40: Chapter 40 Light of Despair

As the main storyline struggled to progress, the suffocating oppression of the Holy City of Camelot hung over the backs of all Blue Star players like an invisible mountain.

Gawain of the Endless Night, the infinite firepower of Mordred, the map-wide sniping of Tristan from the high ground...

Every Knight of the Round Table used their ridiculously overpowered exclusive buffs to repeatedly grind those Khans, who were accustomed to mindlessly clearing maps with their golden teams, into the scorching yellow sand.

Yet, amidst one desperate deadlock after another, the ups and downs of the epic plot continued to advance on a grand scale.

On this land swept by raging sands and slaughter, the Blue Star players experienced unprecedented frustration and growth.

They witnessed the Pharaoh's domineering temple, which stood proudly above all others while providing a sanctuary for civilians in the heart of the desert; and under the desperate cover of the Silver-Armed Knight Bedivere, they escaped the relentless pursuit of the Knights of the Round Table time and time again.

After enduring countless hardships, the main character's group finally formed an alliance with the Assassin order, the "Mountain People," and escorted the surviving refugees to a hidden valley village.

"Finally... finally we can catch our breath!"

In the Shark Stream Room, PD looked at the shelter hidden deep in the wilderness, so moved he nearly cried out.

This period of exploration was even more agonizing than all the games he had played in the past twenty years combined. Heaven knows how PD managed to engage his brain, which had been spoiled by mindless stat-crunching games, to rack his brains, find weaknesses, and defeat one Knight of the Round Table after another.

On the other side, the lore-hunter Chu He was controlling his VR perspective, following the footsteps of the Master and Mash, distributing supplies in the village and comforting the civilians who had lost their homes.

In the village, the cute Hundred Personas Hassan and the steady Cursed Arm Hassan added a rare touch of humanity to this cruel land.

However, in this singularity watched over by gods, comfort was always a fleeting illusion.

Just as Chu He walked to the center of the village square, watching a few refugee children smile as they received bread, without any warning, the sky, previously dim due to sandstorms, was suddenly torn apart by a white light so pure it was impossible to look at directly!

"What's going on?! Is it dawn?"

Chu He looked up abruptly; the light did not come from the sun, but from the horizon in the far distance—that was the direction of the Holy City of Camelot!

"Beep, beep, beep, beep—!!!"

At the same time, a shrill, highest-level red alert from Chaldea rang out simultaneously on all players' terminals!

In the communication channel, Dr. Roman's hoarse, terrified roar came through:

"Magic energy readings have exceeded the critical point! This... what level of magic energy is this?! From the direction of the Holy City of Camelot, an Anti-City, no, an Anti-Country level Noble Phantasm is being unleashed!"

"The target coordinates... are exactly where your hidden village is located!"

"What?!"

Mash raised her shield in shock, staring at the horizon in disbelief, "It's over a hundred kilometers from the Holy City to here; a Noble Phantasm bombardment directly across such a vast distance?!"

"Run! Master! Mash! Take the refugees and run!"

Dr. Roman's voice cracked with despair, "That Lion King has gone mad! To purge you and these fleeing refugees, she has drawn the Holy Lance and is going to carpet-bomb the entire mountain range with a nuclear-level attack!"

Silence.

The once noisy village fell into a deathly silence.

In the real world, Chu He, PD, and all the Blue Star players watching this scene felt a bone-chilling cold surge from the depths of their souls at this very moment!

"What the..."

Chu He gasped, his scalp tingling as goosebumps instantly covered his body.

Before this, they thought the Lion King was just a tyrant who had fallen due to an expansion of power; no matter how cruel, she was at least the legendary King Arthur who drew the sword to save the world and upheld the spirit of chivalry.

But at this moment, they finally realized clearly that the entity sitting on the throne of the Holy City was no longer human!

"To kill a few fleeing civilians and rebels, she won't even show her face, just dropping a nuclear carpet bomb from hundreds of kilometers away?!"

Chu He muttered to himself, his eyes filled with indescribable shock.

"No negotiations, no mercy. In her eyes, not only us, but even this mountain range and this land are nothing more than dust that can be erased at any time!"

"This isn't just some villainous tyrant... this is a cold-blooded god who has lost all humanity!"

The live stream chat exploded; the Blue Star players had never seen such a grand script with such overwhelming oppression!

"This plot is too amazing! The sense of oppression from being so high and mighty, not even showing one's face, and directly raining down divine punishment from afar!"

"It's terrifying when you think about it! She doesn't even bother to send troops to encircle and suppress us, just like a human casually pouring boiling water to kill a nest of ants!"

"This is the despair of a dimensional strike! How does Father Gu's brain work to be able to write such a breathless script!"

Rumble!!!

Accompanied by Dr. Roman's desperate roar, a deafening sound that shook the earth erupted from the direction of the Holy City of Camelot in the far distance.

The tactical grid unfolded with a boom above the Mountain People's village.

But this time, the players discovered that the entire tactical UI interface revealed a strange sense of despair.

There were no red light gates representing enemy spawn points, and no red lines guiding monster movement.

Even the usual stirring battle BGM had completely disappeared, replaced only by the whistling of the wind across the desert and a dull, mechanical ticking sound like a countdown to death.

"No red gates? Where are the monsters coming from? Is it bugged?"

PD was stunned for a moment, but the strong sense of crisis didn't allow him to overthink it.

"Screw it! Even if it's firing a beam cannon from hundreds of miles away, I'm going to defend against it today!"

He waved his hands rapidly in the air, bringing out his strongest lineup, his trump card, in full force.

Zhuge Liang, Mash, Gilgamesh, Cu Chulainn (Alter)... all buffs were fully stacked, and the defensive position was set up without a single flaw.

However, ten seconds passed, twenty seconds passed... at the edge of the tactical sandbox, not even a single low-level skeleton soldier spawned.

The live stream chat was also full of confusion:

"What's the situation? Is it stuck?"

"What the hell are we supposed to fight if there are no monsters? What is this grid even for?"

As soon as the words fell, at the end of the tactical sandbox's horizon, no lockable entity units appeared; instead, a pure white pillar of destruction capable of swallowing everything emerged!

That pillar of light had no health bar, no model, just like an unstoppable natural disaster, crushing the tactical grid on the sandbox bit by bit at a speed that was agonizingly slow yet suffocating.