The cavern was pitch dark. Once everyone had entered, the entrance sealed shut behind them with a magic barrier — no player could get in or out unless they found the mechanism to open it.
In such dim conditions, even a Tier 2 Class expert could barely see thirty yards ahead. For players at this stage, that was a severe disadvantage.
Thirty yards might sound like a decent distance, but for Lord-rank monsters, it was at most two seconds before they were on top of you. If a pack of Lord-rank monsters rushed in all at once, even Tier 2 experts would fail to react in time and take hits.
"All right, the quest has begun — everyone stay sharp. There are a lot of branching paths in here, so keep close." Mo Qiubai took charge. "Lin Ya, you scout ahead. Qing Zhao, you and the others watch Yefeng's back. The monsters in here are nothing like those outside. Yefeng, listen to me — anyone without the Sea God's blessing will be heavily suppressed in here. Under no circumstances should you try to fight these monsters one on one."
Shi Feng said nothing in response to Mo Qiubai's warning. He simply nodded.
The suppression inside this ruin was indeed enormous. The instant the magic barrier sealed the entrance, it was as though the space had become an entirely different world — the oppressive force had surged dramatically.
His physique was operating at only sixty percent of normal. His base attributes hadn't changed, but the sharpness of his five senses had plummeted. Being able to fight at even half his usual capability was optimistic. No wonder Lin Ya and Mo Qiubai had kept warning him.
Under this level of suppression, even Tier 2 experts would struggle to take on a single Lord-rank monster of the same level. If they ran into a group, death was all but certain. Even swapping to a Domain-realm monster wouldn't make things much better — the key difference between a Domain-realm expert and an ordinary expert lay precisely in their mastery of the five senses. With the senses so heavily suppressed, Domain-realm experts suffered even more.
For Mo Qiubai and the others, though, the suppression was minimal. And for the Sea God's direct descendants, it went without saying.
The advance was led entirely by Lin Ya the Assassin scouting from the front, while Yu Sheng Momo, one of the Sea God's direct descendants, cleared the path. But even if the suppression was mild for them, the monsters lurking in the cavern were far from ordinary.
Naga Sea Witches — bloodline creatures, Great Lord rank, Level 98, HP 63 million.
With their special bloodline, the Naga thrived in the cavern environment. They would dart out from crevices in the rock walls, strike once, and retreat, or snipe from a distance with crossbows — each one moving like a seasoned assassin in the dead of night. Their combat proficiency was staggering, every single one operating at the level of the fifth floor of the Trial Tower.
When more than ten surged in at once, their blinding speed, tremendous strength, and skill that rivaled ordinary expert players made killing suppressed Tier 2 Class powerhouses laughably easy.
For Mo Qiubai's group, however, these Naga Sea Witches posed little threat. Every one of them wielded Great Lord-level power on par with the enemies. The direct descendants Yu Sheng Momo the Elementalist and Mei Jiao Yang de Niu the Berserker surpassed even that. The Naga that swarmed in were blasted away before they could close even a single step.
"We can't waste energy here — move faster!" Mo Qiubai shouted, after knocking back a Naga with his shield.
The Naga in the cavern were endless. No matter how many they killed, more poured in wave after wave. If they didn't press forward quickly, even the strongest among them would be whittled to death.
Everyone picked up their pace. For more than three consecutive hours, the group pushed deeper into the cavern under constant siege by the Naga. But the further in they went, the more complex the terrain became — and the Naga kept multiplying.
What had started as a dozen at a time grew to over twenty, their coordination tightening with each wave. Even at Mo Qiubai's group's level, the pressure was mounting steadily.
Fortunately, Mo Qiubai and the others knew the route well — they had been to this cavern more than once. After another two hours, just as the Naga numbers were approaching thirty per wave, they arrived at a spacious underground temple.
The moment they stepped into the cavern that housed the temple, a magical barrier sealed the entrance behind them, forcing the swarming Naga to abandon the chase.