The moment the fireball struck, a man with deep-set eyes and a hooked nose retracted his staff, closed his eyes, and sat down.

In his estimation, his strike had been decisive; the petty tasks of "clearing the battlefield" and "delivering the killing blow" should not concern someone as noble as himself.

Yet, at that precise moment, the Vulture Chariot still shot out from the inferno! Though the attack had annihilated its propulsion system, leaving little more than a scorched skeleton barely recognizable beneath the blackened coating, sheer inertia carried it hurtling forward, slamming into the enemy ranks with blinding speed.

Then, the Vulture Chariot was torn to shreds!! Not by external assault, but by the ferocious power brewing within!! It was a sound like a thunderclap; everyone felt the metallic frame twist once before immediately shattering with a cacophony of cracks! In that instant, time seemed to slow to a crawl, allowing one to clearly witness the steel skeleton warping along its grain, the chassis and skin wrinkling, cracking, fragmenting, and flying apart.

A shard even scraped a bloody line across Fang Senyan’s cheek, beads of crimson instantly scattering into the air, atomizing bit by bit before falling to the ground… And Fang Senyan burst forth from the wreckage, tucking in his abdomen, and landing softly.

His feet bent slightly upon impact, muscles taut and contracting; his black hair, which had been swept back, fell swiftly as his momentum ceased, clinging to his forehead strand by strand.

Fang Senyan’s eyes, seemingly ablaze, looked down directly into Yaning'an’s face in a moment of serene, focused confrontation! Fang Senyan only took one deep breath after landing, but within the span of that single inhalation, at least four individuals struck him simultaneously! The attacks from these four people erupted against Fang Senyan in intensely violent, splattering explosions.

Had it been anyone else—even Aldaris, whose durability was legendary even post-transformation—they would have been critically wounded! But they struck Fang Senyan! This almost singular warrior, lacking a shield yet possessing strength no less formidable than any main tank! Though their combined assault was powerful, it ultimately only managed to conjure a few geysers of blood from Fang Senyan.

His health bar dropped by less than half, nowhere near debilitating him.

The remaining foes prepared to press their attack, only to see Fang Senyan’s feet suddenly plunge downward into the road surface, sinking up to his ankles, while an eerie, shocking sound of tearing silk echoed from all directions.

Centering on his feet, terrifying fissures erupted, spreading outward in all directions.

These cracks resembled dense, myriad root systems, seemingly stretching toward an infinite distance.

As if imbued with life, these fissures automatically sought out the nearest living creatures, wrapping around them ferociously.

It could be seen that as the cracks spread, all Contractors touched by them froze instantly, and their skin even began to sprout roughness resembling tree bark.

While this situation bore some resemblance to petrification, a more precise term would be petrification via woodification! This rapidly spreading woodification effect forced the attacks of several people aimed at Fang Senyan to stop dead, and in fact, they suffered backlash.

Yaning'an was naturally among those being woodified.

He frantically tried to dispel the status effects, but these attempts were merely treating the symptoms.

The woodification persisted, relentless, much like blood dripping incessantly from a wound; even if the ground were immediately wiped clean with a fresh cloth, the next second would find it soaked anew.

Fang Senyan suddenly emitted a terrifying roar from his throat—a sound utterly unlike his own, thin, enraged, filled with wild defiance, gore, and madness.

Immediately following, a spectral silhouette materialized behind him.

It unmistakably resembled the Solar Ladder, but upon closer inspection, the trunk was laced with ghastly white war-patterns, the branches bore red stripes, and inexplicably, it radiated an overwhelming, unprecedented sense of power! Then, metal surged across Fang Senyan’s palm—it was the Lich’s Phylactery transforming into the demonic sword Apophis—which he plunged directly into Yaning'an’s abdomen! Grievously wounded in a vital spot, Yaning’an shrieked, but he remained utterly immobile.

Fang Senyan then suddenly exerted force, tossing him skyward; yet, this seemingly casual toss was accompanied by the phantom tentacles of several Solar Ladders whipping down viciously to lash Yaning'an’s body! Simultaneously, a series of booming explosions erupted beneath Fang Senyan’s feet! In that instant, Yaning'an was hurled at least seventy to eighty meters into the air.

Fang Senyan, who had remained standing, instantly vanished from his position, reappearing directly before the descending Yaning'an, his right hand raised high.

One could see a layer of silver metal writhing eerily on Fang Senyan’s right hand—the Lich’s Phylactery reshaping itself into a gauntlet suitable for this strike.

Fang Senyan’s right hand swung down sharply, gripping Yaning'an’s throat.

The two became one in that moment, like a colossal beast roaring at the heavens.

Then, they transformed into a single meteor streaking across the firmament, trailing fire and unparalleled velocity, flying diagonally across the sky to slam violently into a structure four or five hundred meters distant.

A grey-black, ring-shaped shockwave instantly erupted.

The targeted building collapsed immediately upon impact, while nearby structures and environments instantly withered and decayed, as if they had been submerged in a fetid swamp for a thousand years! This was the new ability derived after the Solar Ladder devoured the Scroll of the Cretan Head unsealed by the Pandora’s Box! A brand-new skill combining the Devourer Beast with a tailor-made S-rank ability! Withering Impact… Advanced Ability: Withering Impact This was an extraordinarily terrifying capability.

The formidable might of the Solar Ladder merged with the mysteries of the Cretan God, forging this astonishing power.

First, this ability would instantaneously utilize the Cretan God’s understanding of world mysteries to scatter the roots of the Solar Ladder within a one-hundred-square-meter radius around the caster, forcibly binding and woodifying all hostile creatures for a duration of three seconds, dealing 3% of maximum health damage per second.

During the woodification process, the caster could attack any target without interrupting their status.

During the woodification phase, the Solar Ladder would accumulate power, launching the enemy high into the air—this was a targeted attack based on analyzing the enemy's weaknesses, thus inflicting astonishing damage.

The specific damage calculation was: 10% of the enemy's maximum health (capped at 10,000 points) + 2% of the caster's maximum health.

No enemy could be immune to the damage inflicted by the Solar Ladder at this stage, meaning this ability dealt true damage to all foes.

Concurrently, the Solar Ladder would instantaneously teleport the caster to the enemy’s side.

Upon physical contact, the positive energy carried by the caster would react with the negative energy on the enemy, generating a terrifying impact comet that hammered the ground, much like the creation of lightning.

The caster would then have one second to designate a target location within a two-square-kilometer area below.

Upon selection, the impact comet would strike the target zone, inflicting (500 + 33% of the enemy’s maximum health) in true area-of-effect damage.

Areas closer to the impact core would suffer more intense damage, and the resulting shockwave upon ground strike would inflict a Weakness debuff on all affected enemies, reducing both Attack Power and Movement Speed by 33% for 30 seconds.

Since all Contractors possess the Nightmare Space enhancement, the structural analysis process for Withering Impact would be extended to 600 seconds.

Therefore, if you use the Devourer Beast to attack an enemy, the cooldown period would be six hundred seconds.

Each casting of Withering Impact would consume Merit Points and Potential Points.

Evaluation: If an enemy manages to get close to you, they are in serious trouble.

Watching the horrifying pillar of grey mushroom cloud rising in the distance, slowly expanding, everyone was stunned into silence.

The towering, grand structure of the Divine Race, already fragmented and leaning precariously, swayed a few more times before crashing down in ruin, kicking up dust and smoke so thick it nearly obscured the sky! Moments later, a sturdy silhouette slowly emerged from the withering haze, walking with a stable, deliberate stride.

His expression appeared utterly detached and calm, and in his hand, he carried something resembling a severed head! Something crimson was still slowly dripping from it.

A wave of panic-inducing collapse notifications echoed from the opposing team: "Your team's Vice-Leader, Yaning'an, has died.

Please designate his successor immediately… How is this possible?!" "Yaning'an had three thousand health points, seventy-eight defense, and he didn't even use his Honor Potion, not to mention possessing that freakishly effective Golden Apple that instantly restores health.

How could he possibly die?! How did he die?" "That guy’s weapon is bugged! I saw a red light flashing on his weapon, it seemed to be transforming!" "Did Ronnie make a move?" "If he just charges at us next time, what do we do?" "Mission time—ten more minutes have elapsed!" RQ