Fire January 5, 795 in the New Calendar, the weather is cloudy.
Emerald Forest, around the Emerald Tower.
The rickety old man waved his hand and scattered a piece of black mist, then floated back. Several giant beasts in front howled into the black mist, and then fell down screaming.
"Cough cough cough... cough cough..."
The old man's cough seemed to become more severe. Even a strong man like him began to show signs of fatigue in the face of a wave of attacks - when he and Christine sisters took turns fighting before, the pressure he received was not as great as it is now.
The old man took out a colorful triangular medicine bottle from his arms and drank it. While throwing the empty medicine bottle out, he waved his hand and sprinkled a piece of black mist. Several beasts that were corroded by the black mist As he fell down again, he took a few deep breaths. He straightened up with force, and his chest rose and fell violently several times. The rushing feeling slowly faded away, and the coughing gradually stopped.
"Sir, your body..." Amidst the splashing blood, the man in black knocked away a giant black spider that was approaching rapidly, then approached and asked in a low voice.
"It's okay." The old man, whose breathing had stabilized, waved his hand and looked up at the sky.
At this time, many strange and large birds were already scattered over the forest. Some of them have very wide wings, slender beaks, and sharp claws, which are not easy to catch at first glance; some are petite and exquisite, but fly very fast, like a bullet that keeps flying, stretching out from the giant tree. flowing in the gaps between the branches. Below them, all kinds of birds, insects, and beasts, large and small, turned into a vast ocean army, and they were rushing towards the two isolated islands in the ocean.
"There is almost... no place to stand here." The old man's tone was still calm, as if the situation had not reached the level of crisis: "Even the sky... has become extremely dangerous."
"Look around. If there's nothing you can do, go to the water."
There is only one place by the water here, and that is the river that flows to the Emerald Tower.
The man in black nodded, and then his attention was attracted by the explosion on the other side.
A long dragon of flames streaked across the sky.
It was not a dragon shape composed of flames, but a flame that was truly connected in a line. It started burning from a certain place, intertwined with each other to form beautiful lines in the sky, and finally cut across the sky and ended at another distant place. The connected flames formed a magnificent city wall, burning and jumping in the air for a long time, and then slowly extinguished.
"Such an orderly flame..." The old man glanced at it, then walked back slowly with his body bent. The man in black waved his hands continuously, forcing back another black tiger that pounced forward, and gradually retreated in front of the old man. On another isolated island not far away, countless cold air was condensing silently and then erupted.
The isolated island turned into an Iceland, and the scorching heat in the air was dissipated in an instant.
"They really... deserve it."
The old man looked up at the tall tower not far away, and then whispered: "It seems that our children...failed."
He coughed again, then took a coat from the man in black and slowly put it on himself to resist the cold air spreading over there.
He took out a brown gemstone from his arms and threw it on the ground. The other half of the sound transmission stone, which was supposed to be on Qing Pingle's body, was now dim: "This... The feeling of being controlled by others is very..."
"Embarrassing."
There was a rustling sound in the distance.
The two of them turned back and looked into the forest in the distance. Among the giant trees standing straight upright, on the originally yellow land, the chirping of insects is gradually spreading and covering it, dyeing the ocean that was originally rushing forward black.
It was a sea of death, with no grass growing anywhere it passed. In the distant forest, you could even see huge tree crowns falling down with a creaking sound.
The man in the night seemed to have good eyesight. He looked over there for a while, and then whispered to the old man: "It's the black beetle."
"Such...an unknown creature." The old man whispered to himself: "Could it...foreshadow today's fate..."
He looked at the two figures, one blue and one red, not far away, and then looked up at the gloomy sky.
Looking away from the gloomy sky, Freya asked the figure in blue robe: "Sister, it seems that a black beetle is approaching..."
"I saw it, dear sister." Christine's voice remained calm, but her posture remained the same as before. She stretched her hands flat and held the clenched staff in front of her. Her body was emitting a blue magical light belonging to the water element.
In front of her, the icy cold air continued to spread outwards. The beasts in this icy area had been frozen into ice sculptures, maintaining their forward posture and standing there motionless.
"This forest is resisting even more strongly." Christine sighed: "Although we can still resist it now, this force will definitely become stronger and stronger. If..."
She paused, and then continued: "If all the creatures we encountered before came here, we might..."
"Sister..." Freya's plain voice became a little deeper.
"Don't be discouraged, my lovely sister." Christine's voice became soft again, as if they were not facing a death craze now: "Those lovely adventurers are still fighting inside, I believe they can do it of."
She chuckled, then gave up the action of casting spells, and walked back with Freya: "That is our hope..."
"Now fall back and defend along the river. We will hold on."
*************
The progress of Duan Qing and his party began to become more and more difficult, not only because their path forward became more and more complicated, but also because... monster attacks began to appear around them.
At first, there were a few bugs flying from nowhere. They were small in size but extremely fast. If they were hit in the face or other vital parts, they would also cause damage to the player. The most important thing is that such interference will affect their upward crawling movements. A Niu once almost accidentally fell off the steps because he was irritably driving away these insects. If Duan Shanyue hadn't grabbed him from behind, The five-man team is attrition again.
But then, everyone began to ignore these attacks and started running wildly - from the gaps in the surrounding walls, green slender figures stretched out, and then gradually spread on the stone walls. The stone-gray wall gradually turned green due to their spread, and gradually turned yellow the next moment, as some needles grew rapidly on it.
"Fuck..." Everyone made the same sound, and then... started running wildly.
The next moment, intensive shooting sounds resounded throughout the tower.
Thoughts and questions were temporarily put aside, and everyone did not dare to stop for a moment, engaging in a life-and-death competition with the spreading green. On the stone steps under their feet and behind them, there was an endless sound, which sounded like the footsteps of the God of Death in these people's minds.
Duan Qing didn't even have time to look back. The stone road had turned into a hedgehog.
"It seems we are about to reach the end." Duan Qing shouted with anger, otherwise his voice would be drowned in the dense sound of nails: "This is the last resistance of this tower, as long as we can survive here. .....”
"Don't put a flag on yourself casually, okay!" Xue Ling Huan Bing said loudly from the front.
"Hey, if I didn't say that, would I say that I should quickly throw myself into the arms of death..." Duan Qing was still joking.
I don't know how many times there was a fork in the road ahead, but this time it was in three directions, and the weirdest one was a stone staircase that led horizontally to the opposite wall. Several people did not have time to think about how this stone step was suspended in the air. They just wanted to continue to avoid the invasion of death and climb to higher heights, so when Xueling Huanbing took the lead and chose a path casually, the others People quickly followed.
Luck didn't seem to be on their side this time, and the stone steps broke not long after they extended upward.
Higher up in front, there are still shadows of steps embedded in the stone wall, continuing to circle towards an unknown height, probably the back part of this step, but at this time it is no longer important where it extends - in the middle The part surrounding the circular wall that should have existed seems to have been missing due to collapse. Xue Ling Huan Bing made an emergency stop and stopped in front of the broken part. The panic in his eyes had not faded yet, as if he could not accept the facts in front of him.
As she stopped, Mengzhu and Duan Qing behind also stopped. A Niu didn't seem to expect that the person in front would stop, and bumped into Duan Qing's back: "Ouch..."
"What to do..." Xue Ling Huan Bing was still muttering to herself, but time did not leave her with much opportunity to choose.
The sound of nails below was getting closer and closer. Beside the wall where several people were standing, new vines were slowly growing, maturing, and then giving birth to deadly needles. The voice from Broken Mountain behind also became anxious: "Hey, think of a way quickly, or we people will jump up first..."
A Niu gritted his teeth and said nothing, but Mengzhu shouted: "Are you going to abandon us..."
"Let's go." Duan Qing said suddenly.
The surrounding yellow-brown needles have matured, and thousands of needle bracts are gradually swelling. Xue Ling Huan Bing was still hesitating and confused: "Could it be that you also..."
"I mean go forward!" Duan Qing shouted. "Do not hesitate!"
Xue Ling Huan Bing looked back, Duan Qing's eyes were full of determination.
"Believe me."
At the break of the stone steps, a few small gravels were falling rustlingly. The sound of nails was about to hit her body. Xue Ling Huan Bing gritted her teeth and turned her head, then jumped forward.
Seeing the figure about to fall in front of her, Mengzhu behind her closed her eyes in fear, then was picked up by Duan Qing and rushed forward.
At this time, the woman in black cloak stared down at herself in astonishment - she was currently suspended in the air. There was nothing beneath her feet, but she could feel herself stepping on something. Just now when she jumped out and thought she was going to fall, she almost tripped over the stone steps and fell to the ground.
"This is..." She was half-kneeling on the ground, still wondering in her heart. Duan Qing, who was behind her, stepped diagonally across her head and said, "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Run!"
Xue Ling Huan Bing calmed down and finally understood what was going on. She struggled to stand up and began to climb in the air. Behind her, the anxious shouts of Duan Shanyue and Liu Qingniu were heard at the same time: "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..."
Running wildly on invisible steps is actually a bit difficult. Fortunately, characters in the free world, as long as they click on a few attributes, are no longer normal people. They can make many unconventional actions and have a slight imbalance under their feet. , it will be corrected soon. Moreover, the situation was so critical that everyone unleashed their full potential.
"Do you still remember what Christine said to us before?" Duan Qing put Mengzhu down while running. The little girl also blushed a little, but said nothing more in desperation.
"She said... don't believe your eyes..." Xue Ling Huan Bing said in a deep voice.
"Does this mean that what we see now is also an illusion?" Duan Shanyue shouted from behind.
"Hey, if you want to go back and try the authenticity of those acupunctures, I won't stop you..." Duan Qing slowed down slightly to relieve the physical exertion. Among the three players who were close to the strength of a novice, he was the only one who had this awareness. Mengzhu was hugged by Duan Qing for a while and seemed to be fine. A Niu behind him was already out of breath and his speed had seriously slowed down.
"The construction lines of these stairs should be completely fixed, but they look messy on the surface." Duan Qing explained: "The path I chose before basically rotated in the same direction, so ..."
"If the road ahead is broken, it must be deceiving us, right?" Xue Ling Huan Bing nodded with some understanding.
The sound of nails from behind was still following closely, but now Duan Qing was running at the front. In front of him, the steps suddenly raised their angle, as if they were standing in everyone's path like a ladder.
"I'm afraid of you!"
Duan Qing bumped into it, then his whole body passed through the phantom and continued running in the air.
"Ho ho ho!" The few people behind roared excitedly, feeling like they were moving slightly.
But the good times didn't last long. Not long after, a dull roar came from above the crowd. Several people looked up and saw a huge head smashed through somewhere on the stone wall of the tower and then stretched out.
Stones fell like rain, and Xueling Huanbing covered her head and groaned: "Oh my God..."
Duan Qing sneered: "It seems that the system does not want this journey to be too smooth..."
What appeared above was the giant snake that had previously wiped out the Snow Spirit.
"Hey, why does it appear here..." Mengzhu's voice was trembling, but Duan Shanyue had never seen it before: "Is this snake very powerful?"
"Look at Xue Ling Huan Bing's expression...all of their team died at its hands before."
"Tsk, tsk, it sounds miserable..."
Although the two people were still joking, the situation in front of them had reached the most dangerous level. The snake seemed to recognize some of the five people in front of it, then roared and plunged down from above.
Duan Shanyue roared and pulled A Niu behind him into a leap, narrowly avoiding its impact range. Amidst the loud rumbling sound, the stone steps where they were standing had been smashed to pieces, and stone chips of all sizes were flying everywhere.
"So fierce..." Wiping his cold sweat secretly, Duanshanyue threw Aniu away, and then hurried forward: "Think of a way, we are being attacked from both sides!"
"It's okay, we'll be there soon." In front, Duan Qing raised his finger——
In the high sky in the distance, a piece of stone-gray color belonging to the rock appears vaguely through the blurred illusionary light. That thing was usually seen everywhere, but now that all of them saw it, it was like seeing the last straw.
It was a ceiling.
