The change in the surrounding environment came with extreme suddenness; one could even say it happened without warning.
Just a second ago, the group had been navigating through increasingly dense architectural debris, but after rounding a single corner, everything vanished—the magnificent domes glimpsed through the canopy, the broken eaves embedded in stone walls, the intermittent exquisite stone bricks on the ground... all of it disappeared.
In its place was an exceptionally open clearing, roughly the size of two basketball courts, located in the deepest reaches of the Twin Canyons.
The ground was a brownish-gray mixture of soil and gravel; stepping upon it, one could feel the fine, granular texture beneath their feet. The towering, narrow cliff walls on either side flared slightly outward, allowing more sunlight to filter in while making the entire scene appear even more vast and empty.
In truth, Xia Nan didn't even need to remind everyone to be vigilant.
As the party of six rounded the corner, the sudden surge of violent wind through the canyon and the overwhelming stench of corpses in the air had already put these veteran professionals—all rich in adventuring experience—on instant combat alert.
Their formation tightened sharply, firmly protecting the spellcaster, Hein, who served as the core.
Pairs of eyes gazed seriously and tens하게 toward the clearing that now lay before them.
First and most prominent were the vast numbers of Sahaugin corpses strewn across the entire area.
Fluorescent blue blood soaked large patches of earth, and the ground, scattered with greenish-blue scales, looked like the floor of a fish market after the vendors had packed up.
None had survived.
Mangled flesh, severed limbs, twisted armor, and broken harpoons...
It was as if a storm composed of blades had swept through. The gruesome and bloody scene was enough to make an ordinary person faint.
Even the battle-hardened members of the Oath-Blade squad subconsciously frowned, feeling a sense of nausea at the sight.
"What... happened here?"
Hein gripped her staff tightly, her gaze drifting past the teammates protecting her to the carnage on the field.
Based on their experiences at Rabbit Island and the docks, she had instinctively identified the primary enemies of this mission as the Sahaugin, who seemed to be plotting some conspiracy.
But the corpses before her now seemed to silently indicate that the actual situation differed from her expectations.
"Some of this was infighting," Lorin said, leading the group as they slowed their pace and stepped cautiously into the clearing.
Scanning the corpses at her feet, she could see harpoon wounds on some of the relatively intact Sahaugin bodies.
"But the vast majority were likely attacked by some kind of powerful monster."
The reason the scene was so horrific was due to the exaggerated injuries on the corpses, which far exceeded the range of damage the Sahaugin's own claws and fangs could inflict.
Some chest cavities had been completely crushed, bones shattered; some had been bitten in half at the waist, the jagged cross-sections revealing gruesome tooth marks that had pierced through the body; others had their entire heads and a portion of their upper torsos missing entirely, exposing jagged white bone and raw, pale flesh.
Large splashes of blood remained on the ground, clearly showing that whoever did this had no habit of cleaning up the battlefield. Following the blood trails, one could see several mangled Sahaugin corpses fallen in sequence.
Though the wounds seemed different at a glance, anyone with a bit of combat experience could tell these Sahaugin were wounded at the same time; a massive claw mark had swept diagonally across their upper bodies like a lawnmower, disemboweling them.
"Whatever attacked the Sahaugin possesses absolutely formidable physical strength. Judging by the wound marks, these Sahaugin didn't even have time to resist before being torn to shreds," Hein analyzed with a focused expression.
"Hmm... perhaps it possesses some kind of mind-control effect, which is why the Sahaugin turned on each other."
Xia Nan stood at the rear of the line. Looking at the corpses of the Sahaugin, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
He had seen a scene like this before—one where the aftermath was equally gruesome, yet the style was completely different from his own combat results.
That was at Crag Isle, on the way to the bottom-cliff cavern, among the Sahaugin corpses left by that Shark-Beast.
But here, the number of slain Sahaugin was significantly higher, and the wounds left on the bodies were larger and more exaggerated.
What did this mean?
A creature of the same species as the Shark-Beast he had encountered before, but far more powerful?
Having no intention of hiding it, he immediately shared his suspicion with his teammates.
Xia Nan's warning was instantly taken seriously, making the team members even more vigilant.
As they pushed further forward, they discovered more noteworthy details.
"No wonder the Sahaugin that attacked us at the docks were just lackeys; it turns out the elites all died here," Arken said solemnly. He no longer carried his anchor-shaped great-axe on his shoulder, but gripped it with both hands in front of his chest.
Just as they had suspected, such a number of ordinary Sahaugin could not have existed without more powerful individuals to lead and command them.
The reason they couldn't find a single leader while clearing the docks was that the elite individuals among the Sahaugin had all died here.
In fact, their numbers were far greater than they had imagined.
A conservative estimate put the number of four-armed elite Sahaugin dead in this clearing at nearly thirty, including two Sahaugin Priests!
A force of this scale could almost be described as an "army." Even if the entire Oath-Blade squad were assembled, they might not have been able to handle it reliably.
Yet now, they were all nothing more than bloody, cold corpses.
And the culprit... had already vanished.
Xia Nan suddenly turned, his gaze shifting toward the northernmost part of the clearing.
There, pressed against the base of the cliff, was a small pond.
Its area was certainly not large, occupying only about one-sixth of the clearing, but it was unnervingly still.
Unlike the violently clashing multicolored waters of the surrounding sea, the pond was in a state of absolute calm. From a distance, it looked like a piece of black glass, and its deep, dark hue indicated its profound depth.
Learning from past mistakes.
He remembered that the Shark-Beast he encountered last time had leaped out of a pond in the cavern, using the opportunity to ambush one of his half-elf teammates, resulting in the other's death.
Facing a similar scenario now, Xia Nan naturally could not ignore it.
He immediately warned everyone to be careful and designated the area around the pond as a high-risk zone to be avoided.
Then, walking past the mass of fragmented Sahaugin corpses, the group discovered the missing islanders.
Or rather, the corpses of the islanders.
Exactly like the situation in the fishing village on Rabbit Island, the fishermen who had lived in the Twin Canyons for generations had all been killed, their bodies thrown into a large, temporarily dug pit as sacrifices.
They were now rotting and foul-smelling.
Strangely, however, there were no insects or flies swarming around, despite the stench of decay.
The group didn't dwell on this, as everyone's attention was now focused on the strangely shaped altar located in the center of the clearing.
Compared to the two crude structures Xia Nan had seen before—which looked as if they had been haphazardly cobbled together from sea rocks—this building truly looked like an "altar."
Like a small mountain rising from the flat ground, the base of the altar was composed of neatly stacked sea rocks carved with wave patterns, decorated with a large number of shells, conchs, and oysters, with shimmering pearls dotting the layers.
Above that, various pale fish bones were stacked in eerie, regular shapes, surrounded by corals of different colors and intersecting branches.
The entire altar was a pyramid-like cone, wide at the base and tapering toward the top.
But something exceptionally bizarre was happening.
In this location, which seemed to be the center of the secret realm where all other alien structures had been cleared, a single instance of "clipping" had occurred at the very top of the altar.
It was as if something had phased through and merged from thin air.
Half of an operating room had fused with the altar.
The side with the room's door had completely vanished, revealing a floor paved with small white-and-green checkered tiles, with fish bones and coral piercing through from diagonally below.
The walls of the operating room were white. A kerosene lamp with a shattered glass cover hung on the wall, and the door of a nearby steel instrument cabinet stood open; it was empty, save for a few conch shells and seashells that had been merged into it by the altar.
In the center of the operating room sat a marble operating table.
Based on its appearance, it was the same model as the one Xia Nan and the others had found in the rock cave, but this table was now completely destroyed. A massive crack ran through it from end to end, with only faint traces of large bloodstains remaining on the surface, along with blood-stained gauze and scalpels scattered on the ground around it. It seemed a surgery had been in progress during the transition, and there had been no time to clean up.
However, there was no patient or corpse on the table; it was equally empty.
What attracted Xia Nan's attention most was a tilted sofa not far from the operating table.
Under normal circumstances, such a sofa should not be in an operating room, but rather in an area for patients' families or medical staff to rest; now, it was slanted and sunk into the ground.
On the sofa sat a small, portable briefcase.
The case was made of dark brown leather with a subtle diamond pattern on the surface.
In the center of the case was a distinctive vertical stethoscope emblem in a dark gold hue, embedded in the leather.
Recalling the information he had captured from the attribute panel of the operating table in the living area, Xia Nan knew.
This briefcase came from the so-called "Physicians' Association" within the secret realm.
It looked as though it had been used for many years; the leather on the corners was rubbed white. There were two spring-loaded metal latches on the front, but they were not locked, merely resting loosely on either side.
One could see the thin, dark gap between the upper and lower sections of the case, as if inviting someone to open it.
Having experienced many secret realms, Xia Nan had summarized some of their patterns.
For example, those strange buildings that clearly clashed with the surrounding art style, filled with alien aesthetics and merged with their surroundings like a BUG or clipping error; or the suddenly open clearings that represented the center of a realm.
At the same time, he knew that while some secret realms had completely merged with this world, others still retained a pocket space.
But in the vast majority of cases, every secret realm had its own core.
Similar to the Gilded Gourd in the Snake Den realm, the Flame-Crystal Wooden Staff in the Grey Valley realm, or the Goat-Deer Statue in the Evil God realm...
After multiple experiences, Xia Nan had developed a vague, inexplicable sense of connection to these core objects.
Right now, his accumulated experience and keen perception were warning him in a very powerful way.
The core object of the secret realm he was currently in was that briefcase marked with the "Physicians' Association" emblem.
Or rather, it was inside the briefcase!
Xia Nan's heart stirred.
And just as he was pondering how to explain this to his teammates, the deep black pond nearby—which had been as still as a mirror since they arrived—suddenly rippled.
*Glub.*
Small bubbles continuously broke the surface, and one could faintly glimpse a massive silhouette, darker than the pond water, slowly ascending.
Thanks to Xia Nan's earlier warning, the group had remained highly vigilant regarding the pond that might hide enemies.
The moment they noticed the movement, they were ready for battle.
Whether it was overconfidence in its own strength or because it sensed the wariness of Xia Nan and the others, the monster lurking in the pond did not suddenly leap from the water to attack the intruders like its kin had at Crag Isle.
Instead, it rose slowly from the depths with a posture that was almost leisurely, yet exerted an immense pressure.
*Thump.*
Water splashed as the short, thick legs supporting the massive upper body stepped forward. Webbed claws landed heavily, producing a dull sound like the beating of a drum.
It was a humanoid Shark-Beast monster.
The signature disproportionate shark head—nearly a quarter of its total body size—and the inverted-triangle torso filled with muscle indicated that it was of the same species as the Shark-Beast Xia Nan had killed.
However, its exaggerated height of nearly twelve feet when standing, and its bulkier, muscle-monster-like physique, made the previous nine-foot Shark-Beast look like a "weakened youth version" of itself.
The group were all veteran adventurers who had fought for years; they weren't particularly surprised by oddly shaped monsters, especially since Xia Nan had already given them detailed intelligence on the Shark-Beast he had encountered.
Even if this Shark-Beast was much larger, they shouldn't have been that shocked.
But this time, the situation was different.
A pale human male body, with surgical wounds visible on the skin, had merged with the Shark-Beast, much like the clipping buildings they had seen on the way.
Its existence completely defied the laws of biological structure in nature, "growing" diagonally out of the right side of the Shark-Beast's torso.
Its head hung low, obscuring its face; its left arm dangled against the Shark-Beast's waist and abdomen, while its right arm and everything below the chest were completely fused into the Shark-Beast's body. Its lower half protruded from the back-left of the Shark-Beast's hip, with two legs hanging beside the creature's thick thigh.
Two species, sharing a single body.