Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Can we retreat a little further in?” If they could reduce the number of people taking hits by even one, the pressure would ease considerably.

“Retreat? I’m already practically lying on top of them!” Shiu said helplessly.

The girls fell silent, as if reflecting on why their own bodies took up so much space.

“I’ll go get myself killed then,” At that moment, Wanderer suddenly spoke. “As an assassin, I’m useless in a place like this. I might as well die first to free up some room for you all.”

“What kind of nonsense is that!” Zane would never agree to something like that. He had been the one to bring his companions here on his own initiative, so even if someone had to die, it wouldn’t be him.

Yet as a vital frontliner and healer-DPS hybrid, he also couldn’t just move out recklessly.

‘What should we do? There’s no way to squeeze any more people inside, but if we stay like this, we’re all dead. We have to make room… make room… but how? Right, of course!’

“Wanderer, you really are a genius!” Zane clapped his hands in delight.
“???” Wanderer stared back with a face full of question marks.
“Nangong, get on Wanderer’s shoulders! Quick!”

With his mind racing at high speed, Zane blurted it out without thinking.

“Nani?¹” The two men were both stunned. They weren’t gay!

“No time to explain, hurry hurry hurry!” The blonde girl urged in a panic. Any later and even Endless Sea wouldn’t be able to hold out!

Nangong grit his teeth. “Damn it, fine, I’m going up!”

“Wait—!” Wanderer didn’t even finish before Nangong pressed down on his shoulders and easily perched himself atop his head.

Seeing this man-on-man stacking, a few of the girls couldn’t help but burst into giggles. But it did free up another spot.

“Stop laughing, girls, get moving! Seraphine, carry Dukeette; Zaria, carry Snowy; Yoyo, put Lordsey back in your pet space! Stupid Orange, stand together with Yoyo!”

Very quickly, Lordsey was recalled into the pet space.

“Ah—!” With Snowy’s startled cry, Zaria stepped forward, crouched slightly, and grabbed her calves from the front. In one smooth motion, she hoisted Snowy up and slung her over her shoulder. Her hands slid naturally under the girl’s round buttocks to keep her steady.²　

As expected, a swordsman’s strength was nothing to scoff at.

Seeing this, Dukeette let out a cheeky chuckle.

“Wait, what are you doing! Didn’t you hear? I’m the one carrying you.” Seraphine instinctively crossed her arms over her chest.

“Be a good daughter and come to daddy’s back~” Dukeette grinned foolishly, wearing the expression of a doting old man.

When Seraphine still refused, Dukeette imitated Zaria’s method, stepping in from the front and reaching for her calves.

“Upsy-daisy.”

“Hey—!” Seraphine tightened her guard, but Dukeette had already bent her knees and hoisted.

**Thud!**

The next moment, both of them crashed headfirst into the wall, golden stars spinning above Dukeette’s head. A priest’s strength was nowhere near a swordsman’s.

“My… dear Princess Seraphine, maybe you should consider losing some weight…” Dukeette muttered woozily.

Seraphine responded without hesitation by socking her hard.

“Ow!”

Stupid Orange obediently stood back-to-back with Yoyo. Both of them had slim figures and didn’t take up much space. That freed up quite a bit of room. Zaria, carrying Snowy, stepped back, and everyone else frantically squeezed further inside.

Starry recalled Starmew into her pet space.

Now, only three people remained on the outer perimeter, which greatly reduced the area under attack.

Starry possessed extremely high defense, and with lifesteal and potion recovery, she needed no healing at all. Endless Sea, after equipping the Guardian’s Heart, saw his survivability jump a tier, making him more than capable of holding the tank role.

As for the Wishkeeper, there was even less of a problem. With far fewer enemies, the pressure on him had dropped sharply. Moreover, Zane noticed something: once a Dragon Abyss Knight used Solar Cleave, it wouldn’t cast it again for thirty seconds!

Which meant… “Don’t kill the ones that have already used Solar Cleave! Just weaken them and keep them for positioning!” Zane quickly called out.

“Got it!” everyone replied in unison.

Zaria and Snowy could no longer attack. Dukeette couldn’t heal either, while Seraphine was still able to cast her spells without issue. Nangong could still fire his arrows normally, but Wanderer had no way to attack.

Even so, Zane realized that Solar Cleave could be interrupted. Only up to seven Dragon Abyss Knights could hit them at once.

Endless Sea could taunt one, Starry could freeze one, Zane could entangle one, and Yoyo could bind another. If things went wrong, Starry could also use Blade Dance. Although its chance to inflect confusion was low, it was still decent as an AoE skill.

The chance to inflict status effects was low, so they needed to keep any enemies whose skills had already been successfully interrupted alive. At least for thirty seconds, they would only use normal attacks.

Once a crowd control skill came off cooldown, they would switch it to a new target. Fortunately, the cooldowns for these basic skills were short enough that they could barely hold their ground.

Bit by bit, as their formation compressed to its absolute limit, both Zane’s and Endless Sea’s HP began to recover. Meanwhile, the Dragon Abyss Knights in the rear ranks fell in swathes under Pyrestorm and Invoke: Blazing Fire.

Blade Dance couldn’t be used recklessly, if they accidentally wiped out the frontmost Dragon Abyss Knights that had already used Solar Cleave, a fresh wave of skills would slam into them, and a single death could trigger a total wipe.

However, using Frenzied Blade occasionally was fine. With only a thirty-second cooldown, it was a straight-line piercing skill with an impressive 200% damage multiplier.

If it scored a critical hit or triggered Autumn Strike, it could clear every enemy in a straight line.

In this way, they slaughtered relentlessly for half an hour.

Above the center of the battlefield, the countdown showed 27:46 remaining.

There were barely any Dragon Abyss Knights left. The knights, despite their overwhelming strength, couldn’t reach the players inside the formation and were gradually worn down to death.

Fortunately, Zane’s party had prepared nearly ten stacks of potions beforehand, and all their gear had been fully repaired, or they would have run out of resources for sure.

The ground was littered with piles of gold and silver treasure, but they could only look and not touch. If anyone dared to get distracted picking things up, it could very well lead to a total wipe. Zane and Starry naturally wouldn’t make such a mistake, and Endless Sea, being a veteran player, wouldn’t either.

Even with twelve people splitting the experience, the sheer number of kills made up for it. Each elite mob gave a hefty amount of EXP.

Starry directly leveled up to 25, her damage contribution had far surpassed everyone else’s, and so she received the largest share of experience. Zane was now halfway through Level 24. The others were all around Level 22, with DumbCitrus at Level 21. It was worth noting that Shiu’s Pyrestorm had leech-killed quite a lot of enemies, allowing him to reach Level 23.

The top ten of Wynwater City’s level rankings were almost entirely occupied by their group. Only one player, Windblossom, sat alone at fourth place.

At last, after another three minutes, the very last Dragon Abyss Knight fell. The ground was piled high with so much loot it was dizzying to look at.

Everyone finally let out a breath of relief. Dukeette set Seraphine down, complaining that her arms had gone numb. Wanderer also dropped Nangong to the ground with an expression full of distaste, while Zaria, looking completely unfazed, set Snowy down with ease.

“Nangong, you handle gathering the loot. Everyone else, prepare for battle, it’s not over yet.” Zane’s tone grew serious as he looked toward the massive figure charging at them.

“OK!” Nangong scrambled to his feet and, with lightning speed, scooped up the coins and gear in one sweep, moving like someone who had never seen loot before in his life.

“The Dragon Abyss Legion… defeated again?” The heavy voice rumbled like thunder, spreading through the entire enclosed space.
“A mighty knight corps, brought down by a handful of ants? Hmph, I’m not impressed,” another tall figure said with disdain.
“Shut your mouth! You venomous mage who only knows how to wag your tongue!”
“Ha! Victor, has it been so long since you’ve felt the true power of magic that you dare to talk back to me?” the voice replied sharply.