Fang Zhou gestured to Lu Renjia and Lu Yiyi, then led the Calamity Squad into the Simulation Battlefield's Teleportation Gate.

After a dizzying whirl, Fang Zhou opened his eyes to find himself amidst a group of makeshift soldiers. He turned his head slightly to survey the surroundings, and his expression immediately grew grave.

The shelter that had once protected everyone from outside threats was now a ruin. Fragments of rubble were scattered across the scorched earth, and cracks on the remaining walls looked like a demon's claw marks, silently narrating the horror that had unfolded.

Clearly, the shelter had been utterly destroyed by the Demon Battle Group, which meant Fang Zhou now had no defenses to rely on. For him, this was the worst possible situation.

Scanning the surroundings once more, Fang Zhou took stock of the noisy troop he was with. The most elite among them was a temporary force of several dozen Light Cavalry. They were loosely assembled under the leadership of a Heavy Armor Knight, attempting to form some sort of battle formation. However, their tense, panicked eyes and clumsy movements made it clear that these cavalrymen were not rigorously trained professional soldiers. They seemed more like a group of newly awakened Knights—at best a mounted militia, utterly unprepared for the impending battle.

In front of the cavalry stood a Long Spear Formation composed of ordinary Civilian Soldiers. These men were clearly not professional soldiers either; their spears trembled, and their faces were filled with fear and unease. Despite this, they did their best to hold their ground, attempting to stop the incoming enemy with their fragile line of defense.

Fang Zhou's eyes narrowed. He spotted Lu Renjia at the very front and center of the infantry phalanx. With him were two other NPCs who looked somewhat capable in a fight—a middle-aged warrior and a one-armed female warrior. So they're the core support.

Just as Fang Zhou was silently contemplating how to handle the impending crisis, a hurried figure sprinted into view from the depths of the dense forest—it was Lu Yiyi, who had been missing until now. She waved her shortbow with one hand while using the other to hold down her hat, which looked like it might be blown off by the wind at any moment.

Following close behind her were more than a dozen equally terrified Scouts. They had evidently just escaped a demon pursuit, their faces etched with exhaustion and fear. Some even bore the black, scorched marks of demon fire.

Lu Yiyi ran all the way to the front of the Long Spear Formation and practically collapsed into Fang Zhou's arms, breathlessly reporting, "They're coming! The demons... there are too many of them..."

Fang Zhou quickly reached out to steady the staggering Lu Yiyi. "How many?" he asked in a low voice. "Could you see clearly?"

"It was impossible to see... There were too many. More numerous than the stars in the sky."

Beside them, Lu Renjia gripped his massive two-handed giant sword. Seeing the dire situation, he couldn't help but give it a vigorous shake, producing a sharp metallic clang to get his companions' attention. He then turned to Fang Zhou and said, "Master Fang Zhou, it looks like we're in deep trouble! This is an exceptionally difficult situation. The shelter has been completely destroyed, leaving us without a single wall for defense. The Demon Army has us surrounded, and there's nowhere to hide. We have two choices: either we make a last stand and wait for a rescue that may never arrive, or we break through the enemy's blockade. Otherwise, our only fate is annihilation."

Faced with Lu Renjia's warning, Fang Zhou's expression remained as calm as still water. He said nothing, simply retrieving the Undead Magic Ball from within his robes and beginning to cast spell after spell.

As his incantations echoed, gray vortices formed around him. Hundreds of Skeleton Warriors surged from these portals as if pulled by invisible hands. They instantly arranged themselves into orderly ranks on the battlefield, greatly boosting the troop's combat power.

Witnessing this, Lu Renjia and Lu Yiyi, who had been panicked by the shelter's destruction, let out a collective sigh of relief.

Lu Yiyi reacted swiftly. She turned to the exhausted Scouts and shouted, "Scouts, with me! We're falling back to the rear to join the Skeleton Archers! We'll form a ranged support unit!"

Under her leadership, the exhausted Scouts rallied, quickly reforming their ranks and joining the newly summoned Skeleton Archers to form a solid line of support in the rear.

At this moment, columns of black smoke suddenly rose from the distant dense forest. They stood like colossal black pillars reaching for the sky, staining the once-clear heavens a pitch-black. These pillars of smoke not only towered into the clouds but also continued to spread, as if heralding an impending disaster.

Simultaneously, the towering spruce trees began to groan in agony, crashing down one after another under the force of some powerful impact. The entire forest seemed to be pushed to the brink of destruction in an instant.

This was followed by a sound like countless war drums beating in unison. The wind shifted, and the black smoke began to drift toward the battlefield. It carried an intense smell of sulfur that made people cough incessantly and struggle to breathe.

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