Chapter 245: Spirit Breath World, Calamity Unleashed (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

Spirit Breath World, Sheng Xi City.

Looking down from high above, the city resembled a colossal living creature, sprawled across the earth.

The city's outline was not forged from metal or stone, but woven from countless flowing, semi-transparent biological tissues.

Through the surface of flesh and blood, vessel-like structures could be seen, channeling energy to every corner of the city.

The buildings within the city took varied forms, each seeming to writhe and breathe as if alive.

The city's streets were not traditional stone slabs or asphalt, but more akin to biological material resembling muscle tissue.

At this moment, within Sheng Xi City.

Countless warriors gathered and assembled from all directions.

They were war weapons modified through bio-technology, as well as cold, efficient killing machines.

Each warrior stood roughly three meters tall, their skin covered by a thick layer of biological armor bristling with sharp bone spurs; their arms, which reached the knees when hanging straight, were thicker than an ordinary person's thigh, and their fingertips extended into razor-sharp blades.

Their heads were encased in biological helmets, the front a grinning mask baring two rows of razor teeth, with only a pair of crimson eyes exposed.

Fine, blood-colored tendrils extended from the back of the warriors' heads, hanging down like hair.

From the Gao Ta at the city center, the City Lord gazed down at the assembled warriors, his resonant voice ringing out across the city sky.

"We were born to be predators, conquerors, the embodiment of the will to destroy!"

"Our blades will tear the enemy's flesh, crush their souls… for survival, for the immortal legacy of Spirit Breath, we thirst for slaughter, plunder, growth. Let the enemy's wails become our battle hymn, let their destruction become our nourishment!"

The City Lord's voice echoed overhead, carrying an unquestionable authority.

Every word struck the gathered warriors ahead like a heavy hammer, igniting the killing desire within them.

"A new step of conquest is about to begin. We need no pity, no mercy. We were born to devour everything. Let Spirit Breath bear witness to you, let the enemy's world tremble beneath our feet, reduce their civilization to ashes."

As the City Lord's words fell, all the warriors roared in unison, and the entire city trembled.

"For Spirit Breath, for immortality!" the warriors shouted in unison, their voices brimming with fanatical fervor.

At this moment, the City Lord continued:

"Awaiting Spirit Breath to open the path of glory, we shall forge a new brilliance for the Spirit Breath race together. You shall all be recorded in the annals of Spirit Breath history."

Roar!

Frenzied roars rose one after another.

Just as the warriors of Sheng Xi City prepared to head to the battleground as the City Lord demanded, anticipating the arrival of the interdimensional war.

Dense figures suddenly fell from the sky shrouded in thick clouds.

The previously silent regional voice channel was instantly filled with all manner of sounds.

"Ahahaha, a natural disaster has struck, we're airdropping… by the way, why don't I have a parachute? Crashing down from high altitude is way too violent."

"Are there any Monster Stream players? Let's form a team. It's time for our Monster Stream to shine in the Fu Ben Shi Jie."

"So tragic, our squad had over thirty brothers, but only five made it in. The rest were swept back to the village by packet loss and reverse current during the data transmission into the small instance. We haven't even started fighting and already lost most of them… whatever, I'm going to have fun first."

"There's a city right below, hehehe. Last time I was a savior, this time I've really become an Extraterrestrial Demon."

"Mmm~ the air in this small-world instance is so murky. Without an air-breathing filter embedded, I'm about to suffocate. The detail in the setting is quite reasonable though—the air quality clearly can't compare to the Monster World."

……

Players who had rushed over from the five major spatial nodes descended upon the small world one after another.

Although the vast majority were swept away by spatial reverse currents during transmission, their souls returning to Emperor Tomb Village, this did not dampen the players' enthusiasm.

The Eclipse Race officials had already given a clear explanation.

The small-world instance had only just been completed, so optimization issues were entirely normal.

The players who had successfully entered the Spirit Breath World were in high spirits, already recruiting teammates during the airdrop.

Below, seeing the figures falling from the sky, the Sheng Xi City Lord revealed a look of horror.

In a single glance, he realized the problem… this was an invading force from outside.

"Prepare for battle!"

Snapping his head down abruptly, the Sheng Xi City Lord let out a roar.

Just then, a meteor-sized sphere of black flame descended from the sky, instantly smashing into the Gao Ta where the Sheng Xi City Lord stood.

"Standing that high for what? Get down on the ground for Laozi!"

An angry rebuke came from the sky.

Boom!

Black flames raged and burned, the Sheng Xi City Lord instantly swallowed by the black flames, letting out a piercing shriek.

But no matter how he rolled, he could not extinguish the black flames on his body; the reserve protective organs within him were utterly useless.

Afterwards, players continued to crash down within Sheng Xi City.

Facing the invasion, all the Spirit Breath warriors turned around in succession, pouncing toward the airdropping players.

War was about to erupt.

Toward the city center.

A player plummeted rapidly from high above, his body rubbing the air into blazing sparks.

He carved an energy trail through the air, smashing toward the ground like a meteor.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, the player slammed heavily into the ground, debris flying, dust billowing.

The impact cratered a pit dozens of meters in diameter into the ground, and within the dust the player's figure slowly rose.

His gaze swept over the Spirit Breath warriors closing in nearby, and he grinned:

"Game on."

As his words fell, his body twisted and swelled, black scales surfacing across his skin.

A sharp hiss tore through the sky as the player instantly transformed into a black giant snake dozens of meters long.

Under the sunlight, the scales were smooth as obsidian, each one reflecting a cold gleam.

The player's head rose high, crimson eyes like two burning fireballs, looking down at the Lingxi Warriors below, no bigger than ants.

Its mouth opened, revealing sharp fangs, fluorescent venom flowing along their surface.

Baring its teeth to look fierce, snapping a selfie, it casually forwarded it to the guild chat:

"Brothers, I've arrived safe. Don't worry about me."

The Lingxi Warriors' sharp claw-blades struck its body, sending sparks flying, yet failed to pierce the Black Armor Snake player's surface defense in the slightest.

Closing the interface, the player's massive body coiled and spiraled, standing in the city center like a black mountain peak.

A casual sweep of its tail instantly smashed the surrounding Lingxi Warriors into pulp, taking nearby buildings down like paper, their debris fluttering through the air.

The terrifying force instantly swept the surrounding Lingxi Warriors clean, even gouging a trench into the ground.

The exhilarated player threw back its head and hissed, making the Lingxi Warriors charging from afar feel a suffocating pressure they had never experienced before.

After the initial clash, the player in Black Armor Snake form began to roam freely through the center of Shengxi City, its body like a moving mountain peak, every coil bringing devastating destruction.

The sound of scales scraping the ground was like a symphony of death, echoing in the ears of every Lingxi Warrior nearby.

The Black Armor Snake's tail swept sideways again, and a towering bio-tower instantly collapsed.

The bio-tissue making up the tower's body was torn apart like paper, fragments fluttering through the air; the energy core within also ruptured in the collapse, releasing a blinding light.

Then the player, now in Black Armor Snake form, swallowed it whole in one bite, sending it straight into the personal spatial pack.

"Awoo, awoo!"

Seeing the energy stone's value parsed at 300 Shou Shou Jili, this player was so thrilled it threw back its head and roared again.

Not far from the Black Armor Snake player, a white Frenzied Rage Bear raised its paw and slammed it violently into a building woven from flesh-and-blood vines.

The building's defense mechanism activated instantly, the surface bio-tissue rapidly hardening, attempting to withstand the impact.

But the force of the Roar form far exceeded the building's tolerance limit.

The flesh-and-blood vines snapped under the bear paw's strike, collapsing with a rumble, green sap splattering.

"Kill!"

The Lingxi Warriors below quickly organized a counterattack, claw-blades flashing cold light, using nearby buildings to leap and pounce at the player in Roar form.

The player suddenly lowered its head at this moment, opened its mouth and inhaled, its chest slowly swelling.

Roar!

Roar characteristic activated.

The shockwave instantly swept across the ground; dozens of charging Lingxi Warriors were pulverized mid-air, chunks of flesh and blood rolling back, pattering the ground like raindrops.

"Impossible?!"

Not far away, a Lingxi Warrior retreated in terror.

Its eyes were filled with fear, and a sense of powerlessness it had never felt before rose from deep within.

Yet the player in Roar form had the corners of its mouth curling up, ice-blue eyes sweeping over the ant-like Lingxi Warriors nearby, its chest swelling once more.

Roar!

A deafening roar erupted from its mouth, the sound like thunder exploding in the air.

The sound wave, carrying violent air currents, formed a shockwave visible to the naked eye.

Wherever it passed, the ground was torn apart, buildings flipped over, bio-materials shattered and flew.

The Lingxi Warriors gathered not far away didn't even have time to react before their bodies were instantly disintegrated by the shockwave, dissipating into the air.

The shockwave continued pushing forward, destroying everything in its path.

After the easy instant-kills, the player in Roar form continued shouting in the regional channel:

"Monster-style players looking for a team, only teams of monster-style players."

After speaking, the giant bear looked toward the Black Armor Snake fellow player not far away.

At this moment, the fellow player had coiled up a towering giant tower, its head raised high, overlooking the city below.

Crimson eyes flickered with cold light, like a sovereign surveying his domain.

A casual sweep of its tail brought down swathes of nearby buildings; the Lingxi Warriors' resistance seemed utterly laughable before it.

Seeing the name atop the other's head, the player in Roar form sent a private message:

"Buddy, wanna team up?"

"Team up my ass, your roar is way too loud, blowing out my ears. I'm out, this place is yours."

After speaking, the Black Armor Snake player's body sprang up, pouncing into the distance, its body stretched straight in the air like a city wall crashing down.

Boom!

A row of buildings was crushed when the Black Armor Snake player landed.

Gazing at the departing figure of the fellow player, the player in Roar form looked aggrieved:

"How can you play Roar without roaring? Makes no sense…"

After the invasion war began, more and more monster-style players appeared in the city.

Black Armor Snake form, Roar Bear form, Inkflame Skeleton form, Mud Demon form… a monster legion descending from the sky, ravaging every corner of the city.

The war seemed to have become the monster-style players' home turf.

Compared to the monster-style players, the figures of other players seemed incomparably tiny.

But in terms of combat power, these tiny-figured players were the absolute main force.

In one corner of the city, crimson air currents burned in the air like flames, bathing the surrounding buildings in a wash of crimson.

A melee player stood in the middle of the street, enveloped in violent crimson air currents, gaze fixed ahead.

Hundreds of Lingxi Warriors stood ready, a barely concealed trace of tension and fear visible in their eyes.

The melee player didn't waste any words, decisively launching a charge.

The crimson airflow shrouding his body instantly grew even more violent, his body like a tank with the throttle floored, barreling straight toward the Lingxi warriors arrayed ahead.

The ground trembled with every step he took.

In the Lingxi warriors' eyes, the charging player was like a crimson bolt of lightning — they had no time to react before an enormous fist loomed large before them.

The fist slammed out, the crimson airflow instantly condensing into a violent qi-and-blood energy wave, surging toward the Lingxi warriors' line like a crimson giant dragon.

Boom!

The qi-and-blood shockwave swept through the Lingxi warriors; their bio-armor shattered in an instant, their bodies pulverized by the tremendous impact.

The crimson airflow continued its rampage forward, tearing apart the buildings on both sides, raising a billowing dust wave that surged endlessly down the street.

Boom!

The second fist followed in quick succession, slamming toward the front.

Several dozen Lingxi warriors died instantly; the Lingxi warriors behind were also shaken by this force until they vomited fresh blood, their internal organs shattering.

"Hahaha, they're way too weak."

The melee player couldn't help but laugh heartily, his voice brimming with exhilaration.

The fist swung again, the crimson airflow forming a massive fist-shadow in the air, slamming viciously into the Lingxi warriors' line.

Boom!

The fist-shadow fell, the ground instantly collapsing, cracks spreading outward like a spider web.

The defensive line formed by the Lingxi warriors completely crumbled beneath the fist-shadow; large numbers of Lingxi warriors had their bodies torn apart by the gang qi, their flesh and bio-armor fragments fluttering through the air.

The crimson airflow continued its rampage, dyeing everything around it the color of blood.

Facing this melee player, the Lingxi warriors' hearts were gradually filled with fear.

The powerful bodies they took such pride in were like paper before this terrifying invader, crumbling at a single touch.

Defense had lost all meaning.

In their eyes, every punch from the evil invader was like the scythe in the Death God's hand, able to easily reap their lives.

Just then, a Lingxi warrior hiding in the building wreckage suddenly leapt up.

With a look of grim resolve, it raised its claw-blade high; the sharp blade-tip drew a cold flash through the air, slashing viciously at the melee player's neck from behind.

This strike gathered all its strength, sworn to lop the player's head clean off.

But before the claw-blade could touch the player's skin, it was blocked by a layer of crimson airflow.

The airflow solidified as if substantial; the claw-blade could advance no further.

The Lingxi warrior let out a desperate roar, its bio-armor groaning under the strain of overexertion.

Its claw-blade pressed hard against the crimson airflow, trying to tear it apart.

But no matter how hard it pushed, the crimson airflow didn't budge, like an impassable chasm.

The melee player turned his head at this moment, glancing at the Lingxi warrior who was launching a sneak attack from behind.

The next second, the crimson airflow suddenly erupted, blasting the Lingxi warrior flying like a violent flood.

Its body traced an arc through the air, crashing heavily onto the ground dozens of meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The Lingxi warrior struggled to its feet, looking down at its own claw-blade.

The once-sharp blade-tip had shattered, its arm trembling violently from the backlash, its bio-armor surface already covered in fine cracks, the energy patterns dim and lifeless.

"How is this possible…" it muttered, its voice filled with undisguised terror.

At this moment, its eyes reflected the melee player's figure; the crimson airflow burned across his body like flames, like an invincible god of death.

This wasn't a war — it was a slaughter!

Their all-out resistance appeared so laughably futile before this figure.

Despair filled the Lingxi warriors' hearts; their bodies trembled slightly from fear, the strength within them seeming to drain away in an instant.

Not far away, the melee player slowly turned around, the crimson airflow churning around him like a fierce beast poised to strike.

Staring directly at this sneak-attacking Lingxi warrior, the corner of the melee player's mouth curved into a cruel smile:

"I hate sneak attacks the most. Your final stop in this life has arrived — be more careful in the next one."

A heavy fist suddenly swung out, the crimson airflow condensing into a violent qi-and-blood energy wave in the air, instantly swallowing the Lingxi warrior whole.

The Lingxi warrior's body disintegrated within the energy wave, its flesh and bio-armor reduced to powder, scattering on the wind.

The battle ended; the melee player stood still, and a Painful Painful Minghun rose above his head.

Immediately, qi and blood rose from the ground, converging toward him.

During the health-bar recovery process, the melee player felt he was incredibly badass.

"Picking on noobs is really fun."

Just then, a massive figure appeared ahead.

A giant green lizard charged violently forward, buildings collapsing in swathes along its path; atop the lizard's head stood a player, arms crossed over his chest, standing proud and aloof.

As it passed, the player atop the lizard turned his head and glanced at him from afar, then turned his gaze forward again.

"Holy shit, a Monster World mount — bro, that's badass!"

Seeing that the passing compatriot was actually riding a lizard in the "Rend" Painful Painful Minghun form, the melee player could hardly hide his envy.

In the Gedaliu Sect, players who possessed Monster World mounts were absolutely at the top of the contempt chain.

With that kind of prestige, no matter how many Lingxi warriors he killed, he couldn't catch up.

"Bro, take one along?" Thinking of this, he sent him a private message.

"Scram, this is my girlfriend — you think I'd let you ride her?"

Melee player: …

"So what, once my cousin qualifies for Monster World, I'll have a mount too."

He curled his lip and muttered a line, then the melee player vaulted into the air with the aid of Gang Qi, continuing to search for hunting targets.

In the ruined building cluster at the city's northwest corner, a black shadow swept past silently like the shadow of the Grim Reaper.

His right hand gripped backward a blood-colored dagger, a dark-red halo flowing along the blade as if it were a vicious weapon that had drunk its fill of countless souls.

The player's footsteps were light as a cat's, his figure leaping forward through the building wreckage; each landing needed only a touch of the tiptoe to propel his body flying far away.

Before long, this assassin-class player had found his prey.

More than a hundred meters ahead, dozens of Lingxi warriors were retreating in panic.

The five-sense enhancement brought by his attribute boost let the assassin player even hear the ragged breathing, and the faint friction sounds from the joints of the bio-armor as they ran.

He could tell at a glance that fear had drained the fighting spirit from this group of Lingxi warriors; now they only wanted to flee this land of death.

But naturally he would not let them have their wish.

"Extreme Speed, activate!"

The player's lips curved slightly upward, his pupils suddenly contracted, and everything in his field of vision instantly slowed.

Time, as if stretched at this moment.

Under the trait's boost, his figure suddenly blurred, transforming into a blood-colored afterimage that cut into the retreating warriors' group with the speed of lightning.

The first one — the dagger pierced into the back of the neck like a venomous snake, the bio-armor's protective layer torn apart like thin paper, the blade precisely severing the nerve center.

The locked-on Lingxi warrior didn't even have time to let out a grunt before collapsing limply.

The second one — a blood-colored cold gleam swept sideways across the throat; before the fresh blood could spray, the player's figure flashed like a ghost to behind the third person.

The dagger slanted upward from below, the tip precisely piercing through the gap between the Lingxi warrior's lower jaw and breathing mask, punching through the skull.

The warrior's body was still surging forward on inertia, but his head had already drooped powerlessly.

The fourth one — the player spun and swept past, the dagger flipping half a circle at his fingertips before being gripped tight, then stabbed backward into the neck.

The instant a blood arrow spurted, the assassin player had already surged forward; the dagger pierced through the fifth person's back armor, precisely stabbing into the blue heart at the center of the chest, and upon being withdrawn it trailed a wisp of blue.

The fifth one — the player slid low along the ground, the dagger slicing across from the lower body, laying down a Forbidden Blade mark.

The instant he rose, he hurled the dagger, piercing through the head of a Lingxi warrior ahead.

When the dagger's cold gleam emerged from this warrior's forehead, the player under Extreme Speed's boost had already arrived at his side; in the instant the dagger broke through the forehead, he precisely gripped the hilt, and by momentum slew a Lingxi warrior to his left.

The sixth, the seventh, the eighth….

The assassin-class player's movements flowed like water and drifting clouds; each strike could precisely lock onto a weak point through the Insight trait, dragging out a trail of death as he ran forward.

The dagger carved blood-colored arcs through the air one after another; each time his figure flickered, it was accompanied by the silent fall of a Lingxi warrior.

Puchi!

Kacha!

Faint slicing sounds rang out one after another; this group of Lingxi warriors hadn't even been able to catch a glimpse of the assassin-class player's figure.

They only felt a breeze brush past.

In just 5 seconds, the assassin-class player cut through the dozens of fleeing Lingxi warriors and arrived before the very frontmost one.

When the frontmost warrior sensed something was wrong and turned around in terror, the blood-colored dagger enlarged in his eyes, then punched straight through from between his brows.

Dong!

The corpse hit the ground.

The assassin-class player slowly straightened his body, flicked the blood droplets from his dagger, and swept a cold gaze over his surroundings.

Behind him, dozens of Lingxi warriors — all dead.

No screams, no struggle, not even the slightest chance to resist.

They didn't even know how they had died; in a single instant, their lives had been reaped clean.

The player gave a light snort; the blood-colored dagger flipped at his fingertips, then finally vanished into his sleeve.

"Guide-bro, is there anything valuable on the ground?" The cold aloofness on the assassin-class player's face suddenly vanished, replaced by a fawning look as he gazed at the guide orb floating beside him.

【There are three repair fluids in the fourth pocket on the left — worth some money; the rest of the gear can be sacrificed directly to Beneath Di Zhao.】

"Thanks, Guide-bro."

After dumping all the gear left behind by the Lingxi warriors wholesale to the Beneath Di Zhao recycling station.

The assassin-class player leaped once more and vanished into the shadows, stealthing in Dusk Shadow form, beginning to search for new prey.

A corner of the city's southwest, atop a towering building.

A player raised his hand and pulled at the air; flames churned between his fingers, finally condensing into a domineering, ferocious-looking longbow of blazing fire.

Lava-like patterns flowed along the bow's body; the bowstring was formed of fire-element enchanted particles.

The archer player's gaze swept the ground below as he slowly drew the bowstring; instantly, a burning Qi-Blood arrow materialized out of thin air.

The flames dancing on the arrowhead, boosted by the Mighty-Axe trait, were plated with a wisp of gold.

At this moment, his ears were filled with his teammate's shouts over the party chat channel:

"Rock-bro, I've already killed 13 — why haven't you opened your account yet? Don't freeload on the gains, hurry up and get moving."

"The area I dropped into was full of those beast-law squads; I couldn't compete with them at all. I'm just about to open my account now, stop bothering me."

Having spoken, the archer player's pupils contracted.

"First one." After a soft murmur, his fingers loosened.

The instant the Qi-Blood blazing arrow left the string, it dragged a blood-colored trail behind it.

A Lingxi warrior below who was organizing defenses didn't even have time to raise his head before the arrow had already pierced through his chest.

No fresh blood sprayed; the wound was instantly carbonized by the high temperature.

The warrior stared blankly downward at the bowl-sized hollow in his chest, its edges still flickering with sparks, then toppled over stiffly.

"Second one."

Another arrow was loosed; this time the target was a Lingxi warrior activating a defensive device.

After the mark was applied, the arrow precisely struck the Lingxi warrior's forehead, and the entire head shattered with a thunderous crack.

Panic spread among the group of Lingxi warriors.

They frantically searched for cover, but in the archer player's eyes, all such hiding was futile.

The Spirit Eye trait activated, and his line of sight met with no obstruction.

As long as a target was marked, it meant a hundred percent hit.

After marking every target in his line of sight simultaneously, the player activated the Scatter Shot trait.

"Clear the field."

He violently drew the bowstring, channeling Qi and blood into the bow; his health bar instantly dropped by a third.

Twang!

The arrow shot forth, exploding mid-air into 32 streaks of blood-colored light.

Each streak of light twisted and writhed like a living thing, carving serpentine trails through the air.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The sound of flesh exploding rang out simultaneously from streets over a hundred meters away.

The warrior behind cover on the east side was shot through the wall and headshot; fragments of his skull embedded into the building's ruins.

A Lingxi warrior sprinting on the west side had a bloody hole blown open in his back; the arrow punched clean through him and pinned into the ground.

A Lingxi warrior hefting a heavy shield was pierced clean through, man and shield alike; the arrow's momentum undiminished, it continued to pin through three more behind him.

A single arrow had cleared the field.

His gaze shifted to another direction; this time he marked targets in the order 1-2-3-4.

He loosed an arrow that weaved and darted through the group of Lingxi warriors, automatically adjusting its trajectory, once again slaying over a dozen Lingxi warriors.

When the last Lingxi warrior turned to ash within the Qi-and-blood flames, the archer player sheathed his longbow.

His gaze turned toward other parts of the city.

Seeing another spell tower rise in the distance, he couldn't help cursing inwardly.

At this moment, the player calamity continued to ravage the city.

Some players had already begun pulling flashy moves; players who had formed spell teams were placing elemental spell towers in various districts of the city, clearing Lingxi warriors over wide areas.

Plenty of players were furiously cursing in the chat channel, feeling these spell-class players were truly going too far.

"You beast spell teams, stop it! This is utterly inhuman — how can you just place spell towers anywhere? Are you leaving any resources for the rest of us?"

"I'm so pissed. I just found a group, and then a spell tower's long-range lock-on bombing came in — I didn't get so much as a hair. What kind of people are these?"

"Hahaha, the spell tower build is way too fun — quickly mowing down the little weaklings in the nearby area."

"The domain build is the most hateful. Around those players there's literally not a hair left — all of it churned to bits by elemental flood."

……

In terms of area-of-effect damage capability, players of other builds were far inferior to spell-class players.

Their behavior of placing spell towers in every district of the city simply didn't give other players a chance to enjoy the slaughter — monster-snatching efficiency maxed out.

During this period, some players also kept recruiting teammates in their districts, hoping to form calamity squads that moved together.

In terms of demand, the once most popular melee players had become objects of disdain.

On the Monster World battlefield, melee and tank builds were absolutely the core of any team — only when melee could hold the line could the back row deal out efficient damage.

But the enemies in the small-world instances were all weaklings.

There was simply no need for tank-build players to absorb damage; only efficient kills could earn more Shou Shou Jili.

So in terms of demand: spell-class players (all builds) > monster-build players > ranged physical > support (blood-burn, battery) > melee DPS > tank build.

Tank-build players, who in the past had to offer double the resources — or even higher resource quotas — to get into a party, now faced unprecedented cold-shouldering in the small-world instances.

In Musou mowing-grass mode, tank builds were, in the eyes of many players, dead weight hanging on the party to siphon a share of the profits.

There was simply no need for them to charge in and tank damage; a single round of spell-class bombardment could end the fight easily — what use were they?

Unless it was a friends-and-family squad leading the way, random players simply wouldn't let tank-build players into the party.

This left many tank-build players breaking down.

In Monster World, they had always been the core of the team.

They never lacked for parties; before joining one, they even got to pick and choose, negotiating a suitable profit split.

They never expected that upon entering the small-world instances, they'd become despised pariahs.

What humiliation.

Tank-build players with no choice could only opt to "band together for self-reliance," forming mutual-aid squads.

An entire party of nothing but tank builds — their kill efficiency was arguably the lowest on the field.

Among the destruction, the most thrilled were undoubtedly those players who had chosen the monster-build growth path.

They transformed themselves into war machines, wantonly destroying everything in the city.

The crushing sense of destruction, the exhilaration of steamrolling everything — these were hard to come by in Monster World.

But in this small world, they had finally found a stage that belonged to them.

Facing the players rampaging through the city, warriors within Life City kept emerging, launching counterattack after counterattack.

But in the players' eyes, resistance of this level wasn't even as tough as the small-scale skirmishes on the newbie-village battlefield.

The bio-armor on the Lingxi warriors, crafted from small-world-produced spirit materials, was too low in durability — collapsing at a single blow.

It gave the players the feeling of dealing true damage the whole time; any casual strike could sweep clean an entire area.

The only thing that annoyed the players was one point.

Too many fellow players — all competitors fighting over hunting resources.

Players arriving later, upon discovering the city was full of fellow players everywhere, decisively summoned their mounts and left.

The small-world instance's feature is that the explorable area is vast — there's no need at all to stubbornly grind at one spot.

Heading outside to explore, finding a new city to hog all the loot for yourself — that's the most satisfying way to play.

Before long, various vehicles tore across the long sky, carrying players away.

Players without vehicles at this point could only stare blankly, or choose to run on foot to travel and leave.

The new instance even attracted a large number of newbie players from the Senluo Forest region.

In Monster World they were the lowest-tier noobs, but in a small world they could easily beat up the natives.

Including players who had Painful Painful Minghun embedded and extracted.

The attribute boost brought by the Painful Painful Minghun upgrade was enough to let them transform into invincible supermen here, one punch per Life-Breath Warrior.

Under the players' violent crushing assault, all the Life-Breath Warriors in the city were slaughtered to the last.

But the destruction wasn't over yet.

Just now, during a Monster-stream player's violent swing-and-slam, they smashed through a section of ground.

As a result, they accidentally found a resource storage room and reaped a handsome resource haul.

The player who got the benefit posted a bragging screenshot in the regional chat channel, making all the other players green with envy.

This was also why players were still continuing to wreck the city.

A city was completely destroyed by players in just 2 hours.

Not a single intact building was left standing in the city.

Even the ground surface was smashed through by Monster-stream players, wanting to see if there were any undiscovered hidden resource bonuses beneath the surface.

After all, the official post said small worlds had many hidden bonuses.

So as long as there was the slightest possibility, players wouldn't let it go.

Digging down thirty feet — that was the proper attitude toward hidden bonuses.

……

68 kilometers north of Life-Breath City.

Wave-Breath City.

The Lord of Wave-Breath City, who had just completed the memory-sac transplant surgery, Face Grew Solemn. His brand-new body bent and rose, and he looked down at the warrior kneeling before him.

"You mean to say Life-Breath City was invaded by an unknown force and has already fallen?"

"My Lord, the information comes from the Life-Breath Network — it absolutely cannot be wrong. The invasion crisis has now spread to multiple cities."

Hearing the four words "Life-Breath Network," information recorded in the memory sac surged forth.

The Life-Breath Network mentioned by his subordinate was the biological network system of the Life-Breath World, built upon the working principles of biological neurons.

Each neuron was an independent biological unit, capable of receiving and transmitting information.

These neurons communicated via bioelectric signals, forming a vast network that covered the entire Life-Breath World.

Realizing the severity of the problem, the Lord of Wave-Breath City couldn't bother adjusting to his new body and immediately rose, saying:

"Deploy the city's defenses. The entire city enters war readiness. I'm going to contact the Super-Beast Legion right now."

After the order was issued, Wave-Breath City's defense system activated rapidly.

The entire city was like a giant beast awakening from slumber, emitting a muffled roar.

At the top of the bio-tower in the city center, a blood-red light pillar shot skyward, and upon reaching a certain height, spread outward in all directions.

The rapidly generated energy shield looked like a layer of semi-transparent membrane, enveloping all of Wave-Breath City, its surface covered with tiny blood-vessel-like patterns that channeled energy to every corner of the shield.

Hundreds of bio-defense towers within the city also activated in turn.

These buildings twisted and grew in midair, spikes protruding from their surfaces, like living giant beasts standing within the city.

Warriors who received the notification quickly entered war readiness, donned bio-armor, equipped claw-blades, and put on breathing masks.

Warriors throughout the city walked out of buildings and gazed up at the clear sky.

Sunlight fell on Wave-Breath City's bio-energy shield, reflecting a soft, gentle glow.

But this tranquility carried a heavy, oppressive weight.

Time trickled by; tension spread through the city, and an invisible pressure like a Dashan pressed on their spines, making the city's warriors incomparably tense.

Just then, a hoverboard trailing colorful streamers of light swept across the sky above the city.

But not long after flying out, the hoverboard reversed and hovered above the city.

Then a figure dropped from the sky.

Finally landing on the city wall.

The figure standing on the city wall slowly raised both hands, and instantly a domain field expanded sharply with him at its center.

Four elements — raging ink-flame, thunderbolt, dissolution, and ice-mist breath — interwove in the air, forming a massive energy vortex.

At the vortex's center, the figure shrouded by the four elemental energies brought an almost suffocating pressure upon the city's warriors.

The rampaging elemental energies collided against the city's defense shield, crackling loudly.

Crack!

Cracks appeared on the shield's surface; the tiny blood-vessel patterns snapped rapidly under the violent elemental assault.

Warriors in the city gazed up at the sky, sweat seeping from their faces beneath their breathing masks.

"Wh-what kind of monster is this," a Life-Breath warrior murmured softly as he gazed at the sky, his voice tinged with unconcealable fear.

The city's defense system — and it had been damaged by a single combat unit of the invading force.

This was a defense system built by mustering the entire city's power.

Hearing his murmur, the warriors beside him all subconsciously clenched their fists, their gazes fixed dead on the sky, Hu Xi Jia Zhong.

The energy vortex continued to expand; ink-flame, thunderbolt, dissolution, and ice-mist breath were like four ferocious wild beasts, madly tearing at Wave-Breath City's defensive wall.

Each impact came with deafening booms and the sound of the defense shield shattering.

Every explosion seemed to trample on the hearts of the warriors within the city, filling them with boundless despair.

They knew that facing such an existence, any resistance was futile.

A deep sense of powerlessness and despair, like a tide, drowned their hearts.

The sky remained clear, yet it terrified them more than any darkness ever could.

Boom!

Finally, the energy shield shattered completely with a deafening roar.

Like a punctured water bubble, it turned into countless fragments that rained down from the sky.

The hearts of all the warriors sank to the bottom as well.

The figure shrouded by the four elements, now unobstructed, fell straight down from the sky amidst the falling debris.

The raging elemental domain crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact, as if the heavens had collapsed and the earth trembled.

Boom!

Four elemental torrents—Ink Flame, Galloping Thunder, Dissolution, and Ice Mist Breath—erupted instantly.

Like four ancient ferocious beasts breaking free from their bonds, they swept across the shrouded area with a force that could crush withered grass.

The Ink Flame, like hellfire, incinerated everything in its path into ash; even the air was ignited, emitting piercing explosions.

Galloping Thunder transformed into countless lightning snakes, raging wildly through the sky, tearing the heavens apart and shattering the earth; every bolt of Lei Guang carried the power to destroy all, cleaving entire blocks of buildings into fragments.

The invisible acid released by Dissolution corroded and melted everything it touched; no material within the city could withstand such corrosion.

The Ice Mist Breath froze the debris dancing in the sky mid-air; at a glance, it seemed as if time itself had halted at that moment.

The four elements intertwined, forming a grand feast of elemental torrents that moved along with this calamity-like figure.

Like the arrival of the apocalypse, it gradually devoured the entire city.

The streets of Langxi City cracked under the impact of the elemental torrents, buildings collapsed under the elements' rampage, and the whole city wailed under the power unleashed by this calamity figure.

The Lingxi Warriors did not even have the courage to approach the elemental domain.

Yet, this figure had no intention of sparing them.

When the warriors within the city attempted to retreat toward the city gates, the figure, which looked like a demon in their eyes, summoned a colorful skateboard and soared back into the sky.

With both hands raised high toward the heavens, a black fireball formed above his head as he ascended, expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye, its surface wreathed in black lightning arcs.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a black sun, releasing surging energy fluctuations.

A melodramatic voice echoed across the city sky at that moment:

"How many floors must I carry a bag of rice!"

With those words, the raging black fireball grew larger under the despairing gaze of the Lingxi Warriors.

All that remained in their ears was the howling wind and the pounding of their own hearts, as fear spread wildly in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)