Chapter 115: Li Ang: At what point did you get the illusion that I had stagnated?

Within the pale golden curtain, some Knights wearing golden armor and with pale complexions began to gather gradually. A few players were also mixed in among them, waiting together for the brilliant golden curtain in the sky to pull open to both sides and let them out.

This sort of thing had happened from time to time over the past month. Because the wandering demons outside were truly too damaging to the players, sometimes the demons gathered together could even resist the players' artillery fire and psychic power.

And at these times, it was often necessary for the Pale Army and some elite players to go out and gradually clear out those stubborn demon strongholds.

However, the demons would also frequently destroy the players' castles, so this often turned into an extremely scorching tug-of-war. Only when a group of the Pale Army and player leaders marched toward a certain direction, as they were doing now, could there be a slight possibility of a successful breakthrough.

But everyone did not hold much hope for this assault; after all, three consecutive attacks had already failed to cause decisive damage to the demon fortress, and now everyone was a bit weary.

And this time, the Pale Army's attack was mainly because the Psionic Spire was setting up the area and orientation, planning to transport some key Star-Bearer strategic supplies to Antarctica. Player leader Li Ang was advising the Slaanesh God-Chosen Edward, who had turned over a new leaf, planning to pull together an assault team to see if it could have any effect.

Although this news was said to be secret, it also spread widely among the players.

Many players stood on the plaza, craning their necks in anticipation, waiting to see just how powerful the strategic supplies that could be transported from inside the gradually tearing space gate would be, and whether they could even change the entire battlefield situation in Antarctica.

"—Of course, the demons are also very clear about this news. Many players do not have any confidentiality measures or mindset; they tell their close friends and brothers on the forums whatever they know. So it is a matter of course that the demons know a large batch of supplies will be transported at this time."

Looking at those demon fortresses that were just tightly shut, with the Domain Rift being nervously adjusted inside, the expression on Li Ang's face did not change much.

At the top of this demon fortress, which stood among the black mountains, was a huge Domain Rift. Groups of demons occupied this fortress, built by a civilization from who knows how many years ago, and used it as a large-scale stronghold to launch attacks on the players. But at the same time, there were also some players living in this fortress.

You cannot expect everyone to stand on your side; there must be a batch of players who have other channels and can reach deals with the demons. This point could be seen from the Slaanesh God-Chosen Edward.

It was just that this was the process of the game.

It was a game that the Chaos Gods believed they were playing with Li Ang in reality, and a game that the players and this world believed they were playing.

But Li Ang never felt that this was an ordinary, simple game. Rather, he had no intention of playing any grand game with these demons, or even their masters behind them.

He only wanted to continue, to keep living, and then to keep winning. For this goal and idea, Li Ang could disguise himself as a player, and naturally, he could do things that the gods would never deign to do, nor would they ever think of doing. For example, using his identity to create false intelligence.

"…The suppressive force of space has weakened."

Watching the demons who turned a blind eye to the clamor of the Pale Army, who had white-gold Runes on their bodies, Li Ang, standing at the edge of the Psionic Curtain, raised his eyebrows and felt the pressure rapidly increasing in a certain place.

Just as he had anticipated, since one could target the actions of a certain faction, one could naturally target the large-scale rituals of a certain faction. They knew the intelligence regarding military items, so they would definitely impose targeted interference on the transport portal; it was even very likely that, at this moment, the Antarctic Pivot was already a sea of fire.

Because in Li Ang's eyes, those demons had already begun to cheer, turning into smoke and dust themselves and disappearing into the Domain Rift.

"The domain magic's interference with the outside world is at its weakest period now. Are they ignoring us and preparing to interfere with the large-scale transport of strategic supplies? It seems that compared to us attacking the demon fortress, the demons are more concerned about the strategic supplies from the Landing Site."

"But, this is the moment I have been waiting for."

Looking at those demons in the dark demon fortress who were unconcerned, seemingly focused only on manipulating the Domain Rift and letting that strange reality rift affect all transport to the Antarctic Pivot, Li Ang smiled slightly.

"Antarctic Psychic Network, activate!"

"Now! Concentrate all power toward me!"

The impassioned command instantly spread from the Psychic Network.

Almost in an instant, the concepts of time and space began to blur, and an unimaginably vast amount of Psychic Power almost instantly drained all the Psionic High Towers shimmering on the beach.

The power of the Subspace transcended time and space, and even transcended the thinking and cognitive abilities of normal people. It was as if time itself had been cut off for a portion and then reconnected; in the eyes of all the demons, the world before them flashed with infinite light almost instantly.

"What's wrong! What happened!"

"What did those players do!"

"No idea at all!"

The demons looked at each other, bewildered and at a loss, losing even the perception of time and impression in the twisted Subspace. It felt as if only an instant had passed, and that golden curtain in the sky shattered in the blink of an eye due to excessive consumption.

But the demons inside the fortress were not happy, because in the next second, the four-colored Pale Army had instantly covered their line of sight.

"This is—"

Since when did it start?

Since when did it become like this? There was clearly a barrier, why would it…

The demons widened their eyes, looking in disbelief at the Pale Army that had instantly appeared in the ice and snow, holding various weapons.

Those Pale Army members, who appeared to be Elves, had cold and calm expressions, holding some unusual weapons, aimed at the distant demon fortress. And at the same time, behind the Pale Army, some black-looking artillery pieces also began to gradually be loaded with ammunition.

Unlike all the mainstream artillery currently in the Old World, the hundreds of black artillery pieces behind the Pale Army were clearly not those handcrafted by ancient methods. Those angular structures, exquisite and uniform brass ammunition, and the mechanisms driven by countless riveted rivets and steel, all proved that these things were products of a modern industrial assembly line.

The moment these products that transcended the era appeared on the battlefield, all intelligent beings in the Old World seemed to hear a roar of angry disbelief.

Red and blue lights intertwined in the sky, as the two great gods representing war and wisdom glared at the miracle on the battlefield.

Artillery, the eternal god of war.

This branch of the military, which should never have, and could never have, appeared in the Old World on a large scale, now appeared on this Antarctic battlefield in its most perfect form.

Facing the roaring of the gods intertwined in the sky, those pale Elves remained unmoved, coldly completing the loading work, and then pulled hard. The roar of hundreds of artillery pieces formed an almost uniform shout, instantly blowing away the anger cast down by the two ignorant gods.

Hundreds of brilliant points of light rose into the high sky with the power of destruction. Under the astonished and even somewhat disbelieving gaze of all the demons, the white-gold explosive warheads, which had tens of thousands of Anti-Chaos Runes and symbols hammered into them with a Power Hammer, reflected the traces of pure death and destruction in the demons' pupils. This meant that that man, the man whom Chaos regarded as its own kind, had made a very clear decision.

He did not need this demon fortress to exist on the ground. Nor did he need any demons to survive in this world. In the Subspace, there was and could only be one person's will, and that was enough.

"Fire."

With an order.

A second later, countless flashes soared into the sky.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The steel god of war roared, tearing the snowflakes in the air to shreds, turning them into scorching sonic booms.

Every two seconds, that terrifying roar raged across the battlefield.

The Elf artillerymen of the Pale Army, with a mechanical posture, calmly destroyed all enemies on the battlefield equally. White-gold spots of light fell from the sky like dense raindrops, instantly ravaging the stubborn demon fortress into a sea of white-gold fire.

Those demons screamed and shouted madly inside the enclosed fortress, even attempting to mobilize psychic power to teleport out. But among those hundreds of shells, some were always mixed with anti-psychic shells.

In the face of that white-gold rainstorm, the demon castle dissolved instantly like a sandcastle in the waves.

As for the red and blue monsters circling in the sky, Li Ang calmly extended his palm and snapped his fingers at the two gods who seemed unusually dissatisfied and angry.

"I believe that strategic deception is a very important link, and it can achieve unexpected victories at all times."

Facing the terrifying storm on the battlefield, Li Ang calmly took off his hood and looked at the vortex in the sky. The golden spiral, carrying the world's initial desire for destruction, stared back at the gods without fear.

"Since you've lost, stop crying out in defiance, wild dog. You are nothing but ghosts wandering within the continent, a group of ridiculous psychic aggregates that cannot even exclusively occupy this planet... I was never your partner; the things I want to see are far more distant than your thoughts."

"You... you hopeless bastard!"

The God of War let out a terrifying shriek, and a massive black iron greatsword, appearing like a mountain range, emerged from the sky, instantly slamming into the pale golden Veil and emitting a shrill, grinding sound.

The Magic Domain Rift standing at the center of the castle quickly became unstable. Amidst the roars of the gods and the chaos of demons attempting to attack the artillery, no one noticed a figure identical to Li Ang snatch a cube from the rift and instantly vanish from the infinitely exploding battlefield.

Li Ang, on the front lines, did not seem to notice the anomaly in the rift; he simply extended his palm calmly toward the sky. Driven by a certain will, the World Scar in the Arctic instantly erupted with unimaginable Psychic Power, traversing the entire firmament to reach the top of the Psionic Spire in the Antarctic, where it was grasped in Li Ang's palm, clashing against the giant sword in the sky while scattering golden light. It was a scene that language could not properly describe, and a moment that would remain unforgettable in the eyes of all players. The terrifying figure of the God of War even flickered in the sky, roaring as he swung the greatsword down once more toward the Antarctic Continent where the players were located.

The golden light, however, instantly elongated into a thin line, slicing across the mountain-like black iron greatsword in the sky, causing the massive psychic construct to instantly lose its concept and transform into a void of black blizzard.

"Can you only exert force within the Subspace? Or have you already lost the ability to use power in reality?"

Before the eyes of the gods, Li Ang directed all the power that the spires on the Antarctic Continent could support toward the instantly expanding space-time rift, gripping hard at the massive, swelling opening in the demon fortress.

"Boom!"

A brilliant pillar of light instantly shot toward the sky.

Originally, under the manipulation of the God of Trickery, this brilliant light was about to strike down into the Antarctic Continent, causing all of Li Ang's plans to fall apart, but at this instant, as if it had been anticipated, a vast and complex array lit up from the Infinite Wall built by the players, instantly diverting the tilted pillar of light toward the dome.

This massive Energy Pillar, originally intended to close the Magic Domain Rift, did not cause any damage on the continent; it failed to achieve its goal in the face of the Star-Bearer's powerful Defense Matrix, instead allowing everyone in the world to see the brilliant pillar of light shooting toward the sky.

Then, everyone also observed the pillar of light strike an invisible barrier, rippling like water and refracting the light back onto the earth.

Watching the golden light diffuse and fall from the sky, Li Ang issued his command with a calm expression.

"... Everyone, record the diffusion coefficient of the sky, prepare to calculate the impact fluctuations on the Sky Shield."

"My lord, you mean...?"

"I've thought this way since I first knew... don't you think this thing called the sky is an eyesore?"

Watching the ripples instantly wash across the firmament, which was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, Li Ang flipped the Gold Coin in his hand and tossed it toward the sky.

The next instant, the attack sweeping down from the sky instantly turned the Gold Coin in front of everyone into a blank slate. Countless brilliant sparks spread from the firmament in all directions across the entire Antarctic Continent, erasing those demon fortresses and some Chaos Warband gathering spots from the ground out of thin air.

The anger of the God of War and the God of Wisdom came and went quickly; they could not cause too much interference in reality, so they scattered and left.

But as the price, all of the players' defensive lines were shattered, and the Antarctic Pivot was plunged into a sea of fire. Countless demons poured out of the mountains, launching an attack on the castle where the players' defensive capabilities had been significantly reduced.

However, all of this was worth it.

Everything, to Li Ang, was just a ruse to cover up his true purpose.

Hundreds of small Psionic Spires and a dozen large Psionic Spires, the gathered attack was merely a test. Li Ang never had, and simply never intended to be trapped in this world. Yes, the firmament was covered by an invisible shield, and everyone was performing their own joys and sorrows on this planet, which was hundreds of times larger than Earth, but Li Ang just didn't like any of it.

"As for me, this was actually my plan from the very beginning. Once I knew about the sky's shield, I never thought about continuing to play games on the ground with this trash."

Signaling for the Pale Army that had been teleported over to begin hunting the emerging demons everywhere, Li Ang sat on a stone and pulled from his bosom the treasure he had secretly snatched during the chaos of artillery and psychic disturbance.

This Ancient Ones' creation was like a silver water droplet, refracting Li Ang's calm face.

"What common language do I have with them? What freedom do I have here? The resources here are vast, that's true, but I am restricted even more vastly. Every move I make is watched; my every action, every motion, my power, my thinking, everything is being consumed by a bunch of idiots."

"It's too wasteful, truly too wasteful. If there were no such shackles, my first satellite would likely have already ascended into the sky. But now, I have only just completed industrialization, only initially armed my Pale Army. And to root out the interference from those dregs, I need to purify every living thing; I need to unify their wills into a whole."

"That is too troublesome and too time-consuming. The most important thing in the universe is mass, and the negative effects of this planet have exceeded my capacity to accept."

Looking at the prompt flickering at the corner of his eye, Li Ang's face revealed deep-seated rage and hatred.

"Your faction's cultural expansion is being interfered with by the God of Pleasure!"

"Your faction's life expansion is being interfered with by the God of Life!"

"Your faction's wisdom expansion is being interfered with by the God of Wisdom!"

"Your faction's struggle expansion is being interfered with by the God of War!"

"Based on the current level of interference, your current technology penalty is 320,000%. The gods of the Subspace have decided to complete this game with you in the industrial era. Only when you complete the stage tasks can you unlock more technology and Paths. You can also forcibly unlock other routes through other means."

"Please note, the Chaos Gods are continent-level psychic entities; as long as you live on this planet, you will inevitably be interfered with by them. Unless one of the following conditions is met."

"One: Kill all intelligent life related to the Chaos Gods, kill all intelligent life in the whole world."

"Two: Occupy every corner of the world, bring all intelligent life under your command."

"Three: Erase or replace the concepts of life, wisdom, culture, and struggle within the world."

"Please choose your path."

It was a simple matter; the Chaos Gods sent a signal they considered friendly to Li Ang, this guy who was cheating.

This world was their playground, and they also believed that Li Ang could participate in their great game. So as long as he kept moving forward according to the rules, the Chaos Gods would not be stingy with their rewards.

If he proceeded step by step, perhaps he could get a very beautiful future. Because as a true cheating player, a living creature that could be considered a god, the ultimate winner would always be Li Ang, who possessed a physical body, rather than the void entities of the Subspace.

Even if he flipped the table, it would be the largest-scale table-flipping, and he wouldn't be afraid of those monsters at all.

However, Li Ang hated it when people told him what to do.

Especially like now, holding his head and telling him that he must complete this or that within the planet, what he must do in the first step, what he must do in the second step.

When did he ever agree to play games with these four things? Li Ang himself never had this memory in his mind. But this did not prevent him from taking the opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the Subspace gods, who had no idea why, and expel their influence from the entire Antarctic Continent.

"I hate these so-called gods pointing fingers at us, so this is a warning and a signal. What we are going to do next is neither to rebuild the ruins of the Ancient Ones nor to investigate the composition of all the environmental factors of the realms. What we are going to do is to shatter this cage in the firmament and let our gaze pass through the cosmic space to see the environment outside the realms."

"I hate red tape, and I hate even more these bugs that are always clinging to my magnificent clothes. I have had enough of these vampires; we must complete the dream of expansion more efficiently."

"Prepare to start tearing apart our cage; we shall surely head toward the sea of stars."

Looking at the Pale Army surrounding him, Li Ang's expression was unwavering.

"Our pace of progress cannot stop; I will never stop for the things left behind on this one planet. We need more, more, more things."

And just as Li Ang said these words, the players who were struggling to resist in their respective castles suddenly heard a shattered sound in their minds. A certain azure god, at the moment of leaving, seemed to have left a small gift for all the players who were fighting hard.

"Crack."

The charm Rune in a certain place began to shatter, and some sealed concepts and knowledge began to spread.

All the players, especially those studying Psychic Power, finally realized a problem. A problem that had always been ignored and forgotten by them.

"If the Star-Bearer can fight against Chaos, they can resist other erosion, and use mysterious Rune power to let us obtain power close to Chaos power, and even summon those monsters called the Pale Army to appear out of thin air... then what is the essential difference between them and demons?"

"..."

Another player stared blankly at the awakened player, then suddenly revealed a smile.

"What on earth are you talking about? I don't understand. How is there no difference from demons? Isn't the difference huge? They are killing demons, and we are profiting from it; what could possibly be the problem?"

"I..."

What was I just about to say?

The mark shattered by the Chaos deity just moments ago seemed to have undergone a change; the player, who had intended to denounce the sins of the Star-Bearer within the players' base world, shook their head in a daze, seemingly unable to figure out what they were going to say.

Meanwhile, in the players' world, in the distant Antarctica, a spire shining with pale golden light stood tall amidst the wind and snow. Some figures with golden Runes on their bodies felt the immense power surging within them, sighed in satisfaction, and then looked with smug pride at the surrounding players who also bore golden Runes.

"Look, this is the great power of the Star-Bearer Lord! Even in our world, we can still summon its light!"

Ten-thousand-word update complete! (End of chapter)