96: Chapter 96 Betrayal Reappears

The dark red blood shadows surged like an endless tide, crashing wave after wave against the teetering defensive line. Hisses, screams, the clashing of weapons, and the sounds of energy annihilation mingled together, composing a dirge for the end of days.

Su Qingyu's hand wielding the shortsword had long gone numb, and the glow of the enchantment runes had dimmed considerably. A few specks of dark red blood stained her fair cheeks. Her breathing was rapid, but her gaze remained resolute, like a reef in a raging torrent, as she directed the remaining forces to stubbornly hold the point of greatest pressure.

Qin Weiwei "clumsily" brandished a sharpened piece of rebar she had picked up, seemingly trying hard to help Su Qingyu share the burden. Her movements were exaggerated but inefficient, and she even occasionally "accidentally" blocked the attack paths of nearby nether soldiers. While "fighting desperately," she shouted in a voice laced with sobs and fear:

"Sister Su! Watch out on your left!"

"There are too many of these monsters! We can't hold on much longer, can we?"

"What about the Energy Core? If it's completely broken, are we finished?"

Her voice wasn't particularly loud in the chaotic battlefield, but that question about the "Energy Core" was like a fine needle, pricking Su Qingyu's taut nerves.

Amidst the chaos, Su Qingyu shot her a glance, seeing Qin Weiwei's pale, helpless face etched with fear, and those eyes, slightly reddened and misty from "exertion." The sliver of doubt in her heart seemed to fade a little under the immense pressure of survival and Qin Weiwei's flawless performance. Perhaps... she really was just scared? In such a desperate situation, wanting to clutch at any lifeline?

"Hold the line! Don't lose focus!" Su Qingyu barked, swinging her sword to disperse two blood shadows that had lunged close. Dark red, filthy blood splattered onto her protective barrier, sizzling with corrosive sounds.

"Yes! Yes!" Qin Weiwei nodded hurriedly, appearing to swing the rebar with even more vigor. But with each "retreating dodge" and "sidestep attack," her footsteps subtly, imperceptibly, brought her a full three or four meters closer to the Energy Core shelter door—a door corroded by Zhang Hao's dying strike, its light flickering unsteadily!

Less than ten meters from the door!

In the sky, the Lord of the Ultimate End's death throes had reached their most frenzied peak. Its cracked pupils were locked onto Lin Chen. Its remaining tentacles no longer attacked the Ghost General but instead, like giant pythons, desperately coiled towards the watchtower where Lin Chen stood! Simultaneously, within its body, which continuously seeped progeny, an extremely unstable, destructive energy was madly gathering!

It was going to self-destruct! Even if it could only drag Lin Chen down with it!

"Bai Qi! Stop it!" Lin Chen's eyes were icy. While manipulating the system to convert a large number of nether talismans into pure defensive barriers layered around the watchtower, resisting the tentacles' frenzied coiling and crushing (metal groaned with a teeth-grating screech), he ordered Bai Qi to interrupt the enemy's self-destruction process.

Bai Qi transformed into a streak of bloody light, his halberd dancing wildly, severing the heavily corroded tentacles segment by segment as he tried to close in on the main body of the Lord of the Ultimate End.

Meanwhile, Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang and the Rakshasa Ghost General fought with all their might to clear the seemingly endless progeny of the Lord of the Ultimate End below, alleviating the pressure on the ground defenses.

Everyone's attention was captured by the most intense clash in the sky and the most brutal war of attrition on the ground.

At this very moment!

The feigned fear and panic in Qin Weiwei's eyes vanished without a trace, replaced by an icy, bone-chilling resolve and cunning! The opportunity she had been waiting for was now! Lin Chen was completely entangled by the Lord of the Ultimate End's death throes, unable to spare attention elsewhere! Su Qingyu and all the high-level combatants were firmly pinned down!

She pushed off the ground with her foot. Her body was no longer clumsy and staggering but shot forward like an arrow from a bowstring, bursting with speed far beyond ordinary humans! The tip of the seemingly ordinary rebar in her hand was now enveloped in an extremely subtle yet ominous gray-black energy—the 'Spellbreaker's Thorn' bestowed upon her by the leader of the Thousand Faces Cult, specifically designed to disrupt energy structures!

Her target was the Energy Core shelter door, now within reach and with its defenses at their lowest!

"Sister Su! I'm sorry! But I have to survive!!" she let out a shrill, seemingly forced cry of despair, yet her movements were vicious and decisive to the extreme!

"Qin Weiwei! You!" Su Qingyu realized instantly, her expression changing drastically! She wanted to stop her, but having just dispersed two blood shadows, her old strength was spent and new strength hadn't yet risen. Moreover, she was still seven or eight meters away! She could only watch helplessly as Qin Weiwei pounced towards the door like a ghost!

The two nether soldiers guarding the door reacted with lightning speed, instantly crossing their weapons to block!

But Qin Weiwei seemed to have anticipated this! She twisted her body at an impossible angle, narrowly avoiding the nether soldiers' slashes. Simultaneously, the rebar in her hand, shrouded in gray-black energy, struck like a venomous snake—not attacking the nether soldiers, but thrusting fiercely towards the most severely corroded, almost completely dimmed section of the door's runes, the area damaged by Zhang Hao's self-destruction!

"Break!"

*Ssss—!*

The gray-black energy made a teeth-grating corrosive sound upon contact with the damaged nether steel and the remaining runes! The already teetering door could no longer withstand this targeted assault. With a crisp cracking sound, a hole the size of a washbasin was forcibly torn open in the corroded area! Behind it, the Energy Core flickered with an unstable, ghostly blue light!

Through the hole, one could clearly see that the surface of the Energy Core, resembling a massive blue crystal, was now covered in a web of fine cracks. Energy rampaged wildly within, clearly in an extremely unstable state! One more strong external impact or energy interference would likely cause it to completely collapse and explode!

And Qin Weiwei, with a vicious grin, had already raised the gray-black 'Spellbreaker's Thorn' again, aiming for the very center of the Energy Core, where the energy fluctuations were most chaotic!

"Stop!!!" Su Qingyu's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. She threw her shortsword with all her might, trying to interrupt Qin Weiwei's action!

Alas, it was too late!

The corners of Qin Weiwei's mouth had already curled into a triumphant, venomous smile. Her arm tensed, thrusting down with brutal force!

At this critical juncture!

*Bang!!*

A crisp gunshot, distinct from the sound of energy explosions, rang out abruptly!

A special bullet, entwined with faint yet intensely concentrated purification runes, traveled faster than sound from an extremely tricky angle to the side. With pinpoint accuracy, it struck Qin Weiwei's right wrist—the one holding the 'Spellbreaker's Thorn'!

*Thud!*

Blood sprayed!

"Ah—!" Qin Weiwei let out a piercing shriek. Her wrist was nearly severed completely. The rebar imbued with 'Spellbreaker' energy clattered to the ground, its gray-black glow rapidly dissipating.

Clutching her broken wrist, she staggered back, her face contorted with extreme pain and disbelief. She whipped her head around to look in the direction the bullet had come from!

There stood Su Qingyu, maintaining a firing stance. In her hand was an exquisitely crafted silver pistol, its barrel still emitting wisps of smoke! Her eyes were as cold as blades, her face expressionless, showing only a lingering sense of dread and the frigid clarity of having seen the other's true face.

As it turned out, when Qin Weiwei had been constantly approaching the door and asking about the Energy Core, alarm bells had already been ringing loudly in Su Qingyu's mind. Outwardly, she remained calm, but secretly, she had quietly gripped the [Demonbane Pistol] Lin Chen had previously issued her for self-defense and special situations, loaded with the one precious [Spellbreaker Bullet]. She had been waiting, waiting for the moment Qin Weiwei fully bared her fangs!

"You... you knew all along..." Qin Weiwei's face twisted in pain, her eyes filled with venomous hatred and confusion.

Su Qingyu didn't answer. She quickly stepped forward, the gun's muzzle locked firmly on Qin Weiwei's forehead, while ordering the nearby nether soldiers, "Restrain her!"

The two nether soldiers immediately moved. Icy chains instantly bound the injured Qin Weiwei tightly.

"Heh... hahaha..." Qin Weiwei looked at the Energy Core, so close yet now beyond her reach to destroy, then up at the sky where the Lord of the Ultimate End, its self-destruction process constantly interrupted by Bai Qi, grew weaker and weaker. She suddenly let out a burst of despairing, maniacal laughter. "Su Qingyu! You think you've won? It's useless! The Cult Leader... the Cult Leader will definitely avenge me! You... urk!"

She couldn't finish her sentence because Su Qingyu had already struck the back of her neck hard with the pistol's grip, knocking her unconscious.

Su Qingyu looked down at the unconscious Qin Weiwei on the ground, then raised her head to gaze at the watchtower, at the man who, even under the threat of tentacle entanglement and the Lord of the Ultimate End's self-destruction, still calmly commanded the battlefield. She let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

That was close...

They had almost been destroyed from within by this cunning woman, their final hope shattered.

This war required not only crushing powerful enemies externally but also remaining constantly vigilant against the knife in the back.