Deep within the Right Lung Lobe Bronchus, howling air currents carried Corrosive Spores through collapsed tissue.
The dark-red tissue walls rose several kilometers above the ground. Rows of cilia across their surfaces had already snapped, while foul mucus continuously poured from the folds.
Each time the monster tide pressed forward, the entire bronchus trembled with it.
The nearly thirty-kilometer-wide passage had been filled with monsters. Dense clusters of red names stretched for over a hundred kilometers along the bronchus. Shells, fangs, and limbs collided in the mucus, their shrieks drowning out the wind high above.
More than thirty kilometers before the portal, tens of thousands of players held their ground with their backs to the collapsed tissue. Layers of defensive skills were covered in cracks, while wounded players and equipment that could not be taken away lay piled behind them. More than seventy kilometers beyond the portal, the main force was still struggling forward against the monster tide.
Of course, they could all die and return to the city.
But their equipment, corpses, and the ground they had captured over the past few days would all remain here. The next attack would have to start from even farther away!
They could not lose this position!
The golden portal opened at that moment.
[Brute Force Yields Miracles] was the first to step through. Heavy armor covered his entire body, and a Lava Shield stood before him. [Dragon Fighting in the Wild] stood to his right with a massive axe on his shoulder, dark-red patterns already glowing beneath his skin.
[Vanguard Across the Realm] stood on the left, [Origin Fang] pressed against his arm. Purple-black patterns still lingered on his newly healed right hand. [Thunder King] held a staff wrapped in lightning, while [Cloud Pomelo] followed behind with the Starlight Harp in