Unmatched Wealth vs. Tactical Design

Coordinates: Lower Esophagus - Cardia Defense Line.

As the first batch of Crimson Boat carrying the Dawn Guild vanguard rushed out of the tracheal bifurcation and dove down along that wider, deeper pipe, everyone felt a sense of physiological discomfort.

The air here was no longer dry and cold; it had become hot, humid, and viscous, carrying a nauseating, sour, and fermented stench. It was as if they had crawled into the throat of a giant creature that had just finished belching.

"This smell... it's too intense!"

Dali Chu Qiji, even while wearing a gas mask, frowned deeply, "It's like boiling ten thousand rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs together for three days and three nights."

The fleet slowed down gradually, docking at the edge of a pink, fleshy cliff.

At the very bottom of their line of sight lay a shocking biological spectacle.

It was a massive, ring-shaped, constricted muscular valve—the Cardia.

It should have been tightly shut, like a locked city gate. But now, this "gate" was spasming violently, with a huge fissure split down the middle.

Sizzle—sizzle—!

Streams of yellow-green liquid erupted from the fissure like geysers, accompanied by dull gurgling sounds, splashing onto the surrounding esophageal walls. Those originally smooth flesh walls were instantly scorched black, festering and emitting waves of heart-stopping white smoke.

[System Warning: Entering a highly acidic environment!]

[Environmental DeBuff: High-concentration gastric acid erosion.]

[Effect 1: Deals true damage every second.]

A Dawn Guild member curled his lip in frustration, "Why is there an environmental debuff everywhere we go!"

[Effect 2: Non-acid-resistant equipment durability loss rate increased by 1000%!]

"Ah! My shield! My heirloom shield!"

Another Divine Guard player who had just rushed forward to scout suddenly let out a miserable shriek.

The crowd watched in horror as the +4 Chitin Bone Shield in his hand, which he had spent all his savings to upgrade, touched a single drop of the splashing acid and began to soften and bubble, just like butter dropped into a hot pan.

It took only five seconds.

The sturdy shield turned into a puddle of flowing sludge, dripping down his arm and burning him until he wailed in agony.

"How the hell are we supposed to play this!"

The player looked at the handle remaining in his hand, wanting to cry but having no tears, "It costs 800 points to repair once, and this one drop of spit ruined it!"

Fear spread through the crowd instantly.

They weren't afraid of strong monsters, but they were terrified of gear-destroying mechanics. For most of the grinding players, their equipment was their lifeline! The high-tier gear they had earned after their class advancements had cost them a great deal of effort.

"All units fall back! Do not stand on low ground!"

Feng Xing Tian Xia roared in the command channel immediately, "Standard chitin gear can't take it! Don't waste your durability! Everyone retreat to the suspended platforms!"

The main force retreated to higher ground in a sorry state.

Looking at the churning ocean of acid below, and the Corrosive Sludge Monster swimming happily within it, covered in slime, the members of the Dawn Guild looked at each other in dismay.

"How do we fight this?"

Yun Zhong You looked at her staff with heartache, "My staff's durability is dropping too. Although it's slow, this acid mist is just too pervasive."

This was indeed the biggest problem at the moment.

The fire in the lungs could be avoided with positioning; the poison in the liver could be resisted by taking medicine.

But this pervasive acid mist was a direct strike at the players' wallets.

Just as the Dawn Guild was discussing countermeasures, a huge commotion erupted from the passage behind them.

"Move aside, move aside! Dragon War Guild coming through!"

"Don't block the way! You can't afford to pay for it if you crash into us!"

Hundreds of specially modified Crimson Boat came sailing in, grand and imposing. The hulls of these ships were plated with a shiny, acid-resistant coating—a type of expensive alchemical material that didn't come cheap.

Standing on the bow of the lead ship was Dragon War in the Wild, his gear gleaming with gold, looking anything but ordinary. Even from a distance, one could feel the scent of Money Power.

As the richest guild leader on the entire server, Dragon War in the Wild might not have had the delicate micro-management of Feng Xing Tian Xia, but he possessed an invincible logic—

When poor, use tactical maneuvering; when rich, use overwhelming firepower!!!

He glanced at the churning acid below and snorted with disdain.

"This is the acid that stumped you all? Did you not learn middle school chemistry?"

Dragon War in the Wild waved his hand, his spirit soaring:

"Brothers, dump it!"

Thousands of Dragon War Guild members, each holding a piece of Strongly Alkaline Gallstone purchased at a high price from the liver region, began throwing them into the acid pool below like they were reclaiming land from the sea.

Gurgle, gurgle—

The acid-base neutralization reaction erupted instantly.

Massive amounts of white foam surged up, accompanied by a violent exothermic reaction. The once-lethal strong acid zone saw its pH level rise rapidly, turning into a relatively mild, neutral liquid.

[System Prompt: Regional acidity is being neutralized. Acidity decreasing.]

["Dragon War Guild" team contribution has risen sharply! Currently ranked first!]

"Hahahaha!"

Dragon Fighting in the Wild laughed, "As long as the money is right, even glass can be smashed to pieces! All troops, charge! Snatch the monsters! Snatch the contribution!"

Watching the members of Dragon War Guild trampling over the neutralized ground and frantically harvesting the Slime Monsters whose armor had been weakened, the members of Dawn Guild were so anxious their eyes turned red.

"Brother Feng! They're cheating!" Dali stomped his feet in anger, crushing the stone in his hand into powder, "This is just throwing money at the problem! This wave of Gallstones must have burned at least five million Bio-Energy, right?"

"This is also a tactic; one has to admire it."

Although Feng Xing Tian Xia had a grave expression, he did not panic. He looked at the arrogant back of Dragon Fighting in the Wild and said calmly:

"However, burning money is unsustainable. Gastric acid is endless, like the tides of the sea; how much stone can he fill it with?"

He turned to look at Data Maniac behind him. The maniac nodded slightly and took over the conversation.

"We aren't taking the beaten path."

He pointed to the huge, cliff-like muscle folds on both sides of the Cardia gate.

"The system mission is to 'build a dam,' not to 'neutralize gastric acid'."

"According to the biology knowledge I learned in second grade, without the Cardia, gastric acid will surge endlessly. Given the scale and metabolic capacity of the Titan's body, one doesn't even need to estimate to know that completely neutralizing the acid is impossible."

"Neutralization is just a stopgap measure; plugging the gap is the fundamental solution."

"Thunder King, take the Third Regiment to the high ground. You are experts at ropes; I want you to nail down a foothold for me on that slippery muscle wall!"

"Youzi, take the Flesh Artisan group and follow. We aren't going to fill the sea below; we are going to build a gate—up here!"

Tactical divergence, two heroes standing side by side.

At the bottom acid pool, Dragon War Guild relied on a massive investment of supplies to forcibly carve out a path in the acid.

"Guild Leader! My sword's durability is in the red!"

"Switch! There are plenty in the guild warehouse!" Dragon Fighting in the Wild threw out a spare weapon, "Keep hacking! Don't stop!"

This was a high-stakes gamble using money to buy time.

On the high-altitude muscle wall, the entire Dawn Guild transformed into "Spider-Men."

Led by Lei Zhen, three hundred special operations members used Bone Pickaxes and ropes to hang onto the steep, constantly writhing esophageal wall.

The walls here were alive, occasionally performing a swallowing motion (peristalsis); if they didn't hold on tight, they would fall into the acid sea below.

"Three o'clock direction, there's something in the folds!"

The floating cannon in Lei Zhen's hand had switched to a precise single-shot mode; he hung upside down on the rope, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

Whoosh!

A flash of lightning streaked by, and the Strong Acid Spitter hiding in the folds preparing to ambush them was precisely headshot. Its corpse fell down, landing right in the shield formation of Dragon War Guild below, causing a commotion.

"Hehe. I didn't mean to do that."

"Divine Guard Corps! Chisel down the Hardened Calcium here!"

Dali Chu Qiji led a group of strongmen, nailing themselves to the wall like spikes to start chiseling.

"Artisan group! Relay!"

Countless huge pieces of calcified rock were mined, then guided by the skills of the Flesh Artisan group, they were connected in mid-air by thick biological tendons.

They were actually planning to use the Titan's own bones and muscle texture to weave a "giant biological filter" in mid-air, then sink this net to plug the gap in the Cardia at the source!

[System Prompt: Detected that "Dawn" Guild is constructing a large-scale engineering structure.]

[Engineering progress: 1%...]

[Contribution is skyrocketing exponentially!]

Dragon Fighting in the Wild, who had been far in the lead, turned green in the face as he watched "Feng Xing Tian Xia" on the leaderboard shooting up like a rocket.

"Damn it! Are they building illegal structures up there?!"

Dragon Fighting in the Wild gritted his teeth, feeling a pang of heartache as he glanced at his own inventory, "Ignore them! We build too! I don't believe that if I spend five hundred million, I can't buy that much stone! Men, go collect stones! Where are the Flesh Artisans in the guild? Everyone, get up there!"

The competition between the two major guilds pushed the campaign progress to its limit.

Two hours later. Cardia defense line.

As the huge "calcified bone net" of Dawn Guild slowly sank into the Cardia gap, the violent surge of gastric acid was finally contained. Meanwhile, the land-filling project of Dragon War Guild also saw initial success, piling up a landing platform below.

[System Announcement: The first breakwater has closed!]

[Gastric acid reflux reduced by 50%!]

"Success!"

The players of Dawn and Dragon War cheered simultaneously. Although they didn't see eye to eye, this round of cooperation was truly well-played.

But just at this moment, a dull and hungry growl echoed from the darkness deep within the Cardia.

Gurgle—!!!

An unprecedented, foul-smelling wind blew from the depths of the stomach, mixed with high concentrations of [Pepsin].

[Warning: Gastric spasm! A tsunami of strong acid is approaching!]

[Warning: Companion boss—Gluttonous Maw (LV.23) has appeared!]

An abyss-like maw, large enough to swallow the entire platform, violently burst through the newly constructed levee.

It had no eyes and no limbs, only a massive circular mouthpart composed of countless sharp teeth, with a body resembling a giant pink worm over a hundred meters long.

It didn't even perform an attack animation; it simply—inhaled.

The immense suction force instantly formed a vortex.

The Divine Guard Corps of the Dragon War Guild at the very front didn't even have time to raise their shields before they were swept, along with the stones they stood on, into that abyssal maw by the terrifying suction.

"Crunch, crunch..."

A hair-raising chewing sound resonated throughout the area. The sounds of shattering equipment and snapping bones mingled together.

"What... what the hell is this thing?!"

Dragon Fighting in the Wild retreated three steps in terror, his face turning pale as he watched dozens of his guild members' avatars instantly turn gray.

High above, Feng Xing Tian Xia narrowed his eyes, and the [Origin Fang] in his hand instantly unsheathed.

"The opportunity is here."

"The Dragon War people drew the first wave of aggro, and the boss is currently in a state of rigidity."

Feng Xing Tian Xia looked at the people behind him.

"Spirit Pivot Envoy, lock onto its excretion hole... oh wait, its breathing hole!"

"All other melee members, prepare—for boarding combat!"

On this battlefield, driven mad by the pursuit of Titan Blood, there were no allies, only competitors.

Whoever could take down this boss would be able to pull away from the pack on the contribution leaderboard and snatch one of the only 2,000 spots for newcomers!