Chapter 128: The True Challenge of the Second Phase

The scene immediately cut to the most desperate stage, H7-4.

The crowd-control-immune Tiamat awakened, and black mud filled the sky.

As the Boss raised her head high, preparing to unleash the world-destroying, forced full-screen instant-kill ultimate skill, [Nega-Genesis], everyone in the live stream broke into a cold sweat.

"There's no invincibility; this wave cannot be dodged! It's certain death!"

But White Night's gaze remained as steady as a mountain.

"Chaos Labyrinthos——!"

The Berserker Asterios roared at the sky, and the massive phantom of the labyrinth instantly enveloped Tiamat's enormous body.

[Tiamat's attack power has decreased significantly!]

"Strategist's Advice!"

Immediately after, [Zhuge Liang] waved his feather fan, and Mash slammed her great shield down in the very front.

"Boom——!!!"

Tiamat's full-screen sound wave swept across the entire tactical sandbox without any blind spots, and the light engulfed all of White Night's Servants.

However... when the light faded.

"-0!"

"-0!"

"-0!"

A row of unbelievable damage numbers floated above the heads of those squishy one-star and two-star Servants.

Everyone, completely unscathed!

Under the attack power reduction and defense stacking of multiple Servants, the Mother Goddess of Creation's world-ending strike was forcefully reduced to a breeze that couldn't even kill a mosquito!

Ten minutes later, accompanied by constant chip damage from poison and basic attacks, Tiamat's HP bar was completely emptied.

Two [Abyss Etched Badges (Plated Version)], symbolizing the highest honor, shone brilliantly in the center of the screen.

In White Night's live stream, the viewers were completely stunned.

After a full ten seconds, an unprecedented, tsunami-like torrent of comments erupted on the screen:

"Everyone stand up!!!"

"Type 'awesome' in the chat!!!"

"Airdropping a single unit to dodge a nuke! The Berserker's labyrinth preventing the field wipe! This tactic is simply god-tier!"

"So this is the true way to play a tower defense game! There are no useless cards, only Masters who don't use their brains when encountering a first-time kill!"

"I'm convinced, I'm truly convinced." PD slumped in his chair, looking at White Night's operations and then back at his own recording where he had wiped out due to spamming skills, his chubby face turning bright red.

White Night let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Looking at the screen full of "worship the Master," he revealed a tired yet proud smile into the microphone:

"Actually, being able to clear it isn't just my own credit; it also wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of several experts in planning the rotation."

"I announce that, from today on, the [Atlas Academy] is officially established. No matter how difficult the stages Old Thief Kirito dares to release, we will dare to plan the most extreme rotations!"

At this moment, the players were completely boiling over. [Atlas Academy] became legendary in one battle, and this also marked the complete maturity of the hardcore ecosystem of "FGO".

After White Night's video was released, for the entire next week, the ecosystem of "FGO" experienced an unprecedented explosion.

Players across the entire network were completely inspired by this kind of "intelligence-crushing" operation and no longer blindly pursued high-star tanking.

On the official forum, all sorts of diverse and imaginative clear guides sprang up like bamboo shoots after a rain.

Some persistent players developed the "Jeanne d'Arc + Tamamo-no-Mae + Mash" absolute defense "bladder-bursting style," relying on invincibility and healing to forcefully wear down Tiamat for two hours;

There were also big spenders who, based on White Night's sacrifice style, researched an even more violent "Arash relay suicide + Jeanne d'Arc nuke speed-run style."

The entire game community turned into a large-scale tower defense academic seminar, with scenes of carnival everywhere, such as copying each other's homework and "borrowing max-level support thighs."

As for the super whale PD, after experiencing the initial shattering of his Dao heart, he also swallowed his pride and found a "nanny-level" guide on the forum titled "Designed for the Clumsy: A High-Fault-Tolerance Buster Card Rotation Tutorial."

Relying on this guide, which specified the timing of every skill activation down to the second, and the extremely high fault tolerance brought by his own max-NP lineup that was the best in the entire server, PD died time and time again in the live stream. After retrying over a dozen times, he finally, in a flurry of panic, luckily survived Tiamat's final ultimate skill.

When that [Abyss Etched Badge (Plated Version)], shimmering with a brilliant platinum luster, was hung on his personal profile, PD laughed in the live stream like a two-hundred-pound fat man. The frustration of the past few days was swept away, and his arrogant demeanor occupied the high ground once again:

"Did you see that, brothers! I told you Old Thief Kirito's stages couldn't stop me! As long as you memorize the rotation a little, didn't this etched badge obediently end up in my hands!"

"However..."

PD looked at his hands, which were trembling slightly from being tense for a long time, and rubbed his sore wrists with a bitter smile.

"Copying this homework is so exhausting. Although I cleared it, for players like us who don't like memorizing patterns and aren't smart enough, having to die hundreds of times to figure out the rotation and memorize the patterns for every high-difficulty stage—who can handle this?"

"If only there were a powerful support who didn't need to do any complex airdrop sacrifices or attack reduction calculations, and could just directly give the whole team [Group Invincibility] to tank the full-screen ultimate skill, letting me comfortably deal damage through pure stats—how great that would be..."

Watching PD looking like he wanted to cry but couldn't after being tortured, the live stream comments also echoed with deep empathy, even following his words to start a wild "daydreaming" session:

"How is just invincibility enough? If it could also come with some buffing power, provide some group attack power bonuses, and preferably include some group NP charging, that would be even better!"

"The person above is still too conservative! Since we're dreaming, why not think bigger! If it could also provide the core DPS with a Buster performance buff and critical damage buff, directly elevating the Buster team to the truth, that would be a true god-tier support!"

"Right, right, right! It would be best if it were a positional Noble Phantasm that provides continuous healing, NP regeneration, and critical stars! As long as they are on the field, the DPS can just close their eyes and brainlessly spam Buster Noble Phantasms to steamroll!"

"You guys are dreaming!"

PD looked at the screen full of comments and scolded with a laugh, "Group invincibility, group charge, attack buffs, and it can buff Buster critical damage and provide continuous healing? How could a deranged dog designer like Old Thief Kirito ever design such an all-powerful stat-stick wheelchair with no weaknesses?!"

"If there really were such a wheelchair, I'd eat this keyboard on the spot, okay?!"

Amidst the banter between PD and the comments, the one-week countdown reached zero.

The next second, all "FGO" players across the server, whether they were ordinary players complaining about being clumsy or the Atlas Academy that had just become legendary in one battle, suddenly saw red and black warning lines like caution tape drawn across their holographic windows!

The entire Chaldea operation UI dimmed in an instant, and a brand-new interface, woven from countless precise and ancient magic circuits and huge gears, slowly opened in the center of the screen like a cold, giant single eye.

[System Announcement: "Alaya - Pruning Protocol (Origin Season)" has officially started!]

[Simulation Scenario Setting: When Proper Human History encounters an unpredictable major threat, the world's defense mechanism—the Counter Force (Alaya)—will simulate intervention.]

[Masters of Chaldea, in this mode, the system will fully simulate "the world's own rejection and trial of you." Please prove with your strength that you possess the qualifications to not be pruned and to overcome this dead end.]

[Mode Description: This is a limited-time, extremely high-difficulty event. Players must face the simulated intervention of Proper Human History, can freely combine and select "Counter Force Intervention Affixes" (Pruning Conditions) to impose restrictions on themselves, and significantly increase enemy strength.]

[Event Rewards: Massive amounts of QP, rare materials, and the symbol of the pinnacle—the Pruning Etched Badge!]

Looking at the dense, devil-contract-like "Counter Force Intervention Affixes" displayed on the interface, as well as the impossible-to-refuse limited-edition etched badge reward, the smiles on the faces of PD and the others, who were just feeling smug about clearing the H-stage by copying homework, instantly froze.

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