Just as Gandalf was traversing the sea like a headless fly,

the distant sea, which had been relatively calm just a moment ago, suddenly surged violently.

Massive splashes of water shot straight up into the sky.

It seemed like something was rapidly approaching Gandalf's location from beneath the deep sea.

Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow, controlled the water skateboard beneath his feet, and came to a stop.

He wanted to see what the native alien beasts in this ruin actually looked like.

Splash—!

The sea surface was violently broken open by a massive dark shadow.

A giant alien beast comparable in size to a small truck leaped straight out of the water!

That was a pitch-black monster covered in countless slippery tentacles.

Its body resembled a huge tumor, and at the top of the tumor, a bottomless giant mouth split open, filled with spiral-shaped sharp teeth inside.

【Deep Sea Giant Throat LV40】

Almost the moment it appeared, several more identical monsters crawled out one after another from the seawater behind it.

They opened their disgusting giant mouths, aiming at Gandalf on the sea surface.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Puffs of pitch-black liquid emitting a strong, fishy stench shot towards Gandalf like cannonballs!

"A bit disgusting."

Zhou Huai's consciousness frowned in disgust inside Gandalf's body.

With a thought in his mind, the water skateboard under his feet instantly executed a beautiful tail flick, like the most flexible surfer, easily dodging all the attacks of the ink.

He had no time to waste with these alien beasts right now.

Finding that Divine Artifact was the top priority.

However, just as Zhou Huai wanted to leave, those Deep Sea Giant Throats had no intention of letting him go.

Seeing that ranged attacks were ineffective, they let out a roar, and countless thick tentacles broke through the water surface like arrows leaving a bowstring, fiercely whipping toward Gandalf!

Zhou Huai snorted coldly, and the speed of the skateboard under his feet surged once more, cutting graceful arcs across the sea surface to dodge all attacks completely.

He had originally thought it wouldn't be hard to shake off these guys.

But he soon found himself mistaken.

No matter how he accelerated or changed direction, those Deep Sea Giant Throats stuck to him like maggots on tarsal bones, tightly following behind him.

Not only that, but as time passed, the number of Deep Sea Giant Throats crawling out from the seabed was actually increasing more and more!

In just a few minutes, the blue sea behind him was already covered by densely packed black tentacles.

Looking into the distance, there were nearly a hundred of them!

Countless water arrows and ink smashed wildly against the 【Arcane Barrier】 behind Gandalf like dense raindrops.

The clanging and clacking sounds were endless.

Zhou Huai turned his head, looked at the pitch-black army of alien beasts behind him, and sighed helplessly.

"I didn't want to kill you."

"But you insisted on courting death."

He stopped the skateboard under his feet and slowly raised the 【Eternal Judgment】 in his hand.

"【Forbidden Spell: Thousand Mile Ice Seal】!"

Crack—!

Absolute zero erupted with a boom, centered on him!

The sea behind him, which had still been surging wildly, instantly solidified!

The ferocious expressions and wild dancing tentacles of those nearly one hundred Deep Sea Giant Throats were all frozen at this very instant.

A layer of solid ice emitting a colorful halo completely sealed them.

Then, those lifelike ice sculptures, as if losing buoyancy, slowly sank one by one into the bottomless seabed.

The world was finally quiet.

Zhou Huai was just about to continue moving forward.

But the next second, his expression sank once again.

He saw that the distant sea surface began to surge violently once more.

It was the Deep Sea Giant Throats again!

And this time, the quantity was even more than before!

A pitch-black mass that stretched as far as the eye could see!

Like a tide, they madly surged toward Gandalf's location again.

Zhou Huai's brows furrowed tightly.

He began to try changing directions constantly, wanting to completely shake them off.

To no avail.

In this vast ocean, these aquatic alien beasts were the absolute Sovereign.

Their speed was even a bit faster than Gandalf's water-accelerated state.

This time, their attack methods became even crazier and more reckless.

Some Deep Sea Giant Throats even gave up ranged attacks, directly using their massive physical bodies to violently slam into Gandalf's 【Arcane Barrier】!

What's more, the moment they approached Gandalf, their bodies suddenly expanded and blew themselves up with a boom!

The terrifying shockwave blew open circles of giant ripples on the sea surface.

Fortunately, Gandalf's current 【Arcane Barrier】 was thick enough.

Even after enduring such dense attacks, it remained as solid as before, showing no signs of shattering at all.

Zhou Huai's expression grew increasingly gloomy.

He had no choice but to stop his steps again and again, releasing forbidden spells to wipe out the endless army of alien beasts behind him.

But before long, a new batch of alien beasts would crawl out from the seabed, repeating the cycle over and over again.

"Something seems a bit off."

Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf to put away his staff, and he suddenly noticed a hint of abnormality.

A pattern.

As long as he moved forward in a certain specific direction, the attack desire of the alien beasts behind him would drop significantly.

Their speed would also gradually slow down.

Although they still chased relentlessly, they would deliberately maintain a safe distance from him.

But once he deviated from this direction, even by the tiniest fraction,

those alien beasts would instantly become violent, launching fierce, fearless, crazy attacks.

This feeling...

It was as if these alien beasts were using this unique method to guide the way for him!

Having figured this out, a strong wave of interest instantly surged into Zhou Huai's heart.

It seemed that the alien beasts here were not ordinary monsters.

They were very likely also a part of the rules of this ruin.

Since that was the case, he would let these guys show him where exactly they wanted to lead him.

Zhou Huai immediately adjusted his direction and sped away toward that specific bearing.

Sure enough.

After he found the right direction, the pitch-black army of alien beasts behind him immediately stopped attacking.

They just silently followed behind Gandalf, maintaining absolute silence like a well-trained guard team.

Time ticked away second by second in this bizarre chase.

One hour.

Two hours.

A full three hours passed.

At the end of Zhou Huai's line of sight, a trace of change finally appeared.

On that boundless blue sea surface, a tiny black dot appeared.

As the distance continuously shortened, that black dot gradually enlarged in his field of vision.

Ultimately, it transformed into the silhouette of an island.

"An island!"

Zhou Huai's eyes suddenly lit up.

Having wandered in this damn ruin for so long, he finally saw land!

It was said that the Divine Artifact, 【Pendulum of Life】, was hidden on a certain island.

Could it be this one right in front of him?

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai's heartbeat couldn't help speeding up a bit.

The speed of the water skateboard under his feet surged once more, rushing towards that island at full speed!

Ten minutes later.

Gandalf's figure drifted down softly onto the soft sandy beach of that island.

And the massive alien beast legion behind him unexpectedly stopped in unison after seeing Gandalf go ashore.

They patrolled the waters around the island for a moment.

Then they silently retreated like a tide, diving back into the deep sea.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Huai became even more certain of his previous guess.

These alien beasts were indeed guiding the way for him.

He had discovered this secret, but what about the others?

Given the intelligence of those elites from various countries, they should be able to discover this point quickly.

No.

He must speed up.

He looked around and began to carefully examine this small island.

The island's area didn't look very large, at most a few kilometers in radius.

The vegetation on the island was exceptionally lush, filled everywhere with towering ancient trees and bizarre, nameless flowers and plants.

The air was permeated with a fresh fragrance of vegetation.

It was completely different from the barbaric and ancient aura of the outside world.

The strangest thing was that no aura of any alien beast could be felt on this island.

It was excessively quiet.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf to step into the dense jungle.

The tall tree canopy blocked the sky and sun, cutting the sunlight into countless fine, shattered light spots that fell onto the ground.

Inside the forest, only Gandalf's footsteps rustled.

He went deep all the way, and his Mental Strength spread out in all directions like an invisible spider web, investigating every rustle and movement around him.

Soon, he passed through this jungle.

The scene ahead suddenly opened up.

A crystal-clear freshwater lake, like a sapphire inlaid on an emerald, quietly appeared before his eyes.

The lake water was clear and sparkling.

By the lake, colorful flowers were blooming fully.

A few brightly colored butterflies fluttered gracefully among the flowers.

It was simply like a paradise on earth from legend.

However, Zhou Huai's gaze didn't linger too long on these beautiful sceneries.

His line of sight quickly locked onto the bottom of that freshwater lake.

Right in the deepest part of that lake,

it seemed something was emitting a flickering golden faint light.