Celenova, who had been lost in thought, frowned upon hearing Zephyro's words and called out to stop him as he was about to leave.
"Aren't you afraid of attracting that dragon's attention? With a single thought from It, you'll be erased more completely than if you were devoured by a black hole."
Zephyro merely snorted at Celenova's warning.
"That's precisely why I dare to go. Haven't you noticed that It has only been circling Amphoreus without taking any action? If It truly wanted to clear the field, both we and the Xianzhou Alliance would have vanished. But that hasn't happened, has it?"
Celenova fell silent. She had to admit Zephyro had a point.
Seeing that Celenova had nothing more to say, Zephyro turned and vanished from the flagship.
A brilliant streak of light shot through the dark expanse of space, heading straight for Amphoreus. The Ender Dragon, circling above the planet, casually glanced at the streak of light before looking away.
A mere pawn of Destruction was hardly a worthy opponent. It was beneath its notice.
---o---
Outside Castrum Kremnos, the [Strife] Titan stared at the Wither floating in mid-air for a long time. Seeing it remain motionless, the Titan hesitated for a moment before finally raising its spear and lurching at the Wither.
However, to its surprise, the spear stopped less than a meter from the Wither's body, unable to advance another inch.
As if "enraged" by the [Strife] Titan's sneak attack, the Wither's hissing grew more frantic, and the white light flashing on its body began to pulse more rapidly.
Seeing this, Fu Zhu immediately raised his hand. A wall of obsidian, dozens of meters high, rose from the ground, shielding Castrum Kremnos from the Wither.
The crowd that had been observing this epic battle was taken aback, not understanding why Fu Zhu had suddenly raised a wall.
March 7th, standing beside him, was just about to ask why when Fu Zhu moved first. He reached out, covered both her and Evernight's ears, and pulled them into his embrace, using his chest to muffle their other ears. At the same time, he didn't forget to warn Dan Heng and Mem.
"Cover your ears. It's about to get very loud."
When a Wither reaches full health, it creates a massive explosion. In the base game, this explosion is manageable, but Fu Zhu couldn't guarantee how powerful the blast from a Wither empowered by a Path would be.
Dan Heng and Mem immediately covered their ears upon hearing Fu Zhu's warning. In the next instant, a deafening explosion ripped through the air.
The soldiers within the city clutched their ears in pain at the sound. While the blast wasn't strong enough to injure them, it left their ears ringing, a high-pitched whine echoing in their heads for a long while.
This was followed by the ground shaking violently. The tremors lasted for a while before gradually subsiding. But immediately after, a series of blood-chilling hisses came from behind the obsidian wall, like the sound of a serpent in the pitch-black night, instilling a primal urge to flee into the light.
Once Fu Zhu confirmed the explosion was over, he removed the obsidian wall in front of Castrum Kremnos. The group was then met with a horrifying sight.
A massive, semicircular crater dozens of meters deep had been carved into the great plains before the city. It was clear that if not for the obsidian wall Fu Zhu had erected, half of Castrum Kremnos would have been obliterated.
Mydei's eyes went wide at the sight.
"Holy crap, Fu Zhu summoned something even more terrifying than the Titan!"
At the same time, he couldn't help but worry about how they were supposed to deal with this Wither now.
After witnessing the destruction caused by the Wither, he no longer thought the [Strife] Titan stood a chance against this creature. Compared to the Wither, the [Strife] Titan seemed downright adorable.
"Wait a minute, where did the [Strife] Titan go?"
Shaking himself out of the shock brought on by the Wither, Mydei realized the Titan had vanished.
He hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of him. He immediately rushed out of the city and stood at the edge of the massive crater. Looking down, he finally found the [Strife] Titan at the bottom, with only two-thirds of its body remaining.
The Titan was in a pathetic state, using its spear to prop itself up. Yet, it still raised its head defiantly to look at the Wither flying above, preparing to lift its spear and counterattack. But clearly, the Wither had no intention of giving it that chance. From the eye sockets of its three black heads, countless smaller Wither skulls shot out, flying towards the [Strife] Titan.
Each skull that hit the [Strife] Titan exploded, tearing away a large chunk of its body. In just a few breaths, the [Strife] Titan that had caused so much trouble for all of Castrum Kremnos vanished from sight, leaving only a single Wither Rose on the ground.
From afar, Mydei saw that single, strikingly familiar Wither Rose, and a wild thought surfaced in his mind.
Could it be that the vast sea of Wither Roses in the Nether was created from all the creatures killed by this monster?!
As Mydei was pondering this, Fu Zhu's voice shouted from behind him.
"Hey, Mydei! If you're going to feed it a kill, you might as well let me do it! At least I can see what loot you drop instead of just standing there waiting for the Wither to kill you."
Mydei snapped back to his senses at Fu Zhu's words and realized with horror that after finishing off the Titan, the Wither had now locked onto him!
What kind of joke was this... For the first time, Mydei had no desire to fight. The sense of oppression from this monster was simply too terrifying!
Without a moment's hesitation, Mydei turned and fled back into the city. On the wall, Fu Zhu was also preparing to take care of the Wither, curious to see if this enhanced version would drop anything other than a Nether Star.
However, two others were faster than him.
A streak of white light shot across the sky and landed directly in front of the Wither. Not far from them, Lygus also appeared on the battlefield at almost the same instant.
Fu Zhu, who had just drawn his Yamato, raised an eyebrow at the scene.
"Oho. Looks like the party's getting bigger."
Although he didn't recognize Zephyro, his information was clearly marked on the minimap.
[Lord Ravager · Zephyro]
Dan Heng's pupils constricted upon seeing the newcomer. He nudged Fu Zhu with his elbow and asked, "That person is..."
"Lord Ravager Zephyro. Looks like he was drawn here by the Wither. The other one is Lygus, the mastermind behind everything on Amphoreus."
Fu Zhu relayed the information about the two newcomers to the others around him, casually summoning the Yamato into his hand.
"Looks like today isn't just for collecting the [Strife] Coreflame. I get to kill a couple of rare spawns, too."