"Hmm?"
Ye Feng looked up at the sky, his brow furrowing.
After the previous barrage of lightning, the dissipating thunderclouds had begun to gather again, and they were noticeably thicker this time.
At that moment, the last ray of the setting sun vanished from the horizon, plunging the world into complete darkness.
Seeing this, members of the five major forces and other exploration teams alike took out their lighting equipment, their expressions wary.
"Crack!~"
Suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning tore across the sky.
After this lightning strike, the dark thunderclouds began to split into two halves along the path the lightning had taken.
At first glance, it truly looked as if the sky had been cleaved apart. Numerous spherical lightning bolts danced, some purple, some pink, some blue, some bright white... kan shu wu . xia
"Whoa... could it be...?"
Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao exchanged a look, each understanding the other's thoughts.
They were about to face the same phenomenon as when they were in the Humvee – a massive swarm of spherical lightning...
"Crack!~ Zzzzz~"
"Boom! Crackle-pop!~"
"Zzzzz~ Zzzzz~! Boom!~"
Following a series of blinding electrical arcs and deafening thunderclaps, countless spherical lightning bolts rained down from the sky...
"Ah!~ Crack!~"
"Run!"
"Ah~~!"
"Idiot, don't run down, there are energy guns and heavy machine guns there..."
...
After landing, the countless spherical lightning bolts of various colors formed "rolling thunder," bouncing and leaping everywhere. Many explorers let out short screams before turning into charcoal.
Of course, some were directly struck by the spherical lightning and died on the spot, or in their panic, fled down the mountain only to be mowed down by Gatling guns...
"Quick, run to the summit!"
"Charge directly into the teleportation gate of the ancient ruins!"
"There are so many teleportation gates, which one should we choose?"
"Don't t-"
The people from the major forces were the most numerous. The other explorers, being slower and further from the summit, actually suffered fewer casualties.
"Careful, the wind blowing from the summit carries wind-element arcane energy attacks, and the water droplets are water-element arcane energy attacks!"
A Jin shouted, conjuring a water wall in front of himself to block the wind blades and water arrows heading towards the Sea Restaurant team.
However, the next second, A Jin dispelled the water wall. It had attracted spherical lightning from all directions...
"Zzzzz~ Crack!~"
"Ah~ Ah!~"
The sound of electricity mingled with the screams of numerous explorers. Due to the previous heavy rain, the entire mountain was damp. Some larger spherical lightning bolts could injure or even electrocute people from a distance.
"No wonder these major forces revealed the news about the ancient ruins and required a certain level of strength for recruits..."
"Only with sufficient strength can they attract and share the defensive firepower at the entrance of the ancient ruins... whether it was the initial heavy machine guns, flamethrowers, incendiary bombs... or the energy guns on the mountainside... or now the wind blades and water arrows..."
Watching the explorers around him constantly screaming and falling, Ye Feng finally understood the true nature of the "helpful" major forces...
"Everyone, don't run around, follow that young man, the lightning will go around him!"
Amidst the chaotic crowd, someone inexplicably shouted.
"Really? Is that true?"
"Which young man?"
"That one!"
"That's right, follow him and that little girl!"
"Charge!"
...
As the words fell, a crowd of explorers, exhausted from dodging the spherical lightning, all surged towards Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao's location. Some were even quite close to the summit.
"Damn it!"
Ye Feng was speechless.
He and Xiao Xiao had deliberately kept a low profile, not even using flashlights, crouching low and using the darkness to advance quickly towards the summit. When spherical lightning approached and was unavoidable, he would secretly use Thunderstruck Wood to deflect it. He hadn't expected to be noticed...
Before long, Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao were very close to the teleportation array at the summit of Water Serpent Mountain, with a large crowd of explorers following behind them.
Because of Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao, the progress speed of this crowd was not much slower than that of the major forces...
"F*ck, that kid is weird!"
"We can't let him enter the teleportation array first!"
"Ye Feng, be careful!"
...
Angry shouts came from the major forces, among them a voice Ye Feng hadn't heard in a while but found quite familiar – Shen Yun Yao.
Ye Feng looked in the direction of the voice and saw a barrage of metal spears and water arrows drawing in spherical lightning, rapidly shooting towards Ye Feng's position, about to strike him and his companions.
Ye Feng pulled Xiao Xiao and leaped away fiercely, simultaneously using Thunderstruck Wood to deflect the fused colossal spherical lightning bolt...
"Sizzle! Ah~! Whoosh!"
"Ah!~ Puff!~"
The explorers who didn't react in time weren't hit by the lightning, but were struck by the metal spears and water arrows, their screams echoing.
"Ye Feng, just pick any teleportation gate!"
Seeing Ye Feng quickly scanning the several teleportation arrays in front of him with a look of hesitation, Shen Yun Yao spoke again.
Before she finished speaking, Shen Yun Yao had already disappeared into one of the teleportation arrays.
Upon seeing this, Ye Feng also pulled Xiao Xiao and jumped into the closest teleportation array...
"Hey, hey, Tu Gou, what are you guys from Arcane City up to? Why bring a traitor!"
Sha Gui of Sandstorm complained unhappily to Tu Gou, who was as round and plump as a Maitreya Buddha.
Tu Gou didn't answer the furious Sha Gui. A trace of surprise flashed across his smiling face before quickly vanishing.
"Hey, Sha Gui, this isn't the time to talk about that. The five of us are enough in this ancient ruin!"
"Deal with all the remaining cannon fodder!"
At this moment, Number 11 from Brad Base spoke in a grim voice.
Hearing this, the explorers who had been hesitating near seven or eight teleportation gates all jumped into the nearest ones.
They knew that although they didn't know where the teleportation gates would send them and the risk was high, staying behind meant certain death...
"F*ck, you bastards, kill these idiots first!"
Sha Gui cursed in exasperation after killing a few explorers.
Because the core members of the other major forces had already chosen a teleportation gate and entered while he was busy killing ordinary explorers...
Unable to help himself, Sha Gui stopped bothering to kill the ordinary explorers and quickly led his Sandstorm members into a teleportation array...
...