Alto had long ago used the world eater to excavate a giant void beneath the wall that reached all the way down to the bedrock layer.
Waiting for the players below was an underground ocean of churning lava.
*Splash*
With a muffled impact, Jose's figure plunged into the lava sea and was instantly enveloped by scorching flames. As intense pain overwhelmed him, his vision was quickly covered by white light.
When he respawned on the plains again, his face was livid, and he kept cursing under his breath.
"Damn bastards! They actually hollowed out the ground, too!"
He wasn't the only one, either. Those players who followed the same strategy and dug holes met the same misfortune one after another. Someone had just broken through a passage when the stone beneath their feet gave way, and they fell into the abyss below.
Several dozen screams echoed throughout the tunnels.
A player who had just respawned started complaining loudly to anyone who would listen.
"Holy crap! It's all lava down there! It's impossible to dig through! Did the development team hollow out the entire area under the wall?"
"I told you it wouldn't be that simple!"
Another player complained while nearly crushing the stone pickaxe with their frustrated grip.
On the plains, the charging players were still stubbornly trying various methods to breach the defenses.
Some tried building scaffolding high in the air to cross over the wall, but they were shot down by development team members stationed on the ramparts with bows before they even made it halfway.
To prevent opponents from building aerial paths to rush directly onto the wall, Alto had deployed numerous TNT launchers at the very top.
The core principle used a TNT explosion in water to generate movement and accelerate another TNT block forward.
Any players attempting to build towers in the air received special attention in the form of concentrated TNT barrages.
With the massive gunpowder farm producing endless supplies, they had stockpiled more explosives than they could ever use.
Some players rushed toward the lava moat, clutching blocks and trying to force a path by filling it in, only to be blown to pieces by TNT falling from above.
Others attempted to imitate the development team by looking for fireworks and elytra, only to discover that the entrance to The End had been forcibly destroyed.
On the observation deck atop the wall, Alto laughed with satisfaction at the chaos below.
Meanwhile, some players were still quietly developing their equipment away from the front lines.
Jose sneakily arrived at Boshita's camp.
He found that many furnaces were already smelting ore, and there were several supply chests filled with materials.
Boshita was still busy crafting when he noticed Jose rummaging through the containers.
"What are you doing?"
Jose's expression was a bit sheepish, but his movements didn't slow down at all.
"Borrowing some of your gear! I'll return it as soon as I win this fight!"
Boshita was stunned by his shamelessness. "Stop right there, you bastard! If you want gear, go dig for it yourself. Don't steal mine!"
After saying that, he swung his sword at Jose.
"What do you mean by steal? It's a temporary loan!"
Jose quickly stuffed the supplies into his backpack and shouted righteously.
"Look at me, I'm empty-handed! I can't charge in like this. Once I break through the wall and smash the crystal, I'll return everything immediately!"
With the items secured, Jose immediately bolted from the camp.
This only left Boshita standing there in stunned disbelief.
The players' offense continued relentlessly, but they were also constantly being sent back to the spawn point. Six hours had already passed since the battle began.
This time, Jose had thought of a new approach.
Since the sky was blocked by the development team and the underground was full of lava, why not use water to extinguish the lava and then build a tunnel with obsidian to protect against the TNT falling from above?
He mobilized the players once again.
With the borrowed supplies, he had significantly upgraded his equipment.
Using iron ingots to craft buckets, they then went to fetch water from nearby sources.
Another massive wave launched its offensive.
"Pour water, pour it quickly! Those with obsidian, hurry up and build the roof!"
While dealing with harassment from development team players above, they also faced the TNT explosives that occasionally rained down.
An army of thousands of players charged through the bombardment like an ancient besieging force.
Soon, the first line of defense was finally breached.
With the help of the obsidian tunnel, the players successfully entered the interior of the wall.
Inside the wall's hollow space, the work of pushing through continued with renewed vigor.
Gaps were gradually chiseled into the inner barrier, revealing deeper structures beyond. The players' morale rose as they reached further and further.
"Quick, it's almost through! I see light ahead!"
As the last stone block was removed, the scene inside was finally revealed.
But it wasn't the open passage they had imagined.
Instead, it was a black barrier made entirely of anvils.
That's right, the same kind of anvil found in a blacksmith shop.
They could only faintly see the scene inside through the narrow gaps between anvils, but not clearly enough to make out details.
"Why are there so many anvils here? What does this even mean?" someone asked while scratching their head in confusion.
"Yeah, what's the point of building an anvil wall?"
"Never mind that, just keep digging! We're sure to win this time!"
Then they swung their pickaxes at the barrier.
But a jaw-dropping scene occurred before their eyes.
As the first anvil was removed, the anvils stacked above dropped instantly to fill the gap like falling dominoes.
Refusing to believe it, the player dug out another one. Yet another anvil dropped from above to replace it, repeating in an endless cycle.
Digging another, another dropped.
"What the hell? I don't believe this!"
Continuing to dig, he cleared over a dozen in a row. The anvils kept falling from above without end.
Some players' faces turned pale with frustration.
"What do we do? We can't get through if we can't dig past this anvil wall!"
"What else can we do? Just deal with it and keep digging! I refuse to believe these anvils are infinite!"
The player army began frantically removing anvils. After tremendous effort and time, the last anvil was finally cleared, and the scene behind the wall was completely exposed to everyone.
But in the next second, all the players froze in place. Their excitement was instantly replaced by sheer terror.
A massive perimeter resembling a colosseum magnified countless times appeared before their eyes.
The entire inner area had been completely excavated down to the bedrock layer far below, and various structures of strange design stood within the cleared space.
In the very center of that colosseum was the palace the players had been longing to reach.
But it had now been transformed into a giant tower completely encased in obsidian.
"Holy hell, what kind of nightmarish place is this?"
A player instinctively took a step backward. The abyss yawned right beneath their feet as their voice trembled.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the player group erupted with shocked shouts and angry questions intertwining.
"And they say the development team didn't cheat? This is definitely cheating!"
"With such a massive area, even if ten thousand of us players were digging nonstop, we wouldn't know how long it would take. They only have thirty-two people! How could they possibly do this?"
"Exactly! This doesn't make any sense at all!"
A seemingly rational player quickly estimated the workload required. His face turned pale as realization dawned.
"They didn't just hollow out the entire area. They also built all these structures and that obsidian tower. Even if thirty-two people didn't eat or sleep for seven days straight, it would be impossible to complete!"
"I thought the previous lava moat, TNT launchers, and anvil wall were ridiculous enough, but now they've excavated an area similar in size to the fuicking empire..."