Within the dark red space, a massive, spiraling void appeared before everyone. Constantly writhing flesh flowed into the void like a never-ending stream. Around the void, only three Gluttony monsters stood guard, each radiating an aura of immense power.
Even Nina, who usually maintained a stoic expression, revealed a hint of gravity upon seeing these three Gluttony monsters. She sensed that each of them possessed strength comparable to her own.
"Wait! What's that!"
Suddenly, Elena pointed towards the inside of the void and whispered. Countless Gluttony monsters, each only about half the size of a human, swarmed out from the pitch-black depths. As these younglings emerged, the three Gluttony monsters guarding the perimeter turned to observe.
One of the Gluttony monsters, about the size of an average person but covered in pairs of arms, abruptly reached out and grabbed several of the nearest juvenile Gluttony monsters. Then, from its bizarre head, a long, barbed proboscis extended, piercing directly into the bodies of the Gluttony monsters in its grasp.
With a chilling sucking sound, the Gluttony monsters visibly withered, turning into desiccated corpses before being casually tossed to the ground, shattering into pieces.
The other two Gluttony monsters showed no reaction, simply joining the feast. After devouring nearly a thousand juveniles in minutes, the three Gluttony monsters turned and returned to their original positions, while the surviving Gluttony monster offspring began crawling towards the exit on the ground.
"That must be where these monsters are born!"
Sophie spoke softly, a hint of excitement in her voice as she gazed at the scene before her. She never imagined that what she had been searching for would suddenly appear before her. In fact, upon entering the Royal Capital, Sophie had already prepared herself for failure, even death.
Although she possessed a space-teleportation magical tool, Sophie couldn't simply leave. She had witnessed her teammates, who had entrusted their lives to her, being engulfed by countless Gluttony monsters, torn to shreds, and devoured.
She had seen Sally being ensnared by a massive tentacle and dragged into the depths below. All of this banished the thought of escape from Sophie's mind, even though her captain had once told her, when she first became an adventurer, that adventurers shouldn't 'adventure'.
"So, Captain, what do you plan to do?"
Lu Minghao asked softly, looking at Sophie. In reality, everything here had been arranged by Lu Minghao in advance, all to lead Sophie to the place O克斯 and the others had discovered earlier.
"Of course, we'll continue forward. Elena, I'm counting on you."
With that, Sophie looked at Elena beside her, intending to rely on Elena's magic to sneak past the three Gluttony monsters and enter the void. With Elena's magic and the relaxed state of the three Gluttony monsters, they could enter the void without alarming them if they were careful.
"Mm! I understand."
"[Presence Reduction], [Scent Masking], [Light Body], [Light Distortion]."
Elena nodded vigorously, raised her wand, and began to cast various spells on Lu Minghao and the others. In less than a second, the entire Scarlet Rose team vanished from sight, though careful observation would reveal a slight distortion in the air.
"Sniff! Sniff!"
Suddenly, one of the three-headed Gluttony monsters guarding the void turned and sniffed the air. One of the wolf heads clearly looked towards an open space in front of the void, its scarlet pupils gradually brightening. Next to the wolf head, a decaying human head revealed a disgusting smile, and wisps of flame coalesced in the air.
But just as it was about to attack, it suddenly stopped. Its mindless eyes glanced around before turning back and lying down on the ground again.
On the other side, Elena, who was invisible in front of the void, breathed a deep sigh of relief and continued forward. Only Nina in the team looked back at the Gluttony monster that had just looked their way, a hint of doubt in her eyes.
If Elena and Sophie saw the Gluttony monster as merely being normally vigilant, Nina's powerful perception clearly sensed that the monster had indeed discovered them and had even begun to prepare an attack. However, at the last moment, the monster had given up.
"Move quickly!"
At that moment, Sophie, at the front of the team, suddenly turned back and said to Nina before leaping into the void ahead. Elena followed closely behind, jumping in after her. Finally, Lu Minghao looked back at Nina and jumped in as well.
Seeing this, Nina could only temporarily put aside her inner doubts and followed suit. But the moment Nina jumped in, she sensed something was wrong. Within the dark red, bottomless void, a large number of tentacles suddenly erupted from all directions.
Bang!
At the critical moment, Nina couldn't care about anything else. The magic power within her body surged wildly, and black flames ignited in her dark pupils. Instantly, all the tentacles in front of Nina were ignited by balls of black flame.
Countless tentacles writhed violently in the black flames. Even mindless monsters couldn't endure the pain of searing their souls. Seeing this opportunity, Nina unleashed a burst of flame beneath her feet, and with the immense thrust, Nina instantly burst through the mass of tentacles and flew downwards.
"Big sister, you're really strong."
Suddenly, a childlike voice, like a silver bell, sounded in front of Nina. A tentacle nearly ten meters thick, like a giant serpent, appeared, and above the tentacle, a girl with delicate and lovely features was looking at her with a smile.
"You're not dead?"
Looking at the girl who suddenly appeared before her, Nina paused in mid-air and asked, looking at Sally. She had clearly watched Nina being dragged into the ground by the tentacle beneath her feet, and her aura had vanished in an instant.
And now, the supposedly dead Nina had appeared before her, and most importantly, the feeling Sally gave her was completely different!
"Hmm... Sally is already dead, well, the one big sister knew."
Facing Nina's question, Sally tilted her head and looked at Nina playfully. The ordinary adventurer Sally was indeed dead, and the one now appearing before Nina was the demon king Lu Minghao's familiar, the demon king species, the Oni Tyrant Sally.
"Now, big sister, let's play a game with Sally!"
In the next second, Sally raised her head and looked at Nina with a smile, but at this time, Sally no longer looked innocent and cute. All that remained was an aura of fear and despair. A pair of domineering and ferocious black oni horns silently appeared on Sally's head.
