Who plays the nostalgia server?

After the commercial break, the camera returned to the battlefield of the Fusion Monster team.

Three mercenary squads unleashed their full firepower upon the Fusion Monster at the heart of the desert, bullets pouring down like a tide. Grenades occasionally traced perfect arcs to land at the creature's feet, exploding with thunderous force.

Yet, ordinary firearms seemed powerless against this colossal Fusion Monster; bullets and shrapnel became its nourishment, swallowed greedily into its grotesque body.

In contrast, the Fusion Monster had already hunted three mercenaries with its giant intestine tongue, leaving not even a bone behind.

“Bullets… hurt… but they taste good!” One of its heads wore an expression of bliss as bullets striking its flesh were devoured by the writhing mass, causing its body to swell even further.

“Bullets taste bad… but meat tastes good!” Another head set its sights hungrily on the mercenaries still firing, its gaze as ravenous as a starving wolf.

Swish—

Once more, the gaping maw on the monster’s belly opened wide, and its intestine tongue shot out, swiftly snatching a mercenary and dragging him toward its mouth.

“Help me! Hurry!” The mercenary, entwined by the intestine, could only cry out to his teammates.

His companion acted without hesitation, whipping out a serrated cutting blade and hacking at the tongue with all his might, severing it in a single swipe.

The rescued mercenary collapsed to his knees, desperately trying to peel the writhing intestine from his body.

Realizing its tongue had been severed and its prey snatched away, the Fusion Monster erupted in fury. All three heads and the giant mouth on its belly screamed in unison:

“Thief! Give us back our meat!” x4

Had the mercenaries not been seasoned veterans with nerves of steel, they might have been scared witless by the spectacle.

“Ordinary attacks are useless—fall back!” With a third of their strength lost, they quickly sensed the danger and signaled the retreat.

Though well-equipped and tactically sharp, they were still, at the end of the day, mere mortals armed to the teeth. Such a monstrous abomination could only be confronted by the ‘monsters’ in other teams.

Sensing the impending withdrawal, the Fusion Monster’s three heads roared again, their voices weaving a relentless quartet:

“You’re not allowed to run! I want to eat!” x4

In the next moment, the Fusion Monster threw itself to the ground, the maw on its belly devouring the sand beneath it.

With its intestine tongue flailing wildly, the monster’s belly-mouth acted like a powerful vacuum cleaner, swallowing all the sand around it. Its body began to swell at an astonishing rate—soon it was twice, then three times its original size, and still growing.

As vast quantities of sand vanished in moments, a massive quicksand vortex formed around the Fusion Monster.

“Damn it!” Two mercenaries failed to escape in time, their legs sinking into the quicksand.

Their teammates could only watch helplessly as they struggled in the sandy pit, eventually drawn toward the monster and swallowed along with the sand.

Just as the surviving mercenaries escaped the quicksand and were about to celebrate, a foul stench assaulted their senses.

Now five times its original size, the monstrous Fusion Monster suddenly released a noxious, multifaceted fart.

Immediately, sand mixed with blood and rotting flesh erupted from its rear, resembling a spectacular desert geyser.

The sand fountain quickly formed a localized sandstorm overhead, burying the bewildered mercenaries beneath its weight.

“I’ve never seen such a flamboyant tactic! The Fusion Monster team is showing even more prowess than in the preliminary rounds!” Flavius, undeterred by the constipated expressions of the two special guests, poured his passion through the microphone:

“Devouring sand to create quicksand, then spraying it to form a sandstorm—what other contestant could possibly pull off such a battle strategy? Could any of you watching do it?!”

“Go, Fusion Monster team! I’m starting to root for you! May you win the championship and fulfill your idol dreams!”

Nearby, the dragon-maid struggled to suppress her nausea, muttering, “Mr. Flower’s excitement seems a bit... odd?”

The foul sandstorm lasted nearly five minutes. A mercenary managed to crawl out from the sand, brushing a stray vertebra from his shoulder. Before he could react, a sharp pain shot through his lower body.

A small sand mound erupted beneath him; the Fusion Monster, now restored to its original size, burst forth from below, several corpse-like arms snatching him and stuffing him into the ribbed mouth on its chest.

His screams echoed, and another contestant lost his life.

The scoreboard projected in the sky shifted from [8/15] to [7/15].

This signaled that over half the teams had been eliminated, and the organizers’ so-called “explosive round” was about to begin.

Chen Shang glanced up at the scoreboard, then smiled warmly at his two teammates. “From here on, it’s every man for himself. I sincerely hope you both survive.”

“What do you mean?” The Greatsword Guy leaned on his weapon, puzzled.

“Can you be a bit clearer?” White Fox echoed his confusion, her fox ears twitching uneasily.

Before Chen Shang could reply, Flavius’s excited shout rang out from the sky:

“Now, let me, Little Flower, announce the ‘explosive round’ of this match!”

He shook his petal-adorned head and snapped his fingers theatrically.

With the crisp snap, every contestant was bathed in a pillar of light. Instantly, the sand beneath their feet began to collapse in wide swaths, threatening to swallow them whole.

“What’s go—ah!” White Fox barely had time to ask before she sank into the sand pit.

The Greatsword Guy, large as he was, got stuck for a moment but then also slid into the sand.

“Good luck to you both~” Chen Shang gestured goodbye to his teammates, relaxing as he dropped into the sandy void.

As one contestant after another disappeared beneath the desert, swallowed whole, the audience was left utterly stunned.

“Ah-ha! I’m sure you’re all wondering—why are our contestants falling into the sand?” Flavius’s timely, spirited commentary rang out again:

“That’s right! This match’s explosive round theme is ‘Nostalgic Classics’!”

“As the name suggests, contestants will be paired off in groups of two and randomly teleported to different underground arenas. Each arena corresponds to a past Grand Arena tournament theme. Only by completing a special trial can they return to the main stage above; failure means eternal slumber!”

“In every mini-arena, the two contestants are guaranteed to be from different teams. Will they fight to the death or work together to pass the trial? Let’s wait and see!”

...

Chen Shang climbed to his feet from the icy, blood-scented floor, the phantasms before his eyes quickly merging into clarity.

He took stock of his surroundings. He was in a vast underground arena.

All around were melee weapons—crowbars, katana, and more—while the perimeter was enclosed by two-meter-high electrified fences.

Beneath the ring, mechanical spectators filled the stands—mere mannequins swaying and cheering in unison to set the mood.

Across the arena, a black-haired youth loaded with firearms rose slowly, the gun barrel embedded in his forehead pointed coldly at Chen Shang.

From his appearance, he must be the leader of the “Devil of Guns” team.

The two sized each other up, and from the speakers overhead came a sly, male announcer’s voice:

“Hey, folks! Welcome to Arena 01! The theme here is ‘The Primal Death Match’!”

“This is an unrestricted fight—both of you must battle to the death in this ring, and only one victor will walk out alive!”