Chapter 111: I'm Here to Clean Up the Mess!
Current occupation progress: 86%...87%...88%!
Just about three more minutes!
Then the occupation would be completed!
The players originally thought that completing the task was already a sure thing.
Who would have expected that Wang Zhi would transform into a Tier-Two Commander-level monster.
The body of the Crimson Follower was about the size of a city bus, completely blood-red, with powerful hind limbs and relatively slender and flexible arms. Its neck was piled with twenty tumor-like heads, making it look both eerie and grotesquely hideous.
“No matter what!”
“Hold on for just three more minutes!”
“Then we’ll have succeeded!”
The players were fully aware of how terrifying a Tier-Two Commander-level monster was!
Given their current state and strength, the odds of winning against such a high-level boss were practically zero. Rather than chasing after that slim chance of victory, it was better to try to delay time at all costs and light up the Blessing Point!
Once the Crimson Follower appeared, it first let out a beast-like low growl, then raised its right hand and swiped its claw at the players before it.
Bang!
Five players scrambled to dodge.
The claw strike left five deep gashes across the stone tiles.
The Crimson Follower was about to attack again, when the Corrupted Pei Yuanshao charged forward and swung his long-prepared halberd, smashing it directly against the Crimson Follower’s body.
252! (Critical Hit!)
This strike was tremendously powerful, but compared to the Crimson Follower’s massively thick HP, this bit of damage was negligible. Enraged, the Crimson Follower retaliated with a claw to Pei Yuanshao.
301!
Pei Yuanshao’s HP bar immediately dropped by a huge chunk.
The two powerful Commander-level monsters clashed immediately.
Players took the chance to fire arrows and cast spells, but the damage could only be described as tickling.
Though Pei Yuanshao was extremely strong, the gap between Tier-One and Tier-Two was far too great. Moreover, he had already been in a half-health state from the earlier battle, and couldn’t hold on for more than a minute.
Under the frenzied onslaught.
Pei Yuanshao was torn apart by the claw strikes.
He eventually turned into a cloud of black mist and vanished.
Even with Pei Yuanshao tanking at the front and players unleashing furious attacks, the Crimson Follower’s HP was reduced by less than one-fifth. With the recovery ability of a Tier-Two Commander monster, this bit of HP loss would soon regenerate.
Current occupation progress: 91%...92%...93%!
“Just a little more!”
“We can’t fail at the last step!”
“No matter what, we have to stop it today!”
Lone Boat and Black-Eyed Rui Ge activated Windstep and quickly closed in from both sides to attack. Two sharp sword lights struck its neck at the same time, piercing through one of the heads!
57 (Critical Hit!)
62 (Critical Hit!)
The damage was just too low!
The two tried to retreat right after landing their strikes.
But even though their speed was fast, the Crimson Follower’s reaction was faster. Two brand-new arms suddenly sprouted from its shoulders and, in the blink of an eye, grabbed both rangers.
【You have been hit by “Crimson Drain”, losing 100 HP per second!】
Lone Boat and Black-Eyed Rui Ge were completely drained in under three seconds and died on the spot.
After draining the two rangers, the Crimson Follower seemed to have powered up and grown even more frenzied and powerful!
It swung all four arms and continued its advance. Niu Shisan and Street Slayer activated Iron Armor Skill and rushed forward. Their greatsword and twin blades simultaneously launched charged slashes at it, but they couldn’t stop the monster’s advance at all.
43!
32!
29!
“Damn it, stop right there!”
Ye Li Meng leapt into the air, raised the Thousand-Skull Hammer with both hands, activated a charged strike, then stacked the skill Earth Shock Wave, and with the fall, smashed down heavily in front of the Crimson Follower, instantly unleashing a violent shockwave across its entire body.
174!
This strike had considerable power.
It shattered multiple parts of the Crimson Follower’s body.
Even though Ye Li Meng had the strongest equipment and attack power among all warriors, the damage was still not enough, far from enough, and the stun effect of Earth Shock Wave was ineffective against the Crimson Follower.
The three warriors had no time to follow up with another attack.
A blood-red claw light swept through them, instantly breaking their protection charms and causing massive damage.
Thanks to the Iron Armor Skill’s protection, the three warriors were not instantly killed, but were left with slivers of HP. With no time to escape, they decisively launched another round of attacks, dealing another 200 points of damage to the Crimson Follower.
It was enraged!
The Crimson Follower was completely enraged.
Its twenty secondary heads all opened their mouths and howled at once!
【You have been affected by “Crimson Howl”, you are stunned for 5 seconds.】
All players on-site fell into a stunned state, and the Crimson Follower’s main head spewed out a large mouthful of blood into the sky.
That blood transformed midair into hundreds of sharp blood-red spikes, which then rained down like a storm.
Ye Li Meng, Niu Shisan, and Street Slayer were instantly shot into human pincushions.
The Crimson Follower’s four arms each conjured a Blood Spear.
It roared and hurled the spears, and those powerful blood-red javelins shot rapidly toward the stunned players in the rear. Anyone hit by such attacks was certain to die.
But at that critical moment—
Zhou Ji managed to break free from the stun effect in time.
He hurriedly swung his blade, shattering three of the spears flying toward the core.
Another spear was too far away to stop and ultimately pierced through Midnight Pig Slayer’s body.
“Damn it, I’m going down too. You guys better hang in there!”
Before collapsing, Midnight Pig Slayer cast one final Rejuvenation Spell on Zhou Ji.
With most of the players already dead, whether they could buy more time now rested on this NPC.
Current occupation progress: 94%...95%!
The Crimson Follower charged toward the players with a roar!
“Fiery Tiger Roar!” Zhou Ji slashed with his blade, striking the Crimson Follower and dealing over 100 points of damage, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop its advance.
“Damn it!”
“This thing is just too tenacious!”
Chimera Wraith and Artist Faction Leader simultaneously used the Great Peace Lightning Talisman.
Although this was currently the strongest single-target spell known to players, the combined attack from the two only dealt less than 200 damage.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Zhou Ji engaged the Crimson Follower head-on.
The Crimson Follower’s four arms simultaneously conjured blood spears, wielding four weapons in a frenzied assault.
Each strike was tremendously powerful.
As blades clashed with spears of blood, Zhou Ji quickly fell into a disadvantage.
After just five or six exchanges—
Zhou Ji was forced backward.
The Crimson Follower brought its four arms together, merging the four blood spears into one giant blood spear.
Then, it hurled the massive spear at Zhou Ji and a few players standing in front of the altar.
“There’s no way to block this strike!”
Zhou Ji could clearly sense the overwhelming energy within this attack.
Even he could do nothing in the face of such crushing force.
But at that moment, Mad Blade Old Wang and Salted Fish Thrust stepped forward.
The two warriors raised their shields and stood in front of Zhou Ji.
The moment the giant spear landed, it exploded.
Its destructive force and shockwave were comparable to a tactical missile, instantly blowing the two warriors shielding in front into pieces.
The terrifying fragments and shockwave engulfed everyone else.
Chimera Wraith and Artist Faction Leader were both sent flying.
Artist Faction Leader had bad luck and was pierced through by a sharp fragment, dying on the spot.
“It’s over!”
Although Old Wang and Salted Fish's sacrifice barely saved Zhou Ji’s life, he was now seriously wounded and unable to fight, lying more than ten meters from the altar.
Chenxi was also down to slivers of HP.
But she still refused to give up.
She continued her effort to activate the core.
Current occupation progress: 96%!
Roar!
With the roar—
The Crimson Follower drew near.
That terrifying and oppressive figure loomed closer.
Chenxi’s heart was filled with unwillingness.
Just 3% away—was it still going to fail in the end?
But what else could she do at this point?
Even though it was only 3%, it still needed one more minute—enough time for the Crimson Follower to kill her thirty times!
The studious young woman felt a level of defeat and helplessness she had never experienced in her entire life.
The Crimson Follower would give the players no hope.
Several terrifying claw strikes shredded Chenxi into pieces on the spot.
The Calamity Army had done everything they could, but in the face of the powerful Tier-Two Commander, they ultimately failed at the final moment before victory!
Nearly all players were dead!
Only Chimera Wraith survived!
But Chimera Wraith was now heavily injured and crippled.
What use could a fragile, near-dead Warlock be now?
When the players stopped activating the core, the starlight aura around the surface of the Fate Stone quickly faded, causing the painstakingly built occupation progress to plummet: 97%...96%!
“This is bad!”
Chimera Wraith saw the Crimson Follower, after killing all the players and halting their activation of the Fate Stone, turn and approach the heavily wounded and powerless Zhou Ji.
If it were just a mission failure, that would be one thing.
They could always try again!
But if Uncle Zhou Ji were killed by this monster, he could not be revived no matter what.
That blow would be far worse than failing the mission itself.
At that moment—
The sound of something slicing through the air rang out.
Dozens, even hundreds of arrows rained down on the Crimson Follower like a storm.
Though the damage dealt by the arrows wasn’t high, the cumulative effect couldn’t be ignored, and it immediately enraged the monster, which looked in the direction of the attackers.
“Brother Zhou!”
“We’re here!”
“Brothers! All together! Kill this monster!”
Feng Yi led over a hundred soldiers into the City Lord’s Mansion—these were the reinforcements he had gathered.
They finally arrived at the last moment, and upon seeing the now-monstrous City Lord, they didn’t hesitate to strike.
Draw bows!
Loose arrows!
Another wave of arrow rain!
The Crimson Follower was almost turned into a pincushion!
Wang Zhi, having become a monster, had nearly lost all reason.
Now attacked like this, he flew into a berserk fury and charged at the crowd.
“Kill it!”
“For Sanxiang City!”
Feng Yi drew his saber and attacked.
The other soldiers followed close behind.
Even when besieged by over a hundred soldiers, the Crimson Follower showed no sign of weakness.
Wherever the red claw light passed, soldiers were shredded like paper, while their blades, spears, and arrows dealt almost negligible damage.
This was pure domination!
Numbers could not make up for the difference in power!
Just as the Crimson Follower was on a killing spree—
Its chaotic, frenzied will suddenly sensed something.
Occupation progress: 96%...97%!
The aura of the Stars began to surge again!
Chimera Wraith, dragging a broken leg, had made her way to the Fate Stone.
As the only surviving player, she was continuing the relay to activate the city’s core.
It wasn’t over!
They couldn’t give up!
Otherwise, they’d be letting down everyone’s efforts these past days!
Though controlled by madness, the Crimson Follower instinctively sensed that it had to stop her immediately, or something terrible would happen.
“Stop it!”
Feng Yi shouted loudly!
Despite suffering heavy casualties, the soldiers attacked relentlessly!
Occupation progress: 97%...98%!
The Crimson Follower let out a Crimson Howl, stunning all the soldiers.
Dragging its massive body at a speed that defied its size, it rushed back toward the altar.
A giant claw was raised, slashing toward Chimera Wraith.
That strike, if it landed, would end everything—turning all the Calamity Army’s hopes and efforts into nothing.
“Wang Zhi!”
Zhou Ji, lying on the ground and unable to move, let out a hysterical shout.
And for a moment, the Crimson Follower froze.
Occupation progress: 99%!
Zhou Ji shouted again: “Have you truly forgotten the oath and grand ambition you swore in the past? Are you really willing to become a slave, ruled by this monster? Wake up! This isn’t you! This is not who you are!”
Upon hearing this—
The madness in the Crimson Follower’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by intense pain and struggle.
Its body trembled violently and let out a deep growl.
All four of its arms clutched its head, as if resisting some powerful interference.
But this state did not last long.
The madness returned to its eyes.
The beastly instinct once again drowned out its humanity.
Sanity was consumed once more.
It raised its giant claw again and slammed it toward Chimera Wraith without hesitation.
Five crimson claw lights—
Like five sharp scythes!
Chimera Wraith was about to be torn apart!
Clang—a crisp sound rang out, and a double-edged spear blocked the massive claw!
At this critical moment, a flash of light appeared before the players.
From it stepped a figure clad in dark gold armor, awe-inspiring like a divine general.
It was he who blocked the Crimson Follower’s fatal blow!
Chimera Wraith was stunned at first.
Then her eyes welled up with tears as she cried out, “Lord!”
【Current occupation progress: 100%!】
【You have successfully occupied “Sanxiang City” and received “Fate Treasure Chest (Green)” ×1!】
Those few seconds of the Crimson Follower’s inner struggle played a decisive role.
That brief return of humanity allowed the players to complete the final occupation progress.
Hang Yu had been monitoring the battle closely.
When the players successfully activated the Blessing Point of the Stars—
He instantly teleported from Luoshui Base Camp to Sanxiang City.
That was how he appeared just in time at the final moment.
Zhou Ji saw Hang Yu’s figure and couldn’t help but tear up, letting out a long sigh of relief: “We did it!”
“This is…”
Feng Yi, gravely injured and lying in a pool of blood, looked upon the figure who had appeared out of nowhere and effortlessly blocked the Crimson Follower’s strike.
His eyes filled with awe—what incredible power!
“Well done.”
“The mission is complete!”
“You’ve all performed exceptionally well this time!”
“Now, let me clean up the rest of the mess!”
The Crimson Follower raised another arm to attack again.
Hang Yu cast a healing spell on Chimera Wraith.
Then swiftly drew his spear.
With a charged strike, he instantly severed two of the Crimson Follower’s arms.
Taking advantage of the monster’s imbalance—
He lifted his leg and kicked it off the altar.