Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunder cracked again and again. Ghastly white lightning seemed ready to tear the world apart, and rain poured from the sky as though sea and heavens had overturned. Fat drops struck the ground with savage force, sending up splashes cold enough to seep into the bones.
Mist rose from the rain. Xia Lun drew a deep breath and suppressed his shock.
He had always regarded the third Player, Ossis, as a formidable enemy. Her methods were uncanny, and her true intentions so well hidden that she kept him constantly on edge. Though Ossis was no Secret Art Scholar, Xia Lun believed she posed no less of a threat than Golden Sand Midnight. Yet now, an enemy like her had simply died!
Why had it happened so suddenly?
Xia Lun's gaze flicked toward the steadily expanding forest of the Green Wall.
Construction had not stopped, even in the downpour. Under the Tree Herders' care, a row of saplings shot up from the ground and soon formed a hedge too dense to see through. Rows of hedges crossed and staggered to form planting units, and countless units made up the Green Wall's entire defensive line. In a flash, scattered pieces of information came together in Xia Lun's mind. He knew why Ossis had died!
Ossis's true body was the Sand Leeches, and her mind was their collective consciousness. The Sand Leeches could merge into a single enormous body, but those bizarre parasites could also scatter and infest other creatures!
He had been wrong all along to search for a complete "Ossis." She existed across every person infested by Sand Leeches!
Some time ago, a "Sand Leech plague" had spread through the Golden City, only to subside quickly. Xia Lun had thought it was a diversion. Now he realized Ossis