The Thunderbelly Roc was the creature they had pinned their hopes on.
The evolved human, who had just arrived, turned and sprinted back the way he came.
There was no other choice—if he didn’t run, he’d be crushed. This aerial behemoth weighed at least eighty, if not a hundred, tons!
As he ran, one question burned in his mind: What kind of firearm was Ye Zhongming holding? How could it produce such a deafening sound? How could it possess such devastating power?
He had clearly seen that single shot reduce an entire flying creature area to shreds!
With a thunderous crash, the earth trembled. The Roc’s corpse now flattened the hill that had withstood the bombardment.
Then, like rain, the remains of the other flying creatures began to fall.
Before it could unleash its full potential, this level-seven creature had been killed in a single strike.
With its master gone, the surviving flying creatures summoned by the “Call” skill broke free of their bonds and scattered in all directions.
For a full five minutes, Ye Zhongming gathered everything of value before finally approaching the man.
“You…” The man managed a single word before his eyes flickered. “Can you tell me what that shot was just now?”
Ye Zhongming smiled. “Of course.”
“It’s a skill called Sky Cannon. Short range, but wide area of effect and immense power.”
The man’s face lit up with surprise that Ye Zhongming would actually answer him.
Ye Zhongming wasn’t lying. The skill was indeed called Sky Cannon, one of the abilities of the purple-grade equipment he had recently crafted—the Reaper Mimicry Shooter.
This weapon, forged by merging the Crystal Energy Gun and the Earth Sniper Rifle, hadn’t actually increased in grade. In fact, from a pure grade perspective, it was a downgrade—the Crystal Energy Gun was already purple-grade, while the Earth Sniper Rifle was gold-grade. Merging them into a single purple-grade weapon seemed like a waste of a gold-grade item.
However, after examining the weapon’s attributes, Ye Zhongming not only considered it a fair trade but also counted it among his newest prized possessions.
The Reaper Mimicry Shooter had three forms: Sniper, Scatter, and Burst Mode.
Each form had three skills.
A single weapon with nine abilities—this was a feature typically reserved for seven-colored-grade equipment.
Ye Zhongming used one of Scatter Mode’s skills earlier: Sky Cannon.
This skill allowed Ye Zhongming to channel his physical strength into the shot’s power, creating a short-range attack with a maximum effective range of a few dozen meters. At its maximum range, the attack covered the largest area—so large that when Ye Zhongming aimed at the Roc’s head, the shot obliterated its head and neck and all the flying creatures nearby!
Ye Zhongming’s strength was matched only by Sheng Yuan’s. Combined with the purple-grade weapon’s inherent firepower and the skill’s potency, the result was a devastating triple-layered attack.
No fancy effects—just raw, overwhelming force. This made Sky Cannon one of Ye Zhongming’s most powerful area-of-effect attacks.
“You… you must know people are chasing you, right? You’ve been running all this time. Why are you so calm now? Even collecting materials? Aren’t you afraid of being surrounded?”
The man asked again, his face full of curiosity.
Ye Zhongming glanced at him. “I know you’re chasing me. Your goal is to delay me. But what I was doing earlier wasn’t running—it was a tactical retreat.”
The man blinked. He was starting to think something was off about the Cloud Peak King. Was he… mentally unwell?
He couldn’t help but wonder: Did reaching the pinnacle in the apocalypse require a touch of insanity?
“But… aren’t you afraid of the pursuers?”
Ye Zhongming shook his head. “Do you think pretending to be curious and chatting with me to waste my time is some kind of achievement? Or do you think I’m stupid enough not to recognize a stalling tactic?”
“N-no, of course not,” the man replied awkwardly.
“Truth is, I’m not staying because I want to. I can’t leave. Someone arrived while I was attacking the Roc. I’m trapped here. Isn’t that right, Mr. Wen…”
As Ye Zhongming spoke, he turned to look at an unremarkable patch of ground about a hundred meters from the battlefield.
The moment the words left his mouth, the earth erupted as a colossal figure burst forth—a massive, grass-green tortoise!
“Thousand Year?!”
The man screamed and instinctively stepped back. But after only one step, his arm suddenly jerked up, flinging a handful of golden powder at Ye Zhongming.
He had chosen this moment to strike.
But as the powder scattered, his face paled, and he threw himself backward.
Because as he threw the powder, he glanced at Ye Zhongming—only to see the Cloud Peak King already aiming that strange gun at him. He could even see Ye Zhongming’s finger tightening on the trigger.
His body hit the ground with a thud, and he rolled frantically to the side before scrambling to his feet.
He knew that in this brief time, Thousand Years’ master—Wen Yan, Mr. Wen—would have intervened to save him.
But to his confusion, the two most famous figures in the region weren’t fighting each other. Instead, they were both staring at him.
He looked around but saw nothing unusual. Then, following their gazes, he looked down at his own body…
“Ah!”
A scream tore from his throat—the kind born of absolute terror.
His flesh was gone. Only a pristine skeleton remained, its organs and veins still connected, held in place by an evolved human’s resilient physiology.
The scream was cut short as the man swayed, his bones unable to support his weight. He collapsed, his skull detaching from his spine and rolling away. His unblinking eyes conveyed a single truth:
He had no idea how he’d died.