After two consecutive failed attempts at brainwashing and manipulation, the Heart of the Ancient God finally understood: these four weren't here to listen to its empty promises.
Negotiations had broken down, leaving only one option: flip the table.
The magnificent aura on the crystal heart's surface rapidly dimmed, and the dark red hue beneath it churned violently like boiling water.
Its contraction frequency instantly accelerated, resembling a war drum being frantically beaten.
The muffled "thump-thump" sounds drilled directly into their ears, carrying an eerie resonance that made their blood boil.
"You refuse the wine and choose the punishment! Stubborn insects!"
The furious voice completely tore off its elegant disguise, transforming into a piercing high-frequency sound wave that echoed wildly in the void.
"Since you reject my gift, then open your eyes wide and behold this eternal solitude! Feel the... wrath of an Ancient God!"
The most top-tier mental pressure, mixed with the negative emotions it had accumulated for nearly ten thousand years, materialized into a storm that swept down upon the four of them, covering heaven and earth.
This was mental pollution enough to drive an adult insane in a second, turning them into a distinguished patient at Arkham Asylum on the spot.
However, just as the storm reached the four of them...
A sharp gold, a blazing red, a clear azure, a deep ink.
The divine light of four colors, representing the ultimate resistance bestowed by the White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, and Black Tortoise, the Celestial Gods of the Four Directions, directly wove a Wall of Sighs around their bodies.
When the Heart of the Ancient God's mental pollution slammed into this barrier, it was like a limp lump of cotton hitting a titanium alloy door.
Far from causing even a ripple, it vanished on the spot without a sound.
[Ancient God Shadow Dungeon Rule Two: Punishment of the Seven Sins full immunity active. You have resisted the mental assimilation of "Ancient God's Wrath."]
"Yawn—"
In the center of the storm capable of destroying any mortal's sanity, Lin Qingyue spoiled the mood by stretching lazily.
She rubbed her tear-filled eyes, her face a picture of utter disdain: "That's it? This is all you've got to show me?"
"I thought it would be more powerful. This mental pressure is less than what I felt when I pulled three all-nighters on my final term paper, only to find out it had a 98% plagiarism rate."
Beside her, Xia Lian only shrugged slightly.
With a blank expression, she touched her cheek and leaned closer to Su Wan's ear, muttering softly: "Did... did a breeze just pick up? My face feels a little cool."
Su Wan maintained her usual aloof and elegant posture.
But if you looked closer, the Young Mistress's lips were twitching wildly, clearly holding back a laugh to the point of internal injury. "Maybe this shitty place hasn't had ventilation in tens of thousands of years, and the exhaust fan suddenly short-circuited."
Lin Xiyue, at the very front of the party, was even more unhinged.
She threw her arms wide open, even closing her eyes contentedly:
"Ooh, not bad. This 'Wrath' brand air conditioner has plenty of wind! I was sweating all over running across the map just now, and now a nice breeze, so refreshing!"
The Heart of the Ancient God's ultimate killing move, which it prided itself on, was forced to perform like a clumsy kindergarten magic show before these four mortals with their unconventional style.
The processing logic of the Crystal Heart was probably completely crashed.
This completely ignored the basic laws! As long as it was a living creature, how could it be immune to its emotional manipulation?!
"Alright, since your opening act is over, time to reciprocate. It's our turn to show off our talents."
Lin Qingyue shook her shoulders, the smile on her face both kind and dangerous: "Girls, get to work!"
She raised her staff high, her voice suddenly rising, her employee spirit burning fiercely at this moment:
"For the sake of going back early to have the celebration feast! For the sake of letting the two big brothers outside the door retire smoothly! And even more so for Big Sister Black Tortoise's long-dreamt-of paid annual leave!"
"Tear it down!!"
Before her voice even faded, Lin Xiyue had already lowered her center of gravity and unleashed [Shield Charge].
The Knight girl transformed into a heavy-duty cruise missile, charging head-on at the Crystal Heart in mid-air with an unstoppable and arrogant aura.
Sensing a fatal physical threat, several spheres of light emerged from the surface of the Heart of the Ancient God's crystal, and dozens of highly concentrated black-and-red beams slashed out in a crosshatch pattern, attempting to mincemeat the insect into shredded flesh.
"Too slow! This startup animation is more sluggish than an old grandpa doing Tai Chi in the neighborhood!"
Lin Xiyue pressed forward instead of retreating, her Libram [Mountain's Resilience]'s Gravity Rune operating at full power.
She gripped [Blackstone's Protection] tightly with both hands, and in the milliseconds before the beams could touch her body, she completed an extremely standard side-swinging strike.
[Golden Parry]!
The shield traced a golden arc of light.
Those beams, which could melt even steel, were forcibly deflected and refracted the instant they touched the Magic Circle!
Without losing a shred of force, and even gaining a slight acceleration, they slashed viciously back onto the Heart of the Ancient God's own skull, leaving several ghastly white gouges on the spot.
"Defense broken, defense broken! This guy's shell isn't that hard!"
Lin Xiyue reported the battle status with loud exclamations.
"Roger. Physical strike confirmed effective, switching to magic firepower coverage."
Su Wan floated in mid-air, the hem of her deep-blue Mage robe already condensing layers of ice crystals.
She arrogantly drained the surrounding elements, and a super-compressed Greatsword of Ice materialized out of thin air.
[Karula's Greatsword]!
Without a single superfluous special effect, it was all solid mass and extreme freezing cold.
The Greatsword chopped down, aimed precisely at the gouges Lin Xiyue had carved.
The bone-chilling cold poured viciously into the cracks, and the red-and-black energy flowing inside the crystal visibly stuttered.
From a blind spot, Xia Lian's figure appeared like a ghost.
[Karula's Greatbow] condensed in her hand.
There was no aiming process; muscle memory and intuition took over the firing system.
"Whoosh—"
The magic arrow traced a tricky parabola, plunging with absolute precision through the frost-covered crack into the deepest part of the crystal.
A dull explosion erupted inside the crystal, and large chunks of the crystalline structure broke off, revealing the even more intense core light beneath.
The incredibly smooth progress of the battle made the four of them feel a hint of unreality.
"No way... It's about to go down already?"
Lin Xiyue planted her great shield on the ground, her face a picture of mixed emotions.
"I didn't even activate my [Shield of Divinity], didn't even set up a shield wall, and I haven't even finished my warm-up exercises!"
"Its energy resistance is outrageously low."
Su Wan descended back to the ground, dismissing the Greatsword, her tone also tinged with deep confusion.
"Aside from using Basic Attacks to shoot beams of light and dealing mental chip damage, it's completely a brainless training dummy."
Xia Lian stowed her greatbow, her face flushing slightly as she complained, "This feel... it's not even as durable as the Mantisfolk from before."
"Probably because it's been shut-in for ten thousand years without moving, so it's got osteoporosis and a missing brainstem."
Lin Qingyue's voice drifted over leisurely.
She had stood in the same spot from beginning to end without moving, simply watching her teammates' performance with composed leisure.
Only now did she unhurriedly lift her staff, [Beloved].
"Since everyone's in a hurry to get off work, I'll help the boss pull the network cable."
Holding the staff horizontally across her chest, Lin Qingyue lightly stroked its body with her left hand.
A soft yet blindingly bright sphere of golden Holy Light compressed wildly in her palm, instantly elongating into a Judgment javelin forged of pure sunlight.
"Sunlight Spear."
As if casually throwing a crumpled ball of paper, she threw the golden spear without a ripple of emotion.
Silent, traceless, yet so fast it defied physical common sense.
It didn't even bother taking the crack-covered path, heading straight for the most violent energy core at the very center of the crystal.
The Heart of the Ancient God shrank frantically, seemingly trying to stack all its shields in front of the core to save its life.
But, it was too late.
Pshh.
A faint, almost inaudible sound.
Like a red-hot iron skewer piercing a grilled sausage, the Sunlight Spear ignored the layers upon layers of resistance shields and sank effortlessly into the core.
The air fell silent for a second.
"Noooo!!!"
A shrill, venomous, and utterly incredulous scream erupted, piercing straight through the eardrums.
The crystal heart, as large as a villa, erupted from its core with a ten-thousand-foot burst of golden light!
Spiderweb-like golden cracks instantly devoured its entire body, looking exactly like a cheap glass ball about to shatter.
"BOOM!!!"
With a deafening roar that threatened to burst their eardrums, the Heart of the Ancient God, which had floated for an eternity, simply exploded into a sky-filling firework display!
Countless black and red fragments didn't even get the chance to hit the ground; they were completely vaporized in the erupting Holy Light, without even half an ounce of ash remaining.
The violent energy shockwave swept through the entire cavern, only to be completely blocked by the golden shield wall Lin Xiyue had casually thrown up.
As the light faded.
The air was empty.
That combination of evil and beauty, the final BOSS that called itself an Ancient God, was just... gone?
Lin Xiyue withdrew the shield wall, and she, Su Wan, and Xia Lian exchanged glances, all three faces wearing the exact same expression: Who am I? Where am I? Where did that big black ball go?
"Did we... win?"
Lin Xiyue scratched the back of her head, her voice filled with uncertainty. "Is it... over just like that?"
"One-shot?"
Su Wan pressed a hand to her forehead. "Qingyue, when did your 'Sunlight Spear' get such a high instant-death proc?"
"I feel like... my intelligence is being insulted..."
Xia Lian's small face flushed red. After a long pause, she spoke the thoughts they all shared.
What was this?
What happened to the epic final battle? What happened to the fate of the world?
This difficulty was lower than the Mantisfolk Broodmother!
The four of them had braced themselves, ready to fight a world-shakingly fierce battle, only to find the enemy was a glass vase that shattered at a single touch?
A profound sense of emptiness and absurdity enveloped them all.
Lin Qingyue rested her staff on her shoulder, staring at the empty air where not even a speck of dust remained, and fell into deep self-doubt.
She knew her "Sunlight Spear" countered evil creatures, but she never expected it to be this effective.
Is... it really over?