The end of the world is approaching, I'm handing myself over to the country.

The edge of the Shadow Forest.

puff!

A dark green vine lashed out with a whooshing sound, striking a newly formed ice wall hard.

The ice wall was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and then it shattered with a deafening roar!

"Damn it!" With a clumsy roll, Yi Jian Shuang Han dodged the scattered ice crystals, instinctively raising his left arm to protect himself.

Even though he had just been reborn, the excruciating pain he felt when his body was severed still haunted him.

"Withdraw! Everyone, withdraw from the forest area!" Mo Fang's deep command rang out in the team channel.

Before he could finish speaking, a burly shield warrior player beside him had his ankles wrapped by three vines at the same time, and was suspended upside down in mid-air.

"Help me!"

The terrified scream lasted less than half a second before dozens of even smaller vines swarmed out from the ground, wrapping him up like a giant green dumpling and dragging him into the dark depths of the forest, before he could even let out another scream.

The top ten players on the leaderboard, a dream team of ten top-tier players, were utterly routed and fled in disarray less than ten minutes after entering the core area of ​​the Shadow Forest.

Only when everyone retreated to the sparse woodland outside the forest did the terrifying vines reluctantly stop at the edge of darkness and slowly shrink back into the ground.

The line was deathly silent.

Of the ten people who came, only seven remained.

Some of them had broken arms or legs.

He was leaning against a tree, his face pale, as he was drinking a healing potion, but the green slime from his severed arm was greatly reducing the potion's effectiveness.

All you can see is flesh and blood writhing, but new limbs are slow to grow.

"Damn it!" A fire mage player slammed his fist into a tree trunk. "Die again! This godforsaken place has made me lose money hand over fist!"

"My B-grade shield is cracked... I don't know how many source crystals it will cost to repair it..." Another surviving shield warrior player stroked the hideous crack on his shield, his face full of pain.

Yi Jian Shuang Han's expression was extremely grim.

He stared intently at the dark forest, his previous smugness completely gone.

The vines inside the forest and outside the forest are completely different creatures.

"Damn it, the monsters here are too strong. At this rate, who knows how long it will take to save enough points to exchange for an A-grade weapon." Yi Jian Shuang Han gritted his teeth.

"The input and output are completely disproportionate."

Mo Fang analyzed calmly, but everyone could hear the gravity in his voice: "In the forest, the monsters' combat power has increased at least fivefold, and it's almost endless."

"The potential gains here aren't worth the risk."

"Although I hate to admit it, I have to say it's true." The only female player in the team, Leng Yue, said with a serious expression, "It's even better to go back and farm Source Crystals, and buy them directly when the Remote General Store gets new A-grade Source Soldiers."

"At least it's safe."

His words silenced everyone.

He is a top-tier player who ranks in the top ten of the ladder.

They value time more.

"Forget it, let's all go." The fire mage player was the first to wave his hand, looking dejected. "Once I've saved up enough money to buy an A-grade fire staff, I'll come back and burn this damn forest to ashes!"

The others also felt that there was no point in continuing, and they all prepared to leave.

Yi Jian Shuang Han clenched his fist, his heart filled with resentment, but he also knew that this was the most rational choice.

Just as they were about to go their separate ways, a sudden change occurred.

A pale blue light curtain unfolded simultaneously in front of everyone without warning.

That familiar texture is from a system announcement.

[Announcement: A three-hour non-disruptive update will be performed, during which the first dungeon, the Tomb of the God King, will be available.]

The God King's Tomb will drop exclusive sets, including the Five Elements War God Set.

The effects of the five-element War God set can be viewed in the update announcement.

The entire team was stunned.

"No server downtime for updates?"

"The first instance? The Tomb of the God King?"

"An exclusive outfit?!"

A series of keywords instantly dispelled the dejection and frustration in everyone's hearts.

"Quick! Open it and see!" Yi Jian Shuang Han practically roared.

Everyone reached out and clicked the "View Details" button below the announcement.

A grand and ancient map unfolded before them in an instant.

It was a huge mausoleum buried deep underground, marked on the map with five areas: the "Hall of Gold," the "Hall of Wood," the "Hall of Water," the "Hall of Fire," and the "Hall of Earth," which eventually converged in the central "Main Tomb of the God King."

The entire map exudes a sense of desolation and epic grandeur.

"Wow, what a spectacle..."

But nobody cared about that; everyone quickly scrolled down the screen until they saw the equipment's illustration.

[Five-Element War God Set]

"Let me check the stats..." The fire mage player couldn't wait to check the set information: "Golden Essence Armor, Wood Spirit Belt, Frostbite Leggings, Blazing Flame Boots, Rock Shoulder Armor, damn, all B-grade, the stats are just so-so."

There was a hint of disappointment in his words.

Who here doesn't have a B-level source soldier?

Going to explore a new dungeon just for this doesn't seem so appealing.

"It's not just on the surface; this time, the source soldiers have set effects," Mo Fang reminded him.

The fire mage continued looking down, and the sound changed accordingly.

"The set bonus requires five pieces to activate?! What the hell?! This is outrageous!"

But at this point, the fire mage player's breath hitched, and he froze.

"What's wrong with the five-piece set? What are the specific attributes? Tell me quickly!" Frosty Sword was so anxious that he wanted to kick him.

Although anyone can see the effects of the equipment, he's willing to skip the trouble if someone relays the information to him.

"Gulp."

The fire mage swallowed hard and read it out word by word in a dreamlike tone.

"Five-piece set effect... [War God Domain]: After activation, it condenses five-element shields, increases the damage of the five-piece set's exclusive special effect by 100%, and doubles the trigger probability."

silence.

A deathly silence.

A few seconds later, a deafening roar suddenly erupted!

"Young Master Duo?! You said Young Master Duo?! Did I hear that right?!"

"Damage increased by 100%?!"

"Holy crap! This is a B-grade set? After a 100% boost, the core effects are even more insane than A-grade sets!"

"It is indeed powerful enough. 30000 combat power is not bad to begin with. With a 100% increase, the actual combat power completely surpasses the level of A-grade." Mo Fang muttered to himself, then suddenly looked up and exchanged glances with the others. They all saw the same answer in each other's reactions.

This outfit is tailor-made for the Shadow Forest!

With this thing, those vines that nearly killed them would become as easy as mowing grass.

A Frosty Sword gripped its dagger tightly: "My greatsword has long been thirsty for blood!"