BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
The lightning inside the thundercloud flashed even more violently.
Several bolts shot straight toward Bird One and the others. Ethan quickly cast several Level 3 Spatial Gates, absorbing the lightning and protecting them.
However... just as Ethan was about to pull the Ghost Hand back, he suddenly felt the Water Ghost Hair that had been taut in his hand go loose.
He quickly reeled it back in, only to find that the end of the Water Ghost Hair that had passed through the Spatial Gate was smoking.
It seemed... the lightning had burned it in two.
Fortunately, under Ethan's protection, Bird One and the others finally passed safely through the spatial rift and left the Gray Ore Mine.
Now that he no longer had to worry about their safety, Ethan could finally fight without holding back.
———
At the same time, on a high ridge within the Gray Ore Mine, a circular Spatial Gate about two meters wide suddenly opened.
Several humanoid monsters stepped out.
Each one stood over two meters tall, with muscles developed to the extreme. Thick veins bulged beneath their skin as though they could burst at any moment.
But that wasn't their strangest feature.
The most distinctive thing about these humanoid monsters... was their bizarre heads.
One had an oval-shaped head, like an American football sitting on its neck, complete with a giant mouth that could open wide enough to swallow someone whole.
Another had a head shaped like a hammerhead shark. The top was perfectly flat, with squared-off ends, and its eyes were positioned at the two corners. The whole thing looked incredibly strange.
Yet these two were actually the most normal-looking of the four.
At least they still had heads.
The third didn't even have a head. Instead, a mushroom grew directly from its neck. The mushroom was covered in holes, with insects constantly crawling in and out of them.
Besides the mushroom-headed one, there was another whose neck supported an octopus.
Its eyes extended from its head like those of an anglerfish, dangling above it on tentacle-like stalks that could bend in any direction.
Its mouth was surrounded by tentacles that hung around its head like an extremely long beard.
It looked unbelievably bizarre.
"The lord said...", the football-headed monster spoke, "If we still can't bring the treasure back this time, then we shouldn't bother going back."
"Heh! Since we're already here, how could we leave empty-handed?"
The Mushroom Head also spoke in human language.
"Quit talking nonsense!"
The Hammerhead spoke up as well.
"Have Octopus hurry up and search for the treasure first! All you idiots ever do is show off. But when something actually comes up, none of you are any damn use! Trash!"
"Who are you calling trash?"
The Mushroom Head roared.
The moment it opened its mouth, the sound actually came from the countless holes in the mushroom.
A few insects were even blasted out of the holes and landed on Hammerhead's face.
Hammerhead wiped his face and was just about to lose his temper.
"Enough!", Octopus's two eyes spun around like an eldritch horror, "How am I supposed to search with you all arguing nonstop? Don't you know fighting affects energy fluctuations? If the lord's business gets delayed because of you, none of your heads will be enough to make up for it."
"Got it."
Mushroom Head and Hammerhead both shut up resentfully.
Only after they fell silent did Octopus slowly rotate his long eye stalks around, like a pair of television antennas.
Suddenly, Octopus's eyes froze.
Then his face lit up with delight.
"I found it! I can sense a powerful energy fluctuation. It seems to be—"
BOOM!
However, before Octopus could finish speaking, a basketball-sized black hole suddenly opened in midair, and a bolt of lightning shot out of it, striking the group.
BOOM!
The hill they stood on exploded, sending sand and rocks flying everywhere.
Octopus was roasted into charred octopus.
Mushroom Head was smoking all over, and every insect on its mushroom cap had been cooked.
Hammerhead had tougher skin, so he fared a little better, though he still didn't look to be in good shape.
Pfft!
Hammerhead suddenly sprayed a pale yellow liquid over everyone.
The charred skin of every monster splashed by it rapidly recovered.
"Thanks, Hammer!"
Having received Hammer's life-saving spray, they all thanked him.
Hammer simply grinned, revealing two rows of serrated teeth, "No need to thank me! Octopus, what the hell was that just now? We deliberately appeared far away from the thundercloud. How did we still get struck?"
"I don't know either. It happened so suddenly. It's like someone deliberately redirected the lightning over to us!"
Octopus's two eyes started darting around again.
Hearing that, Hammerhead frowned, "Could it be that another area besides Area E has also found the treasure?"
"Don't underestimate the other areas. Aside from Areas A, B, and C, the bottom three areas that are still selecting their regional overlords, which of the other areas is easy to deal with?", Mushroom Head sneered, "Especially the last six areas. Every single one of them is extremely powerful."
"The lord said that if he can obtain this treasure, he'll likely advance directly from Area E into the top sixteen and become the new Area J."
"So..."
"No matter what, we have to bring that treasure back to the lord!"
"Otherwise, if the lord stops injecting us with beast blood, not only will we quickly revert to ordinary humans, but we'll also suffer an extremely severe backlash and become complete cripples."
As soon as Mushroom finished speaking, Octopus suddenly stretched out his eye stalks and shouted, "The damn lightning is coming again!"
"Mushroom Shield!"
Hearing that, Mushroom Head immediately swelled up.
Then countless spores flew out from its mushroom cap.
After traveling a short distance, the spores rapidly expanded, turning into enormous air-filled spheres that lined up in front of the Spatial Gate.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning shot out of the Spatial Gate and struck the giant spores.
The spores exploded immediately, but they perfectly absorbed the lightning, protecting everyone from being struck.
"Phew!"
Only then did Octopus let out a long sigh of relief, "That's a Spatial Gate!"
"Someone has to be nearby, and they're deliberately redirecting the lightning over here. They're probably afraid we'll steal the treasure!"
"Hammer, Mushroom, Explosive Ball!"
"One kilometer to the south!"
"Go kill him first! Otherwise, I can't properly search for the treasure at all!"