41: Chapter 41 Archer

The next second, the system's cold, ruthless, and bone-chilling announcement voice directly overlaid the entire screen UI:

[Divine Authority Unlocked: Tower at the End.]

[Lion King has released Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm...]

[Warning: This Noble Phantasm's coverage area—entire tactical grid (no blind spots)!]

[Warning: This attack carries the 'Divine Punishment' trait: Ignores all defense! Ignores all evasion and invincibility states!]

"What?!"

Looking at the series of red warnings on the screen that felt like a death sentence, PD's brain momentarily crashed.

Ignore defense? Ignore invincibility? Full map coverage?!

Taken literally, doesn't this mean you don't need to arrange your troops at all for this stage? Once this move lands, it's an absolute dead end written into the code?!

"Impossible! I don't believe it!!"

Even though he felt that irreversible despair, PD gritted his teeth and consumed two precious Command Spells.

"Zhuge Liang! Defense down!"

"Mash! Use your ultimate skill!"

Accompanied by the light of the Command Spells, Mash slammed her cross shield into the ground, and a sacred chalk wall rose from the earth!

At this moment, the light of the Holy Lance shooting from the direction of the Holy City completely occupied his entire field of vision. It was a radiance thousands of times more blinding than the sun.

"[Rhongomyniad] (Rhongomyniad)!!"

Boom————!!!

A pure white pillar of destruction, thick enough to swallow the entire screen and carrying terrifying pressure sufficient to pierce a planet, descended from the sky and slammed heavily into the village's tactical sandbox!

The moment it made contact, Mash's chalk wall, which had blocked countless powerful enemies, was like thin ice under the scorching sun in front of this light; it couldn't offer even the slightest resistance and instantly shattered!

An exaggerated damage number that filled people with despair—[-999999!]—burst forth above the heads of all the Servants simultaneously!

The light swept past.

No screams, no struggle; PD's meticulously arranged perfect defense line was wiped clean by this beam of judgment that ignored all mechanics.

The entire tactical sandbox was empty, leaving only a huge, charred crater plowed out by the Holy Lance.

Dead silence.

Whether it was PD's stream, Chu He's research group, or the entire Blue Star gaming forum, at this moment, there was not a sound.

Everyone was completely stunned by this unreasonable, physically literal "scripted death."

"This... how is this even playable?"

"990,000 damage?! Even if you raised your HP bar to the ceiling, you couldn't tank that!"

"Full map coverage, there isn't even a blind spot. You can't dodge it, and you can't tank it; this is literally a dead-end ending written into the code!"

...

On the silent tactical sandbox, the charred crater plowed out by the Holy Lance's beam was still emitting acrid smoke.

At the end of the skyline, the second beam of destructive white light, representing the judgment of the gods, was already brewing.

PD slumped in his gaming chair, watching the destroyed defense line and the empty position, his hands falling limply from the VR controller.

His pride and joy, the max-level golden team, hadn't even lasted a second against the Lion King's "full-map nuke" that ignored all defense mechanics.

This was simply a hopeless endgame scenario written into the code.

However, just as PD was preparing to close his eyes and wait for death, and the chat was filled with wails...

A man who usually laughed happily in the Chaldea camp, wore an inconspicuous green cloak, and was even just a [1-star Archer] that players could easily pull from their Servant roster, walked silently to the very front of everyone.

He turned his head, looked at the despair-filled Master, and revealed a smile that was as bright as a neighbor's big brother, yet filled with a certain determination.

"Don't make that face, Master."

He looked up, facing the second world-ending beam of light in the sky that had locked onto the village and was about to descend, his eyes as calm as a pool of autumn water.

"Isn't it just blocking that light?"

"Leave it to me."

Arash's bright and calm voice rang out amidst the howling wind and sand.

"What?"

PD froze for a moment, looking at the thin figure standing at the very front, his face full of disbelief.

"Bro, you're not joking, right?"

"That's an Anti-Country Noble Phantasm that deals 990,000 damage and ignores all invincibility shields!"

"My max-level Gilgamesh and Saber were instantly vaporized; what are you, a one-star grunt that I can pull anytime, going to use to block that?!"

The viewers in the livestream were also confused.

In the subconscious of Blue Star players, one-star cards were just the lowliest fodder.

Their stat panels were pitifully low, and they didn't even have the qualifications to be deployed in battle.

Facing PD's doubt, Arash in the screen turned back, facing the increasingly blinding destructive white light in the sky, and revealed a smile as warm as a neighbor's big brother.

"Master, did you know?"

Arash gripped the longbow in his hand, and on the seemingly ordinary bow limbs, spots of dazzling green spiritrons began to dissipate.

"In my homeland, there was an arrow that once ended a long war and drew the boundaries for the land."

"That is an arrow that can only be shot when people are facing a desperate situation, and only when it is to protect the lives on this land."

As he spoke, the green magical energy on Arash became more and more surging, even turning into a visible cyclone that rushed to the sky!

At this moment, from the direction of the Holy City in the far distance, the Lion King's second [Rhongomyniad], carrying terrifying pressure sufficient to pierce a planet, crashed down!

That thick, pure white pillar of light was like a roaring dragon of destruction, opening its bloody maw, intending to completely wipe the entire Mountain People's village off the map!

"Now is the time."

Arash took a deep breath and pulled the longbow in his hand into a full moon.

Tactical time-stop descended with a bang!

The VR perspective seamlessly cut to a close-up shot that would go down in gaming history!

Under the vast night sky, Arash stood like an unshakable monument, facing the overwhelming destructive white light all by himself.

He closed his eyes tightly, and the arrow on the bowstring condensed thousands of specks of green ether radiance like stars!

A stirring, tragic, and infinitely desolate and resolute symphony (《Stella》) exploded in everyone's eardrums!

Arash suddenly opened his eyes; they were eyes that had witnessed countless life and death, yet were still full of love for humanity.

He stared ahead, using all his strength, and roared out the ancient chant that shook the souls of millions of players:

"[Oh my Lord, holy as the sun—]"

"[Oh my Lord, who bestows the radiance of all wisdom, dignity, and power—]"

Accompanied by the chant, the skin on his body began to crack inch by inch, and the violent magical energy even began to backlash against his physical body.

But the arm holding the bow did not tremble in the slightest!

"[Please bear witness to my sincerity, my conviction, and the extent of my power!]"

"[Behold... Stella!!!]"

The bowstring was released.

"[ [Stella] (Meteor)————!!!!]"