025 Fierce Battle

The wind howled, casting shifting shadows. In the forest after the rain, water droplets clung to every leaf and branch, occasionally flashing with prismatic light as sunlight filtered through the canopy. The echoes of a battle in the distance shook the trees, sending droplets cascading through the air, where they splattered for a fleeting moment before vanishing into the undergrowth and fallen leaves.

Across the undulating terrain, trees of all sizes stood as far as the eye could see. Their thick trunks testified to the forest's vitality, while their towering heights and the countless branches stretching out from the massive pillars formed umbrella-like canopies. They seemed to shroud the entire sky, concealing the infinite murderous intent seeping from below.

Duan Qing and his companions were in no state to appreciate the magnificent post-rain scenery. Even where they stood, they were occasionally buffeted by the gale-force winds generated by the colossal entity in the distance, and drenched by the rain shaken loose from the branches, leaving them disheveled and covered in grime. They could only imagine how perilous the situation must be for the players caught in the heat of the conflict.

In truth, those players appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

The creature, shaped like a giant serpent, possessed terrifying strength. A single flick of its body sent violent tremors through the ground, and with the deadly weapon atop its head, the behemoth frequently employed head-butts as an attack. Each time it swept through, one or two desperate figures would roll away in a panic. When it struck the trees, the majestic giants of the Cloud Forest would groan, crack, and slowly topple over, none spared from the collateral destruction.

The players battling it seemed quite formidable; that they had survived this long was already staggering. Looking at the path of destruction they had carved—the patches of brilliant blue post-rain sky revealed where trees had been felled—one could gauge the length of their grueling frontline.

Duan Qing and his group retreated slowly, having no desire to be caught in the wake of such an overwhelming battle. However, given the unpredictability of such combat, Duan Qing could only rely on his experience to lead the others toward a spot less likely to be involved. Just as they hid themselves to watch the spectacle, the tide of the battle shifted.

The black shadow leading the charge suddenly leaped into the air, narrowly dodging a horizontal sweep that arrived in an instant. Amidst the creaking and snapping of wood, two ink-black eyes on the giant head flared with red light, and then, a cavernous maw suddenly gaped open.

The serpent’s head whipped back around, this time accompanied by a black hurricane.

A clearly ominous, ink-colored gas erupted from that massive mouth. As the head swung, it swept across the entire fan-shaped area in front of the serpent. The figure who had just leaped into the air was clearly unable to adjust their posture to evade the attack; they fell into the black mist and went still. Whether they were dead or alive was unknown, but they were certainly in dire straits.

This attack clearly caught all the fleeing survivors off guard. As a mournful cry from their "captain" echoed from behind, a giant of a man running to one side let out a sudden roar: "Fight to the death!" and halted his frantic sprint.

He doubled back from behind a massive tree and drew a large, square shield from his back. The shield was pitch-black, crafted from an unknown material, and its rough surface reflected a metallic, silver-black sheen. Vaguely, one could see intricate diamond-shaped patterns etched into the front; the symmetrical design was beautiful, yet it exuded an extraordinary aura.

The giant’s eyes widened. He crouched into a side-stance, bracing his massive frame behind the shield. Though the square shield was quite wide, it could not entirely cover his body. He braced himself for a moment, let out a grunt, and pushed off with his feet, charging toward the giant serpent.

His muscles tightened, his body swaying with power. Amidst the clanging of armor, the giant seemed to transform into a tank, rushing forward with a thunderous roar. His right arm, bracing the shield, remained steady and lethal. Surrounding leaves were sent flying, and with the increasingly loud thud of his footsteps, the giant’s speed surged until he became a black meteor. His shouts grew louder, eventually turning into a furious, primal roar. The black wind whistled past, blowing away debris, before he slammed headlong into the shadow.

"Uoooaaahhhh!"

With a massive collision, the giant serpent’s hulking figure was sent flying. The sheer force pushed the beast, causing it to roll and land after snapping several more trees, finally coming to a rest in a clearing, its body writhing and crushing countless bushes and wild grasses in the process. The creature’s pained shrieks echoed through the air. Among the distant onlookers, A-Niu could no longer contain his shock: "So... uh, so powerful..."

"What a valiant warrior..."

"Keep it down," Duan Qing reminded him, not looking back. "And do you really think that man came out of it unscathed?"

As the dust settled, the giant’s prone form was revealed on the ground where the impact had occurred. He struggled to move, his tower-like body trembling, clearly severely shaken by the rebound force. His right hand still gripped the black shield, but his right arm hung limp beneath it; it seemed he was no longer fit to fight.

"To ram into it like that—even against a stationary rock, the sheer mass alone would be enough to break him. But such power..." Duan Qing made his assessment immediately. "These people... they aren't from this starting village."

He turned to Meng Zhu and asked, "Do you know them?"

"Ah! Oh... no, I don't..." The girl was clearly stunned by what she had just witnessed, and only snapped out of it when Duan Qing asked. "How could I... know someone so powerful?"

Duan Qing’s inquisitive gaze swept over the other two. Jiecheng E-Shao also stammered, "From this far away, I can't see clearly either..."

"An opening!" a voice suddenly cried out from the battlefield. Everyone looked back toward the scene. A swift figure suddenly rushed toward the writhing serpent, raised their weapon, and hacked down at the massive head.

Unaware of his companion's injuries, it seemed the shield charge had dealt a massive blow to the monster, given how it continued to writhe on the ground. A finishing blow was all that was needed, and he believed he could do it... With that thought, he flicked his wrist, and a colorless light appeared on the short sword in his hand. Even in the brightened environment, the glow was strikingly visible.

End this terrible nightmare!

Boom!

A massive slapping sound resonated through the forest. The giant serpent seemed to sense something; it suddenly raised its upper body, breathing in heavy, ragged gasps. The dust in front cleared, and the oppressive black shadow rose once more, appearing before the man.

The head reappeared, followed by its long body. On the skin near the head, there was a clear indentation—the masterpiece of the giant’s desperate final strike. However, watching the monster’s steady, gliding movement and the mocking glint in its bucket-sized eyes, it was as if its previous struggle on the ground had never happened.

It slowly approached the giant lying on the ground, its massive body finally looming over him. As its tail dragged forward, the flattened remains of a human body were revealed against a tree trunk. That body—now a corpse—slowly peeled away from the depression in the bark once the tail shifted, falling to the ground with a dull thud, a testament to the story that had just unfolded.

The giant roared in fury again, but this time he had no strength left to mount a desperate counterattack. Instead, the monster was startled by his shout and recoiled, its massive form coiling up. Before the giant could react, a shadow loomed large before his eyes.

With another tail whip, the fallen leaves and rainwater on the ground were sent flying into the air. Not far away, when the figure who had been hit by the monster’s breath finally stood up, coughing, all they saw was the massive head biting down on the giant’s lifeless body.

The ink-black eyes caught sight of the last living soul. The monster finally released its prey, spitting the body aside, and began to close in slowly. On the other side, the trembling figure leaned on a long sword, struggling to stand upright, gasping for air. They seemed to pull out a potion and downed it rapidly, then shook their shoulders, causing the cloak draped behind them to flutter and spread out.

The figure let out a sharp cry and leaped. Duan Qing and his three companions only realized upon hearing that feminine shout that the last remaining player of this brutal battle was a woman.

Because so many trees had fallen, holes had opened in the canopy, and sunlight poured down from the azure post-rain sky. The woman in white armor appeared there. She jumped high, turning her body, holding her sword with both hands behind her. The blade reflected a dazzling light in the golden sun.

The sunlight, the jungle, the woman leaping high, and the giant monster staring up at her—as the cool post-rain breeze blew, the girl in the distant corner clasped her hands together: "So beautiful..."

Duan Qing curled his lip.

*She already suffered for jumping once, and now she’s jumping again? Do you love jumping that much? You can’t fly; jumping just makes you a sitting duck... Does she have some earth-shattering ultimate skill? Tsk tsk, no technique at all... Oh, it’s blinding, it’s blinding...*

As if to confirm Duan Qing’s thoughts, the blade behind the woman suddenly burst into a brilliant white light. The light was exceptionally bright, spraying outward like a stream of air, forcing the onlookers to instinctively shield their eyes with their hands or arms. In a daze, the light in the woman’s hand seemed to form the shape of a blade, as if her longsword had suddenly grown longer.

The light-blade slashed down. A shriek rang out.

Duan Qing and the others lowered their hands, steadying their dazzled vision, eager to see the climax of the battle.

However, the earth-shattering conclusion did not arrive.

As their vision cleared, the giant serpent-like creature glided over from the side, coiling its massive body to encircle the area where the woman knelt, slowly rising to stare at its trapped prey.

"I knew it would end like this..." As Duan Qing muttered to himself, Meng Zhu grew anxious. "How could this happen... Quick, we have to go help her..."

"Don't be stupid. What can we do? Go over there and throw our lives away?"

"We can't just... we can't just watch..."

"We have no choice but to watch."

The girl’s expression grew increasingly desperate. Seeing her state, E-Shao and A-Niu came over to talk her down. They, too, believed they shouldn't interfere—they couldn't win, and they weren't exactly do-gooders. Besides, scenes like this played out in the Emerald Forest every day, though rarely this spectacular.

The girl turned her gaze to Duan Qing. He seemed to understand her intent, rubbed his forehead, and said sternly, "It’s impossible."

"That woman was too reckless. The monster was on high alert the whole time. Didn't you notice how it stared unblinkingly at her jumping action? Such a defensive stance is hard to exploit, and as we saw, the thing is incredibly agile." He used logic as his final persuasion, then helplessly curled his lip. "With all that posturing, it would be a miracle if she actually hit it..."

"So," Duan Qing whispered, "if we just rush in, the monster will definitely spot us, and that would be suicide..."

"But, but..." The girl’s anxiety spiked. "That person... she’s about to be killed..."

The group looked toward the battlefield again. The player surrounded by the monster was leaning forward, kneeling on the ground, hands gripping her longsword planted in front of her. Her head was bowed, and other than the violent heaving of her back, she made no further movements, appearing to have given up. Duan Qing sighed at the scene, unable to imagine any other possible outcome. The monster, staring with its massive eyes at the prey before it, flicked its tongue, swaying from side to side, seemingly wary of a potential final, desperate counterattack.

A few breaths passed, and the coiling shadow slowly loomed over the prey’s head. The woman in white armor began to tremble slightly. She still didn't lift her head, but slowly sat upright, holding her longsword horizontally in front of her, as if to demonstrate an unyielding resolve. But the movement only caused the serpent’s head to pause for a mere second. Confirming the figure posed no threat, the giant head continued its approach, opening its cavernous maw—

It lunged!

At that moment, the tender-hearted girl shrieked and turned away, and the other two closed their eyes. Only Duan Qing kept his gaze fixed on the scene; only he saw what happened.

It was a brilliant blue light.

A jarring, teeth-grinding sound of friction accompanied the giant serpent’s pained roar—it had bitten down on a block of ice.

The suddenly appearing azure magical light, as if descended from the heavens, instantly enveloped the figure, rapidly congealing into a large, solid block of ice. The serpent had already tested the hardness of the ice, and it was clearly furious. It raised its head, hissed for a while, and then whipped its head around, staring in a certain direction.

That direction was not where Duan Qing and his group were.

It wasn't the woman’s last-ditch effort, but someone else hiding nearby... A realization dawned on him, and Duan Qing snapped his gaze toward that direction.

The others, realizing a turn of events had occurred but not yet understanding what, were prompted by Duan Qing to look toward a spot where the trees remained relatively intact. A figure slowly emerged from there.

Sunlight leaking through the gaps in the canopy fell upon the figure as he stepped out. It was a man in blue robes. Because the style was identical to Meng Zhu’s, they couldn't see his face, but the blue robes looked far more ornate, covered in intricate, complex golden patterns that even extended onto the hood.

The figure took two more steps and raised the long weapon in his hand—it was likely something akin to a staff. A spherical object at the tip of the weapon emitted a brilliant blue light. With a flick of his hand, the blue light vanished instantly.

A massive ice spike appeared before the giant serpent.

The monster’s reaction was lightning-fast, but the appearance of the ice spike was as sudden as the blue light that had protected the woman, so its evasion was not entirely successful. The ice spike grazed its head and slid down its body, slicing through the hard scales with the momentum of its massive weight. Ink-red fluid splattered out, only to be frozen into white frost by the cold emanating from the spike.

The monster was completely enraged by the excruciating pain of the attack. It whipped its body violently, shaking off some of the frost, and the woman, who had been encircled, was flung away by the force, rolling into the bushes nearby.

A hair-raising shriek followed. With impossible speed, the massive shadow lunged toward the blue-robed figure. Just as Duan Qing and the others braced for another massive battle, the blue-robed man swayed slightly, twirled his staff, stowed the weapon back into his robes, and then... turned and sprinted deep into the forest.

The giant serpent pursued without hesitation.

The occasional booming sounds grew fainter and more distant. Duan Qing and his teammates knew that this brutal battle, which was completely out of their league, had finally moved away—at least for now.

Under the warm sunlight, the jungle gradually grew quiet. If not for the wreckage before them, Duan Qing and the others might have thought nothing had happened at all. Listening to the rustling of leaves in the breeze, they all felt a strange sense of having survived a catastrophe. A-Niu exhaled, marveling that they were still alive; E-Shao suggested they leave immediately and act as if nothing had happened; but the young girl wanted to go check on the players to see if any had survived.

Duan Qing looked at the other three, who were all waiting for his decision, shrugged, and began walking toward the battlefield.

"Let’s go take a look."