Volume 1, Chapter 52: Do Not Put Away the Barrier!

Stun Arrow!

Li Chuan unleashed a Stun Arrow directly at the flailing tentacle.

[Stun! Weak Point Hit—133]

Successfully stunned!

The tentacle instantly lost its mobility and froze stiff in mid-air.

Li Chuan’s eyes lit up.

"Control that arm, everyone! Hurry up!"

Some players, terrified by the monster's horrifying strength, did not dare to step forward. But others, accustomed to following Li Chuan's commands, gripped their sharp weapons, leaped high, and drove them fiercely into the tentacle.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

"Don't underestimate us, you bastard!"

One, two, three.

When the third player was hanging onto the tentacle, its owner recovered its mobility. The scythe-like tentacle slowly retracted, actually lifting all three players right off the ground.

A player panicked and wanted to let go.

Li Chuan glared fiercely.

"Don't you dare let go! Two more people, get up there! Can one single monster really lift all of you?!"

Li Chuan's words reignited everyone's fighting spirit.

"That's right! It was pulling three people so slowly, can't all of us hold down just one immobilized arm?"

"Well said! Let's take him down!"

Four or five more players rushed forward with sharp weapons and embedded them into the monster's tentacle.

"That's enough! The rest of you don't need to pile on, attack it now while you can!"

Li Chuan stood back on top of the crate and shouted his orders.

Whoosh!

Whoosh, whoosh!

—35, —76...

Just as the monster's health bar was about to bottom out, three more scythes descended from the sky, viciously slashing toward the players inside the stronghold.

"Stun Arrow!"

Li Chuan was quick-witted and fast-handed, but he only had time to stun one of the tentacles. The other two, left unchecked, slashed down ruthlessly and killed two players.

"Donghe LiuShui, organize the players to control the monster's arms! Don't let them kill anyone else!"

Gao Han frowned and shouted loudly.

She still needed to deal with the monsters at the breach on her side; the chaos inside the space could not be allowed to continue.

Donghe LiuShui, who had already lost confidence in himself, gritted his teeth and stepped forward once more.

"Got it!"

"Everyone, pay attention to the monster's movements! The moment any tentacle swings down, use your crowd-control skills immediately, and don't let it pull back up!"

Whoosh!

Whoosh, whoosh!

Several more scythes whipped down, sending players scrambling in terror, turning the scene into a chaotic mess.

Donghe LiuShui cursed inwardly while searching for the right timing.

"Earthquake Blade!"

Clang!

The tentacle was struck by the heavy vibrating saber and instantly went limp, dangling helplessly in the air.

"Grab it quickly! Don't run away! Hold onto it!"

Donghe LiuShui roared at the top of his lungs. Only then did a few players rush out from the corner, grabbing daggers and stabbing them into the tentacle.

"It's controlled! It's controlled! Someone come and kill it!"

...

Having survived the initial panic, the players within the barrier gradually found a rhythm for dealing with the scythe attacks.

Although people still occasionally failed to dodge the scythes and lost their lives, the situation was much better than the recent massacre.

...

"Does anyone else have any gold coins?! The barrier's armor value is almost depleted!"

Standing on the wooden crate, Li Chuan issued the urge for the fifth time.

He still had one thousand gold coins left, which he kept as a last resort; unless absolutely necessary, he would never take them out.

The players groaned in misery.

"None left! I truly have none."

"I sold everything in my inventory. If I could borrow any, I'd end up owing the system store gold coins."

"The gear I put on the auction house isn't selling, there's nothing I can do."

Boom!

Just as Li Chuan was about to convert his remaining gold coins into durability stones, a deafening roar echoed in his ears.

Boom!

The barrier shook violently along with the ground!

"Damn it! My eardrums are shattering! What's going on?"

"Something is attacking the barrier!"

"Is the sky falling in?"

Li Chuan stared at the red numbers floating above the barrier, his eyes splitting with rage.

—4999!

"Damn it!"

Boom!

—4999!

The armor value on Li Chuan's side was now down to less than ten thousand.

It's over!

A catastrophe is here!

Li Chuan hurriedly leaped to Lin Yaoyao's side.

At the same time, he roared at the top of his lungs.

"Chen Dong! Put away the barrier, put the barrier away right now!"

A player shouted in refusal.

"Don't put away the barrier! If you put it away, where are we supposed to hide?"

"Yeah! If we put away the barrier, won't we just get slaughtered by the monsters?"

"Bastard, you absolutely cannot put away the barrier!"

...

At this moment, Gao Han also gritted her teeth and shouted.

"We must escape from here! Donghe LiuShui, if you hesitate any longer, it will be too late!"

Boom!

With another deafening crash, the seemingly indestructible Black Rock Barrier actually developed cracks, and its armor value dropped to under two thousand.

Many players who had just claimed they had no money abruptly pulled out numerous durability stones to replenish the barrier's armor.

Li Chuan didn't move. He knew that with this frequency and magnitude of damage, no amount of replenishment could keep up.

Donghe LiuShui also understood the reality in his heart. If he put away the barrier, the next moment countless players would be torn apart by the swarming monsters. But if he didn't, everyone inside would be smashed into meat paste along with the barrier by whatever was outside, leaving not even a place to hide.

"Listen up, everyone! In three counts, I'm putting away the barrier. Your life and death are up to fate, get ready to run!"

"Don't put it away!"

"I'm begging you, I still have gold coins!"

...

The terrified screams of the players echoed endlessly, but Donghe LiuShui had steeled his heart to retract the barrier.

"Three, two, one!"

Li Chuan grabbed Lin Yaoyao's hand, tensing his body in a ready stance.

Just moments ago, he had made Lin Yaoyao release the White Crane Ying Xiaobai and plant it onto himself, granting him 2.5 times mana and 2.5 times agility!

He could pull off this maneuver because he possessed two Photosynthetic Seclusion Pods.

Leap Flight!

Whoosh!

The two massive barriers that had protected the players for so long vanished instantly, and Disease Harvesters with ferocious expressions and scythes in hand rained down from above.

Li Chuan locked his eyes on a direction, planted his feet with explosive force, and catapulted himself and Lin Yaoyao upward like a cannonball.

With 2.5 times agility, combined with Leap Flight, and an intermediate agility booster potion he had won at the auction house, even he had no idea how high he could jump.

In the silver-white hall, a giant monster standing over five meters tall, wrapped entirely in chains and dragging half an anchor in its hand, was swinging the heavy anchor toward the densest cluster of players.

And right within that razor-thin margin of space, a man and a woman flew out from the monster-infested zone like Chang'e flying to the moon.

Yes, flying!

When a person can jump seven or eight meters high, calling it a "jump" doesn't quite capture it anymore.

Bang!

The two of them cleared the absolute densest area of monsters, each rolling twice upon landing to dissipate the momentum.

"Whoa, perfect! Big Brother Chuan, you're amazing."

Scanning the surroundings, Li Chuan immediately sprinted toward the wall farthest from the monsters.

"Run, run, run, run, run! Hurry up!"

Moving at blistering speeds, they sprinted with all their might to the base of the wall, where Li Chuan grabbed Lin Yaoyao and pushed her flat against it.

"Lie down! Lie down quickly!"

Lin Yaoyao stared with wide, blank eyes.

"What are you doing? Right here? Do you want to get some action before you die?"

Li Chuan was completely speechless.

"Stop talking nonsense, or I won't help you anymore!"

Lin Yaoyao immediately slumped down obediently in the corner in a cute posture.

Li Chuan hurriedly lay down on his side, shielding Lin Yaoyao with his own body, and activated the skill "Jungle Stealth".

The two-minute skill channeling time felt as long as a century.

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up..."

Finally, just before any of the monsters could notice them, the figures of Li Chuan and Lin Yaoyao vanished completely.

Lin Yaoyao: "..."

"I'm an assassin, you know. I have an invisibility skill."

Li Chuan felt awkward.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier!"

...

Meanwhile, in the central battlefield, the tragic scene was shocking to the core.

The players had lost their protective barrier, the sky was raining down monsters once more, and the giant monster in the distance—which had appeared out of nowhere—was still relentlessly hurling its anchor into the area.

Blood, severed limbs, screams, monsters—this place truly resembled a living purgatory, too horrific to behold!