Zhou Huai calmly watched that sea area.

Seeing the people of White Elephant Country completely swallowed by the beast army, he became even more certain in his heart that the golden pendulum was by no means a good thing.

It was more like a meticulously set trap.

Nakamura Shin'ichirō had once mentioned that many ancient ruins contained various unimaginable mechanisms.

Once these mechanisms were triggered, they would cause immense disaster.

The most common one was a beast tide.

Zhou Huai once again cast his gaze towards the sea.

With the death of those ten White Elephant Country people, the massive beast army did not disperse as before.

On the contrary.

They became even more agitated and restless.

"Roar—!"

"Hiss—!"

Countless beasts leaped out of the sea, letting out deafening roars, their massive bodies churning the seawater, raising towering waves.

The entire sea area was like boiling water, churning wildly.

A moment later, those earth-shattering roars eerily unified.

All the beasts, as if receiving some mysterious command, simultaneously turned their direction.

And swam frantically towards a fixed direction!

Zhou Huai's pupils suddenly contracted.

The ice island beneath his feet was now like a giant, transparent window.

Through the crystal-clear ice, he saw the most shocking scene of his life.

Beneath the ice was no longer the deep seabed.

But a black torrent formed by countless shadows!

Countless sea beasts were densely packed together, obscuring all light, rushing in the same direction!

They varied in shape and size.

The small ones were only the size of a fist.

The large ones, however, were comparable to giant ships!

Just then, an incredibly massive shadow slowly swam past directly beneath the ice island.

The shadow was so huge that the entire ice island was enveloped by it, instantly plunging into darkness.

"Creak... Creak..."

The ice island let out a groan of unbearable strain, trembling violently.

Zhou Huai's heart skipped a beat.

That was a.... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Definitely a Hell-level BOSS.

Looking at the dense beast army beneath the sea.

Only two words remained in Zhou Huai's mind.

Beast tide!

It seemed that the professional players who entered the ruins had triggered some kind of chain mechanism trap.

Causing a beast tide to begin forming within the ruins.

And it was on an extremely massive scale.

Zhou Huai carefully identified the direction in which the beasts were moving.

If nothing unexpected happened, that should be the location of the ruin's exit.

Once a beast tide formed, it would irresistibly rush out of the ruins, causing devastating damage to the outside world.

This was good news.

At least, he no longer had to worry about getting lost.

As long as he followed the direction of the beast tide, he would most likely find his way back.

But the bad news was, he couldn't go anywhere now.

Whether moving on the sea surface or underwater, he would undoubtedly instantly become a living target for those furious beasts.

With Gandalf's current strength, he might be able to protect himself.

But to carve a bloody path through such a terrifying beast tide army would be no easy feat.

It seemed he could only wait and see on this island for now.

As for the beast tide rushing out of the ruins, Zhou Huai was not very worried.

Outside, the top powerhouses from various countries around the world were guarding.

There were several SS-rank existences alone.

Not to mention old monsters like Andrew.

The scale of this beast tide was terrifying to Zhou Huai.

But in the face of those top powerhouses, it would probably only be a one-sided slaughter.

Just as Zhou Huai was pondering.

On the distant sea, a ship was breaking through the surging beast tide at an incredible speed, speeding towards the ice island where he was!

Zhou Huai stared at the ship, feeling somewhat incredible.

The ship was extremely fast, with water splashing high on both sides of its hull.

The most bizarre thing was that wherever it passed, those rampaging sea beasts actually actively avoided it, not a single one daring to attack.

As if there was something on that ship that made them extremely fearful.

As the ship got closer, Zhou Huai finally saw the appearance of the newcomers.

A blonde woman with a fiery figure, a true temptress, stood at the bow of the ship.

With her hands on her hips, the sea breeze blew through her brilliant golden hair, and a confident and flamboyant smile hung on her face.

It was Ms. Polina, the SS-rank captain from Great Bear Country.

"Yo."

Ms. Polina saw the lone figure on the ice island from afar, and she raised her hand, waving vigorously at Gandalf.

Her clear and pleasant voice penetrated the noisy beast roars, clearly reaching him.

"Little handsome guy from Great Xia Country, we meet again!"

Zhou Huai did not respond, only calmly watching the approaching ship.

He keenly noticed that behind Ms. Polina, several familiar figures were also standing.

The ship docked steadily at the edge of the ice island.

One figure almost impatiently leaped from the ship, landing heavily on the ice.

It was Li Hao.

"Captain! It really is you! We finally found you!"

Li Hao's face was filled with the excitement and joy of surviving a disaster.

Immediately after, Wang Meng, Zhao Jing, and the other nine members of the Dragon Tooth Special Forces also jumped off the ship, quickly gathering around Gandalf.

Although they still looked somewhat disheveled, their injuries had clearly mostly recovered.

Zhou Huai's face showed a hint of appropriate surprise.

He controlled Gandalf, looked at the crowd, and asked,

"You... how did you end up with Ms. Polina?"

Li Hao scratched his buzz cut and quickly explained.

"After our injuries recovered, we immediately came in to try and rendezvous with you."

"But this ruin is too big, we couldn't find your location at all."

As he said this, a hint of lingering fear appeared on his face.

"Just a while ago, we were still under attack by a large number of beasts at sea."

"We all thought we were doomed then."

"Fortunately, Ms. Polina's ship happened to pass by, and she saved us."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Huai turned his gaze to the blonde beauty who had also jumped off the ship and was walking towards him with a cat-like stride.

He bowed slightly to Ms. Polina.

"Thank you, Ms. Polina, for your help."

Ms. Polina walked in front of Gandalf, her beautiful sapphire eyes unabashedly surveying him.

She extended a slender finger, gently pushed back a strand of hair disheveled by the sea breeze, and a charming curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"You're welcome."

"We are allies, isn't helping each other what we should do?"

Zhou Huai nodded, then once again turned his gaze to the surging beast tide around them.

"Forgive my bluntness."

"Now that the beast tide has erupted, the sea is full of beasts."

"Why can your ship travel freely through this beast tide?"

Ms. Polina chuckled proudly upon hearing this.

Her full chest gently rose and fell with her laughter.

"That's naturally because this Young Miss is clever and endlessly charming."

"I used my unique charm to conquer these brainless beasts."

Zhou Huai: "..."

Li Hao and the others also had strange expressions.

They didn't believe a single word of that.

Seeing Gandalf's disbelieving expression, Ms. Polina's smile faded a little.

The expression on her face became serious.

She extended her right hand, and with a flash of white light.

A huge, ancient-looking key, made entirely of bronze, appeared out of thin air in her hand.

She held the key, gently shaking it in front of Gandalf.

A hint of cunning and probing flickered in her sapphire eyes.

"Ever seen this thing?"

A trace of undetectable surprise flashed in Zhou Huai's eyes.

Indeed.

She also had one.

This was as Zhou Huai expected.

There wasn't just one such key.

Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf, his expression of bewilderment perfectly natural.

He calmly shook his head.

"Never seen it."

"What is it?"

Ms. Polina tossed the large bronze key in her hand, her movements light, in stark contrast to the key's heavy feel.

She giggled, her laughter clear and melodious, like a silver bell.

"This thing, I found it on a small island."

She walked with a cat-like stride, slowly circling Gandalf, her beautiful sapphire eyes never leaving his face.

"A woman's sixth sense tells me."

"This thing is the clue to finding the real Divine Artifact."

At this point, her smile grew even brighter, carrying an undisguised hint of schadenfreude.

"I heard that Thor from the Free Federation, Yingsi Lan from Sakura Country, and that clever Prince Karen from Ancient Egypt, all got a fake pendulum of life."

"As a result, as soon as they left the ruins, a huge blunder occurred."

Her voice was filled with amusement.

"Truly three little fools, they didn't even use their brains to think, how could a Divine Artifact be so easily found by them."

Ms. Polina stopped in front of Gandalf again, leaning slightly forward.

A scent of roses and red wine wafted towards him.

"Gandalf, I think you're definitely a smart person."

"Have you ever felt that there seems to be some kind of consciousness in this ruin deliberately guiding us?"

Zhou Huai's thoughts raced.

This woman was indeed very clever.

She had obviously realized this as well.

However, Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf to continue shaking his head.

The expression of not understanding on his face became even more sincere.

"What consciousness?"

"Why didn't I notice it?"

Ms. Polina looked at him with interest, seemingly not surprised by his reaction.

She straightened up, her smile fading a little.

"There is indeed something using the beasts to guide me, leading me to find this key."

Her gaze swept over the surging beast tide around them, her tone certain.

"The current beast tide is the best evidence."

"They chose that golden pendulum, thus triggering the ruin's punishment mechanism, causing the beast tide."

"And I chose this key."

Ms. Polina raised the bronze key in her hand, her confident and flamboyant smile returning to her face.

"As long as I hold it, the beasts in the water won't attack me; instead, they'll deliberately avoid me."

After she finished speaking, as if to prove her words.

She actually turned directly, walking with calm steps to the edge of the ice island.

Then, to the horrified gazes of the Dragon Tooth Special Forces members, she leaped!

"Splash!"

Her fiery figure was instantly swallowed by the black torrent of countless rampaging beasts below.

"Ms. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Polina!"

Li Hao let out a cry of alarm, subconsciously wanting to rush forward.

However, the next second.

Everyone witnessed a scene they would never forget.

At the spot where Ms. Polina fell into the water, those sea beasts, which had been wildly roaring and tearing at each other, scattered as if they had seen a ghost!

They let out terrified hisses, frantically retreating in all directions!

In just a few seconds, a vacuum zone more than ten meters in diameter formed around her!

Not a single beast dared to cross the line!

Ms. Polina comfortably stretched her body in the water, as if swimming in her own pool.

She threw a seductive wink at the people on the ice island.

Then, with a gentle kick of her legs, she leaped gracefully onto the ice again, like a mermaid emerging from the water.

She shook her brilliant golden hair, a victor's smile on her face, and walked back to Gandalf's front.

"Now, you understand, right?"