"You two guilds still call yourselves human? This is a crucial event, and every single brother in 33856 is putting their life on the line to push progress. But you bastards from those two guilds are playing your little selfish games—trying to snatch the last hit and maximize your damage rankings while slacking off the whole time! Not putting in the work, just trying to reap the rewards!"
"You even secretly targeted our Star guild members. I tolerated all that. But now, when we're trailing behind, you're still dragging your feet? If I weren't so tied up right now, I'd chop the two of you cowards into pieces!"
Star's Left Bank's furious outburst instantly won over the support of the rest of the players. Following his lead, many independent players started hurling abuse as well.
"Exactly! Damn it, I knew those two guilds were shady from the start. Brothers, forget this—why should we let ourselves be used as tools? I'd rather fail this boss than be taken advantage of like this!"
"Damn right! I've had enough. They think we're idiots? I'm out! Let's leave these two dumbass guilds to play their own little game."
In an instant, the mood of passive resistance spread like wildfire. Carefree Breeze and Emperor of Cloud City were suddenly thrown into panic.
The two exchanged glances before Carefree Breeze quickly tried to smooth things over. "Come on, guys, don't be like this. Our Cloud City and Carefree guilds have been trying our best too. Look, we're down to just over 3,000 players each. Please, don't give up on us!"
"Heh." Star's Left Bank let out a cold laugh. "And we in Star Guild are down to fewer than 500. Look at who's died in your guilds, and who's still standing. Do you really think everyone here is blind?"
Those words made Emperor of Cloud City and Carefree Breeze flush with embarrassment. Knowing they were in the wrong, they stopped arguing.
Instead, they exchanged another look, then shouted passionately, "Brothers! The boss is almost dead. We can't let all our efforts go to waste now. We from Cloud City and Carefree are ready to give it everything we've got! Let's go all in!"
Honestly, there was little real passion in their words—but seeing the main forces of the two guilds finally throwing themselves into the fight, the rest of the players begrudgingly resumed fighting.
In the end, no one truly wanted to give up.
"Heh… Thought you could hog the rewards? Not that easy."
Jiang Bai's gaze swept across Carefree Breeze and Emperor of Cloud City, his lips curling into a cold smirk.
As Newbie Zone #101 entered its final phase, more and more zones began catching up as well.
In less than two minutes, the top 30 slots on the progress leaderboard were completely filled—and #33856 was not among them.
This, despite them entering the second phase relatively early. The gap in progress was largely due to the passive slacking of the two major guilds: Carefree and Cloud City.
But now that their elite teams were in action, efficiency clearly improved.
On the damage rankings, Jiang Bai still stood far ahead with over 40,000 damage, while second place had just broken 3,000.
As for Emperor of Cloud City and Carefree Breeze, now that they were going all out, their rankings were quickly climbing.
At last, true unity temporarily returned to Zone #33856.
At this point, Zone #027—the last on the progress leaderboard—had their boss down to 27% HP, while Jiang Bai's team had caught up to 28%.
When they hit 25%, Zone #33856 finally made it into the top 30.
"Let's go, brothers! We made the leaderboard—holy shit!"
The entire zone erupted in excitement.
From there, #33856 surged past one newbie zone after another.
By the time the boss was pushed to 20% HP, they had already climbed into the top 20.
And everyone knew—the biggest contributor was Jiang Bai, without a doubt.
His 50,000+ damage output was equivalent to the work of 5,000 average players. He was the cornerstone of their comeback.
Of course, he couldn't have dealt that much damage alone through normal means. But his strength lay in the percentage-based [Sever] ability. Though it only had a 1% trigger rate, each proc dealt 5,000 damage. Who could survive that?
The max-HP slicing mechanic was practically a god-slaying skill.
At 15% boss HP, Zone #33856 broke into the top 10!
Now, the gap between them and first place—Zone #101—was only 2.4%.
When the boss had only 100,000 HP left, #33856 had climbed to fifth place! And their gap with #101 had narrowed to just 1.3%.
But by this point, fewer than 5,000 players were still alive in #33856!
There was no question: this underdog zone's astonishing climb was drawing global attention.
While everyone was guessing about #101's identity, #101 was also investigating #33856.
Zone #101.
Dragonflame-1: "What's going on with #33856? How are they catching up so fast?"
Dragonflame-2: "We've found out. That's the zone where 'EmptyCityOldDream' is."
Dragonflame-1 paused, then said, "Check that guy's total personal damage."
Back at #33856…
"Brothers! Just 10% left—we're almost there!"
"Who the hell is carrying #101? They're insane. And we've got EmptyCityOldDream on our side!"
What they didn't know was that #101 was home to China's most elite national team. Of course they were strong.
"9%..."
"8%..."
The battle was reaching its climax. At this point, players worldwide were watching the boss HP and progress leaderboards with bated breath.
"6%..."
Zone #33856 had climbed to second place, trailing #101 by only 0.8%!
Dragonflame-1: "All units, full assault! We cannot lose first place!"
"5%..."
"4%..."
"3%..."
With just 30,000 HP left, #33856 finally caught up to #101. The two zones were now trading places at the top.
The competition was fierce beyond belief!
"Holy crap… What kind of monster is in #33856? They're keeping pace with #101?!"
"Must be a top-tier pro…"
"I heard 'EmptyCityOldDream' is in #33856. Dude's insane—his personal damage is already over 80,000!"
"Holy shit!!! You mean he dealt 8% of the boss's health all by himself?"
In other zones, players who knew the inside story of #101 stared solemnly at the top two leaderboard spots, deep in thought.
"2%!!!"
The gap between #33856 and #101 was razor-thin, with the lead constantly shifting. Clearly, #101 had hidden trump cards as well—otherwise, they would've been overtaken by now.
"Brothers! BROTHERS!! The boss is almost dead! We've got to take first place! We must take first!"
"This is way too intense! Just way too damn intense!"
Some players felt like their hearts were going to leap out of their chests.
All of #33856's players had gone red-eyed with adrenaline. Tens of thousands of fallen comrades were now silently watching the screen, breath held, eyes locked on the ever-changing battlefield.
The whole world's gaze had converged on these two fiercely competitive zones.
Who would take the crown?
"1%!!!"
"Final 10,000 HP!"
#33856 and #101 entered the last 1% stage almost simultaneously.
Jiang Bai was trembling with excitement. Eyes locked on the boss, he glanced at his fully-cooled-down ultimate—Explosive Shot. He licked his lips in anticipation, waiting for the perfect moment.
But just as he was about to make his final move—
Jiang Bai suddenly realized… he couldn't move!