"Slap, slap, slap!" A series of sharp cracks rang out as some tentacles struck the ground, producing piercing sounds. Su Li barely managed to dash off the edge of the rooftop just as the tentacles were about to hit him, his feet stepping into empty air, and with a "whoosh," he plummeted downward.
All of the Nightmare Beast's attacks immediately missed.
The rooftop was over ten meters above the water below. Su Li let out a furious roar as he fell straight down, crashing into the water like a cannonball with a tremendous splash, sending up a massive spray.
Although Su Li had no professional diving training, his body was tough enough—several times stronger than an ordinary person's. Falling from ten meters into the water, he only felt a slight jolt in his head and a tensing of his muscles before calming down. He immediately dove toward the bottom, swimming outward with all his might.
At that moment, he had no idea whether Ding Longyun and the other two had found a kayak or raft, nor did he know their exact location. Still, they could probably escape safely, since he had lured the Nightmare Beast to the rooftop. By the time it climbed back down the building, that delay would give them a chance to get away.
As Su Li swam rapidly forward, he looked up and suddenly saw a massive black shadow above him, growing larger in an instant.
With a deafening "boom," the water erupted in a huge splash, and the surging waves swept Su Li up, pushing him far away.
Su Li was stunned, hardly believing his eyes.
He never expected that the Nightmare Beast, now fully enraged by him, would jump down after him. Its massive body crashed into the water, landing just five meters away from him.
He was lucky that the waves kicked up by the beast's impact had pushed him back; otherwise, he might have been less than a meter away from it.
"This beast hates me that much?" Su Li was both shocked and furious, immediately diving deeper.
He didn't know how fast the Nightmare Beast could move in water, but his only option now was to swim at full speed. His goal wasn't to escape, but to head toward the submerged building.
He had landed in the water less than three meters from the building's edge, and the beast had also fallen into the water nearby. The waves it created had pushed him sideways along the building for several meters, bringing him even closer—only about two meters away. Now, as he dove down, he quickly reached the submerged twenty-ninth floor.
The Nightmare Beast's tentacles stretched toward him. In the water, it wasn't clumsy at all; in fact, it was more agile than on land.
Su Li cursed under his breath, kicked his feet, and plunged through one of the windows of the flooded twenty-ninth floor.
Escaping the Nightmare Beast in the water was nearly impossible. His only chance was to get inside the building, using its rooms as barriers, and hope for a slim opportunity.
Su Li remembered that the twenty-ninth floor had become a nest for hordes of corpse-beasts, but now it was almost empty—they had likely been scared off by the Nightmare Beast.
He slipped through the window, and the tentacles followed, reaching inside. But the beast's body was too massive to squeeze through.
Suddenly, with a thunderous "boom," the water surged as the wall around the window shattered, collapsing entirely.
The Nightmare Beast had gathered enough energy and unleashed another infrasound attack. The wall crumbled under the sonic assault.
Su Li had already moved away from that wall, timing the intervals in his mind. He was beginning to grasp the gap between each infrasound blast.
After this attack, it couldn't fire again for at least two minutes.
The building was full of rooms, and Su Li, navigating through the water, began a game of hide-and-seek with the Nightmare Beast among them.
The enraged beast grew even more terrifying. Though it couldn't continuously fire sonic attacks, its forelimbs were immensely powerful, and the waterlogged walls were no match for it.
It was like a demolition machine, smashing two walls in its path into gaping holes with its limbs.
Su Li's heart raced. He shot out of another window, hugging the building's outer wall, and swam toward the other side.
The Nightmare Beast had locked onto him. It turned and burst out of the building, chasing after Su Li again.
One ahead, one behind, they raced along the building through the water. The beast was slightly faster than Su Li; the distance between them had been over ten meters, but now it was closing in again.
Su Li kept close to the building's outer wall, ensuring he could dive through a window at any moment.
Soon, he spotted a large number of corpses floating in the water.
They drifted, bobbing up and down, neither fully floating nor sinking.
"Here it comes," Su Li thought.
He knew this was where he had thrown down the mass of monster corpses from the rooftop earlier—and his true target.
As the Nightmare Beast closed in again, its extended tentacles within a meter of him, Su Li suddenly twisted and dove through a nearby window.
The beast followed closely, its tentacles writhing into the window, its massive belly-eye exposed, ready to launch another infrasound attack. The two-minute interval had passed; it could strike again.
A massive explosion erupted from the water, sending up a towering wave. Water sprayed in all directions as the wall crumbled and collapsed, dragging in the floating corpses around it, tearing them apart in the blast.
Su Li had gained some experience. As he entered the window, he had timed it, guessing the beast was about to fire.
He shot through the window into the room and then out the opposite door. Though the infrasound was devastating, it could only destroy one wall; it couldn't breach two to reach him.
Su Li stopped, listening to the massive explosion outside, watching the wall collapse, and seeing the Nightmare Beast squeeze through the rubble, raising its forelimbs to attack the next wall between them.
"At this rate, this building will collapse soon," Su Li thought grimly. But circumstances forced his hand. Though the beast couldn't catch him for now, escaping was nearly impossible. If this stalemate continued, he would either tire out and get caught, or the beast would exhaust itself first, letting him flee.
Given the monster's terrifying nature, the chance of it tiring first was slim.