Chapter 458: Awakening Mayhem

Boom!!

Boom!!

Explosions erupted one after another. Almost as soon as the first Otherworldly Ghost was awakened, Yinglong and his comrades split off a group and charged straight into battle with the creature.

The first to attack were a handful of Third-Stage Beginner Awakeners who, in sync with the Ghost Hunters, swept in as if executing a well-rehearsed pincer maneuver.

The first unleashed Otherworldly Ghost wasn’t very strong, so neither Yinglong nor Zhang Yuan intended to squander their spirit energy on such an enemy.

With a probing intent, a few Third-Stage Beginners immediately engaged the ghost in an intense skirmish.

With a flaming slash—a move reminiscent of an elemental skill—the leading Third-Stage fighter from the Bloodshadow Legion lunged forward, slicing at the giant ghost’s leg.

They could sense that although the ghost boasted Third-Stage Mid-Level prowess, the chains restricting it made it far less formidable.

Moreover, these creatures seemed even less “intelligent” than the Otherworldly Ghosts found outside, looking nothing more than reanimated corpses.

“Attention! These early-awakened ghost minions originally possessed Third-Stage Advanced strength before being sealed! Their power may have waned, but their physical resilience remains!”

“Don’t let that catch you off guard!”

“And keep the battle brief! Every 30 seconds, another ghost minion will awaken in order!”

A hurried warning rang out. At that moment, a Third-Stage Ghost Hunter wielding a Flame Knife nimbly sidestepped a grabbing hand and hurled a bomb-like object that severed the ghost’s toe.

Almost as if offering a friendly tip, his words drew a collective gasp from those watching.

“One ghost minion every 30 seconds?”

If they don’t dispatch them quickly enough, the pressure will soon become overwhelming.

But eliminating them too fast means there’s no time to recover before facing the ultimate Otherworldly Ghost Monarch.

It appeared that the true difficulty of the Dungeon peaked right here.

Watching his subordinates charge into battle, Yinglong—who had initially felt uneasy about someone infiltrating early—quickly decided not to dwell on it.

The few Ghost Hunters who knew more said little, perhaps it was just his overactive imagination.

Of course, knowing Yinglong’s paranoid nature, his mind raced with doubts when he spotted the stone at the center.

If someone had been tailing him all along and hiding until now, there’d be no reason to expose themselves over such a trivial detail.

Installing it and then removing it… leaving it in the center just didn’t add up.

Moreover, Yinglong reasoned that if he were hiding there, even with a thousand reasons to install the stone, he would have placed it at the bottom instead.

To leave it so blatantly in the center—wasn’t that just foolish?

With that thought, he resolved to focus on the battle.

…………..

Meanwhile.

Hidden inside a coffin-like object at the very edge, through a slightly ajar gap, Yenir couldn’t help but exhale a relieved sigh.

“Sure enough, when dealing with someone like Yinglong, the simplest solution is the most effective…”

“It seems that although suspicions have arisen, it isn’t a major concern.”

After quietly murmuring to himself, Yenir sat back to watch the unfolding battle like an enthralled spectator.

It wasn’t as if he deliberately left the stone on top.

Rather, the system’s prompt had indicated that for the Otherworldly Ghost to awaken, every stone needed to be installed.

If he didn’t install them in advance, there would be no opportunity later on.

Unsure whether the process of installing and then removing them would even work, he had no choice but to stubbornly remain on top.

Of course, Yenir still harbored a healthy wariness toward that stone.

“A horde of Otherworldly Ghosts clamoring for that stone—it’s either a trap or cursed…”

“Besides, those ghosts mingling around Yinglong, even if they caught on that someone else had entered early, probably wouldn’t warn him.”

Slowly, while pondering the entire Dungeon scenario, Yenir reached a tentative conclusion.

It was highly likely that these ghosts had ambushed the entrants early on to lure them into this trap.

Their plan was to awaken the ghost and then slaughter them, claiming this would solve the human crisis.

It all sounded like a kindergarten-level plot—predictable and idiotic…

Conversely, it seemed more plausible that they intended to unseal the Otherworldly Ghost Monarch using the victims as pawns…

Yenir even strongly suspected that this floor actually housed a multitude of ghosts—all deliberately withdrawn so that once awakened, they could be unleashed!

The only thing he couldn’t fathom was the stone’s true purpose… and why these ghosts were so desperate for them to come down.

“You’ll see soon enough…”

“If all goes as expected, once the Otherworldly Ghost Monarch is awakened, chaos will erupt…”

It was no wonder he thought so.

Realizing that the Dungeon was treacherously devious, he suspected that its true challenge lay hidden beneath the surface.

Yinglong, caught in a web of schemes from all sides, naturally had a very different strategy.

He waited patiently.

Although he joined the fray, Yenir—meticulously covering his own tracks—sent no messages.

By now, Blood Nightingale was no longer of any use.

He was simply waiting for an opportunity—a chance for Yinglong and the Otherworldly Ghost Monarch to engage in a life-or-death clash!

“It’d be best if both ended up severely wounded—the kind teetering on the brink of death!”

“Then… just fuse Sky Rift Radiance and take both targets out in one blow!”