CHAPTER 1671: CHAPTER 63: TAKING THE LEAD

The azure sky was adorned with white drifting clouds, resembling a flawless natural painting. Staring at it for a while seemed to lift one’s spirits.

The black ferocious Yaksha arrived, screaming hideously, like the filthiest stain that tainted everything with a rotten stench.

The Conquerors unleashed full firepower. The Yaksha hurled steel forks and lunged ferociously. From the first encounter, it erupted into the most brutal offensive.

Bingxu casually glanced at the surging swarm of Yaksha and then withdrew his gaze. His steps were steady and unhurried.

The Smiling Witch snapped her fingers and made a few simple gestures; her companions immediately understood the tactical objective.

A red-haired girl with twin ponytails drew a large handgun from the holster strapped to her thigh and pulled the trigger.

BANG! A red bullet pierced through a Yaksha, then exploded into dozens of orbs of light. These streaked in arcs, like meteors, slamming into the advancing swarm of Yaksha.

BOOM! BOOM! Continuous explosions thundered, sending hundreds of Yaksha plummeting, injured or worse.

"Too slow!" The Smiling Witch frowned, unsatisfied with the results so far.

The red-haired girl, nicknamed the Gun-Blade Dancer, stuck out her tongue. She pulled the trigger faster and faster, turning the airspace ahead into a fiery sea of explosions.

This was a unique piece of equipment: the firearm called Wrath of the Flame God. Only props of such a caliber could bypass the restrictions.

Vasily also remained idle, not making a move.

When the Yaksha first appeared kilometers away, Natasha had already located them using her psychic radar and issued combat directives to her teammates.

"Damn it, the equipment’s been restricted," grumbled the Sky Battalion Captain, Pugachev, as he leapt off the Sky Ladder in one swift motion.

During his fall, Pugachev slammed the expansion command on his waist, activating ’Skybreaker.’ Immediately, metallic tones spread across his entire body, shifting him into a mechanized form, resembling Red Jet from Transformers. He turned into a fighter aircraft.

FWOOOSH! Pugachev swiftly ascended, trailing long white contrails behind him. Skimming along the edges of the Yaksha swarm, he launched missiles in rapid succession.

Mirene was itching for a fight, her small face brimming with warlike excitement, but Elizabeth held her back.

The subordinates attacked proactively without needing any orders.

"What are you waiting for? Attack already!" barked a middle-aged man in command. "Don’t let the group leader waste life energy on these trash mobs."

Di Jingfei looked noticeably irritated. His team, though crushing most smaller squads, still lagged behind Vasily’s and Bingxu’s teams. He blamed himself, too focused on developing his own martial abilities while neglecting theirs. Even if given another chance, the Low-Bowed Dragon King wouldn’t shift many resources their way.

A few seconds later, Di Jingfei felt a bit lighter-hearted upon noticing that the Nuclear Flame team was doing even worse.

The ESP Superpower Team was in utter disarray. They almost let the Yaksha break through their airspace, forcing Yan Chiyang to step in and resolve the crisis.

"Useless bunch!" Yan Chiyang fumed in anger. With a cold snort, he glared at the incoming Yaksha swarm. His eyes immediately fired out over a dozen bursts of Solar Fire.

BOOM! BOOM! The Solar Fire explosions engulfed the Yaksha swarm, leaving behind only black ashes scattered in the wind, not even corpses remaining.

This was inevitable. Among the Seed Teams, both Di Jingfei’s and the Nuclear Flame Team placed excessive faith in their leaders’ personal strength. They had little interest in cultivating their group members. Their ideology held that if a subordinate died, resurrecting them wasted too many resources. Keeping only the survivors and drilling them with blood and fire sorted out the strongest—but this approach led to high turnover rates and low cohesion. If not for the group leaders’ overwhelming power keeping the squads from rebelling, unimaginable chaos would probably have already broken out.

The Old Soldier strolled leisurely as if taking a walk through his manor, shaking his head at the poor performance of these teams. Only when facing the Warhammer Team did he show a smile of approval.

Earl Qian Nian didn’t need to act. The eight knights had already cleared the nearby Yaksha swarm.

"Tang Zheng, don’t intervene!" Dantai stopped Tang Zheng, who was about to activate Gravity Abyss. "Xinlan, Ruan Feifei, it’s your turn."

The live streamer’s lightning rampaged across the sky, spreading like vast blue nets, slaughtering the Yaksha.

Dong Zixuan, no longer grounded, couldn’t summon magma. Lu Fan’s wristwatch sand also couldn’t be extracted without nearby soil, leaving her glaring helplessly.

Xinlan condensed water vapor from the air, forming ice spears. She claimed a considerable number of heads.

Pang Meiqin’s Extermination Angel was unusable, and the restriction on ranged firepower had her gritting her silver teeth in fury.

While waiting for the Kunlun Sky Ladder to activate at the volcano’s summit, Trojan had quietly cast healing magic, restoring everyone’s injuries and replenishing their life energy. Thus, most stood in peak condition, yet the complaints continued unabated.

"What’s the deal? Restricting weapons, and the battle hasn’t even properly started yet?"

The close-combat ability users were particularly frustrated, especially teams with mismatched configurations, who felt even more exasperated.

"Why can they use weapons?"

"Idiot, those are unique pieces of equipment."

The sudden battle revealed the depth of each team. The world’s top-ranked squads all had one or two unique pieces of equipment to their name.

Of course, though these items were all categorized as unique, their quality varied. But for most Conquerors who had never even seen one, distinguishing between them was simply impossible—all they knew was that they were powerful.

Initially, each team minded its own business, caring little about others. But within seconds, some teams’ firepower became ferocious, devastating the Yaksha on a massive scale.

At some point, the ranking system had activated. Each ordinary Yaksha kill was worth a single point. Even so, the Conquerors fought fiercely to claim them, haunted by the memories of teams recently annihilated by falling into the Erasure Zone during combat.

The Seed Teams carried an air of pride and composure; after all, decorum dictated that they couldn’t be seen competing with ordinary squads over weak foes—it would feel undignified.

"Captain Nuclear, give it a rest and leave us some soup to drink," someone from the European region called out, intentionally mocking the Nuclear Flame Team.

Yan Chiyang stopped his attacks, his face flushing with an iron-blue hue. He didn’t care for points, but the insinuation made him seem petty nonetheless.

In every place, opportunists abounded. Strategists yelled out suggestions, shaming reserve-seed squads into toning down their efforts as well.

"What do we do?" Lu Fan blinked. "Uncle is a reserve seed, and we’re not weak either. Competing with them for monsters feels a little humiliating."

"Ignore what they’re saying—keep fighting," Tang Zheng said, unconcerned about reputations; points were tangible results.

"Attack! Kill as many as you can, but be cautious not to exhaust yourselves," Qin Yan added.

"It’s no big deal. Didn’t you guys just get unique equipment? It’s the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourselves with it. Two birds with one stone," Dantai chuckled. "Fanfan, you go first!"

The Fiery Stardust hung like a pendant on Lu Fan’s chest. At Dantai’s words, the little loli tapped it with her fingers.

"Oh yeah, it’s finally time to punish evil!"

The ruby glowed softly as inscriptions flashed across its surface. The Fiery Stardust activated, detaching itself from the pendant and soaring above Lu Fan’s head like a meteor. It sprinkled starlike specks of light, enveloping the little loli.

The sudden shine erupting from the Sky Ladder attracted everyone’s attention as they witnessed Lu Fan undergoing a Magical Girl transformation.

"Fiery Explosion!" Dressed in dazzling magical attire, Lu Fan extended her wand, summoning a massive magic array. It charged instantly and fired countless sand projectiles.

The sand projectiles struck the Yaksha, instantly detonating into sparks across the entire sky.

Mirene turned back to see the obnoxious little girl flaunting her power. She immediately pouted and yanked off the Hand of Akmond ornament from her neck, ready to retaliate.

"Mirene, stop!" Elizabeth glared at her younger sister.

"Just you wait! I’ll defeat you for sure!" The Nightmare Loli gave an indignant pout but dared not defy her elder sister, reluctantly holding her ground.

Childish grievances often defied logic. They could squabble over anything—from a piece of candy to a simple compliment.

Li Xinlan gave her Moonlit Beauty a wave, amplifying the Frost Power. Snowflakes unexpectedly began falling from the sky. They landed on the Yaksha, freezing into ice layers that spread and entrapped them in an instant.

Frozen Yaksha fell to the ground like ice sculptures.

"Let me give it a shot." The Old Soldier tapped his metallic arm brace, which emanated a strong, visually striking presence.

BANG! The Old Soldier swung his fist, releasing a blast of golden energy that obliterated a chain of Yaksha into fragments of flesh.

"That’s not strong enough—double charge!" he grumbled, dissatisfied, as the energy modules on his golden arm brace began to glow even brighter.

A Yaksha commander flew in. Chu Baichuan attempted to intercept it but was stopped by the Old Soldier.

"Let it through," he instructed, assuming a heavy-punch stance.

The Yaksha boss accelerated, bursting past the sonic barrier with a thunderclap and leaving an explosive shockwave in its wake.

"Die!" Lin Weiguo roared, hurling a massive energy fist.

BOOM! The impact generated tremors like an earthquake, and the Yaksha was instantly blasted apart. Wherever the golden fist struck, it seemed as though the very space around it fractured.

The nearby Sky Ladder began to tremble. The fist tore through the Yaksha swarm, carving out a wide path. Just as it was about to pierce through, the Old Soldier shouted "Detonate!" and caused a massive explosion that sent countless Yaksha tumbling.

Dantai caressed his Cosmic Sharp but didn’t act. He wanted to conserve his energy for the upcoming Team Battle. The Psychic-type deficiency was the Warhammer Team’s weakness.

"What the hell? Do they want us to live or not? How does the Warhammer Team have so many unique weapons? Is Trojan’s ranking a scam? They’re far stronger than me!"

Even top-ranked teams were envious, their jealousy palpable as they suppressed the urge to snatch everything for themselves.

"That group leader has it too easy. He doesn’t even need to lift a finger."

Other group leaders envied Tang Zheng’s effortless leadership, quietly acknowledging that his investments had finally paid off.

"Can’t you keep a low profile for once?"

The Conquerors muttered complaints, begrudging the Warhammer Team. Their relentless Yaksha slaughter had propelled them far ahead on the rankings.

Teams qualified for these world boss battles were undeniably strong. After clearing tens of thousands of Yaksha, fewer than ten people had perished in total.

Five hours later, the Conquerors ascended the Sky Ladder to reach a platform suspended in mid-air.

This was the Heavenly Buddha Palace. In the distance stood a towering thousand-meter-high Main Entrance—the core of the Dark Mandala Array. Within it, the Dark Spirit Fetus was gestating. (To be continued. If you’re enjoying this story, please visit Qidian.com to vote with recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)