Chapter 263: Chapter 47: Monsters Flood into the Fissure

Murphy didn’t linger for a moment. He turned and swiftly made his way back to the surface, following the winding fissure he had come down.

His steps were light as he hurried along the path, a mix of rugged rock walls and faint, dark red light.

He kept his Qi completely suppressed. Pushing the effects of Thousand-Faced Illusion and the Shadow Ring to their limits, his form nearly became an uncatchable phantom in the dim light, melting into his surroundings.

The dark red light of the sky began to filter into the fissure from the outside, signaling that he was getting closer to the surface exit.

However, just as he was about to reach the exit, a strange noise filtered through the winding rock walls, faintly reaching his ears.

At first, it was a sound from the far distance—a chorus of hisses and low roars, rising and falling, so dense it was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

It was the clamor of thousands upon thousands of beasts roaring at once, a din filled with frenzy and hunger.

Mixed in was the harsh scraping of carapaces against rock, the dull thuds of heavy limbs crushing the ground, and the unnerving SHH-SHH-SHH of something moving at high speed.

Then came the tremors from the ground.

The continuous, thunderous vibration of innumerable heavy footfalls trampling the earth!

The vibration transmitted clearly through the rock walls and the ground beneath his feet, even causing loose scree at the fissure’s edge to tumble down.

The smell of sulfur and scorched earth in the air suddenly became overpowering, so thick it was almost tangible as it poured down into the fissure. Mixed with it was the unbearably potent, fetid stench unique to a massive gathering of monsters.

Murphy stopped dead in his tracks. He pressed himself flat behind a protruding rock at a bend in the fissure, suppressing his presence until he was like a true shadow on the stone.

He cocked his head to listen, cautiously unfurling his Spiritual Power and extending his senses toward the fissure’s exit.

The hissing, the low roars, the scraping, the tremors, the stench... All signs pointed to a single conclusion.

Outside, an impossibly vast horde of monsters was converging on this very area. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Its scale far surpassed that of the ambush they had faced upon first entering the Deep Red Wilderness.

’Surrounded?’ Murphy’s eyes turned cold, but he felt little surprise.

From the appearance of the Wizard to the resonance triggered by the ancient spirit coins, he had already anticipated that things wouldn’t remain peaceful.

Obviously, in a game of this magnitude, the Wizard was far from the only piece on the board.

And there was a player moving them.

’I just didn’t expect them to react so quickly, or on such a massive scale.’

He slowly shifted his position, finding an angle from which he could observe the outside without being immediately exposed. He cast his gaze out of the fissure.

Through the limited view from the fissure’s mouth, he saw a truly heart-stopping sight.

The barren valley floor, once home only to jagged rocks and scattered, scorched plants, was now an ocean of dark red.

Countless Deep Red Wilderness monsters of all shapes and sizes were pouring in from every direction like a burst dam.

Leading the charge were the fastest of the large Scorching Beasts. Their carapaces, a dark red so deep they were almost black, reflected a cold, metallic sheen under the dim sky. Their compound eyes burned with a dark gold flame, wilder than usual, and corrosive saliva dripped from their mandibles. They scrambled over one another, as if driven by an irresistible hunger, rushing madly for the various entrances to the Rift Valley Slope—including, of course, the very fissure where Murphy was hiding.

Close behind them were the Earth Rock Worms, even larger creatures like moving hillocks. Their massive bodies gouged scorched furrows into the ground as they passed. Ferocious maws on their heads opened and closed, spewing great clouds of toxic mist mixed with crystalline shards. In their wake, even the air itself seemed to whine in agony.

Even more alarmingly, mixed into this monstrous tide were individuals with even stranger forms.

There were slender, phantom-like monsters that could spit viscous acid.

There were monsters whose carapaces were covered in strange, glowing runes that could emit shrieks to disrupt spiritual waves.

He could even faintly make out a few Giant Scorching Beasts—the same kind Murphy had fought in New Wood Town—their bodies a full size larger than a typical large Scorching Beast, their carapaces a deep, dark black...

They seemed to have lost their usual territorial instincts, temporarily united and driven by some higher will.

Their target was clear: the Rift Valley Slope.

The vanguard of the horde had already charged into the valley. Growing more excited and frenzied, they began to madly ram and tear at the surrounding rock walls with their claws, mandibles, and even their entire bodies, trying to find a way deeper inside.

The entrance to Murphy’s fissure naturally became a target of their attention as well.

One of the large Scorching Beasts was the first to poke its hideous head inside. Its dark gold compound eyes scanned the gloomy depths of the fissure as it let out a low, tentative hiss.

A second and then a third followed, crowding the entrance. They seemed to have caught the scent of former "prey" and grew particularly agitated.

HISS—!

One of the Scorching Beasts shot a blast of searing, sparking air from its mandibles. Its thick forelimbs clawed at the edge of the fissure, and it began to squeeze its way inside.

Its hard carapace ground against the rock with a grating shriek, sending debris showering down.

Murphy’s eyes narrowed. He silently slid deeper into the fissure, toward a narrow recess formed by the compressed rock strata.

A protruding rock ledge hung over the recess, the ground below was uneven, and the light was even dimmer here—it was a perfect hiding spot.

He pressed his back against the cold rock wall, melting completely into the shadows.