Published: February 12, 2025
The black sand and heavenly fire collided in the air, producing a loud explosion.
Waves of energy rippled outward, affecting both the Red Death team and the surrounding squads, with the level of damage varying based on their distance from the explosion's center.
Half of the dozens of people who had launched an attack alongside the boss of Red Death were already dead, while the others lay on the ground, unable to stand.
"What is this?"
One injured Red Death member, who wasn't severely hurt but was clearly mentally shaken, was haunted by the flames that had just rained down. He couldn't understand how a power could break through the most impressive and hidden ace of Red Death: ink sand!
This was a team skill, one that the boss and the veteran members had invested immense effort and resources into obtaining.
Red Death's current position and strength were closely tied to this ability.
Ink sand had proven ineffective only when attempting to attack a ninth-level life form; even against the most formidable eighth-level life forms, it could inflict damage.
But now, it had been overwhelmed by a sea of flames.
Ink sand had a cooldown time; for today's battle, the boss of Red Death had specifically purchased a bottle of perfect-grade cooling liquid, enabling the team to use this skill consecutively.
However, now that half of the ink sand users were dead and most of the remaining ones couldn't even rise, even if they were to activate the skill again, its power would be significantly weakened.
In such a crucial life-and-death struggle, the failure of the ink sand skill nearly signified the team's defeat.
And in the apocalypse, failure often meant death.
Death was terrifying for everyone, even for these evolvers who had fought to survive in the apocalypse for five to six years.
The Ogre Chain's abilities had caused several factions competing for this passage to halt. The power of furious heavenly fire was simply too overwhelming.
Ye Zhongming squinted as he watched from the back, gaining a deeper understanding of this group combat magic.
In the entire circular terrain, there were seven passages and twenty teams; in other words, an average of about three teams per passage.
This particular passage was temporarily occupied by the Red Death team, along with the approaching Cloud Summit Villa and Ogre Chain, as well as three other teams, making it the most concentrated area of power.
Originally, Red Death had already repelled two assaults, severely damaging two factions. However, upon witnessing the furious heavenly fire, those two factions wisely withdrew.
It wasn't that they were unwilling to continue fighting, but they saw little hope of victory here.
They weren't foolish; with so many forces gathered in one place, it implied that the competition in other areas might not be as intense. Fighting desperately elsewhere was far better than dying here.
With the retreat of the two teams, only four forces remained.
The Ogre Chain's team halted their advance just a short distance in front of the passage, where Wu Xiu and Ruan Xiao led the charge, standing at the forefront. Both of them emitted a faint glow from their hands, which grew increasingly bright, and the others behind them mimicked this action. From a distance, the entire team appeared organized and formidable.
Everyone knew they were about to unleash a powerful strike, one even stronger than the previous furious heavenly fire.
Ye Zhongming and the Cloud Summit members stopped another team.
He didn’t care if this team attacked Red Death, but he couldn't allow them to disrupt the magic preparations of the Ogre Chain.
The opposing team didn't waste time discussing conditions with Cloud Summit; they wanted to assess the situation. If the Ogre Chain managed to deal with Red Death, they would retreat, having no need to clash with two clearly allied complete teams. However, if the Ogre Chain failed to eliminate Red Death and needed assistance from the team in front, they would have to wait and see, perhaps there would still be an opportunity.