21: Chapter 21 Chen Xi's Role

Countless giant icicles hung above their heads, accompanied by the whistling sound of death.

They came crashing down, aiming directly for the faces of Lin Feng and the others.

The members of the Shenfeng Squad stood there in a daze.

Tilting their heads back, the shadows of those rapidly approaching icicles were reflected in their pupils.

Not a single person was able to react in the first instance.

At this critical, hair-trigger moment, the only one who reacted was Yan Zidong.

There was not a trace of panic on his face.

"Purgatory Fire Dragon!"

Yan Zidong let out a low shout, and a burst of scorching firelight instantly erupted between his hands.

A ferocious fire dragon, composed entirely of highly concentrated lava, rapidly took shape in his palms.

With a terrifying aura capable of burning everything to ash, it roared as it surged upward, meeting the giant icicle that was falling directly toward his head.

Boom—!

Ice and fire collided violently in mid-air.

The incredibly hard giant icicle was instantly evaporated into a sky full of white steam the moment it made contact with the lava fire dragon.

However, having resolved the crisis above his own head, Yan Zidong discovered that the other four people in the team were still standing there, staring blankly upward, completely motionless.

He could not bear it any longer and roared angrily:

"What the hell are you guys doing!? Front line! Give me a shield!"

"Ah!?"

Awakened by this roar, Fang Yue, who was standing at the very front of the team, finally snapped out of his daze.

His face deathly pale, he scrambled in a panic to raise his heavy tower shield and began chanting a defensive skill.

However, it was already too late.

The icicles were falling at lightning speed!

Because they had not made the correct reaction in the first instance, aside from Yan Zidong, who had relied on his own formidable personal strength to forcibly destroy the icicle above his own head, the other four people, including the captain Lin Feng, were all struck squarely by that first wave of sudden icicle rain!

"Ah! It hurts!"

Zhang Xinyu, as a squishy priest, was struck hard on the right shoulder by a giant icicle, and she couldn't help but let out a painful scream as her health bar dropped by a small chunk instantly.

"Where's the shield! Fang Yue! Where's your shield!"

Lin Feng was also battered and bruised; while clumsily dodging the subsequent falling icicles, he urged anxiously.

"It's... it's coming, it's coming!"

"Holy Shield!"

With a strained low roar from Fang Yue, a massive energy shield emitting golden light finally arrived late, enveloping all five shaken members inside.

Above their heads, the dense icicles, like a rainstorm, kept falling, making a rapid "ping-ping-pang-pang" sound against the golden light shield.

Hearing this, everyone under the shield felt terrified.

Hiding under the shield, the few of them looked at the deadly rain of ice still falling above and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Whew... finally, it's okay."

Lin Feng patted his chest, still feeling lingering fear. He glanced at Fang Yue, who was still struggling to support the shield, and praised him sincerely:

"Well done! Fang Yue!"

However, no sooner had he finished praising him than a cold voice filled with disgust and disdain came from the side.

"Well done?"

Yan Zidong glanced at him coldly, his eyes full of contempt and displeasure.

"The first wave of icicles, you took every single one of them. The reaction speed of the entire team is slower than a turtle crawling. You call this disastrous performance 'well done'?"

The look of relief on Lin Feng's face froze instantly.

He looked at Yan Zidong in disbelief.

Yan Zidong's strength was indeed the strongest in the team.

But he was, after all, the captain of this Shenfeng Battle Team!

This Yan Zidong was actually not giving him any face at all in front of all the team members!?

A wave of shame and anger instantly surged into Lin Feng's heart.

However, Yan Zidong was someone he had spent a tremendous amount of effort to recruit.

If they developed a rift during their first dungeon run, it might be even harder to cooperate in the future.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng suppressed his anger and braced himself to argue:

"It's... it's not that bad, right? At least the subsequent attacks were all blocked, weren't they?"

"Heh."

Yan Zidong sneered, his laughter filled with undisguised contempt.

"Originally, even the first wave of attacks could have been perfectly blocked! It was just because your reactions were too slow! You, the so-called captain, are slow to command! He, the so-called tank, reacts even slower!"

Hearing this aggressive accusation from Yan Zidong, the usually quiet and reserved Sun Lin could finally no longer hold back.

She hurriedly spoke up, explaining for her teammates:

"No! It's not like that! Fang Yue's speed is actually not slow! He could usually react to this level of surprise attack before! It's just... it's just..."

As she spoke, she seemed to realize that she had misspoke in her haste, and her voice became quieter and quieter, until it finally trailed off completely.

"Heh, so it was possible before, but now it's not?"

Yan Zidong keenly seized the loophole in her words and continued to press aggressively:

"Could it be that my joining has affected your performance? Ridiculous! If I hadn't acted just now to destroy the first icicle and wake you bunch of sleepwalking losers up, I'm afraid that by the time the second wave of icicles fell, none of you would have been able to react!"

"It's not like that!"

Sun Lin was pressed so hard that she couldn't care about anything else and blurted out:

"It's... it's because Brother Xi used to be in charge of commanding! Brother Xi would always do the most detailed research on every dungeon we were about to enter! For traps like this triggered by killing sentinel monsters, he would always warn us in advance! Things like being ambushed by icicles... would simply never have happened before!"

Brother Xi...

When this long-missed title was spoken from Sun Lin's mouth, the entire team fell into a dead silence instantly.

Even Lin Feng, who had just been arguing his case, felt as if his heart had been pierced sharply by something, creating a subtle wavering.

That's right...

They suddenly realized.

In the past, before every dungeon entry, it was Chen Xi who would tirelessly explain every detail they needed to be aware of and remind them of every trap that might appear.

When dungeon crawling, they never needed to use their brains.

They only needed to execute every instruction given by Chen Xi and go on a killing spree to clear the dungeon with ease and comfort.

But in the past, they had subconsciously taken all of this for granted, as if it were simply Chen Xi's duty as a support player.

Until now, until they had truly left Chen Xi behind.

When they tried for the first time to clear a completely unfamiliar dungeon on their own, they realized, only in hindsight...

It seemed that the teammate who never took action during dungeon runs, the work he was responsible for every time... was actually the most important part of the entire team!

"Chen Xi..."

Lin Feng silently chewed on this name.

Just for the sake of Yan Zidong, he had heartlessly kicked Chen Xi out...

Was this decision... really the right one?

He couldn't help but think secretly in his heart: I wonder if that kid's new team will be just as battered as we are in the dungeon?