*BOOM!* A violent, muffled explosion reverberated through the darkness, echoes reaching all the way to the top level.
The lowest level shook violently.
Beth, Rebecca, and Dan Lee huddled together, feeling like it wouldn’t be surprising if the entire cavern collapsed.
*Cough, cough, cough.* Covered in grime and dirt, Dan Lee scrambled to his feet and patted down his clothes.
He would easily believe it if someone said this explosion could blast a tank to pieces.
Scumbag though Pete was, the goods he provided had never disappointed.
“Where’s Juno?” That was Rebecca’s first question upon regaining her senses.
No one answered.
Beth was still in a daze.
After a long moment, she asked, “Is that monster…
dead?” Dan Lee: “It should be.
Do you two want to go back in and check?” Rebecca and Beth shook their heads frantically.
Having just narrowly escaped death, and considering how terrifying that monster was, who knew if it might suddenly come back to life?
All they wanted now was to flee this hellhole.
Rebecca: “Beth, Dan, let’s get out of here.
We need to leave first—this place isn’t safe.” Hearing this, Dan Lee said, “I’m going back inside to take a look.” Beth grabbed Dan Lee’s hand, her intention clear—she didn’t want him going back in.
She choked out, “Sam is already dead…
Dan, listen to your teacher.
Let’s leave this place, quick.” How could Dan Lee just leave?
All six Wendigos were dead, and he had even lost the Eldest Mutant.
Right now, the only playable card he had left was the Two of Hearts—the Second Mutant he had contained at the very beginning.
If he left now, all his previous efforts would have been completely in vain.
Dan Lee didn’t answer.
He simply pulled his hand from Beth’s grip, turned, and walked into the semi-collapsed cavern deep inside.
Beth looked helplessly at Rebecca.
“What should we do?” “Wait a few minutes for him.
If he doesn’t come out, we leave.” “But Dan is my student!
And he saved us…
we can’t just abandon him…” …
Inside the pitch-black cave.
A Four of Diamonds appeared in Dan Lee’s hand.
[Containment Subject Detected: Evil Spirit Wendigo.] [Status: Near-Death · Containable.] Only after the Ghost Card confirmed this did Dan Lee step out from behind cover and walk into the center of the blast site.
Half a torso lay there, surrounded by scattered flesh, organs, and fallen rubble.
Mangled flesh was strewn all over the ground, making it impossible to tell whose was whose.
However, Dan Lee was certain the largest piece of the remaining body belonged to the Evil Spirit Wendigo.
With only a pair of legs and half a head left, it was still lingering on the brink of death.
Its single remaining blood-red eye was still trying to glare ominously at Dan Lee.
Evil spirits truly were different from normal living creatures.
“Contain.” The Ghost Card flew out and impaled the halved torso.
In an instant, the surrounding flesh and the remains were sucked into the card.
*Whoosh.* Dan Lee caught the card as it flew back and flipped it over.
Against the background of a pitch-black cavern crouched a crimson monster.
Its blood-red eyes seemed to glow, radiating an oppressive aura.
It looked so vivid it practically leapt off the surface of the card, ready to come back to life and burst out of the Ghost Card at any second.
However powerful the Evil Spirit Wendigo had been before was how ecstatic Dan Lee felt right now.
After all, in typical slasher movies, having this card meant Dan Lee could practically walk all over anyone—except perhaps for those two good pals, Jason and Michael.
[Containment Subject: Evil Spirit Wendigo] [Description: The legendary bloodthirsty cannibalistic demon—an Avatar of the Evil Spirit.] [Stage 2: Not Unlocked.] Brilliant!
It even had a description commentary.
No wonder rifle fire hit it like an itch scratcher.
It truly lived up to the word “demon.” If the Mutants and Wendigos Dan Lee encountered earlier still fell within the realm of ordinary creatures, then the Evil Spirit Wendigo had definitely transcended ordinary lifeforms.
Otherwise, how could it be called an Evil Spirit?
As for Stage 2, it was likely that state from earlier—possessed by the evil spirit, covered in menacing bone spikes, oozing overwhelming pressure.
Dan Lee didn’t linger too long.
He decided to wait until he got back before extracting its ability.
The mangled flesh scattered across the ground probably belonged to the Eldest Mutant and Juno.
Forget it, he’d just leave them buried here—he had no intention of collecting bodies, as it was far too much hassle.
Considering there might still be stragglers in this cave system, Dan Lee decided to disengage his fusion with the Mutant and instead fuse with the Four of Diamonds—the Evil Spirit Wendigo.
“Fuse.” The moment the fusion took effect, Dan Lee felt his body flood with raw power.
Every bone in his body trembled, ready to trigger Stage 2 at any second.
It felt as though he could smash through the cavern roof if he so desired.
His strength surged to the absolute limit.
To use a classic line from the novels he used to read: he felt like he could kill a bull with one punch—or maybe dozens of bulls.
Or another classic trope: the Mutant Cannibals he previously had to handle with extreme caution could now be crushed with a flick of his wrist.
After reveling in the surge of power for a moment and adapting to it, Dan Lee retraced his steps.
Beth and Rebecca were waiting outside.
Seeing Dan Lee emerge, they asked anxiously, “How is it?” “It’s fine, it’s dead.
Let’s find an exit.” Dan Lee didn’t elaborate on what had happened inside.
Rebecca had no intention of going back to check on her good friend Juno either.
What was there to see in a pile of minced flesh?
While the three of them searched for an exit, Rebecca aligned their stories with Dan Lee and Beth.
Why get their stories straight?
Because Juno was the daughter of a congressman.
With her background, a massive police investigation was bound to follow.
Beth was still feeling somewhat anxious.
As for Dan Lee, he felt as relaxed as if he were walking home—after all, this had originally been the Evil Spirit Wendigo’s lair.
After numerous twists and turns, without running into any more monsters along the way, Dan Lee used the Evil Spirit Wendigo’s memories to guide the two of them out through an exit.
The exit was beneath a tree somewhere in the forest.
The first thing they saw upon stepping out was a clear, sunny sky.
Having stayed in the dark for so long, the daylight felt somewhat blinding.
Dan Lee disengaged the fusion once he reached the surface.
Looking up at the sky, he felt a long-absent sense of relaxation.
Deep underground, time had lost all meaning, and he had no idea how long had passed.
Having seen the light of day again, Beth and Rebecca greedily gulped in the fresh air.
After taking a brief rest, the three made their way down the mountain and reached a highway.
Passing vehicles were visible here and there along the road.
Cars meant people, and people meant safety.
The three hitched a ride intending to head to the nearest hospital or town, but halfway there, they ran into a convoy of police vehicles and rescue teams heading up the mountain.
Because the driver was giving a ride to three filthy, grime-covered individuals, an officer pulled the vehicle over for a routine check.
Rebecca didn’t attempt to hide their identities, so as soon as they came to light, all three were taken in.
Then came the questioning.
Only then did the three learn that Juno’s father had indeed put heavy pressure on the police department, sending out a massive search and rescue team.
Dan Lee, Beth, and Rebecca happened to be Juno’s companions, making them immediate primary persons of interest.
Fortunately, the three of them had gotten their stories straight beforehand.
However, the police simply refused to believe such an absurd claim—that man-eating monsters lived underground.
Indeed, without seeing the monster with their own eyes, these junior officers wouldn’t believe a word of it, even assuming the three had gone insane.
It took an old police chief to intervene and stop the young officer’s interrogation.
“Listen, John.
They might not be lying.
You might not believe it, but non-human monsters really do exist in this world.” A scar ran across the old police chief’s weathered face, hinting that he had survived some extraordinary events in his youth.
The young officer, John, carried little sway, but the old police chief had decades of seniority and had witnessed things ordinary people never saw.
With his word, Dan Lee and the other two were first sent off to town.
The police department prepared a rescue team to head down into the cavern first.
Naturally, every member of the rescue team carried full arms and gear, with the old police chief leading the team himself.
The monsters inside the cavern were almost all dead by now, so as long as the rescue team remained cautious, they should be fine.
On the way, Dan Lee recalled the old police chief.
From his words, the man had definitely seen or encountered monsters before.
Young Officer John, on the other hand, was clearly a clueless rookie at a glance.
From this, a conclusion could be drawn: Most people didn’t believe it, while a tiny minority believed because they had lived through it.
As for why these incidents were rarely reported on a large scale, Dan Lee figured it was partly due to low population density in foreign countries, and partly to prevent public panic.
After all, while there seemed to be plenty of hauntings and murders online, when spread across every state in the nation, they were still isolated occurrences.