Coordinates: Liver - H-124
Led by the three major guilds, followed closely by numerous small guilds, with countless solo players observing from the fringes, over ten thousand players had gathered here, all above level ten.
"Rumble—!!!"
After ten full minutes of relentless bombardment by the Imperial Dynasty Guild's Mage Corps, the calcified outer wall, long corroded by acid, finally gave way. With a thunderous crash, it collapsed, leaving a fifty-meter-wide breach.
Amid the billowing dust, the interior of Fortress H-124 was revealed to the players for the first time.
It was a terrifying maze built from countless blood vessels, hardened nodules, and the remains of unknown organisms. Behind the breach, densely packed red lights flickered to life like ghostly flames.
"Roar—!!"
The players were given no time to catch their breath. As the wall fell, the elite guards stationed inside surged out like floodwaters through a broken dam.
At the very front were three full formations of [Crystallized Executioner (LV.22 Elite)].
They stood over three meters tall, their bodies covered in thick purple crystal armor. Each dragged a two-meter executioner's axe behind it, and every step made the ground tremble.
Behind them, dozens of [Corrupt Mother]s—the bloated fleshballs that had once wiped out Dawn Second Regiment—were writhing madly. Holes in their backs spewed countless fist-sized [Blood-Sucking Liver Leech]es, instantly forming a green cloud of insects.
"Prepare to engage!!"
Dragon Fighting in the Wild stood at the very front of the line in gleaming golden armor, raising his greatsword high.
This armor had been custom-made by Dragon Fighting in the Wild using a massive amount of premium materials. He had named it [Magma Beast King Armor]. He had spent a fortune hiring high-level player Flesh Artisans and crafting-service NPCs to process and refine the materials. It had been enhanced and enchanted multiple times, with fire, poison, and acid resistance. It was terrifyingly powerful.
"Dragon War Guild! Show these monsters what an iron wall looks like!"
In an instant, the battlefield became a grinder of flesh and blood!
The two sides crashed together violently.
Dragon War Guild's tactical discipline was mediocre. Although they had begun hiring professionals to train them, the results had yet to show, and their fighting remained disorderly. But before absolute stats, what did skill matter?
The hundred players in the front row had all advanced into the Divine Guard class—[Steel Bastion].
They activated their class skill, [Immovable as a Mountain], and planted their Tower Shields side by side into the ground, instantly forming a defensive line that gleamed with metallic light.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Dozens of great axes smashed into the shield formation, sparks flying everywhere. The immense impact split many frontliners' palms, dropping their health bars by a third in an instant, yet the line did not retreat a single step!
"That's it! Second row, get up there! Third row, deal damage!"
Hundreds of berserkers wielding heavy two-handed weapons and burly men wreathed in flames suddenly leaped out through the gaps in the shield wall. They were Divine Guard's other main advancement path, [Berserk Behemoth], and the well-known hidden path, [Flame Prison Guard].
[Berserk Behemoth]s sacrificed part of a Divine Guard's tankiness in pursuit of extreme damage trading. Roaring, they activated [Blood Frenzy], their greatswords glowing red as they slashed viciously at the Executioners' crystal knees, throwing up showers of sparks!
"Break for me!!"
"Bang!"
Someone was sent flying backward, but it was not a Crystallized Executioner. Who it was was really hard to guess.
On the flank, Imperial Dynasty Guild's formation displayed horrifying control.
"Thunder Lord Corps, Chain Lightning. Target the front row's knees. Fire!" Tian Ce waved calmly.
Crackle!
Hundreds of blue arcs intertwined into a vast net. The Executioners that had been preparing to swing their axes a second time stiffened, falling into brief paralysis.
"Venom Ranger Corps, Corrosive Arrow Rain. Cover the Mothers in the rear. Fire!"
[Venom Ranger] was Hunter's other main advancement path, but few players chose it. One reason was that Vanguard Across the Realm, the server's top player, had advanced into Ghost Blade first. Another was that this class relied on damage over time and traps, making it better suited to battles where the field could be prepared in advance.
A sky full of green arrows arced through the air, landing precisely among the monsters in the rear. The corrosive poison rapidly softened the Mothers' thick layers of fat, greatly reducing the frequency at which they spewed poisonous insects.
Even poison feared poison!
But the monsters were Elite Monsters after all.
"Watch the leeches!"
A Corrupt Mother that had slipped through the net suddenly contracted its body and sprayed out over a dozen toxic insects, sending them directly over the shield wall and into Dragon War Guild's rear line.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This batch of leeches could not only suck blood—they could actually self-destruct!
The violent acid explosions instantly wiped out an entire area. More than a dozen mages in the middle of casting did not even have time to scream before turning into white light.
"The breach is about to be overrun! There are too many monsters!" someone shouted in terror.
"Whoever dares retreat, get your ass back up there!" Dragon Fighting in the Wild's eyes were bloodshot. Relying on [Keratinized Skin] to withstand the acid, he cleaved a leech in half with one strike. "Where are Dawn's people? If you don't cut into their backline now, we're getting wiped!"
"We're looking for an opening!"
A calm voice cut into the battlefield channel.
The core group of Dawn Guild, which had been circling the edge of the battlefield, finally bared its fangs.
Dawn Guild had always followed an elite path. Their numbers were small, but their levels were high, and their equipment and technical skill were first-rate. After discussion between the three sides, they had decided that Dawn would look for an opportunity to strike the rear.
With the support of his dual talents, Vanguard Across the Realm turned into a black ghost. He ignored the meat grinder at the front, using the uneven ruins to race forward atop the monsters' heads. The Crystallized Executioners could barely even touch him.
Behind him, Brute Force Yields Miracles charged forward like a bulldozer, his entire body burning with flames—
Feel the fiery wildness of the server's number one [Flame Prison Guard]!
Unlike ordinary Divine Guards, who raised shields for defense, he used his Tower Shield as a battering ram. He became a burning meteor and slammed viciously into the densest concentration of monsters.
"Clear a path for me!!"
This [Savage Collision] knocked over two Crystallized Executioners at once, forcibly tearing open a gap in the impenetrable monster line.
"Perfect chance!"
Thunder King, who had been waiting for this moment, dropped to one knee on high ground. The Thunder Magnetic Floating Cannon on his shoulder had long since been overcharged.
"Whoosh!"
A blinding bolt of lightning shot straight through the opening Brute Force had torn apart, precisely striking the mouthparts of a low-health Corrupt Mother in the rear.
Splat!
The Mother exploded instantly. The fluid raining down from the sky was vaporized by the lightning before it could even hit the ground.
"Holy crap! Are damage classes this strong at level twenty?"
"Is this the damage output of the server's top echelon?"
The surrounding solo players were stunned. Only the guild leaders of Dragon War and Imperial Dynasty had reached level twenty, allowing them to fight relatively comfortably on the battlefield. Ordinary players were still struggling desperately, yet these Dawn players had charged in as if they were chopping vegetables?
"Don't just stand there! Keep up!" Cloud Pomelo waved her staff, sending [Life Chain] after [Life Chain] connecting the assault team members. Her group healing never stopped, forcibly sustaining a lifeline amid the acid rain.
The battle entered its most intense stage.
The three major guilds paid the price of nearly fifty percent casualties before finally slaughtering this wave of gatekeeping Elite Monsters.
"It's down! The last Executioner is down!"
As the final giant beast crashed to the ground, the players could not help cheering in celebration.
By then, the player alliance had pushed into an open plaza within the fortress.
Glowing pipes and enormous reaction vats filled the area, while thick dark-green liquid flowed across the ground. Though they had successfully cleared the outer obstacles, an inexplicable sense of oppression settled over everyone's hearts.
It was too quiet.
Why were there no monsters inside?
And logically, after so many underlings had died, the BOSS should have come out to fight for its life already.
"Something's wrong..."
Data Maniac frowned deeply, then his expression abruptly changed. Imperial Dynasty Guild's president, Tian Ce, reacted at the same time—they were both Mind Hackers and were extremely sensitive to abnormal energy.
"The energy reading... is off the charts! Retreat, now!!"
Before anyone could react.
"Hum—"
The entire plaza floor cracked without warning. Three pillars of green light erupted from underground, instantly sealing off every escape route.
A suffocating, terrifying pressure settled on every player's shoulders as if it had physical form. It was not merely stat suppression caused by level difference, but instinctive terror from a difference in lifeforms—like ants stumbling into an elephant's feeding ground.
A piercing whisper rose, like countless bones grinding against one another. It was followed by the hiss of liquid boiling under intense heat, before finally merging into a dull, echoing roar.
A withered figure floating in midair tilted its head slightly. It remained silent, its gaze cold and appraising.
Then a massive figure emerged from the ground, mumbling indistinctly. Its voice carried pure, mindless greed:
"Meat... more... quality meat..."
Three utterly different yet equally malicious wills echoed above the empty plaza, overlapping like the death knell of hell.
[Server-Wide Warning: Lord-class units have awakened!] [Warning: LV.28 high-risk biological reactions detected! Extreme danger!]
The pillars of light faded.
Three enormous figures slowly emerged from the shadows, standing in a triangular formation.
On the left stood a moving Meat Mountain, dozens of meters tall. Its entire body was stitched together from rotting fat and Hardened Gallstones, and it dragged a rusted Meat Cleaver that still dripped with blood.
On the right was a Hydra-like creature half-buried underground. Its body had fused with the fortress's bile ducts, while its nine savage heads continuously dripped deadly poison capable of corroding steel.
Floating in the air behind them was a shriveled humanoid monster. It wore tattered priestly robes and held a bone staff embedded with a purple evil eye. Visible chains of souls extended from its body, linking it to the two giant beasts below—
[Gluttonous Meat Mountain (LV.28 Lord)].
[Venomous Touch Hydra (LV.28 Lord)].
[Plague Priest (LV.28 Lord)].
Level 28 BOSSes!
And there were three of them!
A tank, a mage, and a healer—a perfect iron triangle.
Unlike the campaign against the Heaven-Burning Flame Demon in Lung A7 District, they had no high-level Silver Wing Sentinels helping them this time, nor did they have a buff reducing all BOSS attributes!
"Three BOSSes..." Dragon Fighting in the Wild stared at the health bars that stretched beyond sight. His greatsword clattered to the ground, his throat dry. "And... these bastards can coordinate?"
The Plague Priest lightly waved its bone staff.
Two green chains of light instantly linked the two colossal creatures below.
[System Notice: "Symbiotic Link" activated. Health shared. Recovery ability increased threefold.]
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