Chapter 32

Chapter 32

No time for explanations.

Countless experiences from her past life flashed through Ji Xia's mind—

Facing a "Demon God-level" BOSS like this, forget about Mysterious Brilliance-level defensive fragments—even Divine Level ones wouldn't hold up!

The only thing they could rely on now was speed.

They needed extreme agility, to dodge before its devastating attacks could land.

"Spread out in three directions, disengage immediately after attacking!" Ji Xia decisively took command.

Bai Yan was the first to move. He still looked lazy, but his figure flickered as if vanishing from his original spot. The next moment, he appeared a good five meters to the left of the Mechanical Demon God, while the chill from Swift Snow radiated outward!

Xingxing tapped her toes, and "Flowing Firefly" poured forth.

Ji Xia charged head-on, her Inspiration Pen transforming into the "Star of Destruction." A beam of cracking light shot straight for the Demon God's face.

Three attacks almost simultaneously struck the Mechanical Demon God from three directions!

The sounds of clashing metal mingled together.

The chaotic eyes of the Mechanical Demon God flickered rapidly, seemingly judging the priority of "aggro."

The next moment, its massive body turned slightly. The bone blade extending from its right arm lifted, locking onto a direction—

Ji Xia, at the front.

"Just as I feared!" Ji Xia's heart sank. The worst-case scenario had occurred.

Bai Yan and Xingxing had at least eight points of agility, while she was the third highest present, with seven points.

The Mechanical Demon God wasn't targeting the person with the highest attack, but the one with the lowest agility after attacking.

Was seven points of base agility enough?

This was something Ji Xia couldn't be sure about.

And now...

"Oh no!" Qing Shu's eyes behind his glasses widened sharply. "Ji Xia's agility attribute isn't enough!"

Hearing his words, everyone's hearts turned cold.

If even Ji Xia couldn't dodge, then aside from Bai Yan and Xingxing, wouldn't the others in the team...

The Mechanical Demon God's attack descended with a roar.

No fancy moves, just a simple swing of its arm.

But this simple swing seemed to solidify the air around Ji Xia. The bone blade rapidly enlarged in her vision!

She couldn't dodge it!

Qing Shu was already preparing to heal her.

At this critical moment—

An illusion identical to her appeared beside Ji Xia.

"Floating Light"!

The Demon God's blade swung, piercing the illusion without resistance.

The illusion burst like a bubble, while the real Ji Xia appeared about two meters to the right and behind.

The Starfall team gasped!

"All buffs, focus on me!" Ji Xia's voice was steady, even calmer than before. "I'll use 【Floating Light】 to hold her aggro. You all focus on dealing damage!"

"You..." Qing Shu tried to speak urgently.

Ji Xia cut him off, speaking rapidly, "It's precisely because my agility isn't enough that I can hold the aggro steadily!"

Qing Shu's words of protest stuck in his throat.

The others also listened with their hearts pounding.

Ji Xia was dancing on the edge of a blade—no, she was leaping back and forth under the guillotine's blade!

She was using her just-insufficient agility attribute as bait to attract the BOSS's full attention, creating a suitable opening to attack for her teammates!

It was too crazy, too extreme.

But it was the only way to break the current deadlock!

Bai Yan didn't speak, only the pale flame of the ancient lantern flickered silently.

He raised his hand, attempting to envelop the Mechanical Demon God with Swift Snow's area slow.

Unfortunately, the frost couldn't even condense on the black oil covering the Demon God's body before being forcibly melted by the violently fluctuating energy.

"Don't waste Spirit Ink!" Ji Xia immediately said. "Mysterious Brilliance-level fragments can't control her. Everyone, focus fire!"

"Got it!" Bei Chen unleashed 【Tiger Soul】. He didn't know how long Ji Xia could hold on, but they couldn't waste the output window she was fighting desperately to create. "Follow me!"

The heavy "Tiger Soul" greatsword slammed into the joint on the Mechanical Demon God's back, exploding in a burst of dark red energy sparks.

Hong Lan's figure was extremely fast. The "Star of Destruction" spear shadows struck continuously, fiercely targeting the Demon God's limb connection points.

Qing Shu kept his eyes fixed on Ji Xia, applying movement speed buffs to her without a moment's pause!

Ji Xia's "dance" began.

She pushed her own movement to the limit.

Every turn, every sudden stop, was timed to the extreme moment just before the Mechanical Demon God's attack wind-up.

Illusions from "Floating Light" occasionally appeared on the path where she was about to be hit, baiting out fatal blows one after another.

Inside the cavern, the tall Demon God looked like an enraged beast, frantically chasing an agile figure.

Bone blades swung out, leaving black gashes that tore through space, slicing the ground and stone walls into fragments.

The scene was nerve-wracking to the extreme.

Every dodge made the onlookers' hearts skip a beat.

"It's working!" Hong Lan's delighted voice rang out in the channel. "Her armor is weakening!"

The team's morale surged, and their output intensified.

However, the strain on Ji Xia was growing.

Her Spirit Ink was nearly depleted; she could cast Floating Light at most one more time.

"Half health!" Hong Lan shouted.

As if on cue, the Mechanical Demon God suddenly stopped its pursuit.

It stood still, its dark red eyes glaring at the distant Ji Xia, but it did not attack again.

Bai Yan's voice came over the channel: "Phase two."

As soon as he finished speaking, a sudden transformation began!

The black sludge that had been slowly flowing over the Mechanical Demon God's surface suddenly seethed and boiled!

It no longer merely coated the surface but began frantically corroding the bone-china-like mech armor.

Immediately afterward, a sickening sound of corrosion filled the air.

The incredibly sturdy mech armor shell melted rapidly under the black sludge's corrosion, like butter in a hot pan.

The bone-china-colored metal mixed with the black sludge, transforming into numerous steel tentacles covered in suckers and maws!

In just a few breaths, the Mechanical Demon God, which had retained a humanoid outline, turned into countless steel tentacles of varying lengths, writhing grotesquely!

Each tentacle was whip-fast, its attack range covering the entire area.

"This... what do we do now!" Sui Yu's voice was filled with despair.

Area-of-effect attacks, indiscriminate coverage!

Ji Xia couldn't hold the aggro of so many tentacles.

"Dodge!!!" Bei Chen's roar had just sounded.

Dozens of tentacles were already lancing toward those with lower agility—Bei Chen, Hong Lan, Qing Shu, and Sui Yu!

They were too fast!

Previously, thanks to Ji Xia holding its attention, they had been in relatively safe positions for output, but now they were completely exposed to the tentacles' vicious onslaught.

"Squelch!"

The sound of flesh being pierced rang out almost simultaneously.

Hong Lan tried to block with "Star of Destruction," but the spear shadows were instantly shattered by three tentacles, and she was impaled through the chest.

Bei Chen roared, slashing at a tentacle with "Tiger Soul," only to have his limbs entangled and crushed to a pulp.

Qing Shu, A Mu, and Sui Yu didn't even have time to react before their chests were pierced.

"World Painter - Hong Lan has died."

"World Painter - Bei Chen has died."

"World Painter - Qing Shu has died."

"World Painter - A Mu has died."

"World Painter - Sui Yu has died."

Several system notifications flashed coldly before everyone's eyes.

In the team channel, the ones who just died spoke weakly.

"I... my Spirit Ink cap dropped by 30%..." Hong Lan's voice was choked with tears.

"Me too..."

"Same..."

They had all permanently lost 30% of their Spirit Ink cap!

It was a devastating cost, enough to make a top-tier player fall from the top tier!

Moreover, as the system had warned earlier, they couldn't exit the instance; they could only face death repeatedly during this "high-risk phase."

Even if their Spirit Ink cap dropped to zero, they couldn't leave this damned place!

"This is... a high-risk instance..." Qing Shu murmured, as if an insurmountable mountain loomed before him, making the Dan Qing Fragment in his hand seem so fragile and powerless.

"Bai Yan!" Ji Xia said quickly. "Area clear!"

Amid the despair, a spark of hope flared in the hearts of the Starfall members.

Bai Yan had said his "Swift Snow" possessed a powerful area-clearing skill, but its cooldown was a full 24 hours.

Bei Chen also immediately said, "Give it a shot! We've got nothing to lose!"

Bai Yan lifted his eyes and softly uttered three words: "Thousand Mountains' Silence."

With a resounding boom, blinding pale light erupted from Bai Yan, sweeping outward!

Wherever the light passed, space seemed to freeze, and the flow of time slowed.

Countless snowflake-like sharp ice crystals condensed within the light, emitting sharp, mournful cries.

The scene was like a thousand-mile snowy plain collapsing instantly, or towering mountains falling silent in an instant, carrying an annihilating intent that erased everything, covering those wildly dancing steel tentacles!

However, the area-clearing "Thousand Mountains' Silence" didn't manage to completely shatter those terrifying tentacles.

Most of the tentacles were covered in thick layers of ice, their movements becoming extremely sluggish, yet they still struggled tenaciously, trying to break free from the ice.

Only a few relatively slender tentacles were torn apart inch by inch within the ice crystal storm.

"They're frozen! But not completely destroyed!" Qing Shu said urgently.

"Teacher," Xingxing's voice sounded; she had retreated to Mo's side at some point. "Ready."

Mo, who had been silent like a shadow, moved.

He took a step forward and activated that mysterious Mysterious Brilliance Fragment—"Thousand Mechanisms."

Deep, restrained black light spread out. He formed a complex hand seal before him as Spirit Ink surged from every corner of space. His incantation was hoarse and low, almost inhuman: "Annihilation Array."

As he finished speaking, countless crisscrossing dark emerald patterns lit up on the ground around the tentacles frozen by "Silence of a Thousand Mountains."

These patterns instantly formed a massive, intricate three-dimensional array, entangling all the steel tentacles.

The next moment, the array's patterns blazed with intense light!

Those indestructible steel tentacles began to rapidly crumble and disintegrate under the terrifying crushing force!

They shattered inch by inch, the destruction spreading until they dissolved into a storm of foul debris!

"That's it!" Star's voice now sounded strikingly out of place.

Mo grunted, his figure vanishing into the shadows once more, as if he had done nothing at all.

Ji Xia shot him a quick glance, but her attention was soon captured by the scene before her.

As the storm subsided, only a scene of devastation remained within the domain.

With the steel tentacles destroyed, the Mechanical Demon God's true form gradually emerged from the black sludge.

It had shrunk significantly, the sludge that once bound it was gone, and a hole gaped in its chest, revealing a strange red core that pulsed slowly like a breath.

In the next instant, the Mechanical Demon God's eyes snapped open, its icy gaze fixed on everyone present.

Qing Shu's voice could no longer maintain its calm: "As expected, there's a third phase!"

A boss of this level couldn't possibly have only two phases.

Yet, they had already pushed themselves to the limit just facing the first two.

"No... no more Spirit Ink," Hong Lan's voice was filled with frustration. "【Star of Destruction】 can't be cast..."

"Same here," Bei Chen's voice was hoarse. "Even the Non-resistance Spirit Ink Bottles are used up."

The others weren't in much better shape.

Even though Bai Yan, Ji Xia, Star, and Mo hadn't died, the toll of the recent battle had likely left them unable to continue fighting.

They were so close to the final step.

But they had reached the end of their rope.

Despair, like a cold tide, washed over everyone present.

What would come next?

The third phase often meant "enrage."

It would likely be even more terrifying than the previous two.

And those of them who had lost their combat strength would be killed again and again, their Spirit Ink caps plummeting until they hit zero...

The terrifying part was, they couldn't leave the instance!

"The core..." Ji Xia stared fixedly at the Mechanical Demon God's chest, at that strange crimson "heart."

A wild idea flashed through her mind like lightning.

An unrecognized civilization...

The core of the story...

Gong Shuwan's obsession...

And the instance's true name—"Lu Ban's Locked City"!

What exactly was locked away?

The resentment of the Gongshu clan? A millennium of bitterness and hatred? Or... something else entirely?

Ji Xia suddenly raised her head and took out the "Crimson Heart Gear" that had once connected her to Gong Shuwan's consciousness.

The gear grew warm in her palm, emitting a soft, gentle glow.

Lifting her head, Ji Xia met the Mechanical Demon God's gaze with blazing eyes. Facing its terrifying pressure, she fearlessly shouted, "Gong Shuwan!"

Her voice echoed through the cavern, reaching everyone's ears.

"Your 'civilization'—"

She spoke each word clearly and firmly, her voice carrying a strange, resonant power:

"Has not ended!"

A warm, vast golden light emanated from her.

The light wasn't blinding; it was dignified and ancient, like the gaze of a primordial deity.

"That title... it's taking effect!" Qing Shu's eyes behind his glasses widened in shock, his voice cracking with extreme astonishment.

"God of Mechanisms' Recognition."

Author's Note:

Onward we go.