Fang Senyan glanced back and suddenly saw the wild, desperate look in Phil’s eyes—a look so profound it seemed etched into his very marrow. A sudden jolt struck his heart, as if hit by a sledgehammer—wasn’t his own desperate situation before entering the spatial realm, hunted to the point of having nowhere left to run, exactly the same as Phil’s?

With that thought, Fang Senyan rushed to Phil’s side, grabbed his shoulder, and dragged him forward. Gratitude flickered in Phil’s eyes, though he too was running madly just to survive. At that moment, Deco wheeled back, supporting another Contractor, likely an acquaintance, and urged them forward! As the saying goes, where there is joy for some, there is sorrow for others. The outcome was unfortunate: the other Contractor naturally fell to the rear. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a gigantic black shadow whipped its tail through the air and lunged forward with ferocious madness, overwhelming him with a pungent, fishy stench! Several other black shadows followed suit, and then piercing screams erupted, followed by the sounds of flesh and bone being torn away and swallowed.

At this point, the desperately fleeing Phil made a show of gasping for breath, then suddenly whispered to Fang Senyan:

“Sailor, keep running, don’t look back, and don’t show any surprise on your face. What I’m about to say is critical; I might very well die here! I suspect the Metal Mentor and the Slave brought us in precisely because they intend for our lives to spring the traps and mechanisms.” “The Slave pretended not to know the data on those high-level monsters chasing us, just spouting nonsense, but I actually heard about them a few days ago while working part-time at the pet shop. Their real name is Black Serpent Crocodiles. They nest along that riverbank to use the water temperature for incubation. They are not gentle creatures; on the contrary, they are exceptionally savage and will attack any approaching creature frantically. However, if I had told you the truth, we would have been forced to stop and clear them out, which would have taken far too long, and we certainly wouldn’t have caught up with the Banks Gang.”

By now, the sound of the Black Serpent Crocodiles pursuing them had faded, and everyone stopped to suck in huge gulps of air, pausing briefly to drink water and recover their strength. Phil smartly kept quiet for the time being. Yet, even if Deco and the other Contractor didn’t know the Slave was lying, they weren't fools. Recalling the preceding events closely, anger and suspicion naturally began to surface in their minds.

Clearly, the Metal Mentor sensed the awkward atmosphere brewing within the group. After a moment of silence, he said coolly:

“The Slave and I will take the lead from here.”

With that, he stepped out in front.

The path behind them was now blocked by the pack of Black Serpent Crocodiles; even if they wanted to retreat, they couldn't. Even with lingering dissatisfaction, the remaining members could only follow silently.

They walked like this for nearly half an hour. The thermal spring stream was long gone, and stranger still, the phosphorescence emanating from the walls gradually vanished, leaving only an indescribable darkness ahead. Upon reaching this point, even Deco, the most loyal to the Metal Mentor, stopped and said in a muffled voice:

“Mentor, we can’t go any further.”

The Metal Mentor turned back, his voice cold:

“The Slave and I are clearing the way. What are you afraid of?”

The Contractor whom Deco had saved, having just barely escaped death, now faced the threat head-on and disregarded the Metal Mentor’s authority, protesting loudly:

“Didn’t he clear the way before? Yet someone still died! If the Mentor has relevant data, bring it out! Let everyone analyze and discuss it. Frankly, we entered this realm fully prepared to face death at any moment, but at least let us die knowing what we died for!”

The Metal Mentor stared intently at him for a full five minutes, like a wolf fixing its gaze on a sheep. Sweat dripped steadily from the Contractor’s forehead. But just then, Phil also stepped forward and said coldly:

“I think he has a point.”

Deco did not speak out but sat down on the ground, resting his bow, using body language to vent his frustration.

Fang Senyan shrugged, spread his hands, and said with a small laugh: “This wretched place is dangerous enough as it is; poking around blindly in the dark is tantamount to playing with our lives. I don’t disagree with stopping, but I do agree we should find something to illuminate the way.”

“No light,” the Slave stated flatly. “Up ahead is a vast area of Devil’s Vine. They are immune to all forms of damage. If you struggle violently when caught, they grip tighter! Only by ceasing movement will they release you. However, if they come into contact with light, these terrifying vines will be stimulated and attack frantically, locking down whatever they grab! And once caught, struggling only makes it worse!”

“You should all remember the scene from the original plot, right? Dumbledore used these very vines to guard the Philosopher’s Stone. But the Devil’s Vine he planted in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts was temporarily transplanted; its scale was less than one percent of what’s here. That’s why it withered immediately upon contact with that girl Hermione’s light magic. But here… in an area of vines that have grown for thousands of years, if anyone dares to shine a light on them, they will face the Devil’s Vine’s most terrifying retaliation!”

Phil suddenly asked: “Devil’s Vine is a highly aggressive plant. In the plot, it was placed beneath the lair of the three-headed dog, Fluffy, feeding off its excrement. But what do the Devil’s Vines in this location feed on?”

As he said this, the Slave’s eyes shot out like two needles, piercing Phil’s face. Phil, seemingly oblivious, gave a cold smile: “They feed on scarab beetles! These beetles are very similar to the sacred scarabs of Egypt. They use the Devil’s Vine to shelter their larvae, and since there is an underground river here, these beetles can prey on the fish in the water. Their waste, in turn, sustains the Devil’s Vine. If we rush in, most of us might survive, but inevitably one or two people will have these scarabs burrowing all over their bodies, experiencing the agony of having eggs laid inside them, screaming wildly for a full day before finally dying!”

Once Phil finished speaking, it was clear that the remaining three, unless they were complete idiots, would rather be executed on the spot than suffer that torment! They were absolutely unwilling to take another step forward. At this point, the Metal Mentor stepped forward, looking at Phil, and articulated slowly, word by word:

“Excellent, very well done. If it weren’t for your reminder, the Guild would have lost another brother. While the Slave is widely knowledgeable, there are still gaps in his awareness. Since that’s the case, the task of clearing this path falls to us.”

The Metal Mentor then looked at the Slave and said calmly:

“Summon Ironhorn. Let it clear the way! A mere patch of Devil’s Vine surely cannot withstand its sheer brute force!”

Then the Metal Mentor waved his hand, seemingly casting a light-based spell. Instantly, everyone saw that covering the end of the tunnel was a sprawling mass of black, clawing things, occupying at least several thousand square meters, spreading out on both sides of the path. It was hard to describe the exact nature of this thing, but precisely speaking, it resembled human cancer cells magnified hundreds of thousands of times.

When the light struck the Devil’s Vine, the mass immediately began to boil like overheated, viscous tar, then sprouted countless short, thick black tentacles that thrashed wildly! It looked like the end of the world, a truly hellish scene. On the ground near the vines, many black dots were crawling—presumably the Sacred Scarabs Phil had mentioned.

The Armored Stegosaurus, Ironhorn, was clearly extremely impatient. The moment it was summoned, it threw its head back and roared, beginning to stomp its massive hooves against the ground, seemingly revving up like a race car before takeoff. Then, once the Slave and the Metal Mentor mounted it, it charged forward with insane, frantic speed! The ground began to tremble under Ironhorn’s accelerating force. Accompanied by the booming sound of its gallop, the prehistoric beast plunged forward blindly, burying its head and smashing ahead without regard!

Fang Senyan and the others dared not delay and quickly followed.

The Devil’s Vine proved truly terrifying; even Ironhorn’s monstrous strength could only push forward about fifty meters before being tightly entangled by the swirling tentacles wrapping around it. But at this moment, the Metal Mentor displayed considerable magical power. He cast a Flash spell, directly blinding the surrounding Devil’s Vine, causing it to writhe and shriek, emitting large plumes of white smoke. This allowed Ironhorn to surge forward another ten-odd meters.

However, the Metal Mentor was ultimately no match for a powerhouse like Dumbledore, nor was he an anomaly. His Flash spell could last at most five or six seconds. Thus, the Devil’s Vine would immediately regroup. They relied once more on Ironhorn’s powerful struggles to resist. This cycle repeated until they finally managed to break through the Devil’s Vine’s encirclement. But Ironhorn, the Armored Stegosaurus, had lost a significant amount of hide, flesh, and bony plating all over its body, sustaining considerable injury, lying on the ground moaning incessantly. The Metal Mentor, having cast nearly twenty Flash spells, was also severely depleted, panting violently, likely with very little, if any, mental energy remaining.

Even among the four following behind, casualties began to appear here: this time, Deco encountered trouble while keeping pace with Ironhorn. Several Sacred Scarabs suddenly dropped from above, piercing his defenses. He immediately collapsed to the ground, struggling desperately to prevent the insects from burrowing into his body.

Just as he was about to be consumed, the Contractor whom Deco had previously rescued stepped forward, casting a massive Fireball spell that annihilated the swarming Sacred Scarabs. However, the residual force of the fireball reached the Devil’s Vine! Immediately, the Contractor was enveloped by the wildly flailing tentacles of the Devil’s Vine. Although he instantly followed the Slave’s instruction and stopped moving, several Sacred Scarabs had already gathered around him like foraging ants.