A prompt flashed before Sterl's eyes—
[Heavenly Curtain Canyon has detected a significant number of Heavenly Curtain cores disappearing, triggering a special mechanism!]
[Space fragments are merging!]
"Huh?"
Sterl was taken aback. After all, he had a guild backing him, and before coming here, Sosia and Sonis had already scoured all available information about the Heavenly Curtain Canyon. There hadn't been any mention of a special mechanism.
Although Sterl had indeed acquired quite a few Heavenly Curtain cores this time, a total of eight bosses had dropped cores—every single one of them.
However...
There should have been other dedicated boss-hunting teams that had farmed bosses, right? They must have dropped eight or even more Heavenly Curtain cores.
"Then there must be other teams farming alongside me."
"The triggering of the special mechanism should have nothing to do with me... right?"
Sterl murmured to himself.
He said this, but deep down, he still felt something was off.
This still didn't explain why a special mechanism was being triggered at this moment!
Could it be that the quantity of Heavenly Curtain cores dropped this time exceeded the entire historical record of the Heavenly Curtain Canyon??
Sterl was completely confused.
However, if he activated Ascend to Godhood at this moment, he would sense—
The Heavenly Curtain fragments stored in his small world were emitting strange waves, yet they were met with no response.
On his end, he slightly closed his eyes and indeed felt that the space fragment he occupied was rapidly merging with other fragments of the Heavenly Curtain Canyon.
In an instant, this world, which wasn't particularly spacious, began to expand rapidly.
It seemed that the merging of the Heavenly Curtain Canyon's space fragments started from the point where Sterl was located.
Sterl watched as, high in the sky, alongside the emerald-green sun, six other suns of varying colors suddenly appeared, as well as stars and moons that seemed extremely unclear under the sunlight, manifesting inexplicably.
Then, the suns merged into one, and those stars and numerous moons returned to their rightful places, forming a complete sky.
At this moment, Sterl felt...
The sense of detachment that had surrounded the Heavenly Curtain Canyon vanished, and he found himself back on the soil of the Hall of Valor.
However, he didn't understand what this meant.
The only thing that thrilled Sterl was—
Accompanied by the merging of space, countless bosses were forcibly thrown into this location.
Then...
Those monsters, one by one, began to roar furiously and charged in the same direction, targeting—
"Huh?"
"Me??"
Sterl was stunned.
Why were they all charging towards me??
Could it be that this special mechanism has something to do with me?
However...
After a moment of confusion, a smile appeared on Sterl's face.
It didn't matter; this was great!
Having so many bosses charge at him all at once meant he wouldn't have to hunt them down one by one. He could wipe out a whole bunch of materials in one go!
...
While Sterl was overjoyed, the other player teams were filled with sheer terror.
"Fall back!"
"Everyone, forget about forming ranks! Use any means you have to survive; it's every person for themselves!"
A peak legendary player shouted.
Surrounding him were players in matching uniforms, clearly part of a specialized boss-hunting team. Yet at this moment, they were too scared to even think about taking down a boss.
After the space merged, these players hadn't yet realized what was happening when they saw at least seven or eight bosses charging toward them.
Each one of them radiated immense power; half were at the legendary high-tier level that the team could barely handle.
The other half were even worse—legendary peak bosses.
"They are likely heading toward the same target location."
"Currently, it's roughly estimated that there should be over 30 bosses."
Once the team leader finished speaking, the first reaction from all the players was:
"Does that mean a major main storyline quest is about to appear?"
"Or maybe a high-difficulty hidden quest?"
"Shouldn't we go check it out?"
"Yeah! Wealth and risk go hand in hand!"
...
Many players had just narrowly escaped death, yet their desire for adventure flared back up.
It was obvious that with so many bosses gathering together, there had to be an important mission or an extremely valuable treasure about to surface.
Whether triggering a quest or obtaining a treasure, it would be a chance to rise to greatness in one fell swoop!
"Let's raise our hands to vote."
"Let's see if we should go or not." The leader of the boss-hunting team hesitated a bit.
The players present all showed serious expressions, knowing this could be one of the most significant decisions of their lives.
Go big or go home
As hands went up, only a few chose to abstain, while the overwhelming majority of players firmly decided to...
Move forward!
At that moment...
This scene was happening continuously among various exploration teams and boss-hunting groups. Even some lone wolves looked toward the direction where the bosses were gathering, gritting their teeth and feeling compelled to follow.
Players weren't afraid of risks; they were afraid of not having sufficient rewards!
Then...
After a vote, the exploration team moved toward the bosses.
Everyone advanced in silence.
They knew that this journey might lead them to never return.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The sound of dried twigs and leaves crunching underfoot echoed as they slowly progressed, fearful of being detected by the gathering bosses...
Until they noticed the footprints of the bosses becoming increasingly dense, indicating they were nearing the target location.
This also meant that the players would soon face a challenge!
Moreover...
The players in the exploration team could vaguely sense, thanks to their legendary-level perception, that other players were also approaching the bosses' gathering point from different directions.
At that moment, the scenery around them suddenly changed—
"Is it getting dark?"
Someone in the team questioned.
"Did someone cast a skill? Wow, it's becoming bright so quickly?"
Another player quickly added.
"There's a kind of damp aura?"
A third player expressed his confusion.
"It feels like something just grazed my face," he continued.
Finally, the leader of the exploration team, with a serious expression, said, "Just now, I think I sensed the aura of Law!"
"Fighting has already broken out. We can speed up a bit and see what's happening at the bosses' concentration point."
Similarly...
Most of the exploration teams that had come to the Heavenly Curtain Canyon were led by peak legendary players.
At this moment, these player groups had all made a similar decision.
They needed to hurry and see what was happening!
Rustle! Rustle!
The sounds of footsteps grew more frequent.
Players from various exploration teams hurried ahead, afraid that others would get to the rewards first.
When the first audacious player dashed toward the location of the gathering bosses, his first reaction was to rub his eyes, confirming whether he was seeing things correctly.