Chapter 156: The Beast-Dragon Army

The battle had lasted for six hours, and the player legions had finally recaptured control of the outer city walls. Then, an entirely unexpected situation unfolded: the monster army suddenly began to slowly retreat. No new monsters were spawning, and all of them seemed to have witnessed something utterly terrifying. One by one, they raised their heads to the sky, emitted mournful wails, and then bowed their heads as they fell back.

Everyone was dumbfounded, never anticipating such a turn of events. The battle was far from over; barely a fraction over half of the ten-hour defense time had elapsed, yet the monsters abruptly ceased their assault. Had they really managed to hold the city just like that?

Someone suddenly blurted out, "No, look everyone, a big one is coming out!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, a violent tremor erupted ahead. All the monsters raised their heads in a chorus of roars. The sorrowful cries were gone, replaced now by frantic, excited shrieks.

A colossal beast burst forth from the ground. It resembled a mutated rhinoceros dragging a long tail, with a pair of sharp tusks jutting from the tip of its snout, staggering unsteadily into the open area. It looked even more like a giant elephant, its entire body covered in sturdy, blue-black scales. This massive creature was easily the size of a multi-story building, instantly identifiable as a high-defense, low-agility monster.

Not only this one, but another stood upright much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, though its skin was a dark, murky green. There were also earthy-yellow dinosaurs, silver-gray dinosaurs, and more—essentially, an entire dinosaur army.

"Bang—!"

Four streams of energy erupted from the rear of the Gatling T-Rex, hurtling forward. The monsters were at least one to two kilometers away; the attacks of archers and mages simply couldn't reach them, leaving only this high-tech weapon capable of taking effect.

Four successive explosions rocked the bizarre rhino-like monster, but its scales acted like a metallic alloy, sending up mere sparks without suffering the slightest damage. It merely popped up four damage figures above its head: -122, -120, -119, -121.

I was taken aback. It took 2,500 points of attack power just to inflict that sliver of damage? Wasn't this monster's defense a bit too heaven-defying? It was practically on par with the defense of that skeletal dragon—though the skeletal dragon's defense was even more terrifying.

Next, a heaven-shaking dragon roar echoed from ahead. All the dinosaur monsters halted about a thousand meters in front of Sky Dragon City. Activating my fiery golden eyes, I immediately scanned them, starting with the rhino.

Kodo Beast King, Level 70, Boss. Description: A colossal beast living deep within the Canyon of the Dead, favored as a fierce warrior by the orcs. Following the downfall of the orc race, the Kodo beasts became masterless wild animals.

Next was the dark-green-skinned T-Rex.

Deviljho, Level 80 Boss. Description: The Deviljho is a creature evolved to near perfection. Its flaw of needing to constantly feed has been compensated for by incomparably tyrannical strength and a highly developed digestive system. Born purely for appetite, when prey becomes severely scarce, the Deviljho will migrate, bringing nightmares to another land. Its mobility is ferocious and its metabolism rapid; it must feed to maintain sufficient daily body temperature, so it turns down nothing that can supply protein and calories. The Deviljho possesses no distinct territorial awareness; to it, combat is merely the process of predation. Thus, it is not uncommon for it to lose patience mid-fight and search for other prey. According to the records of the ecological scribes: if a Deviljho hunts for too long, it grows irritable, likely mistaking the combat enhancement effects of its rage as a tool to accelerate predation, failing to understand that hunger is precisely what is caused by accelerated blood circulation. Currently, it is known that Deviljho choose highly secluded caves deep within the frozen tundra as their nests. However, no one has ever witnessed the process of them procreating. This strict concealment of their offspring is unique among brute wyvern species, as any other monster will do its utmost to eradicate Deviljho hatchlings, even gentle herbivorous monsters being no exception—all to prevent a shortage of their own food or the extinction of their species. Being collectively ostracized by other kinds of monsters makes the reproduction of the Deviljho increasingly difficult.

What the hell! A Level 70 boss and a Level 80 boss—this was leaving no way for people to live. The average level of players inside Sky Dragon City right now was around Level 40. A boss's level being twice that of the players made this completely unwritable. However, the system would never do something like this; if the balance between monsters and players ceased to exist, the game could not go on.

Following that were the other surrounding dinosaurs.

Uragaan, Level 50, Enhanced Monster. Description: The Uragaan is a brute wyvern of immense strength, capable of shattering rocks with its hardened jaws and feeding primarily on minerals. Additionally, it can expertly coat its surface with processed magma, causing tremendous shocks and massive explosions around itself through the combustible, exploding rocks flung about when it swings its body. Some have discovered that it has a very small chance of dropping rare minerals!

Steel Uragaan, Level 56, Enhanced Monster. Description: A vicious and brutal species among brute wyverns, using its massive jaws to batter enemies and rocks alike. It dotes on eating various minerals, and rare ores can also be chipped from its body with a shovel.

Barroth, Level 50, Elite Beast. Description: A monster inhabiting the sandy plains, utilizing its powerful legs and hardened head as weapons. Highly skilled at charging attacks, it favors muddy terrain and generally conceals its body within the mire. The giant insects thriving in the sandy plains are its favorite delicacy, and some have witnessed it shattering insect nests to secure food. Furthermore, the Barroth's mud inflicts targets with a muddy status, slowing their movement speed and preventing them from attacking.

Upon seeing the information, I forwarded these details to Uncle Zhao.

Uncle Zhao's expression upon reading the data certainly couldn't have been pretty. Just then, the monsters launched a new wave of charges, countless massive bodies aggressively slamming toward Sky Dragon City.

"All firepower, concentrate attacks! Quick, quick!" Uncle Zhao roared across the academy channel.

Defying the players' artillery fire, these monsters directly collapsed the city walls, surrounding Sky Dragon City from all directions and instantly clashing with the millions of players inside. The battle erupted in an instant, but the monsters' combat effectiveness far outstripped the players', plunging both sides into a frantic skirmish. The number of these monsters was somewhere between two and three hundred thousand, yet their combat power vastly exceeded players who outnumbered them severalfold.

Uncle Zhao shouted, "Students, pull back your lines! Fall back to the inner city and bring the distance back within the attack range of the mages! These monsters are strong, but they aren't invincible. Our true enemy is not the monsters before us right now."

Refusing to get bogged down in a protracted engagement, everyone immediately retreated. Although this skirmish had slain a thousand monsters, we paid the price with three to four times that number in deaths.

Players fell back to the inner city, tightening their defensive line. A large number of melee-class players concentrated around the city gates, accompanied by massive throngs of summoned beasts. On the city walls, mages once again prepared to unleash their terrifying magic, while clerics cast healing spells one after another, dragging combat-incapacitated players back into the fray.

The moment the horde of brute wyverns surged into the mages' attack range, countless offensive spells—including "Electromagnetic Tempest," "Meteor Shower," "Storm of Death," "Core Blast," and "Absolute Zero"—crazed and detonated amidst the charging pack. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred of the charging monsters were maimed or killed. Meanwhile, the archers in the rear, the system's turret emplacements, and the player-crafted ballistas and catapults all displayed their might. Though the monster army converging from all directions came in wave after wave, defying death with reckless abandon, they were firmly intercepted at this moment by this terrifying array of diverse attacks. Soon, no fewer than two thousand demonic beasts were casualties, leaving massive amounts of equipment dropped across the ground, while the human side suffered virtually no losses.

However, for every batch of these monsters that fell, even more surged forward. The Kodo Beast King in the very back, which had been observing the battle, also lunged into the fray. Yet its defense was so formidable that countless arrows and magic spells only kicked up clusters of sparks across its back shell. To be frank, the damage was simply unwatchable; magic only dealt hundreds of points in area-of-effect damage, and the archers' arrows lacked the piercing sharpness of the Gatling T-Rex's rounds, with each arrow only scratching out a dozen or so damage points, some even dropping into single digits. Still, the Kodo Beast King moved very slowly, and the players' attacks couldn't be said to miss entirely; the majority still battered the boss until it rocked unsteadily.

The monster army launched yet another charge, and countless brute wyvern monsters once more poured forward recklessly.

Anxiously watching the combat, I simultaneously questioned Long Xin, who was riding a Great Crimson Eagle in the sky: "How is it?"

Long Xin's voice was laced with anxiety: "It's no good, no good! The monsters' defense is too high; our attacks are practically tickling it."

I gritted my teeth: "Dammit!"

At this moment, all players fired wildly without regard for their lives. Magic, arrows, and hurled projectiles bombarded the boss in a frantic blitz. The defending mechanical army also abandoned attacks on other monsters, training all gun barrels squarely on the boss. Countless shells and streams of energy blasted forth, yet that boss was simply too resilient. The most fatal point was its ability to regenerate health automatically—meaning that even under the bombardment of artillery fire, it still recovered health every second. Though the rate was very slow, by the time it crawled to within less than 500 meters of the inner city wall, it hadn't even burned through a third of its health pool.

Just then, the inner city gates abruptly flew wide open, and a heavily armed troop surged out. Judging by their attire, these were precisely the NPC soldiers of Sky Dragon City!

Damn it, these guys were finally willing to show up. But their numbers weren't large—roughly around 20,000 troops! Why hadn't this bunch appeared during the first two phases? Were they intentionally kept in reserve for this siege battle? Perhaps.

The leading soldier shouted, "For the defense of Sky Dragon City, for our honor, charge!"

Behind him, the soldiers let out wave after wave of furious roars, their morale soaring sky-high!