Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

He pushed off the ground with both feet, causing the rocks beneath his feet to shatter with a deafening roar. He charged towards the Rock Core Devourer with unstoppable momentum and a piercing shriek that tore through the air.

Despite their seemingly disparate sizes, the result of their collision defied all logic!

Liu Nian's beast claws, covered in dark red energy, slammed into the head of the Rock Core Devourer, which was said to be indestructible crystallized rock armor, with overwhelming force!

Soul-draining, devastating blow!

Crack—Boom!

The teeth-grinding cracking sound and the muffled explosion rang out almost simultaneously!

-1,679,145!

An even more outrageous damage number exploded!

The massive body of the Rock Core Devourer was like a rock statue being struck head-on by a high-speed train. Starting from its head, its thick rock armor shattered and flew away inch by inch! Cracks instantly spread throughout its entire body, and the ley line energy condensed inside leaked out of control and exploded!

Just one strike!

This level 52 underground behemoth, renowned for its defense and strength, didn't even unleash a single decent skill. In Liu Nian's first appearance as the [Beast Avatar], it was smashed into flying debris and turbulent energy currents with a single claw!

[Defeat the Rockheart Devourer (Lv.52 BOSS) to gain experience points...]

[Hellish curse activated, gained 3 souls...]

[Items Obtained: Leyline Crystal Core x1, Unbreakable Rock Armor Shard (Epic) x4]

Liu Nian, in his berserk form, landed back on the ground, feeling the surging brute force within him slowly subside; the transformation's effects hadn't yet ended. He was quite satisfied with the skill's explosive power and the feeling of pure, overwhelming strength.

For Liu Nian, the following process turned into a complete "check-in" journey.

In the Spiderweb Abyss, facing the hidden Shadow Weaver (Lv.51 BOSS), Liu Nian directly unleashed a basic version of the [Intentional Blast Punch] into the cave, collapsing half of the nest and burying the giant spider hiding inside along with its offspring.

At the edge of the molten fissure, the Molten Core Aberration (Lv.54 BOSS) roared and charged, only to be instantly reduced to dust by Liu Nian's [Unstoppable Force] attack...

Then come the Howling Gargoyle King (Lv.51 BOSS), the Deeppool Lurker (Lv.50 BOSS), the Bone King (Lv.52 BOSS), the Leyline Worm Lord (Lv.55 BOSS)...

After Liu Nian defeated the last boss, he reached level 60 and maxed out Bloodlust (increasing all types of life steal to 35% and mana regeneration to 13%). He then returned to Anvil Outpost, exactly two hours later.

When Wu Zhan, Wang Mu, and the others saw Liu Nian return so quickly, they were still shocked, even though they had expected it.

"The documents are all ready," Liu Nian said succinctly.

"Eight...really all resolved in just two hours?" Sun Yao clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Alright! Then let's wait until before the big battle, or when we reach level 89, and then use it directly!"

The reason it's level 89 is because before completing the Ascension War, players can only reach a maximum level of 99, after which their experience points are locked, and they can't level up any further.

The next morning, a solemn yet excited atmosphere filled the anvil outpost.

With Wu Zhan and Liu Nian at the core, a group of top human experts, including Yun Xiangrong, Wang Mu, Jiang Yi, and Ye Jielina, gathered together, along with elite players of level 60 or above carefully selected from the Longyuan, Longxiang, and Zhanxiong guilds, forming an elite team of 40 people.

Their goal was the secret realm hidden deep beneath the dark pool.

This time, everyone came prepared, jumping into the pool one by one. Reaching the metal gate, Wu Zhan triggered the entrance to the secret realm, and everyone received a system notification:

[Would you like to proceed to the entrance to "The Unfinished Dream"—the Silent Fortress Anaxiasim?]

Of course, no one chose no.

Once selected, the gate opened with a rumble, then, like the throat of a giant whale, it sucked in the water and everyone inside.

Everyone felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, but then a scene appeared before them—a CG animation interspersed with text explaining the background story of the secret realm.

Anaxim means "unfinished dream" in the language of the ancient shamans.

This is a floating city that crashed before it was completed, belonging to the legendary Archmage "The Spellweaver" Arachne.

In her experiments in pursuit of immortality and absolute arcane control, Arachne's body underwent irreversible mutation, gradually merging with her spider-like magical creature to become the half-human, half-spider "Webweaver." An experimental accident caused the floating city's power core to malfunction, and the fortress plummeted from thousands of meters in the air, burying itself deep beneath layers of rock and water.

Due to Arachne's transformation and long-term isolation, the residual arcane energy within the fortress bred various undead creatures, arcane aberrations, and the "Web-weaving servants" left behind by her experiments. However, the large quantities of building materials stored within the fortress, the unused workshops, the mineral sample storage, and the architectural blueprints were thus preserved intact…

After a brief introduction, a light appeared in front of everyone.

Then everyone found themselves standing in a sloping, downward-facing metal tunnel covered with slippery moss and water stains, before a wide-open space opened up before them.

As described in the briefing, they were in a gigantic underground space whose grandeur was beyond imagination.

Above them were the shattered remains of a dome, constructed from some kind of translucent crystal and metal frame. Huge crystal pillars, as large as houses, hung from the cracks, emitting a cold, eerie blue glow that barely illuminated the desolate space.

The ground was sloping and cracked, revealing the blurry outlines of deeper structures below. Huge, broken metal beams and pipes of unknown purpose pierced through the cracks, seemingly telling the story of the devastation of the crash.

The air was filled with dust, mold, and a faint smell of decay, along with... the echoes of countless whispers, fragmented and irritating.

"Everyone, stay alert! Maintain formation!" Wang Mu's voice rang out first in the team channel. He was in charge of managing the heavy-armored warriors in this dungeon raid.

Yun Xiangrong was in charge of the mage team, Ye Jielina was in charge of the DPS team, and the remaining support and scouting classes were under the command of Wu Zhan, who was also the overall commander.

Liu Nian was the only bachelor, not under anyone's jurisdiction, and could wander around as he pleased.

The reconnaissance profession began to spread in all directions.

This is a crashed floating city, basically similar to a city, except that this city, which was cut off by magic and turned upside down, is a three-dimensional city with many layers.

The battle quickly broke out. First, the light spots that were floating in the air, like dust, suddenly gathered and twisted, turning into semi-transparent, blurry-faced shadows wearing tattered robes—Arcane Echoing Ghosts (Lv.60).