Chapter 581: Qi Hengyu: Unforgotten

When Meng Kexin's words fell, Qi Hengyu immediately began to act.

His consciousness was as if sinking into a cold lake.

The power, speed, stamina, and recovery of both sides differed by a single word—"crushing".

The fungal swarm's adaptation speed far outpaced their attacks, and its regeneration was on a completely different scale from the casualties they suffered.

Normally, this battle had no chance of victory; if it continued like this, they'd be dragged to death.

"Fair duel."

Qi Hengyu whispered it in his mind.

Amber light spread from his palm, coalescing in midair into a phantom Balance Scale; one side bore a Ying Guang Lu flag representing a team, the other held a twisted Nightglow Mushroom.

The Scale clearly tipped toward the mushroom side—it was too heavy.

"So… let's have a fair one‑on‑one!"

"You alone challenge our whole group…"

All Qi Hengyu could see was the massive mushroom; he only heard the Scale emit a faint chime.

The swarm's stored energy was forcibly deducted, the glow flowing over the mycelium surface suddenly stalled, and the growth rate of new mycelium clearly slowed.

A deep hiss echoed from deep within the giant mushroom; its Core had never faced this, its power remained, but the consumption when used was suddenly magnified severalfold.

"Success!"

Qi Junyi felt his fungal troops had become markedly weaker, turned back in surprise, and saw Qi Hengyu's face as pale as blank paper.

The greater the disparity between the swarm and him, the longer he could sustain his Special Ability.

"Don't look at me," Qi Hengyu forced a smile, "still two minutes left."

Unlike the swarm's overall power being severely weakened, Ying Duo could visibly see his Blood Bar and Blue Bar rising, and even his six‑dimensional attributes received a huge boost.

Qi Hengyu's Special Ability not only weakened the enemy, it also strengthened his side—but his side only comprised their small team; in a team setting, the other side of Qi Hengyu's Scale was that very squad.

The entire squad's combat power was forcibly raised; he glanced at the roster and saw Xie Jingyan's Blood Bar exceeding 150% of normal, and Meng Kexin's attack panel had nearly doubled.

The portion of the giant mushroom forced down by the Scale was transferred to the opposite side.

【Ying Duo: Focus Fire!】

After typing those two words in the Team Channel, Ying Duo's fingers entered a command on the keyboard.

Ying Duo didn't need to charge; while others rushed the swarm, Ying Duo stepped back two paces, staying near the protected non‑combatants or wounded.

His attention was wholly on the enemy before him, completely missing that a light dot on the mini‑map had already overlapped the giant mushroom's location.

In front of the mushroom, the mech Ying Duo controlled switched weapons; it stopped being a mere "fungus ninja" and activated the energy compression cannons mounted on its arms.

The compressed energy detonated within the mycelial mass; the mycelium whose regeneration had been weakened couldn't re‑cohere and was torn into fragments.

The swarm's primary target instantly shifted to this reckless mech; before, no matter how the mech slashed the mushroom, the giant mushroom ignored it, but once the mech was weakened and its target became itself, the mushroom finally turned to besiege the mech.

Yet Ying Duo's mech never lingered in one spot for more than three seconds; command after command streamed in, making it seem to dance on a knife's edge, always just evading every attack.

"Take out the thickest few strands!" Qi Junyi shouted.

Ying Duo gave no reply, but the mech's cannons already swiveled toward the stout fungal stalks extending westward from the hollow, firing a burst that struck a point.

As the stalk snapped, the area around it lost its glow, reverting to a dead‑gray ash.

"—Careful!"

Meng Kexin's voice came from afar, Ying Duo didn't even blink, merely input a dodge command; the mech's left‑arm thruster expelled a high‑pressure jet, shifting the whole frame two meters at an absurd angle, just missing the attack.

The moment Meng Kexin shouted, nearby mycelium tried to ambush her, but she hammered the cluster into fungal sludge with a single strike.

Another hammer drove straight into the ground; the energy‑infused shockwave shattered the fungal carpet within three meters, exposing all mycelium that had tried to strike from beneath her feet.

Beside her, Xie Jingyan's combat style was the opposite extreme.

If Meng Kexin was a crushing storm, Xie Jingyan was a flawless interception.

Xie Jingyan moved many times faster than Meng Kexin, with an astonishingly high attack frequency.

No matter which direction the mycelium tried to approach Qi Hengyu's area, she could appear precisely one step ahead, severing the mycelium's link to the main trunk, causing it to fall and turn to ash.

Other Church elites also fought; Qi Junyi commanded the Dome troops to alternate suppression with flamethrowers, while the Church members each wielded Special Abilities, frost, earth spikes, and Wind Blade exploding through the swarm in turn.

Their strength was undeniable; none of those who survived in the Church and Dome to this day were amateurs.

Yet under Qi Hengyu's Scale augmentation, the fully enhanced version's performance now far exceeded the normal Special Ability practitioner's comprehension.

At that moment, everyone understood the true power of these seemingly small youths, whose group atmosphere felt relaxed.

And the most exaggerated was Xi Ren Sheng.

If others still fought with system and scale, his side of the battlefield seemed rather odd.

Xi Ren Sheng had originally been sent to the rear because his Mutation Value was too high, but now he was shuffling a deck of playing cards with flamboyant gestures.

With a flick of two fingers, a card arced between his fingertips; he then drew a random card, pulling out the Ace of Spades.

He flicked the card toward the swarm; the card spun twice in midair, suddenly reshaping into a completely black metal spear.

The spear shot out, pinning three parallel fungal cords together, embedding them into the rock wall.

Xi Ren Sheng didn't pause, tossing a few diamond cards; upon landing they became three semi‑transparent rhombus light shields, and the swarm's attacks struck them with a muffled thud.