On Ellie's side.

"They didn't catch up, what do we do now?"

"Have you felt the changes as your magic power advances?" Luo Fan changed the subject.

"Not yet. Perhaps I should try using magic. What about you?"

"Completely useless. Let's kill some more monsters. As for those behind us, ignore them for now. We have the initiative now."

"Oh, so where do we go now?"

"I remember this place isn't far from that cave from last time. There are probably dark-type magical beasts there." Luo Fan remembered that when he left last time, the cave wasn't sealed off, and the guild didn't send anyone to guard it.

After all, the maintenance cost is too high and not worth it, since these dark-type magical beasts are very difficult to defend against.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

The girl adventure team continued on their way, and when they passed the swamp, Luo Fan even had Xiao Xue freeze its surface.

Through the swamp, he discovered it was very deep, and many shadow crocodiles were hiding there. As he continued to explore downwards, his divine sense became insufficient. Extending his senses outwards along the swamp, he discovered that it connected to other passages.

"Could it be that there's a path to the sixth level hidden here?" To continue, one would have to jump in, so Luo Fan could only pull his thoughts back and try to pinpoint the location of the passage by measuring the specific area.

After wandering around for a while, there was indeed no cave leading to that side.

After killing two ghost wolves in succession, the group arrived at the former cave entrance, but the stone door had been destroyed at some point.

The cave was dimly lit and filled with a fresh, foul odor, unlike the smell of the ghost bats from before.

"Everyone be careful, there are about four Shadow Beasts," Luo Fan warned. Huo Yu and Xiao Xue quickly released illumination orbs, making the space in front of them very bright.

The guild had already disposed of those corpses, and Ellie even earned a small bonus for it.

At this moment, in some corners of the cave, there were corpses and remains of some magical beasts, and in many places, there was a foul stench.

The shadow beasts that had been hiding in the shadows have been awakened by the light and are now watching this side with predatory eyes, ready to launch a sneak attack at any moment.

After Ellie gave them some pointers and confirmed the number of enemies, the two martial artists got ready.

But what followed was a performance by the three pets and Ellie.

The ice spikes pointed, followed by fireballs of fire rain. Ellie's Shadow Spikes blasted out the nearest one, then Luo Fan bound it. After a brutal attack, Ellie finished it off.

"I can feel it!" Ellie exclaimed excitedly, startling the remaining three shadow beasts, who quickly retreated into the shadows behind them.

"That's good, keep up the good work!" Luo Fan continued to process the corpse.

Daisy ran over excitedly. "Ellie, are you going to advance?"

"Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it. Kill a few more, and we should be almost done."

"Very good!"

Angela looked on with envy, but her level was still far behind; she was only level 7 at the moment.

The remaining three shadow beasts were killed one by one using the same method. Once the exit was fully illuminated and blocked by advanced martial artists, they were destined to be trapped.

Even though the highest level of the wolf was 37, the ghost wolf is a magical beast that only knows how to act alone, and it had already missed the best opportunity to escape.

"How are you now?" Luo Fan asked curiously, though he himself felt absolutely nothing.

"Almost there!" Ellie was a little disappointed; the remaining Shadow Beasts hadn't satisfied her.

“Then let’s go out and look again. This time, we’ll at least get you to the level of a mid-level mage.”

Outside the cave, the magical beasts that had been detected earlier seemed to have smelled the blood of their companions and all hid away.

After searching for a short while, the group discovered another pack of ice wolves, twice the size of the previous one, blocking one of the cave entrances.

"Another sealed entrance?" Luo Fan probed but found no entrance to the sixth floor. "So, could the real entrance be that swamp?"

Luo Fan's divine sense could not penetrate thick stone walls, and he could only detect depths of a dozen meters underwater.

"There are so few Shadow Beasts!" Ellie said, somewhat distressed. To maintain the momentum she had just experienced, she needed to kill them continuously; if it took too long, she would have to start all over again.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let's go back!"

Xiaoxue and Huoyu followed Luo Fan naturally, as did Ai Li and Daisy, while the two guards seemed a little confused.

“Miss Ellie, why don’t we go out first? I know where the other entrance is,” Arthur suggested. After the series of actions just now, he found that Ellie was much stronger than before.

"If you were one of those adventurers, would you have let that entrance pass by? Especially since there are even more ice wolves over there."

“This,” Arthur scratched his head, not refuting it. He had intended to use the previous method to get there, without considering what those people thought.

"Ellie, you're amazing!" Daisy said happily, grabbing her arm, unaffected by the surroundings.

"Let's go, we came here to gain experience anyway."

"Mmm!" Daisy's eyes sparkled, and Angela looked at her with adoration.

"How does it feel to show off in front of everyone?" Luo Fan smiled secretly; he still had his own goals.

Now that we're here, we should do something.

As for the ice wolves, let Xiaoxue test them out later. Since those guys don't even have the guts to kill ice wolves, their strength is probably just average. They just need to dodge their ranged attacks.

We are really grateful to them; otherwise, we don't know when we would have had such a good opportunity to explore new dungeons.

Only then did Ellie figure out Luo Fan's plan. It turned out that the one hiding the deepest secret was her own pet. How could she have trusted him so much?

"Ellie, I was doing this for your own good. Besides, I really didn't know the other party's strength back then."

"Keep making things up. If you want to know, just send a few clones. Is it really necessary to go to all this trouble?!" Only then did Ellie realize that her pet had such a plan, completely disregarding the safety of others.

"Hehe, that's what I didn't expect, is it? Alright, let's go harvest some Shadow Crocodiles. You better hurry up and advance!"

"Damn it!" Ellie stopped arguing and led the girls back the way they came.

No wonder Xiaoxue always seemed so well-behaved, and even Huoyu wasn't worried at all. But when did they all agree to this?

Ellie couldn't understand why her pet was becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

At the edge of the mud pit, the frozen state had been broken, and Luo Fan sensed several Shadow Crocodiles nearby.

Without the slightest hesitation, he took action and jumped into the mud.

Subsequently, with the help of several people, they dragged out several Shadow Crocodiles, which were then killed by Ellie.

Arthur was stunned. He had always known that this slime was very powerful, but he never expected it to be this ridiculously strong.

Shadow Crocodiles are among the most dreaded monsters for adventurers. They are agile, have a powerful bite, and are adept at shadow leaping. Often, after a successful strike, they drag their prey into the shadows to hide, sometimes even leaping with their prey on their backs.

Unexpectedly, this former nightmare was utterly powerless against this slime. It was only level 30, while these Shadow Crocodiles, all above level 30, were simply slaughtered.

Thinking of those ice wolves from before, he suddenly had a hunch that even if all of them were combined, they wouldn't be a match for it.

Instantly, I felt incredibly relieved. My tension eased considerably, and I even had the illusion of being able to rely on someone's strength.