"The announcement only mentioned a few individuals. Even if they appear, their numbers should be small."
Back in reality, Mark still clung to a sliver of hope.
If only a few zombies capable of building and destroying blocks appeared, their fortifications would still be highly effective.
Surviving the last ten days wouldn't be much of a problem with the food Soren Park had brought.
However, the reality was a bitter disappointment.
Looking out toward the distant perimeter of the stone wall defenses.
In an instant, dozens of zombies from all directions began piling up blocks to climb.
It was unknown where they had mined them or where they had come from, but their building speed was incredibly fast.
They cleared a dozen blocks in seconds, faster than some players!
"Guns! Bows! Take them down!"
He hurriedly mobilized the entire Alliance for defense, but that wasn't the end of it.
The mob farm Soren Park had built previously hadn't been dismantled since the Creeper blew open the entrance.
Although it spawned extra zombies, most died in the second layer's spider webs, with few managing to break through.
Keeping it was merely a nuisance, but dismantling it was a different story; after the previous incident, few were willing to go near it, and the difficulty was high.
Who knew how many monsters were hidden inside? Skeletons? Creepers?
What if a Creeper inside exploded the moment someone got close, knocking them into the void?
They hadn't killed the Ender Dragon yet to obtain an Elytra and flight capabilities like Galen Yu.
Nor did they have the protection of the Dragon Palace Endermen. Falling into the void meant certain death!
Facing such odds, no one was foolish enough to volunteer.
Until now, it was true that only a minority of zombies had awakened the ability to build and break blocks.
But their sheer numbers were overwhelming!
Even if only one in a hundred awakened—a seemingly low probability—what if there were ten thousand or even more zombies?
It meant they had to face hundreds of enhanced, special, and powerful Elite Zombies!
Coupled with their heightened senses and increased detection range, the threat was magnified significantly.
In just a few seconds, the area outside the Alliance was submerged in a sea of green zombies.
From a high vantage point, the dense clusters of zombies stretched as far as the eye could see!
The interior wasn't much better, crawling with Mutant Zombies and those building blocks.
Swoosh!
Pros loosed an arrow, aiming for a zombie trapped in the spider webs.
But in the next moment, a block was suddenly placed in front of the zombie, blocking the attack.
What should have been a bright, hopeful day had turned into a literal hellscape!
"This is hell. Total hell!"
"God, why are You doing this to us?"
"I pray devoutly every day. Why won't You give Mark a way out?"
"With this level of intensity, can the Alliance even hold out?"
"Go, Soren Park! Just ten days left!"
"Ronan Mountwell, you have to hold on! The Samurai Nation cannot take another penalty!"
"Keep going, Oakmoor! We're working hard to clear the lava and recover your parents' ashes!"
The Block World, which had briefly regained some order, was thrown into chaos as viewers cheered desperately for their players.
"These zombies are scarier than the bosses!"
Fries couldn't help but sigh.
If he had known about the Crisis beforehand, he wouldn't have even considered participating.
Even joining the Alliance felt like a death sentence.
"Can Galen Yu survive this?"
After watching the Alliance perspective, the view shifted back to Galen Yu's own.
Besides the zombies, Galen Yu was also facing the Dragons!
To put it bluntly, his difficulty was several times that of the Alliance!
Although he was personally stronger and had prepared on the Sky Island early on...
Whether it would actually be useful remained to be seen. In the Fragrant Study, turning the next page revealed another world. One wouldn't know until they saw it!
Meanwhile, at the Black House.
The Blonde Elder watched the screen nervously, terrified that Mark or Jett might die in an instant.
Clutching a wooden carving, he was ready to use it at any moment.
"The Freedom Nation has deep foundations, but we cannot allow you to reincarnate indefinitely or provide invincible resource protection."
"If this continues for ten days..."
Dreading the possibilities, the Blonde Elder could only pray silently that the two would survive this crisis safely.
He also happened to think of Galen Yu.
"Not only are there zombies, but there's also the interference of Dragons. Even if someone dies and faces a penalty, it should be Galen Yu, right?"
Seeing Galen Yu die and the Nine Provinces suffer a monster penalty, vanishing into the dust of history, wouldn't be a bad outcome!
Currently, on the Sky Island.
Galen Yu had long expected the zombies to be able to build blocks.
The Redstone Cannons were built precisely for this reason. So, when the zombies appeared, he was the least panicked.
Even the Wandering Mage was spinning in circles from anxiety.
"Heavens, what is that?"
"Did you see? The zombies have evolved brains!"
"They can actually build blocks! It's terrifying!"
Knowing the Crisis challenge was difficult was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was quite another.
If this were a Small Chunk, this many zombies would be enough to give those Dragons a hard time.
And yet, this was used as a challenge for a newcomer!
"I really don't know why this challenge was even triggered."
'Isn't this just asking for death?'
Remembering a certain someone who had brought this on themselves, the bullet chat chuckled.
Since it had come to this, Galen Yu didn't make any major moves.
He continued to sit quietly on the Great Wall, watching.
"Aren't you going to do something?"
"I've already done enough."
He gave a simple response, gesturing for the Wandering Mage to sit and watch, before turning his gaze to the distance.
Although the zombies could build and mine blocks, the defenses had been designed with this in mind.
Upon approaching the chunk, their first targets were the captive Profiteer Villagers inside the Redstone Cannons.
Lacking much intellect, they simply followed the strategy of the shortest straight line between two points.
Once the zombies got close, they wouldn't build from the side; they would only build directly beneath the villagers.
This led to a problem: with the exception of specific blast-resistant blocks like Obsidian and Bedrock, most blocks were not explosion-proof.
Even if they were awakened, the zombies only had materials like stone and grass blocks, which offered zero blast resistance.
As soon as a block was placed, it was blown apart by TNT; as soon as a block was placed, it was blown apart by TNT...
The cycle continued as always until the zombies were killed by the TNT.
Even some of the smarter ones, who didn't lock onto the villagers in the Redstone Cannons, entered the Sky Island.
They either got caught in a loop due to the rails, perceiving themselves as surrounded by blocks, or locked onto the villagers behind the Obsidian portal.
In an instant, they would enter the Nether, lose their target, and end up staring blankly into the lava.
Even if a very lucky few didn't go to the Nether and stayed locked onto Galen Yu...
To reach the Great Wall, Dragon Palace, or the various rooms, they had to build upward.
But the ground was covered in rails, so they couldn't pick up blocks to use as stepping stones.
They could only block their own path, trapping themselves in place!
This so-called evolution had surprisingly zero impact on the Sky Island!
The viewers who had been waiting to see Galen Yu fail or had doubted him were left speechless.
"How is it that not a single zombie has made it over yet?"
"Where are the zombies? Did they all die outside?"
"Actually, they did. They're either dead outside or dead in the Nether!"
"The only few that can make it aren't even a threat to Galen Yu!"
"Wait, I see a zombie coming! It's starting to build blocks!"
"Are you stupid? It placed a block on the rail and blocked its own path!"
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