Chapter 131: A Fierce Battle

Summoned beasts roared, players shouted, and the Zerg screeched. Countless monsters and players plummeted from the sky to their deaths.

Long Zhan darted through the air with us, his dragon breath never ceasing. Occasionally, approaching Mutalisks would draw near, but Huan Yue would casually slash with her sword, cleaving them in two as they shrieked. Fighting in the air severely limited our ability to dodge. Facing the rain of glaive worms spat out by the Mutalisks, Long Zhan had to endure the brunt of the attacks. Even with his formidable defense, his health bar was dropping at a rate of 200 points per second. Xia Tian, our apothecary, tirelessly applied healing potions and status buffs; otherwise, Long Zhan would have fallen long ago.

Half an hour, an hour, two hours passed... The player armies barely held off the Zerg onslaught. The battle in the sky raged fiercely, and when the ground forces saw that the aerial threat was contained, they charged out of the city in a unified push. The players even began a counterattack. Inside the city, countless non-combatant players watched the battle with bated breath, waiting anxiously and praying silently for the warriors at the front to hold the line.

Time ticked by, slower than it ever had before. Five full hours had passed, and casualties were massive. Most of the players on the ground had been wiped out. Our North Gate had less than a few tens of thousands left, and the other gates likely had even fewer. Combined, there were only about 300,000 to 400,000 people left. Fortunately, the monsters' offensive finally began to wane; the arrival of the Zerg seemed to be slowing down.

"Everyone, charge! Victory is right before us!"

"Students, charge! The class with the most survivors after victory gets a 30-point bonus on their final exam!" Zhao Bo shouted over our team channel. Upon hearing about the exam bonus, the morale of the Golden Dragon Academy students soared. Other players were not to be outdone, launching a frenzied counterattack. The Zerg swarm gradually dwindled, and most of the players had fallen as well. We had pushed back to over a thousand meters outside the city walls. The survivors remaining at the front line were essentially top-tier experts, though everyone looked worse for wear.

Long Xin looked back at the main battlefield, her expression darkening. "Look, big brother!"

Everyone looked up. The ground and sky monsters had been mostly cleared, but suddenly, new black dots appeared in the sky, hurtling toward Heavenly Dragon City.

"Boom... boom... boom..."

Suddenly, a strange, thunderous rumbling echoed through the sky. Within the churning clouds, black, meteorite-like objects began to plummet toward Heavenly Dragon City, falling crazily.

Witnessing this, everyone turned pale with horror. At this moment, no one cared about formations or coordination. Everyone's first reaction was to find cover to avoid the falling "meteorites" and preserve their hard-earned levels.

My heart sank. I wasn't worried about being hit myself, but the speed of these falling objects was terrifying. More importantly, these "meteorites" were targeted specifically at the city. If the City Hall were destroyed, it would be a disaster.

"Boom!" "Boom!"... In an instant, deafening roars rang throughout Heavenly Dragon City. Even the thick city walls suffered massive damage, their millions of durability points rapidly depleting. The surrounding watchtowers, the City Lord’s mansion, taverns, and houses were all subjected to near-total destruction.

The only thing people could do was scramble for cover. Those who couldn't escape were forced to fight, and the weaker ones were instantly crushed into pulp.

The catapults and siege ballistae that the players had painstakingly constructed on the ground were quickly decimated. Long Zhan’s massive size made it impossible to dodge the dense barrage of "meteorites," so he resorted to hacking them with his black sword. To my surprise, this was effective; though the "meteorites" were terrifying, they were sliced in two. But when the first one was split open, I was shocked to see that these were not rocks at all—they were flesh and blood, containing Zerg monsters inside.

I looked toward Heavenly Dragon City. From the craters left by the "meteorites," Zerg emerged: Zerglings, Banelings, Hydralisks, Roaches, and creatures known as Infestors. These were Level 60 elite monsters. Upon appearing, they sprayed a vast pool of green liquid; players caught in it were immobilized, taking 400 damage per tick. While this effect didn't do much to warriors, it was lethal for Mages and Archers, wiping them out in droves. Warriors caught in the liquid were then swarmed by Banelings, which exploded and wiped out entire groups.

That wasn't all. Corruptors began devouring the players immobilized by the liquid. After swallowing them, they would spit out a green egg seconds later, which hatched into a clone of the devoured player. However, these were no longer players; they were "Alien Combatants," and killing them actually yielded experience!

Even worse, the Corruptors extended tentacles that, when inserted into a player, turned that player from an ally into an enemy. Killing these mind-controlled allies would even turn the attacker's name red! It was an agonizing dilemma.

The nightmare continued. A massive swarm of Corruptors appeared in the sky—at least three digits worth. They hovered over the city and some began to encase themselves in cocoons. Everyone knew this was a bad sign and tried to stop them, but many Corruptors shielded the cocoons.

Long Zhan, being the largest target, was surrounded by Corruptors that seemed to identify him as the greatest threat. After half a minute of struggle, the protected cocoons began to crack, and massive monsters emerged.

Brood Lords, Level 65, Mutant Beasts. Description: These ray-like flying creatures are the Zerg's aerial siege units. Brood Lords appear only in large-scale battles, using biological symbionts to attack targets. These projectiles swarm the target until they are shredded or the symbiont dies. This makes Brood Lords a massive threat to structures. While they possess incredible offensive power, they are fragile and helpless against numerous aerial units.

Protected by the Corruptors, these Brood Lords unleashed hell on our ground forces, raining down broodlings that tore through the players and pulverized the city walls. Their attack speed wasn't high, but the sheer volume of damage was agonizing.

Just then, another massive roar echoed from the ground. The purple creep had covered the earth, and from the Nydus Worms emerged even larger monsters. My heart turned to ice.

I had seen these before: Ultralisks! And there wasn't just one or two—there were over a dozen. These terrifying monsters charged wildly. The players launched a desperate counterattack, but their strikes couldn't even pierce the Ultralisks' hides. Swords, axes, arrows, and magic felt like mere tickles. With a single swipe of their massive tusks, rows of players were turned into white flashes of light.

Ultralisk, Level 60 Boss. Description: Ultralisks evolved from docile beasts, though they bear little resemblance to them now. They are the most powerful combat units in the Zerg ground army, acting as the backbone of the swarm and posing an equal threat to any armor. These massive behemoths are like living siege engines. Their bone-like scythes can easily pierce most known materials; few can survive an assault by an Ultralisk.