As When Arriving.

The Black Knight's once overwhelming offensive was now forcibly halted.

Every clash of steel sent sparks flying, dazzling the eyes.

The ground was torn apart with countless fissures.

The massive sword was now mostly used for blocking and parrying.

The energy glow swirling along its blade had noticeably dimmed.

The scene vaguely resembled the legendary Three Heroes battling Lü Bu...

And the hope ignited by the Black Knight's earlier display of might had now been replaced by icy despair.

Even a fool could see that the moment it fell would mark the collapse of the shelter.

None of the known shelters had any means to withstand three ninth-tier Abyssal creatures simultaneously.

The others' battles were even more brutal.

Many were already wounded, barely holding on through sheer will and duty.

Yet the Abyssal creatures seemed endless.

A young female team member precisely beheaded an approaching monster—only for a scaled, lizard-like creature to lunge from the shadows, its razor-sharp claws shredding her defenses.

A seasoned middle-aged man, his chest heaving violently, hesitated briefly before his face twisted into a snarl. He swiftly formed a series of hand seals and roared, "Get away from me!"

Then—

A blinding explosion erupted, mingling with a mist of blood as he took several surrounding Abyssal creatures with him in his final act.

The detonation briefly illuminated the despair-stricken faces around him.

The examinees huddled at the rear, witnessing limbs torn asunder and blood raining down, obscuring their vision.

Most had lost the capacity to think, reduced to trembling, weeping, or vomiting against the ruins.

Yun Huang silently observed the Black Knight's struggle, her thoughts inscrutable.

Liu Yuan clenched her jaw, fighting back nausea.

A terrible choice now lay before her.

Should they stay and fight this hopeless battle—or abandon everyone else?

Only now did she truly understand Su Qi's words.

Descent. Escape. Last stand.

And they were the ones making that last stand...

The Abyssal realms the examinees had experienced before, and the uncontrolled ones now—

They were nothing alike.

One was a beginner's zone, still cushioned by protective rules.

The other was a gladiatorial arena, where the fight only ended when one side was utterly annihilated...

She recalled Su Qi's advice:

[IWantToSleep: Little Liu Yuan, listen to your big brother. In the Abyss, just remember two things.]

[IWantToSleep: First, we're human.]

[IWantToSleep: Second, they'll die—but it's not on us. The enemy kills them, not you or me. If you can't save them, run. No guilt, no throwing your life away.]

So...

She should have the Black Knight take her and flee...

Right?

Time crawled agonizingly through blood and fire.

That they'd held out for over ten minutes against such odds was already a miracle.

Sun Cheng was drenched in blood, his combat suit torn in multiple places, a bone-deep gash on his arm steadily leaking crimson.

Gasping, he scanned the battlefield.

His heart felt like lead.

More and more figures had fallen.

The rookie who'd loved telling awful jokes, on his first field mission, his face still soft with youth...

Now reduced to an unrecognizable corpse, identifiable only by the half-melted weapon beside him.

Old Li, who'd just yesterday shown him a photo of his newborn daughter, lay with eyes wide open, frozen in his final moment of terror.

He silently counted the shelter's remaining combatants.

About a quarter... were already gone.

Each loss felt like a blunt knife sawing into his heart.

The stench of blood and charred flesh hung thick, nauseating.

The Black Knight still held its ground, desperately fending off the three ninth-tier Abyssals' relentless assault—but its disadvantage was obvious. It could barely defend itself now.

Emboldened, the other Abyssal creatures redoubled their frenzy against the faltering defenses.

"We can't go on like this!" Sun Cheng's shout came out hoarse from exhaustion.

He couldn't watch everyone die for nothing.

Whirling around, he sprinted for the shelter's central energy barrier controls.

"All personnel, fall back within the barrier in twenty seconds!"

His fingers flew over the console. "We regroup—now!"

With a slam of his palm, he activated the protocol.

A thin, wavering light rose from the shelter's edges.

The energy barrier, far weaker than before, flickered back into existence.

Discipline held—in thirteen seconds flat, every official combatant had retreated inside.

The slowest had taken twelve seconds just to cover the distance.

Seeing them all accounted for, Sun Cheng broadcast one last call:

"Black Knight—can you make it back? The barrier's almost up."

At the very moment when the energy barrier was about to close completely, leaving only a narrow gap—

"Roar!"

The blazing beast let out a furious howl of defiance, its massive claw swinging with devastating force toward the Black Knight!

The Black Knight didn’t dodge. Instead, it used the momentum of the strike to propel itself backward like a cannonball!

Mid-air, it twisted its body with precision, executing a flawless roll—just barely slipping through the closing gap!

Almost the instant the Black Knight landed, the energy barrier sealed shut.

The beast’s claw slammed into the barrier, sending violent ripples of energy cascading outward. The entire shelter trembled from the impact.

The barrier’s glow dimmed further.

The Black Knight knelt on one knee, its greatsword planted in the ground for support. Its dark armor was riddled with claw marks and scorched patches, with thick, ink-green fluid seeping from several damaged joints—clear signs of significant injury.

Sun Cheng exhaled sharply before barking an order: "Brothers, clean up the trash!"

During the brief window when the barrier was forming, over a dozen grotesque creatures from the Source Realm had slipped inside.

Though none matched the terror of the three ninth-tier monstrosities outside, there were still plenty of seventh- and even eighth-tier elites among them.

Sun Cheng wiped blood from his face and stepped away from the control panel, gripping his weapon as he charged at the nearest creature—a giant mantis-like abomination.

The Black Knight moved without hesitation, turning toward an eighth-tier Source Realm creature nearby.

It was a hulking, armored monstrosity resembling a pangolin, its body encased in layers of rock-hard plating.

The stone beast was already lunging at a group of cowering examinees.

"Clang!"

The greatsword collided with the rocky hide, producing a dull, thunderous impact.

The Black Knight’s strength seemed diminished—this strike didn’t cleave through as effortlessly as before, only staggering the creature.

But then came the second swing. The third.

No finesse. Just raw, relentless force.

Under the barrage, cracks spiderwebbed across the beast’s armor, accompanied by pained, grinding shrieks.

Finally, on the fifth strike, the rocky shell shattered completely, exposing the vulnerable flesh beneath.

The Black Knight’s blade swept horizontally, splattering the ground with thick, greenish-black blood.

Without pause, it pivoted toward its next target.

"Thud!"

Sun Cheng’s weapon had snapped, but he still managed to drive the broken blade into the eye socket of the last seventh-tier wolf-like creature.

A vicious twist ended its life.

Gasping for breath, he leaned on the shattered sword.

The shelter was clear. No living enemies remained.

Exhaustion weighed on everyone. Some collapsed outright, gulping down air.

Just as Liu Yuan had seen upon arrival—bodies strewn haphazardly, devoid of any semblance of order...