As they burst into the stairwell, the nearest window on the corridor shattered into pieces, its glass twisting inward as it flew.
“Find the kayak and then come find me!” Su Li’s voice rang out from far above; he had already charged alone to the rooftop.
“Got it!” Gong Xiao didn’t hesitate, immediately grabbing Xu Xuehui and rushing down the stairs.
Ding Longyun saw the Nightmare Beast’s tentacles reaching from the window into the stairwell, gritted his teeth, and shouted, “Su Li, you have to be careful!” Then he hurried after Gong Xiao down the stairs.
Su Li reached the rooftop and was greeted by a massive pile of various monster corpses. But he had no time to admire them; he spun around and dashed to the edge of the roof. Looking down, he could see the Nightmare Beast’s colossal body, clinging tightly to the outer wall of the thirty-second-floor stairwell. Suddenly, it leaned back slightly, revealing the enormous eye on its belly.
Su Li knew this was bad—it was about to unleash another supersonic wave attack on the stairwell. With the power of those waves, it could easily blow the stairwell apart.
“Damn monster!” Su Li roared, transferring the cleaver and steel shovel to his left hand while gripping his iron rod in his right. The muscles on his right arm bulged, his strength enhancement reaching its limit, veins popping up on the back of his hand like earthworms crawling on his skin.
With his roar, the iron rod, charged with his thousand-jin strength, flew downward like a javelin aimed at the Nightmare Beast below, targeting the massive eye exposed by its backward lean.
The iron rod shot down like an arrow, striking the Nightmare Beast’s huge belly eye in an instant. At almost the same moment, the beast’s tentacles flailed wildly, slapping the rod.
With a sharp crack, the iron rod bent and flew far away, landing at a distance Su Li couldn’t have thrown even with all his might.
Though the rod didn’t injure the eye, it caused a flicker of pain. The enormous eye rolled upward.
Su Li sensed danger and immediately retreated.
With a thunderous boom, the edge of the rooftop shattered and exploded.
It was an invisible supersonic wave attack. If Su Li hadn’t reacted in time, he would have been reduced to dust.
His only stroke of luck was that, compared to the Nightmare Beast’s terrifying power and invisible sonic attacks, its movement and attack speed were its sole weakness.
Of course, this slowness was relative to the beast’s level and strength—it didn’t mean its speed was slower than Su Li’s.
Su Li had taken Ding Longyun’s steel shovel and Gong Xiao’s cleaver, planning to hurl them at the Nightmare Beast to draw its attention, luring it to the rooftop. This would give Ding Longyun and the others a chance to escape and find the kayak. Then he would jump from the roof into the water, board their kayak, and flee together.
But just throwing the iron rod had already caught the beast’s attention, and he had enraged it.
As the rooftop edge exploded into a gap, numerous tentacles emerged from the breach. Clearly, the Nightmare Beast had abandoned chasing Ding Longyun, Gong Xiao, and the others, moving toward the roof instead.
Su Li turned and sprinted toward the other side. Spotting the massive pile of corpses ahead, he had a sudden idea. Setting down the steel shovel and cleaver, he grabbed two corpse-beast bodies with both hands and hurled them through the air at the emerging tentacles.
A rustling sound filled the air as the massive Nightmare Beast climbed upward, its tentacles thrashing. The two corpses it flung were lightly swatted away by the tentacles, tumbling far into the distance.
Su Li kept grabbing the piled-up corpses—some from corpse-beasts, some from water-rats, and others from marine iguanas—and, using all his strength, hurled them like weapons toward the rising beast.
Though these corpses couldn’t harm the Nightmare Beast, they slowed its ascent.
One corpse after another flew continuously toward the beast, either colliding with tentacles and being knocked away into the water below, or directly swatted aside, flying far off before shattering into bone and flesh and plummeting into the water.
Su Li pushed himself to the limit, throwing nearly twenty corpses in one breath. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Exerting such force to hurl the corpses drained his stamina, and soon his arms began to feel numb and sore.
Despite the barrage of corpses, the Nightmare Beast still climbed up.
Fully enraged by Su Li, the beast reared up as it reached the roof. Dozens of tentacles rose, flailing wildly in the air. It straightened its body, standing on two hind legs like a human, and took large strides, charging at Su Li with its massive frame.
It didn’t use its supersonic wave attack—though devastating, each use required a recovery period to recharge energy before it could strike again. Now, it opted to ram Su Li.
Enraged, it no longer intended to capture Su Li alive; it wanted to kill him immediately.
With its hard shell, the Nightmare Beast was like a creature clad in armor. When it charged, its size and weight made it no less formidable than a rolling tank.
If Su Li were hit, he would surely be crushed into bone and flesh, possibly exploding into a bloody pulp, dying a gruesome death.
“Beast!” Su Li growled, grabbing the steel shovel and hurling it with all his might at the massive eye on the charging beast’s belly.
He guessed that eye was its fatal weak point, but hitting it was tricky. His earlier iron rod throw had caught it off guard but failed to inflict damage.
The steel shovel flew toward it, and the Nightmare Beast, indeed protective of its belly eye, leaned forward to shield it, drawing dozens of tentacles in front of its body.
The tentacles caught the shovel and flung it back at Su Li.
The shovel came flying back.
Su Li grabbed the last remaining cleaver but didn’t use it to deflect the incoming shovel. He knew his strength was no match for the beast’s; blocking the shovel with the cleaver would likely shatter the blade and injure him.
He pushed off the ground with both feet, dodging the shovel’s trajectory, and sprinted at full speed toward the opposite edge of the rooftop.
The Nightmare Beast raised dozens of tentacles like whips, lashing out wildly.