Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

Ou Yun gripped his sword with both hands, the tip aimed at the churning purple mist at the bottom of the basin.

"Is Big Brother about to unleash his ultimate move?"

"It's a powerful attack, definitely a powerful attack!"

"Wow! This is the first time I've ever seen a top player unleash their ultimate skill in a group tour?"

"Stop setting up any more flags, ughhhhh!"

The European fortune before them: "Sword of the Abyss - Liberation!"

The crowd behind:

"Did the eldest brother come up with this slogan himself?"

"I think so, he's very energetic!"

"Shut up!"

The red light on the sword exploded at that moment.

A beam of light, more than ten times thicker than before, shot out from the tip of the sword and slammed straight into the sea of ​​mist at the bottom of the basin.

The moment the beam of light struck the sea of ​​fog, the entire basin trembled violently!

The purple mist in the sea of ​​fog surged, tore apart, and dissipated wildly under the impact of the red light.

The insects that were still devouring each other turned to dust in the red light, and the abyssal energy that had accumulated for countless years at the bottom of the basin melted away as quickly as ice and snow meeting boiling water under the wash of the red light.

boom--!

The beam of light lasted for about ten seconds, and then gradually dissipated.

At the bottom of the basin, the fog had completely dissipated.

Only a thick layer of black ash remained on the ground, along with a few large crystal fragments—the core fragments left behind by the largest insectoid monsters after their deaths.

Ou Yun stood still, sword in hand.

The red light on the sword has returned to normal brightness, and the charging display shows: [0%].

The mouths of the group of people behind them were practically agape.

Holy crap!

"Holy crap! Dude, you're awesome!"

"So all I dug was a bunker... I thought I was going to use some kind of tactic."

Of course, the most shocked was Leng Ruolan.

My older brother actually...

Was that just a normal performance?!

Did they really unleash their ultimate move so smoothly?!

Not even a slight pre-cast animation?!

Didn't they interrupt me at all?!

Is this the right thing to do...?

No, in matters of rightness, it's actually wrongness that's right!

"Big...Big Brother?"

Leng Ruolan found herself unconsciously using a tremolo in her voice.

But at this moment, the eldest brother seemed to have lost all focus on criticizing her—his head was spinning, his expression a little dazed, but mostly excited.

"Captain Leng, this sword can really unleash a powerful attack."

"...Didn't you already drive it?"

"Yes, but I can't believe it can actually open."

"So you believe it now?"

I believe it.

"..."

Well, he's still the same old big brother, huh?

Ou Yun looked down at the Abyss Sword in his hand. The patterns on the sword flowed slowly in the sunlight, like a well-fed beast swishing its tail contentedly.

The Abyss Sword's charging mechanism has been unlocked.

[Current charging limit: 100%]

[Power-up methods: Absorbing abyssal energy, defeating abyssal creatures.]

[Charging Skills: Energy Release (can be released at 50% charge), Energy Resonance (area silence, can be released at 30% charge), Energy Shield (passively triggered, consumes charge to mitigate damage).]

"Wow, three skills?"

Ou Yun read through the descriptions on the panel line by line, his eyes widening in disbelief. "It even has its own skill tree?!"

Leng Ruolan asked, "What skill?"

Ou Yun read the contents of the panel aloud.

After listening for a moment, Leng Ruolan thought about it and said, "Big brother, are you sure this sword isn't some kind of protagonist-exclusive cheat code?"

"I don't think it's a cheat."

"What is that?"

Ou Yun thought for a moment and said, "It's given by the official source, so it doesn't count as cheating."

"..."

What is this guy saying?

*

After the battle, everyone rested for half an hour at the edge of the basin.

Marcus used his simple tools to collect several large insect carapace samples and put them in a sealed bag—a bag Chen Hao made himself using the leaves and resin of a mutated plant, which could isolate most of the energy.

Brother Chen was also exhausted, and even came up with the idea of ​​sealing bags—probably because he had developed some PTSD after the last incident with the Americans, and was afraid that his teammates would suddenly be irradiated by some kind of energy and mutate!

Alexander sat on a rock, wiping the insect juice off the hammerhead with a damp cloth, and sighed as he did so, "I finally understand. With Big Brother around, the intensity of combat is never a problem."

The fundamental problem is that the combat style is too exciting.

Last time we fought the lord, my brother jumped out of the helicopter.

This time, when fighting the bugs, he went straight for the whole map.

To be honest, I think it's quite possible for my older brother to catch a meteorite with his bare hands next time.

However, Leng Ruolan didn't think so. "Don't jinx it."

"I'm just giving an example—"

"Last time during the European Games, they used the example that meteorites wouldn't fall in the forbidden area, but that very night the camp was hit by stones thrown by mutated birds."

Leng Ruolan said expressionlessly, "So in our camp, using metaphors is a dangerous act."

Alexander immediately muted himself.

*

The only normal person on the scene—Douglas—squatted on the edge of the basin, using the scope of his precision rifle to observe the bottom of the basin.

After the fog was cleared, the structure at the bottom of the basin could finally be seen.

"There is a deep crack at the bottom."

He lowered the scope and began to report to Leng Ruolan in a serious manner, "There are drag marks on the edge of the crack, but they don't look like they were left by insects. It feels like something dragged in there. There might be a larger space below the crack."

"Another dungeon?"

Ou Yun leaned over for a look, "Why does the Forbidden Zone like to stuff things underground so much?"

"Perhaps because things are easy to hide underground."

Leng Ruolan said, "The true form of the Forest Lord is hidden inside the mountain. If the structure of this basin is similar to that of the forest area, then the Lord of this plateau is very likely located beneath the crack."

"How about we blow it up?"

"What should we use to fry it?"

"There are still three missiles left on the helicopter. Didn't Brother Chen already modify the helicopter?"

"It's not finished being modified yet. Did you forget? Brother Chen said the energy detection module won't be installed until the day after tomorrow."

"Tsk."

Ou Yun clicked his tongue regretfully, "Then let's mark the coordinates first, and bomb it later."

They marked the location of the basin in detail—Douglas drew a precise topographical map in his notebook, complete with GPS coordinates.

Marcus then used red stones to create a striking marker pile on the edge of the basin.

Having done all this, the expedition continued westward.

The magnificent array of stone pillars ends after the basin.

Instead, there is an even more desolate landscape—the vegetation on the ground has almost disappeared, leaving only clumps of dry, gray shrubs.

The wind grew stronger and drier, and the swirling sand stung my face.

"This place is becoming more and more like a desert."

Alexander squinted at the endless wasteland ahead. "Wasn't this supposed to be a plateau?"