Outside, everyone felt that every minute and every second was passing incredibly slowly.
Seeing that Chen Mo hadn't emerged for a long time, they grew increasingly worried about his safety.
"It's been over five minutes since the other students came out. How has Chen Mo not emerged yet? I hope nothing bad has happened to him," one student voiced his anxiety.
"Don't jinx it! The forest is vast; it's possible he's gotten lost in there."
"Exactly. In that forest, if you go in alone and don't remember the way out, you could easily get lost if you venture too deep. It would be normal to be trapped."
"Still, there's been no news for over five minutes. Trapped inside the rule barrier, all forms of communication fail, so he can't be contacted. It's really worrying."
"Didn't the inspector just say that a Level 20 expert would be here soon? If Chen Mo can just hold on a little longer, he'll definitely be saved..."
While everyone outside prayed for him, inside the rule barrier, Chen Mo was idly twirling a foxtail grass between his fingers.
He occasionally swung his Magic Wand to summon more Skeleton Monsters, all while watching the BOSS's Health rapidly deplete.
After all, the higher the stacks of corpse poison, the more explosive the damage. The damage dealt in the first five minutes was nothing compared to the next five!
Not even five minutes had passed yet, but the corpse poison had already reached 35,000 stacks!
And the BOSS's Health was nearly depleted!
A massive poison explosion damage erupted on the BOSS's head again, and its Health bar looked completely empty!
-612,500,000! (Poison Explosion) (Level 5 Resistance)
Even with Level 5 Resistance, this one explosion dealt over six hundred million damage to the BOSS.
Now, he just needed to stack another hundred stacks of corpse poison to completely annihilate this BOSS!
With the Skeleton Monsters' relentless charge, it didn't take long to accumulate another 100 stacks!
-616,005,000! (Poison Explosion) (Level 5 Resistance)
With another Poison Explosion dealing more than six hundred million damage, the BOSS's whopping 75.8 billion Health was finally depleted!
Finally, it's dead!
Just as Chen Mo was about to get up and collect the loot, a terrifying Energy burst forth. The BOSS's body became shrouded in a red light, and strange fluctuations rippled outward.
Damn it! It mutated!
It had been mentioned before that after a BOSS dies, there's a certain chance it could mutate.
The Master of Mutation was a special field BOSS with a mutation rate of 25%.
This meant that, generally, one out of four such BOSSes would mutate.
This probability wasn't high.
Unfortunately, Chen Mo had encountered it this time!
But mutations had their downsides as well as their upsides.
This meant that if Chen Mo could kill the Master of Mutation after its mutation, the loot he would obtain would be a tier higher!
Meaning, a reward previously guaranteed to be silver-grade would now drop as golden-grade!
Every loss had its gain!
Outside the instance, after everyone had anxiously waited for seven to eight minutes, they suddenly saw the rule barrier flicker strangely.
"What's happening? What was that?"
"Why did the rule barrier suddenly start flashing?"
"Could something be wrong inside?!"
The inexperienced students had no idea what was happening.
"Teacher, what's going on? Chen Mo isn't in trouble, is he?" Shen Bingbing immediately looked at Su Tianxin, her voice filled with anxiety.
At this moment, the students were confused, while the teachers looked bewildered.
The students were confused because they didn't understand the situation, whereas the teachers were perplexed precisely because they *did* understand what it implied.
"What's going on? Why are there signs that The Master of Mutation is undergoing its own mutation?"
Although "mutation" was part of its name, that referred only to the Mutated Land and had nothing to do with the BOSS itself mutating.
Shen Rulong also looked at Ling Yu in confusion and asked, "Inspector Ling, you have vast experience. Is there some rule about The Master of Mutation's mutation that we aren't aware of?"
Gazing at the rule barrier, which was now emitting strange signs, Ling Yu said, "There are no hidden rules. The only reason The Master of Mutation would mutate is if its Health was depleted, triggering that 25% chance!"
"Could the rule barrier be malfunctioning then?"
Ling Yu shook her head. "No, this change in the rule barrier signifies that The Master of Mutation inside has indeed mutated. This information has been consistently accurate since we began recording such events, dating back to the emergence of the first professionals."
Hearing this, Shen Rulong looked at the rule barrier, which covered a relatively large area, and mused, "How could The Master of Mutation's Health suddenly drop to zero when it was perfectly fine just moments ago? Could a group of Level 20 experts we don't know about have passed through and entered?"
Ling Yu affirmed this point. "We're only observing a small section of this rule barrier. It's possible someone entered from an area outside our line of sight."
But she quickly added, "However, we announced yesterday that this area would be used for today's novice assessment. We also sent messages to all professionals, instructing them not to level up in this Mutated Land. Everyone should be aware of the rules. Besides, who would intentionally bring several hundred people near this particular Mutated Land at this time?"
"It's true that you don't necessarily need several hundred people to kill one Master of Mutation, especially if it's a large group of experts or the absolute elite among them."
"Perhaps a few dozen, or even just ten or so, would suffice."
"But 'suffice' in this context means it would still take them a considerable amount of time to defeat it."
"And how long has it actually been since The Master of Mutation appeared and descended?"
"Less than ten minutes!"
"To defeat a Level 20 Master of Mutation in under ten minutes... without a team of several hundred experts, it's simply unimaginable."
This was why Ling Yu was so puzzled.
Professionals are, to some extent, bound by the alliance and wouldn't readily provoke conflict with it. Normally, upon receiving a notice from the alliance, they should steer clear on their own accord. Why would anyone intentionally bring hundreds of experts here, of all places? This is truly baffling.
Listening to the adults' discussion, the students began to piece things together.
"Teacher, are you saying a very powerful team inside defeated The Master of Mutation? Then Mr. Mo should be safe, right?" Fang Datong asked Su Tianxin, a hopeful expression on his face.
Su Tianxin smiled and replied, "That should be the case. The Master of Mutation's transformation must have been triggered by its defeat. Any team capable of defeating The Master of Mutation in such a short time possesses extraordinary strength. If Chen Mo managed to gain their protection, he would likely be safe from any danger."
Although she said this, everyone still found it strange that an impressive group of several hundred Level 20 professionals had suddenly appeared nearby.
Just as everyone was consumed with curiosity about what had transpired inside the rule barrier, the Level 20 professional closest to the area, who had just been notified by the alliance to provide support, arrived!