Chapter 321

Analyzing the displayed content made Jiang Zhou's heart pound.

Many opportunity events that players had shared on the forum quickly surfaced in his mind.

Behind every event described within, the involved players had received substantial rewards.

This group of players was also called by the forum: Children of Destiny.

Could it be... that the chance to get rich suddenly arrived without warning?

But thinking of the analysis information showing that special lifeforms guarded the semi-independent space, he felt he might lack the strength to explore this area.

Puzzled in his heart, he chose to seek help from the Guide.

"Guide brother, with my current strength, if I enter to explore, can I obtain resources?"

【No. The hunting level of the monster guarding inside is 179. With your strength, breaking through its defense will be difficult.】

"Then, can I steal the resources stored inside by sneaking?" Jiang Zhou asked again, full of expectation.

【The probability is 0. The space scene inside is not large. Once you enter, you will encounter the special lifeform guarding it. Death is certain.】

The Guide's answer made Jiang Zhou sigh helplessly.

Since the analysis stated that the inside was a semi-independent space storing resources, it proved there was wealth to be taken.

Alas, this opportunity was temporarily out of his reach.

"Never mind, I'll just continue my delivery mission."

Glancing at the fishhook still stuck in the coral formation diagram, Jiang Zhou decided to give up on it.

The fishhook was obviously impossible to take away, after all, this spatial portal would only open one day later.

But the fishing line bought at a high price naturally could not be abandoned; he decisively pulled out a dagger from his spatial bag.

Placing the blade against the end of the taut, straight fishing line, he began sawing with great effort.

The seemingly slender fishing line remained completely undamaged no matter how hard he pulled.

Helpless, Jiang Zhou had to change his posture.

Pressing his feet against the edge of the coral formation diagram, he gripped the fishing line tightly with his left hand and used his right hand to hold the dagger, leveraging the tension of the line to saw back and forth repeatedly.

Only when his arms grew sore did a few thin strands at the end of the fishing line snap.

Realizing that sawing like this was not working, he summoned the Power Axe and switched to a chopping stance.

But exerting force underwater was difficult, and combined with water resistance, the effect was still poor.

In the end, he switched back to the sawing mode, determined to take back this high-priced fishing line.

He wouldn't make a profit, but he absolutely could not lose money.

As for the semi-independent space within the formation diagram, he planned to explore it in the future when his strength was greater.

He had already memorized the location coordinates.

The opportunity would eventually be his; all he needed to do was continue to develop and grow, striving to return as soon as possible, and then claim his destined wealth.

Just then, Challenger notifications rang out continuously in his mind.

【Challenger Notification: Congratulations on discovering a Domain Node region. Reward: Shou Shou Jili: 1000 Shou Shou Jili.】

【Challenger Notification (All Channels): Rule Node "Quantification" discovered. Occupying the Domain Node yields substantial rewards.】

Mission Reward: Quantification (Rule - All).

Mission Duration: Infinite (until the node is occupied).

The sudden notification left Jiang Zhou stunned.

He also realized that the chance to get rich was completely out of his reach; at best, he could only take the consolation prize of 1000 points of Shou Shou Jili.

The appearance of the Rule Node set the forum ablaze.

Gathering, Enlightenment, Divine Shift... every Domain Rule could benefit all players.

The early Gathering rule allowed the strength of the Painful Painful Minghun that consumed air to continuously increase as the number of players grew.

A Generation One Painful Painful Minghun could always rank on the T0 divine altar of the version; even without upgrading the Painful Painful Minghun's level, its recovery efficiency gradually increased as the number of embedded players grew.

The Enlightenment Shop brought by the Enlightenment rule was the same.

Various tactics that made one's scalp tingle were often completed by purchasing items in the Enlightenment Shangcheng.

The video of the "Million Radiant Slash Turning the Tide" commanded by Tourist No. 1 remains number one on the video popularity chart to this day.

The strength of the Divine Shift rule was no weaker than the previous two.

It completely eliminated the problem of some Painful Painful Minghun not being universal, allowing magic-type players to embed Painful Painful Minghun like Scattered Arrows that mainly boosted physical attributes, and the same applied to Qi-Blood type players.

Although the specific effect of the Quantification Domain Rule is not yet clear.

Players already have expectations regarding it.

Many warbands launched actions, preparing to head to the Rule Node region marked by the golden star to participate in the upcoming Containment War.

But the appearance of a post on the forum shattered many players' beautiful fantasies about containing the new Domain Rule.

【Brothers, let me pour a bucket of cold water on you; the Quantification Domain probably cannot be contained at this stage. Specific analysis follows】:

Poster: Super God Little Chick.

Content:

I just asked the Guide in detail about the situation of the new Rule Domain.

Next, I'll tell you brothers about this new Rule Domain that has appeared.

The Quantification Domain is already marked on the map, so there is no situation of not being able to find it, but when you go there, you will discover it is a semi-independent space.

It only opens during specific time periods.

Every 23 hours and 57 minutes, it opens for a duration of 23 minutes.

This was originally the time for the clan that created the space to enter the semi-independent space to collect resources; at other times, it is sealed.

Inside, a monster of Hunting Level 179 stands guard; its strength is extremely high, and the spatial node crystal beneath it cannot be accessed unless it is slain.

Just so, this is not a major problem.

The tricky part is that the carrying capacity within the semi-independent space is limited, accommodating at most ten thousand players.

To maneuver and fight flexibly, the scale must be reduced to under one thousand players.

This means the combat method of infinite respawning and endurance is completely unworkable; only elite small-group combat is viable.

But at this stage, no group possesses the strength to defeat a Hunting Level 179 monster.

Even the "Veteran Corps," one of the groups universally acknowledged as having the greatest strength at present, cannot achieve it.

The Veteran Corps' greatest feat was during the Kongyuan Peak Campaign, where they activated the Bao Jun Fa manifestation and repelled six Snow Ridge King Beasts of around Hunting Level 130.

I estimate Tie Ye's combat power during his burst phase can reach around Level 140.

It seems the gap between him and the guardian lifeform in the semi-independent space is only 39 levels, but this gap is even greater than the strength difference between a starting player and a Level 39 player; even if the Veteran Corps attacks together, they are not enough.

As for fighting by grinding down its health, that is also unfeasible.

Upon consulting the guide, the creature guarding the node inside possesses extremely strong recovery abilities and can draw energy from the node to heal.

One day is enough for it to recover from critical health to full health.

Here, I propose a relatively reliable containment plan.

That is to have the Forum's Scholars consult the library, attempt to crack the semi-independent space, and completely shatter the spatial barrier of the coordinate location.

In this way, the domain node will detach from the semi-independent space and be exposed to the outside world.

As long as it succeeds, a mere Hunting Level 179 monster will be easily slain under the assault of our players' infinite respawns.

Therefore, Scholars, do not sleep; it is time for you to contribute to the Player Clan.

Fellow villagers need your assistance.

This post extinguished the enthusiasm of many players regarding the new rules for containing territories.

A Hunting Level of 179 is simply too high in strength.

Under the restriction of player numbers, how difficult it is to achieve victory.

Only by attempting to crack the spatial barrier is there a possibility of successfully containing the "Quantified Rule."

But some player groups still refuse to give up hope.

Hearing others on the Forum is one thing; trying it personally is another.

After learning the space unsealing time through the guide, numerous warbands went to challenge it.

The result was that a large number of players were congested within a single spatial scene.

During this time, various shouts and curses arose; many players could not move at all, forcibly blocked by their own fellow villagers.

Ultimately, they were all easily slaughtered by a creature named "Doll No. 2" within the semi-independent space scene.

After the video was uploaded to the Forum, it caused a chorus of wails.

Many players lost heart.

Facts prove that players at this stage are completely insufficient to contain this rule node.

The next day, the vast majority of players chose to give up, but some player teams still went to challenge it.

Without the phenomenon of players blocking other players, yet in the face of Doll No. 2's super combat power, many elite warbands still fell.

Generally, within about five minutes of entering, they would be sent back to Di Zhong Village.

The 23-minute entry time was enough for four elite teams to participate in the challenge.

One week later.

Players had basically all given up.

But one player had not yet.

Di Zhong Village Library.

Outside the window, a continuous drizzle was falling; Ding Xiao sat in a seat by the window.

Floating before his eyes was the Forum interface; at this moment, he was repeatedly watching the recordings of elite warbands from various guilds challenging Doll No. 2 over these past days.

When the footage of the Starfall Warband's annihilation played, Ding Xiao could not help but let out a light laugh:

"These guys still have the same old problem; they are too fond of balanced combat."

If other players heard this statement, they would probably feel surprised.

The Starfall Guild has extremely high visibility on the Player Forum; it is a potential guild that has risen rapidly recently and has now formed a United Warband.

Their unified combat commander, "Ye Lan," has demonstrated outstanding command ability many times during node territory containment campaigns.

At that time, it became a hot topic on the Forum; the "Tidal Cycle Tactics," specifically designed to counter the Black Tide system, was invented by Ye Lan of the Starfall Guild.

Regarding Ye Lan, Ding Xiao was not unfamiliar.

When the Land of Sin was still very popular, the Starfall Guild led by Ye Lan had multiple conflicts of interest with the guild he established.

But without exception, the Starfall Guild was always the defeated party.

Upon entering the Monster World this time, he did not choose to rebuild a war-type guild.

It was not that he was tired of the passion of thousands of troops colliding and slaughtering, but that he suddenly understood one thing.

True command art lies not in how many people one can command, but in how many people's potential one can squeeze to the extreme.

Therefore, after entering the Monster World, he founded the "Star Gazer Guild," an elite guild with only 512 members.

There were no redundant departments, nor complex hierarchies, only the purest tactical executors.

For him, this was a new challenge and also new fun.

And every member within his team was an elite among elites; some had come with him from the old game.

Others were recruited on the Winter Snowfield battlefield, as well as through private messages on the Forum.

In the old game, the ID "Breaking Ten Thousand Armies" was a golden hallmark; it applied in the Monster World too.

Unfortunately, he was a third-wave veteran player of the Monster World, and that ID had already been taken by players recruited in the first two waves.

So every recruitment required reporting the old game's ID to boost the guild's appeal.

Having experienced the Monster World for a year and a half, his main battlefield was now the Adventurer Dungeon.

Leading teams to constantly challenge high-difficulty dungeons was where his joy lay.

The semi-independent space that had sparked heated discussion on the forum aroused his deep interest.

But with too many challenge teams in the early stages, and now that the hype had faded, he felt it was time to make his move.

On the desk, an open virtual notebook recorded the vast amount of information he had noted while reviewing footage.

This included a series of combat characteristics of the "Doll No. 2" guarding the semi-independent space, as well as many potential problems.

One reason recent challenge teams had perished en masse was that every battle group had arrived fully equipped, with participation numbers generally exceeding one thousand.

A semi-independent space was not like an open battlefield; the space within was limited.

For a battle group of a thousand, player movement space was restricted, making it impossible to exert their full combat power, and even dodging damage was difficult.

He drew the space map on the virtual notebook, feeling that around six hundred people was the most suitable challenge scale; any more would cause mutual interference.

But before launching the challenge, he needed to perfect the tactics.

The scenes within the semi-independent space gradually became clear under his pen, lines outlining the space's contours, followed by a set of precise movement trajectories.

Ding Xiao's pen tip paused lightly on the paper, drawing a striking red circle.

This was the "Absolute Domain" of Doll No. 2; any player stepping into it would trigger its berserk mechanism.

Interestingly, after repeatedly studying the footage, he found that this seemingly terrifying guardian monster was actually far simpler than the cunning high-intelligence monsters in the wild.

Doll No. 2 was more like a precise killing machine, operating according to a pre-set program.

Every time it raised a hand, every time it rotated, even every time it pulled a thread, there was a pattern to follow.

It was just that Doll No. 2's behavioral logic was relatively complex, making it appear to act completely autonomously.

He recorded these pieces of information one by one in the virtual notebook.

【Whenever a player approaches the Absolute Domain, a range attack will erupt.】

He marked out this range with a red circle.

【Within 1.5 seconds after the crying sound appears, all thread attacks will experience a brief delay...】

The video was still playing when Ding Xiao's pen tip suddenly stopped.

He rewound the footage, then pulled up seventeen different battle group destruction videos, freezing the frame on the moment the doll initiated its massive range attack.

He discovered that in all the videos, at this stage, Doll No. 2's right ring finger bent at the same angle, as if loosely holding an invisible flower.

"So that's it."

A new line of text appeared on the notebook:

【Before the massive range attack: Doll No. 2's right ring finger curls inward in advance.】

He recorded these details one by one in his tactical notes, gradually piecing together a strange answer.

Every action of Doll No. 2 was like a choreographed dance move.

As long as you found the beat, you could predict every one of its dance steps.

Such monsters were very rare in the Monster World.

Characters like the Earth-Mind Bully and the Lord of Extreme Bliss, along with a series of other villain roles, possessed super-high intelligence, even surpassing that of players.

These rule-following lifeforms, fighting according to a pre-set program, were more like the "idiot monsters" of the old game.

Or rather, like a low-intelligence robot. He even discovered a fatal flaw in Doll No. 2: when attacking, if the previous action was not completed, the next command could not appear.

In other words, its adaptability was half a beat slower than that of players.

A hunting level of 179, yet so clumsy; in a year and a half of playing the Monster World, this was the first time he had encountered such a thing.

Even monsters created by weaker races possessed a higher level of intelligence than Doll No. 2.

It was like handing a sword that could slice iron like mud to an ignorant child; Doll No. 2's power and intelligence level were completely mismatched.

Theoretically, no race would build such a low-capability combat unit to guard a resource treasury.

He did not know the specific reason.

But this discovery made him more confident in defeating Doll No. 2.

The sound of rain outside the window gradually subsided; the weather system of Di Zhong Village began to change, and moonlight pierced through the clouds, shining on the tactical plan he had just completed.

It was already covered in dense markings and arrows, woven into an invisible net.

And Doll No. 2 would become the trapped beast within this net.

Half a day remained before the semi-independent space opened.

Ding Xiao began organizing personnel, requiring guild members to assemble in the Colorful Mist Coast region.

The guild team, usually challenging difficulties in Adventurer Dungeons, all came to the Colorful Mist Coast region upon receiving the notice, following Ding Xiao toward the semi-independent space.

Along the way, Ding Xiao began deploying tactics through the guild chat group.

He reconfigured the Star Pulse combinations of the guild members.

During this time, using images, videos, and other content, he explained in detail, like a lecture, a series of combat abilities displayed by Doll No. 2 and reasonable countermeasures.

Secondly, he assigned different combat roles to different players.

Compared to large-scale battles where operational plans had to be made for different sub-groups, the advantage of small teams was that tasks could be assigned to individuals.

He divided the space in the footage into 500 grids, numbering each grid from 1 to 500.

Before the battle began, he required every player to memorize the specific location of each grid to facilitate rapid response and deployment during command.

Time arrived at the afternoon sunset and dusk.

The team, led by Ding Xiao, arrived at the region marked by Golden Fish on the Cangxing Sea map, after which the members leaped from their vehicles and plunged into the sea.

At the entrance of the semi-independent space, the original array diagram was now twisting.

While waiting, it became a vortex-shaped spatial entrance.

Ding Xiao led 512 members of the Star Gazer Guild in single file.

Before them lay a circular canyon, with Doll Number Two positioned at the center of the scene.

Its body, over ten meters tall, appeared to be made of ceramic, its surface covered in cracks, as if a broken toy had been reassembled.

Its facial features were blurred, with a crack running horizontally across its cheeks.

Sensing the players' arrival, Doll Number Two turned its neck, and threads from its fingertips condensed into a silver-white spiderweb.

"Tanks hold the front, activate Blood Wall. Magic users and archers disperse according to the previously defined matrix. Warriors prepare to charge. Healers maintain the Life Connection cycle."

Ding Xiao issued the orders swiftly.

As the Star Gazer Guild members adjusted their positions according to Ding Xiao's commands, their eyes quickly scanned the surrounding scene.

Based on the grid squares numbered 1 to 500 that Ding Xiao had divided earlier, they pieced together a rough outline of the scene in their minds.

Although they had not inlaid the Brain Overclock Painful Painful Minghun, the attribute boost also brought an improvement in their logical thinking.

Those who could enter the Star Gazer Guild were also super elites among the players, and they demonstrated efficient tactical coordination the moment they entered.

The 512 people, like precise gears, spread out around Doll Number Two.

103 tank-style players surged forward instantly, crimson energy surging around them, and the released blood qi ultimately formed a connected Blood Wall that locked Doll Number Two inside.

In the back row, magic users gathered lightning, fire, and ice energy in their palms.

Archers stood at the very back charging up, the blood qi arrows condensed at their fingertips glowing with a bloody light.

Warriors dispersed to both sides according to tactical markers, with sword qi coiling around their rune-resonating weapons.

Healer players stood at the center of the battle formation, and the Life Connection ribbons flowed between the team members like a stream.

At this moment, Doll Number Two moved, its blue pupils locking onto the front-line tanks, and a sound wave resembling weeping rose from its mouth.

A mental shockwave attacked, but it was blocked by the protection of the Blood Wall.

"The weeping has begun; next, there will be a sweep of threads across the entire field. Wait for my command to move. Magic users and archers, aim at the crack on Doll Number Two's left chest and prepare to attack."

Speaking thus, Ding Xiao activated the Eagle-Head Demon Perception and Brain Overclock traits, then used the Marking Painful Painful Minghun to place a Marking Painful Painful Minghun on the crack in Doll Number Two's left chest.

Just then, the silver-white threads in Doll Number Two's hands danced wildly, sweeping across the scene like a laser matrix.

The blood qi barrier set up by the tank team was instantly cut and shattered.

The players in the guild team quickly began to move according to Ding Xiao's orders.

But this movement was not to fixed locations; Ding Xiao's orders changed every second, keeping the players in a state of constant motion throughout.

In the first engagement, facing the dense dance of silver threads, three players quickly made a mistake in their movement and were instantly struck by the silver-white threads.

Fortunately, with the support of the Healer team's Life Connection trait, they preserved their lives.

Yet in that instant, the team's combined health dropped by 23.38%.

The remaining players quickly adjusted, using the Blood Soul Tether Chains to pull the players who had mistakenly entered the danger zone back to safe positions.

But the crisis was not resolved; the chaotic dance of the silver threads did not pause, and they now needed to maintain combat output while dodging.

"Wild Horse stays, the rest of the tanks retreat to the third row of grids."

Having spoken, Ding Xiao marked the location of the third row on the map.

After the order was issued, the tank players retreated in unison, leaving only one player remaining in the danger zone.

The purpose of this player was to make Doll Number Two judge that there were still enemies in front, triggering a close-range area explosion specifically targeting melee fighters next.

Sacrificing this player would buy 12 seconds of output time.

A few seconds later, just as Ding Xiao had planned in advance, Doll Number Two activated an area bombardment.

The tank-style players whose Life Connections had been severed instantly turned into black smoke.

The remaining players all struck out, directing their full output toward the positions marked by Ding Xiao.

The elemental bombardment of the magic users went off first, followed closely by the blood qi energy arrows of the archers, exploding into brilliant fireworks at the stitching lines.

This was the "Energy Conduction Weakness" that Ding Xiao had specifically located using "Spiritual Eyes."

Only by fiercely attacking the weakness could Doll Number Two be killed.

At the fifth minute of the battle, Doll Number Two suddenly spun in place, curling its right ring finger inward.

This was precisely the "Precursor to Area Strike" that Ding Xiao had marked in his tactical notebook.

"All archers, seal the marked location."

Under the Spiritual Eyes trait, the energy flow paths on Doll Number Two's body were clearly visible.

After Ding Xiao placed a mark on the nodes of the energy flow, the rain of arrows instantly struck the marked positions the very next second.

Boom!

The multiple seals instantly extinguished the ultra-large area strike that Doll Number Two was about to release.

"Tanks hold the front! Teams 1, 2, and 3, use Blood Soul Tether! Activate Stone Statue for strong fixation! The rest activate Slowness to restrict!"

After the order was issued, all tank-style players quickly rushed close to Doll Number Two, releasing Blood Soul Tether Chains to coil around the marked positions on Doll Number Two.

They then decisively activated the Gargoyle form, their bodies coated in a layer of pitch black, transforming into iron stakes nailed to the ground.

The remaining tank-style players simultaneously activated the Slowness Domain.

Instantly, Doll Number Two, which was trying to enter the next phase of high-frequency output, was forcibly bound in place, its movements visibly becoming sluggish.

"Focus fire on the marked position! Warrior team, prepare to charge! Tian Feng, go to grid 39, prepare to sacrifice!"

Taking advantage of the moment before Doll Number Two could unleash powerful output, Ding Xiao's roar echoed through the guild voice channel, and all players began their full output.

The archers' blood qi arrows shot like a meteor shower, exploding into dense breaches at the left knee joint.

"Deactivate the Slowness Domain! The Petrification squad prepare to retreat! Beef, activate Wind-Breaking Domain, lead a round of burst damage, and retreat on my command."

After the command was issued, the leading warrior decisively activated the Wind-Breaking Aura, leading the other warrior players to rapidly close in on Doll Number Two, their blades thrusting straight into the joint gaps.

When Doll Number Two entered its berserk mode and a red halo appeared on its body, Ding Xiao issued the retreat order without hesitation.

Facing a monster with extremely high damage output, the result of greedily seeking damage is total party wipe.

Survival is the core key to winning victory.

The silver threads danced wildly again, and the combat rhythm entered the evasion phase once more.

During this process, various items appeared one after another.

First came a series of buff items purchased from the Enlightenment Shangcheng, followed by various amplification potions with side effects.

The battle gradually entered the item race phase; the attack logic sequence of Doll Number Two became increasingly chaotic, and as more players were actively sacrificed, Ding Xiao gradually felt the pressure.

Throughout the entire process, the guild members were in constant motion, daring not to rest for even a moment.

Including Ding Xiao, who was in charge of command, he moved while commanding, otherwise his body would be sliced by the silver threads in the next second.

The most impressive moment during this period was the mutual pulling of the Blood Soul Tether Chains between the warriors and the tank players.

For positions where dodging was unavoidable, the Blood Soul Tether was used to instantly pull teammates in danger out of harm's way.

Within the death grid woven by silver-white threads, the Blood Soul Chains traced arcs of crimson redemption.

The tactics were adjusted again shortly after.

Assassin-type players approached their own tank players according to Ding Xiao's orders; after the tank players reached out and grabbed the assassins' arms, they suddenly erupted with rigid energy to propel them, quickly throwing them toward Doll Number Two.

After the assassin players unleashed a round of close-range damage, they were then pulled back to a safe position by the Blood Soul Chains.

At this point, the assassin-type players became throwing weapons in the hands of the tank-type players; every time they were thrown out to deal a round of damage, they were pulled back.

Every strike was carried out under Ding Xiao's precise calculation.

At the moment the silver thread grid contracted, the assassin players once again became blood-feather arrows released from a bowstring, burning with rigid energy to pierce the air, precisely skimming the gaps of the death grid, their blades erupting with a series of explosions at the joints of Doll Number Two.

After completing another round of damage output, just as Doll Number Two's counterattack was about to reach them, the tank-type players simultaneously pulled the chains under Ding Xiao's command.

The chains condensed with blood qi instantly pulled the assassin-type players back, like birds returning to their nest; their bodies landed while skimming the edges of the silver thread trajectories.

"Again, prepare the Life Link!"

Ding Xiao's orders were like the baton of an orchestra, keeping time by observing the movement trajectory of Doll Number Two.

Under his control, the battle group transformed into a precision-operating killing machine.

Every strike was like a carefully arranged accent in a movement; the assassins transformed into a swarm of blood-red meteors thrusting forward, tearing through the air with the propulsion of the tank players.

Following the safe curves predicted by Ding Xiao, like swallows bypassing a storm.

Every instant the silver thread grid contracted was the moment the blood-red blades returned to their sheaths.

In the high-intensity battle, a single player's minor mistake would cause the entire group's health to plummet by over 10% instantly.

While the Observer Guild group demonstrated an efficient combat rhythm, a total party wipe could occur in a single breath.

When the battle group's member losses reached 230, the damage output efficiency had already dropped significantly.

Since they could not see Doll Number Two's health bar, there was no way to intuitively judge how much more damage Doll Number Two could withstand.

But Ding Xiao's team undoubtedly set a new combat time record.

From entry to the space closing, they had been inside for 32 minutes, performing an artistic display of coordinated combat throughout.

Facing Doll Number Two, which still had the strength to continuously deal damage, Ding Xiao knew this round of challenge would most likely end in defeat.

Taking advantage of the fact that the players in the guild battle group still had strength remaining, he chose to go all in:

"Everyone prepare your positions; I will activate the formation in 10 seconds."

The remaining players, during the gap in this round of attacks, spread out with Ding Xiao as the center.

At this moment, Ding Xiao also raised his right hand high; a battle formation seal burst forth from his palm, a bronze-colored halo radiated around his body, and the afterimage of a giant statue manifestation appeared behind him.

The shadowy arm, massive as a mountain, gripped a broken chain, and blood-red flames flickered within the manifestation's pupils.

Spiritual patterns spread out from himself beneath Ding Xiao's feet; the guild players quickly fell into formation, continuously charging the battle formation.

The shadowy manifestation gradually solidified; elemental torrents surged around it, enveloping the players within the battle formation; activating each "Battle Formation Attribute" triggered an energy resonance.

The entire process was completed in less than 3 seconds.

At this moment, the shadowy manifestation punched out, and the gushing elemental torrents swept toward Doll Number Two.

The battle officially entered the final sprint phase.

But this strike did not cause any substantial effect on Doll Number Two; silver-white threads quickly wrapped around.

The battle formation's health plummeted rapidly.

Finally, the Observer Guild group held out for another 12 seconds before being sent back to Di Zhong Village by the dense assault, resulting in a total party wipe.

One hour later, the figures of Ding Xiao and his teammates reappeared at the respawn point.

After spending an hour in the small black room repeatedly watching the combat replay, Ding Xiao gained a new understanding of Doll Number Two's strength.

Its extremely high defense made it difficult for players to inflict effective damage, which was also the reason for the final total party wipe.

He thought about adjusting multiple tactical plans, but they all seemed unfeasible.

"Boss, how about we borrow some people from a few top-tier guilds?"

The vice-leader's voice rang out in the guild chat channel.

"That is exactly what I intend to do." Ding Xiao nodded.

The current battle group of 512 people could still expand by about 80 players; any more would affect combat coordination.

Having clarified his thoughts, Ding Xiao summoned his contact list.

He found "Wo Si Ni Die" from the Fan Zui Guild and sent a message:

"Brothers, sisters, lend me a batch of elites; an old friend is in Xian Ru Kun Jing."

Not long after, Wo Si Ni Die sent a reply:

"Who the hell is your buddy? You wouldn't even agree to join the guild, and now you have the nerve to ask me for people... Tell me, what's going on?"

Ding Xiao didn't explain; he sent a video of challenging Doll Number Two.

Shortly after, Wo Si Ni Die sent a reply:

"How many do you need? Who do you need? Should I help you ask the God King for a few super-tanky players?"

"Thanks. Remember to call up your grandfather's veteran battalion. I still need eighty elites here; rely on your connections to get them."

"No problem... By the way, Old Wan, do you really have no intention of rebuilding a top-tier war battalion?"

"Too tired. I'm getting old. Now I just want to play with a small elite squad."

"You're not even thirty yet. If you're impotent, just admit you're impotent. Don't blame everything on age. I'll get people for you right now."

Closing the private chat window, Ding Xiao rubbed his temples.

So many years have passed, yet that crazy woman from the Fan Zui Tuan still speaks so harshly.

But with her help, he was more confident about defeating Doll Number Two.

8,300 words submitted. 10,000 words tomorrow~

(End of this chapter)