Ivan’s sneak attack was impeccable in terms of both speed and surprise. It wasn't until the sound of rushing wind reached his ears that Feng Bujue realized something was amiss.

By then, it was too late for Brother Jue to react.

No matter how godly Feng Bujue was, he couldn't possibly have fully countered such a premeditated, high-speed sneak attack when he didn't even know there was a "fourth person" to begin with.

Therefore, there was nothing he could do about it.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the next second would see Brother Jue struck in the back of the head by his opponent's knifehand, instantly turning into white light.

But unforeseen circumstances did occur.

In that split second, another figure entered the open space with speed even greater than Ivan’s, narrowly beating him to Ivan’s side and seizing the latter's wrist.

"Ugh—" Ivan couldn't speak. When his infallible strike was firmly intercepted by his opponent, he merely grunted.

He immediately looked up, only to see that the one stopping him was a middle-aged man dressed as an ordinary sailor, with a hunched back and a face full of pockmarks.

"Holy crap!" A second later, Feng Bujue turned his head. His reaction was incredibly swift; the moment those two words left his mouth, he used the momentum of his turn to deliver a side kick.

*Thump—*

The kick landed squarely on Ivan's chest, producing a resounding thud like a battering ram against a door.

At the moment Ivan was hit, the pirate who called himself "Ken" also very cleverly continued to restrain the former's wrist. This meant… Ivan couldn't use "flying backward" to alleviate the impact and could only stand there, taking the full force of the attack.

"Pfft—"

Even though Feng Bujue’s normal physical skills weren't on par with those of world-class elite bosses, he was still a level 51 player with an S-rank in Fighting specialization, and this kick was enough to make Ivan cough up blood.

"Heh… you haven't changed a bit…" After watching Brother Jue's kick, Ken revealed a smile. "You still have no idea how to fight…"

As he spoke, he released Ivan's hand. Because of the kick, Ivan was still in a "stiffened" state, unable to escape, and could only stagger back a few steps.

"Let me show you what's what…" Ken said, already lunging toward Ivan. His hunchbacked body didn't hinder him from making agile and powerful movements. "...What a kick technique is!"

Before he finished speaking, crimson light burst forth.

Also a side kick, but Ken's kick… involved a large degree of rotation, the angle between his legs opening to over one hundred and twenty degrees; and despite this, the axis of his body remained straight and steady as Mount Tai.

Compared to Feng Bujue's side kick, which barely reached a horizontal position, Ken's kick was as sharp as a blade and as fierce as a storm. Despite his hunchbacked figure and wretched appearance, this kick was much prettier than Brother Jue's.

*Chi—*

In an instant, the spinning kick, flashing with crimson light, accurately struck Ivan's head.

And then… Ivan no longer had a head.

And his headless body immediately knelt down, collapsed, twitched… until finally, it stopped moving.

"So it's you…" When Ken kicked, Feng Bujue had already shifted his attention away from Ivan. After looking at Ken for a few seconds, he said, "Heh… what should I call you now? K1-Scarlet Iron, or…"

"Saying 'you' isn't quite accurate." Unexpectedly, before Brother Jue could finish, another person's voice came from "Ken's" mouth, interrupting him. "Should say 'you all.'"

"Oh?" Feng Bujue quickly noticed the change in his opponent. He re-examined the other person using his data vision and continued, "Hmm… two Derivatives sharing one body… and it's a defective body that originally belonged to an NPC…"

"That's a long story." Scarlet Iron seemed to have regained control of the conversation. He spoke faster and more directly. "Let's clean up those guys first."

With that, he turned his head and cast his gaze toward Kronon and the others in the distance.

At this moment, Kronon had finally caught his breath. Tureus had also used holy light to restore himself to a good state. Only Idient… had yet to recover from the side effects of "Berserk Mode" and was still slumped on the ground… in a way, his move was quite similar to "Devil Descent."

"Tch… looks like another troublesome guy has shown up." Tureus spat and glanced at Kronon, saying, "I say… are you still up for it?"

"I…" A fire-like glint flashed in Kronon's cold eyes. "...Even if I die… I'll drag Feng Bu…"

"You're thinking too much!" Feng Bujue shouted, accelerating with a Moonwalk before the other man could finish speaking, and thrusting the [Bell's Daily Knife] straight into Kronon's crown.

*Crack—*

At the same moment, accompanied by a sound of bone proliferation and explosion, a "bone cage" that could barely enclose one person appeared around Kronon.

"I expected you to attack suddenly…" Kronon had studied Feng Bujue after all. Although he couldn't be said to anticipate every move in battle, he had some defenses ready.

He and Ivan both belonged to the type who… "placed themselves in the position of the weak and tried to challenge Feng Bujue." This type was common among players, but among unique NPCs and Derivatives, there were very few who fought players with this mindset.

Most of the high-level beings Feng Bujue had encountered before had fought Brother Jue with the mentality of "I'm stronger than this alien traveler." But after the Twilight of the Gods event, the situation was different… Now, any high-level being in the main universe who recognized Brother Jue was unlikely to make the low-level mistake of "underestimating the enemy." Therefore, it would probably be difficult to implement routines like "brat's low sweep + must-break-defense blade to the head" in the future (of course, the must-break-defense blade was already broken).

"I also expected… that with your physical skills, you wouldn't be able to dodge or block at all, and could only use magic to defend." As Feng Bujue spoke, he took out the [Tiangang Disha Pouch] with his other hand and began to use this item to absorb the magical energy on the "bone cage."

Seeing this, Kronon belatedly realized… that Feng Bujue’s sudden thrust was just a feint; the hand holding the knife hadn’t exerted any force, so it hadn’t been pierced by the sudden bone cage spikes.

"Hmph—" On the other hand, Tureus was also good at sizing up the situation. Seeing that Brother Jue and Kronon were in a brief stalemate, he immediately took advantage of the opportunity and swung his greatsword horizontally toward Feng Bujue’s back.

"Too slow!" How could Scarlet Iron let Tureus get his way? He struck again like lightning, delivering an upward sweeping kick at the swinging blade.

Immediately afterward, a "thwack" was heard.

The trajectory of the greatsword's swing suddenly changed under this kick, becoming an upward motion, and just brushed past the back of Feng Bujue’s head… hitting nothing.

"Annoying guy…" After missing with his swing, Tureus wasn't flustered. He simply turned around, raised his hand, and used the skill "Hand of Judgment" directly toward Scarlet Iron.

A burst of golden energy containing holy light instantly erupted, hitting Scarlet Iron head-on.

"I already said…" However, Scarlet Iron's voice immediately appeared behind Tureus. "You…"

As this word left his mouth, Scarlet Iron had already grabbed Tureus’ shoulders.

"Too…"

As this word left his mouth, Scarlet Iron threw Tureus into the air.

"Slow…"

As this word left his mouth, Tureus had already fallen quickly and was grabbed horizontally by Scarlet Iron in front of him.

"…LY!"

As this last word left his mouth, Scarlet Iron had already used a standard "waist lock" on Tureus’ spine with his knee.

"Gah—" When Tureus coughed up blood from the blow, his face was completely incredulous.

As an NPC with the ability to fly, he had thought he could break free of the other person's control during the "thrown into the air" interval, but the judgment of "chain throws" prevented his attempt.

After this strike, it could basically be declared that Tureus was knocked out.

On the other side, the offense and defense between Feng Bujue and Kronon… had also reached a critical point.