The city gates slowly opened with a rumble, their rusted hinges grinding out a piercing screech.
When the gap widened enough to pass through, a foul, rotten wind struck them in the face.
After tossing the items dropped by the boss into their Spatial Inventories, Hong Yang and the others looked into the city.
The scene inside Bone King City, the setting for the second act, was even more sinister than the exterior.
Before them lay a main thoroughfare paved with vertebrae. Lampposts built from stark white bones stood on either side, ghostly blue flames flickering inside them, and even the buildings lining the street were piled together from bones of every kind.
"Prepare for battle!"
Old Wu slammed his shield into the ground as a stark white tide surged from the far end of the thoroughfare.
The Bone Guards were attacking.
Their bones had more luster than those of the rank-and-file enemies outside. Formations bearing bone shields advanced in orderly steps, while the archers behind them bent their spines backward into full-moon curves and aimed bone arrows burning with phosphorescent fire at the sky.
A dense rain of arrows tore through the air.
The other team members immediately moved behind Old Wu.
Blood energy seeped through Old Wu's pores, condensing into a translucent, blood-colored barrier before him.
The instant the phosphorescent arrows struck the blood-colored barrier, they burst into countless ghostly blue fireballs.
Muscles knotted in Old Wu's arms, veins writhing beneath his skin like earthworms as blood energy continued to seep from his pores.
The corrosive energy carried by the arrows seared the Blood Wall with a sizzling hiss, yet could never penetrate this defense built from life force.
"Old Wu, charge!" Hong Yang pointed his spear straight ahead.
"On it." Old Wu nodded sharply. Gang Qi burst