Chapter 547: Ch 547 : Guard the Ley Line Monolith

What Su Yuan and his group hadn’t expected was that the seven Slimes, which they thought might merge together like the Consecrated beasts from the previous floor, didn’t do anything of the sort.

Although these Slimes seemed to possess a certain degree of intelligence—enough to use their elemental traits to block specific types of attacks—they were completely helpless against the power of the Eerie Force and were instantly annihilated.

Looking at the seven defeated Slimes and the newly opened passage door, everyone couldn’t help but sigh:

"That’s it? This was Floor Ten of the Spiral Abyss???"

Still, to clear the tenth floor without any casualties or sacrifices was a great outcome.

When they reached the entrance to the eleventh floor, they found that, once again, there was only a single straight road ahead, with no branching paths.

Beside it stood another sign inscribed in Aji’s handwriting:

[Hahaha, you must’ve been scared to death just now, right?]

[But you’d never have guessed that Floor Ten was actually a reward stage for you!!!]

[Seeing your tense and serious faces was just too funny!]

[However, the rules for the eleventh floor have also changed!]

[This time, your goal is not to defeat monsters, but to guard the Ley Line Monolith in the center of the arena. Once you’ve protected it for a certain period of time, you’ll clear the floor!]

[Come on! There’s only one more step until we meet!!! I can’t wait to see you all!!!]

"Ugh, that jerk Aji! He’s just toying with us!" Paimon puffed up her cheeks in frustration.

"Floor Ten had us so nervous and ready for anything, and it turned out to be an effortless bonus round!"

"Alright, Paimon," Aether said calmly.

"Even if it was a prank, at least no one got hurt. Clearing the stage smoothly is what really matters."

"So, Floor Eleven is about guarding the Ley Line Monolith, huh?" Su Yuan studied Aji’s message thoughtfully.

"I wonder how durable this Monolith is—how many attacks it can withstand from monsters."

"And what kind of monsters will we be facing? If there are those with large area-of-effect attacks, how are we supposed to guard the Monolith from every direction?"

"And finally," he added, frowning slightly, "Aji didn’t even specify how long we’re supposed to hold out... One minute counts as holding out, but so does a whole month."

"No point standing around guessing," Eula said firmly.

"Let’s go in and see for ourselves."

So the group stepped onto the central road and entered the eleventh-floor arena.

As expected, a prominent Ley Line Monolith stood in the center.

Once they approached it, countless monsters began to appear around them.

At first, they were only low-level creatures—Slimes and hilichurls.

Even with the Eerie Force strengthening them, they were no match for Su Yuan’s party.

"Don’t let your guard down," Aether warned.

"This kind of ’defend the Monolith’ challenge always comes in waves. The enemies will just keep getting stronger."

"But why don’t we have a countdown timer?" Paimon asked in confusion.

"Without one, we don’t even know how long we have to last! When does it end?"

"That’s probably another one of Aji’s tricks," Su Yuan said grimly.

"He wants to wear us down mentally—deny us any sense of progress so we feel helpless and despairing. But we can’t let him win that way."

"As long as we hold on, we’ll eventually see the light of victory!"

And so, wave after wave of monsters came.

Each stronger and more numerous than the last—but even then, Su Yuan’s group refused to let the Ley Line Monolith take a single scratch.

"Damn it, how long have we been holding out already?" Eula said through gritted teeth, sweat running down her face.

"An hour? Two hours? Why hasn’t the time limit been reached yet?"

"Yeah, seriously! Even though I’m not fighting, it feels like it’s been forever! My stomach’s already starting to growl..." Paimon nodded vigorously in agreement.

The monsters appearing on the eleventh floor weren’t as overwhelmingly strong as the ones on the "Path of Death" from before—but they made up for it in sheer numbers, spawning endlessly without pause.

Everyone had barely any chance to rest; they were forced to fight continuously while also protecting the Ley Line Monolith, which only drained their energy even faster.

Then suddenly—after the last monster of the current wave fell—the next wave appeared.

This time, there was only one type of enemy: hilichurl archers.

Only... the number of them was insane.

The entire battlefield was packed with them—hundreds at least!

"My Archons...! So many hilichurl archers?!" Paimon shouted in horror.

"Are they trying to rain down arrows on us all at once!?"

Just as she said that, hundreds of hilichurl archers raised their bows in perfect unison—then unleashed a blinding volley of arrows toward the group!

Each arrow carried traces of the Eerie Force, making them even deadlier.

Everyone struggled to defend themselves under the relentless barrage.

But with so many arrows coming from all directions, protecting themselves and guarding the Ley Line Monolith at the same time became an almost impossible task.

Despite their best efforts, one arrow slipped through their defensive formation and struck the Monolith directly—

Everyone froze for a moment, staring.

Surely the Monolith wouldn’t be that fragile, right?

Could a single hilichurl arrow really destroy it?

But in the next instant, the Ley Line Monolith began to crack violently.

Deep fissures spread across its surface, and unstable energy pulsed out from within—

As if it was about to explode.

No way... seriously?!

Could the Monolith really be that fragile? Just one hit and it’s about to blow up?!