"Could they... actually be alive?"
"What do we do now? The undead are no match for them!"
"Nonsense! It's not that they aren't a match, it's that Commander Wei is holding back. Look, the stronger undead are retreating. Only the weaker ones are dying—he can just summon more of those."
"Then what's happening? Do we need to intervene?"
"If he hasn't ordered us, don't meddle. I think Commander Wei is trying to save them."
"The vehicles are still there, and they're using gear and professional skills. It's hard to imagine they're truly gone. I hope they're still alive."
"There's a Life Angel on Commander Wei's vehicle. Maybe he really can save them."
Finally, taking advantage of the fact that the Divine Surge could no longer instantly kill his army, Wei Huan managed to snag a "Dancer" out of the vortex.
It was like pulling something out of thick slime. The Dancer was then hoisted onto the backs of a group of waiting undead like a kidnapped bride, rushing toward Wei Huan's vehicle.
It wasn't a long distance, yet it felt like a lifetime. The Dancer had been a beautiful woman with pale skin and a graceful figure; even in a coma, she looked like a priestess of sacred dance. But within that one-kilometer sprint, her hair turned white, wrinkles carved into her face, and her body withered. She aged at a horrifying speed.
Halfway there, she turned into dry bones and vanished into the Challenge World.
Wei Huan ordered the undead to stop. He watched as her remains were swallowed by the world's system, leaving no trace behind. Fear and grief washed over the observers.
They were dead. They had been dead from the start.
The Divine Surge had left no survivors. These "living" bodies were merely marionettes—corpses preserved in a supernatural form of formalin.
General Klitov of Daxia's ally, the Great Bear Nation, spoke up: "I thank Commander Wei for letting Bharosa rest. Even if she falls into eternal darkness, it is better than being a puppet forced to turn a weapon against her own kin. Her soul will thank you."
Mu Zhong gave Klitov a grateful smile. As the former comrades of the deceased, indiscriminate killing would have caused resentment. Wei Huan might not care about his reputation, but as his lover and adjutant, Mu Zhong did.
With Klitov leading the narrative, the other captains quickly fell in line.
"Thank you, merciful Commander Wei, for liberating them."
"May their souls find peace."
"Damned monsters! To kill our brothers and then wear their skins... this is an unforgivable grudge!"
"Commander Wei, let me fight! I see my old friend there; I cannot let his body be a tool for monsters!"
The captain from the Fence Country fired the first shot. Once one started, others followed. When everyone participated in the "mercy killing," the dissent vanished. Mu Zhong was satisfied. To act without a righteous cause is to invite internal peril.
---
With the confirmation that the victims were beyond saving, Wei Huan no longer held back.
His Level 6 undead surged forward. No longer being one-shotted, they utilized their lack of pain, swarming the surge tentacles and tearing the corpses out. Without the surge's constant energy supply, the corpses aged and disintegrated instantly.
Unexpectedly, the Beholder Lords, which Wei Huan had previously overlooked, became the MVPs of the battlefield. He had only upgraded five to Level 6 as backups, but their black eye-beams now carried a hint of "Destructive Power." These beams pierced the Divine Surge like spears through paper, striking the corpses directly.
Against Sequence 3 or 4 corpses, Level 6 damage was devastating. Once the brain of a controlled corpse was destroyed, the surge tentacle seemed to lose its "processor." It couldn't attack, but because it still held a headless body, it couldn't return to its defensive state either. It was a "bug" in the surge's logic.
"Continue! All vehicles, target the corpses without brains!" Wei Huan commanded. He then realized a pattern. "All Sages with Lightning attributes—get to the battle platforms. Focus on the weak points!"
The captains were strangely delighted to be given orders. They worked with newfound vigor, finding purpose in the coordinated chaos of thunder, cannons, and undead.
In no time, the surge tentacles were being thinned out. Even Pandit, whose platinum-tier gear and warrior-class defense made him a "tank," was eventually taken down. It took six direct hits from the Beholders to finally puncture his skull. As he fell, a heavy silence took over the fleet—a silence filled with a simmering rage against the Challenge World.
---
"I have good news," Wei Huan's voice broke the silence over the comms. "Our AI just cracked the energy code of this battlefield. I am sharing the real-time simulation data with you now."
The captains didn't hesitate. They clicked "Accept" on the info-share. After a minute-long loading bar hit 100%, their "blindness" vanished.
Suddenly, they saw it: the massive, twisting vortex nest.
The nausea and vertigo hit them instantly. Some weaker crew members fainted on the spot. It felt like being stared at by an unkillable demon in a nightmare.
"Those with weak willpower, look away," Mu Zhong advised. "But captains, you must adapt. This thing is the true 'Remnant' of this world. It is the master of the giant kelp we saw earlier. It has no treasure chests, meaning we get nothing for killing it. But kill it we must."
The captains were stunned. Only Klitov remained calm, having been briefed by Mu Zhong.
"Our goal is to destroy that nest," Mu Zhong continued. "Let our comrades rest in peace."
The captains agreed instantly. They knew Wei Huan didn't need them as "cannon fodder"—he had plenty of undead for that. They were just happy to be useful.
---
Wei Huan's left eye burned with green flame. "Coordinate with me. Kill any stragglers or tentacles trying to flank us."
"Copy that!"
Ten portals opened outside Wei Huan's vehicle, vomiting a flood of undead. But among them, a tiny, inconspicuous "Bichon Frise" floated out.
This was the Dark Beast Royalty. It didn't actually look like a dog; it was a brain-sized mass of white mist, but Wei Huan had ordered it to shapeshift into a dog because it looked better. The little white dog bounced through the undead, unaffected by the sea pressure or divine aura.
Then, a Beholder Lord at the front began to expand like a balloon.
It grew past the size of the other undead, past a hundred meters, three hundred... until it reached one thousand meters in height. It stood like a mountain of flesh and wings. Its massive eye was webbed with thick, black veins pulsing with viscous blood.
"Is that... the Dark Beast King?" the captains whispered. They saw the undead army huddle beneath the giant eye, their energy flowing into it like rivers into an ocean.
"Buzz!"
A black beam of light, thick enough to pierce the heavens, erupted from the giant eye. It tore through the Divine Surge, piercing the vortex nest straight through the center.
"Swoosh! Buzz! Swoosh!"
The Beholder "turret" didn't stop. It fired relentlessly, blast after blast, turning the nest into a tattered mess. The eye tilted downward, firing deeper into the seabed.
The Divine Surge finally "felt" the pain. The seabed, once calm, began to boil.
Mama Point expanded to a thousand meters, opening a Level 7 energy shield to protect the allied vehicles. Hundreds of surge tentacles carrying corpses—humans, fish, and unknown creatures—erupted from the silt to swarm the giant eye.
"Attack!" Wei Huan shouted. "Kill the controlled hosts first, then the tentacles!"
The battlefield turned into a rain of fire. The corpses being released now were deformed—swollen like plastic dolls filled with too much water. They were stronger, infused with more energy, but they were still being mowed down by the allied fire.
"Keep it up! Don't waste your spiritual power!"
"Kill that one! Don't let him touch the eye!"
Just as the allies began to feel they had the upper hand, the thousand-meter-tall giant eye suddenly popped like a pricked balloon.
"BANG!"
Hearts dropped. 'Did we fail?'