The sound was faint at first but quickly grew louder. She turned to look down into the dark stairwell below, then, as if witnessing something horrifying, let out a scream and fled from the stairwell entrance, running toward Su Li.
Su Li heard Xu Xuehui’s scream and immediately turned around. He saw a dark figure rushing out from the stairwell leading to the rooftop—it was a Water Rat Beast.
Right behind this Water Rat Beast came one dark figure after another, all of them Water Rat Beasts.
These Water Rat Beasts had surfaced from the water earlier. Instead of climbing the walls, they had slipped through a window on the thirtieth floor of the building, and now, following the upward staircase, they had finally emerged onto the rooftop.
Xu Xuehui, panicked at the sight of this swarm of Water Rat Beasts, fled toward Su Li.
Su Li knew this was bad. Xu Xuehui was no match for these Water Rat Beasts; if even one pounced on her, she’d be in danger.
At that moment, he had just dodged an attack from the Marine Iguana in front of him and leaped to its side.
The Marine Iguana lowered its body slightly, and Su Li immediately understood—it was about to whip its tail.
Sure enough, the Marine Iguana planted all four limbs on the ground and swung its tail fiercely behind it.
Su Li had already anticipated the tail whip. Gripping the iron rod tightly, he angled it diagonally against the ground, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
The Marine Iguana’s tail slammed heavily onto the angled iron rod.
With a loud *bang*, the iron rod vibrated, and Su Li felt his right arm go numb and sore.
The force of the Marine Iguana’s tail whip was astonishing, but not enough to bend the iron rod in one blow. Instead, it rebounded violently. Seizing the moment as the tail recoiled, Su Li closed in, clenched his left fist, activated "Glutton’s Fangs," and drove it into the Marine Iguana’s head, then dragged it downward, carving four deep, bloody grooves.
All four Glutton’s Fangs sank in, slicing open a path downward. It was a fatal wound, with torrents of blood gushing from the four grooves.
New information flooded his mind—he had gained two more Spirit Sources, bringing his total to 13 out of 20.
Su Li had succeeded, and Ding Longyun on the other side was no slower. He closed in on the Marine Iguana, slapped its forehead with his right hand, and activated "Soul Devour."
But as a Level 3 Spirit Source user, killing a fellow Level 3 Marine Iguana only yielded one Spirit Source per kill, unlike Su Li, who could harvest two. Now, Ding Longyun still needed five more Spirit Sources to advance again, while Su Li needed seven.
Xu Xuehui rushed to Su Li’s side, her face pale with terror. From the stairwell entrance, five or six Water Rat Beasts had already poured out, spreading into a fan formation and charging toward Xu Xuehui, Su Li, and Ding Longyun.
With the Marine Iguana dealt with, Su Li steadied himself. He flexed his right arm, still tingling from the impact, and felt the warm surge of the newly absorbed Spirit Sources flowing through him. He was about to charge at the approaching Water Rat Beasts when, suddenly, the scattered beasts halted. In the next instant, they made a startling move—they all turned and fled back into the darkness of the stairwell.
"What’s going on?" Ding Longyun, gripping his steel shovel, had just taken two steps forward to strike at the Water Rat Beasts when he saw them retreating in panic. He was baffled.
"Did we scare them off?" Ding Longyun quickly realized and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
But Su Li’s heart skipped a beat, a sense of unease washing over him. He spun around sharply, looking toward the edge of the rooftop behind them.
There was no way the three of them had scared off that swarm of Water Rat Beasts. The only possibility was…
When Su Li turned, he saw three heads emerging at the rooftop’s edge—lizard heads, belonging to Marine Iguanas. Then, three massive Marine Iguanas climbed up.
"Perfect timing!" Ding Longyun grinned, unafraid and even pleased. These Marine Iguanas were venomous and troublesome, but after killing several in a row, he had gained some experience. He wasn’t intimidated. With only five Spirit Sources left to advance, he was eager to hunt more monsters for their Spirit Sources.
No sooner had he spoken than the three Marine Iguanas assumed a battle stance, ready to charge. Suddenly, a loud *crash* came from behind them, and a massive dark shape rose up. Behind the three Marine Iguanas, another monster leaped onto the rooftop—a giant crab.
This crab was enormous, its body a dull gray, with a shell over 1.5 meters in diameter. Its two pincer-like claws were immense, nearly two meters long. It had vaulted up right behind the three Marine Iguanas, and one claw shot out, clamping onto one of them from behind.
The Marine Iguana let out a shriek, twisting its body in a desperate struggle. Then, blood erupted like a fountain. Su Li’s eyes widened, and Ding Longyun, who had been so nonchalant moments before, was now stunned.
The clamped Marine Iguana was severed in half, as if cut clean through. Su Li and Ding Longyun both gasped in shock.
They had been hitting these Marine Iguanas with iron rods and steel shovels, managing only minor damage without inflicting serious harm. The toughness of their hide was clear. Yet now, this giant crab’s claw had snapped one in two. How sharp and powerful must that claw be?
As the three watched in horror, the giant crab swung both claws. The formidable Marine Iguanas were helpless against its attacks. One was struck by a claw and sent tumbling off the rooftop, while another, its tail caught in the crab’s grip, thrashed wildly before severing its own tail to escape, leaping off the rooftop’s edge and vanishing.
The giant crab, clearly uninterested in the Marine Iguanas, had its true sights set on Su Li and the others. It had only attacked the iguanas to clear the path. Now, it scuttled forward on its legs, rapidly closing in on them.
"Fall back!" Su Li shouted. Seeing how terrifying this monster was, he knew they couldn’t take it on. A direct fight would likely lead to casualties.
He grabbed Xu Xuehui by the arm and dashed toward the stairwell entrance.
Ding Longyun didn’t dare stay to face the monster alone either. He followed close behind, yelling, "I get it now! Those rats were scared off by this thing, not by us!"
Su Li thought, *You’re just figuring that out?* Pulling Xu Xuehui along, he plunged into the stairwell. Ding Longyun was right behind him. The giant crab was only a step slower, slamming into the stairwell entrance with a deafening crash.
"Heh, close call. It’s too big to get in." Ding Longyun breathed a sigh of relief and grinned, standing at the entrance. He gripped his steel shovel with both hands and smacked it against the giant crab blocking the doorway.