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

"Clang clang clang clang..."

A sickening metallic scraping sound echoed without warning in the fourth-floor library.

Wu Zhan, who was engrossed in studying the diary, suddenly looked up, his pupils shrinking: "What was that sound?"

The sound seemed to come from all directions, yet it also seemed to originate from the depths of the library's structure itself—not a single sound source, but rather the entire space groaning and trembling.

Everyone heard it.

Yelena was struggling to drag a heavy tome bound by magical chains from the bottom of a giant bookshelf.

The chain initially made only a slight creaking sound, but as she exerted force, it seemed to stretch endlessly, and the friction sound amplified, becoming sharp and piercing.

"Holy crap! Xiao Ye, stop pulling!"

Wu Zhan's expression changed drastically, and he roared like thunder: "That's the sound of a mechanism being triggered! Can't you see that, you damn woman?!"

But it was too late.

"Click—"

A crisp click of the mechanism snapping shut was like the Grim Reaper pulling the trigger.

Immediately afterwards—

"Boom boom boom boom boom!!!"

The entire fourth floor of the library erupted in a deafening roar!

It wasn't an explosion, but rather a symphony played by gears, levers, and magical nexus when some ancient and massive mechanical structure was awakened.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, the oak floor beneath their feet began to tilt, the bookshelves on the walls toppled inward like dominoes, the crystal chandelier on the ceiling swayed wildly, and the entire space began to flip!

Every wall, every floor, and every inch of the ceiling in the library began to rotate, flip, and recombine in ways that defied the laws of physics!

"Hold on! Grab onto anything fixed!!" Wu Zhan's roar was drowned out by the deafening sound of metal twisting.

The bookshelves collapsed like a landslide, and thousands of ancient books and scrolls poured out like a torrential rain.

The crystal plate storing knowledge fell from a great height and shattered into magical light fragments upon hitting the ground.

Those exquisite miniature city models, star-rotating instruments, and elemental constructs all became deadly projectiles, flying around in the swirling space.

ten seconds.

The world spun for a full ten seconds.

Everyone felt as if they had been thrown into a giant's blender, with their internal organs about to be flung out of their bodies.

Some people clung desperately to the toppled bookshelf pillar, while others used weapons to pierce the cracks in the wall. Yelena even used magical chains to wrap herself around the central pillar—but the pillar itself was also moving!

Then, everything came to a sudden stop.

The direction of gravity is reversed in an instant.

"Aaaaaah—!"

Amidst gasps of alarm, everyone plummeted from their original "walls" or "ceilings" into a completely unfamiliar territory.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dull thuds of flesh hitting the hard ground rang out one after another, accompanied by several cries of pain.

Fortunately, those present were all battle-hardened elites. Although they were in a sorry state, they adjusted their posture the moment they landed, and when they got up, their weapons were already in their hands, and their defensive formation took shape in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, no one died.

But everyone's breath caught in their throats after they saw their surroundings clearly.

This is a space that is completely different from any other floor of the library.

It is cylindrical, with a diameter of no more than fifty meters, but the dome is soaring, extending upwards for nearly a hundred meters, as if you were inside an inverted giant tower.

The surrounding walls were not made of stone or wood, but of a special material that was warm and smooth like jade and semi-transparent. Inside, there was a flow of energy like liquid light traces surging and rotating—that was the form of highly compressed magic materialized.

Each stream of energy emanated a heart-pounding fluctuation; they originated from every corner of the wall, flowing like rivers into the sea, all converging towards the very center of the ground.

There, suspended in mid-air, is a complex device.

Metal and crystal are intricately nested and interlocked to form a spherical structure with a diameter of over ten meters.

Hundreds of magical runes slowly rotated around it, drawing a sliver of light from the energy flow of the walls with each rotation. At the very core of the device was a pale blue energy sphere bound by multiple force fields.

It is constantly collapsing, expanding, and then collapsing again.

Each pulse creates visible ripples in the air around the device, sending waves of powerful energy crashing against everyone's nerves.

But what's even more unsettling than the device itself is the figure standing in front of it.

Tall and thin, he wore a tattered yet still recognizable black robe, its silver embroidery faded and peeling away, but the remaining magical patterns on the cuffs and collar still shimmered faintly.

He held a staff made entirely of solidified bones, its body crystal clear, with a ball of ghostly blue soul fire sealed inside, the flame flickering slowly like a cold heart.

With his back to everyone, he tilted his head slightly, facing the energy sphere, his posture as devout as a pilgrim, yet as lonely as a tomb keeper.

The arrival of the intruders shattered the long-standing peace.

The figure turned around very slowly.

The first thing that catches the eye is that stark white skull face, completely devoid of any flesh.

The bones were not pale, but rather gleamed with a cold, icy sheen, and every crevice was clearly visible.

The dark eye sockets were bottomless, with only two points of eerie blue soul fire burning calmly within them.

His jaw opened and closed, without vocal cord vibration, but a cold, hollow voice rang directly in the ears of every intruder:

"The disturber of dreams..."

There was no anger or murderous intent in his voice, only indifference.

"You shouldn't have come here."

The next second, a scarlet system notification flashed wildly in everyone's sight:

[WARNING: Encounter with the final boss of the secret realm!]

[Guardian Lich - Kel'Gardros (Lv.70) Legendary]

……

This is definitely not the city lord Arachne recorded in the diary, but should be one of Arachne's important subordinates.

"This is the legacy of the dream weavers, the cornerstone of eternity..."

The lich slowly raised his ice crystal staff, and the soulfire at the tip of the staff suddenly blazed fiercely.

"How dare you mortals defile this place?"

Without chanting or magic circles, the ultimate ice magic began to gather, compress, and undergo a qualitative change at the tip of the staff.

Moisture in the air instantly condenses into billions of ice crystals, and the temperature drops below freezing with each breath, turning everyone's exhalation into white mist.

"Tanks, get into position! Ranged DPS, spread out! Healers, keep an eye on the raid's health!" Wu Zhan's shout echoed in the team chat.

Wang Mu, Zhang Hanshan, and three other heavily armored warriors almost simultaneously unleashed their battle cries—[Iron Will], [Immovable as a Mountain], [Barrier Protection]—multiple defensive auras stacked together, and they launched a group charge like a mobile fortress, raising their shields!

The five formed a fan-shaped encirclement, their shields glowing with anti-magic runes, their footsteps thundering as they aimed to establish aggro in the first wave of contact and create space for ranged attacks.

But Kelgadross simply tapped his staff lightly on the ground.

The movements were light and effortless, as if brushing away dust.

"Ants."

There was a chilling pity in that voice of the soul.

"Sleep forever in eternal silence."