climb ropes; instead, they crawled through the windows of the thirtieth floor below.
"What's off? You mean these water rat beasts?" Su Li asked Ding Longyun as he watched the creatures slip through the windows into the thirtieth floor one by one.
Ding Longyun stared at the water below with a grave expression. "I didn't expect so many water rats to show up. Maybe there's something bigger behind them."
Just then, a new creature burst out of the water below. It was pitch-black and gray, a massive lizard nearly two meters long from head to tail. Unlike the water rat beasts that crawled into the thirtieth-floor windows, it scaled the outer wall toward the rooftop with astonishing speed, like a gecko.
"What the hell is that?" Ding Longyun was startled, clearly seeing it for the first time.
Su Li activated his "Peep Rune," and immediately, information about the giant lizard climbing the wall flooded into his mind.
"Name: Marine Iguana Lizard, a common variant of the third-tier spirit source beast. Its mouth contains venom glands, with a certain probability of evolving into an elite-class Marine Iguana King. Killing a Marine Iguana Lizard yields no special abilities."
"Marine Iguana Lizard, this thing is a third-tier spirit source beast?" Su Li's heart tightened. The lizard was already scaling the outer wall, its head poking over the rooftop's edge.
This time, Ding Longyun didn't let it climb up safely. He struck first, swinging his steel shovel down at the lizard's emerging head.
Sensing danger, the Marine Iguana Lizard quickly retracted its head. Ding Longyun's shovel hit nothing but air, but then another lizard head appeared from a different spot, and soon a Marine Iguana Lizard climbed onto the rooftop.
Clearly, there wasn't just one of these creatures.
The lizard that had climbed up was about four or five meters away from them. Su Li spotted its head and immediately charged forward with his iron rod, shouting, "These Marine Iguana Lizards are third-tier spirit source beasts—they're venomous! Don't let them bite you! Xuehui, stay as far away from them as possible!"
Xu Xuehui was only a first-tier spirit source user, small and weak-armed, and being a girl, she was even frailer than most first-tier users. She couldn't handle even a second-tier water rat beast, let alone a third-tier one.
By the time Su Li reached it, the Marine Iguana Lizard had fully climbed onto the rooftop. It opened its mouth, letting out a low growl, and lunged forward, charging at Su Li.
The most distinctive feature of these Marine Iguana Lizards compared to ordinary lizards was the row of fleshy tendrils under their mouths, like a goat's beard, giving them a bizarre appearance. Now, with its mouth agape, revealing sharp teeth, it viciously aimed for Su Li's leg.
It seemed to dismiss the iron rod in Su Li's hand.
"Beast!" Su Li swung the rod, smashing it into the lizard's open mouth.
With the strength of seven hundred jin in his arms and the weight of the iron rod, the blow landed squarely on the creature's gaping maw.
Several sharp teeth snapped off and fell, blood spurting from the Marine Iguana Lizard's mouth. It grunted and stumbled backward.
Compared to the cunning of a Glutton Dog, this Marine Iguana Lizard, despite its terrifying size, had a much simpler mind. Though it was a third-tier spirit source beast, that actually put Su Li at ease.
Such a beast, while strong and large, wasn't hard to deal with—he just had to be careful not to get bitten.
On the other side, another Marine Iguana Lizard climbed onto the rooftop. As Ding Longyun rushed to stop it, the one he had blocked earlier also made it up.
Three Marine Iguana Lizards in total had now reached the rooftop.
Xu Xuehui, wisely knowing she was no match for them, had retreated far back to the stairwell.
Ding Longyun swung his steel shovel, holding off the second lizard, while the last one to climb up charged toward Su Li, who was closer.
Su Li knew this was bad. Though these lizards had simple minds, their mouths were loaded with venom. A single bite would spell trouble, and fighting two at once would be dangerous.
Before the second lizard could reach him, Su Li swung his iron rod repeatedly at the first one. His strikes were fast and fierce. The injured lizard, with several teeth knocked out, became frenzied, charging wildly without dodging his blows. It just kept ramming, forcing Su Li to retreat and evade its charges while landing three or four hits on it.
"This thing is tough," Su Li muttered.
He quickly realized the Marine Iguana Lizard had thick, tough skin. Though his hits injured it, they couldn't deliver a fatal blow. Even when he struck its head with the iron rod, drawing blood, it didn't crack the skull—it was as hard as iron.
On the other side, Ding Longyun was cursing in frustration, facing the same problem.
His steel shovel had hit the lizard in front of him several times without causing fatal damage. Instead, the creature's relentless charges forced him to back off and dodge cautiously, terrified of being bitten.
Su Li had warned him about the venom, so Ding Longyun dared not take any risks, keeping his distance.
Unable to quickly finish off the lizard in front of him, Su Li found himself in a tight spot, caught between two Marine Iguana Lizards attacking from both sides.
But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was that Su Li saw another lizard head emerge at the rooftop's edge—a fourth one was about to climb up.
"This is bad. If this drags on, we're in trouble. If we can't end this fast, tonight's going to be dangerous for all of us."
No one knew how many more Marine Iguana Lizards would crawl up, and the swarm of water rat beasts that had entered the thirtieth floor could also come up the stairs at any moment. They had no time to waste tangling with these lizards.
As the lizard in front of him opened its massive jaws and charged again, with another one ramming from the right, Su Li's mind raced. Gritting his teeth, he made a decision. He quickly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the right-side lizard's charge, then gripped his iron rod tightly and thrust it straight into the mouth of the lizard charging at him.