A Familiar Yet Strange Enemy

The process of exploring the magic formation was much more troublesome than Su Ran had imagined.

Influenced by the crack that had appeared in the ceiling, besides the humanoid withered trees, a bizarre skeleton now roamed the interior.

To avoid the withered trees, Su Ran had deliberately chosen a path with no enemies.

However, she now had to face a monster even more difficult than the humanoid withered trees.

This skeleton was similar to the Blood Knight she had seen before, except its exterior showed no signs of being covered in flesh and blood.

[Sequence Two, Bone Demon]

With the information provided by the system, Su Ran finally understood why the Bone Demon looked so similar to the Blood Knight.

In the sequence advancement of this Bone Demon, there were different paths, and the Blood Knight was one of them.

“You’re usually so quiet. Why the sudden change of heart to offer information?”

Normally, the system was a quiet presence.

She hadn’t expected it to voluntarily introduce the monster she encountered in the magic formation this time.

[Dear, it depends on the database. If it’s there, it’s there. If it’s not, it’s not~]

In response to the system’s explanation, Su Ran could only roll her eyes.

‘I’ll believe you when pigs fly. You’re a calculating system that never does anything without a profit motive.’

“Then what about the mutated Earl in the Northern Border City?”

Since it had mentioned the database, Su Ran quickly seized the opportunity to ask about the situation with the mutated Earl, which was similar to the Blood Knight.

Hearing Su Ran’s inquiry, the system displayed a series of six dots before her.

After a moment, it answered her question.

[That was a summoned Blood Knight. It only transformed into that state due to an unknown influence.]

‘So, the thing that appeared in the Northern Border City and the thing from Laita City have the same origin?’

Su Ran’s expression showed no surprise.

She had already had a vague guess when she saw the mutated Earl’s corpse.

The system’s answer merely confirmed her suspicions.

In the midst of her conversation with the system, Su Ran suddenly realized she had arrived at the place in the underground ruins where the mutated Earl’s corpse had originally been stored.

The weight of the briefcase was now only three-fifths of what it was originally, and the crack in the sky was gradually widening.

The slimy tentacles, which could originally only linger at the edges, were now partially hanging down through the crack.

At the same time, a faint pain from her calf was reminding Su Ran that her time was running out.

The effect of the painkiller potion was about to wear off.

Without any hesitation, Su Ran took out another bottle of painkiller potion and drank it, causing the pain in her calf to vanish.

Su Ran was clearer than anyone about the side effects of taking the potion consecutively.

But compared to her own personal safety, the side effects of the potion were nothing to fear.

After all, if you die, everything is over.

Looking at the entrance to the storage room, Su Ran used her spiritual perception to first conduct a rough survey of the area below.

Since the enemy had set the core of the magic formation here, they would certainly have provided corresponding protection for it.

However, when Su Ran’s spiritual perception penetrated the ground, she saw a giant cocoon, half a story high, with a gray-black mist flowing over its surface.

The entire scene was filled with an eerie atmosphere.

Upon sensing Su Ran’s spiritual perception, the mist flowing over its surface stopped as if commanded.

Immediately after, the surface of the giant cocoon gradually became covered with spiderweb-like cracks, like a shattered egg.

In no time, a sharp, creaking sound emerged.

The giant cocoon underground was gradually breaking apart, revealing the scene hidden within.

There was a woman inside!

She tilted her head up, as if looking through layers of ceilings.

She hadn’t expected that upon waking after her evolution, she would find a bug had come here.

Realizing things were not good, Su Ran immediately withdrew her spiritual perception.

She did not attempt to leave, but instead focused her energy, preparing to face the enemy.

The aura from the opponent seemed to be only around the strength of a Sequence Three.

For Su Ran, dealing with it wouldn’t be difficult.

She just hadn’t expected the so-called protective measures to be someone lying in ambush here.

From the looks of her, protection was just a side task.

Completing the “evolution” she spoke of was her main objective.

Her own perception had triggered the protective mechanism, accelerating the opponent’s awakening.

No wonder the enemy hadn’t reacted when she had tried to disable the magic formation’s core.

It seemed she had been in the process of evolving.

The woman’s speed in coming from underground to face Su Ran was not slow; it took almost the blink of an eye.

“So it’s you! Perfect timing. I can take this opportunity to finish you off.”

The suddenly appearing woman swiftly arrived in front of Su Ran and extended her ten fingers.

In an instant, a vast cloud of poison mist rose in the space around Su Ran, even corroding the ground.

Unfortunately for her, she had encountered Su Ran.

The moment the poison mist appeared, a mist also emanated from Su Ran’s body, and where it met the poison mist, white smoke billowed.

Mist Tide Spell!

This was a spell she had exchanged for points at the Blood Cat branch.

But right now, compared to the woman’s poison mist, the space occupied by Su Ran’s Mist Tide Spell was being steadily compressed.

“You won’t escape this time.”

Seeing the mist controlled by Su Ran in retreat, the woman could hardly hide the triumph in her voice, as if she could already see Su Ran’s demise.

However, Su Ran’s abilities were not limited to magic.

Just as the Mist Tide Spell was shrinking around Su Ran, an extreme chill emanated from all directions.

With the help of the Mist Tide Spell, it even froze the poison mist that had invaded her vicinity into ice dregs, which then fell to the ground.

Gaining a moment of respite, Su Ran finally had a chance to observe the woman before her.

Her appearance felt somewhat familiar to Su Ran.

Immediately after, her pupils shrank as a name came to mind.

“You’re Shen Yue?”

Su Ran was both shocked and suspicious.

Why was the missing teacher here?

“As expected, I can’t underestimate you. Let me show you this evolved body.”

With that, a sharp gust from a punch was already upon her.

Thanks to Su Ran’s powerful spiritual perception, she narrowly dodged the punch.

Even so, the formless force grazed the tip of Su Ran’s nose, causing her to break out in a cold sweat.

If she had been a fraction of a second slower, that punch might have landed on her face.

The wind from the punch that grazed her nose sparked a sense of familiarity in Su Ran’s mind.

She suddenly remembered where she had encountered it before.

The vampire who had attacked her with the double-layered formation!

The Shen Yue before her showed no vampiric traits and was completely human.

So why did she give off a sense of familiarity similar to that of the vampire?

Encountering Shen Yue here already presented two questions waiting for her to answer.

As long as she could capture her, she could find out the answers to these questions.