In the silent darkness of the night, two vehicles sped through the black.
Two hours later, Mammon and the others finally arrived at West Ridge Mountain.
At night, West Ridge Mountain was a vast, pitch-black expanse. The endless mountain ranges, shrouded in darkness, resembled a bottomless abyss waiting to devour anyone who approached.
In the deep of night, the only sounds were the roars of beasts echoing from somewhere within West Ridge Mountain, along with strange, shrill cries.
The overlapping noises drifted through the air, chilling the heart.
West Ridge Mountain at night was unquestionably far more dangerous than it was during the day.
"The road ahead is no longer passable by car. We can only get out here," Chen Jun said after stepping out of the vehicle.
"Let's go. No idea whether they've found that demonic insect yet."
Mammon took the lead and walked straight toward the mountain. For him, retreating just because it was night was never an option.
The group headed into West Ridge Mountain. Above them, a full moon hung in the night sky, scattering its cold light and bringing a faint trace of illumination to the dark land below.
The environment inside West Ridge Mountain was terrible. Thorn bushes and razor-sharp wild grass were everywhere. Most importantly...
Pairs of scarlet eyes lit up around Mammon's group. Low, heavy breathing drew closer and closer. In the dim surroundings, it was impossible to clearly make out their forms.
"Lesser demons."
Mr. Dai glanced at the monsters that had surrounded them at some unknown moment and named them.
Lesser demons were the most common creatures to emerge from the dimensional rift in West Ridge Mountain. They had been rated D-class.
Their danger level was not especially high, but their temperament was exceptionally vicious. They attacked and devoured humans on sight.
"There sure are a lot of them."
Chen Jun drew the dagger from his waist and narrowed his eyes slightly. In the darkness, more and more scarlet eyes appeared.
They had almost completely surrounded the group.
"No matter how many of these low-level monsters there are, it won't matter."
Mr. Dai slowly raised his hand, and the closed eye in his palm suddenly opened.
Blood Demon Art: Gravity Crush!
The air itself seemed to grow sticky and heavy as a deep, terrifying pressure spread through the surroundings.
Accompanied by endless miserable shrieks, the lesser demons surrounding Mammon and the others had their fragile bodies crushed into bloody pulp almost instantly beneath the suddenly intensified gravity.
The entire area was immediately flooded with the thick stench of blood.
"Mr. Dai's Blood Demon Art really is useful to the extreme. This smell... it truly makes the spirit surge with excitement."
Chen Jun deftly twirled the dagger in his hand, swept his gaze around, then grinned and spoke with a look of intoxication.
Perhaps ordinary people would feel nothing but disgust and revulsion toward such a piercing smell, but to demons like them, it was undoubtedly the most delicious scent imaginable.
Mr. Dai smiled faintly and did not respond. Eliminating these lesser demons was nothing worth mentioning to him.
The group continued forward. It had to be said that West Ridge Mountain was practically a monster nest. Lesser demons, low-grade demonic insects, mutated beasts and plants—there were simply too many monsters along the way.
At night, all monsters became active.
However, although their numbers were great, their strength was not. Both Mr. Dai and Chen Jun could deal with them easily.
"Hm?"
After conjuring a flesh mass monster that directly devoured a C-class fanged wolf whole, Mammon's gaze landed on the ground ahead, and his eyes flickered slightly.
The ground in front of them looked as if it had been crushed by some enormous weight, leaving behind a trail lower than the surrounding terrain.
"This should be the mark left behind by some creature crawling through here."
After dealing with another wave of monsters that charged at them, Chen Jun also noticed it and frowned as he analyzed the scene.
But if that were really the case, then the size of this creature was a little too large.
It wasn't that a bigger body necessarily meant a stronger monster, but in most cases, if a creature was gigantic, then it certainly would not be weak.
"The marks left by the Deathland Rampage Insect shouldn't be this neat and smooth. West Ridge Mountain probably has another overlord."
Mr. Dai walked over to the trail, examined it carefully, and spoke in a low voice.
Although the Deathland Rampage Insect was a crawling creature, it had many limb-like legs similar to a centipede.
"This kind of winding trail... it should belong to some kind of serpent monster."
Mammon followed the track with his eyes into the distance. He was not completely certain, but it was most likely a python-like creature.
"My lord is right. The question is whether this was originally a monster of West Ridge Mountain, or whether it came from another area."
Mr. Dai nodded. He had thought of the same thing. After all, once one gave this kind of crawling mark a little thought, the answer was not hard to guess.
No matter what, though, the size of this serpent-like monster was unsettling.
By rough estimate, the trail alone was at least four or five meters wide. If that was true, it was hard to imagine how terrifying the creature's true form must be.
"Let's go. We may find it very soon."
Mammon stepped forward and followed the trail deeper ahead. Things were becoming more and more interesting. So far, they still had not discovered any trace of the Deathland Rampage Insect, nor of Li Qiancheng, the City Lord of Yang City, and the others. Instead, they had first found this.
Perhaps...
Things were about to develop in a very interesting direction.
Mammon and his four-man group advanced along the traces left behind by the serpent disaster. After traveling for roughly another hour—
The faint sounds of battle came from up ahead.
"We found them."
Mammon's eyes flickered slightly. He glanced around, climbed onto a high slope, and looked ahead.
What entered his sight was a group of humans battling a gigantic monster.