That giant tentacle was entirely cyan-black, its sides covered in sharp thorns, barb clusters, and scissor-like fork spines measuring several meters or even tens of meters in length.

The dome rocks, which were extremely sturdy for players, were easily cut with a light scratch from the thorns.

Beneath the tentacle grew countless, densely packed, and fine tendrils. Just a glance was enough to make anyone with trypophobia’s scalp crawl, rendering them restless.

All the tendrils were arranged in rows, neatly aligned, interspersed with many deep and enormous circular hollow holes.

The inner walls of the holes were extremely smooth, pitch black, and without luster.

They didn't resemble the pores of a living creature, but rather... mine shafts hewn from industrial facilities.

From time to time, a viscous, dense, amber-like liquid flowed out of the holes, extremely similar to the amber energy that players had previously discovered on the edge walls of the lost world.

The only difference might be that the amber liquid that flowed directly from the tentacle's wounds was denser and mixed with blood-like red threads...

Beneath his dragon-head mask, Li Ang wasn't as surprised or dismayed as the other players. With the Zerg hive as his eyes and ears, he had more information than others.

Considering the content of those comics, Li Ang faintly guessed the reason for the overall layout of the lost world, as well as the thoughts of those alien players...

The giant tentacle unconsciously crawled across the dome, and wherever it passed, the rock formations completely disintegrated, with sun-obscuring boulders falling from the sky.

Such a scene of earth-shattering destruction still didn't stop the players from attacking each other.

Li Ang swung his long spear in mid-air, splitting a boulder that was smashing toward him. The little finger of his left hand suddenly rotated to the left, releasing a green beam of disintegration art toward Dan Chenzi, who was not far away, at a bone-fracturing dislocation angle that looked extremely painful.

Dan Chenzi reacted quickly, manipulating his flying sword to cut off a piece of falling rock, using it to block the disintegration art.

The same trick won't work on a Saint Seiya twice, and the same goes for high-level players.

Boom!

Perhaps the boulders falling from above caused the collapse of the lost world's floor-bearing structure, and the ground below also collapsed piece by piece, revealing bottomless darkness.

The blind monk and Dan Chenzi suddenly stopped their moves. The former summoned the Arhat phantom, picked up the remaining alien cultivators who had been shaken into the air, and swooped down toward the dark space below.

The latter also recalled the remaining flying swords, hovering them overhead to clear away the falling rocks for himself and his companions.

The lost world was already collapsing from top to bottom. Now, above them, there was an ultra-giant tentacle of unknown origin, which was very likely the culprit of the collapse.

There was no point in running upwards or to the sides.

"Go down!"

Tai Hao shouted, his figure flying into the air dragon's belly. Riding the air dragon, he followed behind Dan Chenzi and the others, swooping down together, with everyone else following along.

Boom—

Deafening sounds of rocks splitting echoed incessantly. Li Ang activated Divine Power Detection and wielded his long spear in the dark environment, smashing away all the splashing rubble, while silently counting the time and distance of his fall.

Fourteenth floor,

Thirteenth floor,

Twelfth floor...

[The current number of players has reached fifty. The third stage has automatically ended, and the Doorway Contest has officially begun.]

[Mission Objective: Remain alive in the lost world.]

[The system will issue rewards based on the time of departure and the performance of the entire stage after the Doorway Contest ends.]

Without any warning, the system notification suddenly rang out.

The players all turned pale, obviously hearing the message.

Including Li Ang himself, who had the [Anti-Dragon Madness Helmet] that could resist external mental influences, he could confirm that it was indeed a system notification, not a supernatural illusion.

Something was wrong.

It was true that Tai Hao and the others had suffered heavy casualties, but Li Ang, or rather, the Zerg hive, still had more than a dozen "hostages" from different forces.

Moreover, according to the news from Tianqi Misfortune Earth, the Side of Truth and Hohenheim had personally witnessed alien cultivators kidnapping nearly fifty players, including Michael, Out of Control, Zhongli Mieming, and Celsus, on the tenth floor.

How could the number suddenly drop to only fifty people?

Did the alien cultivators deal with them? Or did the Side of Truth find a way to let these people go...

Everyone's minds raced.

At the same time, the collapse finally stopped—the ground on the eleventh floor was shattered, but it had barely withstood the crushing of the falling rocks from above.

The two groups of people fell straight down to the tenth floor of the lost world along the huge crack in the middle of the eleventh floor.

"This is..."

Li Ang, who possessed the [Ladder Cloud Leap] aerial skill, was the first to land steadily.

Using his right eye, wearing the [Detective's Monocle], he scanned the dim environment around him through the dust.

The surrounding space was vast, generally oval, shaped like an egg. The particularly thick dome above supported the falling rocks from the higher levels.

The rubble piled up at the opening in the center of the space was supported by a layer of light golden energy shield, preventing it from falling.

"Roar!!"

An extremely angry beast roar rang out in front.

Li Ang looked into the distance and saw a huge male lion with scarlet mane and golden rings on its four feet roaring at the sky.

The fur all over its body moved without wind, and the intense demonic aura it emitted was almost solidified.

Boom—

The ground beneath its feet collapsed out of thin air, revealing spider web-like cracks.

Even the distant walls of the lost world cracked and fissured under the power of this roar.

So strong.

Li Ang only felt a rush of blood and tinnitus in his specially modified ears. All the bones from his skull, from top to bottom, vibrated, and the Mirage Dragon Red Mane outer garment he was wearing suddenly expanded and then contracted sharply, as if it had been impacted by something.

Slowly digesting the energy contained in the roar.

Tai Hao, who had just landed beside him, had a solemn expression. Zhan Lu's face turned pale, and the hand holding the hilt of his sword trembled subconsciously, leaving deep marks on the ground with the sword's blade aura.

That male lion was stronger than Qingqiu, much stronger...

Mad Burning Fire stepped on flames and landed on the ground. Amberly next to her had completely regained her clarity. She blinked her eyes somewhat blankly, looked around, and murmured to Mad Burning Fire, "Eh? Where is this? Where are the others? Did they all go to eat barbecue?"

"Barbecue your head, wake up."

Mad Burning Fire gritted her teeth and knocked Amberly on the head, feeling a sense of having nowhere to vent her anger.

If the occasion wasn't inappropriate, she really wanted to ride on Amberly's shoulders, use her knuckles to twist Amberly's temples hard, and loudly scold, "Because of you, woman, I have lost several of my great generals!"

Li Ang's gaze passed over the dazed Amberly and Dan Chenzi and the others who had just landed in front, looking at the location of the male lion.

Next to the male lion, there was a pitch-black hole with a diameter of twenty meters. The space below the hole was dim and without light, and the shadows exuded an ominous aura.

Around the hole,

was a group of hunched gray-robed figures, thirteen in total,

surrounding the hole in a circle,

spreading out their arms. The faces under the hoods, shrouded in shadow, constantly emitted obscure and evil chanting.