Samsara Space: They're all begging me to heal them one more time.

Beyond the pile of sparking, wrecked mechs belonging to the engineers, the tunnel became narrower and damper.

Large patches of dark green moss began to appear on the once dry rock face. These mosses seemed to pulsate slightly, as if they were alive, and emitted a visible dust of spores. The air was filled with a nauseatingly sweet and fishy smell, like the stench of some tropical fruit rotting and fermenting under high temperatures.

"Cough cough..."

A-Qiang, who was walking at the front, suddenly coughed violently twice. He subconsciously touched his throat and found that even with the protection of the gas mask, a trace of black blood still coughed up from his gloves.

"Yuan... Brother Yuan, something's not right here. My throat is itchy, like bugs are crawling on it... and my head feels really heavy."

Not only the tough-skinned A-Qiang, but even the weaker Tao-Tao began to sway unsteadily. Her originally rosy face was now covered with a strange bluish-gray tinge, and it seemed that even standing up had become difficult.

[WARNING: High concentrations of neurotoxins and putrefactive spores detected.]

[Status: Mild Poisoning (1% health loss per second, all attributes reduced by 10%, blurred vision).]

The debuff indicator on my retina lit up quietly, a glaring red.

"It's a poison array."

Zhang Yuan stopped in his tracks, not flustered. His gaze calmly swept across the corridor ahead, shrouded in a light green mist. "It seems the gatekeeper of the second level is someone who likes to play dirty tricks."

[Opponent Faction Reincarnator: Witch Doctor]

[Status: Plague Territory Expansion]

Just then, a piercing laugh, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, echoed from the depths of the darkness, reverberating through the narrow tunnel and disorienting everyone.

"Hehehe... So what if you found out? This is my 'Corridor of Corruption.' Every inch of air and every speck of dust here is prepared for you brutes to rot."

The witch doctor did not appear. He was like a rat hiding in the sewers, using the complex underground terrain to spread an omnipresent cloud of poison.

For ordinary Reincarnator squads, this "soft-knife cutting flesh" tactic is the most disgusting.

The enemy is invisible, yet health is continuously decreasing; attributes are weakened, and combat power is greatly reduced.

If you don't retreat, you'll be poisoned before you even see the enemy; if you retreat, the mission will fail.

"Now, you have two choices." The witch doctor's sinister voice carried a cat-and-mouse smirk. "Either kneel down and beg me to hand over all your rare equipment, and I might consider giving you the antidote; or..."

"Or, I'll blow this gust of wind away."

Zhang Yuan calmly interrupted his nonsense.

He showed no panic whatsoever, not even a furrowed brow. He simply raised the cross in his hand slowly; it was not stained with blood, but instead emitted a pure, warm, milky-white halo like the rising sun.

If it were any other profession, even a powerful mage, they might have truly been killed by this pervasive poison array. But unfortunately, he was a paladin.

In the DNF class system, the Paladin is not only a healer, but also the absolute nemesis of all abnormal statuses.

"God said, 'Let there be light,' and filth had nowhere to hide."

Zhang Yuan murmured, and the cross in his hand slammed to the ground.

Purification!

[Effect: Removes all abnormal statuses (poison, curse, bleeding, confusion, etc.) from friendly units within range.]

"Buzz—!!"

A visible, sacred ripple spread outwards from Zhang Yuan in an instant.

The light was not dazzling, but it carried an undeniable "cleaning power".

It swept over A-Qiang's body, and the itching in A-Qiang's throat disappeared instantly. The black blood he coughed up evaporated, and his bluish-gray complexion returned to rosy color at a visible speed. It swept over Tao-Tao, and the little girl felt a warm current flow through her whole body. Her originally heavy head instantly cleared up, as if she had just taken a breath of pure oxygen.

"Phew... I'm alive again!" Ah-Qiang greedily inhaled the fresh air.

However, before everyone could rejoice for long, the dense green poisonous fog around them surged up again like an enraged beast.

In just five seconds, the purification effect faded, and that suffocatingly sweet and fishy smell once again entered the nasal cavity.

"Cough cough cough..."

Ah Qiang started coughing again, and his skin turned bluish-purple from poisoning once more.

"It's no use! It's no use!"

The witch doctor's laughter grew even more arrogant. "Your purification is powerful, but it can only remove a status effect once. It can't stop my endless stream of poison! Let's see how much mana you have to outlast me!"

This is the true horror of the Corridor of Corruption. It's not instant death, but an endless drain on your resources. As long as you don't leave, the toxins will keep accumulating.

Zhang Yuan glanced at his mana bar. That last [Purify] spell had consumed 10 mana points. Given the rate at which the poison mist refilled, he would have to cast it every 10 seconds to ensure his teammates didn't die from the poison.

This is a marathon race against death.

"Since we can't afford to waste time, let's run."

Zhang Yuan raised the cross again, and another beam of purifying light shone down, temporarily dispelling the debuffs on everyone.

"Listen, I only have enough mana to last this last stretch. I am your ventilator."

Zhang Yuan pushed up his glasses, his gaze piercing through the layers of green mist, precisely locking onto the shadow of a huge rock to his left—the core area where the poisonous mist was most concentrated, and most likely where the spellcaster was hiding.

"Lin Qingyue, sprint at full speed within my purification range."

"I'll buy you 30 seconds to come to your senses."

"The enemy should be hiding behind that rock with the dense poisonous fog to the left front. Find him and kill him."

"receive."

Without the interference of poison and the burden of the weakness debuff, the [Demon Blade Master] in full power is a nightmare for these fragile mages.

"bass--!"

A flash of light.

Lin Qingyue's figure transformed into a black line, instantly passing through the thinning poisonous fog and rushing straight towards the hunched figure hidden in the shadows.

"Damn melee!"

Although the witch doctor was panicked, as a senior near-C-level expert, he obviously wouldn't surrender easily.

He slammed the bone staff in his hand into the ground, chanting obscure incantations.

"rise!"

Accompanied by a tooth-grinding sound of bones grinding together, the ground around the huge rock suddenly churned, and four [Poisonous Corpse Refiners] that had been lying in ambush, covered in green hair, burst out of the ground and blocked Lin Qingyue's path of attack.

These reanimated corpses are not only incredibly strong, but also covered in corpse poison. Their skin is as hard as iron, and if they are scratched even slightly, they will fall into various negative abnormal states. They are the most reliable meat shields for witch doctors.