Ethan's astonishing shot detonated the accumulated violence and venom that had built up in the "Howling Abyss" for nearly a century.

It transformed the silent mine into a hungry prehistoric behemoth, determined to crush and consume all intruders.

"Rumble!"

The intense tremors escalated from small-scale probing harassment into structural shaking that covered the entire area.

The rock layers supporting the main tunnel overhead emitted agonized creaking sounds under the overwhelming pressure.

Many bowl-sized rubble mixed with damp soil and rotten wood chips came pouring down.

Lin Jie's expression turned grim amidst the violent shaking and flying dust: "It's trying to bury us alive here!"

He had discerned the UMA's intention - this cunning aggregate immediately changed tactics after discovering its projection attacks were ineffective.

It abandoned spiritual-level confrontation, opting instead for a primitive, brutal, and unsolvable attack method - using its control over the nest to trigger a massive physical collapse!

This was a rogue table-flipping move.

Through its actions, it was telling the three intruders that no matter how powerful their weapons or how bizarre their abilities, in this underground world it dominated that could collapse at any moment, they were merely three insects that could be crushed into pulp!

William's voice cut through this chaotic death prelude like a steady, powerful bass drum: "This way!"

The ever-reliable veteran had entered his strongest Tracker form at this critical moment.

He supported the freshly awakened Ethan with his left hand while raising [Zulu's Gaze] again with his right, the eerie purple crystal eyepiece rapidly scanning the collapsing dark maze filled with traps ahead.

He roared and charged first toward a narrower, more precarious-looking branch tunnel to the left front.

Lin Jie and Ethan immediately followed close behind, understanding that their only option now was to entrust their lives and trust to William's eyes that could see danger.

After the three of them dashed into the branch tunnel, the main tunnel behind them collapsed with a thunderous "boom!"

Tons of rock fell from above, crashing down violently, burying and consuming the spot where they had just been standing.

Ethan gasped for breath heavily - he had just been awakened from near-death mental hallucinations, then immediately experienced this heart-stopping race against death, his face etched with post-survival fear.

Looking at the blocked passage behind them, then at the steady, silent back ahead, he said to Lin Jie following closely behind in a concise tone: "Follow him! Protect our 'eyes'!"

Their current situation became exceptionally peculiar - they were chasing, with William's [Zulu's Gaze] continuously locked onto the Black Dog's main trajectory fleeing toward its core deep in the mine.

Simultaneously, they were being hunted - the enraged UMA was manipulating the entire living mine to conduct a relentless, destructive encirclement and annihilation against them.

William's warnings always came one to two seconds before disaster struck: "Left! The spiritual contamination of that support beam is rapidly decaying!"

In his vision, he clearly saw a rotten crossbeam used to support the tunnel ceiling above the left rock wall, its structural stability being rapidly corroded and disintegrating.

As his words fell, Ethan moved.

This top marksman displayed terrifying combat proficiency.

Without unnecessary aiming, [Morning Star] in his hand naturally lifted and fired as an extension of his arm!

"Bang!"

A silver bullet struck the most vulnerable node at the connection point between the crossbeam and rock wall.

With a crisp "crack," the several-hundred-pound crossbeam snapped in the middle, falling prematurely to the ground in front of them, kicking up a cloud of dust instead of crashing onto their heads.

This presented a difficult predicament.

Wading through would invite fatal entanglement from unknown grudges at the bottom, significantly slowing them down or potentially dragging them into unknown dangers.

Choosing to climb the slippery rock wall would not only consume time and energy, but losing grip with living threats below could lead to serious consequences.

Ethan, coming from nobility and proficient in various outdoor sports, immediately provided a solution fitting his status: "I'll go first and set up a temporary passage with ropes!"

He quickly retrieved from his exceptionally material, bulging tactical backpack a roll of fine mithril climbing rope with metallic sheen and a special hand crossbow made of lightweight alloy that could shoot anchor hooks.

However, Lin Jie stopped him: "No, that takes too long!"

His brain had begun rapid calculations the moment it received William's intelligence.

His gaze fixed intently on the ominous-emanating stagnant water in the darkness.

Ethan's face showed disbelief: "Ten seconds?! You can't be joking, Mr. Lin! Do you expect us to fly across?!"

"We don't need to fly! We just need to make sure the damn 'hands' at the bottom don't have time to grab us as we pass!"

Lin Jie spoke rapidly, his plan already formed: "Use your gun to fire at the water surface of that stagnant water!"

Using his expensive "saint bullets" specifically designed against high-level spiritual entities to shoot at a pool of stagnant water was extravagantly wasteful to the extreme.

Ethan looked at Lin Jie, his hesitation lasting less than half a second.

He cursed under his breath: "Fine, madman! As you wish! I hope your calculations aren't off!"

Saying this, he slightly lowered the muzzle of [Evening Star] in his hand, aiming at the core area of the stagnant water ahead, and pulled the trigger!

The alchemical bullet whistled out like a miniature meteor disappearing into the stagnant water.

Silvery-white halos erupted underwater, and the hands composed of grudges immediately had their condensed forms scattered under this purification impact, temporarily turning into chaotic gray-black water stains.

William, like a heavy armored vehicle at full throttle, completely ignored the not-yet-fallen water splashes and residual shockwaves, plowing a path through this freshly cleared dangerous passage with his heavy military boots.

Ethan followed closely behind, with Lin Jie bringing up the rear.

Just two seconds later, as their three bodies crossed the midpoint of the dangerous water area, the purification paralysis effect from Ethan's bullet began weakening.

But this time William and Ethan were prepared.

William, running at the front, turned his head and shouted: "Right side, three feet, two of them!"

These were the threat points where spiritual condensation was fastest, as seen through [Zulu's Gaze].

Ethan, following closely behind, displayed admirable two-person coordinated combat capability.

He instinctively swung [Morning Star] in his hand sharply toward the right rear, firing twice in rapid succession from an awkward posture.

Two silver bullets struck the coordinates William had called out.

Two "hands" that had just condensed from the water and were about to grab Lin Jie's ankles were blasted into dispersing black smoke!

Lin Jie praised sincerely: "Beautiful!"

Without a moment's delay, the three immediately charged out from this perilous water area, continuing their frantic dash deeper into the dark mine.

This frantic chase lasted for who knew how long, their stamina being drastically depleted through constant running, dodging, and fighting.

Even William's iron-like body showed labored breathing.

They were engaged in an impossible race against a mountain.

After passing through countless branch tunnels and avoiding numerous collapses, William's continuously sprinting figure finally came to an abrupt stop before a massive, spacious natural excavation hall.

At the hall's center was a circular shaft over fifty feet in diameter, completely submerged in ink-green stagnant water.

This was probably the main shaft used for vertically transporting ore and workers in the original mine.

The dark trail they had been chasing for so long, after extending to this shaft's edge, didn't continue forward but instead plunged straight down in an extremely unnatural vertical posture into that massive shaft submerged in stagnant water.

With the shaft's center as the vortex eye, they formed a slowly rotating vortex filled with fear and wailing!

All clues and trails pointed here to the same endpoint.

William lowered his telescope, turning to look at his two exhausted companions behind him.

"We're here."

"It's down below."