53: Chapter 53 Rescue

"Holy crap?!!!" PD was scared out of his wits, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

In less than two short seconds!

"Bang! Bang!"

Two dull thuds followed. Cu Chulainn and Georgios didn't even have time to scream before they dissolved into golden light under the corrosion of the black mud, dying instantly!

Without the Defenders' obstruction, the massive demonic beasts in the rear stepped over the lethal black mud and charged toward the base's blue gate as if entering an uninhabited territory.

Buzz—!

The screen instantly fell into a deathly silent black and white.

[Mission Failed]

Silence.

PD's livestream room, after the extreme excitement of watching the animation earlier, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads, completely freezing the atmosphere.

After a full half-minute, the bullet comments finally flooded the screen like a volcanic eruption:

"Crap, crap, crap!!! What the hell is that black mud on the ground?!"

"An instakill?! A max-level Georgios was poisoned to death in two seconds just by stepping on it?!"

"How are we supposed to play this?! You can't stand on the ground, and the monsters rush so fast. How are we supposed to defend the blue gate?!"

PD slumped back in his gaming chair, staring blankly at the pitch-black settlement screen, feeling a chill run straight to his brain.

He finally understood what kind of despair-inducing "gift" Gu Yi had prepared for them in the Seventh Singularity.

"The ground is contaminated; as long as you stand on it, you'll melt instantly..."

PD muttered to himself, then suddenly looked up at the [High Ground Grids] on the tactical sand table that weren't covered by the black mud.

"Since the ground is unusable, I have to use an all-high-ground lineup!"

PD frantically calculated the underlying logic of tower defense in his mind.

Without hesitation, he kicked out all the melee Servants who were originally the core of the team and replaced them with a pure lineup of [Archer] and [Caster] units.

"No need for Defenders to block the gate! Since that crappy mud kills on contact, I'll just abandon the ground entirely!"

"I'll bring full high-ground firepower to sweep the field. As long as the output is high enough, I'll just blast them all to dust before these demonic beasts can cross the black mud!"

Not just PD, but many "backseat players" in the livestream who understood tower defense mechanics also chimed in with bullet comments, believing this was definitely the only way to break the deadlock.

However, when PD entered the battlefield again with this self-proclaimed ultimate all-high-ground lineup, the cold, hard reality gave him a harsh lesson.

[Battle Start!]

Initial Mana (Cost): 10 points.

Accompanied by a dull roar, the first massive demonic beast spawned from the entry point, stepping on the black mud and sprinting toward the base's blue gate at a terrifying speed three or four times faster than the Fuyuki City Skeleton Soldiers.

"Good timing! Take an arrow from me!"

PD stared intently at the screen and placed a low-cost 3-star Archer onto the high ground.

Whoosh! An arrow flew out, and the demonic beast's health bar dropped significantly. After two more arrows, the beast dissolved into ashes with a scream.

"Hahaha! See that, brothers?! The firepower is definitely enough! As long as the high-ground units are spread out, this damage will easily melt them!"

PD laughed triumphantly.

But before he could celebrate for even two seconds, the enemy spawn point glowed with a bright red light.

The second wave of the assault arrived. This time, it was five massive demonic beasts charging side by side!

Their hideous claws even made an ear-piercing sound of breaking the wind as they stepped on the black mud.

"Holy crap, so many? Gil, get down there and clear the screen!"

PD habitually reached for [Gilgamesh] in his card slot, preparing to use the Gate of Babylon's AOE damage to sweep the field.

However, the system issued a cold, harsh alarm:

[Insufficient Mana (Cost)! Current Mana: 6 points.]

"Where's my cost?! Where's my cost?!" PD's voice cracked in desperation.

A bullet comment drifted lazily across the livestream:

"P-Zong, are you so panicked you've gone stupid... You kicked all the Lancers out!"

This single comment was like a bolt from the blue, instantly waking PD up.

"7... 8... 9..."

PD watched helplessly as the mana bar crawled like a snail, while the five sprinting demonic beasts had already crossed half the battlefield.

His only low-star Archer on the high ground could deal some damage with every attack, but the single-target fire rate was simply too slow to handle a group of fast enemies.

Just as one was shot dead, the remaining four ignored the sporadic rain of arrows and, as if entering an empty territory, crashed headlong into the defenseless Base Blue Gate.

It wasn't that the firepower was insufficient!

If the full lineup were deployed, these demonic beasts would definitely be vaporized instantly.

But the fatal problem was—without ground obstruction and mana generation, players simply didn't have the time to deploy that proud high-ground formation. It was a complete deadlock!

Buzz—!

The screen once again fell into a deathly silent black and white.

[Mission Failed]

"Damn it! Even all-high-ground doesn't work! There's simply not enough time! The heavy hitters aren't even down before the base is gone!"

PD frantically pulled at his already thinning hair. "This black mud is an unsolvable deadlock! Vanguards can't go down so there's no cost, and high-ground units can't go down so there's no damage! Is this damn first prologue stage going to stop everyone?!"

Not just PD, but players across the internet were being driven to a mental breakdown by this despairing mechanic.

As PD gritted his teeth and entered the stage for the third time, watching as the demonic beasts were about to break through the defense line again...

Suddenly, the story paused, and a cutscene was forcibly triggered without warning!

The originally oppressive battlefield BGM stopped abruptly, replaced by the crisp sound of metallic chains clashing.

"That is..."

PD's eyes widened. In his VR vision, he saw a beautiful figure with long emerald-green hair and indeterminate gender descending lightly from the sky.

The next second, a stirring symphony boomed!

Countless chains shimmering with dazzling golden light, like a divine punishment from the gods, erupted from the void and the earth! With a physical tension and destructive force that made one's soul tremble, they instantly impaled and strangled those massive demonic beasts rushing toward the blue gate right where they stood!

[Story Support NPC—Enkidu, has joined the front line!]

[Special Aura Triggered: Blessing of the Chains of Heaven. All ground Servants are immune to the black mud's corrosion effect!]

"Holy crap!!!"

"Enkidu?!"

After a brief silence, the livestream room instantly exploded into a tsunami of celebration that nearly took the roof off!

"Isn't this exactly what happened in the first episode of the animation?! It's identical! Even the music and the storyboards are exactly the same!"

"Oh my god! Ten minutes ago, I just saw him save Fujimaru Ritsuka in the animation, and ten minutes later, I'm personally experiencing the feeling of being saved by him in the game?!"

"Incredible! The animation and game plots are perfectly aligned! This level of immersion is just insane!"

This was the ultimate shock Gu Yi had prepared for the players.

It wasn't some stiff crossover cameo, but letting the players, after watching the animation, immediately enter that perfectly replicated real world as the "Master" themselves to experience that soul-stirring epic beginning!

Amidst the excited screams of players across the internet, the green-haired beauty in the image slowly turned around.

Looking at the shaken Master and Mash hiding behind the defense line, a smile as warm as a spring breeze blossomed on that exquisite face.

"Are you all right, guests of Chaldea?"

"Welcome to the Age of Gods. Welcome to... Uruk."

Looking at this beautiful figure who descended like a savior, PD was so moved he almost cried out loud.

"Enkidu! You are literally my god! There's finally a solution for this black mud!"

But amidst the fanatical bullet comments of "Enkidu is my waifu" filling the screen...

Those lore buffs who were familiar with Old Thief Gu's nature or were naturally sensitive to the plot sensed a faint, unsettling aura within that flawless smile.

Regardless, the grand epic of the Seventh Singularity had finally opened its bottomless abyss to the players of Blue Star in this shocking "dual-sync" debut.