“Run, run!”

Inside the running car barrier, unlike Asho, who still had the energy to provoke, Sonia and Diya nervously grabbed Asho’s shoulder in the front row, urging the driver to run, their feet trembling with fear.

They couldn’t afford not to be afraid!

There were at least twenty or so growing snake-scorpion dragons and eight growing thousand-feather bird dragons. They were not ordinary creatures, but large creatures comparable to the two-winged artificers. Each one of them could take on Sonia alone!

Especially the thousand-feather bird dragon, this thing could also move and fly, skilled in long-range attacks in the air, and knew to use the reverse-flow golden rain to conceal its own figure. It was also considered a dangerous enemy that required a lot of attention in the knowledge creature rankings of the Time Continent.

Sonia still remembered the countermeasures for the thousand-feather bird dragon mentioned in “The Complete Guide to the Time Continent”: “Kneel on the ground, stick your butt up, protect your vital points, and curl up as much as possible.”

“In this way, there is a high probability that only the butt will be damaged. Even if you die, you will only lose the soul of your butt. Apart from feeling a bit empty when pooping, it will not affect your real life.”

Because it was a book borrowed from the library, there were many annotations left by senior students. Everyone had a high opinion of this countermeasure, and even shared many tips for sticking out the butt.

Although it looked very funny, Sonia didn’t laugh when she read it, but remembered it seriously. Because these shared annotations were the crystallization of the wisdom of the artificers. If the seniors found that their hard-earned experience was despised and ridiculed by the juniors, they would probably be very happy – artificers who did not respect knowledge deserved to pay a heavy price.

Two-winged artificers couldn’t beat the thousand-feather bird dragon, which was very normal. All artificers had their own strengths and weaknesses, just like how weak artificers could restrain all close combat physical enemies, but were also restrained by long-range enemies who were good at inflicting negative curse attribute damage. Even the most talented and comprehensive artificers would encounter knowledge creatures that they couldn’t solve.

Even legendary artificers would have shortcomings that they couldn’t take care of.

As an artificer, one must have the heart to make up for one’s shortcomings, but at the same time, one must also learn risk management. Even cheating players like Asho and Sonia couldn’t avoid death, let alone others. Diya spent two years before stepping into the Time Continent, not because she was limited by faction realm.

As long as they could reduce the loss of death, let alone sticking out their butts, there would be people who would even stand on their heads to poop.

Death in the virtual realm was just a part of life. No artificer would swear to kill all the fish-dragons because they lost a life, and there was no “Fish-Dragon Protection Association” that would chase after Asho for specifically catching fish-dragons to explode sword art beads.

“The virtual realm is a crazy place, artificers against artificers, artificers against knowledge creatures, knowledge creatures against knowledge creatures. Clearly, all creatures are killing each other inside, but there is no resentment between them. Everyone is greedy for life and afraid of death, but also born from death.” – “Forest Hall, Second Floor, Virtual Realm Library, Famous Quotes”.

That’s why the Sword Girl and the Sorcerer were so afraid.

They were not timid people. Half an hour ago, when they killed the fierce wolf dragon, they were braver than Asho. So they were not afraid of death, but afraid of losing blood!

If they died here, with the snake-scorpion dragons and the thousand-feather bird dragons taking turns, their souls would probably be mostly gone, and their bodies would be paralyzed in reality, and they probably wouldn’t be able to enter the virtual realm again for several months.

Even if they had to die, they had to die far away, and be bitten less by knowledge creatures!

“Don’t panic.”

The roar of the giant monster was already close at hand, and the protective barrier was making a crisp sound. The energy gauge of the barrier was rapidly decreasing, and the danger seemed to be about to crush them all in the next second.

However, Asho felt no fear at all, of course, he was not excited either, just calm as if watching a documentary.

In these two days of battle, he would occasionally enter this strange state of ‘writing homework and getting confused’, which had never happened before. Asho suspected that the feng shui of the Time Continent was not good, and it didn’t agree with him.

But in this special state of observation, Asho could notice many details that he wouldn’t normally pay attention to, and even like a senior shit-eating disciple who had seen thousands of bad movies, he could accurately estimate the next plot action of the enemy.

The battles of the past two days were not so smooth. They were all newcomers who had just entered the new map, and they also needed to coordinate in group battles. Therefore, the Sword Girl and the Sorcerer actually encountered life-threatening crises several times. But because Asho almost always entered this special state at the critical moment, and used the ‘Sword Body Barrier’ to protect them, everyone was able to get through the initial period of coordination without any surprises.

The Sword Girl and the Sorcerer naturally noticed his exquisite operations, but the problem was that they were also full of micro-operations in the battle, so they naturally didn’t pay much attention to Asho’s showy skills. At most, they nodded in appreciation, and even thought that this was the level of an observer; and Asho also thought that this was just an occasional flash of inspiration. He had already passed the age when he would jump up and roar because of a pentakill, so he naturally wouldn’t deliberately show off.

But this time, the flash of inspiration seemed to be a bit long?

“The good show is about to begin.” Asho calmly pressed the virtual operation key, and the running car galloped and danced in place, like a spinning top, crashing into the group of snake-scorpion dragons on the left!

Diya screamed directly, and most of her hair turned red, obviously, Little Red had come to take over the shift; Sonia almost bit her lip, suppressing the panic in her throat, and grabbed the observer’s windbreaker tightly… Huh?

Was it the reflection of the Sorcerer’s hair, or the distortion of the view brought by the rotation, or…

Was the deep red gradient windbreaker of the observer really emitting a breath-like arc of light?

Boom!

The evil blade cut the snake-scorpion dragon in half just right, and the running car used all its strength to grab the ground and spin back, leaving a crescent moon on the tire, perfectly avoiding the arrow rain that followed closely behind, and then roared to crash into the oncoming snake-scorpion dragon army!

Boom! Snap! Boom! Snap!

The remnants of the snake-scorpion dragon crossed over the protective barrier, and the dark red blood sprayed over the running car like watering flowers. But because of the transparent barrier, the blood was solidified in the air. Only when Sonia and Diya looked up, would they see the splendid sight of the blood flowers blooming.But beyond the curtain of blood lay a dense, ink-green poison fog thick enough to obscure all vision!

Thud! Thud!

At this moment, the serpent-dragon hybrids finally caught up with the sports car, their sharp stingers, stone-crushing pincers, and dangerous serpent kisses all striking at once. The barrier emitted a sound of unbearable strain, ready to shatter like an eggshell at any moment!

But just then, a piercing scream echoed from above the cave!

“Chirp—”

The Thousand Feathered Dragon plummeted while screeching, becoming the first victims of the poison fog!

With the tactical objective complete, Asho drove the sports car at breakneck speed, shaking off the serpent-dragons and safely exiting the cave just before the barrier could shatter!

This was their trump card for daring to challenge the Spirit Army—the “Poison Fog Surge” and “Refractive Wall”!

“Refractive Wall · Level 6: The car is enveloped by a wall with 4000 health points, reducing all damage to the wall by 32%.

Level 6 Special Effect: An additional 30% damage reduction from ranged attacks (32+30=62%).

Next level requires 630 Ore Essence, 630 Wood Essence, and 315 Mercury Essence.”

“Poison Gas Surge · Level 4: The exhaust pipe releases a soul-corroding dense toxic fog that obscures vision. Agents inside the car are unaffected by the poison fog.

Next level requires 600 Mercury Essence and 300 Wood Essence.”

To upgrade these two car peripherals, nearly all the resources they had painstakingly accumulated over the past few days were exhausted, but it was worth it—without the Refractive Wall, they would have been turned into targets by the Thousand Feathered Dragons long ago, and without the Poison Gas Surge, they would have had no way to deal with this large group of sentient creatures!

Why was Asho so insistent on taking this gamble? Because he realized that if he missed this chance, he might never get another opportunity to unveil the mysteries of the Spirit Army—the Spirit Army had just entered a cave where spatial abilities were greatly restricted, and he just happened to have the resources to upgrade the wall and poison gas!

Every element was indispensable: it had to be in the cave, there had to be a wall and poison fog, and neither the serpent-dragons nor the Thousand Feathered Dragons had any means to stop their movement. Then everything unfolded just as Asho had planned, fitting together seamlessly like an original, genuine puzzle, creating a miraculous scene.

—They had forcibly trapped the Spirit Army in the cave and poisoned them!

At this moment, Sonia, whether jostled by the car or not, found herself sitting in the front seat, clinging tightly to Asho’s right arm, her eyes wide with shock as she looked at the cave, “Are they, are they all dead?”

“Not yet.” Asho glanced at the Virtual Realm map: “The Thousand Feathered Dragons should all be dead, but half of the serpent-dragons remain.”

“Then let’s run! They’re going to chase us!”

“No, we should trap them in the cave for a decisive battle!”

The witch’s voice sounded like a duet. Asho and Sonia turned their heads to find that she, too, had somehow ended up in the front seat. Fortunately, the car was spacious enough that Asho didn’t feel cramped sitting in the middle.

The witch’s hair was particularly striking at the moment, displaying a gradient of black and blood-red.

Each witch sister had her own unique hair color: the Secret Princess had shiny black, the Black Butler had light purple, the White Queen had pure white, and the Redeemed had blood red… When the hair was a solid color, it meant that a single personality was dominant; when the hair showed multiple distinct colors, it indicated a primary personality with several secondary ones assisting.

However, this gradient was something Asho and Sonia had never seen before.

It looked as if… different pigments had been directly mixed together.

But with the situation being so urgent, no one had the time to ponder over the witch’s latest hair dyeing technology. Asho pressed the virtual button, and the car fiercely gripped the ground as it spun, letting out a heart-wrenching scream, its front aimed once again at the cave.

“We’re not running, nor are we blocking the entrance.”

Buzz!

With a strong thrust, the car charged back into the cave, greeting the serpent-dragons emerging from the entrance with a French kiss!

As the car’s blades split a serpent-dragon in two, the other serpent-dragons in the poison fog quickly retaliated, causing the Refractive Wall, which had been overworked on its first day, to die on the spot!

Crack!

The protective barrier was broken!

Sonia grabbed Asho’s hand while reaching for the hilt of her sword; Diya tensed up, her hands pulling out aquatic threads, seemingly ready to leap out and face the serpent-dragons in a decisive battle.

“Don’t leave the car.”

Asho spoke calmly as the car was about to re-enter the poison fog-filled cave, leaning against the leather backrest and looking to the left.

At the same time, Demilo also drove a serpent-dragon out of the poison fog cave. He tilted his head slightly, locking eyes with Asho.

One side was the calm of pitch-black still water, the other a tranquil lake reflecting myriad scenes.

“The second round begins now.”