How Could This Boss Level Up?

The shields of the three assault boats that were hit first shattered completely in less than half a second, and their hulls twisted and deformed like cans hit by a heavy hammer. The players inside were turned into mincemeat before they could even scream.

Inside the assault boat of the deceased player, something was silently activated, beeping softly.

Even though Barton's sneak attack was sudden, more than half of the players reacted in time, and all sorts of attacks came out in a dazzling array, forming a colorful web.

Barton neither dodged nor evaded; dense, dark gold Runes appeared on the keratinous scales covering his body. Most of the attacks that struck the scales were deflected and refracted, while the few that penetrated only left shallow scorch marks.

"What the hell?"

Barton laughed maniacally, his figure flashing as he appeared directly above an assault boat. His tail coiled around it, and then the warhammer in his mouth slammed down, the crimson crystal core on the hammerhead glowing with a blinding light.

Thump!

A dull thud echoed across the starry sea. The assault ship was... smashed flat, its three-dimensional form pulverized into a two-dimensional sheet of metal less than ten centimeters thick. The players inside were crushed and exploding into blood and gore, spurting out from the cracks in the hull.

"Monster... this is a fucking monster!" a player shouted. "Our attacks are completely ineffective! He's at least a Legendary player at level 85 or higher!"

"Shut up!"

The Legendary player leading the team—nicknamed [Steelbreaker]—flew out of the ship and roared.

He was clad in silver-gray armor, wielding a gleaming slashing sword in each hand. "Second and third squads, hold them off! First squad, follow me! Keep your distance, his attack range is limited!"

The tactical adjustments were swiftly executed. The remaining assault boats dispersed, and the players launched harassing attacks from different angles.

Five elite players, ranging from Lv.78 to Lv.80, surrounded [Steelbreaker], each receiving various buffs—strength amplification, speed boost, elemental resistance, etc.

A standard formation for fighting a boss.

Barton tilted his head, a sharp crack echoing in his neck. He suddenly grinned. "That's right... that's more like it..."

Before he could finish speaking, terrifying energy erupted from the thin sheet wrapped around him and from the shattered assault boat beside him, and extreme heat accompanied by a shockwave suddenly descended!

Amid the terrifying explosion, [Steelbreaker] directed a dozen players to set up positions and the remaining players to retreat, while simultaneously sending information back to the main force via his wristband.

"The enemy certainly won't die easily from a non-close-range nuclear bomb. Be prepared!"

A dozen seconds later, a blood-red monster, its body covered in mangled flesh and blood, emerged weakly from the Chaos area ravaged by the explosion.

"Interesting... Blood Skull Sacrifice!"

A small mountain of heads suddenly appeared in the Void, the empty eye sockets of the layers of heads resembling dense mold spots under a damp wooden board.

As you can see, more than a dozen heads have silently appeared on top.

Barton's body erupted with crimson flames, and the incoming attacks were completely Annihilation within three meters of the flames, without even causing a ripple.

[Steelbreaker] stared at the detected Barton panel, his pupils shrinking sharply. "No! The intelligence is wrong! How did his level become Lv.88?! -- Retreat! Retreat immediately!"

But it was too late.

The warhammer in Barton's hand vanished, turning into a sky full of blood-red fragments. The fragments rapidly reassembled in mid-air, transforming in the blink of an eye into 365 palm-sized bone blades, each blade flowing with dark red corrosive energy.

In the distance, heads were piled up in a frenzy of laughter, a bloody feast paved with countless laughs. Barton skillfully controlled his bone throwing knives, patiently reaping everything in his path, giving them no chance to get close.

Finally, dozens of headless corpses floated slowly in the starlight. One of the two Legendary players was killed, and the severely wounded [Steelbreaker] fled with several other players...

Almost simultaneously, more than twenty floating islands scattered around the outer edge of the starry sea were greeted by uninvited guests.

The vanguard of the Yun Cangyuan Expeditionary Army, like precisely targeted raindrops, divided its forces into dozens of groups based on a detailed pre-battle combat capability assessment model, and each group rushed toward its respective target island.

The General Staff's calculations were extremely ruthless—the forces allocated to each island were precisely positioned at a delicate balance. "Enough to make the defenders feel a real threat and have to deal with it with all their might, but certainly not enough to make a substantial breakthrough in a short time," so that the main force could pass through the outer perimeter at full strength.

These vanguard forces are mainly composed of players between level 50 and 80, led by two or three Legendary players, and equipped with highly standardized gear.

They sped toward the island aboard one of the few large items they could bring in—a light assault ship.

They wore uniform armor, carried Mana- supply rifles with modules that could be quickly switched according to the battlefield environment, and had external Mana Pools at their waists.

Even more striking is that almost everyone carries one or two cylindrical objects, about half a person's size, with radiation warning markings printed on their shells—portable fusion core Bombs, commonly known as "man-portable nuclear weapons."

Their instructions were clear and concise: at any cost, entangle the defenders on the target island, deplete their strength and attention, and create opportunities for the Legendary player's true killing move.

At least at the beginning of the campaign, both the commanders of Yuncang and the players who were tasked with containing the enemy believed that this would be a difficult but expected war of attrition.

They anticipated resistance and casualties, but ultimately, through precise coordination and numerical superiority, they were able to trap these isolated "BOSSes" in place.

However, reality soon revealed its hideous fangs.

When the first wave of assault teams successfully Crossing the gaps in the starry sky and set foot on the rugged surfaces of those edge islands, the anticipated close combat quickly devolved into a one-sided crushing and slaughter.

The defenders' counterattacks were fierce and unpredictable, and completely defied the conventional strength comparison system in "Ten Thousand Worlds." Some of them even gained several levels while fighting, and some powerful Wardens even came to the edge islands to blast fish.

On Island 97, a level 75 assassin player, renowned for his high mobility and explosive power, attempts to approach the Wardens using the shadows. His stealth skill is maxed out, and his presence is almost completely extinguished.

However, just as he thought he had reached the optimal assassination distance, appeared out of Void, and the dagger made a sonic boom as it pierced the target's back—he found himself unable to move.

He froze completely, like a flying insect thrown into amber. The island's guardian, a mage draped in a robe of Stars, didn't even turn around, merely waving his hand casually behind him.

The next second, the assassin, along with the frozen equipment around him, silently tore apart, transforming into the Assassin's Creed and vanishing without a trace.

Similar scenes were playing out simultaneously on various outlying islands.