Despite the tremendous hope they had placed in the Zhuge Divine Crossbow, the moment it actually came, they too were left stunned. The only one who had envisioned this scene was Tang San, and even he felt the corner of his eye twitch slightly.
Meng Li's eyes, once blazing with murderous intent, were now fixed rigidly on what lay ahead. The ferocity in his gaze had been replaced by disbelief and despair. His tall, powerful body crashed to the ground like a toppling mountain. All seven members of the Fierce God Team were practically knocked flat at the same instant, their own forward momentum sweeping them into the floor.
Blood surged from bodies that the Zhuge Divine Crossbow had riddled like sieves. Streams of crimson spread across the dueling platform like writhing earthworms, dyeing a large swath of the central stage red in the blink of an eye.
A clean sweep. It had been an absolute clean sweep.
The Fierce God Team, whose strength had reached the fortieth level, had not even been given a single chance to strike. In that moment, the minds of every spectator went nearly blank. No one knew what had just happened—hardly anyone had even seen how the Shrek Seven Devils had attacked.
Such a brief team battle duel was entirely without precedent in the history of the Grand Soul Duel Arena. But though the duel itself had been short, the shock it left with the spectators was no less than that of any spectacular battle.
In the VIP box, Flandre's eyes had gone wide with astonishment. The Great Master, however, slowly closed his eyes and said calmly, "Let's go. They need us most right now." With those words, he turned and walked out first—clearly, everything that had just unfolded had long been within his calculations.
Zhu Zhuqing was the first among the Shrek Seven Devils, besides Tang San, to recover her senses. Without the slightest hesitation, she spun around and ran for the entrance to the dueling platform, one hand pressed firmly over her mouth.
The second to run out was Ning Rongrong, followed closely by Oscar and Ma Hongjun. Only Dai Mubai, Tang San, and Xiao Wu remained on the platform.
"I'm going to check on Zhuqing." Dai Mubai's voice sounded somewhat strange.
Tang San nodded, and Dai Mubai immediately turned and left.
Looking up at the announcer, who was still hovering in the air but had long since frozen in shock, Tang San kept his voice as low as he could. "Can you announce the result of this duel now?"
The announcer snapped out of it as if waking from a dream, only to discover that at some point his lower body had gone wet—he had embarrassingly wet himself.
His once-clear voice had turned hoarse. "T-team duel. Shrek Seven Devils versus the Fierce God Team. The Fierce God Team has been... completely eliminated. The Shrek Seven Devils succeed in their cross-rank challenge."
Having received a satisfactory answer, Tang San's expressionless face showed nothing as he took Xiao Wu's hand and walked toward the platform entrance.
The spectators jolted back to their senses at the announcer's declaration, and the entire main arena erupted into an uproar. Voices of disbelief, sighs of awe, and gasps of horror rose one after another. But none of that concerned the Shrek Seven Devils anymore. For them, this duel was over.
When Tang San led Xiao Wu backstage, he found that the other four besides Dai Mubai were vomiting incessantly. Xiao Wu's body trembled beside him, and she too tore the mask from her face and stumbled over to join the four. Only Tang San and Dai Mubai—the two with the strongest willpower—could still hold it together. Even so, Tang San could see that Dai Mubai's face was deathly pale, his mind clearly not entirely stable.
Tang San fared somewhat better. After all, he had lived two lives, spending nearly forty years across two worlds, and his willpower was iron-firm. Aside from him, the eldest of the group, Dai Mubai, was only fifteen. Dai Mubai may have been powerful in strength and fierce in demeanor, but he was still an ordinary person at heart—and this was the first time he had ever killed someone.
Instantly killing seven opponents—that image of blood spraying wildly, the enemies' bulging eyes, the twisted expressions on their faces at the moment of death—had been seared into the heart of every member of the Shrek Seven Devils. It was a feeling nothing else in the world could replace.
"Tang San... we killed them, didn't we?" Dai Mubai said with some difficulty.