Chapter 142: Demon God Pillar · Raid Assault!

With the system's solemn announcement, the previous forced plot-driven defeat—which had stripped players of their control and left them feeling desperate and suffocated—finally receded like the tide.

In its place was the newly unlocked tactical map of the [Grand Temple of Time]!

Against the backdrop of a vast cosmic star map, a grand sandbox constructed from countless dark golden gears and magic circuits appeared on everyone's retinas.

In the very center of the map lurked the massive red dot representing the location of the gathered Demon God Pillar—the [Temple Administration Bureau].

Surrounding the center, four smaller battle zone nodes were distributed like stars arching around the moon.

They were: the [Pseudo-Spirit Vein Tower], the [Magic Supply Pipe], the [Hatred Incubation Furnace], and the [Human Order Foundation Anchor].

The system's prompt rang out once more:

[Current Mode: Endgame Suppression Battle]

[Players may freely create "Assault Rooms" or use the system for random matchmaking.]

[The maximum number of players for each assault team is 20.]

[Please note: The five battle zone nodes possess extremely tight underlying mechanism linkages. If the outer defensive lines collapse, it will deal a devastating blow to the central core battle zone.]

[We wish all Masters good fortune in battle.]

After a brief silence.

The entire Blue Star's "FGO" gaming forums and major websites were like a lit powder keg, instantly exploding in chaos!

"Holy crap! A large-scale tower defense dungeon with 20 people in the same party?! How many tricks does Old Thief Kirito have up his sleeve?!"

"What the hell is a linkage mechanism? Who cares! With our tens of millions of people, we could drown this 30-million-HP Demon God Pillar just by spitting on it!"

"Brothers, start creating rooms! Need people for a main force squad, missing someone with Luxas!"

"Brothers in the group, join my room, password 123. Come quickly to start the raid and get the server-wide first kill!"

At this moment, players across the server were still immersed in the extreme emotion and excitement brought about by the recent "Meteor Shower of the Extreme Heavens." Coupled with the fact that this was a "20-player super-large raid" unprecedented in Blue Star's gaming history, blind confidence and fanatical fighting spirit meant that countless players didn't bother to carefully read the warning about "mechanism linkages" in the system announcement.

Within a mere minute, hundreds of thousands of 20-player assault rooms sprang up like bamboo shoots after a rain, quickly filling to capacity as players shouted "For the Saint" and charged into the various levels.

However... this fanaticism didn't even last ten minutes before it was cruelly torn to shreds by reality.

Five minutes later, the FGO forum homepage was completely submerged in dense posts of wailing and mental breakdowns.

"Help! Is this dungeon bugged?! Why isn't my Cost recovering?!"

The poster wailed in despair: "We formed a 20-person squad and sent 4 people to attack the node called [Pseudo-Spirit Vein Tower]. The monsters there were like a tsunami! We missed just one dog, and all 20 of our team's Cost points froze instantly; they wouldn't go up no matter what! The front line lost its Healer, and the whole team wiped!"

Someone immediately wailed below: "That's nothing! My brothers who went to attack the [Magic Supply Pipe] had it worse! That damn place has a screen-wide poison mist that deals constant damage to Servants every second! The Healer's staff was swung until it smoked, but they still couldn't heal through it, and we were all poisoned to death before we even saw an elite monster!"

"Going to the [Hatred Incubation Furnace] is what you call prison, okay?! It keeps spawning those self-destructing flying insects that inflict stun and silence! Our main DPS just activated their skill, got hit by a bug, stood there stunned and dazed, and were eaten alive by the small monsters!"

"Don't even get me started, we were responsible for dismantling the [Human Order Foundation Anchor]. That damn anchor point was as hard as a turtle shell. If we couldn't dismantle it in the time limit, the Demon God Pillar on the central throne would finish its cast bar and unleash a screen-wide beam cannon! As soon as we said we couldn't dismantle it, the brothers in the central team on voice chat were wiped out, cursing us for being traitors!"

"The most perverted thing is that Boss at the center, the [Temple Administration Bureau]! It has a permanent absolute invincibility shield! Our four Noble Phantasms hit it and it was all 'Immune', then it countered with a defense-ignoring screen-wide beam cannon that wiped out our entire full-health front line! How is this even playable?!"

Half an hour passed. At the top of the map, the total HP bar, which players had originally thought would be quickly whittled away, remained at a glaring [30000000]. It didn't budge. Not a single drop of blood had been lost!

Hundreds of thousands of raiding teams were met with nothing but the cold "Mission Failed" and a screen full of glaring red light signaling the raid's collapse.

...Meanwhile, in PD's livestream. As a veteran who had long been "beaten to death" by Oriole's various hellish mechanics, he did not underestimate the challenge like those brainless players. Watching the miserable scene of wailing across the internet, PD took a deep breath, his expression unusually grave.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of other players, PD didn't rush to create a room, but instead clicked on the [Strategy Guide] dot in the top right corner of the map. He leaned in close to the screen, reading through the level introductions for the five nodes word by word, carefully.

[Pseudo-Spirit Vein Tower: A magic hub built by Caster Servants. When the defensive line fails and monsters invade, all players will be forced into a state where Cost recovery is stopped.]

[Magic Supply Pipe: A highly toxic environment that continuously deals true damage to Servants on the field. Destroying the shield generator in this area can temporarily remove the "Invincibility" state of the core Demon God Pillar.]

[Hatred Incubation Furnace: A high-concentration mental pollution environment. If not cleared in time, it will periodically deploy self-destructing curse insects with "Silence" and "Stun" effects to all nodes. Breaking this node will completely cut off the source of the curse insects.]

[Human Order Foundation Anchor: If this anchor point is not destroyed within the time limit, the core Demon God Pillar will unleash a screen-wide beam cannon dealing extremely high damage. Breaking this node will interrupt the Demon God Pillar's skill casting and apply a short-term 20% "Vulnerability" state to the core Demon God Pillar!]

[Temple Administration Bureau: The location of the Demon God Pillar. In this assault battle, the core Demon God Pillar has a permanent "Invincibility" state and is influenced by the other four mechanism nodes; it is the final target for the assault.]

After reading through the dense descriptions, PD gasped, feeling his scalp tingle. These five nodes were simply interlinked and insane! One move affects the whole situation; if any outer node fails, the central main DPS team will be directly sacrificed along with it!

"This is too perverted..." PD rubbed his face, forcing himself to calm down, his brain racing to figure out how to arrange the troops. He thought for a moment and immediately opened an encrypted room: "Brothers, I'm forming a 20-person assault team with viewers. Password is eight 8s. I need people with brains who will listen to commands! First come, first served!"

As soon as he finished speaking, in less than 0.1 seconds, the originally empty room was instantly full.

------------------------

There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!

The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on NovelPhoenix,

while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.

Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later

[email protected]/Kazenova223

"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"