Qi Xu could already feel the hot breath blasting from the Cat-Snake Monster's nostrils and mouth. The murderous aura rushing toward him was so intense that he stopped breathing entirely.
All of his teammates were throwing damage at any part of the Cat-Snake Monster's body, no matter the cost.
Ingrid was frantically stacking light walls in front of Qi Xu, but one after another, the Cat-Snake Monster shattered them all. Ingrid finally panicked. She wasn't assigned any offensive role—her only job was to break up attacks and provide defensive support.
If she couldn't even do that one thing right, then forget about earning a disdainful glance from Invincible Whirlwind—her own pride wouldn't be able to bear it!
She immediately made up her mind: even if it meant overdrawing her mental energy completely, she would protect Invincible Whirlwind no matter what! And then... she voluntarily stepped back.
She didn't change direction. She just moved back about three meters, raised the branch in her hand, pointed it straight at the Cat-Snake Monster, and said with tremendous force: "You're nothing but trash."
And then, the entire world seemed to fall silent...
Because the Cat-Snake Monster stopped moving. After a few seconds of stillness, it collapsed outright.
The thick cloud of dust it kicked up shrouded its massive body in a haze...
Not only were the surrounding teammates stunned, even Bad Ball, who had been keeping a constant watch on Qi Xu, was dumbfounded.
At first, when Bad Ball learned that Invincible Whirlwind intended to kill the Swedish Guildmaster of Assassins, he had sneered and laughed at her for quite a while.
Now she had actually done it!
Even if she herself had become a barely-breathing wreck—this was a being with combat power ten times greater than hers!
For the first time, Bad Ball began to doubt himself. Had everything he'd done truly been right? Could Invincible Whirlwind, who could keep creating miracles through sheer determination even in such an environment, be humanity's real future?
Qi Xu had expected there might be some aftereffects.
But he never imagined they would be this severe... It felt like his very soul was being ripped out of his body, and his mind was a mess—countless images flashing before his eyes over and over.
Yet he couldn't make out the details of any of them. He was exhausted too, until a voice that seemed to come from inside his head started blaring nonstop, making it impossible to rest. Qi Xu finally opened his eyes with a look of irritation.
"Shut up!"
[Congratulations to everyone for surviving 72 hours! Congratulations to the five players from the Chinese server for collectively overcoming the challenge and killing a world-class monster! Points doubled, rewards doubled! Congratulations to you five for using your strength to let the world witness the power of China. This doubled bonus is the prologue to glory. As the S1 Ball of the Chinese server, I look forward to you writing legend in the ultimate battlefield! Now, I will broadcast the points in detail. Please listen carefully, and do not—]
"Shut up!"
Qi Xu had been unconscious for a long time, and the first thing he said upon waking instantly cut off the broadcast.
Once Qi Xu snapped back to his senses and gradually cleared his head, he quickly surveyed his surroundings.
Wang Buyu was still deeply asleep, but her breathing was normal—likely unconscious from overexertion. Shadowkill was lying collapsed in a pool of blood, still alive, but barely. He was alive, but that was about it.
The others were awake, though the atmosphere between Endless Longevity and Ingrid was a bit strained. The two were sitting face to face, their eyes full of gunpowder. There were clearly fresh wounds on their bodies that only human hands could have inflicted—it looked like they'd had a fight. Threeking was sitting between them, looking at both with a headache-inducing helplessness.
When she saw Qi Xu wake up, she jumped to her feet excitedly. "You're finally awake!"
Qi Xu's throat hurt terribly. He gulped down a whole bottle of water before turning to Endless Longevity and Ingrid. "What's going on? Why are you two fighting again?"
Qi Xu suspected his brain was still rebooting. He thought for a long time and still couldn't come up with any reason those two would have to throw hands.
Endless Longevity, coughing up blood while glaring at Ingrid, said, "She wanted to kill Shadowkill. We could have saved him and ended it right there, but she still wanted to provoke and go after that black ice giant serpent—isn't that just having a screw loose?!"
After a short pause, she added, "And Shadowkill, that bastard—dying is dying, I don't care about that. What I care about is it affecting our points settlement. And why go out of our way to provoke a black ice giant serpent for no reason?!"
Ingrid's lips twitched slightly. "Are you even understanding what I'm saying? Doesn't this treasure map secret realm come with auto-translation? He was going to die for sure anyway. The smartest move was to look for an opening and severely wound that black ice giant serpent. I still had one full-power strike left—not enough to kill it, but enough to at least neutralize its ability to attack us. That's the wisest choice. Invincible Whirlwind and that mind-reading teammate of yours are already seriously injured and unconscious. At that moment, you still wanted to charge in and save people—what's the difference between that and dragging all of us to our deaths together?! Invincible Whirlwind! Are your teammates stupid?!"
Ingrid was furious too.
The moment Invincible Whirlwind fell unconscious, Ingrid had made up her mind to protect her teammates until the secret realm was over, hoping it might count as a cooperation credit.
After she used her trump card—that full-power strike—she too would pay a hefty price. All the resources she'd accumulated over the past year would be wasted, and for the next month, she would have no offensive capabilities whatsoever.
If it hadn't been for Invincible Whirlwind risking her life to save her again and again, Ingrid swore she would never have meddled in this at all!
But those people, who had been so easy to talk to before, had suddenly all gotten possessed by something—no matter how she explained, they just wouldn't listen.
Luckily, the black ice giant serpent was so shocked and enraged by the Cat-Rat Monster's death that it didn't launch a sustained attack. It only attempted twice, gave Invincible Whirlwind one wary look, and then turned around and left.
And thank goodness the black ice giant serpent chose to give up on its own, or they wouldn't have survived until now. If they'd followed the suicidal rescue approach of Invincible Whirlwind's teammates, they'd have died eight hundred times over!
Qi Xu's brain was a little slow. After hearing the whole story and thinking it over for a while, he finally understood where the conflict between Endless Longevity and Ingrid lay.
It was just an information gap—neither side was wrong.
But Qi Xu slightly raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to glance at Endless Longevity. "You're always saying you want Shadowkill dead. So when it actually happens, you're not happy about it?"
Endless Longevity let out an awkward smile and could only deflect everyone's attention by cursing someone out. "Shadowkill is such a useless waste."
Ingrid's jaw dropped in surprise. "You're seriously insane. That guy single-handedly held the line for that long, and you call him a waste?"
Qi Xu cleared his throat and explained, "It's a cultural thing. When we Chinese people get close to our friends, we like to use these 'special nicknames.'"
...........
