Soon, Fang Zhou's Spiritual Power recovered to nearly eighty percent.

With his Skeleton Army by his side, he was confident he could easily handle anything short of a large-scale goblin tribe.

He checked the direction on his recorder, then commanded his twenty Skeletons toward the goblin cave.

Meanwhile, watching Fang Zhou's Hunting Points steadily climb until they surpassed her own, placing him at the top of the leaderboard, Meng Hongzhuang shook the bloodstains from her body. She had just finished a great battle and now panted lightly, tugging at the ear of Vini, her giant bear, in frustration.

Covered in wounds and breathless, Vini snorted in annoyance and nudged its master with its head.

Meng Hongzhuang sighed and activated the [Withered Wood Revives] Skill.

A vibrant green light emanated from her hands as she began to heal the injuries of the Beasts under her command.

As she healed, she murmured to herself, "Sigh, that freak Fang Zhou... I can't believe he crushed my score in less than a day. My Spiritual Power is almost exhausted, and your stamina can't support another high-intensity battle, Vini. All we can do now is find a place to rest properly and prepare for the nightly Demon raid. I wonder how the others are doing?"

In other corners of the Cave, Ye Fan, Gu Zhiqiu, and the others could only manage wry smiles. They watched as Fang Zhou's unshakeable position at the top of the leaderboard bore down on them like Mount Tai, while his Hunting Points continued to rise.

Although they knew their chances of becoming the No.1 Seed were slim, they still held on to a faint glimmer of hope.

What if Fang Zhou slipped up?

Unfortunately, it seemed Fang Zhou was as consistent as ever. The gap was wide enough to drive them to despair.

After fighting for the better part of the day, their stamina and Spiritual Power could no longer support the frenzied pace of their earlier hunting.

Now, their main concern was how to survive the grueling night ahead.

***

Amidst the howling wind, Fang Zhou marched with difficulty for over half an hour.

After casually dispatching a few more Demons that had come looking for death along the way, he finally found the [goblin cave] marked on his map.

The cave was situated in a barren, hilly region, concealed by massive rocks.

The entrance was a pile of rough stones that formed a crooked archway.

To Fang Zhou's surprise, however, he couldn't see the goblin sentries he expected around the outside of the cave.

The real-world conditions of Cave No. 1 were nothing like the easy difficulty of the [Horned Demon Outpost] in the Simulation Battlefield, which lacked sentries specifically to lower the difficulty.

A goblin tribe capable of surviving in the Cave's extremely harsh conditions would never fail to post sentries near its home.

Could it be that there are no goblins in this cave?

Instinctively tightening his grip on his Magic Staff, Fang Zhou followed behind the Skeleton Team, quietly approaching the goblin cave.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

At the entrance to the cave, three goblin corpses lay in disarray.

No wonder I didn't see any sentries. They've already been taken out!

Fang Zhou's thoughts raced, and he quickly formed a vague hypothesis.

The Demons in the Cave weren't a unified front against outsiders.

Even without the military academy sending cadets on periodic hunts, these Demons constantly slaughtered each other, competing for limited living space and resources.

The current situation most likely meant that another group of Demons had invaded the goblin cave.

Judging from the still-wet blood on the goblin corpses, it hadn't been long since their deaths.

This also meant the battle between the Demons might have just begun.

Fang Zhou squatted down, carefully inspecting the wounds on the goblins.

Most of the wounds were from blunt-force impacts, while some looked like burns from a corrosive liquid. The attackers were likely about the same size as the goblins.

Blunt force? Corrosive liquid?

A flash of insight struck Fang Zhou. He quickly searched the bestiary of Cave creatures in his recorder and soon identified the suspect.

Burrower Monsters!

The wounds on these goblin corpses were most likely from Burrower Monsters and the Slimes they raised.

Like goblins and Kobolds, Burrower Monsters were Otherworld creatures with a primitive social structure.

The key difference was that Burrower Monsters were a purely matrilineal clan.

They were a rare sight, living deep in underground caves for long periods. They also raised Slimes, which were both tasty and useful, making their combat prowess relatively high among Low-Level Demons.

By comparison, both goblins and Kobolds were easier to deal with.

Therefore, cadets rarely targeted Burrower Monsters for hunts.

If Burrower Monsters and goblins were truly fighting inside, this was the perfect opportunity for him to play the part of the opportunistic fisherman.

With this in mind, Fang Zhou quickly drafted a plan of attack.

He had his Skeletons cut off the pointed ears of the three goblins, left two Skeletons to guard the entrance against any latecomers, and then decisively led his team into the cave.

The air inside the goblin cave was incredibly damp and carried a pervasive, putrid stench.

The ground was uneven, and tunnels of various sizes formed a complex, crisscrossing network.

The deeper they went, the darker it became. Fortunately, the occasional one or two smoldering campfires provided enough light to barely see.

After advancing less than a few dozen meters, the Skeleton Squad at the front discovered more goblin corpses.

At that moment, the unreliable thermal imaging radar also issued a warning.

A large number of life forms were ahead!

The stench of the Demons grew stronger, and Fang Zhou moved with increasing caution.

After advancing nearly a hundred meters more through the winding cave, he could faintly hear the sounds of combat ahead—the roars of Demons and the dull clang of weapons.

He rounded a bend and, despite being mentally prepared, was still taken aback by the chaotic scene before him.

A chaotic and fierce battle was unfolding in this natural labyrinth of stalagmites and stalactites.

Over twenty goblins fought with their backs to a campfire and the rock wall, resisting a siege from thirty to forty Burrower Monsters.

These goblins were short and stout with greenish skin, pointed ears, and protruding fangs.

They wore tattered Iron Armor and wielded rusty axes, hammers, or Long Spears, finding themselves completely outmatched in both numbers and tactics.

The Burrower Monsters, on the other hand, were small-statured, their bodies covered in gray-black, stone-like Scale Armor, and they clearly held the strategic advantage.

They wore simple armor woven from animal bones, rags, and moss, and carried various stone or bone Short Spears, swords, and even crude wooden shields.

Other Burrower Monsters clambered up the cave walls, moving nimbly between stalagmites and stalactites to hurl stones or Short Spears at the goblins from above.

Within the Burrower Monster Battle Group, over a dozen of their raised Slimes charged into the fray.

These Slimes had soft, transparent bodies with colorful mucus flowing inside them, resembling living Gemstones.

In life, Slimes were the Burrower Monsters' tastiest friends; in battle, they were indispensable aides.

Some Slimes bounced like rubber balls, crashing into goblins to throw them off balance.

Others sprayed acidic mucus, which not only corroded the goblins' weapons and armor but also obstructed their vision.

One large Slime went even further, completely enveloping a goblin and binding it tightly, leaving it helpless as the Burrower Monsters stabbed it with their Short Spears.

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