Shadow Cloak couldn't be cast, and Zhou Yebai couldn't easily set up a ghost array. Ghost arrays weren't instant skills; they were casting skills that required a cast bar. Such blatant casting would definitely be interrupted.

Since he couldn't openly cast the ghost array, his Baiye Heizhou (White Night Black Day) stepped forward boldly. Seeing the plan disrupted, he quickly slashed with a Guizhan (Ghost Slash).

Ghost Swordsmen weren't limited to just using ghost arrays for support; they also had some offensive skills. Guizhan, although a low-level skill, dealt considerable straight-line damage. However, its recovery was very slow, leaving a massive opening. But Zhou Yebai had calculated the distance, figuring he had enough time to recover before boldly launching the attack.

Many Ghost Swordsman skills naturally had dark attributes, Guizhan being one of them, which matched the atmosphere of the Graveyard. The dark purple sword light struck down like lightning, carrying a palpable sense of killing intent, and its momentum was extraordinary.

Unfortunately, the position where Baiye Heizhou emerged faced the right side of the five-person cross formation, occupied by Jun Moxiao.

As Guizhan descended, Jun Moxiao suddenly opened his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. Without any unnecessary changes, this time it was very simple; the umbrella was just an umbrella.

Zhou Yebai was stunned.

In his eyes, this form and usage couldn't possibly be an umbrella; it was clearly a shield.

Besides enhancing defense and absorbing damage, shields were crucial for resisting knockdown, knockback, stagger, float, bleed, stun, and various other status effects. Of course, this was only if you blocked the opponent's attack with the shield.

So, from this perspective, apart from attribute data, the size of the shield was an important indicator affecting its effectiveness. But a large area meant a large volume, and a large volume meant a high weight. High weight led to high load, and the load was related to movement speed, attack speed, jump height, and so on. Therefore, balancing this was crucial. Shields were already extremely heavy equipment, and each increase in size significantly increased the weight. Simply pursuing a large shield while becoming as slow as a tortoise was definitely not feasible.

At this moment, when Jun Moxiao opened his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, Zhou Yebai felt the shield was almost shamelessly large.

His Baiye Heizhou's Guizhan ultimately struck the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, and he noticed that Jun Moxiao was pushed back slightly.

Guizhan had a slight knockback effect, but it wasn't very strong. An ordinary level 25 shield could completely negate this knockback. However, Jun Moxiao's shield, although it didn't knock him into the air, did produce a knockback effect. Zhou Yebai saw this and immediately knew that although the shield had a large area, its weight was too light, resulting in extremely poor resistance.

This type of light shield had poor resistance and extremely low durability. Shields consumed durability very quickly, unlike any other equipment. Seeing that Jun Moxiao's shield was so light that it couldn't even completely resist the knockback effect of Guizhan, Zhou Yebai estimated that if a Knight MT were to use this shield, it might not even last through a single dungeon.

Zhou Yebai's judgment was accurate. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's shield form weighed only 2.3 kilograms and had a durability of only 23, which was an insignificant number for a shield. However, its basic attributes weren't bad. The level 25 Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's shield form had a 24% defense enhancement and a 16% damage absorption, equivalent to a level 35 purple shield.

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's shield form had reached level 25 attributes earlier after two upgrades with "Powerful Spider Silk" and "White Wolf Hair."

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella blocked the Guizhan, but some damage was still taken. However, after taking the hit, the umbrella surface immediately contracted forward, giving the feeling that some of the Guizhan's sword light was being sucked into the umbrella tip. This forward contraction quickly transformed it into a spear, which directly stabbed toward Baiye Heizhou.

Even though Zhou Yebai was a professional player, this transformation was completely unexpected. As a result, his calculated recovery time for Guizhan was insufficient. He was still striking a pose when Jun Moxiao thrust his spear and stabbed him.

Tang Rou's Han Yanrou also launched her attack at this moment, resembling Yunxiao from the beginning, also carrying seven ice Chixuan Wen (Magic Array Threads) on her back. However, Xiao Yun's Yunxiao tragically failed to hit Jun Moxiao for thirty seconds, and the ice Chixuan Wen disappeared one by one. Now, Han Yanrou charged forward and took advantage of the small stagger caused by Jun Moxiao's Dragon Tooth. She also followed with a Dragon Tooth, launching the ice Chixuan Wen. The staggered Baiye Heizhou couldn't dodge at all and was hit in the face by the ice Chixuan Wen, immediately being covered in ice and entering a slowed state.

Zhou Yebai certainly wasn't a match for Ye Xiu alone, let alone when teamed up with Tang Rou. Ye Xiu controlled the situation while Tang Rou focused on output, causing Baiye Heizhou's health to drain like water. Ghost Swordsmen weren't high-defense classes; they wore cloth armor, making them as weak as mages.

Seven ice Chixuan Wen flew towards Baiye Heizhou like a string of pearls. Chixuan Wen automatically tracked their targets, making it impossible to avoid unless they were knocked away with an attack. Zhou Yebai frantically tried to defend, but only managed to knock down two of the seven ice Chixuan Wen. The other five hit him directly. Fortunately, Chixuan Wen dealt magic damage, and while Ghost Swordsmen had cloth physical defense, their magic defense was on par with mages.

Tian Qi, Yue Zhongmian, and Baozi Invasion charged forward at Ye Xiu's command. Ye Xiu's Jun Moxiao dodged to the side and used a Yuang Wu Gun (Circle Swing) to grab Baiye Heizhou, throwing him to the ground. Yue Zhongmian immediately jumped into Jun Moxiao's original position, and their coordination seemed a bit rough. But when Baiye Heizhou stood up, he found himself in the middle of the five-person cross formation, surrounded and attacked by four people.

All of this happened in an instant. Gao Yingjie quickly controlled Ye Luo Wuti to fly over on his broom, but Ye Xiu's Jun Moxiao had already blocked the way.

Jun Moxiao scattered Qusan Fen (Dispersion Powder), and then leisurely walked through, holding the Qianji Umbrella as if it were a real umbrella. After blocking the Qusan Fen, he retracted the umbrella, catching Ye Luo Wuti, who was passing overhead. Gao Yingjie reacted quickly but was still caught. Then, with another Yuang Wu Gun, he threw Ye Luo Wuti into the center of the cross formation, where he was being beaten back-to-back with Baiye Heizhou.

Liu Fei's Fallen Angel was finally hoping for support from her teammates. But before she could even stand up from behind the tombstone, Zhou Yebai and Gao Zhijie were being fished into the circle one after another. Liu Fei realized the danger and suddenly noticed Jun Moxiao's figure flicker. Just as she panicked, she was hit by a Luohua Zhang (Falling Flower Palm) from behind, sending Fallen Angel flying. At the same time, Han Yanrou thrust her spear and impaled her into the circle as well.

It would have been impossible for Tang Rou and the others to trap three professional players like this on their own, but with Ye Xiu's command and his personal involvement after completing his task, the three of them were truly on the verge of tears.

Professional players? At this moment, none of them felt like it.

Whether it was Zhou Yebai and Liu Fei, who had regular competition experience, or Gao Yingjie, the talented future star, all of them were like small fish caught in a net. Fists, bricks, swords, spears, guns—they had everything.

All three were looking for an opportunity to break out and were even shouting and reminding each other, regardless of their status. But somehow, the opponent always seemed to anticipate their intentions and preemptively countered their moves. The three of them were completely exasperated.

Zhou Yebai's Baiye Heizhou had the lowest defense of the three characters and was the first to be beaten, so he was the first to die. Zhou Yebai slammed his keyboard in anger. His gaze shifted, and he suddenly remembered something, angrily shouting, "Yi Fan, where the hell are you?!"

The forgotten Qiao Yifan's Grey Moon had been standing blankly on the side the entire time. His teammates hadn't called him to cooperate, so the opponents hadn't bothered with him. Seeing even Gao Yingjie easily scooped into the circle, Qiao Yifan didn't know what else he could do. Hearing Zhou Yebai's roar, he charged forward mindlessly, regardless of his abilities. The result was, naturally, tragic. His skill was the worst of the four, and he was no match for Ye Xiu. After blocking a few moves, he was thrown into the circle by Jun Moxiao in a panic, taking Zhou Yebai's place.

Zhou Yebai helplessly slumped back into his chair. He was just venting his frustration by yelling at Qiao Yifan. He wouldn't actually expect anything from that kid, especially since he had already died when he yelled.

Even Yunxiao, who was originally heading in this direction, stopped. Xiao Yun stared blankly at his teammates' screens, silently watching them being killed one by one.

Total annihilation...

Although there were differences in order, the fact remained that all five had died once. The five sat in front of their screens, each looking at their own corpse, feeling somewhat lost.

Jun Moxiao and the others were still circling around. They must be saying something, but corpses automatically had their sound cut off. They couldn't hear any voices or sound effects, only a deathly silence, just like their current mood.

"This..." Xiao Yun felt that his own mistake could be excused, but now, after the other four had been completely wiped out, it was hard to explain. Although they were just reserve players for the club, two of whom hadn't even had any official competition experience, they were still professional players. Five of them could represent the club in a team competition. But now, in the game, in a team battle, they had been completely wiped out while the opponent hadn't lost a single member. Even in a professional league, they probably wouldn't have lost so badly.

"It's annoying! This level 27 Sharpshooter is missing so many skills, I'm not used to it!" Liu Fei was the first to speak, a wise woman who preemptively found an excuse.

"Yeah, a little..." Zhou Yebai reluctantly borrowed the excuse.

"I told you so," Xiao Yun's face clearly said, "You finally understand."

Gao Yingjie and Qiao Yifan didn't say anything. Gao Yingjie was an honest and introverted kid who was too embarrassed to find such an excuse. As for Qiao Yifan, find face-saving excuses? He smiled bitterly. What was face? He didn't seem to have had any yet!
Chapter 41