[World 45, Death Territory, Cross-Sea Bridge]
Under the overwhelming sweep of the undead legion, the massive, strongest SSS-rank Mechanical Legion was annihilated in an instant.
ROAR!
The thirty-six-winged Armageddon Black Dragon sat atop the suspension bridge.
Looking down, the bridge was carpeted with piles of mechanical soldier corpses.
At that moment, a pleasant notification sounded in Zhang Yue's ear.
["Ding~ Congratulations on annihilating the SSS-rank Mechanical Legion; you have completed the World 45 mission!"]
Zhang Yue descended from the sky and retracted his angelic wings.
He landed on the edge of the Cross-Sea Bridge.
Chen Zijin hurried over from one side and rejoined Zhang Yue.
The World 45 BOSS challenge activated.
["Ding~ Welcome to the World 45 'Metal Frenzy' BOSS challenge territory. Please defeat the World BOSS: Mechanical Commander!"]
As Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin were teleported into a Territory reeking of metal, a towering super-mech dozens of meters high stood before their eyes.
Above its head, a line of blood-red ID flickered into view.
[Mechanical Commander] (lv245 physical boss, 47-star BOSS)!
Before the fight, Chen Zijin said to Zhang Yue, "You let your Death Servants kill all the mechanical soldiers and stole all the limelight. Leave this one to me, please."
No sooner had she finished speaking than, before Zhang Yue could act, Chen Zijin flashed past him with lightning speed.
Moving so fast she cut straight for the Mechanical Commander.
Countless gun ports across the Mechanical Commander's body suddenly opened.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Numerous grenades shot out from the ports, chasing after Chen Zijin.
But Chen Zijin was light as a swallow, she even stepped on those grenades, using them for leverage to quickly bounce to the side of the Mechanical Commander.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A flurry of blade and sword strikes, combined with attacks from the endless shadows around her.
In an instant, she tore away one-fifth of the Mechanical Commander's HP.
With the Wrath Source Stone and the Wrath God set's Wrath value only at base, Chen Zijin's power was greatly limited.
She could no longer one-shot a 47-star BOSS.
But that was only in terms of instant kills.
With her current combat strength, killing a 47-star BOSS was still fairly easy.
After a short pause, the first wave of counterattacks followed.
Then the third, fourth, fifth rounds of pressure attacks came in succession.
In a flash, the massive body of the Mechanical Commander crashed to the ground.
After killing the Mechanical Commander, Chen Zijin used [Crystal's Love] to absorb the BOSS's remaining life force and convert it into her own power.
["Ding~ Congratulations on killing the World BOSS Mechanical Commander; you have successfully cleared the 45th World!"]
Whoa!
When the entrance to the 40th World opened before them, Zhang Yue didn't rush to enter.
It was already ten o'clock at night.
"Let's call it for today, continue tomorrow."
Chen Zijin rubbed her stomach, "So hungry…"
"Heh," Zhang Yue said, "I'll buy you something to eat."
"I want spicy hotpot skewers!"
"Fine."
Saying that, the two exited the BOSS challenge Territory and returned to the Cross-Sea Bridge.
By then, the undead legion had already cleaned up the battlefield and handed over all the loot they scavenged from the bridge to Zhang Yue.
The two were about to leave the Death Territory and return to the safe zone to log off.
The moment they turned, they suddenly saw a figure standing not far ahead.
Looking closely, it wasn't anyone else, it was the Sun Nation's Holy Crossbowman, Kno Slough.
"He's still here?", Chen Zijin asked in puzzlement, "I just saw him leave with his people a while ago~"
Then she noticed, "Why is he alone? Where are his teammates?"
Zhang Yue glanced at Kno Slough and said, "If I remember correctly, I should have warned you, don't appear in my sight again."
Kno Slough didn't speak; he just stood silently in place.
His eyes fixed straight on Zhang Yue.
The intense murderous intent in that gaze did not escape Zhang Yue.
"Something's wrong."
Chen Zijin hadn't reacted yet, "What is it? What's wrong?"
No sooner had she finished speaking than a cold wind swept from the front.
When Chen Zijin turned, she suddenly saw that Kno Slough had, at some point, raised his mechanical crossbow and fired a cold arrow that shot straight at her with extreme speed.
Thanks to his lightning reflexes, Zhang Yue unfurled his angelic wings, forming a feathered shield in front of him that enveloped Chen Zijin and blocked Kno Slough's attack.
Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!
Kno Slough closed the distance while continuously drawing and releasing arrows at Zhang Yue.
Although every attack was completely blocked by the feather shield, leaving Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin unharmed, Zhang Yue clearly sensed that the intensity of the assault he was enduring at that moment was extraordinary.
He realized: this was absolutely not the kind of power a level-245 ascended epic crossbowman should be able to produce.
Splash!
Zhang Yue expanded the feather shield and used his angelic wings to block the incoming hail of arrows.
Looking at Kno Slough again, he saw a faint, sharp red glow in his eyes.
Chen Zijin was stunned, "What's going on? What happened to him?"
Zhang Yue didn't care to overthink, "Kill him."
Chen Zijin hesitated; she couldn't bring herself to do it and didn't know why, "But he just helped us. There's no reason for him to attack us. He must be controlled by some force, right?"
Zhang Yue had no sympathy.
He only knew: if I don't kill, others will kill me.
He raised his Transcendent Staff and locked onto Kno Slough.
Rumble!
An SSSS-rank Annihilation · Thunderstrike hammered down toward Kno Slough.
Kno Slough stood rooted in place and did not dodge.
The mighty lightning engulfed him outright.
Zhang Yue slowly lowered his Transcendent Staff.
Just as he thought this lightning bolt would one-shot the epic crossbowman before him, he was astonished to find that as the smoke from the electric blast dispersed, Kno Slough stood there unharmed.
Zhang Yue frowned slightly.
It seemed his suspicion was right, the man before him was no longer just Kno Slough.
The next moment, Kno Slough put the crossbow back on his back.
Suddenly he threw back his head and let out a demonic roar.
Then he expelled streams of black breath from his mouth, until those breaths enveloped his entire body.
After a moment, the black breath dissipated.
What appeared before their eyes was no longer Holy Crossbowman Kno Slough.
It was a figure cloaked in black, holding a blood-red long blade, a being overflowing with murderous intent.