Chapter 1078: Broken! (4000 words)

Stabilized!

Su Sheng saw the red light curtain reappear and knew that this time the crisis brought by the giant elephants should be stabilized.

Su Sheng had calculated the numbers of the skeletal giant elephants and the war giant elephants: a total of 100 giants, roughly half and half.

They had already cleared 30 skeletal giant elephants, meaning there were still a dozen or so, fewer than 20 skeletal giants left.

As long as this Zhu Que city‑guarding array has the same potency as the previous one, it is enough to deal with this batch of giants.

If the remaining twenty skeletal giants are dealt with, the damage the others can inflict on the city‑guarding array will be limited.

"Push harder! Keep going!!"

Su Sheng shouted loudly, then continued to guide the ranged players to focus fire.

Soon, everyone was delighted to discover that ranged players' attacks on the wall, when passing through the Zhu Que city‑guarding array, had their damage directly amplified if they were fire‑type.

For example, a Fireball that was originally only fist‑sized became soccer‑ball sized after passing through the Zhu Que city‑guarding array.

Even non‑fire attacks, even a physical arrow from an archer, become imbued with fire power when passing through the city‑guarding array.

Moreover, any attack that had been coated with flame by the red light curtain of the Zhu Que city‑guarding array would, when striking those skeletons, have a very high chance of igniting the target.

And once ignited, the flame would not go out. Though the damage per hit was not high, it was a continuous burn that lasted until the target died.

Zhu Que Divine Fire!

A ranged player on the wall screenshot the fire‑attachment condition and shared it.

In an instant, the killing power of the many players in Zhuque Main City surged dramatically.

Especially the magical energy cannons of Zhuque Main City.

When the magical energy projectiles of the magical energy cannons passed through the Zhu Que city‑guarding array, they too became imbued with the Zhu Que Divine Fire state.

Then, Boom—, it detonated a patch, instantly igniting a swath of skeleton units.

Su Sheng saw the scene and couldn't help but feel delighted.

But for now, the priority was still to eliminate those skeletal giant elephants.

With the Zhu Que Divine Fire active, even the clearing speed of the skeletal giants increased dramatically.

The remaining twenty‑plus skeletal giants were dealt with in about 13 minutes.

The remaining war giant elephants still dealt high damage to players, but since their attacks on the city‑guarding array caused relatively modest damage, there was less urgency.

"All Mage units, use AOE skills to ignite every skeleton within your attack range as much as possible!"

After the skeletal giants were dealt with, Su Sheng immediately shouted again.

Although the burning damage of the Zhu Que Divine Fire wasn't very high, its advantage was that it kept burning until death.

Thus, with full‑field deployment, it could increase the damage rate as much as possible.

Solo Players cooperated enthusiastically, and all ranged units frantically unleashed their AOE skills.

Soon, the area where that wave of Undead Calamity stood turned into a sea of fire, a spectacular sight.

Almost every skeleton unit was ablaze with Zhu Que Divine Fire.

"From now on, everyone follow my guidance; we'll eliminate the war giant elephants first!!"

Su Sheng saw the scene, smiled with satisfaction, and shouted again.

Although each time he issued a command, Su Sheng had to broadcast a system message costing 1,000 Gold Coin, otherwise with so many players present none could receive his orders.

After all, this time there was no faction battle system and no commander slot.

But Su Sheng didn't mind that Gold Coin; considering the cost of sending someone back to Yanhuang Town to have Dwarves purchase Siege Tools for the skeletal giants, it was more than this.

The engineering tools just launched cost several hundred million Gold Coins, so the fee for the command broadcast was trivial.

Immediately thereafter, with the aid of the Zhu Que city‑guarding array, Su Sheng coordinated the many ranged players to swiftly clear the war giant elephants.

Compared with the skeletal giants, clearing these war giants was much faster.

After all, these war giants offered no damage immunity to players.

For a moment, the situation looked excellent.

Zhu Que Divine Fire, combined with the Zhu Que city‑guarding array, sharply reduced the players' pressure.

But many times, things rarely go smoothly...

Just when only two or three war giant elephants remained.

Suddenly, the red light curtain of the Zhu Que city‑guarding array quivered slightly but sharply...

All players were startled, and Su Sheng also furrowed his brows.

That's odd; the Zhu Que city‑guarding array isn't taking heavy attacks now, so why did something change?

Under the gaze of many players, the red light curtain of the Zhu Que city‑guarding array slowly began to contract, and within just a few seconds it retracted back into the Zhu Que cauldron that was spinning smoothly in the sky.

Seeing this, Su Sheng formed a rough hypothesis in his mind.

It seemed that this Zhu Que city‑guarding array was time‑limited.

But speaking of its time limit...

Su Sheng asked the brother in charge of watching the Teleport Array, and learned that the array was becoming weak but not shut down; only the spawn rate of Undead units had slowed.

Seeing this, Su Sheng finally breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the Teleport Array was about to disappear.

If the Teleport Array were still continuously sending Undead units, under the current circumstances Su Sheng truly doubted whether Zhuque Main City could hold.

Fortunately, at least there was good news.

Afterward, Su Sheng kept guiding the ranged players to focus fire, eliminating the remaining few war giant elephants.

However, without the Zhu Que city‑guarding array's aid, initially the earlier batch of skeletal units still burned with Zhu Que Divine Fire, so there were no major further incidents.

But when Su Sheng, together with the ranged players, dealt with those war giant elephants...

That batch of skeleton units burning with Zhu Que Divine Fire was also completely cleared, and the players then faced skeleton units without the Divine Fire but with an upgraded attribute tier.

Almost instantly, the melee players engaged in front-line combat below the city wall felt a sudden surge in pressure, and the frequency of white light flashes also became increasingly frequent.

"These skeleton units are all Elite Monsters now; they're really tough and deal high damage."

"Not just Elite Monsters, there's even a boss, an 80‑level Normal BOSS."

For a moment, the Solo Players on the public channel were almost in chaos.

But it's okay; by this time the ranged players on the wall had already dealt with all the elephant units, and ranged firepower resources arrived immediately.

With the ranged firepower resources, they managed to hold off the pressure for a short time.

However, as the Undead Calamity skeleton units kept coming in endless waves, casualties continued to rise.

Even, Su Sheng saw on the public channel some melee Solo Players complaining that they had died twice, and some even three times.

Those melee players with higher death counts have begun to retreat somewhat.

After all, it takes a long time to gain a level now.

Although, if Zhuque Main City were lost the penalty would be severe, but now their levels have dropped a lot.

Indeed, as the Undead Calamity's skeleton units grow stronger in attributes, the battle difficulty also increases.

But now the Solo Players' morale is actually starting to drop.

This is not a good thing.

Su Sheng frowned in thought, pondering a solution, when suddenly a system announcement popped up.

System announcement:

Shen Wang: All Solo Players who have dropped two or more levels can go via the Teleport Array to other main cities, or to the vicinity of Yanhuang Town to level up first; players from other main cities who are willing can return via the Teleport Array to help, so as not to let our brothers suffer too heavy losses.

Su Sheng raised his eyebrows; not bad for the big brother, this method is indeed good—many players feel heartbroken about losing levels, and their fighting will is indeed weak.

But the Domestic Server doesn't have much else—it's just packed with people!

It's just that Zhuque Main City can't accommodate that many players in the short term.

Indeed, many players immediately responded; they were those who had dropped two or even three levels, and they scattered via the Teleport Array to other main cities or to Yanhuang Town to level up.

Next, the light of the Teleport Array kept flashing, and eager players from other main cities entered Zhuque Main City one after another.

With fresh reinforcements, they could still hold out for a short time.

But the situation remains grim, because these skeleton units' attributes are now extremely high—there isn't a single normal monster; they're all Elite Monsters around levels 77‑78.

Among them are a few isolated 80‑level Normal Bosses.

Although no higher‑level units have been seen yet, Su Sheng knows that the Teleport Array, while now somewhat unstable, has not been completely shut down.

In other words, there are countless skeleton units between Zhuque Main City and the Teleport Array.

Furthermore, Su Sheng believes there are definitely even more aberrant‑attribute skeleton units ahead.

Thinking of this, Su Sheng immediately slapped the beast beneath him and activated Wing Flap!

Su Sheng soared into the air and swiftly flew along the rear of the Undead Calamity.

Su Sheng wanted to check the strength of those skeleton units behind.

After flying forward for about 30 seconds, the skeleton units' strength showed no significant change.

But after flying for about 40 seconds, Su Sheng saw that the skeleton units' colors had become somewhat different.

Through the beast's long‑range Dragon Breath, these turned out to be 80‑level Elite Monsters!

Su Sheng also saw a few unusually large special skeleton units; upon inspection, they were all Elite Bosses.

And this is only the beginning?

Taking advantage of the remaining time, Su Sheng continued flying backward.

His expression grew increasingly grave.

Su Sheng felt that this side of Zhuque Main City couldn't hold.

Su Sheng estimated the forces at this moment; the enemy's level is too high—these skeleton units. The mainstream players are now around level 65, but they're still about 15 levels lower.

Although Zhuque Main City should still have a mechanism guardian beast, even if its combat power were heaven‑defying, against this ocean‑like horde of skeleton units it would likely have little effect.

If we just continue to hold out like this, it's no solution; there's a high chance Zhuque Main City will actually fall.

No!

We can't continue like this; we must find a way to break the stalemate—Zhuque Main City must not be lost.

The Domestic Server already has many people; if we lose another main city, the compressed development space will become very uncomfortable.

Actually, Su Sheng had another thought: if Zhuque Main City fell, would these players flood into his Yanhuang Town in large numbers?

However, this thought merely flashed by, and Su Sheng discarded it.

His Yanhuang Town could never accommodate a number of players equal to a main city.

Although his profits might increase considerably, more players would have their development delayed.

This is totally a loss outweighing the gain, and Su Sheng also bears a mission—how could he possibly act for his own self‑interest and affect the big picture?

After Su Sheng had scouted the situation, the beast's flight time ended; upon landing, he pondered a solution while hurrying back.

As he was returning, Su Sheng saw the endless stream of skeleton units and launched a frantic assault on this side of the city wall. He couldn't help thinking, if only he could disperse these Undead Calamity skeleton units.

If they attacked from the four walls separately, perhaps they could share the pressure on the front wall.

After all, the durability of this wall has been dropping quickly.

But this idea was just a thought, because the Undead Calamity's skeleton units seem to recognize only strength, marching straight in one direction.

As for luring monsters, with such a massive Undead Calamity, how many could you draw? It would just waste time; better to output directly and hit a few scattered groups.

Unable to think of a good plan for the moment, Su Sheng dove straight into the battle.

The battle had already become white‑hot.

Although no other changes occurred, the attributes of the endless stream of skeleton units kept rising.

The melee players beneath the city wall had already retreated as far as they could go.

The city walls were constantly being attacked by those skeleton archers and skeleton mages.

The durability of the city walls was dropping swish-swish-swish.

In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed...

The game time remaining was just over three hours.

Su Sheng received the message: the teleport array had become very sparse now; although it wasn't completely closed, basically no skeleton units were coming out of it anymore.

Seeing this message, Su Sheng faintly showed a hint of a smile; this counted as one of the few pieces of good news.

But Su Sheng's smile hadn't yet faded...

Boom!

"The city wall is breached—this is bad!"

Many players exclaimed in surprise; Su Sheng couldn't help but turn his head to look, and saw that one side of Zhuque Main City's city wall—perhaps having endured too much firepower—had directly collapsed, creating a gap.

Coincidentally, the melee players in that direction were also in a state of defeat, and the endless Undead Calamity had already begun to pour into Zhuque Main City through that gap.