Zhou Huai calmly looked at that sea area.

Seeing the people of White Elephant Country completely swallowed by the army of exotic beasts,

he became increasingly certain that that golden pendulum clock was by no means a benign object.

It was more like a meticulously laid trap.

Nakamura Shinichiro had once mentioned that in many ancient ruins, there existed all sorts of unimaginable mechanisms.

Once these mechanisms were triggered, they would brew huge disasters.

The most common one was a beast tide.

Zhou Huai cast his gaze toward the sea surface once more.

Following the deaths of those ten people from White Elephant Country, that massive legion of exotic beasts did not disperse like before.

Quite the contrary.

They became increasingly manic and restless.

"Roar——!"

"Hiss——!"

Countless exotic beasts leaped out of the sea, letting out deafening roars, their huge bodies stirring the seawater and kicking up monstrous waves.

The entire sea area surged wildly, like boiling water.

After a moment, those heaven-shaking hisses and roars eerily unified.

All the exotic beasts, as if receiving some kind of mysterious command, simultaneously turned their directions.

Swimming frantically toward a certain fixed position!

Zhou Huai's pupils suddenly constricted.

The ice island under his feet was like a huge, transparent window at this moment.

Through the crystal-clear ice layer, he saw the most shocking scene of his life.

Beneath the ice layer, it was no longer the deep seabed.

But a black torrent converged by countless shadows!

Countless marine exotic beasts squeezed together densely, blocking out all the light, and surged toward the same direction!

They varied in shape and size.

The small ones were only the size of a fist.

While the big ones were comparable to giant ships!

At this moment, an incomparably huge shadow slowly swam past right underneath the ice island.

That shadow was so huge that the entire ice island was under its coverage, instantly plunging into darkness.

"Creak… Creak…"

The ice island let out an unbearable groan and trembled violently.

Zhou Huai's heart missed a beat.

That was a...

Definitely a Hell-level BOSS.

Looking at the densely packed army of exotic beasts beneath the sea surface,

in Zhou Huai's mind, only two words remained.

Beast Tide!

It seemed that those Classer who entered the ruins had triggered some kind of chained mechanism trap,

causing a beast tide to start forming inside the ruins.

And the scale was extremely massive.

Zhou Huai carefully identified the direction in which those exotic beasts were advancing.

If nothing unexpected happened, that place should be the location of the ruin's exit.

Once the beast tide formed, it would rush out of the ruins with unstoppable momentum, causing devastating blows to the outside world.

This was actually good news.

At least, he didn't have to worry about getting lost anymore.

As long as he followed the direction of the beast tide, there was a high probability he could find the way back.

But the bad news was that he couldn't go anywhere right now.

Whether acting from the sea surface or the seabed, he would undoubtedly instantly become a live target for those violent exotic beasts.

With Gandalf's current strength, he might be able to protect himself.

But wanting to carve a bloody path through such a terrifying army of beast tide was by no means an easy task.

It seemed he could only stay on this island for now and wait and see how things developed.

As for the beast tide rushing out of the ruins, Zhou Huai wasn't very worried.

Outside, top powerhouses from countries all over the world were guarding.

Just the SS-rank existences numbered several.

Not to mention old monsters like Andrew.

The scale of this beast tide could be considered terrifying to Zhou Huai.

But facing those top powerhouses, I'm afraid it was only a matter of being unilaterally slaughtered.

Just as Zhou Huai was pondering,

on the distant sea surface, a steamship was breaking through the turbulent beast tide at an incredible speed, galloping toward the ice island where he was located!

Zhou Huai stared at that ship, feeling somewhat unimaginable.

That ship was extremely fast, with splashes on both sides of the hull soaring high.

The most eerie thing was that wherever it passed, those violent marine exotic beasts actually actively avoided it one after another, not a single one daring to step forward to attack.

It was as if on that ship, there existed something that made them feel extreme fear.

As the steamship got closer and closer, Zhou Huai finally saw the appearance of the people coming.

Seeing a hot-bodied blonde woman, who could be called a peerless beauty in the mortal world, standing at the bow of the ship.

With her hands on her hips, the sea breeze blowing her brilliant blonde long hair, a confident and flamboyant smile hung on her face.

She was none other than Polina, the SS-rank captain from Great Bear Country.

"Yo."

Polina saw the lonely figure on the ice island from afar; she raised her hand and waved it vigorously toward Gandalf.

That crisp and pleasant voice pierced through the noisy beast roars and clearly transmitted over.

"Little handsome boy from Great Xia Nation, we meet again!"

Zhou Huai did not respond, only calmly watching that approaching ship.

He keenly perceived that behind Polina, several familiar figures were also standing.

The steamship steadily docked at the edge of the ice island.

A figure almost impatiently leaped down from the ship, landing heavily on the ice surface.

It was Li Hao.

"Captain! It really is you! We've finally found you!"

Li Hao's face was filled with the excitement and joy of surviving a catastrophe.

Immediately after, Wang Meng, Zhao Jing, and the other nine members of the Dragon Fang Special Forces also jumped down from the ship one after another, quickly gathering around Gandalf's side.

Although they still looked a bit disheveled, their injuries had clearly recovered almost completely.

On Zhou Huai's face appeared a trace of well-timed astonishment.

He manipulated Gandalf, looking at everyone and asking.

"You guys… how come you are together with Polina?"

Li Hao scratched his buzz cut and quickly explained.

"After our injuries recovered, we immediately came in wanting to rendezvous with you."

"But this ruin is simply too big; we couldn't find your location at all."

Saying this, a trace of lingering fear surfaced on his face.

"Just a short while ago, we also encountered a large number of exotic beasts besieging us at sea."

"At that time, we all thought we were dead for sure."

"Fortunately, Ms. Polina's steamship just happened to pass by, and it was she who made a move to save us."

Hearing this, Zhou Huai cast his gaze toward the blonde beauty who had also jumped off the ship and was walking toward him with cat-like steps.

He slightly bowed toward Polina.

"Thank you very much for your assistance, Ms. Polina."

Polina walked up to Gandalf, those azure blue beautiful eyes unscrupulously sizing him up.

She extended her slender fingers, gently brushing a strand of hair disheveled by the sea breeze, the corners of her mouth hooking into a charming arc.

"You're welcome."

"We are allies after all; isn't helping each other only right?"

Zhou Huai nodded, once again casting his gaze toward the surrounding endlessly surging beast tide.

"Pardon my presumption."

"Now that the beast tide has erupted, exotic beasts are everywhere in the sea."

"Why is your ship able to travel freely amidst this beast tide?"

Hearing this, Polina smiled triumphantly.

That plump chest slightly rose and fell with her laughter.

"That's naturally because this Young Miss is clever and her charm is boundless."

"Using my unique charm, I conquered these brainless beasts."

Zhou Huai: "…"

Li Hao and the others also wore strange expressions.

They didn't believe a single word of this.

Seeing Gandalf's skeptical look, the smile on Polina's face restrained a bit.

The expression on her face became serious.

Seeing her extend her right hand, a flash of white light occurred.

A huge key with an archaic design, forged entirely from bronze, appeared out of thin air in her hand.

Holding that key, she gently waved it in front of Gandalf.

In those azure blue eyes flickered a trace of craftiness and probing.

"Have you seen this gadget?"

In Zhou Huai's eyes flashed an imperceptible strange look.

Sure enough.

She also had one.

This was just as Zhou Huai had anticipated.

There wasn't only one such key.

Zhou Huai manipulated Gandalf, his look of bewilderment being just right.

He calmly shook his head.

"Haven't seen it."

"What is this?"

Polina tossed that huge bronze key in her hand, her light movement forming a sharp contrast with the heavy texture of the key.

She giggled, her laughter crisp and pleasant, like silver bells.

"This thing, I found it on a small island."

She walked with cat-like steps, slowly circling around Gandalf, those azure blue beautiful eyes never leaving his face.

"A woman's sixth sense tells me."

"This thing is the clue to finding the real Divine Artifact."

Saying this, the smile on her face became even more brilliant, carrying a trace of undisguised schadenfreude.

"I heard that Thor from the Freedom Federation, Takatsukasa Arashi from Sakura Country, and that smart aleck Prince Kalen from Ancient Egypt all obtained a fake Pendulum of Life."

"As a result, as soon as they left the ruins, they made a huge blunder."

Her voice was filled with delight.

"They really are three little fools, not even using their brains to think, how could the Divine Artifact be so easily found by them."

Polina stopped in front of Gandalf again, her body leaning slightly forward.

A fragrance mixed with roses and red wine rushed toward his face.

"Gandalf, I think you are definitely a smart person."

"Do you feel that in this ruins, there seems to be some kind of consciousness deliberately guiding us?"

Thoughts spun rapidly in Zhou Huai's heart.

This woman was indeed very smart.

She clearly also realized this point.

However, Zhou Huai manipulated Gandalf to continue shaking his head.

The uncomprehending expression on his face became even more sincere.

"What consciousness?"

"How come I didn't perceive it?"

Polina looked at him with great interest, seemingly not surprised by his reaction.

She straightened her body, the smile on her face restraining a bit.

"Indeed, there was something using exotic beasts to guide me, making me find this key."

Her gaze swept across the endlessly surging beast tide around her, her tone resolute.

"Today's beast tide is the best evidence."

"They chose that golden pendulum clock, so they triggered the punishment mechanism of the ruins and caused the beast tide."

"And I chose this key."

Polina raised the bronze key in her hand, hanging that confident and flamboyant smile back on her face.

"As long as I hold it, the exotic beasts in this water will not attack me, but will instead deliberately avoid me."

After finishing, as if to verify her words,

she actually turned around directly, walking with a calm pace to the edge of the ice island.

Then, amidst the petrified and terrified gazes of everyone in the Dragon Fang Special Forces, she leaped forward!

"Plop!"

Her hot figure was instantly swallowed by the black torrent formed by countless violent exotic beasts below.

"Ms. Polina!"

Li Hao let out an exclamation, subconsciously wanting to rush forward.

However, the next second.

everyone saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Seeing the spot where Polina fell into the water, those marine exotic beasts that were originally roaring wildly and biting each other actually acted as if they had seen a ghost!

They let out bursts of terrified hisses and crazily retreated toward the surroundings!

In just a few seconds, a vacuum zone with a diameter of over ten meters formed around her!

Not a single exotic beast dared to cross the thunder pool by half a step!

Polina comfortably stretched her body in the water, just like swimming in her own pool.

She cast a wink at the crowd on the ice island.

Then with a gentle kick of her legs, her whole person leaped lightly back onto the ice surface like a mermaid emerging from the water.

She shook her brilliant golden long hair, wearing the victor's smile on her face, and walked back in front of Gandalf.

"Now, you understand, right?"