Apocalypse Gachapon

Chapter 1681: Magic! Magic!

All eyes were fixed on the Mechanical Genius.

At the first step, it was impossible to see which Bright Star belonged to whom—something the space had just informed everyone of. Evolved were already accustomed to such underhanded tactics.

Of course, this halved the value of the Head Start Card. But since the Cannibal Chain had no real interest in the Mountain King Wheel, it didn’t matter much to them.

Still, everyone could see how closely they were aligned with Cloud Peak. Now that they had landed on the Mechanical Genius’s Bright Star, people were eager to see what would happen.

After the Cannibal Chain struck the Soaring Crystal, the third Bright Star—belonging to the Mechanical Genius—lit up. A massive screen appeared before the crowd, displaying a vast grassland where a gigantic beast lay sprawled. Sensing something, it raised its head and looked skyward.

Since the image was captured from above, all six teams felt as if the monster were staring directly at them.

”Row eight, number fifty-six.” Many recognized the beast’s position on the crystal disk at a glance—clearly, it wasn’t among the strongest guardian beasts. The only question was whether it had been upgraded.

Previously, for individual evolved, guardian beasts had been formidable opponents. Even the weakest ones could give an eight-star evolved a hard time.

The question now was whether teams could choose to fight collectively.

Fortunately, the space—which had just ”played” with everyone using the ten card types—provided an answer that wasn’t entirely hopeless.
For challenges, teams could choose to fight collectively without triggering a level-up in the guardian beast. However, if they won as a group, the maximum distance the Soaring Crystal could travel in the next round would be limited to two Bright Stars or fewer.

In other words, they could advance no more than two Bright Stars per strike.

For factions aiming for the ultimate prize, every single round out of the ten was critical. Falling short by even a few Bright Stars now might mean losing by that same margin in the end.

The wheel space had seemingly lowered the difficulty but introduced a dilemma, forcing every faction to make tough choices.

This was a matter of strategy—one misstep, and everything could fall apart.

Wu Xiu nodded at Ye Zhongming, her eyes carrying a hint of apology.

The Cloud Peak King understood. This wasn’t genuine remorse, but rather a gesture to facilitate smoother cooperation. They would undoubtedly choose to fight as a team, meaning that in the next round—and every subsequent round—they would advance only two Bright Stars at most.

After ten rounds, they’d cover just twenty-one Bright Stars.

The remaining hundred-plus would be Cloud Peak’s burden alone.

Ye Zhongming could accept this choice. There was nothing unreasonable about the Cannibal Chain’s decision.

After all, helping didn’t mean fighting to the death, sacrificing every last subordinate—or even their own lives.

Every team leader, every individual present, was racking their brains, strategizing how to proceed when their turn came.

Too many cards, too many guardian beasts, too many Bright Stars, too few rounds, insufficient strength… All of this led to one outcome: too many variables.

Nobody liked variables. A good one was called a pleasant surprise; a bad one was called a shock—or even terror. Here, variables undoubtedly belonged to the latter category.

The entire Cannibal Chain team vanished from sight, reappearing moments later on the massive screen.

Two kilometers ahead of the guardian beast, their formation materialized on the open terrain. Both sides spotted each other instantly.

The guardian beast roared and stood up.

Only when the Cannibal Chain appeared on-screen did everyone realize just how massive the guardian beast was.

Earlier, while lying down, its size had been unclear—some even thought it was small due to perspective.

But with the evolved as a reference point, spectators immediately understood: this guardian beast was terrifyingly huge, more like a small mountain!

On the crystal disk, it hadn’t seemed this large.

Fortunately, on Earth, while rare, creatures of this size weren’t unheard of—especially near coastlines, where even larger lifeforms occasionally surfaced.

Size wasn’t always an absolute indicator of strength, but in most cases, it was a reliable one. The Cloud Peak spectators grew tense, silently cheering for their Cannibal Chain allies.

There was no preamble to the battle—just immediate, brutal confrontation.

The guardian beast, spotting intruders, rose instantly, revealing countless tentacles suspended just above the ground. A closer look showed suction-cup-like structures at their bases, expelling jets of air to support its colossal body.

Had the terrain not been grassy, with the airflow flattening the vegetation, this detail might have gone unnoticed.

Despite its size, the beast moved swiftly, charging at the Cannibal Chain the moment it stood.

Silent yet earth-shaking, it closed the distance to just a few hundred meters in seconds.

Given its size, even this gap felt like a looming catastrophe. Had these not been evolved tempered by six years of apocalyptic hell, ordinary humans would have broken down mentally on the spot.

Simultaneously, the monster suddenly expelled countless black, rod-like projectiles, each tipped with a blinding light. Their nature was unclear.

On-screen, they didn’t seem particularly threatening—until compared to the evolved. Each rod was as tall and thick as an adult human. Their numbers? Impossible to count, but undoubtedly several times the Cannibal Chain’s headcount.

Almost instantly, they were upon the team.

Many spectators instinctively held their breath, silently praying for their fellow humans.

The guardian beast’s assault was swift, precise, and vicious. Nobody expected such speed from a mountainous creature—not just in movement but in attack, delivered with lethal efficiency.

These Easterners might not be wiped out entirely, but they’d surely suffer heavy losses. Half of them would likely die in this single strike.

And this was a guardian beast from the second-to-last row—without the difficulty increasing, it was already this strong!

”HAHAHA! DIE! I upgraded it three times!”

If anyone present was thrilled, it was the Bright Star’s owner, the Mechanical Genius. His laughter echoed manically from within his mechanical puppet.

”Idiot.”

Ye Zhongming muttered the word without taking his eyes off the screen.

Sure enough, the next moment, the scene he’d anticipated unfolded!