Ning surveyed the situation on the screens. He had done something that had made the life of everyone in this situation harder.
He had put all of his points into the monster upgrade.
Because of that, everyone in all 6 of the different groups had struggled. Group 6 was on the verge of collapse and even Group 9 didn't seem to hold on for long.
Groups 1 and 3 were generally better, but their lack of teammates didn't help their situation. Perhaps the only one that was doing better than them was Group 2.
After defeating the last two monsters, Ning had upgraded it once more. Now, he waited to see what sort of horrible monster would arrive this time.
The chimera was, fortunately, a lucky case for them as Derel knew its weakness. Underneath the chimera's chest was a spot where its scale was inverted. That was the exact location he needed to hit with the spear just once to kill it.
Of course, getting underneath its neck was hard given how flexible the damn monster was, but once he did, defeating it became as easy as eating a cake.
"Get ready, the next monster is coming," Ning shouted at them.
Drake looked better, even though it was daytime. Derel looked eager to fight and wanted to kill whatever was coming.
Meanwhile, Issi was the only one that couldn't fight properly against the monsters, but he too was going to give it his all.
"Here it comes," Ning said as a white light appeared around them, and then… the sky got dark.
Ning had to squint for a moment to see what was happening before his vision changed and he saw clearer.
A bird stood not far away. The grass around the bird caught fire, except it wasn't a normal fire.
In fact, it looked like the bird's entire body was covered in the same fire as well.
To everyone else in the group, what was in front of them was a blob of darkness that they couldn't see through.
Drake's eyes which worked great in darkness couldn't see the bird's features at all.
Issi was as good as blind.
And Derel was only able to see the bird's source of power which lay inside of its body.
Ning was the only one who could see the beast properly. He could see its black eyes, its dark, burning feathers, its light swallowing dark beak, and the darker than black fire that burned on top of it.
Ning recognized the bird from one of the man different information stored in his brain.
He looked to the sky to see if it was true. When he saw that light could be seen very, very far away on the horizon, he was sure he knew what was happening.
"I'm sorry," Ning said without turning back.
"What?" Issi asked.
"I'm sorry. I don't know how we can win this," Ning said.
"What are you—"
Suddenly, the bird stirred up and flapped its wings once. The burning feathers on the bird's body flew off in all directions.
Ning immediately created a black hole with every bit of energy he had. He couldn't spare a single amount right now.
The feathers that flew towards them all arched into the black hole and disappeared through a portal to the location where Group 5 was located.
Immediately afterward, Ning opened another portal to group 4 where the monster was already gone from, and shouted, "Get in! Fast."
"What? No, we're fighting it," Derel shouted.
"You can't win," Ning shouted.
"Bullshit!" Derel said and ran forward to send out a blast of fire from her palms directly towards the bird.
However, when it did reach the bird, the black fire burning on top of it bird immediately destroyed Derel's fire as if it were nothing.
"This bastard!" Derel cried out as waves of smoke escaped from her own mouth, ready to fight the bird.
"Just go!" Ning shouted. "I will handle this one!"
"I can help too," Derel said.
"Urgh!" Ning was fed up with her and immediately used his energy to push her through the portal before closing it. He then created another portal for the other two, who jumped in without much thought.
Ning turned back to look at the bird with clear fear in his eyes. He didn't know how he was going to fight this one, only that the others could not.
He knew all of this bird's tricks. A hunter in the night with a speed that killed its prey before they even realized they had been touched.
A black fire that burned eternally and consumed everything before it vanished.
The ability to turn day into night simply by existing. And the ability to block off all sense of vision.
Ning knew exactly what this bird was and how powerful it was. After all, this was something he had been looking forward to when his own bird evolved.
After all, this was what Night was going to be when he evolved. This was what every Dark Emperor Crow became when they evolved.
One of the legendary beasts in the world of Qi. Rival to beings such as the True Dragons and Qilins.
The Midnight Phoenix.
Ning pulled out his spear and put every single last drop of Aether into his body. He didn't care if he was left with Aether after this or not.
He didn't have the luxury to.
After this, He was sure that there wouldn't be another round. Since the chances of the other groups surviving a being such as the Midnight Phoenix itself was impossible, to begin with.
Ning spared a glance at the screen before looking back at the bird which was staring at him.
Group 9 was dead. A single attack from the Midnight Phoenix destroyed everything.
Suddenly, a high-pitched screech escaped from the phoenix and Ning saw his surroundings grow dark. Pitch black in fact.
There was not a single source of light to help him see in the darkness. But that couldn't stop Ning at all.
After all, his strongest vision skill needed no light to be able to see his surrounding.
He took a deep breath as he pointed the spear towards the Phoenix and charged.
