When Zhang Yue's two attacks landed on the black cloak, dealing over 60 billion damage total, yet only managed to drop its HP bar by 1%, Zhang Yue immediately realized, the enemy in front of him wasn't just "not simple."
This thing was beyond that.
He began to take the battle much more seriously.
Zzzzt!
Arcs of lightning energy surged across the Transcendent Staff.
Zhang Yue gripped his staff tightly, casting spells rapidly while linking attacks with the Fatal Lock, launching a fierce, relentless assault against the black cloak.
With the help of the Chains breaking through the enemy's guard, Zhang Yue's hit rate climbed past 70%.
Blow after blow forced the black cloak to retreat repeatedly.
Finally, he managed to knock off 3% of its HP bar.
Just when Zhang Yue thought he was getting somewhere, the black cloak suddenly stepped back and then performed an operation even Zhang Yue had never seen before.
The black cloak raised his long sword upright before his eyes, then infused energy into the blade.
The next moment—
Whoosh!
The sword burst into flames.
Then, from the black cloak's left side, two clones split off.
Those two clones immediately split again.
One became three, three became five, five became seven, seven became nine.
In an instant, nine black cloaks surrounded Zhang Yue from all sides.
Each of the nine wielded a flaming sword as they charged at him together.
Zhang Yue's Fatal Lock had seven chains, even when he sent them all out separately, they could only restrain seven enemies.
That left two still attacking from both sides.
While Zhang Yue focused on fighting the one to his left with full strength, the one on his right suddenly ambushed him.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The long blades slashed down, each hit dealing more than 6 billion damage, causing Zhang Yue's shield bar to plummet rapidly.
Clearly, after being strengthened by flame, the black cloak's attack power had increased drastically.
Zhang Yue ultimately couldn't withstand the combined assault of all nine.
The fatal problem was, each of the nine clones had the exact same power as the original.
There was no "weaker copy" here.
Unable to fight one against nine, Zhang Yue summoned his Undead Legion.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
From all directions, a massive number of Tier 3 Death Servants appeared, charging toward the cloaked figures.
However, reality proved that in this level of battle, against enemies of this tier, Death Servants were completely useless.
A Tier 3 Death Servant had the power of a Level 240+ mini-boss.
But in front of the black cloak, they were nothing but cannon fodder, killed in one strike.
Zhang Yue had 3.7 billion max HP.
Even the Death Servants, with 130% blood purity, inherited 130% of his stats, giving them 4.8 billion HP.
They could easily survive attacks from a Main God, but not from this black cloak.
A single 6 billion damage strike exceeded their total HP.
So the moment Zhang Yue summoned them, that whole batch of Death Servants was instantly annihilated.
The sight left Chen Zijin completely dumbfounded.
After all, besides Zhang Yue himself, she was the one who best understood the power of his Undead Legion.
That legion had once crushed the SSS-rank Mechanical Army of the World 45 with ease, yet now, those same Death Servants were wiped out in seconds.
Over a hundred fallen in an instant.
That sight enraged their master completely.
Zhang Yue invoked his divine soul.
When a golden flame flared in his palm, the Level 450 God of Desire, Wu En, began to stir within the summoning space.
But before Zhang Yue could actually summon the God of Desire, the black cloak, apparently the real body among the clones, suddenly seemed to lose control. He clutched his head with both hands and stumbled backward.
Then, before their eyes, his figure began to morph, he transformed back into the Holy Crossbowman, Kno Slough.
When the black cloak reverted to Kno Slough's form, the eight clones around him vanished as well.
Kno Slough grabbed his head with both hands, looking utterly crazed and in pain, rolling on the ground and screaming.
Chen Zijin was stunned, "What the, what's he doing? Playing dead?"
Zhang Yue raised his staff, ready to take the chance to finish him off.
Even though it looked like Kno Slough now, in Zhang Yue's eyes, this was still the same murderous black cloak from before.
But before he could strike, Kno Slough suddenly dropped to his knees, slammed both fists into the ground, and a crack opened in the floor beneath him.
Then, his entire body plunged into the rift and disappeared.
The battlefield fell completely silent.
As if nothing had happened.
Seeing that the black cloak had escaped, the divine soul flame in Zhang Yue's hand faded away as well.
Chen Zijin ran to the spot where he vanished, staring at the rift, then looking back at Zhang Yue in shock, "What was that thing?"
Zhang Yue stood silent for a while. Then said quietly, "Let's head back."
The two returned to the safe zone of the World 45 and logged off.
When they got back to the guild, they found Ouyang Ling'er, Wu Haotian, and Liyue all gathered in the guild hall, discussing something that was trending in the news.
"As of now, a mysterious creature classified as a 'Super Savage Beast' has appeared nine times, each one emerging in the death zones of major worlds!"
"But what are these things? These nine monsters that have appeared, there's no record of them anywhere in the history of the otherworlds. That means, for the past hundred years, no one has ever seen such beings before. So where did they come from?"
"The scariest part is that they're unbelievably powerful, and can even possess professional players! That's just terrifying!"
"If only there were some video footage. Right now, it's all just hearsay, no immersion at all~"
Just as everyone was chatting—
Chen Zijin walked into the hall and said to Ouyang Ling'er, "Ouyang, I sent you something. Put it up on the big screen."
Ouyang, who had been snacking and chatting with her friends while sipping coffee, immediately straightened up when she saw Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin walk in.
She quickly put down her coffee, "Uh, I was just… online working, not slacking off!"
"It's after hours," Zhang Yue said, grabbing a handful of sunflower seeds from her desk, "Relax. Work when it's time to work, rest when it's time to rest. No problem."
Ouyang let out a sigh of relief.
Rolling her chair over, she sat at her computer and opened the file Chen Zijin sent.
With a few clicks, she played the video on the guild's main screen.
The next moment, the giant display lit up, showing the recording of Zhang Yue's battle against the black cloak in the World 45.