Chapter 156: Heavenly Calamity Deploys, the Apex of Evil

Prismatic Mist Coast, Divine Oracle Dense Forest.

Evil Nine led more than two hundred warriors through the dense forest, searching for any target worth hunting.

The constant slaughter sent their strength soaring at a tremendous pace.

Just as the commander had predicted, the upper world indeed offered a far vaster supply of resources than their homeland.

As they advanced, the currents of breath they exhaled resembled wisps of drifting smoke, twisting and spiraling in the air, forming fleeting strange shapes, capturing energy particles from the air before flowing back into their bodies.

In this world, every ripple of the body (every breath) brought a faint increase in strength.

And the living beings of this world were even more brimming with vital energy, far more delicious than those raised in the homeland.

The only thing to worry about was the mysterious Blood Moon Domain to the north of the newly built tribal lands; they did not dare venture in rashly, able to clearly sense an aura of extreme evil seeping from within the domain.

Every time they approached, a horrifying dread of encountering a natural predator washed over them, so much so that even their breath-ripples nearly stopped.

And it was precisely under this near-suffocating pressure that they had never once entered the blood-colored domain to explore.

But the foreign races nearby were all fair game for their hunts.

In just these few days, the Evil Battle squad it led had already slaughtered three small tribes, and the vital energy absorbed had greatly boosted their strength.

The feeling was wonderful, so wonderful that Evil Nine even sensed itself breaking free of shackles, welcoming a life advancement.

After a search, no prey could be found.

Evil Nine led its tribesfolk to a clearing carpeted in blooming flowers and stopped, taking out piles of spirit plants from spatial equipment.

The released vital energy shredded the spirit plants, turning them into slightly impure spiritual essence, which was absorbed into the armor along with the intake of vital-energy ripples.

Instantly, the armor all over its body blossomed with flowing light, its strength rising steadily.

This was one of the two growth methods of the Evil Armor race.

As gaseous lifeforms, their strength growth was divided into two parts.

Armor growth and life growth, respectively.

By devouring vital energy and converting it into life energy, then crushing spirit plants to extract spiritual matter to amplify the armor's strength upon their bodies.

One growth system leaning toward spiritual strength, the other a body-tempering-like growth system.

Before long, Evil Nine and its tribesfolk had crushed all the recently plundered spirit plants and absorbed them through their armor.

The flowing light blooming on the armor faded accordingly, its strength having gained a notable boost.

Just as Evil Nine was about to lead its tribesfolk to continue exploring southward, it suddenly sensed something amiss and sharply raised its head to look at the sky.

It saw several brilliantly colored birds fly over their heads, circle a few times, then swiftly depart.

This was already the third time.

Evil Nine knew these birds well.

When they had clashed with the group of beings escorting the stone slab, those beings had released such birds to assist in battle; the trait of releasing light to heal wounds had left a deep impression on it.

This gave it a bad premonition.

If the birds were spirit beasts raised by the tribe of those beings who had escorted the stone slab,

then when they flew over just now and circled overhead watching, they were very likely scouting the surroundings and had already detected their invasion.

After a brief deliberation, Evil Nine made its decision without hesitation:

"Fall back first. We may have been spotted."

After issuing the order, Evil Nine decisively turned around and led its tribesfolk sprinting back the way they had come.

But they had not run far before several black shadows rushed in from behind at extreme speed, trailing streaks of afterimages.

Evil Nine instantly sensed something was wrong and immediately vibrated the air to shout:

"Battle stations!"

The running tribesfolk stopped one after another. At that moment a black shadow suddenly pounced on an Evil Armor tribe warrior, its body solidifying in midair, the dagger gripped in its hand glinting coldly.

"Still trying to run? Do you even know what 'extreme speed' is worth?"

As the words fell, the incoming Assassin-style player abruptly accelerated in midair with nothing to push off from, and the dagger brutally chiseled into the Evil Armor tribe warrior's neck.

Instantly, a Jin Ren Yin mark surfaced atop the struck Evil Armor tribe warrior's head, and virulent poison attribute flooded into its body.

The vital energy flowing within the armor was stained with a tinge of green.

After landing the strike, the Assassin-style player decisively activated the Twilight Shadow trait and retreated.

The other Assassin-style players also launched their ambush at this moment, each solidifying their bodies and unleashing their assault.

"I've pinned it down, hurry over to support!"

After completing an attack, an Assassin-style player decisively shouted in the battle-group chat channel, immediately receiving quite a few players' slightly excited responses.

In the rear, the vast player army was advancing.

Upon learning that Evil Armor tribe warriors had been found, the players were visibly thrilled; the faster ones quickly pulled away from the main force, urgently rushing to the engagement point to reinforce.

As more and more players poured in, Evil Nine instantly sensed something was wrong.

But retreat was already too late. A group of Statue-style players charged in and forcibly pulled them into a Taunt domain.

This made Evil Nine panic at once. It tried to shake off the emotional control, only to find it could not resist the anger rising from the depths of its heart—even knowing this anger had no emotional logic whatsoever and was entirely the result of external interference.

Under the Statue-style players' stalling, more and more players gathered on site.

"Hahaha, we've got you now, right? The stone slab was the flaw, wasn't it? Now let me see what your flaw is?"

"Who would've thought Light Spirit Feathers could also be used for aerial scouting? Once I've saved up enough money, I'm buying one too—way too useful... though recruiting a Sky Feather tribe teammate isn't bad either, saves money."

"Treacherous villains, the moment you arrived in Monster World you went on a rampage of burning, killing, and looting. Did you ever take us players seriously? Take this—super fireball!"

"The Earth-Eaters were already on their knees begging you. Just rob their resources and leave, but you slaughtered the whole tribe? That's too much."

"I just love you evil factions like this—killing you comes with zero guilt. In a bit I'll flip your tribal lands upside down and let you know you came to the wrong place."

The players arriving one after another all appeared especially excited.

Before this, they had already been searching for a long time around the spot where the stone slab had been plundered.

After searching for several rounds, they still could not find the departing Evil Shell Tribe warriors.

Finally, a player in the squad channel suggested that players with Light Spirit Feather pets conduct aerial reconnaissance to search.

After a large number of Light Spirit Feathers were released, news of the discovery was returned shortly thereafter.

The encirclement has now been formed; this squad of over 200 Evil Shell Tribe warriors is now impossible to escape.

Accustomed to fighting under disadvantages in numbers and combat power, the players felt no pressure in this confrontation of absolute superiority.

Amidst laughter, scolding, and mockery, the Evil Shell Tribe squad was reduced to only Evil Nine and six clan members still struggling desperately.

But this struggle was more like a dying gasp.

Facing a predicament that could not be broken, Evil Nine felt the fear brought by death.

The rhythm of his breathing ripples was disrupted; he felt like a lone boat rising and falling in a violent storm, constantly on the verge of being smashed into the sea depths by a giant wave.

Before the crisis of life and death, Evil Nine suddenly knelt on the ground.

"I am willing to offer resources to beg for my life."

Evil Nine vibrated the air, emitting the same sound the Earth-Eating Clan Chief had used when begging him.

He did not know the specific meaning of this sentence, but understood it was clearly used when begging for mercy, and perhaps it could be used to save his life.

This was also the reason he had memorized this sentence back then.

Seeing Evil Nine kneel and beg for mercy, the players' expressions instantly became extremely disgusted.

"This is the most cowardly clan I have seen in the Monster World. Everyone usually jokes about the Tian Huo Fa Wang meme, but they would rather die than abandon their clan members and leave alone; the courage to share life and death with their clan is worthy of praise. This is a true man. You such trash should just go die."

"Pah! When the Earth-Eating Clan Chief begged you for mercy, what did you do? You still want us to let you go? Dream on."

"I have seen so many alien races, none as disgusting as you. A guy like you, even if given to me to control, I would feel disgusted just having you by my side."

Facing Evil Nine's plea for mercy, the players immediately focused fire and killed him without hesitation.

After finishing all this, the players continued pushing north, beginning to search for the Evil Shell Tribe's territory.

According to the analyzed information, this faction only recently descended into the Monster World, and their specific landing location is unclear.

But it can be confirmed that it must be in the foggy regions on the map.

If it were a known region where the fog had cleared, a new faction would be marked on the map the moment it descended.

Therefore, to find the Evil Shell Tribe, one must explore the foggy areas.

Based on Evil Nine's movement trajectory, the players scattered to search, preparing to plunder this new faction completely.

In their eyes, all new factions share a distinct characteristic: they generally descend carrying their entire family assets, just like the Tian Huo Fa Wang, who arrived with a large amount of Energy Crystals and were eventually split between them and the two bullies of the Newbie Village.

The Evil Shell Tribe was obviously the same.

When introducing the Tian Huo Tribe, the Guide once said a sentence that became widely circulated on the forum.

The meaning of this sentence is that when weak clans descend into the Monster World, it is generally a one-way teleportation; they never intended to return upon arrival, so they must bring their entire families and all their underlying resources.

Therefore, New Descending Faction = An unopened treasure chest of wealth.

Meng Yuan Chu Altar.

Discovering that a large number of players had temporarily abandoned the battlefield to pick up scraps and changed their hunting targets to the newly descended Evil Shell Tribe, Qi Sheng did not mind.

He placed no restrictions on the players' development in the Monster World; he only needed to set the general direction of development, leaving the rest for the players to freely choose their exploration and growth modes.

Discovering that the players still had not found the Evil Shell Tribe, he immediately formed the idea of Li De Xiang Fa.

After all, letting players spend a huge amount of time searching meant the real-time one-hour Shou Shou Jili revenue curve was sliding downward.

Under the guidance of the Guide, his consciousness descended into the Colorful Mist Coast space and began searching.

With the help of the Guide, the search process was effortless.

Evil Shell Tribe warriors leave traces or auras on the ground during their movements.

After analysis and investigation, a glowing path appeared in Qi Sheng's mind.

Shortly after, his consciousness descended into the Evil Shell Tribe's territory.

Before the entrance to the territory stood two towering black stone steles, carved with many grotesque patterns, dyed red with blood.

Following the winding black stone path, the buildings on both sides were in the shape of giant armor; viewed from high above, the entire territory resembled a giant race's armory. Every building was cast from metal, and many were connected by bridges made of huge black stone blocks.

Scanning with his consciousness, he could see a large number of blood slaves imprisoned.

These blood slaves were mostly creatures living nearby, imprisoned as food reserves.

In the central area of the territory, the Zhudian was a coiled angry beast. The roof consisted of layers of sharp black triangular pyramids, resembling the fangs of a giant beast. The temple doors were two massive bone gates, with bas-reliefs of hideous ghost faces on them; their features were twisted as if emitting a silent roar. The door knockers were two skull heads, with faint ghostly flames flickering in their hollow eye sockets.

Inside the hall, thick black Shi Zhu supported the dome. The pillars were wrapped with terrifying snake-shaped reliefs; the snake scales were clearly visible, their mouths wide open revealing sharp fangs. Above the dome were painted blood-red patterns: scenes of blood-red demons devouring souls, and forging scenes of twisted limbs and flesh cast into armor. The overall color was dark, all painted with the fresh blood of living creatures.

At this moment, 18 Evil Shell Tribe creatures, each over 4 meters tall, were discussing the gains from their recent plunder.

He had no interest in their conversation; at this moment, his consciousness followed the Guide back to the Emperor's Tomb Village.

The Guide clone also began providing path clues to the players at this time.

Two hours later, the players found the Evil Shell Tribe's territory.

The specific location was 13.5 kilometers west of the Evil Moon Domain; the nearby forests had been heavily logged, clearing a patch of open ground.

Inside the territory, towering bronze furnaces roared as Evil Shell warriors smelted the metal used for constructing the territory.

Upon learning the specific coordinates, the players flocked to the Evil Shell Tribe's territory.

During this period, for every additional player, Courage Value increased by 1. Once over a thousand players had gathered, they eagerly launched a charge against the Evil Shell Tribe's territory.

This battle was also the players' probe into the combat power of the Evil Shell Tribe.

The great battle lasted less than half an hour before ending, but in this battle, the players collected a large amount of intelligence information regarding the Evil Shell Tribe.

The major guilds began to layout strategies targeting the characteristics of the Evil Shell Tribe's combat power system.

When the player legion attacked for the second time, the scale had reached 50,000, with a large number of low-level newbie players mixed in, hoping to fish in troubled waters.

The sudden war instantly stunned the Evil Shell Tribe.

During this period, the players also discovered a weakness of the Evil Armor Clan.

Compared to the bravery of other factions during combat, Evil Armor Clan warriors dared not fight to the death.

If they could dodge, they would never endure a direct blow.

In the eyes of the players, this combat style could be completely termed a weakness.

Before this, they had encountered only the Black Tide and the Insect Tide, combat units that feared no death; even members of factions like the Sky Fire Clan and the Black Wind Clan fought risking their lives.

Only the Evil Armor Clan displayed a combat style that was fierce in striking yet dared not confront directly.

Thus, even though the Evil Armor Clan held an absolute advantage in combat power, the players exerted a one-sided suppression in terms of momentum.

In this battle, the most valiant in charging were undoubtedly the players of the Giant Python Clan and the Night Demon Clan.

Upon learning that a war mode was available to experience, many players of these two clans whose Painful Painful Minghun levels were below 20 decisively followed the veteran players to arrive.

After joining the battle, even if one strike meant instant death, the charge was incredibly passionate, with shouts and cheers throughout the entire process.

After the players of these two clans joined the battle, the player army corps literally pushed forward while suppressing the Evil Armor Clan warriors whose levels were far higher than their own.

This feeling of passionate combat seemed to activate the combat genes within the bodies of the players of these two clans.

Seeing so many melee players and the appearance of Stone Golem flow players, the veteran players were also immensely gratified.

This meant that the problem of lacking Stone Golem flow players in the future would be solved.

Although recruiting alien clan players might not lead to quick harmony, there must be a process.

A foreseeable future would see more and more races entering the game, and teaming up with players of other races would become a major trend in player army corps construction.

After all, in the background setting of this game, all players belong to the same camp; one prospers together, one suffers together.

Unlike previous virtual games, every race could be classified as an independent faction, waging war against each other and seizing resources.

In this war, besides the Gilled Fish Clan players who did not arrive, the Sky Feather Clan players also had a brilliant performance in this battle.

The Sky Feather Clan players, possessing flight abilities, were the player group among all alien clan players with the lowest proportion choosing the Stone Golem flow.

Their favorite was the ranged output flow constructed around the Scattered Arrow Painful Painful Minghun as the core, allowing them to accurately shoot Evil Armor Clan warriors while flying, forcing the Evil Armor Clan to struggle to respond to attacks coming from multiple directions.

The God King, serving as the battlefield commander, this time also proactively contacted the heads of several major guilds among the Sky Feather Clan, Giant Python Clan, and Night Demon Clan players, hoping to launch a joint operation.

His invitation was accepted by the alien clan guild heads.

This battle was also the first time the God King commanded a war involving fifty thousand people.

The God King, who had learned about the characteristics of each clan's players in advance, was also boiling with passion.

Drinking potions throughout the entire process to activate the maximum perception field of view, observing the progress of the battle line, the war team voice channel constantly rang with the God King's command calls.

Although he was a veteran player and one of the richest players in the game, the God King's Star Pulse Slot was inlaid with only three Painful Painful Minghun.

Ranked first was the Eagle-Headed Demon, whose single Painful Painful Minghun level had already reached level 51; it was his core aid for battlefield command.

Next was Qi Consumption, providing sustainability beyond mental potions.

Finally was the Insight Painful Painful Minghun.

The strength of this new Painful Painful Minghun was not considered high in the eyes of many players.

But in his eyes, it was a divine skill.

The effect of Insight was that after active release, one could enter Insight Vision, capable of discovering weak points on the target's body; paired with the perception range radiation of the Eagle-Headed Demon, it was nothing short of area-of-effect weak point detection.

By using Insight to find weak points, he could also conduct precise command in local operations.

Even whether an Evil Armor Clan warrior was already low on health was clearly presented under the perception field of view.

The fewer the blood qi light spots on the body, the worse the state of the Evil Armor Clan warrior.

The Insight Painful Painful Minghun, which seemed to have little effect in the eyes of forum players, was far stronger than those tier-0 Painful Painful Minghun of the current version in the eyes of the God King, giving his command ability a significant boost.

The only thing that made the God King feel strained while in command state was how to coordinate the cooperation between alien clan players and human clan players.

Especially the Giant Python Clan and the Night Demon Clan.

In his eyes, these two alien clan player groups were like cannon fodder voluntarily filling the lines.

As soon as the battle began, they eagerly launched death charges, and no matter how they were shouted at, they were hard to call back.

However, this fearless death charge was not meaningless in his eyes.

As battlefield cannon fodder, the Giant Python Clan and Night Demon Clan were comparable to the vanguard, bearing the brunt of the engagement with the Evil Armor Clan, attracting fire at the cost of their own lives, filling gaps in the defense line, and leaving the Evil Armor Clan no way to cut into the rear of the army corps.

In such an output environment, magic-type players and support players did not need to worry about their own safety at all.

He also did not need to deploy combat power to protect rear players, reducing the intensity of command.

Secondly, it also consumed the stamina of the Evil Armor Clan and even exerted a certain deterrent effect on them; the momentum generated by the fearless charge completely ignited the passion of the battlefield.

During this period, those players who had not joined the war team but followed the charge began to launch charges from the flanks.

This included a large number of player groups who loved to cause trouble on the battlefield, and many new trouble-making tactics made nearby players laugh and cry.

For example, the Gargoyle Entanglement Tactic.

Using Flow Shadow Clones to entangle around Evil Armor Clan warriors, then activating the Stone Golem form to achieve the "Full of Big Men" achievement, forcibly locking the movement of the Evil Armor Clan warriors.

Or players specializing in the Sluggish Domain entered the field to apply crowd control; the movement efficiency of the surrounding Evil Armor Clan warriors was instantly restricted, as if the flow of time had slowed down, movements like a slow-motion movie, every action becoming sluggish.

The Artifact Spirit Great Array, which had a stunning performance in the previous Evil Moon War, also made its appearance; after development during this period, the Artifact Spirit Array had significantly improved in both scale and momentum.

The appearance of the whale-spending player who created the Artifact Spirit Array had also changed.

Dying his hair a long white, casually tied up, a few strands of hair fluttering in the wind; on his body was a white long robe, stepping on a flying sword, standing in mid-air with hands behind his back, his robes rustling loudly in the wind.

In expression, he was even more possessed by a dramatic spirit, with a sense of indifference between his eyebrows and eyes, as if he were truly an otherworldly Earthly Sword Immortal.

Waving his hand and pointing forward, countless Artifact Spirits rose from the ground, forming the Artifact Spirit Great Array behind him.

Before the battle began, the whale-spending player had already maximized his aura.

Many players who had never seen the Artifact Spirit Great Array looked up at this scene and shouted that veteran players were awesome.

Secondly, many free pets controlled by manipulated Painful Painful Minghun also made their appearance in this battle.

The Book-Speaking Warriors, whose settings could be customized and modified, opened up players' imaginations.

Besides normal reshaping, there are also many reshaped settings that have become incredibly bizarre.

For instance, a berserker with a bulky physique yet twin ponytails, wielding a massive pink warhammer, charges wildly across the battlefield, killing an Evil Armor Clan warrior with basically one swing.

Or a Tech War God holding a Gatling gun with a balding head.

Or non-human shaped mecha warriors.

The settings that Shuyuan Warriors can customize and modify allow players to play with excessive freedom; all sorts of outrageous appearances can be found on the battlefield.

The key point is that the combat power of these Shuyuan Warriors is far stronger than that of the players.

Facing the Evil Armor Clan, it is a crushing slaughter, so strong that even the Evil Armor Clan trembles in fear.

During this period, a Painful Painful Minghun considered to be forever in the sewer of the version also shone brilliantly in this war.

It is the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun.

The effect of this Painful Painful Minghun is to extract plant essence from spiritual plants; except in the eyes of Potioneer Alliance players where it belongs to the T0 tier Painful Painful Minghun, in the eyes of other players it is worthless, and forum players call it: "Even dogs won't use it."

Because the effect of this Painful Painful Minghun is truly terrible, it provides not a single bit of increase to combat power.

But when players tried using Extraction on Evil Armor Clan members, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the armor on the Evil Armor Clan warriors would gradually decompose, and then plant essence would be extracted.

After asking the guide, they learned that the armor on the Evil Armor Clan warriors, though seemingly cast from metal, is actually a type of growing plant.

The Evil Armor Clan crushes spiritual plants to extract spiritual substances for the armor to devour; essentially, this can be understood as watering spiritual plants to grow, while Evil Armor Clan members parasitize the spiritual plants and control them to fight using their blood and qi.

The characteristic of Extraction has huge lethality against plants, capable of quickly decomposing spiritual plants into essence.

Compared to physical and spell-based damage, the effect of Extraction can be called true damage; no matter how high the defense strength of the armor is, it is useless in the face of Extraction.

This also confirms a prospect left on the forum by "Night is Coming" in the early days:

"There are no trash Painful Painful Minghun, because every Painful Painful Minghun can play a miraculous role in specific scenarios; there are also no forever sewer Painful Painful Minghun; the inclusion of new Painful Painful Minghun may very well promote what we see as version bottom-tier to version answer."

This discovery made players possessing the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun overjoyed; they could deal damage and also obtain plant essence.

Dealing damage and making money, neither is neglected.

They never thought that embedding the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun would help in combat; reaching around level 10, they generally stopped paying attention to it, usually leaving it in the Star Pulse Slot to gather dust, occasionally taking it out to extract spiritual plants and selling them to the Potioneer Guild to earn some pocket money.

Who would have thought that the sewer-tier Painful Painful Minghun in their hands could actually become a main damage-dealing Painful Painful Minghun.

The powerful performance of the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun also made many players realize one thing.

The poor performance of the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun, which has always been at the bottom of this version, is because players have never encountered a plant-based faction; the nodes encountered in the previous Cloud Field Domain battle were all energy plants condensed from Black Tide energy.

In the foreseeable future, if a plant-based strong enemy appears, then the Extraction Painful Painful Minghun will surely briefly ascend to the version T0 tier.

The great war continues.

On the main front, the Evil Armor Clan's charge shakes the earth like thunder.

Chain blades, serrated scythes, serrated knives... the front-line Evil Armor Clan warriors wave various weapons, the blades engraved with black runes; every strike can kill several Giant Python Clan and Night Demon Clan players.

But the players of both clans do not retreat, continuing to charge fearlessly.

In fact, players of both clans generally do not carry melee weapons, launching attacks with a fist-to-flesh fighting style.

Inside the regional voice channel, their hearty shouts ring out incessantly.

Behind the legion, a Forest of Spell Towers has already been generated.

The scene of fireballs, thunderballs, and mixed elemental balls rising into the sky simultaneously is incredibly spectacular.

Every time a gorgeous spell offensive is released, it lights up the night as bright as day.

The performance of the ranged physical damage dealers in the rear is equally eye-catching.

The spell casters follow a crowd damage route, while the ranged physical damage dealers follow a single-target kill route, marking targets and then precisely striking weak points.

The "whoosh whoosh" sounds of breaking the air never cease in the ears.

Once the blood qi arrowheads penetrate the armor on the Evil Armor Clan, they instantly explode, causing secondary damage.

Under the players' relentless bombardment, many buildings within the Evil Armor Clan's territory collapsed, and after being washed by energy, turned into flat ground.

The battle scene also made Qi Sheng, observing from behind the scenes, sigh with emotion.

Recalling when the server first opened, players entering the Monster World were like ignorant primitive creatures; without fine weapons, they could only fight using the most primitive physical attack methods; killing a single Cursed Soldier required great effort, and after killing one, they had to rest panting for a while.

After countless battles, player combat power has grown rapidly, and the characteristic abilities they can use are also increasing.

There has been a qualitative leap in combat power.

As the front line pushes into the Evil Armor Clan's territory, the number of casualties on the player side is also surging continuously.

In this process, the real-time output of Shou Shou Jili benefits skyrockets accordingly.

The Evil Armor Clan warriors also begin to change tactics at this time.

Although the Evil Armor Clan warriors are cowardly, they are not stupid.

Facing the fierce and fearless players, they voluntarily retreat, abandoning part of their territory to let the players advance deep inside.

Stretching the front line beyond the attack range of the Forest of Spell Towers, the pressure suddenly eases, and they begin to counterattack.

At this moment, behind the Evil Armor Clan.

Eighteen command flags flutter in the wind.

Every combination change of the flags stirs up a circle of diffusing energy ripples, conveying them to the Evil Armor warriors on the battlefield, conducting battlefield command through this method.

Below the flags sits a figure over four meters tall.

He wears a heavy suit of Evil Armor, with surface textures crisscrossing, tightly wrapping the internal blood and qi body; the arm guards are two sharp blades radiating cold light, the top of the helmet stands with a row of sharp black prisms, and the shoulder guards are covered in barbs extending from the shoulder to the wrist.

Observing the trend of the war, Evil Bone slowly clenched his fist.

Before descending into this world, he had already made preparations to face war.

But the native faction encountered this time is truly difficult to deal with; after death, they dissipate into black mist, providing absolutely no war sustainability for his clan members.

This life structure perfectly counters their Evil Armor Clan's ability to fight a war of attrition.

What makes it feel most incomprehensible is that this faction fears no death; even if a large number of clan members are killed, it cannot affect other combat power units.

This is completely different from the war mode it understands.

The Evil Armor Clan's hallmark in war is instilling fear through intimidation.

They cruelly strip the skin and bones from enemy lives, displaying gruesome corpses to shatter enemy combat morale.

This was the first time he had ever seen a combat style so dismissive of one's own life.

To them, death seemed as simple as breathing, even giving him the illusion that these warriors never intended to return alive—so they charged forward, utterly fearless of death.

Although this faction's overall strength was significantly inferior to his own, watching this battle left him genuinely pained.

The campaign to conquer the higher world had only just begun; he could not afford to waste vast combat strength at the outset.

Faced with the relentless advance of the alien race, Evil Bone made his decision.

This battle could not continue as it was; to avoid further casualties among his people, they must withdraw immediately.

With this thought settled, Evil Bone raised his massive metal fist and clenched it tightly:

"Retreat!"

After issuing the order, the eighteen banners hovering behind Evil Bone flipped, revealing black-gold patterns.

Energy trails spread across the banners, linking together to form a peculiar design, causing the banners to tremble instantly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like the sound of war drums, the energy waves released by the banners swept across the entire battlefield.

Upon receiving the retreat order, the Evil Armor warriors fell back, while at the same time, a colossal beast forged from steel charged forward from behind.

It reached the front line, linking together to form a steel wall that blocked the players' continuous assaults; meanwhile, many Evil Armor warriors were cut off by this steel wall and overwhelmed by concentrated fire.

After isolating the players, Evil Bone decisively led his people northward in retreat.

Behind them, steel structures storing resources rose from the ground, stepping forward like giants to follow the Evil Armor Clan's retreat.

By the time the players scaled the steel wall, the Evil Armor Clan was already far away.

Players who witnessed this erupted into furious curses.

If the Evil Armor Clan escapes now, when they'll next appear is unknown.

The Monster World is vast; the Evil Armor Clan could migrate anywhere.

Players with Painful Painful Minghun immediately activated acceleration mode, attempting to block the Evil Armor Clan's retreat.

But the assassins' attacks did not make the Evil Armor Clan abandon their retreat—even as comrades were slain by assassin players, they refused to halt their withdrawal.

The distance between the players and the Evil Armor Clan grew ever greater.

Just as Evil Bone believed the retreat had succeeded, a black line appeared behind them.

Like a death god dipping his brush in ink, he swept it across heaven and earth—within a blink, it became a surging, roaring black tide, rolling forward with the force of mountains collapsing and seas overturning.

Where the black tide passed, the sky instantly turned ink-black, light unable to penetrate, daylight swallowed into eternal night.

The thick blackness seemed capable of devouring all life; clouds were cruelly twisted, swirling like shredded cotton in the high sky.

The black tide's arrival radiated bone-chilling cold and endless dread.

As the black tide churned, countless malevolent entities formed within it, falling like dumplings into the world.

Catastrophe-type, plague-type, death-catastrophe-type, tidal-type, apocalypse-type… the instantly spawned horde of malevolent entities formed an impenetrable wall, blocking the Evil Armor Clan's escape route.

Seeing this, the players burst into laughter:

"Hahaha, here comes the Earth Nourisher Tyrant! Quickly lend us a hand and block the Evil Armor Clan!"

"The vile Earth Nourisher Tyrant has arrived—probably wants to steal our resources! We can't let him take them! Brothers, charge!"

"Good, good, good! The Earth Nourisher Tyrant finally did something right—he knew to help us block the path while we chased them. Excellent."

"Suddenly, the Earth Nourisher Tyrant looks more pleasant. Just a moment ago I thought we'd lost them, but now the tide has turned so fast."

In stark contrast to the players' joy was Evil Bone's mood.

Evil energy spread thickly; seeing the black tide rising ahead, Evil Bone felt an indescribable terror.

As if encountering a natural predator, his breath nearly ceased.

"Break through! Kill!"

Realizing that failure to break out would trap them between front and rear encirclement, Evil Bone panicked completely and immediately issued combat orders, attempting to smash through the black tide.

But what followed plunged Evil Bone into profound despair.

The instant his warriors clashed with the malevolent entities surging from the black tide, their blood and qi spilled uncontrollably from their armor, greedily devoured by the entities.

Before the ultimate dark power, his prized Evil Armor warriors offered no resistance.

The black tide advanced like a lawnmower, leaving only death in its wake—his people perished, even their armor devoured by the ultimate blackness.

Even more terrifying to Evil Bone was that the malevolent entities his warriors managed to kill reformed into thick black energy and remerged into the black tide.

In one glance, he understood the black tide's nature.

Death backlash—this was a war ability he had once imagined but could never achieve.

It meant the enemies they had so painfully slain affected this terrifying force not at all, while his own people kept dying, becoming nourishment for the black tide, making it stronger with every death.

An unprecedented sense of helplessness enveloped Evil Bone's heart.

Faced with the crushing black tide, he could not conceive how to win.

The black tide grew stronger with every battle, while his people died in droves.

At that moment, the black tide spreading across the sky slammed down, engulfing him and his people.

His vision was instantly obscured by blackness.

In the darkness, countless eyes seemed to watch him; hoarse whispers, like cursed incantations, echoed endlessly in his ears, inflicting mental damage.

His gaze darted wildly, seeing nothing—but the feeling of being watched grew stronger; every tiny sound tightened his nerves to breaking point, as if any second, something horrific would burst from the dark and devour him.

The fear rising in his heart was an invisible beast slowly tightening its fangs, gnawing away his sanity bit by bit.

He wanted to scream—but an invisible hand gripped his vocal vibrations, silencing him.

Under endless terror, Evil Bone sank utterly into an abyss of despair; no matter how he struggled, he could not escape the demon's grasp.

A stinging sensation surged from the armor; it could clearly perceive the armor being devoured and melted.

"No... no..."

The Evil Bone, having completely lost its fighting spirit, let out a desperate roar, but only it could hear this sound; its body curled up under intense pain, yet it was powerless to break free.

Before the ultimate evil, the Evil Bone's spiritual will thus sank into depravity.

Half an hour ago, in the Evil Moon Domain.

On the Xie Yan Gao Ta.

The back of the Di Nian Evil Spirit's projection was connected to the Evil Eye projection, engaging in communication on the level of consciousness.

"Evil Eye, where did those beasts go?"

"I don't know."

"How can you not know? You are the Evil Eye."

"Insufficient information, truly I don't know." The Evil Eye pressed down its eyelids, appearing ready to receive a blow.

But this time the Di Nian Evil Spirit did not curse angrily; instead, he spoke with an irritable tone:

"If they don't come, how can I obtain resources? It's been several days. Is this Player Clan sick? Every time a Territory Raid War starts, they disappear halfway through. Can't they finish fighting before leaving?"

Hearing these words, the Evil Eye blinked its eyes:

"Only Player Clan members of insignificant scale have appeared in the Di Zha Mountain Range region; this place hasn't seen any Players arrive for several days. They should have abandoned the invasion of this Domain Field... but with the Player Clan's incomprehensible thought processes, they could suddenly return to attack at any moment."

Upon hearing the Evil Eye's explanation, the Di Nian Evil Spirit wished he could punch the head of a Player Clan member until it exploded.

He had originally planned to continue stealing resources by pressuring the Player Clan, but he had stolen less than a quarter of the resources before the Player Clan simply stopped playing.

This completely disrupted his plan.

The Blue-Skinned Evil Eye had already requested to return control of the Gao Ta, using the Player Clan's potential return as an excuse.

If the Player Clan did not return to invade soon, the plan to steal resources would have to end prematurely.

How could he accept this?

"No, we absolutely cannot sit idly by and wait for death. Since the Player Clan won't come, we will provoke them actively. Given the Player Clan's character, if we attack first, they will surely retaliate... Evil Eye, I will consume resources to expand your perception; go find where the Player Clan has gone."

"Di Nian, I will follow your orders."

Accompanied by the burning of Black Tide energy, the Evil Eye's perception extended several sensory tentacles outward from the center of the Evil Moon Domain.

A few minutes later, the Evil Eye's consciousness returned:

"Di Nian, found them. The Player Clan is currently fighting a small faction in the southwest direction."

"Which small faction?"

"There is no record of this clan in the Node Information Database. Judging from their combat performance, they are merely an insignificant small power." As he spoke, the Evil Eye projected the images captured by his perception into the Di Nian Evil Spirit's mind.

"Assist me in mobilizing the Black Tide; let's destroy this small faction immediately and draw the Player Clan's firepower back."

"If you mobilize the Black Tide power to leave the Evil Moon Domain, how will you explain it to the Blue Eye?"

"I'll explain my ass; you find an excuse. Mobilize the Black Tide to attack now and swallow the small faction fighting the Player Clan."

"Fine, I will figure out how to explain it to the Blue Eye. Just say we discovered a small faction and will swallow them to replenish the Black Tide energy consumed in the early stages."

Regarding the Di Nian Evil Spirit's decision, the Evil Eye expressed his support as always.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit did not answer; in the blink of an eye, the Black Tide in the scene transformed into towering waves that surged and spread outward.

(End of this chapter)