At that moment, Fang Senyan had a fleeting impulse to knock Yu Ze out with a single shot, but he immediately restrained it, choosing to wait and see how things developed.

Then, the ball of lightning in Yu Ze's hand rapidly grew from small to large, hurled with immense force towards Makiji... followed by a sharp ssshhh-la explosion! As the lightning danced wildly, it formed a pale yellow, expanding electric net that writhed in the air, inflicting continuous damage.

Reef, gritting his teeth and struggling, desperately tried to move forward to help, but under the sustained mental attack, he was truly struggling on the ground, finding it hard to even move a step!

Simultaneously, Riel shot straight towards Makiji, stopping five or six meters behind him. He suddenly sank onto one knee and plunged a dagger deep into the soil. Makiji let out a long, agonizing scream. When Riel withdrew the blade, clear traces of blood were visible. Although five or six thick roots immediately shot up from beneath the ground, whipping violently towards Riel's body, there was no doubt that these long tendrils struck only an illusion once more.

In barely two or three seconds, Riel reappeared behind the flesh-and-vine-transformed Makiji. His dagger began to be enveloped in an indescribable flame, stabbing continuously towards Makiji’s joints: hands, elbows, shoulders, and knees. Then, leaping high, Riel crossed his hands in the air, carving a massive fiery cross, and dove down like an eagle-vulture, piercing directly through Makiji’s body during the impact.

Fiery Cross: Judgment!

This was followed by a series of intensely violent explosions, accompanied by thick smoke, flames, and a pungent, choking smell. Amidst Makiji’s desperate cries, the earth beneath his feet erupted wildly, and his limbs—arms and legs—began to burn and sever one segment at a time. As he screamed and lost balance, tumbling downward, Riel had already quietly crouched beside him, his silver dagger, shimmering with a cold light, held aloft, waiting expectantly for Makiji’s neck to meet the keen edge before delivering a sharp slice...!

“Damn it... If only my strongest child hadn't been killed...”

This was the last sentence Makiji uttered after his head separated from his body; it was also his... final testament.

A transparent card, glowing red like carnelian agate, fell from his body, immediately capturing everyone’s attention. Riel snatched it up and couldn’t help but burst into laughter:

“Hahahaha! It’s actually the extremely rare Crimson Card dropped by a Colonizer! Thank God, today is truly my lucky day! First, I discover the skull of the Phantom Overlord Wyvern, and now I’ve obtained such a vast and rich treasure!”

Suddenly, Yu Ze’s voice, clearly fatigued, sounded again, this time laced with considerable displeasure:

“Riel, I need to correct a mistake in your words. This is our wealth, our luck! Otherwise, I wouldn't mind telling Zeus everything about how this went down!”

Riel let out a dry laugh:

“Oh, my dear partner, please forgive my transgression. We have always been one entity, haven't we?”

Yu Ze said in a hoarse voice:

“Stop the damn nonsense and quickly finish off Reef... Reef! Gold and the Korean are currently entangled by the flesh-vines. Until this disgusting plant withers, they can’t cause us any trouble. I can’t maintain this powerful electromagnetic interference state for much longer. Why does this cursed space never let me draw the scenario to enter the X-Men world? If it did, my ability could be perfectly honed there!”

Then, Fang Senyan watched with his own eyes as Reef’s hazy and distorted silhouette struggled alone! He desperately tried to roll and crawl towards Reef to offer assistance, but even though the battlefield was only about twenty meters away, Fang Senyan felt as if he had crawled a whole mile, and the distance remained unchanged!

He slowly began to understand: it wasn't that Reef was too far away; it was that under this intense electromagnetic interference, the enemy could perfectly mislead him with stronger illusions, making him feel like he was moving forward when, in reality, he might just be circling the same spot! This phenomenon, akin to being caught in a maze or 'ghost trapping,' sounded mysterious, but it wasn't entirely unusual.

However, both Riel and Yu Ze had to admit that Reef's resilience exceeded their imagination! Riel’s offensive power was already quite formidable; dual-wielding daggers, his theoretical base physical attack bonus reached over 100 points.

For a Dexterity Contract Holder dual-wielding weapons, this was already a remarkable figure, considering that every successful physical attack immediately counted as two hits based on this number... Because they used twin daggers, a successful strike caused two instances of physical damage. If both hits critically struck or triggered special effects (like, say, Crushing), the burst damage would be nothing short of heaven-defying.

But everything has its pros and cons. When facing someone with Reef’s high defense and massive health pool, Riel’s 100 points first had to pass through a 40% rule reduction, lowering the physical damage to only 60 points. Furthermore, Reef’s defense had already surpassed the 30-point mark... meaning over 50% damage reduction! Calculating this way, Riel's damage output was at least reduced to only around 30 points.

And this was at least because the damage calculation still needed to factor in Reef’s ability, Armor of Conviction: upon use, it instantly generated a powerful mental energy armor on the skin, possessing 100 health points and 10 defense, lasting 300 seconds. Upon destruction, it would restore 100 health to the owner over ten seconds.

Thus, despite Riel launching frantic attacks, against the aptly named hard, unyielding 'Reef,' the impact was negligible. Even factoring in that the two daggers were Silver-tier items of plot significance, and that the illusions often allowed him to strike from Reef’s blind spot, negating Reef’s highly effective Block chance!

Of course, as a Dexterity Contract Holder, Riel undoubtedly possessed a high critical hit rate. Yet, Reef also had the Muscle Man ability, suppressing his critical hit chance by 10%! Added to this were Reef’s frequently activated passive ability, Brutish, causing a 3-second area-of-effect slow, and his Heart-Wrenching area attack, which also often managed to land hits. The potent slowing effects left Riel equally frustrated.

Consequently, in fighting Reef, Riel had to retreat periodically to use medications and bandages to recover... But thanks to his illusionary cover, Reef couldn't pinpoint his true location, thus preventing interruption. However, for Reef, utilizing medication and bandages to recover was absolutely impossible under attack.

This pattern of hitting and retreating continued for a full five minutes! Riel finally managed to drain Reef’s MP meter completely... Reef, having intended to hold out until the very end, expended the Armor of Conviction to empty his MP, only to then unleash the team skill: Radiant Heal, pulling his health back up by 50%!

At this point, could the wide-eyed Riel possibly retreat? No choice but to grit his teeth and press on. Reef continued to maneuver around him, but... just as Reef was about to enter the critical near-death state, his body flashed with light. It was clearly the sign of him using another Honor Potion: Potassium-Selenium High-Protein Injector!!! Instantly, his MP was refilled to maximum!

In that instant, Riel felt his vision darken, almost wanting to weep with frustration. If the news about the Phantom Overlord Wyvern's remains and skull hadn't been so crucial, if Yu Ze hadn't already deployed his last, invaluable, threshold-breaking Awakening Skill! If the enemy hadn't truly been at their breaking point! Riel genuinely didn't want to fight anymore... He would rather shamefully retreat than endure this agonizing humiliation any longer.

At this time, Yu Ze had undoubtedly also used the Honor Potion with an extremely long cooldown, the Potassium-Selenium High-Protein Injector, restoring his own MP to full. Otherwise, with the immense power of his illusions, his mental energy expenditure would have been severe, making it impossible to sustain until this point.

Time swiftly passed. Riel, having rested and recovered N times, finally welcomed the long-awaited dawn. His silver dagger sliced a streak of light through the air, kissing Reef’s throat. Finally... finally, he pushed the man before him, a being more hardened and imposing than actual stone, into a severely wounded state.

Reef, this man of iron, finally slumped, plunging his glowing sword into the ground, kneeling heavily onto one knee... The last time such a scene occurred was amidst the swarm of a hundred thousand insects: Reef, abandoned by his comrades, sorrowfully and helplessly crying out against fate, his heart filled with despair!

But now, when he clearly held the absolute advantage! Riel saw in the eyes of this opponent he believed he had defeated a deep sense of mockery and derision. Reef couldn't help but silently utter a phrase in his heart:

“Having teammates is great. Having trump cards is great!”

Looking at Reef’s gaze, a chill ran down Riel’s spine. Reef was certainly no fool, and precisely because of that, the smile in his eyes seemed terrifying to Riel. Without hesitation, Riel crossed his twin daggers and fiercely stabbed down toward Reef’s neck!!!

“Why can’t... I stab through?” Riel stared at the faint silver halo that suddenly materialized around Reef’s neck, his emotions a jumble of shock and fury. He stabbed four more times in disbelief, but the halo pulsed in response each time, seemingly substantial yet impossibly managing to absorb all of Riel’s attacks perfectly.