Watching the exciting transition cutscene, Siberian Duck couldn't help but sigh, "Our coordination on this side is way too smooth!"
[Knight of Pure Beauty: Yeah, super smooth. One combo and we completely stunned Phantylia.]
[Aha's Emanator: I declare, Nero, Dan Heng, and Jing Yuan are the new 'us three'.]
[Aha Is Not Here: As expected of a Lord Ravager, Phantylia's got guts, actually trying to solo the Astral Express crew and these three heavy hitters. This is a straight-up beatdown!]
[Boiling Snow: I get this.]
[Boiling Snow: Dan Heng, Jing Yuan: "Phantylia, your time flaunting the Ambrosial Arbor's power is over. Hand it over and surrender here!"]
[Boiling Snow: Phantylia: "If you want it, come take it!" (hasn't even turned around yet), Nero: "Showing off, huh!" (jump slash already incoming)]
In the third phase of the boss fight, Phantylia turned golden, her body leaning forward a bit more as she once again clashed with everyone.
And when Phantylia finished charging up and released "Mystic Root Manifestation" at Siberian Duck's team for the first time, Nero's figure dropped from the sky, landing in front of everyone.
With one hand, he raised Black Cutter to block in front of him.
A powerful storm suddenly erupted, and with a sharp clashing sound like a blade being deflected, all the root spears generated by Mystic Root Manifestation were stopped by the storm surrounding Nero.
The next moment, the scene cut into a close-up animation of Nero.
He lightly waved his hand, and an endless storm spread wildly. Beneath everyone's feet, in this starry sky, a massive, ancient, and intricate inscription formed.
Wind Sword Formation: Deployed.
After the close-up ended, a new prompt appeared on Siberian Duck's screen, "Nero has activated the Wind Sword Formation."
"While the formation is active, all enemy units are inflicted with an unremovable vulnerability effect."
"Whenever our side deals damage to an enemy unit, it will trigger the formation, summoning a Wind Sword to perform an additional follow-up attack on the targeted enemy."
Just seeing this prompt, Siberian Duck immediately realized this was definitely not a simple field buff.
Then she controlled her character to attack Phantylia. With a single skill from the trial Jing Yuan, the follow-up attack triggered instantly.
A green Wind Sword flew in from off-screen, and the moment it struck Phantylia, it kicked up a violent storm that tore into her body, instantly shaving off about 5% of her health.
At the same time, the four phantom flowers Phantylia had summoned were also hit by the flying swords.
Unlike Phantylia, these flowers were nearly left with a sliver of health after being struck, and any that were below 90% HP were directly killed by the swords.
"Damn, is the damage really this high?" Siberian Duck was startled by the effect of this field buff called Wind Sword Formation.
At the same time, the chat exploded.
[Dawg of the Jump Slash Immortal: Nero was worried you couldn't beat Phantylia, so he gave you a follow-up buff. Hurry and say thanks to Nero!]
[So Handsome I Get Beaten On the Street: The sword formation damage is insane. With four people attacking once each, just the formation alone can deal 20% HP.]
[So Ugly I Get Scolded at Home: Nice, our Star Rail finally has its own Granny.]
[Star Rail Is So Fun: Over there it's Granny's shockwave, here it's Nero's sword formation. Our MC is really strong! Hope we get more of this in the future.]
[Bald Leader: I don't know about Granny's shockwave, but Nero's sword formation is definitely going to be fun to use.]
[Glue Man: True. I've already finished the quest and tested Nero. He's a wind-type, Nihility path character, focused on high-speed follow-ups and strong DPS. The Wind Sword Formation is his core mechanic.]
Looking at the discussion in chat, Siberian Duck felt a bit tempted. If the sword formation was the core mechanic, Nero seemed really fun.
And if you paired him with characters like Clara who can trigger follow-ups, or someone like Bronya who gives extra turns, wouldn't that mean every move triggers more attacks, chaining follow-ups nonstop?
And the sword formation could even deal AoE damage.
With high expectations, Siberian Duck relied on her well-built team and the support from the Wind Sword Formation to easily defeat Phantylia's second phase.
Then the scene transitioned into another cutscene.
Nero activated the sword formation, and an endless rain of swords poured down, as if trying to turn Phantylia into a sieve.
Under Nero's relentless storm-like assault and his unbelievable power, Phantylia finally collapsed.
However, just as everyone thought she had completely lost the ability to resist and that they could reseal the Ambrosial Arbor, rootless flames suddenly ignited her body.
This Emanator of Destruction seemed to turn into a living antimatter furnace, her body created by the power of the Arbor burning continuously.
At this moment, Aemdo appeared. What followed was his conversation with Jing Yuan and the others.
The players were deeply shocked by this rigid, almost absurd Mirror Holder, and couldn't help but comment things like: "Is he really a villain?" "Why is he so upright?", "Oh my god, he's way too nice!", "He even cares about whether the Xianzhou will be harmed, he's so kind, I'm crying."
[Losing Hair Daily: Is he really a Mirror Holder? Isn't he a Knight of Pure Beauty? He's so friendly it's making my inspiration and hands itch!]
[Glue Man: Damn, Losing Hair guy is back! Please hold yourself back, take it slow. You can't die, if you die where am I supposed to find all those doujins!]
[Losing Hair Daily: 6]
[Aha's Emanator: My god, to prevent other Mirror Holders from harming the Xianzhou, he just killed all of them. He even reminds Jing Yuan about things he might've missed. Why is he so considerate? Do his teammates even know he's this kind?]
[Aha Is Not Here: He really… I'm crying.]
[Knight of Pure Beauty: Other Mirror Holders: "Already dead, don't @ us."]
[Undying Divine Essence, Phantylia: "No wonder no one came to help me earlier. You brat, you killed them all, didn't you!"]
[Nero Is My Dad: Bro, you changed your name that fast?]
Finally, the next battle began.
The game entered a cutscene. Aemdo and Nero faced each other, while the others fought against the blazing Phantylia.
And at the moment Aemdo raised his sword and challenged Nero to a duel, the world began to shake, space started to collapse, and both the mirror world and the cave realm became extremely unstable.
Then the surroundings shattered and reformed, and this entire space was completely transformed into an endless deep cosmos.
It didn't affect the battle, but it still shocked everyone.
Then the screen shattered, and the boss fight began.
This time, the opponent was not Phantylia, but the Mirror Holder Aemdo. He knelt on one knee like a knight in front, his presence far less oppressive than Phantylia.
And the only character the players could use in their team, was the familiar trial version of Nero.