The Gloomy Forest World.

White fog descended.

Gu Qing Shan walked out from the thick fog.

Where did you take the little one? Crow asked.

Void City Gu Qing Shan replied.

Then we can fight as we please from this point on Crow grinned.

Yeah, and the baby seemed like it wouldnt mind that either Gu Qing Shan answered.

As far as he could tell, regardless if he threatened it with a sword or embraced it in his chest, a baby would remain a baby.

In fact, in the middle of combat, while Gu Qing Shan was holding onto the baby, leaving himself open to being ambushed and killed, the baby would still not react at all.

After taking the baby, Xiao Die also gave him a nod to signal that it was alright.

He could simply forget about it for now.

The two of them examined their surroundings.

Complete ruin.

Blue Mountain City had been completely destroyed.

Although the mission had directed them to teleport away, they were still a bit unwilling to accept this situation.

The Gloomy Forest Worlds Royal capital was a gathering place for many species. Not only was it powerful, but it also had the aid of numerous Professionists. I really dont understand how it fell so quickly Crow was unable to come up with an answer.

How about we take a careful look at it? Gu Qing Shan suggested.

He also had numerous questions in mind.

Crow thought a bit, then said: Lets do that, perhaps well

Shh! Gu Qing Shan hurriedly signaled him to stop talking.

What is it? Crow was confused.

You running your mouth has jinxed us so many things already, lets stop doing that Gu Qing Shan replied.

Crow shook his head: Ive already gone to a professional facility to examine it. I dont have a precognitive speech ability, nor a Fate-type skill, so its all been a coincidence

Coincidence? Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.

Thats right, coincidence Crow laughed, For example, Ill say right now that were going to be surrounded by countless monsters

Gu Qing Shan drew two of his swords, cautiously observing the surroundings.

Complete silence.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Still nothing.

See, coincidences. I just happen to be there when they occur, its not really an ability Crow shrugged.

Gu Qing Shan sighed in relief: Thats good to hear. Alright, lets head to the Royal capital and see if we can find any intel

Lets go!

The two of them flew above the clouds and headed straight towards the Royal capital.

While moving at full speed, they reached the Royal capital after a minute.

The two of them descended.

-another ruin.

The entire Royal capital had been thoroughly ravaged by the Apocalypse.

Unlike Blue Mountain city, there werent as many corpses here, and the majority of them were higher-ranked Professionists.

Most civilians had already been evacuated to the Gloom Obsidian Star in time.

Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight to meticulously scan the city for any remaining traces.

Theres a corpse that we should examine Gu Qing Shan commented.

Alright Crow replied.

The two of them continued to fly until they reached a certain corpse.

I know him, hes an archivist of the Void Library Crow muttered.

Void Library was one of Void Citys many organizations whose focus was on the collection of knowledge, quite similar to the 900 million World Layers Spire Keeper Association in nature.

Gu Qing Shan crouched down and pried the corpses hand open, taking a leaf out from inside.

A leaf from the Tree of Knowledge, one of the most durable writing materials, lets see whats written on it Crow suggested.

Gu Qing Shan examined the leaf, reading from it:

These monsters are all species that have gone extinct, it definitely shouldnt have

This was all that was written, and it also appeared to have been hurriedly scribbled together, as if this Professionist wrote it in an extreme emergency.

Before he even had finished writing, he was already dead.

Gu Qing Shan turned to the corpse, only to see a look of fear and disbelief frozen on it.

As if he was still trapped in some sort of fear right up to the moment of his death.

Extinct species

Gu Qing Shan and Crow both fell into thought.

Crow spoke up first: Now that I think about it, the soldier and caster we saw earlier seemed to have come from an extinct civilization

What about the giant? Gu Qing Shan asked.

I only know the bare minimum; this kind of knowledge has to be confirmed at the Void Library Crow replied.

Gu Qing Shan sighed: No, there are still too many possibilities, we need to gather more intel

Crow said: Thats easy, lets head to the Gloom Obsidian Star and meet up with other Professionists. We can exchange our intel there

How far is the warp gate? Gu Qing Shan asked.

Crow pointed in a certain direction and answered: Theres a self-destructing warp gate outside the city, which should be enough for us to use it once since its such a short distance away, theres no fear even if the Apocalypse shows up

Boom!!!

The ground trembled.

A sandstorm brewed.

Yellow sand filled the sky, obscuring it and everything around.

The world itself became dim.

Within the boundless sand, monsters appeared one after another.

Within their visions, the horde of monsters seemed endless, taking up every last bit of space in the entire city as well as the wilderness outside of it.

They silently surrounded Gu Qing Shan and Crow.

Gu Qing Shan and Crow were both stunned.

This is impossible.

Crow Gu Qing Shan said.

Huh? Crow was tensely observing the seemingly endless horde of monsters.

I suggest you check if you have a precognitive speech ability once again

As Gu Qing Shan said that, he abruptly let go of the twin swords Heaven and Earth in his hands and drew the Six Paths Great Mountain sword.

-I had thought only two monsters would appear like the previous times, but instead, an endless horde of them had appeared instead.

Were the previous manifestations of monsters only meant to deceive us?

Then it makes perfect sense.

Once these monsters have understood a Professionist well enough, they would abruptly manifest in large numbers, using the numerical advantage as well as absolute power to crush the Professionists to death!

They can destroy defensive items, use the Professionists abilities, as well as many other abilities that I havent come across. No matter how strong their opponents are, they would easily be able to defeat them together.

Any competent army general understands that a war is fought using numbers, taking advantage of overwhelming manpower to destroy a weaker enemy.

This is a strategy of war!

Gu Qing Shan felt a chill running down his back.

The Apocalypse is using war strategies to fight the Combatants of Void City!

No.

This isnt an Apocalypse.

This cant be an Apocalypse!

But if it isnt an Apocalypse, then what exactly is it?

Gu Qing Shan forced himself to remain calm, quickly assessed his situation, then asked himself.

What now?

Theres no time-

This one is going to risk everything!!!

Crow drew his rapier and shouted towards the horde of monsters.

At the same time, he told Gu Qing Shan through telepathy: Hurry! Use your fog teleportation from before to take us away, otherwise, well actually die here!!!

Yet Gu Qing Shan remained almost ignorant and simply pointed his sword forward

Innumerable tiny sword phantoms flowed from the blade of his sword, striking against one another tens of thousands of times every second!

Coong coong coong coong oong

Fwoom!!!

Among the ruins, another sea of flames erupted.

This was no longer the flames of the Apocalypse, but rather the power of a technique unleashed through the divine sword.

This technique was performed using the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, so there was no such thing as a technique or spell that was able to defend against it.

In an instant, all the attacks unleashed by the apocalyptic monsters were reduced to cinders within the flames.

the strike of cutting techniques, [Parting Fire], the first strike of the Divine Skill!

This Asura Divine Skill required Soul Points to perform, and Gu Qing Shans strike unleashed a boundless sea of flames that burned the entire city.

His Soul Points decreased by a large amount.

Without having time to feel the loss of his Soul Points, Gu Qing Shan unleashed another strike.

The flames upon the sword all vanished without a trace.

Instead, a layer of frost slowly started to spread on the blade of the sword, then quickly blew across the entire city like an invisible gust of wind.

The second strike of the Divine Skill, [Freezing Frost], the sword of destroying frost!

-[Freezing Frost] catches the enemys form, freezing the bodies of living beings so that they cannot move, that was the essence of the Divine Skill [Freezing Frost]!

The pure white froze continued to expand, soon enveloping the bodies of every monster in the city.

They could no longer move a muscle.

Hurry! Head to the warp gate! Gu Qing Shan shouted.

He had already tried once while inside the Apocalypse, teleporting away would only cause the Apocalypse to follow.

Taking this entire Apocalypse to Void City wasnt an option!

Hearing him, Crow immediately leapt into action.

The two of them made a mad dash across the sky towards the warp gate.

They were so fast they appeared as two streaks of lightning.

HERE!

Crow shouted and placed his ID card into a determined spot.

Gu Qing Shan also quickly put his ID card on top of that.

The warp gate was hidden inside a patch of grass, which became active immediately as it sensed the two ID cards.

We need five breaths worth of time Crow loudly reported.

Alright, well defend ourselves in the meantime Gu Qing Shan replied.

A bit further away, within the zone of white frost, the monsters began to move again.

They were struggling to get free from this Divine Skill.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Over a dozen of the monsters with the strongest presences had escaped from the frost seal.

Crow clenched his rapier tightly, flicked it forward, then whispered: Your current deaths shall be harvested by my future!

Thud thud!

All of the monsters collapsed to the ground.

Crow cautiously stared at them.

While the monster tried their best to struggle, all of them soon breathed their last.

Finally, Crow sighed in relief.

I didnt see you do anything Gu Qing Shan said.

Crow quickly explained: My future self will come to kill them, if my future self had failed, they wouldnt have died just now, but me!

Without time to say anything else, Gu Qing Shans gaze turned towards the city.

The remaining horde of monsters was also beginning to break free of the frost.

-there were too many of them, despite having the Asura Divine Skill and the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, as well as an astronomical amount of Soul Points, Gu Qing Shan still couldnt restrain them for too long!

Two breaths worth of time left! Crow shouted.

Your skill is too dangerous, Ill do it! Gu Qing Shan replied.

Saying that, he sheathed his sword.

Crow glanced at him in confusion.

-if you want to do it, why did you sheath your weapon?

Gu Qing Shans killing intent was roused in his mind.

Oong!

A resounding slash echoed throughout this entire world.

The wind, the sand, the city, the monsters, all of them were blown away by this single slash.

Mind Sword, [Sun Moon Eclipse]!

As Gu Qing Shan unleashed his strike, he didnt have time to observe the results before the warp gate on the ground erupted in white light, covering him and Crow inside.

The white light turned into a door that directly sucked both of them inside.