[The source of the gue has been activated. yers, please leave the altar immediately...]


    "gue?"


    Upon obtaining the peculiar green stone, a system prompt echoed in Irving''s mind, causing his face to turn grim.


    A foreboding sense of dread surged within him.


    Before he could contemte further, the ground beneath him began to tremble.


    Irving was currently standing on suspended iron chains which he had used to pry open the coffin.


    "Could taking this strange stone be causing this ce to copse?" Irving''s heart skipped a beat. The source of the gue was now the least of his concerns.


    Little ck, who was waiting below, seemed to sense the impending danger and started barking frantically at Irving.


    Just as Irving was about to leap down from the chains, he was suddenly enveloped by a chilling sensation.


    In the next moment, the woman with a head full of venomous snakes lying in the coffin abruptly opened her eyes.


    Their gazes locked, and for reasons unknown, the serpent woman''s eyes bore an enchanting, bewitching light that could ensnare one''s soul. Irving was momentarily dazed.


    In that brief instant, the serpent woman sat up straight from the coffin and grabbed his arm!


    Irving was utterly shocked.


    He instinctively cast [Fireball] into the coffin. A burst of mes erupted skyward, and the resulting shockwave flung him against the chamber wall.


    Thud!


    He spat out another mouthful of fresh blood.


    As the smoke and dust settled, the coffin had been shattered by [Fireball].


    However, when Irving looked over, he saw the serpent woman unscathed. Her eerie, cold eyes shed with contempt as she gazed in his direction.


    "She actually..."


    Irving''s face grew even paler.With the upgrade to a mid-tier[FireBall], at such a close range, even a high-level beast would be severely injured if not killed.He instantly realized the terrifying nature of the serpent woman before him.


    She undoubtedly did not belong to the initial game stages'' ssification of low, mid, and high-tier beasts.


    Irving realized he had entered a significant misconception—a knowledge blind spot, to be precise. Just like the cataclysmic stone golem from the first disaster wave, which couldn''t bepared to ordinary beasts.


    This meant there were other levels of ssification beyond what he knew, which the system hadn''t yet revealed.


    But these thoughts were irrelevant now. The only thing in Irving''s mind was:


    He couldn''t die here!


    Dying would not only waste a lot of time, but the stone he had just obtained would be lost, and all subsequent ns would fall apart.


    Escape!


    Irving forced himself to stand. He nced at Little ck, who was barking madly at the serpent woman, then without a second thought, scooped him up.


    At this moment, the violently shaking altar was causing stones and debris to fall continuously.


    Just as he was preparing to escape through the entryway, the monumental statues standing near the walls began to crumble as if tiles were falling off their edges…


    They were moving!


    All the statues were moving!


    It seemed they had sensed Irving''s intentions, andthe entrance of the passageway was blocked by those massive, decaying-faced beasts.


    That was the only exit from the secret chamber, and in the mere moment that Irving hesitated, more and more statues seemed to awaken, taking heavy steps towards him.


    Truly, there was no way out, no escape.


    Behind him was the serpent woman, and in front were countless beasts resurrected from the statues.


    Irving nced at Little ck in his arms, a hint of helplessness shing in his eyes.


    At this moment, he suddenly remembered that when he first entered the altar, in addition to the [Necromancer ss Change Rune], he also obtained an [Invisibility Scroll]—it could immediately render him invisible,sting for two minutes.


    "I was going to save this [Invisibility Scroll] for the cataclysmic event, but now I can''t be picky." Irving knew the stone he had just snatched from the serpent woman was critical, let alone if he died now, Little ck probably wouldn''t survive either.


    [Do you want to use the "Invisibility Scroll" immediately?]


    "Yes."


    Irving said urgently.


    The next moment, the beasts in the secret chamber that were staring at Irving, the "intruder", had a touch of disbelief in their dull eyes. The human who was clearly there just a moment ago had disappeared.


    "Only two minutes…"


    After confirming that he was indeed invisible, Irving sprinted towards the entryway with all his strength.


    As he ran, his gaze unintentionally fell on the serpent woman standing atop the shattered coffin. For some reason, since she woke up, she had always stood still, but her eyes were fixed intently in Irving''s direction.


    "Can she see me?" Irving moved quickly, but found the serpent woman''s gaze followed him, causing him to panic.


    By the time Irving made it into the entryway, sprinting towards the outside of the altar, he saw the venomous snakes on the serpent woman''s head hissing and writhing.


    Irving was sprinting with all his might, his rugged breaths echoing in the passageway, his lungs on the verge of bursting. He didn''t dare stop for even a moment, as the thunderous footsteps behind him seemed ready to catch up at any second.


    The tremors of the altar grew stronger, with debris constantly falling around him.


    When Irving finally burst out of the altar, he found that the outside world was still shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by the moonlight casting its glow upon the earth.


    Only then did he dare to halt and nce back over his shoulder.


    The entrance to the altar was on the verge of copse, and yet, the resurrected statues below were still in relentless pursuit...


    Irving had no choice but to continue running towards the sanctuary since the two minutes of invisibility had expired.


    ...


    Meanwhile...


    Inside the sanctuary, after Irving had left, Vicky and Sophia had started to buy arge number of supplies from the forum''s trading area.


    However, even with express delivery, the materials purchased from the forum''s trading area wouldn''t arrive until the next day at the earliest. In order to set up the [Attack Arrow Towers] and [Thorny Wall] as quickly as possible, Vicky directly made a call to James.


    As for James, after returning from the mine with the guild members, he wasted no time in using the mined materials to upgrade and renovate the guild''s sanctuary.


    Receiving Vicky''s call, he immediately gathered the necessary materials for the two blueprints and sent them directly to Irving''s house.


    The upgraded sanctuary was guarded on all sides by sturdy stone walls, which had sharp barbs on their surfaces. There was also a towering arrow tower nearby.


    Vicky and Sophia, who had just finished the arrow tower, were standing on top of it, looking at the surrounding scenery. The moon was shining, the stars were sparse, the wind was gently blowing, and the rustling of the trees made the atmosphere quite pleasant.


    "When will Irving get back…"


    Vicky''s eyebrows were knit together, a hint of worry appearing on her pretty face.


    Sophia raised an eyebrow. Her reason for following Irving was to avenge the guild and rescue family members who had been enved.


    "How did you guys get through thest catastrophe?" Sophia turned her head, finding it hard to believe that a simple stone-built sanctuary could withstand a beast tide. "You guys are really lucky. As far as I know, over half of the yers permanently quit the game after thest catastrophe…"


    "I''m really worried about whether this ce can withstand the uing second catastrophe, relying on those generators from who knows where? And they are still the most primitive mechanical types, needing someone to drive the turbines to generate electricity…" Sophia voiced her concerns, a hint of disappointment in her heart.


    Although she didn''t know where Irving had gotten those turbine engines and heating and lighting equipment from, without electricity, they were no different from scrap iron…


    "Lucky?" Vicky let out a bitterugh. "You could say we were the unluckiest. In addition to being attacked by the beast tide during thest catastrophe, a disaster-level aberrant beast also appeared. If Irving hadn''t risked his life to kill it, you wouldn''t be seeing me right now…"


    As a support healing mage, she was fated to follow behind a powerful protector.


    "A catastrophe-level aberrant beast?" Sophia shook her head. She had never heard the term before. Her family''s guild had lost half its yers in defending against the beast tide, barely managing to hold their shelter intact. She found it hard to believe that just Irving and a nonbative Vicky could keep this ce safe.


    "If you don''t want to admit it, maybe it''s because you haven''t seen a realrge-scale beast tide..." Sophia sighed, thinking perhaps Vicky had only experienced minor skirmishes. Changing the subject, she asked, "Is he... your boyfriend?"


    Women naturally possess a curiosity about such topics, and Sophia was no exception.


    Caught off-guard by the question, Vicky''s cheeks flushed with a hint of red. Recalling past events, Irving had saved her life more than once and had even offended the Taylor family at a banquet to defend her.


    Some rtionships are hard to define.


    Seeing Vicky blush and stammer, Sophia smiled knowingly: "Okay, you don''t have to say anything, I already know. A support healing mage and a fire mage— you two make quite the lucky couple, but..."


    She nced at the scrap metal beside the shelter, continuing, "It''s just too bad your boyfriend is too naive, trying to cut corners with these scraps rather than fortifying the shelter properly, hoping to avoid the second wave of catastrophe. Now I''m dragged into this as well."


    Sophia sighed deeply.


    She couldn''t imagine what Irving, as a fire mage, could possibly do to operate those turbine generators.


    Just as Vicky hesitated whether to reveal Irving''s true profession, she suddenly felt the arrow tower slightly tremble.


    "Something''s approaching us, but that shouldn''t be happening... Could the second catastrophe be arriving early?" Sophia said with an icy expression, her gaze fixed in one direction. As the arrow tower shook more violently, she finally saw clearly.


    In the night, a young man was being furiously chased by a group of huge beasts...