Chapter 62: Even with the entire server's guilds joining forces, they couldn't defeat even the smallest monsters.

The walls of Dawn City were packed with people.

They weren't players; they were the guild masters of the major guilds.

The top ten guilds on the server were all present, not a single one missing.

Guild Master Li Tianci of War Soul Hall, Guild Master Zhao Wuji of Divine Punishment Pavilion, Guild Master Liu Ruyan of Hundred Flowers Valley, and over a dozen masters of small and medium-sized guilds stood in two dense rows.

These people would usually start fighting within three sentences if they met.

Today, they all stood together, each one more silent than the last.

Because outside the city walls, it was the Abyss.

A black torrent surged from the three fallen secondary major cities, covering the sky and earth.

Abyss Minions, Abyss Elites, and Abyss Commanders were packed together densely, slowly pushing toward Dawn City like a black tide.

At the very front of the tide stood a humanoid monster over three meters tall.

Its entire body was covered in dark golden scales, its eyes were two burning purple flames, and it held a black greatsword taller than a person.

Lord of Destruction, one of the three chairs of the Abyss Council, level 99.

Guild Master Li Tianci stared at the figure and swallowed a mouthful of saliva: "Is that the Lord of Destruction?"

Zhao Wuji nodded: "Level 99. Domain of Destruction. Death in ten seconds."

Liu Ruyan smiled bitterly: "My guild's elite team of thirty people encountered it in the wild. Ten seconds, wiped out. I didn't even have time to cast Healing."

The dozen or so guild masters were collectively silent.

Guild Master Li Tianci turned to look at everyone: "The official announcement has been issued; the strength of the Abyss Monsters has been adjusted down. The corrosion effect of the Minions has been reduced from 5% to 3%, and the Elites from 10% to 5%. But the Lord of Destruction's Domain of Destruction hasn't changed; it's still 10% per second."

Zhao Wuji cursed: "What's the use of lowering the minions? If the BOSS isn't nerfed, we still can't fight it."

Liu Ruyan sighed: "The officials said the Lord of Destruction is the core BOSS of the Abyss version. The data is locked and cannot be temporarily weakened. Either we fight, or we wait for death."

"Waiting for death is impossible," Guild Master Li Tianci gritted his teeth. "Dawn City is the core major city. If it falls, the respawn points for all players on the server will be gone. By then, everyone will be trapped in the wild, and if you die, you're truly dead."

He turned and looked at the guild masters present: "I propose that all guilds on the server form an alliance. Let's pull in all the players who can fight and go all-out against the Abyss Monsters. Even if we can't defeat the Lord of Destruction, at least we can clear out the outer minions and buy time for Dawn City."

Zhao Wuji raised his hand first: "Divine Punishment Pavilion joins. I'll bring all 300 of my guild's elites."

Liu Ruyan raised her hand second: "Hundred Flowers Valley joins. Two hundred Healers, one hundred DPS."

Other guild masters raised their hands one after another. In just ten minutes, the server-wide guild alliance was officially established.

The assembly order was sent out, and the plaza of Dawn City was instantly packed with players.

The 300 elites from War Soul Hall, the 300 elites from Divine Punishment Pavilion, the 200 Healers from Hundred Flowers Valley, plus the forces from other guilds—there were fully ten thousand players.

All were core combatants of their respective guilds, with equipment at least Epic grade and weapons averaging Legendary.

Guild Master Li Tianci stood in the center of the plaza, looking at the sea of heads, a surge of heroism rising in his heart.

"Brothers!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "The Abyss Monsters are bullying us right at our doorstep! Three secondary major cities have fallen, NPCs killed, materials stolen, and countless pieces of gear belonging to our solo player brothers have been destroyed! Now they want to attack Dawn City too! Can we tolerate this?"

"No!" the tens of thousands of players roared in unison.

"Fight back! Drive the Abyss Monsters out of Dawn City!"

"Fight back!"

"Move out!"

Tens of thousands of players surged out of the Dawn City gates, rushing toward the black torrent.

Guild Master Li Tianci charged at the very front, carrying his shield, followed by the 300 elites of War Soul Hall.

Zhao Wuji led the people from Divine Punishment Pavilion to flank from the sides, and Liu Ruyan's Hundred Flowers Valley was responsible for rear-line Healing.

The formation was perfect, the coordination was tacit, and morale was maxed out.

And then they collided with the Abyss Monsters.

The first row of Abyss Minions rushed up. Guild Master Li Tianci raised his shield to block, and a burst of black corrosive light exploded on the shield.

His HP instantly dropped by one-third.

The Healing from Hundred Flowers Valley landed on him, and his HP returned to full.

But the second Abyss Minion had already rushed up, then the third, the fourth, the fifth.

The corrosion effect stacked; his HP was like a bucket with a hole in the bottom, and Healing simply couldn't keep up.

"Can't hold it!" Guild Master Li Tianci shouted. "Retreat!"

But they couldn't retreat. The Abyss Monsters flanked from both sides, and the flank of Divine Punishment Pavilion was directly smashed.

Zhao Wuji led his men to hack desperately, but the Abyss Monsters' corrosion effect ignored defense; the cost of hacking one to death was losing half a bar of HP himself.

Kill two, and he was done for.

The Healers of Hundred Flowers Valley frantically spammed Healing, their mana dropping like flowing water.

In less than three minutes, all two hundred Healers were out of mana.

Without Healing, the front line collapsed instantly.

The Abyss Monsters surged up like a tide, swatting anyone they saw.

Half of the 300 elites of War Soul Hall fell within ten minutes.

The flank of Divine Punishment Pavilion was wiped out. Zhao Wuji was surrounded by three Abyss Elites, held on for eight seconds, and fell.

Liu Ruyan led the people from Hundred Flowers Valley to retreat toward the city gate, but the speed of the Abyss Commanders was much faster than theirs.

Dozens of Healer girls were caught up to, falling one after another.

Guild Master Li Tianci watched his brothers turn into white light one after another, his eyes turning red.

He raised his shield, blocking at the very back of the retreating team, carrying five Abyss Minions alone.

The corrosive light on his shield exploded in a mess; his HP dropped from full to half, from half to red, from red to dead.

The last hit, he didn't block it.

A prompt popped up in the combat log.

[You have died. You have lost 4521 EXP. Your level has dropped to 39. Your equipment "War God's Bulwark" durability has reached zero and is damaged.]

When Guild Master Li Tianci stood up again at the respawn point, he only had a sword left on him.

The shield was broken, the armor was broken, even his boots were broken.

He stood on the respawn plaza of Dawn City, watching the sparse players respawning around him.

When they set out, it was an army of ten thousand; when they returned, there were fewer than three thousand.

Everyone's equipment had exploded, and everyone's level had dropped.

The world channel was quiet for a full thirty seconds.

Then someone sent a message.

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": Wiped out. A guild alliance of ten thousand people, didn't even make it five hundred meters out of the city gate before being completely wiped out.]

No one replied. Because no one knew what to say.

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": I followed the Divine Punishment Pavilion to charge. Guild Master Zhao Wuji fell in front of me; I tried to pull him, but couldn't. One claw from an Abyss Commander, and I was gone too.]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": The girls from Hundred Flowers Valley had it the worst. The Healing class has low defense to begin with; when they were caught up to by the Abyss Commanders, they didn't even have the ability to fight back. I saw at least fifty Healer girls fall beside me.]

[Player "Milk Tea Without Sugar": I was watching from the city walls. That feeling was like a black tide rushing over, white points of light extinguishing one by one. Every extinguished white light was a player.]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Are we not going to be able to defend Dawn City?]

This message was sent out, and the world channel fell silent again.

Guild Master Li Tianci stood on the respawn plaza, looking at the beginner gear on his body.

His War God's Bulwark, one of the top three shields on the server, was broken.

His War God's Armor, one of the top five pieces of armor on the server, was broken.

The god-tier gear set he had spent half a year and hundreds of thousands of real currency to assemble was all broken.

He crouched down, covering his face, his shoulders shaking.

Zhao Wuji walked over and stood beside him.

The equipment on Zhao Wuji was also all broken; the dignified master of the second-ranked guild on the server was now wearing a set of beginner cloth clothes, looking like a noob who had just entered the game.

"Old Li." Zhao Wuji's voice was a bit hoarse.

Guild Master Li Tianci didn't look up.

"We lost."

"I know."

"We didn't lose to the Abyss Monsters. We lost to ourselves. We thought if we had numbers we could win, thought if we had good gear we could win, thought if we had good coordination we could win. But the Abyss Monsters don't play by the rules. They don't compare gear, coordination, or tactics with us. They have one logic: stack the corrosion effect to the max, and death in ten seconds. All our advantages are useless in the face of the corrosion effect."

Guild Master Li Tianci raised his head, his eyes bloodshot: "Then what do we do? Just accept it? Forget about Dawn City?"

Zhao Wuji was silent for a few seconds, then said one sentence.

"Go find Lin Ye."

Guild Master Li Tianci was stunned for a moment.

"Lin Ye's Decay Talent is also percentage-based true damage. He can stack layers, castrate attributes, and lock HP. We can't beat the Abyss Monsters because our damage isn't enough and we can't withstand the corrosion effect. But Lin Ye is different. His debuff is stronger than the Abyss Monsters' corrosion effect. He can turn the Lord of Destruction into a training dummy."

Guild Master Li Tianci stood up: "Will he help? We previously joined forces with the Heavenly Temple to surround and suppress him."

Zhao Wuji smiled bitterly: "I don't know. But besides him, no one can fight the Lord of Destruction. Going to beg him is better than waiting for death."

Guild Master Li Tianci gritted his teeth: "Let's go."

The two of them, wearing beginner cloth clothes, walked through the streets of Dawn City to the entrance of the Unscrupulous Business Center.

Beside the stone lions at the entrance, Fatty Wang was posting a notice.

On the notice was a line of large characters: Abyss materials on special offer; for equipment repair, please go to the second floor.

Guild Master Li Tianci's mouth twitched: "At a time like this, he's still doing business?"

Fatty Wang turned and saw the two, smiling: "Yo, Guild Master Li, Guild Master Zhao. What wind blew you here? Buying materials or repairing equipment? During the Abyss invasion, all materials are 20% off, and equipment repair is free. Brother Ye said, in special times, we don't earn black-hearted money."

Guild Master Li Tianci opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, only said three words.

"Find Lin Ye."

Fatty Wang pointed to the third floor: "Brother Ye is upstairs. But you'd better be mentally prepared; he's not in a very good mood right now."

"Not in a good mood?"

"Right. Just now he was studying the data of the Lord of Destruction, and the more he studied, the worse his expression became. I asked him what was wrong, and he said one sentence."

"What sentence?"

Fatty Wang lowered his voice: "He said that the Lord of Destruction's Domain of Destruction and his own Decay Domain are from the same source."

Guild Master Li Tianci and Zhao Wuji looked at each other, their expressions changing simultaneously.

Same source. It meant that the Abyss energy and the Decay Talent came from the same place. If this news got out, the whole server would explode.

The two hurried upstairs. In the VIP room on the third floor, Lin Ye sat by the window, a data panel floating in front of him.

The panel was densely packed with data on Abyss Monsters, and in the center was the complete attribute chart of the Lord of Destruction.

Su Qinghan stood behind him, her brows tightly furrowed. Po Jun leaned against the doorway like a door god.

Guild Master Li Tianci walked in, and just as he was about to speak, Lin Ye raised his hand to stop him.

"I know what you want to say. The alliance was wiped out, equipment all broken, levels all dropped. You want me to make a move and fight the Lord of Destruction."

Guild Master Li Tianci nodded: "Right. Besides you, no one can fight it."

Lin Ye turned his head to look at him, his gaze very calm.

"Do you know that the Lord of Destruction's Domain of Destruction and my Decay Domain are the same type of energy?"

Guild Master Li Tianci nodded: "Fatty Wang just said so."

"Then do you know what coming from the same source means?"

"I don't know."

Lin Ye stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the black tide outside the city walls.

"It means I can hurt it, and it can hurt me. My Decay Domain is a one-hit kill for ordinary players and double damage to Abyss Monsters, but against the Lord of Destruction, it only does normal damage. The reverse is the same. Its Domain of Destruction is a guaranteed death in ten seconds for ordinary players; for me, it's also a guaranteed death in ten seconds."

He turned around and looked at Guild Master Li Tianci.

"If I fight it, the odds of winning are fifty-fifty. It's not me crushing it; it's it fighting for its life against me."

Guild Master Li Tianci was silent.

Zhao Wuji spoke up: "What do you need? Equipment? People? Potions? As long as you ask, the server-wide guilds will gather it."

Lin Ye shook his head: "I need one person. Someone who can help me withstand the Domain of Destruction for ten seconds."

Po Jun walked in from the doorway.

"I'll go."