[Successfully cleared!]

The players in the livestream chat held their breath, eyes glued to the last remaining healer in the dungeon.  

The healer stayed remarkably calm. He noticed the boss’s progress bar speeding up. With attacks from above and below, as the connection points dwindled, the boss drew less nourishment from the Divine Tree. Its grip weakened, the air masses grew less stubborn, and its own weight began pulling it loose.  

After 50%, their clearing speed would accelerate, but the mechanics hit their toughest phase.  

Rich Bro summoned two pets in a row to fill the gap, one charging to grab aggro: “I’ve still got mana—I can keep summoning!”  

Mage Alt 123, ignoring Rick Bro’s rooster, stacked two arrays up high. As a pure DPS array master, his arrays dealt heavy damage with multiple buffs layered on. While attacking, he coordinated with Rich Bro: “Get your pet into my array!”  

The two poured everything into clearing the air mass, pushing progress to 92%. But Rich Bro’s pet didn’t last twenty seconds before collapsing beside Slack Bro’s corpse.  

Skills went haywire. The moment the pet died, chaotic skill targeting locked onto Rich Bro. Mage Alt 123 dodged at the last second, slipping through a gap, only to turn and see Rich Bro hit the ground. No time to mourn his teammate—he knew aggro would swing to him next. He pushed his positioning to the limit, outputting frantically, wishing for two extra legs, and dragged the progress to 95%!  

But a short-legged array master, no matter how nimble, couldn’t outpace the boss’s two-second lead.  

He’d just cleared a connection point below when a beam attack and palm slam cut off his escape. The instant-death mechanic hit—useless for the healer to toss damage reduction. There was no way out!  

The team was down to two in a flash. The livestream crowd’s hearts sank—wipe incoming!  

Zhou Sui made a split-second call, dropping from the boss to pull aggro. The dungeon had no time limit—as long as the healer lived, they could hold until the next revive skill to bring Slack Bro back. But as he descended, an unexpected aggro-reduction skill landed on him. The healer hadn’t cleared his own threat—he’d given the reduction to Zhou Sui.  

The healer took main tank, seizing the moment to stack buffs on Zhou Sui. “Get back up there.”  

Zhou Sui got it. “Can you hold?”  

Healer: “No problem.”

—-  

[???]  

[Holy crap, healer tanking?]  

“Healer can self-sustain and tank—there’s still a shot,” a player said.  

Ragdoll Cat’s voice was grim: “Not so fast. Look at the connection points.”  

Everyone saw it—the boss’s remaining points were all mid-to-upper body. The lower ones had been cleared by the beastmaster and array master.  

For Cycle of Eternity to push progress, he’d need to climb back to the high ground.  

It was brutal. With mechanics this relentless, could the healer protect himself? What about Cycle of Eternity up top?  

This wasn’t a phase you could brute-force with red potions. Cycle of Eternity’s skills wouldn’t keep up—one tanking and healing below, one DPSing above. Distance and dodging demands pushed both to insane difficulty.  

[Forget healing—at this stage, even Qinggong might not get you up there!]  

The boss twisted violently, shaking with barely any footholds left.  

Zhou Sui didn’t pause. At a spot with almost no landing points, he leaped with Qinggong, his scythe stabbing into the boss’s body. He hauled himself up by raw strength, finding a perch. The moment he landed, he unleashed Serpent Venom Water.  

The air mass exploded, damage blanketing both of them.  

Serpent Venom Water shone here. As a basic attack for chaining, Zhou Sui could weave in healing skills between hits. He staggered his three heals, mixing in Serpent Venom Water. His combo count climbed, and the longer he maintained stability, the more devastating his damage became.

Zhou Sui loved Qi Ling Village’s unique talent bonuses. The skill effect boosts gave him sustain that let him skimp on attribute points while achieving perks other classes couldn’t touch. The spare points? He dumped them into speed. So what if Qi Ling Village’s attack buffs were low? Damage wasn’t just about raw attack boosts!  

Speed, combos, effective hits, and added effects—those were his game.  

When Serpent Venom Water triggered a poison strike, Zhou Sui leaned into the bonus damage. In Divine Tree, beyond base damage, there was bonus damage. Like the healer’s bursts of extra wood-element healing, attack skills could carry water, fire, or other elemental effects.  

These effects hinged on a player’s sustain stats to extend their duration.  

His base damage was indeed low, but his bonus damage effects lasted long. As long as he kept the attachment effects rolling… the faster his attack speed, the higher the bonus damage stacked.  

—-

The livestream watched his nimble figure dart across the boss’s body, unsteady footholds barely fazing him. Qi Ling Village’s mid-range reach let him attack continuously while keeping distance, his skill effects hammering the torn rift.  

Ten-odd seconds passed, and Cycle of Eternity was still alive, health teetering at a shaky 50%!  

The boss’s attacks came one after another. The others in the party nervously watched the statue up above, and they saw the attacks hit Cycle of Eternity. In the blink of an eye, his health plummeted!  

Then, his health bar surged back—Cycle of Eternity timed a red potion perfectly, buying more time!  

“Nice!” Mage Alt 123 couldn’t help but cheer.

[This clutch potion use is such a heart-stopper!]  

[He nailed it, but the next wave’s got no potion left!]  

—-

Even the best red potion had a one-and-a-half-minute cooldown. Zhou Sui would face more high-damage hits in this time—potions couldn’t save him.  

In the silent team, Little Bunny 123 suddenly spoke: “Move down.”  

Zhou Sui’s peripheral vision caught the healer, holding aggro, drawing closer.  

At this moment, the boss unleashed another air mass explosion!  

Below, Little Bunny 123 burst-healed and stepped forward. As he moved, the team realized this healer’s positioning was insanely sharp. He closed the gap through the mist, locked onto Zhou Sui up high, and tossed a healing pool toward his spot.  

The next instant, Zhou Sui emerged from the air mass, landing squarely in the pool. His health topped off, he double-jumped with Qinggong, soaring back to the high ground.  

A flawless high-low synergy—each held their role. The healer threw the pool and darted back, kiting the beam attack. Zhou Sui climbed higher, targeting the next air mass.  

By now, most of the boss’s body hung precariously, with only a few midsection tissues barely holding. Progress was down to 2%!  

Both their health bars were shaky, but the team hadn’t wiped.  

“Next wave in how many seconds?” Little Bunny 123 asked.  

Zhou Sui replied, “Within 10.”  

Little Bunny 123: “Max drop distance ^[1] The greatest distance Cycle of Eternity could fall vertically within a specific timeframe or before needing to be healed or repositioned. ?”  

Zhou Sui: “4 meters.”  

A quick exchange, then a silent countdown hit 7 seconds. The boss up high brewed another air mass explosion!  

Relentless attacks swept through. Below, the healer burned a movement skill, chaining into Qinggong. As he leaped, he dropped a group heal midair. Zhou Sui, in the healing range, dropped 4 meters and caught the instant cast.  

As he fell, he used a movement skill, reversed direction, and chained Qinggong to vault back up.  

His teammates were dumbfounded, and the livestream chat was also stunned. 

Healer midair instant-cast heal. Weapon master mid-drop Qinggong interrupt into a return jump.  

Their synergy flowed like water—miss a single beat, and it’d be a wipe!  

But they nailed it!  

—-

[Instant heal? How many buffs did this healer stack?! Midair clutch heal, my God!]  

[Instant heal into one Qinggong jump? Cycle of Eternity’s a freak—midair displacement plus a return jump!]  

—-

Back up top, Zhou Sui, even without a locked target, landed skills precisely on the connection points, working from low to high without a hitch. His masterful positioning made the livestream’s scalps tingle. Earlier, in the chaos of mechanics, few noticed, but now, watching him closely, his movement and attacks seemed calculated to perfection. Even as the boss’s assaults roared in, he stayed calm, handling every threat with ease.

Time ticked by, second by second. With only one person outputting, the boss’s progress bar kept creeping forward!  

99%, 99.5%, 99.8%…  

100%!  

As the bar hit 100%, Zhou Sui landed with a sliver of health, only to be caught by another’s hand.  

The healer grabbed his wrist, yanking him outward.  

“Zhou.”  

Up close, Zhou Sui snapped back to reality, recognizing the healer’s voice.  

The sound cut off. High above, the Chaos Statue lost all its anchor points. Like a colossus, it crashed down, the entire space ringing with an ethereal chime, as if a giant bell had struck. The Divine Tree in the void ceased wilting. The surroundings quaked, the space fracturing in a cataclysm!  

[Players Cycle of Eternity, Little Bunny 123, Slack Bro, Mage Alt 123… have successfully cleared the Epic Challenge: Tiandi Temple, earning [Chaos Remnant] and [Temple Vault]!]  

[Server-wide settlement in progress: Talented Ones have prevented the Chaos Power from leaking across six regions, preserving the Divine Tree’s divine energy. Divine Tree World progress advanced, Level 60 tier unlocked. All players will receive [Divine Gift] rewards, and all participants in the Temple event will receive [Remnant] rewards!]  

Zhou Sui saw the rewards land in his inventory. Beyond the standard loot everyone got, there was something unique.  

The broken figurine from earlier dissolved into wind, vanishing from his bag. In its place appeared a strange new statue—a shrunken Chaos Statue, grotesque in miniature. Touching it popped up its description:  

[Chaos Statue: A terrifying force from the outer realms, seemingly draining the source of life.]  

Zhou Sui’s gaze flickered. His skill tree lit up, resonating with the item.  

A voice broke his thoughts, echoing from the world’s heights:  

[Chaos sought to become a god, corrupting the deity guarding the Divine Tree, polluting the Tiandi Temple. The Divine Tree’s growth source, tainted, will no longer shield the Talented Ones of the Divine Tree Continent. The life source enveloping the continent is fading.]  

Inside and outside the dungeon, players saw the Chaos Power vanish from the six regions. At the same time, the Divine Tree tilted and collapsed!  

The areas ravaged by Chaos didn’t recover. As the Tree fell, the Divine Tree Continent quaked—mountains crumbled, rivers split, chasms tore open. Players scrambled to flee. Looking back, everything beyond the main game continent lay in ruins.  

[Divinity weakened, Divine Tree weakened.]  

[Main Quest updated: Find a new habitat, restore the Divine Tree!]  

Players: “?”  

What the heck? Find a habitat?