Norse Pantheon, Rainbow Bridge Rift.
Olaf and his two companions finally crossed the rift and reached the sacred place where the World Tree sapling stood.
It was a tender green sapling, about as tall as two people, radiating a soft light. Before they could celebrate, the sky suddenly changed.
Several massive bolts of lightning shot straight toward the World Tree sapling.
“No!” Olaf roared, charging at the World Tree.
Eric and Erika also dashed over in alarm and fury, forming a human wall in front of the World Tree. The lightning crashed down, slamming into their shields and weapons—finally striking their bodies.
They gritted their teeth and took bolt after bolt, in the blink of an eye, their entire bodies charred and battered.
“Damn you, Achilles!”
“Just you wait!”
And it wasn’t just the Norse Pantheon. The Heaven Pantheon’s Apocalypse Map, Atlantis Map, and so on—all came under attack.
Worst off was Atlantis, the underwater world, whose circumstances were even more dire.
Seawater is an excellent conductor. When golden lightning struck the ocean, the water boiled instantly!
Terrifying electric currents rampaged through the sea, city shields shuddered violently, and even tsunamis began to form…
Elvira and the others wore expressions uglier than ever before. This grudge would not go unavenged!
Achilles watched the rising tide of curses in the World Channel and couldn’t help but laugh softly.
He could already imagine the devastation on the Penglai Immortal Ship—the massive hull swaying in the clouds, shields tearing again and again, panicked people screaming and fleeing, and Su Fu in complete disarray…
“First clear, so what? You’re still fried to ash by my lightning.”
…scrambling to save the Immortal Ship…
[World Channel · Achilles: @Su Fu Hope you’re still alive. I’m coming to hunt you down via entries.]
He was convinced—after this round, Su Fu and the Immortal Ship would suffer massive losses and casualties. Now was the perfect chance to strike.
He had to seize this opportunity and crush her in one blow!
—
At the same time, Su Fu was steering the Penglai Immortal Ship, slowly approaching the boundary of Yunmeng Marsh.
It was a whirlpool of multicolored clouds and mist, kaleidoscopic and ever-shifting in shape and color.
As they drew closer, she could make out floating mountains, inverted waterfalls, and bizarre mirrored fragments.
“So this is… the boundary between dream and reality?” Su Fu exclaimed in awe.
The scenery kept shifting—a mountain might become a lake in a blink, a forest might morph into a sea of flowers the next moment.
Here, space seemed to lose all meaning; distance and size were both blurred and indistinct.
“This is Yunmeng Marsh after all…” Xuan Ming exclaimed. “The legends are true.”
Just as the Immortal Ship fully entered, the great formation around the perimeter sprang to life!
A lotus barrier arose, gently wrapping the entire ship.
At nearly the same moment, dark clouds rolled outside and thunder exploded!
Before the lightning could strike, the Immortal Ship had already glided forward, leisurely passing into the illusory entrance of Yunmeng Marsh and disappearing into the swirling, multicolored vortex.
When the lightning fell, it fluttered about the entrance like a headless fly, unable to find a target.
In the end, it reluctantly faded away.
Having entered the Dream Realm, Su Fu could finally relax.
Other than their Immortal Ship, no one could enter this dreamland.
She glanced at the World Channel and suddenly saw the Olympus lightning notifications.
Scrolling further, she spotted Achilles’ taunting message.
Su Fu chuckled lightly. “Oh? Coming after me?”
But looking out the window, Yunmeng Marsh was still breathtaking—multicolored clouds and mist, flickering phantom islands, fleeting illusions…
Other than those, there was nothing.
Clearly, the attack was launched after she’d entered Yunmeng Marsh.
Su Fu checked the system’s message time. Sure enough, she’d prepared in advance.
She just knew these old foxes were always scheming against her!
“Heh, can’t hit me~”
Before long, examinees from other maps logged on, immediately launching into a stream of curses:
[World Channel · Lucius: Damn it! Our entire underwater city is half-paralyzed from the electricity!]
[World Channel · Olaf: Achilles, you bastard! Our World Tree sapling almost got fried! Just you wait!]
[World Channel · Eric: Su Fu! Achilles! Why do we have to get dragged into your mess?! Things are already bad enough here!]
[World Channel · Elvira: If I see you, I’ll kill you.]
[World Channel · Huangfu Yun: Those two should go straight to hell.]
Watching the endless barrage of complaints from each map, Su Fu smacked her thigh in delight. “If they’re this mad, it must have hurt a lot!”
“Especially Atlantis—hahaha, with so many complaints, it’s probably the worst off.”
Come to think of it, that made sense—a city under the sea would get the full effect of the electricity.
But then she stared at Achilles’ message, muttering, “A two-way pursuit, huh…”
As it happened, she wanted to find him too.
Unlike Achilles, though, she didn’t need to grind for special abilities—she just inputted coordinates into the Cloudsea Map:
[Destination: Olympus Arena]
Yunmeng Marsh was like a super shortcut, walking the line between reality and illusion.
Others couldn’t track them, but they could appear anywhere at will—one moment in the east, the next in the west, and then suddenly in the south.
So, throughout the journey, they were completely safe.
“In that case, Achilles, get ready for a surprise!”
But first, she had to check on the construction progress of the Truth Cannon.
—
Workshop of Heavenly Crafts.
The lowest level of the Immortal Ship was a massive industrial zone, now running at full capacity, the roar of machinery deafening.
Su Fu stepped in to find the entire workshop transformed into a military factory.
With a thunderous clang, giant mechanical arms grabbed parts with precision. Sparks flew as multi-ton gun barrels were forged in mere seconds.
At breakneck speed, they forged, cast, and assembled—hundreds of gun turrets being built in parallel.
In just a few seconds, Su Fu watched a massive cannon barrel form out of nothing—metal smelting, rune carving, divine power infusion, and structural assembly flowing seamlessly together.
George was commanding a team of craftsmen adjusting a complex device.
“Adjust the deflection angle—one more time!”
“It must be perfectly balanced, or we won’t hit anything when we fire!”
He was about to say more when he noticed Su Fu not far away. He paused, then hurried over.
“Boss, what brings you here?”
“The Immortal Ship is about to head for Olympus.” Su Fu cut straight to the point. “How’s the construction?”
George grinned, flashing all his teeth. “Don’t you trust me? Relax!”
He spread his arms wide. “We’ve loaded cannons around the entire perimeter—packed to the brim!”
“One shot, no matter the defense—blown to bits!”
Su Fu nodded in satisfaction. “Excellent! Keep it up!”
The entire workshop was energized, and Su Fu flitted about, encouraging and praising the workers.
“This rune carving is so precise, even a master would be hard-pressed to match it. You’re really talented.”
“Careful not to hurt your hands. The Immortal Ship needs every one of you.”
“Hungry? I’ve asked the kitchen to prepare extra food. It’ll be here soon, don’t overexert yourselves.”
And not just the workshop—Su Fu also visited the Alchemy Division, Patrol Guard, and other departments, inspecting and cheering everyone on.
The other examinees watching Su Fu’s process were left dumbfounded.
“Su Fu’s workflow is unreal!” one examinee gulped as he eyed the densely packed gun barrels. “In just a few days, she’s turned the entire Immortal Ship into a war fortress?!”
The once elegant, immortal ship was now bristling with pitch-black gun barrels—on the main deck, hundreds of Truth Cannons lined up in perfect formation; on both sides, rows upon rows of smaller defense turrets.
Even the observation platforms had been turned into lookout posts and machine gun nests.
The whole Immortal Ship had gone from a transcendent sanctuary to a warship bristling with weapons.
“And she’s an amazing motivator,” another girl clicked her tongue in awe. “Without anyone noticing, she’s become the soul of the entire ship.”
“Her strategy is simple,” analyzed a tall, thin guy. “She treats everyone equally, no matter their status.”
“She’s always present in the workplace, remembers everyone’s name and strengths, makes each person feel valued, and encourages them…”
“Yeah,” someone added, “I saw her in the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion this morning, then in the workshop this afternoon, and even spotted her at the Alchemy Division in between.”
“Honestly,” the first guy concluded, “if I were on the Immortal Ship, I’d probably follow her willingly too.”
“These people have never seen tricks like this. They’re probably so charmed they don’t even remember their own names.”
A silent examinee suddenly spoke: “Good thing we’re on her side.”
Everyone: “…Makes sense!”
If she’s the boss, then there’s no problem!
Nice work!
—
Lately, people on the World Channel had noticed something odd.
[Apocalypse · Roy: Lately I keep seeing a huge shadow floating across the sky, but when I blink, it’s gone!]
[Apocalypse · Fang Ze: Whoa, I saw it too! Thought I was seeing things!]
[Apocalypse · Michael: What’s happening? Is this a BOSS preview or something?]
[Rainbow Bridge · Olaf: I saw it a few days ago! I was checking on the World Tree and suddenly saw a shadow swoosh by—scared me so bad I dropped my axe.]
[Rainbow Bridge · Erika: I saw it too! It’s huge, but I can’t quite describe it… Just something massive.]
[Atlantis · Lucius: Small world, we saw it underwater too! A giant dark shape swept overhead…]
[Olympus Arena · An Ning: Wait, I think I caught a glimpse of the shape. It looked like… a ship?]
The speculation was quickly buried in a flood of messages, ignored by all.
Then, someone suddenly brought up the Immortal Ship, which hadn’t shown itself in a while:
[Speaking of which, how come Penglai Immortal Ship hasn’t shown any activity? Did it get blasted apart by the all-map lightning?]
[Could be! Even if it didn’t get wrecked, it must have taken serious damage. Plus, that lightning keeps coming back—so annoying.]
[Lol, no news for so long, they’re probably hiding in some corner crying!]
[Don’t change the subject! Isn’t anyone going to stop that arrogant Achilles?]
[Unless someone gets a movement entry. By the way, has anyone rolled a move-map entry?]
[Nope. Achilles is still searching for one, offering S-rank artifacts as a reward, but nothing so far.]
Just then, an Olympus examinee suddenly posted:
[Hey, I see that shadow again!]
[Anyone want to bet how long it’ll appear this time?]
[One second!]
[Two seconds!]
[Three seconds!]
[No way it lasts past four seconds!]
The original poster suddenly sent another message:
[Wait, something’s not right. That shadow looks like it’s solidifying! This time it’s really different!]
[Are you seeing things?]
[We’ve all seen it so many times, it never gets solid.]
[You’re kidding yourself—don’t spook yourself.]
But the poster kept sending more messages:
[No, I’m not joking! It’s getting clearer!]
[I can see the outline now, it’s…!]
[So huge… It really is a ship!]
[And there’s a bunch of dark… wait…]
[Oh crap! They’re cannons!!!]
[Those are cannons! All cannons! They’re aiming right at us!]
The messages abruptly stopped.
Then, silence.
A few seconds passed before people started responding:
[What? Cannons? For real? You’re not messing with us?]
[Oh god… Where’d he go?]
[Why’s he not answering?]
[No response…]
[Is he pulling our leg? He’s acting like it’s real.]
[No, his details were too specific.]
[Could it… actually be true?]
No one could answer, because the answer was descending upon Olympus from the sky.
—
Within Olympus Arena, the crowd was roaring like a tidal wave. Achilles struck again, blasting an opponent into a mist of blood.
He reveled in the cheers, and even more in their worship.
Suddenly, a shadow blanketed the entire arena.
Achilles seemed to sense something, whipping his head up to the sky.
In that instant, his pupils contracted sharply. Shock, disbelief, and… terror flashed across his face.
A steel colossus loomed silently above the arena, blotting out the sky, casting a vast shadow that enveloped the arena and surrounding area.
No one knew when it had appeared.
Most terrifying of all, the Immortal Ship bristled with dense arrays of gun barrels, all pointed downward, staring mercilessly at the tiny humans below.
The cheers died instantly.
Everyone stared upward, cowed by this sudden behemoth.
Then panic and screams spread as people scattered like startled birds—yet there was nowhere to run.
The Immortal Ship filled the entire sky above the arena. Escape was impossible.
At the prow, Su Fu smiled and waved down at the people below.
Achilles’ face went deathly pale, his lips trembling as he forced out two words: “Su…”
Su Fu’s voice rang out, carried by divine power throughout Olympus—clear and unmistakable:
“Here to find you, Achilles.”
She raised her hand lightly and snapped her fingers.
“Fire.”
BOOM!!!
In that instant, tens of thousands of Truth Cannons roared at once!
Standing atop a sea of cannon fire, Su Fu beamed at Achilles, silently mouthing:
“Surprised?”