Free Web NovelChapter 105: Chapter 105: Hollow Beast Valley
Floor 13 opened beneath a sky filled with echoing cries.
Qin Yuheng’s team appeared on a rocky slope overlooking a vast valley filled with caves, bone-white trees, and misty ravines. Strange calls bounced between the cliffs. Some sounded like beasts. Some sounded like children. Some sounded like familiar voices heard from very far away.
The mission panel appeared.
[Floor 13: Hollow Beast Valley]
[Main Mission]
Hunt 3 Hollow Beast Leaders and obtain their Echo Cores.
[Sub-Missions]
1. Defeat 30 Hollow Beasts.
2. Map 5 echo caves.
3. Avoid being lured by false voices more than 3 times.
4. Discover the source of the valley echoes.
[Warning]
Some Hollow Beasts imitate voices, memories, and distress calls.
Qin Mo rubbed his temples.
"I said I hated voices."
Qin Lian looked toward the nearest cave.
"Something is calling from there."
A voice drifted from the cave.
"Help..." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
It sounded like Qin Xue’er.
Qin Yuheng’s expression did not change, but his eyes cooled.
"False."
Qin Yuchen’s jaw tightened.
Qin Lian nodded.
Qin Mo immediately placed a sound-marker formation.
"If the voice does not match physical source, it is bait."
They ignored the cave for now and moved along the ridge.
Hollow Beasts were strange creatures. The first group looked like deer with empty rib cages and skull-like faces. When they opened their mouths, they released voices of crying humans.
[Hollow Deer Beast]
[Level: 21]
[Type: Echo lure beast]
[Weakness: Echo core in chest cavity]
The team killed them efficiently by targeting the chest cavities.
The voices stopped when the cores shattered.
By midday, they mapped two echo caves and defeated twelve Hollow Beasts.
The first Hollow Beast Leader appeared near a ravine.
It was a massive wolf-like creature with a hollow chest and three human-like voices speaking from within. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
[Hollow Echo Wolf Leader]
[Level: 25]
[Leader Beast]
It imitated Qin Zhengyuan’s voice.
"Yuheng... come closer..."
Qin Yuheng’s eyes became cold.
He did not answer.
The wolf attacked.
Its strength was not overwhelming, but its echo shock disrupted focus. Qin Mo used sound-marker formations to anchor their hearing. Qin Yuchen struck its legs. Qin Lian targeted the chest cavity. Qin Yuheng pierced the Echo Core with thunder.
First leader defeated.
[Echo Core acquired: 1 / 3]
The second leader was harder.
A Hollow Crane Leader attacked from above, imitating Qin Lian’s voice to confuse positioning. Qin Lian solved the issue by staying silent and using hand signals. The crane’s false calls became useless.
Second Echo Core acquired.
The third leader led them toward the valley center.
There, the echo caves formed a ring around a deep pit.
At the bottom of the pit lay a giant egg, pale and translucent, pulsing with sound waves.
Qin Yuheng’s panel appeared.
[Hollow Echo Beast Egg]
[Grade: A]
[Status: Unhatched]
[Effect: Rare beast egg. Can hatch into echo-type companion beast if purified and contracted.]
[Warning: Currently contaminated by valley echo source.]
[Eligible for Evolution.]
A beast egg.
Rare.
The third Hollow Beast Leader guarded it.
A bear-like creature with no face, only a hollow mouth in its chest.
[Hollow Maw Bear Leader]
[Level: 26]
The fight was brutal.
The bear’s echo roar caused the team’s own voices to rebound as attacks. When Qin Mo shouted a warning, the echo repeated it behind them and disrupted movement. They switched to hand signals.
Qin Yuheng used War Thunder Advance to break through the roar pressure. Qin Yuchen held its claws. Qin Lian struck the chest mouth. Qin Mo anchored sound with three formations.
Finally, Qin Yuheng destroyed the Echo Core.
[Echo Core acquired: 3 / 3]
[Main Mission completed.]
But the sub-mission remained.
Discover the source of the valley echoes.
The egg pulsed.
Voices rose from every cave.
Not one voice.
Thousands.
The panel flashed.
[Hidden Source detected.]
[Valley Echo Heart beneath central pit.]
[Optional Objective: Purify or destroy the Echo Heart.]
Qin Mo looked at Qin Yuheng.
"Purify sounds less explosive than destroy."
Qin Yuheng nodded.
The Echo Heart was beneath the egg, a crystal mass made of sound threads and beast aura. It had been corrupting Hollow Beasts, forcing them to imitate voices and lure prey.
Qin Mo inspected it.
"It is unstable. Destroying it may collapse the caves."
"Purifying?"
"Requires cores."
They had three leader Echo Cores.
Qin Yuheng placed them around the heart.
Qin Mo created a sound reversal formation.
Qin Lian guarded the egg.
Qin Yuchen watched the cave ring.
The purification began.
The valley screamed.
Hollow Beasts rushed from every cave.
A final defense began around the pit.
Qin Yuheng held the front.
Qin Yuchen guarded right.
Qin Lian eliminated beasts trying to reach the egg.
Qin Mo maintained the formation, sweat pouring down his face.
After ten minutes, the Echo Heart cracked.
Not destroyed.
Cleansed.
The voices faded.
[Hidden Objective completed.]
[Valley Echo Heart purified.]
[Hollow Echo Beast Egg purified.]
[Evaluation greatly increased.]
Qin Mo collapsed backward.
"I purified sound. I want that on record."
Qin Yuheng collected the purified egg.
[A Grade Purified Hollow Echo Beast Egg acquired.]
The exit gate appeared.
Floor 13 was complete.
But Qin Yuheng already knew the true reward would come later.
An evolved beast egg could become something extraordinary.
Perhaps not for him.
Perhaps for Qin Xue’er, whose perception was already unusual.
He stored it carefully.
