The Monster Tide Ends
Su Luo watched for a while, and once he was sure Song Shige was handling things with ease, he switched to [Ye Xu]'s Livestream Room.
Things looked quite different on Ye Xu's side. His Level 5 metal Sanctuary stood like a sturdy fortress, while three [Automatic Ballista Towers (Fine)] poured out a continuous stream of bolts, forming a powerful web of fire.
Ye Xu himself stood leisurely atop the wall, firing a gun with one hand and occasionally waving a staff with the other, tossing out a few powerful fireballs for extra damage.
His eighth wave consisted of three Level 4 ordinary [Putrid Amalgamations] and eight Level 3 ordinary [Gale Mantises]. Though there were quite a few of them, they looked rather unimpressive against his financial might and fortress defenses.
Su Luo compared them and understood.
The eighth waves Ye Xu and Song Shige faced weren't even as difficult as his own sixth wave.
Soon, both men's eighth waves ended without incident. They both chose to continue the challenge.
The ninth wave followed, and Su Luo chose to watch Song Shige first.
Song Shige now faced two Level 4 elite [Thunder War Rhinos] and five Level 4 ordinary [Wraith Crossbowmen].
The pressure rose sharply, but Song Shige still charged straight in, swinging in wide, powerful arcs. The flames of [Flame Attachment] almost engulfed him, turning him into a figure of fire.
Every chop of his Zhanmadao had the force to split mountains and shatter stone, and he occasionally used [Explosive Flame] to clear the field.
Suddenly, he sprinted over and threw himself at a crossbow bolt, knocking it down before it could hit his Sanctuary's wall!
"Don't you dare damage my wall!"
The skin on his chest was slightly scraped. Enraged, Song Shige struck at a [Wraith Crossbowman] with Blazing Flame Slash.
Su Luo: "..."
Everyone in the Livestream Room: "..."
Ye Xu's ninth wave consisted of one Level 4 elite [Broodmother] and many Level 2 and 3 elite monsters.
The [Broodmother] continuously summoned monsters, creating an unending swarm of insects. Ye Xu's Automatic Ballista Towers and Fireball proved enormously effective, harvesting monsters in swathes with a storm of metal, but his stockpile of bolts was also being depleted at a rapid pace.
He was even forced to use an area spell activated by a special item to stabilize the situation, leaving Ye Xu pained by the expense.
The Livestream Room was full of comments calling him a "loaded bastard."
[Wave nine complete]
[All survivors will enter a 10-minute rest period]
[Based on Sanctuary status, survivors have received minor buffs]
[Continue the challenge and face the next wave?]
[Note: The next wave contains only one monster]
[Yes/No]
This time, both Song Shige and Ye Xu hesitated.
There was no doubt it would be a Level 5 elite monster.
Song Shige sent a screenshot of the "Note" to the analysis department, then messaged Su Luo.
[Song Shige: Consultant Su, can I beat it?]
[Su Luo: (sent an image)]
[Su Luo: You can't beat it]
Song Shige looked at the image. It was a screenshot of the [Earthshaking Boulder (Elite)]'s status panel.
[Earthshaking Boulder (Elite)]
[Level: 5]
[Strength: 15]
[Spirit: 5]
[Constitution: 14]
[Skills: Control Reduction, Berserk Throwing, Trample, Crystallization]
"I can't beat it..."
Song Shige frowned and looked at his own status panel again.
"If I allocate my stat points..."
Ye Xu sat on the city wall, staring at the forum's flashy data analysis posts about Level 5 elite monsters, lost in thought.
"Looks like I can't beat it..."
He checked his Sanctuary's integrity, which the monsters had just reduced. He had already fallen from second place to ninth.
If Ye Xu fought, he would definitely fall out of the top ten on the [Guardian Ranking].
"Sigh, forget it, forget it..."
Meanwhile, persuaded by the analysis department, Song Shige gave up on allocating his points to force his way through the tenth wave. Stat points became more useful the further one progressed.
With that, no one in Zone 76 started the tenth wave.
The Monster Tide was over.
Just then, the grand voice, whose source and gender could not be discerned, rang out directly in every survivor's mind once more, like a proclamation of doomsday and the tolling of a bell for a new beginning:
[Survival Log updated: Monster Tide settlement]
[The regional (Zone 76) Monster Tide assault has ended]
[Final survival rate: 20.03%]
[Based on each survivor's performance during the Monster Tide, rewards will be distributed according to waves resisted and monsters killed. Please check them yourself]
[Ranking settlements have been suspended. Normal rankings and daily rewards will resume in 24 hours]
[Some temporary rules active during the Monster Tide have expired. Standard regional rules have been fully restored]
[Supply refresh mechanism: The refresh sequence for [Wooden Chest], [Iron Chest], and [Gold Chest] has returned to normal]
[Ecological restructuring of the Land of Darkness complete... Higher-level (Lv.4-Lv.5) monster populations have been stably established. The appearance rate of elite units has been permanently increased slightly]
[New feature preload: The [Team System] has completed final testing and will officially launch in 12 hours. Please watch for further announcements]
[Congratulations on surviving your first true baptism.]
[Time until the next Monster Tide: Seven days]
[Do everything you can to survive]
[End of the seven-day safety period detected. System updating...]
While waiting for the system to update, Su Luo ignored the system's reward message in his mailbox.
Su Luo casually fashioned himself a bed and lay down on it, instantly falling fast asleep...