A different world game? A different world game!

Chapter 1128 Devouring the City

Above Fortress Anvil-13, the scene resembled a post-apocalyptic painting.

The Second Void Gate spewed forth an inexhaustible stream of purplish-black energy from the northern horizon, dyeing the entire sky an ominous dark purple hue, even distorting the midday sunlight into a strange purple halo.

The land outside the city walls was no longer the familiar brown soil, but covered with a layer of constantly writhing, seemingly alive, sticky purple moss, with cracks crisscrossing it and a corrosive mist rising from it.

The colossal, living void warship known as the "City Eater" is hovering about 300 meters above the main gate of the fortress.

This is clearly different from the war behemoth of the other fortress.

It changed from an oval shape to a flat shape.

These monsters, with their ability to change their physical form in response to the current war situation, are extremely troublesome.

Without a doubt, this is a true war behemoth.

It can certainly be called a strategic unit.

At this moment, it resembles a manta ray magnified ten thousand times. Its body surface is not a biological carapace, but a smooth, constantly flowing and recombining energy fluid that refracts an iridescent, oily sheen against a dark purple background.

At its core, an energy vortex with a diameter of over twenty meters is spinning wildly.

It draws energy from the surrounding purple sky, emitting a low buzzing sound like the chorus of a thousand bees.

The center of the vortex was already glowing a dazzling purple-white light; it was the annihilation beam, powerful enough to pierce through the core shield of the fortress, completing its final charge.

Clearly, the previous eye ray was not powerful enough.

Below, the wide-area deflection force field, supported by thirty high-level mages, had become as thin as a cicada's wing, its light flickering uncertainly.

The mages were pale, blood seeping from their mouths and noses, their magic power nearly depleted.

But they are still constantly replenishing the medicine.

Purple electric snakes kept darting into the edge of the force field, carving deep grooves into the city wall.

At this critical moment—

Five figures tore through the billowing smoke and purple mist, like five shooting stars flying in reverse, and fiercely cut into the airspace between the city devourers and the fortress.

They were clad in the legendary "Watchers" armor, which featured a silver base with gold patterns and a flowing, orderly glow. When the divine runes on the armor's surface came into contact with the energy of the void, they sparked tiny golden flames.

It was the "Falling Stars" squad that was previously at Fortress Seven.

But then they arrived here.

The outcome of the battle at Fortress 7 has clearly been decided by other entities.

That's why they dared to come here to provide support.

"Location confirmed! The City Devourer's core energy reading has exceeded the critical threshold; its target is the Command Tower!"

Thran, the elven archer, spoke with a calm, icy tone through the communication network built into his helmet.

Her slender figure hovered in mid-air atop the wreckage of a destroyed magic turret, the legendary longbow "Whispers of the Forest" already in her hand, its verdant bow extending naturally as if from a living ancient tree.

"Bear the first hit head-on! Gronn, establish a defensive foothold! Lina, prepare spatial coordinates! Leona, boost all units!"

Captain Calvin quickly issued the order.

His voice was steady and powerful, carrying an unquestionable determination.

In Gron's hand is a two-meter-tall shield called "Immovable Mountain," engraved with reliefs of mountains and ramparts.

Sensing its master's fighting spirit, it began to emit a soft, earthy yellow glow.

"Bastion long-range firepower, clear a zone for us to engage the enemy! Now!" Galvin roared at the ground command simultaneously.

As if responding to his call, the remaining defenses of the Anvil-13 fortress let out a final roar.

On the east side of the city wall, the three remaining heavy magic cannon turrets, their barrels already glowing red-hot, were forcibly overloaded and charged, their muzzles emitting blinding blue-white electric light.

The next moment, three thick chains of lightning tore through the air, not shooting towards the massive City Devourer, but precisely sweeping across the airspace on the flank of the Soul Guardian squad.

There, dozens of incredibly fast "void floating crystals," resembling miniature manta rays, were converging into a cluster, attempting to disrupt the team.

Where lightning struck, the floating crystals shattered in a series of explosions, turning into purple crystalline dust that filled the sky.

At the same time, the surviving alchemical explosive crossbow positions behind the crenellations of the city wall fired simultaneously.

Hundreds of crossbow bolts, trailing crimson flames, rained down like a storm upon the horde of monsters gathering at the foot of the city walls.

Those were thousands upon thousands of ground units called "City Diggers," resembling giant bone crabs and over ten meters tall, their thick chitinous shells gathering the kinetic energy for their charge.

The violent explosions created a sea of ​​fire, and the shockwaves tore the monsters in the front to shreds, while those in the back were also shaken and forced to stagger backward, temporarily clearing a scorched vacuum zone at the foot of the city wall.

Although the cover from long-range fire was brief, it bought the Soul Guardians squad crucial space to engage the enemy.

"Holy Praise, Heart of Valor!" Paladin Leona raised her warhammer, "Dawnbringer."

The order crystals inlaid in the hammerhead emitted a warm, yet gentle, light, like the sun.

Pure holy light rippled outwards from her like a tide, enveloping all the team members.

The moment the light touched his body, Calvin felt a surge of power in his arms, and Thran felt his vision was clearer than ever before, even the flow of energy particles in the air was clearly visible.

The normal effect of Rule Power - Divine Infusion is activated, raising the base stats of all team members to 1.5 times the maximum.

"Space anchor point deployed! Primary coordinates: 50 meters directly in front of Calvin, at the same height; Secondary coordinates: below the energy membrane wing on the right side of the City Eater; Safe coordinates: No. 3 maintenance platform of the city wall."

The half-elf arcane mage Lina spoke very quickly, her hands gesturing in front of her, leaving pale blue arcane trails at her fingertips.

Each time a location is pronounced, a barely perceptible ripple of space gently spreads out at the corresponding location.

Her rule, "Door Traveler," allows her to preset coordinates within her perception range and open stable or temporary two-way portals at any time.

"The first energy surge is here! Concentrate all energy toward Gron!"

Calvin roared.

Gronn did not stand on the city wall, but instead slammed his tower shield into a spatial coordinate that Lina had left on the ground beforehand.

The shield's edge was deeply embedded in the ground, and the complex array of runes on its surface lit up one after another, spreading out a thick, earthy yellow halo.

The power of the crowd is attached to it and transmitted through teleportation.

The city devourer's energy has reached its peak.

Its core vortex suddenly contracted, and then—a purple-white beam of light, more than five meters in diameter and composed entirely of destructive energy, shot out like a spear of divine punishment.

Wherever the beam of light passed, the air was ionized, emitting a sharp explosion, leaving a long-lasting black spatial rift in its path.

The beam of light was aimed at the weakest node in the wide-area force field below, which was also where the fortress command tower was located.

"Get behind me!"

With a roar, Gronn soared into the sky to meet the destructive beam of light.

He held the "Immovable Mountain" shield upright in front of him, and his legendary battle aura erupted like a volcano, resonating strongly with the shield's protective magic and the power of rules imprinted deep within his soul.

"Rules Manifested, Crystal Barrier—Absolute Rejection!"

In an instant, a huge, thick, translucent, multifaceted barrier, seemingly made up of countless giant diamond crystals, materialized out of thin air in front of Calvin.

The barrier is not flat, but presents a complex polyhedral structure, with each face as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the chaotic light and shadow around it.

The moment the barrier appeared, the surrounding void energy momentarily froze. "BOOM—!!!"

The annihilation beam slammed into the crystal barrier!

An indescribable roar shook the heavens and the earth, and could be clearly heard even dozens of miles away.

The point of impact erupted with light a hundred times brighter than the sun, causing all the soldiers on the ground who were looking up to be instantly blinded and burst into tears.

The barrier trembled violently!

The surface was instantly covered with fine, spiderweb-like cracks, and the purplish-white destructive energy crashed, splashed, and refracted wildly on the crystal plane.

Most of the energy was cleverly deflected by the barrier to the empty sky above, tearing a huge hole in the thick purple clouds.

A small portion of the energy seeped through the cracks, impacting Galvin's body and the giant shield in his hand.

"Ugh—!" Grom let out a suppressed roar of pain.

His "Watcher" armor shattered inch by inch, revealing the bulging muscles and cracked skin beneath. Blood gushed out from the cracks like a fountain, instantly vaporizing under the intense heat.

His body was pushed backward by the enormous impact, his boots carving two golden energy trails in the invisible air.

But he didn't loosen his clenched teeth, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the barrier in front of him, and his fighting spirit was frantically outputting without regard to cost, maintaining the barrier's most basic form.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

With Leona's amplification, and with some of the earth's power transmitted from the ground through the spatial anchor by Gronn, the burden was alleviated.

He actually withstood the devastating bombardment, which was theoretically enough to severely damage or even destroy the fortress, all by himself and with just a shield.

The beam of light finally ran out.

After letting out a mournful cry of despair, the crystal barrier dissipated into countless shimmering specks of light.

Groon's arms hung limply at his sides, covered in blood, but he remained suspended in mid-air, never falling.

"Now! Thran, put it in chains!" Calvin roared.

He had just empowered his teammates, which had also consumed a significant amount of his magic.

Thran, who had been waiting for a long time, had his pupils shrink to the size of pinpoints.

"We have identified... seven vulnerable points in the energy flow."

She murmured softly as the legendary longbow was drawn to its full extent, and a magical arrow, its shaft wreathed in emerald natural power and silvery-white runes of order, its arrowhead resembling an ancient clasp, was unleashed.

"Arrow of Binding - Sevenfold Shackles".

They locked onto the seven constantly opening and closing pores on the City Devourer's massive body, which spewed purple mist—the key to its energy circulation system.

The bowstring twanged, and the arrow was released.

It did not fly in a straight line, but drew seven beautiful and mysterious arcs in the air, like a living spirit.

The endpoint of each arc hits a single vent with unparalleled precision.

"Puff puff puff puff puff puff puff!"

Seven soft sounds came almost simultaneously.

The arrows did not explode upon impact, but instead instantly "melted," transforming into countless energy chains interwoven with the phantoms of emerald green vines and the light and shadow of silver chains. These chains then burst forth and spread from the seven points of impact!

The chains attracted and intertwined with each other, and in the blink of an eye, they wove a giant net of light covering most of the city devourer's body.

"Hiss—!!!"

The city devourer let out its first shriek since the start of the war, filled with pain and rage.

Its smooth energy flow was forcibly interrupted, its massive body stiffened abruptly, and its deformation and movement speed visibly slowed down.

The smooth surface of the energy fluid also developed unnatural wrinkles and ripples due to the restraint of the chains.

"Well done! Lina, get me up there! The rest of you cover me!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Calvin gulped down a bottle of high-level healing potion, feeling the tingling sensation of the digitized rules rapidly converting the potion's power into mana, while continuing to give commands.

"Directional Door/Warp Passage, open!"

Lina's face was slightly pale, and sweat beaded on her forehead.

Maintaining multiple spatial coordinates and being ready to initiate teleportation at any time is a significant drain on her energy.

She formed a hand seal, connecting the two points of spatial coordinates beneath Calvin's feet and beneath the membranous wing on the right side where the City Eater was imprisoned, creating an instant resonance.

An oval-shaped, pale blue portal with ripples around its edges unfolded beneath Swift Shadow's feet, while a corresponding exit portal opened simultaneously beside the City Devourer.

At this moment, Calvin's greatsword split into two blades, which had been quietly waiting like a shadow, but now its eyes suddenly flashed with the sharp light of a predator.

His rule, "Shadow Rift," requires striking the same microscopic area at an extremely high frequency within a very short period of time, imbued with the power of the rule, in order to accumulate enough "ripple" layers to tear apart high-level defenses.

Without a word, his figure disappeared the moment the door opened.

In the next instant, he appeared beside the City Devourer, less than three meters away from its constantly writhing, relatively fragile dark purple membrane wings.

The intense corrosive sensation and mental whispers brought by the void energy instantly enveloped him, but the flame of order belonging to a legendary powerhouse burned fiercely within his soul, forcibly isolating him from the erosion.

"Double-edged Frenzy Slash".

Calvin's figure completely transformed into a blurry, unreal shape.

The two legendary longswords in his hands, "Buzz" and "Whisper," have long, narrow blades that can be joined together, and they look exactly the same.

At this moment, it vibrates and emits a high-frequency sound that makes your teeth ache.

The two swords were not swung haphazardly, but rather, with a precision and speed that were difficult for the naked eye to perceive, they frantically stabbed at an area on the membrane wing that was less than the size of a palm.

Each thrust was as light as a feather, yet as heavy as a thousand pounds. The moment the sword tip touched the target, it left a barely perceptible, yet imbued with the power to "tear" the rules of nature.

The marks, like maggots clinging to bones, layered upon each other, causing the energy fluid in that area to fluctuate violently, emitting subtle yet dense cracking sounds.

The City Devourer sensed a threat from the flank, directed at the energy structure itself.

Even though it was bound by seven shackles, its immense will still drove its body to react.

Dozens of purplish-black energy spikes suddenly burst open on its smooth surface, shooting out indiscriminately in all directions like a porcupine.

Meanwhile, several "Void Serpents" that had previously evaded long-range firepower and were lurking in the shadows below.

These serpentine creatures, covered in slippery scales and capable of moving between reality and illusion, shot out like arrows, their gaping maws filled with sharp teeth and dripping with corrosive slime, hurtling straight at Swift Shadow, who was focused on stacking layers of magic.

"Don't disturb him! Earth Pulse - Shock Barrier!"

Gronn's roar came from below.

His massive body lunged forward, slamming the tower shield into the ground at a specific frequency.

It wasn't a simple physical impact; rather, it triggered the dwarven engineering runes engraved inside the shield.

"Boom--!"

A visible, circular shockwave, imbued with the power of the earth's yellowish-brown surface, suddenly spread out from the center of Gron.

Shockwaves are not destructive energy, but rather contain strong rules of "oscillation" and "dispersion".

Several void serpents that had pounced into the air were struck head-on by the shockwave. It was as if they had crashed into an invisible, elastic wall; their forward momentum was abruptly halted, their bodies tumbling and flying backward, their movements instantly becoming chaotic. (End of Chapter)