A bizarre and terrifying experience; I messed up the dungeon world.

Zhao Qiang realized that retreating now would only lead to being surrounded and trapped, so it was better to hold the line first. He ripped off his shirt, revealing his muscular upper body, with three wounds on his back still bleeding. "Yingying, don't worry about me! Prepare to treat the seriously injured! Crossbowmen, aim for the butchers' joints! Programmers, can you break their weapons?"

The programmer's face turned pale, but he still nodded: "I...I'll give it a try!"

The five men quickly moved to the outer wall of the nearest unburnt warehouse, their backs against the brick wall, at least they didn't have to worry about what was behind them. Zhou Lang's chainsaw roared again, shredding the approaching vengeful spirits. Zhao Qiang blocked the gap, his iron bar like a door, smashing away any enemies trying to get close. The crossbowman found a relatively safe opening and fired a volley of bolts. The ghostly blue arrows sliced ​​through the air, striking a butcher chasing a wounded man in the distance, hitting him precisely behind the knee. The butcher staggered, his movements visibly slowed, but he didn't fall. Instead, he glared furiously in their direction.

"It's angered!" the crossbowman frowned.

"It's better than letting it pass through unimpeded!" Zhao Qiang roared, smashing the head of a vengeful spirit with a stick.

The programmer's finger trembled as he pointed at another butcher wielding a bone axe and shouted, "Interference!"

A faint ripple spread outwards. Suddenly, the dried tendons on the handle of the bone axe in the butcher's hand, which served as the binding rope, snapped, and the axe flew out of his grasp. The butcher paused for a moment, freeing his hands, and then charged into the crowd with even greater ferocity, grabbing a player who couldn't dodge in time and biting down on their neck.

"Damn it!" Zhao Qiang's eyes were bloodshot.

Han Yingying had already run to the edge of the warehouse area and found a player lying on the ground, severely wounded—his stomach had been ripped open by sharp claws, and his intestines were spilling out. She knelt on the ground, her hands glowing with white light, and pressed them against the wound. The white light surged in, and the wound began to heal slowly, but very slowly, and the player's breathing remained weak.

"My treatment... has limited effectiveness for this kind of severe injury..." Han Yingying said, sweat beading on her forehead.

While fighting, Zhou Lang kept an eye on the battlefield. There were still about thirty players left, but they were all in poor condition, surrounded and divided by three butchers and dozens of vengeful spirits. Fighting individually, their casualties were steadily increasing. At this rate, they would be wiped out in no time.

We must break the deadlock!

His gaze returned to the small building in the distance. At the second-floor window, the dark figure still stood there, like a cold statue. The Ghost King watched, but didn't attack immediately. Was it disdain? Or was he waiting for something?

In a flash, Zhou Lang recalled a sentence from the intelligence document: "The Ghost King's weakness: unknown." But there was another line of smaller print that he hadn't paid much attention to at the time: "Suspected of coexisting with the core of the dungeon, the 'Ghost Core,' its range of activity may be limited."

Is its activity area restricted? That's why it's been staying in that building?

A bold, almost insane plan took shape in Zhou Lang's mind.

"Zhao Qiang!" Zhou Lang dodged a vengeful spirit's attack, slashing horizontally with his chainsaw. "Hold them off! I'll try to lure out the Ghost King!"

"Are you crazy?!" Zhao Qiang smashed the vengeful spirit away with his stick, roaring, "How are you going to lure it? Run over and greet it?"

"A chainsaw!" Zhou Lang pointed to the weapon in his hand. "This thing is loud enough; it seems to have a stimulating effect on ghosts! I'll throw it at it!"

The chainsaw was a weapon Zhou Lang had mysteriously bound to; it could be recalled remotely, but its range for attacking from a distance was limited, and recalling it took time. This plan was extremely risky.

"What will we do if you die?" Zhao Qiang said angrily.

"It's better than us all dying here!" Zhou Lang roared back. "Cover me!"

Before Zhao Qiang could object again, Zhou Lang suddenly took a few steps back, raised the chainsaw high, aimed the saw teeth at the second-floor window of the small building, and started it at maximum power!

An ear-piercing shriek echoed throughout the entire factory area! The sound even drowned out the sounds of fighting and burning flames. Some low-level vengeful spirits instinctively covered their ears and their movements became sluggish.

Zhou Lang bulged his arm muscles and, with all his might, hurled the roaring chainsaw toward the window of the small building!

The heavy chainsaw drew an arc, accompanied by a terrifying noise and spinning teeth, as it hurtled straight towards the dark figure!

Just as the chainsaw was about to fly to the window, the shadowy figure that had been standing still moved.

It simply raised one hand.

A "hand" composed entirely of dense black mist, its specific shape indistinct.

hum!

The chainsaw, suspended in mid-air, seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall, abruptly halting! Its spinning teeth cut wildly, only creating ripples on the surface of the black mist. The next moment, the chainsaw was as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, violently deformed! A piercing sound of metal twisting and breaking rang out, sending sparks flying.

Immediately afterwards, the deformed chainsaw was flung by the black mist and whistled back, even faster than when it came!

"Zhou Lang!!" Zhao Qiang's eyes were bloodshot.

Zhou Lang's pupils constricted; he had no time to dodge. The deformed chainsaw fragments, like deadly projectiles, hurtled straight at his face!

Just at this critical moment, a figure suddenly pounced from the side and shoved Zhou Lang away!

It was that silent crossbowman!

puff!puff!puff!

Several sharp metal fragments were deeply embedded in the crossbowman's back. She groaned and rolled to the ground with Zhou Lang.

"You—" Zhou Lang was both shocked and furious.

Blood trickled from the corner of the crossbowman's mouth as he struggled to raise his hand, pointing towards the small building.

Zhou Lang looked in the direction she pointed and saw that the dark figure at the window seemed to have become agitated by the chainsaw's attack and "provocation." The black mist around it began to churn violently, faintly emitting a low, rumbling roar. The entire building began to tremble slightly.

It's coming out?!

But at the same time, the vengeful spirits that had been frantically attacking the players on the battlefield suddenly became slow and sluggish, as if they had lost their commands. Even the three killers stopped their pursuit, shook their heads blankly, and looked in the direction of the small building.

opportunity!

"Now! Concentrate your forces and kill the butchers first!" Zhao Qiang reacted extremely quickly, seizing the moment of hesitation, and roared as he charged toward the nearest butcher. The iron rod whistled through the air as it slammed into the butcher's neck.

The players snapped out of their daze, their survival instincts overriding their fear. They mustered their last strength and lunged at the temporarily disoriented enemies. The crossbowman gritted her teeth, pulling a fragment from her back; blood gushed out, but she didn't even look. She raised her crossbow and, with her last strength, shot an arrow into another killer's eye socket. The programmer, too, went all out, randomly tapping her fingers, interfering with the last killer's actions.

Zhou Lang struggled to his feet, ignoring the crossbowman's injuries, picked up an iron pipe left behind by a player, and charged towards the butcher who was being attacked by Zhao Qiang.

The butcher was forced back by Zhao Qiang's blows, his armor dented, but the three-star monster was incredibly resilient. It roared and swung a claw at Zhao Qiang. Zhao Qiang dodged to the side, but a deep gash was still slashed into his ribs, instantly staining half his body red with blood.