Boom—!
A dull, thunderous crash, as if it meant to tear the heavens apart, exploded across the top floor of the Star Gazing Pavilion.
The heavy greatsword in the Giant Mutant Commander's hands, as large as a door panel and smeared with black slime and shredded flesh, hacked down without the slightest restraint onto the defensive formation outside the Star Gazing Pavilion.
That strike was wrapped in thick, ink-like dark-purple High-Dimensional Energy.
The originally pale-blue, translucent defensive barrier now looked like fragile glass smashed hard by a battering ram.
Crack... crack, crack, crack!
The teeth-grating sound of shattering was magnified endlessly in the dead, oppressive air.
Dense spiderweb cracks spread out from the point where the blade had landed, like black vines growing madly, extending in every direction in an instant. From every tiny fissure seeped a nauseating, fishy, foul poisonous mist, frantically corroding the foundation of the formation.
The violent force of the energy backlash turned into a rank wind, shaking the wind chimes on the top floor of the Star Gazing Pavilion so hard that they let out a chaotic, mournful wail.
Dugu Bo stared fixedly at the terrifying black silhouettes outside the barrier, each more than three meters tall, and his withered hands clenched abruptly.
The Martial Soul Avatar he took such pride in—the huge phantom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor coiling in midair—was actually trembling faintly now. In those cold vertical pupils, an unprecedented trace of fear appeared.
It was not fear of power.
It was the most instinctive shudder from the depths of genes and soul when a low-dimensional life-form faced a high-dimensional source of contamination.
"Damn it! The formation can't hold!"
Fine beads of cold sweat seeped from Dugu Bo's forehead, slid down his aged cheeks, and dripped onto the wooden floor.
He