# Chapter 2865: Full-Scale Melee
Unfortunately, these words only earned a cold sneer from the Bearded Man. He took out a scroll-like prop and blew outward, releasing a freezing cold air that instantly froze the corridor. The short old man standing in it was naturally no exception, with a layer of frost forming on his defense barrier.
But this layer of frost was shattered by black materialized objects the next second. Whip-like materialized objects rapidly churned through the corridor, transforming into fine blades as they shot toward the Bearded Man and his group, indiscriminately shredding everything in the air!
The Bearded Man and his crew were no pushovers either. As A-level players, they naturally carried jamming devices on them. Thus, those materialized fine blades quickly lost their lethality, though they didn't dissipate completely. Instead, they barely maintained their form and fell to the ground.
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly upon seeing this. Maintaining the state of materialized objects even under interference—impressive.
The devices bought the Bearded Man's group some room to maneuver. The team equipped with defense items closed in on the short old man. Due to space constraints, large-scale sneak attack items weren't practical, so the Hundred Forest Society leaned toward close-quarters combat. With their numerical advantage, this approach worked in their favor.
Mental control could catch someone off guard, but it couldn't affect so many people at once. The short old man fought while retreating, using the narrow corners of the building to block attacks. With the flexibility and versatility of mental materialization, he actually managed to kill three Hundred Forest Society members in a short time.
The Hundred Forest Society members were enraged. One of them trapped the short old man with a space-blocking item, while another player shouted "Ear Pick" at him. The short old man suddenly froze in place, and several attack items shot toward his brow, throat, and heart!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The items collided with the defense items that flew out, then rebounded along their original path, stabbing back toward their original owners.
Three players dodged out of the corridor, retrieved their items, and turned back around. By then, the Bearded Man had already engaged the short old man in close combat. The Bearded Man's thread-like attack items shot out from all sides of the corridor walls, trying to pin the short old man in place, but the latter nimbly dodged them and instead threw a water ball that trapped the Bearded Man inside.
The Bearded Man instantly began drowning, but he wasn't trapped for long. Coordinating with his companions from both inside and outside, they blasted the water ball apart. However, the moment the water ball burst, the short old man tossed out several electric balls that could discharge electricity. Red arcs instantly spread through the corridor, and for a moment, only screams could be heard.
The lethal power of strong electricity wasn't weak, but with protective measures, it wasn't enough to actually kill an A-level player. The Bearded Man and his group quickly broke free. One of them activated a swamp trait, and everyone present—the short old man, some Hundred Forest Society members, and even the observing Xu Huo and his group—were all rooted to the spot, their legs feeling as if they were truly stuck in a swamp, unable to move.
At this point, the battle shifted toward them. As it passed by, several Hundred Forest Society players pretended to pursue the short old man but actually released items to attack Xu Huo!
Xu Huo pressed his fingers downward. These items, which had approached and been blocked by his defense barrier, were pressed back to the ground along with their holders. The swamp trait failed, and the tangents of the "Time-Space Hand" spread throughout the space, reaping two Hundred Forest Society members whose defenses had been broken.
Under the effects of jamming devices and defense items, the lethality of the "Time-Space Hand" wasn't immediately apparent. However, it could still cause resonance among time rays. At the original resonance density, it would be difficult to precisely destroy the players' items. But Xu Huo was still standing there. He manipulated the time rays, causing intense resonance among time powers, and in an instant, destroyed quite a few items belonging to Hundred Forest Society members.
Those behind him, like Wang Xin and his group, also had some items damaged, but that was just their bad luck—they happened to be affected by the time resonance of the "Time-Space Hand." It wasn't severe.
As for the Hundred Forest Society, under Xu Huo's deliberate actions, some of their carried jamming devices were also destroyed. This meant the tangents of the "Time-Space Hand" were restored, and they could only rely on defense items to block the tangents.
The tangents and defense items consumed each other. The Hundred Forest Society members could no longer move freely. So the Bearded Man pulled back from his fight with the short old man, pressed something on his belt, and a surge of power erupted, forcibly creating a freely movable space within the instance area.
Simply put, it was like a transparent bubble forcefully pushing the space tangents aside. Both the Hundred Forest Society members and Wang Xin's group were all freed from the restrictions of the "Time-Space Hand."
"How interesting." Yue Yan'er tossed out a few robots to block the Hundred Forest Society members. "Do you think we have no one here?"
The advantage of robots was that most traits didn't affect them. As long as they were equipped with enough weapons, they could leave players with no room to use their items.
Unfortunately, due to space limitations, Yue Yan'er's robots were taken down after a while. But she had started things off, and Wang Xin and his group no longer stood idly by. If the Hundred Forest Society took the finger-sleeve item, they would truly have no way out!
Wang Xin's trait was probably related to magnetism. He could control others' movements from a distance. Though he couldn't manipulate their every move, being able to throw people around was quite useful. Under his manipulation alone, several players were sent flying, and the items they released also lost their aim.
Shen Ling'er looked delicate, but her martial arts were exceptionally strong. She excelled in close-quarters combat. Paired with close-fitting defense items and Yue Yan'er's remote control, she continuously forced back several opponents.
The Red Ruby Necklace and the others who had come from other spaces didn't join the fight. They retreated far away. Dark Circles and Cong Lei didn't clearly side with the Hundred Forest Society in the fight, but the former used his trait to ground all flying items, while the latter contributed a set of lightning-drawing equipment.
The Hundred Forest Society members were quite cunning. The short old man had just electrocuted them, and now they turned around and used electricity against Xu Huo and his group.
But electricity wasn't as easy to control as ordinary items. It could easily hurt both the user and their allies, so they only used small-scale attacks.
The wildly arcing currents were drawn high into the air by the equipment, crackling and discharging. They didn't hurt anyone, but they turned this Hundred Forest Society revenge attack into a full-scale melee. Almost all the players present joined in!
Because the items used by A-level players had much larger ranges and lethality than B-level ones, standing a bit farther away wasn't enough to avoid being affected. And the players using the items couldn't precisely control their effects either—they would inevitably indiscriminately cover everyone within range. So in this not-so-large instance space, full participation was inevitable.
"Watch out for explosions!" someone shouted. Immediately afterward, the air in the entire space began exploding indiscriminately. Coincidentally, someone released smoke to block visibility. Under the explosions, all the players scattered. No one wanted to stay in an open area and be bombarded from all directions.