The excavation continued for about an hour. Li Fan, at the bottom of the dark pit, put down his shovel and looked up at the sky, which was only as large as a full moon.
Due to the depth, the soil was now being transported by Xiao Bendan, who dragged the basket with its claws, making the process extremely slow.
"Hee~ hee~ hee..."
"Meow~ meow~ meow..."
Yudora, who was continuously swinging her shovel, was working with great enthusiasm.
Li Fan stretched his sore shoulders and continued digging.
Roar~
Before long, Cheche, the main excavation force, let out a low growl, indicating a new discovery.
The team immediately gathered around. On the newly excavated soil beneath Cheche's sharp claws, a small vortex of fine sand appeared.
The sand settled for a short while, and a black void was revealed.
As the pit gradually expanded, some rocks tumbled into it.
The two humans and one cat exchanged glances.
"Evacuate to the surface!"
As Li Fan shouted, he opened a Poké Ball and brought Cheche inside.
Yudora raised her hand, and the Wind God's Dragon Gem on her chest armor glowed a brilliant blue.
Whoosh~
The wind current surging from her arm instantly inflated Dilu's wind bag clouds.
Then, in an inverted flying posture, she cast out a Wirebug silk.
Screech~ Hiss~
Just as the bottom of the pit began to collapse, Li Fan, who had leaped up, grabbed the Wirebug silk with one hand.
Whoo~ woo~...
From the dark, collapsing pit below, a gust of wind blew.
"It's empty..."
Li Fan was quite surprised by this.
"Shall we float down to take a look?"
Yudora suggested.
"This hole looks a bit scary. We need to call more monsters. Dilu, float up to report. Bring the members who can't fly with Poké Balls."
"Okay, meow."
Riding the wind bag clouds, Dilu rapidly ascended.
By the time the team descended into the pit, Bingbingzi, Xiao Bendan, Wanpi, Xixi, and Piaopiao on the surface had retracted their wings and dived in one by one.
"This feels much more stable now."
With a sense of security, Li Fan led the team to explore.
This underground cavern was unlike any ecosystem they had encountered before.
It was very spacious. Apart from some standing black rock pillars, there was nothing else in sight.
The team could only descend continuously, searching for features that could help them understand the environment.
After descending for a full five minutes, they finally touched the ground, but that wasn't the most surprising thing.
Looking at the dim yellow terrain undulating like hills, Yudora asked in surprise, "Is this a desert?"
"It feels finer than gravel, almost like... flour."
Li Fan observed for a moment and offered his guess.
"Incomprehensible ecosystem, meow."
Dilu said with some disappointment, as her current knowledge couldn't provide an answer.
At this moment, Xixi landed on the ground first.
Hiss~ hiss~...
Feeling its two claws sinking into the soft ground, Xixi flapped its wings vigorously and lifted off.
Under the light of its head crown's electricity, fine dust swirled in the air.
"This is quicksand... What kind of place is this!"
The various strange ecological phenomena were making Yudora somewhat distraught.
"I think I know what's happening with the Great Serpent's Ruin City... The status on the handheld shows no abnormalities, which means Shanshan is safe and actively trying to solve the problem... The source of the sound is nearby. Everyone leave your markers here and split up to search. Remember, no matter what happens, do not touch the ground."
Li Fan analyzed the situation and gave his deployment.
The five dragons spread out, searching in different directions.
Before long, Bingbingzi returned. Guided by Bingbingzi, the team soon arrived at a broken black rock pillar.
On the circular cross-section of the pillar, Shanshan was carving on the rock surface with the tip of its sickle claws.
"Shanshan! We finally found you."
Li Fan released his Wirebug silk and landed on the broken surface of the rock pillar.
Shanshan tilted its head at the sound. Its compound eyes flashed purple, and it seemed quite surprised by the team's arrival.
Then, the team looked down at the various patterns carved into the rock layer.
The striped body representing the Great Serpent's Ruin City was presented in an unusual vertical posture.
A horizontal line was drawn across the middle of the skull, seemingly marking a certain position.
"The Great Serpent's Ruin City is stranded in the sea of quicksand?"
After looking at the patterns, Li Fan became more convinced of his previous inference.
Shanshan, with its head hanging low, drew a checkmark on the rock layer, confirming it.
"It's as I suspected."
Rumble~ Rumble~ Hiss~...
A rumbling sound echoed, and the rock pillar's surface trembled several times. Countless scattered chunks of soil and rock fell into the endless sea of sand.
In a blink of an eye, they were swallowed without a trace.
Roar~
Xixi, who had come to gather, roared to indicate it had encountered a strange fellow.
"How strange?"
Li Fan asked.
Xixi landed and lay down, pushing its wings forward. Its leg, which supported the wing's transparent membrane, pressed against the rock layer.
This posture seemed as if it was about to dig its leg into the rock layer and pierce deep into it.
"Who is it imitating?"
Yudora asked, confused. She had never heard of a monster that injected its legs into the ground.
"Chaotic Amatsu."
Li Fan replied.
"It's him... Could it be that this ecosystem was created by him?"
Yudora asked in surprise.
"I wasn't sure before, but now it seems so."
"Fortunately, this is in the Hoarfrost Reach..."
Yudora said with relief.
If there was a Chaotic Amatsu underground in the Old Continent, creating such a vast underground ecosystem would surely be considered a natural disaster.
"The situation is a bit complicated... Let's focus on solving the stranding problem first. I hope it doesn't interfere."
Li Fan pondered for a moment and gave his deployment.
With the current monster team configuration, they could theoretically defeat the Chaotic Amatsu.
The problem was that this dragon's behavior in the game was extremely bizarre and evil, completely beyond the existing monster system. Its ecological characteristics were even more unfathomable.
Even if such a monster were heavily wounded and defeated, capturing it would be very unlikely.
The armor and weapons made from it would also be prone to problems in terms of applicability.
Therefore, Li Fan had never considered touching it, especially with the Valstrax on its way.
Looking at the situation, Li Fan began to plan in his mind.
The sea of quicksand had an extreme counter-effect on the Great Serpent's Ruin City. Fortunately, when Shanshan sensed the abnormality, it had oriented the Great Serpent's Ruin City vertically.
After its tail touched the bottom, it provided some support.
If a real Serpent King Dragon were to curl up its body while struggling, it would only sink deeper.
Wait, could this highly targeted sea of quicksand have been created specifically for hunting Serpent King Dragons...
...In that case, we can only pull it out.
Having thought of a solution, Li Fan led the team to get to work.
The two humans and one cat each rode a flying dragon, pulling Shanshan's golden Wirebug silk and securing it to nearby black rock pillars.
Back inside the skull, Shanshan began to tie the Wirebug silks extending from all directions to its scythe claws.
For safety and an extra bit of lifting power, Li Fan decided to release Xiao Ming.
"King! Get ready! Below is the sea of quicksand, you absolutely must not touch it!"
Li Fan reminded the Sphere of Affection and then pressed the switch, swinging his arm with all his might to throw it upwards.
Roar~
As Xiao Ming appeared, it let out a dragon roar. The blue light emanating from its body instantly illuminated a large area.
"Don't worry, Li Fan. There's nowhere in this world this King can't touch... You're kidding me."
After Li Fan understood the meaning of the dragon roar, his gaze suddenly darkened, and he quickly took out another Poké Ball.
Whoosh~ whoosh~...
Xiao Ming stopped flapping its giant wings and landed on the sea of quicksand.
Sensing its four claws sinking, Xiao Ming blinked and let out a low growl, indicating that this situation was a bit troublesome.
At this moment, Li Fan, who had opened the Sphere of Affection, arrived beside it. However, Xiao Ming showed no reaction.
Roar~
"With so many monsters watching, this King won't go in..."
"..."
You know you can't back down now, don't you? I told you not to touch it.
Li Fan was speechless. Shanshan hadn't been rescued yet, and now another one was stuck.
He swung his hands forward rapidly, and Xiao Ming immediately understood.
However, Li Fan overlooked the fact that monsters with excessive weight have a foot-planting action when taking off.
Hiss~ hiss~
As its four claws pressed down, the quicksand surged up to Xiao Ming's chest.
Roar~
Xiao Ming declared that it was angry.
"Don't be angry, King. Your life is more important. Come into the ball quickly."
Roar~
My kingly path does not allow me to enter.
Xiao Ming said stubbornly, then bent its neck and opened its dragon maw.
Buzz! A blue beam of energy erupted downwards vertically.
The surrounding quicksand melted and quickly transformed into blocky gray crystals.
Hiss~ hiss~...
As a large amount of crystalline fragments were generated, Xiao Ming twisted its head and continued to spray the quicksand below.
Although the sinking speed increased, the quicksand did not flow in to fill the void due to the sealing of the solidified crystalline walls.
Before long, Xiao Ming leaped out of the crystalline pit, propping itself up, and returned to the air.
"This works too..."
Roar?
Did I perform well, King?
"Not bad, but is your kingly path a bit too stubborn?"
Li Fan asked.
Roar~
Xiao Ming stated that it is normal for the kingly path to be misunderstood.
"Alright, later I'll need the King to pull something to help it escape the sea of quicksand."
Li Fan informed it.
Roar~ Xiao Ming said it was fine, but it wanted to fly at the highest point.
"No problem."
Li Fan thought that since it was the largest and had the longest wingspan here, it should naturally be deployed at the highest point for towing.
As the Wirebug silks were being distributed, Huihui also arrived, and all deployments proceeded in an orderly fashion.
... "Xiao Bendan, you can't tie it to your claws. You'll injure yourself if you exert force. Hold it with your mouth."
Li Fan said, throwing out a golden Wirebug silk. Xiao Bendan opened its mouth and bit onto it.
"The last one is Bingbingzi. I feel like Bingbingzi's bite force isn't very strong. Where should I tie it..."
Li Fan pondered a suitable tying position.
"Li Fan, doesn't this place feel like somewhere?"
Yudora, floating with the help of the Wirebug silk from above, asked.
"Hmm... I don't notice anything."
"I think it's very similar to the upper layer of the Guiding Lands."
After Yudora's suggestion, Li Fan looked around, and a sense of déjà vu washed over him.
"What if the Guiding Lands were also created by Chaotic Amatsu?"
Yudora further speculated.
"If this is confirmed, it means that the ecosystem of the New World was indeed formed under multiple interventions."
"They all come from the ecosystem, so it's not an intervention, right?"
"Hmm... If the main controller of all this has already transcended the ecosystem, the nature of the situation would certainly be different."
Li Fan expressed his view.
"So profound."
Yudora couldn't quite understand.
"Simply put, if a monster breaks free from ecological constraints, it might try to create a new world centered around itself. This new ecosystem would be heaven for it, but perhaps hell for other creatures."
Li Fan explained.
"Creating a world, transforming the ecosystem..."
This idea struck Yudora as novel.
"Yes, but even the strongest single species would find it difficult to operate an entire ecosystem. Just like the Rotten-Guts Dragon in the Guiding Lands, if one node goes wrong..."
Li Fan suddenly paused at this point.
He looked up at Xiao Ming flying in the air, and a strange feeling surged in his heart.
A thought occurred to him: perhaps in this game, no one was innocent.
After securing the Wirebug silk for Bingbingzi, Dilu, riding the wind bag clouds, shouted to report: "Finished, meow! The Wirebug silks for Cheche, Diablos, and the others up here are all secured!"
"Alright... Rescue operation! Commence!"
Li Fan waved his hand and shouted.
Boom! Boom!~
Huihui, at the very bottom, unleashed its six blue flames with full force.
The other monsters in the middle area were all flapping their wings with all their might, lifting and pulling.
Xiao Ming, with a full twelve Wirebug silks wrapped around its chest, spread its wings and flapped them powerfully at the very top.
On the surface of the coastal pit, the four Ice Sea brothers each bit onto a Wirebug silk, pulling backward as they slowly retreated.
Screech~
The surfaces of several black rock pillars were etched with lines by the Wirebug silks.
Shanshan, inside the Serpent King Dragon's skull, was now covered in Wirebug silks, its entire body trembling uncontrollably.
Hiss~ hiss~...
The skull, stuck in the sand, began to move upward bit by bit.
"Go, go!"
"Ugh! Come out quickly!"
"We can do it, meow!"
At the edge of the rock pillar's cross-section, the two humans and one cat, who were pulling a Wirebug silk together, were also exerting all their effort.
A moment later, the entire serpent's head was pulled out of the sea of quicksand, and the dragging suddenly became smoother.
Roar!
Xiao Ming declared it had reached the top and that this hole was too small for the King.
Li Fan transmitted information with his consciousness, telling it to retract its wings and crawl inside the hole.
Thump! Thump!
Xiao Ming rammed its head and shoulders, and with the collapse and expansion of a large part of the hole's opening, its massive body finally squeezed through.
About ten minutes later, the Great Serpent's Ruin City was completely freed from the sea of quicksand and suspended in mid-air.
Under continuous dragging and lifting, as one-third of its striped body penetrated the rock layer, Shanshan immediately twisted the Ruin City's body, using the fan blades on its surface to quickly cleave the rock layer.
Rumble~ Rumble~...
The familiar tremors and rumbling reappeared.
"Withdraw immediately!"
Li Fan, without time to rest, was assisted by Xiao Bendan, and the team immediately began to withdraw.
"With such a grand spectacle, it didn't react at all?"
Yudora, looking down at the sea of quicksand, found the Chaotic Amatsu's attitude very strange.
"Perhaps it didn't want to make things difficult for us... or offer help."
Li Fan speculated.
Zhao Lala reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.