Kara asked next, "By the way, is there any news about that divine beast egg sent to the Research Institute on the south side of the forest?"

"There's a layer of flames on the egg that counters us. We've tried many methods but still can't break the shell. We can only drain its energy bit by bit. It's estimated that in five more days, its energy will be completely depleted."

Kara nodded with satisfaction. "Very good! Continue like this. Once the divine beast egg is cracked, give it to the Corrupt Dragon as a tribute. I will surely gain the Corrupt Dragon's favor."

He remembered sacrificing more than half of the combat power in his entire territory to surround and kill this juvenile Divine Beast, finally forcing it to turn into an egg. Consequently, his territory's strength had dropped from second place among the four knights to the very last.

As long as the Corrupt Dragon swallowed the completely dormant divine beast egg and consolidated control over the dungeon core, thereby taking charge of the entire dungeon core, the Corrupt Forest Instance could leap to a higher level once again, and the Corrupt Dragon could gain the qualification to contend for godhood.

This time, he swore he would take everything back with interest.

Kara narrowed his eyes and muttered, "I hope nothing goes wrong."

"Lord Kara, you have already dispatched Golden Back to specifically guard the divine beast egg. It recently reached the Seventh-Tier and is one of the strongest warriors under your command," the giant bat flattered. "As long as Golden Back is there, no one can snatch this divine beast egg."

Hearing the giant bat's words, the corners of Kara's mouth curled up slightly.

Golden Back, the ultimate winner who had emerged under the new Law of survival of the fittest that he had established, never failed to live up to his expectations. It possessed several powerful skills and extremely rich combat experience.

Even if Kara and Golden Back were at the same tier, he doubted whether he would be a match for Golden Back.

He waved his hand and said, "You may leave. When there is more news about Yage, come and tell me."

"As you command, Lord Kara!"

The giant bat respectfully retreated to the door, then spread its wings and flew into the sky, quickly leaving the castle.

Deep underground, within an abandoned subterranean structure.

Lights powered by rot crystal energy flickered in the corridor, the purple glow illuminating the dark environment.

Yage, dressed in priestly robes, was hiding in the shadows of a corner. This was the second time he had been in such a pathetic state, aside from having an arm cut off by Da Huang.

He had just been teleported into the Corrupt Forest by the Evil God he worshipped, only to be quickly discovered by a Corrupt Dragon Knight and chased all over the place.

If he hadn't entered the dungeon through a special method, which restricted part of his strength and made many powerful skills unusable, he wouldn't be in such a sorry state.

But once he truly entered the Corrupt Forest, he realized that both he and the Evil God had seriously misjudged the true power of the Corrupt Forest.

He couldn't even enter the core area. The four Corrupt Dragon Knights managing the Inner Ring of the Forest were all at the Eighth-Tier, which had already reached the Supreme level.

From the look of it, the plan to use the necrotic solution to completely transform the Corrupt Forest Instance into a Necromancer Dungeon had fallen through.

But if he went back like this after failing two consecutive missions, he couldn't even imagine what kind of wrath his Evil God master would have.

So, he used mind control on a nearby monster and learned from it that there was a Research Institute underground where a divine beast egg was hidden.

Since he couldn't transform the Corrupt Forest into a Necromancer Dungeon, stealing a divine beast egg would at least show the mission wasn't a total failure and would be acceptable. So, he snuck in here.

However, Yage didn't expect that a very powerful Monster Lord was also hidden here, with a strength that was actually at the Seventh-Tier, just like him.

His skills were almost completely ineffective against Golden Back, while Golden Back's attacks hit home every time, leaving him with no power to fight back. Especially the lethal poison on its tail, which could actually spread through the air to him.

If he didn't have healing spells, he would be lying on the ground by now, a cold corpse.

"Damn it, I was still too careless!"

He said through gritted teeth, no longer possessing his former elegant demeanor.

Monsters searching for him were everywhere in the corridors. Knowing he could no longer stay here, he immediately cast a spell, blasted a hole in the ceiling, and flew straight up.

Once the effects of the toxin were eliminated, he would come back here again.

At this moment, Da Huang was carrying Qi Ye and Green Bean to this place.

"Wow, someone is flying in the sky!" Green Bean pointed at the sky and shouted. Yage had just rushed out of the tunnel and was fleeing into the distance without looking back.

Although he could only see the other person's appearance for an instant, judging by the clothing, Qi Ye only knew one person who dressed like that.

"Isn't that person Yage?"

Qi Ye was slightly startled. Had Yage come here to snatch this divine beast egg as well?

Judging by Yage's hurried escape, his plan to snatch the divine beast egg this time had most likely failed.

"Da Huang, hide quickly!" Qi Ye realized something and immediately had Da Huang move away from this spot.

Da Huang found a safe corner nearby, dug a hole, and buried himself.

A short while later, dozens of monsters of the Fifth-Tier and above crawled out of the passage Yage had used to escape and began searching.

"Eh, there are many more monsters here than before!" Green Bean said in surprise.

Qi Ye replied, "It's normal to arrange so much defensive force; after all, a divine beast egg is hidden inside."

"But these monsters are still weak compared to Da Huang!"

Qi Ye smiled and said, "Do you know what tier that person who just escaped was?"

Back when he first met Yage in Omen Village, he had secretly used Appraisal on him. Because the tier gap was too large, Appraisal gave very little information, only showing that his tier was the Seventh-Tier.

Green Bean asked curiously, "What was it?"

"I saw him in the previous dungeon; he has the strength of a Seventh-Tier Lord."

"Ribbit!!" Green Bean was stunned. "A Seventh-Tier Lord just ran away like that?"

The reason wasn't hard to deduce.

Qi Ye thought for a moment and analyzed, "This only means that inside the Research Institute, there are enemies hidden whose strength is no weaker than his."

"Ribbit! I get it. There should be another Seventh-Tier enemy inside. If it were an Eighth-Tier, he wouldn't have been able to escape."

Qi Ye glanced at it in surprise. "Not bad, you're learning to draw inferences."

"My smart little head didn't grow for nothing, ribbit!"

It was known that a Seventh-Tier Monster Lord was hidden in the Research Institute. While Da Huang's physical stats could reach the level of a Seventh-Tier Lord under various stacked buffs, his own skills were too few, and his overall strength was inferior. Even if Qi Ye could summon two Followers for support, it would be difficult to defeat the opponent.

But after seeing Yage, Qi Ye had a new idea.

"Last time, I interfered with Yage's mission, and he has already failed once. He will definitely be unwilling to accept it this time, and there's a high probability he'll come back here."

Qi Ye continued:

"We are in the dark while they are in the light. Now, while these monsters haven't discovered us yet, we should hide nearby first. Perhaps we can even—"

Wait for Yage to return next time. That way, they would have room to maneuver.