The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

A soldier opened fire with a machine gun, the bullets striking its skin like steel plates, sending sparks flying and bouncing off without leaving a single white mark. The Minotaur King Sauta stomped down, crushing the soldier's upper body into the mud, his lower body still twitching, his legs kicking a few times before going still.

Prosh and several guild leaders confronted the Thunder Goblin. It wasn't that they wanted to fight the Thunder Goblin, but rather that they simply dared not approach King Sauta. Prosh's light blade left only a white mark on King Sauta's neck; his prized attack power was like a tickle before that mobile fortress.

So he chose the Lightning Goblin... at least this one looks like it can still fight.

His wings unfolded in the darkness, pure white as snow, dazzlingly bright amidst the blue-white lightning and dark red firelight.

Golden light condensed in his palm, like a longsword formed from light. The Lightning Goblin swung his staff, and a bolt of lightning struck him. His body spun rapidly in the air, the lightning grazing the edge of his wing, scorching a few feathers which then fell to the ground.

His light blade slashed towards the Lightning Goblin's neck. The goblin's body flickered in the lightning, vanished, and then reappeared a few meters away. It wasn't teleportation; its speed was so fast that Proshu's eyes couldn't keep up.

The leaders of several guilds attacked from different directions.

An ice mage fired an ice spike at the Lightning Goblin, whose body flickered in the lightning. The ice spike missed its target and became embedded in a tree trunk. A fire mage then unleashed a fireball at the spot where the Lightning Goblin had just stood, creating a crater in the ground, but the Lightning Goblin was no longer there.

An agile assassin thrust his dagger toward the back of the Lightning Goblin's neck. The dagger struck only a fleeting afterimage of lightning. The assassin's body stiffened from the shock, and he plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground. He twitched a few times and then lay still.

The Lightning Goblin kept its staff raised and never lowered it.

Waves of lightning struck, not targeting any one person, but covering the entire camp. Prosciutto weaved through the gaps in the lightning; he was fast, but the lightning was faster. A bolt struck his wing, scorching a large patch of his white feathers. He lost his balance in mid-air and plummeted, then forcefully flapped his wings to regain his footing and land on the ground.

A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth, not from being hit, but from the shock. His wings were trembling, not from fear, but from muscle spasms after the electric shock.

"What are you doing? Hold it back!" Prosci shouted at the guild leaders. The guild leaders didn't answer, because they were also dodging the lightning.

Zhao Derong fought head-on against the Minotaur King Sauta.

This wasn't his choice; he had no choice.

He is the only person present who can withstand a single axe blow from the Minotaur King Sauta... not because he is strong, but because his petrification talent turns his body into stone.

A stone cannot be killed by a single axe blow, but it can be cleaved in two. His petrification talent has been activated; his skin has turned grayish-black, like a rock that has been weathered for millions of years.

His dark gray skin was covered with cracks, not from battle, but a characteristic of his innate talent, like a cracked riverbed. His hammer slammed into the leg of the Minotaur King Sauta, producing a dull metallic clang.

The Minotaur King Sauta swayed its leg, lowered its head, and stared at Zhao Derong with its blood-red eyes as if it were looking at an ant that knew no death.

The battle axe came crashing down.

Zhao Derong raised his hammer to block, but the axe blade struck the hammer handle, sparks flying. Zhao Derong's hand split open, and blood flowed down the handle. His knees buckled, the ground beneath his feet cracked, and his body sank like a wooden stake hammered into the earth.

His teeth were clenched so tightly that blood gushed from his mouth, overflowing from the corner of his lips and dripping down his chin onto his grayish-black skin, where it was absorbed by the cracks, like water seeping into a dried-up riverbed.

He did not back down. The hammer swung upwards and smashed down on the chin of the Minotaur King, Sauta.

The Minotaur King Sauta's head was knocked back, then it lowered its head, and something new appeared in its blood-red eyes... not anger, but a more subtle, almost intriguing... interest.

Its fist came crashing down. Not a battle axe, but a fist. The fist was heavier than a battle axe because it was faster. Zhao Derong had no time to block; the fist slammed into his chest, and a crack appeared on his grayish-black skin. The edges of the crack were white, and underneath they were black, like a stone shattered by a heavy hammer.

Zhao Derong's body flew out like a cannonball, crashing into a tree and breaking a second one before slamming to the ground, rolling several times, and finally coming to rest in a pile of fallen leaves. A large amount of blood gushed from his mouth, nostrils, and ears. His eyes were open, but his pupils were dilated.

His teammates Liu Yang and Fang Lin rushed over. Liu Yang held up his shield to block Zhao Derong, while Fang Lin's arrow aimed at the Minotaur King Sauta's eye. The arrow hit... it hit the Minotaur King Sauta's eyelid.

There was a white spot on its eyelid, where an arrow was stuck. It wobbled and fell off. The Minotaur King, Sauta, didn't even blink. Its battle axe was raised again.

"Captain!" Liu Yang shouted.

Zhao Derong's fingers twitched. His body struggled in the pile of fallen leaves for a moment, then he stood up. His legs were trembling, his arms were trembling, and blood was still seeping from the crack in his chest.

But he stood up. He picked up the hammer that had fallen to the ground, gripped it tightly, his knuckles white, blood dripping from between his thumb and forefinger. He looked at the Minotaur King, panting heavily, and then he smiled.

It wasn't a bitter smile, nor was it self-deprecation; it was a genuine, heartfelt laugh, as if saying, "I'm not dead yet."

"Come on," he said.

The Minotaur King Sauta swung his battle axe down. Zhao Derong met it with his iron hammer.

The axe blade and the hammer handle collided again.

This time, the hammer handle bent.

It wasn't broken, it was bent, like a bent spoon. Zhao Derong's hand was completely split open, and blood gushed from the wound like a fountain. His fingers could no longer grip the hammer handle, and the hammer slipped from his hand, hitting the ground with a dull metallic clang.