98: City falls, trap

Xu Le was currently using Little Silly Crow's body. Bound within a water bubble with both wings stuck, he used all his strength to burst the bubble, only to be hit in the chest by a row of water arrows.

-16800.

The Demon Lizard jumping through the air also suffered damage reflection, and a blood-red number floated above its head.

-16800.

The divine statue's 'Divine Armor' skill could reflect 50% of magic damage, which was exactly the same as the damage Xu Le sustained after his 50% damage reduction.

The Demon Lizard's movement faltered; a tail swipe that originally accumulated 200% power only unleashed 80% damage.

Two blood-red numbers, 8900 and 17800, appeared above the heads of Xu Le and the Demon Lizard respectively.

This time it was physical damage, which could reflect 100% of the damage.

Xu Le finally began his counterattack, delivering a massive slap to the dazed Demon Lizard's head.

The battle grew increasingly fierce. Qin Siyuan watched in stunned silence as a Rank 60-plus raven actually managed to trade blows back and forth with a Demon Lizard.

He thought to himself that if Xu Le were here in person, the strength he could unleash would be even more terrifying; the Demon Lizard would likely be dead by now.

"Hehe, you are quite capable, even able to reflect damage. However, the victor will ultimately be me."

"Caw caw..." (You pervert, all you know how to do all day is 'hehe'. Who doesn't know how to brag?)

Because Little Silly Crow was Xu Le's believer, Xu Le could understand its words, but to others, it was just simple bird speak.

Seeing the health bar hitting rock bottom.

Xu Le cast a 'Life Recovery' skill on himself. His health bar was instantly refilled, and he even gained a red shield with several thousand health points.

A flash of horror crossed the Demon Lizard's eyes. In its clash with Xu Le, it was losing health faster; with every physical attack, it would suffer double damage.

However, its health had been strengthened by the Abyss, reaching a full million points, so it wasn't afraid of trading health at all.

But for Xu Le to instantly recover to full health—this kind of skill was absolutely terrifying.

It had to end this quickly!

Xu Le had the same thought. Although the 'Descent of the Deity' skill didn't specify a duration, using Little Silly Crow's body for a long time was not good for either him or the bird.

Seeing his own health becoming increasingly precarious, Xu Le gritted his teeth and unleashed 'Reapers Scythe'.

Rumble!

In the low-hanging sky, a crack faintly opened, and a pitch-black scythe appeared out of thin air.

The boundless darkness seemed to be absorbed by it, and the black scythe grew even darker.

"Grim Reaper!"

The Demon Lizard cursed and stood frozen in place as it was struck on the head by the blade.

The scythe hooked, and a white phantom resembling the Demon Lizard emerged.

Then, a speck of black separated and drifted onto Xu Le's body.

Scanning with the Divine Eye, he found that The Gift had already reached Level 2, and the stat bonuses had changed to Strength +400, Physique +200, and Agility +200.

Compared to before, Strength and Agility had each increased by 200 points.

The stat bonuses were related to the harvested Soul.

Xu Le had a feeling that The Gift was like a beacon; the higher its level, the more it would attract the attention of the Grim Reaper.

When the skill reached Level 10, the true body of the Grim Reaper would likely descend directly.

After Qin Siyuan thanked Little Silly Crow, he pulled out a knife and began to process the Demon Lizard's corpse.

The Demon Lizard suddenly opened its eyes and whipped its tail against Qin Siyuan's body.

His body was directly split into two halves.

Xu Le had just left Little Silly Crow's body and it was too late to save him. He only saw a black shadow emerge from the Demon Lizard's body and vanish toward the city wall in the blink of an eye... "Whew..."

Xu Le let out a long breath as his two minds merged into one. A feeling of Perfection washed over him, but... he looked at Xing Manshan with a complicated gaze, hesitating to speak.

Xing Manshan's heart skipped a beat. Even though Xu Le had been by his side the whole time, that look just now made his heart sink.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't hide it, tell me directly."

Xu Le sighed and eventually told him everything that had happened.

"Old Qin is dead!"

The muscles at the corners of Xing Manshan's eyes trembled incessantly as he suppressed the pain in his heart with all his might.

The surrounding personal guards also looked sorrowful, and Yang Yin almost failed his task at the last moment.

"Go back!"

"Avenge him!"

It was a long time before Xing Manshan spat out those words, seemingly using all his strength.

Even Qin Siyuan was dead.

They didn't dare imagine the fate of Yongan City.

Ten minutes later.

Yang Yin finally broke the grand Formation. Without celebrating, he immediately took out the Formation Flags he had prepared long ago and set up a Teleportation Array to return to the city.

Flash!

The group stepped onto the Teleportation Array. After a roller-coaster-like vibration, they opened their eyes to find themselves back in Yongan City.

Xu Le used Mind Link and discovered that there were fewer than ten thousand access points left in Yongan City.

In a giant city of over ten million people, in just over ten minutes, no less than 99.9% of the population had actually died.

It was too tragic!

Xing Manshan didn't know the exact casualties in the city, but he had a vague idea. His face was grim, and he didn't say a word.

Yang Yin began to inspect the Nanding Gate, his fists clenching with a series of cracks: "City Lord, this Formation was first sabotaged from the inside before the city gate was smashed."

The group continued forward, beginning to help the wounded and killing the monsters along the way.

Several soldiers ran over supported by each other, crying in collapse: "City Lord, they're dead, everyone is dead! All thirteen gates in the city have been destroyed..."

Listening to this, Xu Le also felt a faint ache in his heart.

Sensing Xu Le's presence, Little Silly Crow flew back from the distance and landed in front of him.

"God, you're back."

Xu Le patted its head and withdrew it into the Contract Space.

It had summoned Xu Le earlier; while other expenditures were easy to recover, the drain on his spirit required time to slowly mend.

[Ding. Congratulations to player 'Gu Nao Dang Tian' for passing the initial trial and entering the top one thousand. Do you wish to continue?]

"Yes."

[Ding, the 'Hope Cup' competitive tournament has officially begun. The rules for obtaining points are as follows:]

[1. For every day of survival, reward 1000 points;]

[2. Kill monsters, reward 10 points per kill;]

[3. Escape Yongan City, reward 10000 points;]

[4. Kill an Abyssal Divine Envoy, reward 1,000,000 points;]

[5. Establish a safe shelter, reward 1 to 10,000,000 points based on the safety value;]

[6. Destroy the Abyss, reward 100,000,000 points.]

There were six point rules in total. It turned out everything before was merely to gain eligibility, and no score had been calculated at all.

Fury rose in Xu Le's heart. He had used the 'Reapers Scythe' skill twice, yet he hadn't received a single bit of actual benefit.

Wait.

Taking another look at the point rules, Xu Le turned around and flew toward the outside of the city.

"Household Head Xu, what are you doing?"

Everyone looked at Xu Le in shock. Had it not been for the trust built over these days, they would have certainly treated him as an exposed spy and attacked him with all their might.

Xing Manshan raised his hand to stop the others: "Household Head Xu must have made a major discovery. Let's follow him."

The group sprinted with all their might, but their speed was still a notch slower. By the time they reached the city gate, they found Xu Le picking up a stone from the ground and throwing it out of the gate.

Then they saw the stone fly toward the city gate, only to fly back toward Xu Le.

It seemed that when the stone flew to the gate, it suddenly changed direction and flew back.

Only then did everyone understand Xu Le's abnormal behavior—they were trapped.