The raft's speed was high, and it darted forward like an arrow toward the Corpse Beast that had just surfaced, reaching the monster in the blink of an eye.
There was no time to control the raft to steer clear. Su Li, afraid the raft would be damaged if it hit the Corpse Beast, quickly slid into the water ahead of it, using his body to shield the raft.
The raft was heavily loaded, and once it gained speed, it was difficult to stop. Su Li could only rely on his body to brake the raft. The raft pushed Su Li underwater for several meters before slowly halting. The Corpse Beast, whose head had emerged from the water, extended its hands and appeared right in front of Su Li, reaching for his neck.
Su Li lashed out with both hands, simultaneously grabbing the Corpse Beast's arms. With a crisp "crack," he twisted both the monster's arms and then shoved hard, forcing its upper body onto the raft.
"Quick, come here, it's yours." Su Li was uninterested in this low-level Corpse Beast. He was now a Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder, and the Spiritual Source gained from killing such a low-level monster was useless to him. It was better to leave it for Xu Xuehui.
He had previously explained much about the low-level Corpse Beasts to Xu Xuehui. Hearing Su Li's instruction, Xu Xuehui gripped the hammer with both hands and cautiously stepped over to the monster on the raft.
The Corpse Beast, with its arms broken by Su Li, was pressed onto the raft. Although it was struggling, it couldn't manage to get up.
"Hurry!" Su Li, seeing Xu Xuehui's hesitation, couldn't help but call out anxiously, as he observed the water ahead churning. More Corpse Beasts were appearing and swarming toward them.
A large number of Corpse Beasts had gathered in the water ahead.
Hearing Su Li's urging, Xu Xuehui finally gripped the iron hammer tightly with both hands and slammed it down onto the Corpse Beast's head on the raft.
The hammer struck the Corpse Beast's head but failed to crack it. Her strength in swinging the hammer wasn't enough.
Seeing several Corpse Beasts already surging toward them, Su Li cursed under his breath. He grabbed the monster he had pinned on the raft, violently lifted it, and shoved it toward the oncoming Corpse Beasts. He seized the one-meter-long iron rod with his right hand and slammed it down hard.
With his current strength and the heavy iron rod, the head of the monster he struck immediately shattered, and it was knocked directly into the water, sinking below.
Su Li supported himself with his left hand on the raft's edge, kicking his feet in the water. While moving the raft slowly forward, he charged toward the oncoming Corpse Beasts. He swung the iron rod in his right hand repeatedly. Any Corpse Beast hit by his iron rod was instantly smashed and broken, sinking into the water.
Suddenly, he felt his feet sink. A force was pulling at him. Corpse Beasts had appeared from the depths, grabbing hold of his legs and pulling him underwater.
Although these Corpse Beasts weren't individually powerful, a group surrounding him was tricky to deal with. Su Li lowered his head and thrust the iron rod at the head of the Corpse Beast holding his legs.
The iron rod struck the Corpse Beast's head, and blood immediately bubbled out. Su Li took the opportunity to kick hard with his legs. One leg broke free, and he stomped the monster's face, pushing it down. He used the buoyancy of the water to shoot up, grab the edge of the raft, and quickly climb back aboard.
He realized that fighting these Corpse Beasts underwater was too dangerous. It was safer to get back on the raft first.
As Su Li climbed back onto the raft, several more Corpse Beasts immediately surged out of the water, mimicking his actions by climbing onto the raft's edge and trying to get aboard.
Su Li, wielding the iron rod, struck at the heads of the exposed Corpse Beasts, smashing the skulls of three monsters consecutively.
As their heads were crushed, the three Corpse Beasts sank into the water.
Although Spiritual Sources continuously surged toward Su Li and were absorbed by him, no messages appeared in his mind. This was because the Corpse Beasts were too low-level, and their Spiritual Sources had a negligible effect on Su Li, offering virtually no help in his advancement.
The number of low-level Corpse Beasts appearing in the water increased, swarming the raft like locusts. Su Li frowned. The raft was less than 40 meters from the three-story building exposed above the water, but this last 40 meters seemed incredibly distant.
The raft was surrounded by these low-level Corpse Beasts and had come to a stop. Even more frightening, more and more monsters were attempting to climb onto the raft, causing it to shake violently and draw deeper into the water.
The raft held all of Su Li's hard-earned supplies. If the raft were to be overturned or destroyed, all his efforts over the past few days would be ruined.
Su Li roared repeatedly, struggling to maintain his balance on the violently rocking raft. He swung the iron rod non-stop. His strength surged, and every time he struck a Corpse Beast, he ended its life.
Xu Xuehui gripped the ropes tied around the raft, trying hard to steady herself on the shaking platform to avoid being thrown off. Her small face was white with fear. Seeing the Corpse Beasts surrounding them and the dangerous situation, terror was visible in her eyes.
More and more Corpse Beasts were killed by Su Li. Some sank, while most became floating corpses, bobbing in the surrounding water.
Suddenly, a violent ripple emerged from the water beneath them. Immediately after, a dark shadow shot up from below and savagely bit the neck of one of the Corpse Beasts.
The Corpse Beast, with its neck seized, thrashed unconsciously, struggling desperately.
Su Li's heart trembled slightly.
The dark shadow that had suddenly surged up from the bottom and bitten the Corpse Beast's neck was a gray giant rat—a Water Rat Beast, one of the creatures he had killed earlier.
The Water Rat Beast was a common Level 2 Spiritual Source Beast and far stronger than the Corpse Beasts. Now, one suddenly shot up from the depths, bit a Corpse Beast, and dragged it underwater. Following this, another Water Rat Beast appeared. This one did not attack the other Corpse Beasts but charged toward the raft instead.
The Corpse Beasts surrounding the raft seemed frightened and quickly released their grips, scattering in all directions. They seemed to greatly fear the Water Rat Beasts.
Su Li tightened his grip on the iron rod in his right hand, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. He hadn't expected the swarm of Corpse Beasts to attract the even more dangerous Water Rat Beasts. One Water Rat Beast might not be too bad, but a whole group would be disastrous. The Water Rat Beasts were much more formidable than the Corpse Beasts.
Watching the Water Rat Beast open its mouth and dart onto the raft at high speed, Su Li steadied himself and stopped moving. Staring at the climbing Water Rat Beast, he suddenly took a step forward and violently swung the iron rod in his right hand.
It was already difficult enough to maintain balance on the rocking raft, let alone launch an attack. Although Su Li aimed for the Water Rat Beast's head, the moment he swung the iron rod, the force from his right foot pressing against the raft caused the raft to dip slightly, and his body leaned forward. Missing by a hair is as good as missing by a mile. The accuracy of his iron rod was thrown off, and it swung wide, just grazing the Water Rat Beast's head.
(End of Chapter)