"Boom!"

Just as the Firebird collided with the speck of red light, an unexpected accident occurred.

The fiery glow burst forth like fireworks, enveloping the Firebird within it, forming a spherical barrier, chaotic and smooth, impenetrable even to light. This sudden change caught everyone by surprise, and the whole scene fell silent.

"This is bad, our connection with the Firebird has been severed!"

The Creamy Young Master’s expression turned extremely grave, and his serious tone made everyone realize something was amiss.

"Little Master sister, hurry and break this light shell and rescue the Firebird!"

Youtong clutched Gu Yue’s hand tightly, speaking anxiously, "Little Yue sister, you agree, right?"

"Exactly, Little Master sister, we should first rescue the Firebird to prevent any complications."

Gu Yue felt that something dangerous was brewing inside the fiery red light barrier, and it was an unpleasant sensation.

"Alright, we have no other choice now. Ice mages, attack!"

The Creamy Young Master chose to counter the light sphere with ice, hoping it might produce a surprising effect. She deemed their previous decision to crash the Firebird into the red light spot a mistake, putting her pet in jeopardy.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh."

Hundreds of ice arrows bombarded the bizarre light sphere, creating an impressive visual spectacle. In that moment, the cool sensation was as refreshing as air conditioning, truly invigorating.

"How can this be?"

Youtong was shocked to find that, instead of shattering the light shell, the ice mages’ combined attack had actually made it grow significantly larger, a development completely defying common sense!

"Continue the attack!"

The Creamy Young Master commanded calmly, as all the ice mages began their second round of assault.

"Bang!"

Under the relentless attack of the players, the light shell finally couldn’t withstand the pressure and exploded on the spot, freeing the trapped Firebird.

However.

To the players’ dismay, the Firebird hovered in the air, choosing not to return to the Creamy Young Master, but instead gazed down at the crowd with eyes filled with hatred, its murderous intent bare for all to see.

"Little Master sister, does it feel like the Firebird has betrayed us?"

Youtong realized something was wrong, feeling shocked and raised her shield unconsciously.

"Hmm, it has indeed betrayed us. My pet space is in a special sealed state, and the Firebird is clearly being controlled by the system now."

The Creamy Young Master summoned a blood-colored shield, protecting herself. Since her conversion to a Blood Curse Master, all of her skills underwent a qualitative change; even the Fire Shield had become a blood-colored film, much more resilient than before.

"Everyone be careful, the Firebird has evolved into a BOSS, just finish it off!"

"President, this..."

The players began to hesitate, none of them making the first move; after all, it was the President’s pet. If there was a way to resolve this without shedding blood, it would be ideal.

"Ice mages, on my command! Don’t let this Firebird gain momentum; kill it now!"

Buttercream discovered that the Firebird’s might was gradually increasing, its flames changing from red to purple and the emitting temperature continuously rising. This sent Buttercream’s heart to her throat, as she wasn’t sure if the Firebird, once completely controlled, would be permanently lost as a flying pet. If the system forcibly stripped it away, that would be a huge loss indeed!

They had to take back control of the Firebird now!

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

At Buttercream’s command, players began their assault, launching a sporadic volley of magical bolts, continuously bombarding the Firebird.

"Screeee!"

The Firebird’s blood-red eyes seemed almost to bleed as it let out an angry cry, unfurling its wings and flying high into the sky, evading most of the ranged attacks. Its entire body burst into violent flames, spewing out a shower of fire and creating a torrential rain of flames that soon turned the desert into a sea of fire.

"Holy shit, Buttercream, when did your pet become this powerful?"

Smoky was a bit incredulous about the damage caused by the sea of fire, knowing full well the strength of the Firebird. Its sudden power surge had taken him somewhat by surprise.

"Treat it like a high-level BOSS, don’t slack off. Focus your fire!"

"Roger that!"

...

An intense battle had begun, with the Firebird, after being enhanced by mysterious fiery specks, becoming much stronger and its attacks incredibly sharp. Fortunately, Buttercream had brought a sizable force, more than enough to take down a BOSS that had just mutated. After losing nearly a hundred people, they finally managed to bring the Firebird down from the sky, securing the final victory.

"Damn it! All that work and not a single piece of equipment dropped, not even a bottle of healing potion would have been good?"

Smoky swept away the Firebird’s corpse with his stick, finding no loot, and couldn’t help but grumble, "No spoils at all, how do we explain this to our fallen brothers?"

"Huh? Maybe it’s because it was Buttercream’s pet?"

Youtong’s eyes couldn’t hide her disappointment. After going through all the trouble to kill a BOSS and not getting a single piece of equipment, it was indeed frustrating. She turned to ask Buttercream, "Buttercream, your pet didn’t disappear, did it?"

"All good."

Buttercream glanced at the pet space and saw that the Firebird was only in a dead state, letting out a sigh of relief and saying with a smile, "The system hasn’t gone too far. As soon as the special seal was lifted, it returned the Firebird to me."

"The system, really... springing this on us all of a sudden, causing us to lose so many teammates, it’s infuriating..."

Gu Yue, with her resurrection spell, could only revive a dozen players, while the rest of the bodies had vanished. This filled her with regret at the thought that if only there were no cooldown on the resurrection spell, it would have been much better!

"Hey, look!"

A player, who happened upon the Firebird’s corpse by chance, suddenly sensed something was amiss, "All the player corpses have respawned, why is the BOSS’s corpse still here?"

"Indeed strange, could there be... a special mission within it?"

Smoky approached excitedly, poking at it with his stick, only to unexpectedly find that the Firebird’s corpse was immovable as if grown into the desert itself. No matter how much strength he used, he couldn’t push it even slightly.

"Crap, quicksand!"

Just as suspicion arose in his mind, the layers of sand began to sink slowly. The Firebird’s body gradually disappeared into the desert. Noticing this, Smoky let out a yell and sprinted toward the distance, not forgetting to shout, "Quicksand is coming! Get out of here quick, or it’ll be too late to escape!"

"Just our luck, the sandstorm just passed and now quicksand? Can’t we just have some fun?"

No choice, everyone once again began a mad dash for safety. Everyone knew quicksand was a super killer hidden within the desert. Once trapped, the chances of survival were almost zero!