Reef stumbled back, his gritted teeth beginning to leak blood. With every retreating step, the ground beneath him seemed to explode, blasting up great clouds of yellow sand and rock fragments. The surface of his dark-gold shield was now engulfed in raging flames, visibly dented, and even displaying distinct cracks!

This was the price Reef paid for single-handedly enduring the full-force assault launched by eight attackers!

The enemy ambush wasn't precisely executed, but their targeting was venomous. It began with a woman aiming a shot directly at the Orcish laborers Fang Senyan's team was escorting. If those fragile workers died, Fang Senyan's mission would fail instantly.

Moreover, the woman deliberately paused before firing, for a simpler reason: her shot was aimed at their most critical vulnerability, the exact spot the MT would be compelled to defend. She calculated that the enemy’s Main Tank would absolutely have to save the laborers.

Indeed, Reef did exactly that, raising his shield to block the still-unaware Orcish workers. However, before the bullet could strike Reef, it detonated, forming a vast, sticky net of fibrous slime that instantly bound Reef in place!

This was the first phase of their plan. Tanks rarely boasted high Agility, and once restrained, evasion became nearly impossible.

Therefore, the second phase of their plan was deployed!

The four strongest damage dealers on their team, combined with five powerhouses borrowed from three other teams, focused their combined firepower entirely on Reef! Among them were individuals wielding Bloodied Weapons, capable of drastically reducing healing effectiveness. This concentrated force intended to shatter the enemy at their strongest point! They aimed to instantly kill even the opposing MT; doing so, they believed, would crush the morale of the remaining foes, turning the ensuing fight into a thorough rout.

The planner of this scheme was clearly no fool. His design was intricate, every thread linked, cleverly exploiting psychological weaknesses. In his estimation, this plan was foolproof, incapable of error.

And based on this very plan, they had already annihilated one other team, tasting significant success.

But… but!!

The outcome defied the plan. The combined strike of the nine powerhouses failed to eliminate the Main Tank wielding the dark-gold shield! More shockingly, he showed no signs of being near death or resorting to emergency stims!!!

“This…!!” With their plan shattered, the ambushers fell into brief panic. They failed to realize they were facing a freakishly resilient Dual-MT setup. The moment Fang Senyan detected their intention to execute a brutal, instant kill on Reef, he sneered and slapped on a survival skill: Aegis of the Survivor’s Mark. Coupled with Reef’s own Divine Grace Aura, which could instantly boost his health by 1500 points!

“Naive… you got lucky once, killing a low-grade MT, and now you think you can conquer all with one trick? You actually tried to one-shot our Reef?”

Reef, already an MT with extraordinarily high defense, had Fang Senyan secretly using his survival skill to share the incoming damage. To an observer, it appeared as if he had terrifyingly absorbed the nine-man joint assault, merely staggering back a few steps seemingly unharmed.

Even more terrifying was Reef’s instantaneous counterattack. His entire form was obscured behind the dark-gold shield, but he thrust out his right hand! The Nightmare Mark on his chest flared brilliantly, manifesting an exquisite Tower Shield of the Cross.

As the others looked on in confusion, a crystal-clear illusion materialized around Reef’s right palm: a massive, broad hand clad in golden Paladin armor that grasped empty air. Instantly, one of the contractors who struck first screamed piercingly. They had been hidden behind cover, shielded from Reef by significant obstacles, yet they were bizarrely yanked out in a parabolic arc, flailing mid-air as they were dragged toward him!

Divine Grip!!

Reef’s Divine Grip had instantly yanked the enemy out of cover, exposing them to his team’s firepower. In the minds of the attackers, the seemingly doomed Reef had not only survived but had launched a swift and devastating counterattack at the most crucial moment!

The one pulled forward was a spellcaster who had used Flame Hand—he had dealt the highest damage to Reef. Naturally, he was the target. This man’s reaction time was quick; several lights flashed across his body: a fiery-red Flame Shield, an earth-yellow defense amplification, a blue healing glow, and even a sharp, prism-like light…

But before Fang Senyan and Zai could even move, before Roni joined the fray, this spellcaster hit critical health. Before he could activate his team skill, he was crushed to death by the sustained damage from Divine Grip, dissolving into a cloud of blood-red smoke!

Spellcasters were typically characterized by high attack and low defense. Killing him would have taken Roni only two or three strikes. Added to the considerable damage dealt by Reef's Divine Grip—the residual Divine Radiance after the Hand shattered inflicted damage equivalent to 100 + (Caster Stamina x 2), plus an additional 300 points of Holy damage over the next five seconds—this was equivalent to a combined blow from Zi, Roni, and Reef himself! How could he survive?

Failing to kill their target and instead suffering a counter-kill—how could this not fill the ambushers with shock and rage? But by now, Fang Senyan had hurled several bottles of Cursed Elixir, enveloping a battlefield spanning several hundred square meters in thick, pale-green mist. Aldaris followed up instantly with a Mind Storm directed at the cluster of enemies. A stark white web of electricity crawled low across the ground, causing the dry grass to churn with a scent of scorching, and the sound of crackling currents was incessant.

Gasps and curses erupted instantly as six or seven shadows scattered frantically like startled rabbits. Fang Senyan narrowed his eyes; he felt a strong urge to strike now, certain that if he unleashed his full power, he might wipe out the entire enemy force.

However, he glanced suddenly behind him. On the grassy plain under the deepening twilight, nothing appeared amiss, yet Fang Senyan had already spotted a small pocket of air fluctuating strangely, like the slight distortion of scenery seen through a car’s exhaust fumes.

So, Fang Senyan suppressed his desire to attack, suddenly shifting sideways to shield Zi. He looked like a standard secondary MT, diligently absorbing damage for his teammates. Simultaneously, Roni’s figure flickered and vanished like a ghost, streaks of crimson blood spraying from the void as he ruthlessly pursued the fleeing enemies.

The enemy numerically held the advantage, focusing intense sniper fire on Roni. But for Roni at this moment, empowered by the elixirs and bonus team abilities, his durability rivaled that of a Berserker charging headlong into battle. After absorbing several heavy hits, his dark-red Blood Dagger shot out, weaving through the empty space ahead. A figure, drenched in blood, tumbled out of the air, hands clutching his throat, eyes bulging almost out of their sockets—it was obvious he wouldn't survive!

The ambushers fought against Fang Senyan’s team for less than five more minutes. The longer the battle raged, the colder they felt. They watched in dismay as their apparently guaranteed kills, aimed at the protected members, were skillfully neutralized by the combined efforts of the MT and secondary MT. Not a single one of the defenders died. Meanwhile, because they prioritized sheer attack power and brought no MT, their own ranks were falling! By this point, four of them were dead! If they continued, total annihilation was likely.

“They are trying to flee,” Roni was the first to notice the sign. “Boss, you can start using your plagues now. And this world seems strange; although it wasn't explicitly mentioned, it looks like emergency return items won't activate. We must bathe them in blood!”

Fang Senyan remained calm. “No, you just increase the intensity of your attacks. This is just the beginning. This damned battlefield has more eyes on us than the Orcish droppings out here. Exposing the team’s full strength now would be far too premature.”

Everyone was accustomed to obeying Fang Senyan’s decisions. Zi, Roni, and Aldaris struck with even greater ferocity and abandon! As the enemies retreated, two of them triggered the most common and useful team skill, ‘Random Teleport,’ upon reaching critical health, instantly shifting them a kilometer away to some random spot. Yet, they were still slain by the lingering damage from the pursuit!

After this battle concluded, a quick tally showed they had killed two Awakened Ones and four Raiders. Reef and his comrades, however, felt like they had only just finished warming up. Still, the spoils were decent: one Bloodied piece of equipment appeared—a cloak for the back that absorbed 15% of damage from Contractors and reduced critical hit chance by 5%.

Fang Senyan paid little attention to the equipment rewards. Instead, he asked Zi, “I didn’t see anyone use a plot item to escape the battle just now. Is it impossible to return directly from here?”

Zi closed her eyes to sense the environment. “Yes. The spatio-temporal vortex here is extremely powerful, hopelessly tangled. Spatial location is almost impossible to pinpoint. It’s not impossible to return directly, but the failure rate for using such an item is terrifyingly high!” (To be continued.)