"Damn it! What the hell is going on?!"
A chill instantly shot up Jiang Bai's spine.
"Something's gone wrong!"
Sure enough, the moment he saw the stun icon above his head and the system notifications, Jiang Bai finally understood.
"You have been maliciously attacked by player [Yuncheng Zhang Fei]. Entering self-defense mode.""You have been struck by [Kidney Strike] and are now stunned for 5 seconds…"
Right after, a rogue emerged from thin air with a smug grin plastered across his face, staring at Jiang Bai.
But that wasn't the scariest part. What truly sent a chill through Jiang Bai was the sight of dozens of rogues simultaneously entering stealth, surrounding him from all sides.
"They're trying to keep him stunned to death!"
The rogue skill Kidney Strike was overpowered because the stun wouldn't end unless the player was attacked from outside sources — meaning, without interference, the stun would last its full duration.
It was clearly a setup. As soon as the rogues launched their attack on Jiang Bai, the main tanks from the Yuncheng and Xiaoyao guilds had simultaneously charged the boss, skill-spamming like mad to pull aggro off him.
"F**k you all!!!"
Rage surged through Jiang Bai, but there was nothing he could do while stunned.
"Yuncheng Emperor! Didn't you agree to Peace Mode during the event?!"
Though stunned, Jiang Bai could still speak in chat.
"Hahaha…"
The Yuncheng Emperor laughed gleefully. "What are you, the Jade Emperor's dumbest errand boy? You really believed that crap? You thought I'd just let you snatch the boss for free?"
"Players like you, with zero brain but high damage, are just laborers for me. That's all. Hahaha…"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng appeared beside him, shrugging smugly at Jiang Bai with a face full of gloating.
"Kid, don't blame us. Blame yourself for not knowing your place."
From beginning to end, Xiaoyao Qingfeng's gaze never left the bow in Jiang Bai's hands — a greed he could no longer hide.
"If you hadn't been such a show-off earlier and just joined our guild and handed over the boss, maybe we'd have given you a taste of the loot…"
"But now? We'll keep you alive just long enough to watch us kill the boss. When the event ends, we'll rally both our guilds to kill you on the spot. You think you're hot stuff? Let's see you act tough then! Hahaha…"
Jiang Bai glared at the two but said nothing more — anything he said now was pointless.
Every time the stun duration was about to end, another rogue would step up to refresh the crowd control. With over a dozen rogues rotating, skill cooldowns were no issue.
The sudden betrayal stunned everyone outside the two major guilds. As Jiang Bai was being locked down, the battlefield's situation took a sharp turn.
The Yuncheng and Xiaoyao guild members who had just been targeting the boss suddenly turned their skills toward other players — instantly wiping out a massive chunk of lone players and smaller guilds already hanging by a thread.
That's when the truth was exposed: these two guilds had been plotting all along.
"Yuncheng Emperor, screw your whole family!!!"
"MLGB! These two guilds are scum!"
"Fk, fk fk fk!!!"
"Xiaoyao Guild has always been shady, but this… Your whole guild deserves to rot!"
A lone player who had barely survived this long — ranking in the top 60 of the damage chart — was just moments from victory, only to be backstabbed by supposed allies.
The rage and frustration were indescribable.
And this was happening everywhere across the battlefield.
Within moments, all the scattered players started cursing.
Even the players from Xingchen Guild weren't spared — already low on strength, they were now reduced to a few dozen survivors.
The more the others cursed, the more the two major guilds seemed to enjoy it.
"Keep cursing! Go on!" Yuncheng Emperor sneered like a true villain. "I love watching you losers rage helplessly. Hahahaha…"
As for the boss, it was now firmly controlled by over a hundred knights from the two guilds, backed by two to three times as many healers furiously restoring their health.
"Yuncheng Emperor, Xiaoyao Qingfeng — once this event is over, Xingchen will declare guild war on you both. This won't end until one of us is wiped off the map!!!"
Xingchen Zuowan roared to the sky, though he knew there was no turning the tide.
"Do it! Go ahead!" Yuncheng Emperor scoffed. "Let's see how your puny little Xingchen deals with Yuncheng and Xiaoyao combined!"
"You two guilds are insane!"
"Because of this mess, our progress has dropped — 101 has overtaken us again!"
Hearing that, a flicker of panic crossed Yuncheng Emperor and Xiaoyao Qingfeng's faces. They stopped wasting time and immediately turned their attention back to the boss.
At this point, only a few hundred players remained on the battlefield — nearly all from the two main guilds. The rest, mostly Xingchen players, continued to resist but couldn't make a dent.
As for Jiang Bai — just like Xiaoyao Qingfeng said — they couldn't kill him, so they just kept him permanently stunned. When the event ended, thousands from their guilds would swarm him — even ten Jiang Bais wouldn't survive that.
Meanwhile, the boss was down to its final 10,000 HP, but those remaining few hundred players, after subtracting the healers, could only deal around 500 DPS — meaning the boss's health was dropping at a snail's pace.
Their progress, 33856, was stuck about 0.2% behind Team 101.
Now the boss had only 5,000 HP left.
"Damn it!"
Seeing they couldn't catch up, Xiaoyao Qingfeng stomped in frustration. "That damn 101 — looks like we won't overtake them."
"Doesn't matter," Yuncheng Emperor replied indifferently. "What's 1 point of free attribute difference? The loot's what matters, bro."
As the boss dropped below 5,000 HP, silence fell over the entire newbie village.
Even the angry, cursing players quieted down, transfixed by the boss. Even if they knew the loot wouldn't be theirs, curiosity still gripped them.
This was a siege boss, after all — one brought down by tens of thousands of players! The loot drops would be legendary.
4,000…
3,000…
The final phase grew even more agonizing as player numbers continued to dwindle.
Over on 101's side, their boss was now below 2,000 HP.
2,500…
The moment the boss dropped below 2,000 HP—
Everyone held their breath, eyes locked on the boss, waiting for that moment it would fall.
Tens of thousands of players in the newbie zone had their hearts in their throats.
Even the rogues guarding Jiang Bai momentarily lost focus.
Yuncheng Emperor and Xiaoyao Qingfeng were practically trembling with excitement, eyes bloodshot like starved beasts.
And just then — at the most critical moment.
In the sunlight, three arrows shimmered with icy blue light.
They flew soundlessly from within the crowd.
"Whooooosh—"
The arrows spun at high speed, releasing a mournful howl in the wind.
With breathtaking arcs, they cut through the air—
—and landed squarely in the right eye of the boss, Zul'Gareth the Butcher!