Chapter 431: Dark Green Passage
Lin Ye quickly selected one type of Alienation structure from among several that accelerated spiritual energy absorption, improved it, and then applied the Alienation to those chess pieces.
The chess pieces began rapidly absorbing the spiritual energy within the Chessboard. While they couldn't completely drain it dry, they did manage to slow down the opening speed of the passageway.
Having achieved this much, Lin Ye stopped concerning himself with the passageway. If they couldn't leave this place before the passageway fully opened, then they would undoubtedly have encountered something even more troublesome than this passageway.
The elevator was still ascending. Occasionally, fragments of floor space would block the path above the elevator, which Lin Ye controlled spiritual energy to crash through and clear away.
Some anomalous entities were attracted to the vicinity of the elevator, but they all entered the Chessboard, ultimately either being Parasitized or chopped to death by the Metal Giant chess piece.
Just as everything was proceeding smoothly and in an orderly fashion, Lin Ye spotted a patch of shadow.
It was a massive aggregate composed of a large number of anomalous entities and layer upon layer of floor space fragments.
The Metal Cable above the elevator was stuck within those floor space fragments, completely unable to move its position.
Lin Ye stabbed at the aggregate with a Compressed Spiritual Energy Blade, only managing to pierce a bit of its 'epidermis' and failing to penetrate the aggregate entirely.
"What do we do? Do we detour? But what about the elevator?" Andrew also sensed the situation above.
"Abandon the elevator. We can switch to another mode of transportation."
Looking at the gradually approaching shadow, Lin Ye began planning the next steps of action in his mind.
"Switch to what? Those floor space fragments and anomalous entities won't obediently become transportation."
Bessie, holding the duplicate, walked over to Lin Ye's side. She certainly didn't want to be left waiting for death inside the elevator.
"The new transportation is right here. Things are about to get very chaotic. I won't have time to look after you all. Keep up on your own. If you can't keep up, figure out your own way to survive here."
Just as the elevator was about to crash into the aggregate, Lin Ye violently kicked the Chessboard out of the elevator. Once outside the elevator, the Chessboard instantly expanded, transforming into a giant chessboard the size of a basketball court.
All the chess pieces enlarged proportionally. The Chessboard inverted itself. The blood-colored underside of the Chessboard grew a large amount of red fuzz. These fuzzy strands, like the legs of a millipede, not only hooked onto the aggregate but also carried the entire Chessboard, moving swiftly like an insect beneath the aggregate.
On the front side of the Chessboard, parasitic plants sprouted numerous blood-colored Root Systems. These root systems entangled the Metal Giant chess piece and the other Small Chess Pieces, preventing them from detaching from the Chessboard.
Lin Ye and the others grabbed onto the blood-colored root systems, moving along with the Chessboard beneath the aggregate.
After the Chessboard expanded, it attracted a large number of anomalous entities. The Chessboard moved ahead, with a massive swarm of anomalous entities following behind.
Lin Ye controlled the Chessboard's movement while simultaneously clearing out the anomalous entities behind them. He could handle most of the anomalous entities, with only a few being particularly troublesome.
The Chessboard soon crawled to the edge of the aggregate. Part of the fuzz on its underside elongated, easily hooking onto the side of the aggregate.
The fuzz contracted, pressing the Chessboard against the side of the aggregate. All the fuzz worked together, and the Chessboard began accelerating its upward movement.
As the Chessboard moved, all the surrounding anomalous entities rushed into the Chessboard, transforming into chess pieces to attack Lin Ye and the others.
However, most of the anomalous entities were chopped to death by a blood-colored blade over ten meters long or Parasitized by parasites before they could even get close to Lin Ye.
Andrew and Bessie weren't idle either. They helped Lin Ye deal with miscellaneous tasks he didn't have time for and cleared up some that slipped through the net.
Bessie Pro, meanwhile, helped Lin Ye control those Parasitized anomalous entities and used them to probe the abilities of the unknown anomalous entities.
As long as they understood the information about an anomalous entity, they could deal with it in a targeted manner.
The Chessboard soon crawled to the top of the aggregate, but this wasn't the end—it was a new beginning.
Without the elevator, they now had to rely on the Chessboard to climb to the 10,000th floor. Fortunately, many floor space fragments floated above the aggregate. Using these fragments, they could keep climbing upward.
Lin Ye manipulated the Chessboard to continuously leap and climb upward among the floor space fragments, quickly leaving the aggregate far below.
By now, a large number of anomalous entities had gathered behind the Chessboard. This batch consisted of the type that were more troublesome to deal with.
Thankfully, Bessie Pro was helping him probe the abilities of these entities and buy time. Otherwise, they would have already been overwhelmed by the horde.
"Could that thing up there be the exit to leave this place?"
Bessie suddenly asked excitedly.
Lin Ye looked up. In the distance, there indeed was a massive shadow similar to the aggregate.
"Hard to say. It might just be another aggregate."
No one said there could only be one aggregate here.
"We'll know once we go up and take a look."
Although Lin Ye said this, their situation wasn't optimistic. The anomalous entities behind had closed to a dangerously close distance, and the dark green passageway on the Chessboard was also about to open.
In this state, Lin Ye simply couldn't restrict the spiritual energy near the passageway.
Given their current condition, forget about reaching the shadow above; avoiding a total wipeout would already be quite an achievement.
"Seems like we're running out of time! What should we do?!"
Lin Ye wasn't the only one who noticed this situation; Andrew and Bessie weren't fools either.
"It's fine. I'll handle it."
Lin Ye said calmly.
"Boss! Could you please tell us the plan? I'm a bit scared!"
Feeling the almost tangible pressure from behind, Bessie was terrified.
"I actually have no plan at all. I just wanted you all to be less scared when you die. I'm sorry."
Lin Ye calmly apologized to Bessie.
"Huh?"
Now Bessie was truly frightened.
The moment the dark green passageway opened, Lin Ye directly activated the World of Ashes, pulling everything on the Chessboard except the dark green passageway into the World of Ashes, including the Chessboard itself.
Spiritual energy and mental energy were rapidly consumed. After maintaining it for only two seconds, Lin Ye deactivated the World of Ashes.
The Chessboard returned to its original position. By now, the dark green passageway was gone, and along with it, all those anomalous entities behind them had vanished too.
Those anomalous entities had turned into a puddle of viscous, dark green liquid. The area near the liquid was filled with a strong, pungent odor.
As for the dark green passageway, it was something created by the Chessboard. With the Chessboard gone, it naturally returned to its original position as well.
Lin Ye continued controlling the Chessboard to climb upward, but before they had climbed far, the dark green passageway reappeared above the Chessboard.
"Uh, I think we should hurry up and leave."
Bessie certainly didn't want to turn into a puddle of dark green slime.
"It's fine. I'll handle it when the time comes."
Now that he knew the terrifying power of the passageway, Lin Ye wouldn't let it open again.
All the chess pieces on the Chessboard began absorbing spiritual energy to slow down the passageway's opening speed.