Chapter 255: Black Tide Investment, Abyss Seeds (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

Imperial Tomb Mountain Range.

A waning moon hung low over the undulating ridgeline, staining the sky a rust-like dark red.

Fibrous embers slowly swirled into vortices in the air, then scattered like snow across the sky.

The gaze pushed northward from the bone-strewn ancient battlefield, and the earth abruptly split ahead.

A colossal trench, bottomless, cut across the mountain ridge.

Black fog churned at the bottom of the abyss; a grotesque Gao Ta thrust up from the earth, piercing the mist and pointing at the blood-colored waning moon.

The tower's body was built from a bone-like substance, and at its center stood a massive Black Tide Furnace, its interior energy roiling.

At this moment, the Earth-Reading Evil Spirit hovered on the platform at the top of the Gao Ta, trying to take orders together with the Evil Eye.

The message had been sent out, but no Evil Spirit Warriors had sent in any orders for a long time.

No orders meant no resource income.

No resource income meant that during the player-ravaging phase, resource expenditure would exceed resource gains.

For players, the Strange Butterflies, and even the monsters lying dormant in the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range region, the waning moon meant spring had arrived.

But for the Earth-Reading Evil Spirit, the waning moon's arrival meant winter had come, and it had to tighten its belt to endure through it.

The strength of players at this stage was already nothing like before.

Whether this winter could be endured was unpredictable.

If those beastly players went mad and launched high-frequency war mode, the winter resources for the days ahead would only grow scarcer.

Thinking of its sudden fall from grace, bitterness welled up in the Earth-Reading Evil Spirit's heart.

A few days ago it had still been considering how to develop faster, but now it had already retreated into Black Tide energy, completely abandoning its aggressive expansion strategy.

Especially the appearance of large numbers of weak players—it was like a slap across its face.

This was a blatant provocation.

Now it had only one thought: it had to open up external channels for acquiring resources as quickly as possible.

Taking orders to carry out raids—that was, in its eyes, the most convenient way to obtain external gains.

Before this, it had earned gains through two such raids, enduring the most grueling stretch and welcoming the first-quarter moon.

But days had passed, and no Black Tide commanders from other nodes had contacted it to request a raid.

It could roughly figure out the reason.

Every Evil Spirit Warrior who emerged from a Black Tide node had clawed their way up over mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

They generally came from countless shattered minor worlds, stood out within purgatory, and then underwent the cruel tempering of the main world—pride like lone wolves was carved into their bones.

Just like itself back then, full of arrogance.

Except in special circumstances, they were unwilling to accept aid, and loathed pity even more.

They only wanted to stir up a dark frenzy in Monster World through their own efforts, to prove their excellence.

It recalled its own mindset when it had first descended.

Back then it had been proud and arrogant, not believing it needed any help.

It felt that if a fellow comrade extended a helping hand, that would disgust it more than an enemy's blade.

And it firmly believed that dying in battle was the Black Tide warrior's glorious end, but accepting pity was a shame that even stained the soul.

But that was only the past.

Now its attitude toward external resources was very clear.

If offered, take it; if not offered, demand it.

How much is face worth in resources? As long as resources are given, face is worth nothing!

Resources begged for on one's knees can also be used to smash the heads of those beastly players and idiotic bugs.

And then, from kneeling, to standing.

It had long since seen through everything.

What bullshit dignity—can it be exchanged for a single drop of Black Tide energy?

Back then it had also been a stubborn greenhorn holding its neck stiff, but now as long as the resources are in place, whichever node sends them is its provider.

In a super-battlefield of Monster World's intensity, there was actually only one standard for judging dignity.

Surviving is the winner.

And the dead have no right to talk about dignity.

But this was only its own thinking; there were still many Evil Spirit Warriors who, clinging to the pride in their hearts, struggled on in Monster World.

This portion of Evil Spirit Warriors would not easily accept help from other nodes.

Secondly, besides dignity, there was another reason.

That was battle record and rank.

Battle record referred to the fact that, with Black Tide node information shared, one could view the battle record information shared by Evil Eyes from other nodes.

Including how many races had been devoured, how much area had been expanded, and so on.

Rank referred to the combat power assessment level after the Black Tide intensity developed to a certain scale, which would affect the share of resource subsidies obtained.

The current rank divisions within the Black Tide Legion, from low to high, were: Commander, Marshal, Lord, Apostle, and Sovereign.

Among the Sovereigns there were even more detailed divisions, with vast differences in combat power between them.

Above that was the Demon God level.

The Evil Eye's mother, the "Thirteenth Divine Eye," was a half-step Demon God within the Demon God tier.

Each Black Tide rank had a different resource quota.

For example, some regions were illuminated by the Evil Moon, generating large numbers of Corrosion Cores that entwined the territory nodes, continuously draining energy.

But this region had no Evil Spirit Warriors stationed in it.

The resources extracted from this portion will enter the resource pool and be allocated to different Evil Spirit Warriors according to the distribution ratio set by the monarch of that region.

Its current resource quota is at the Commander level, but its combat power tier remains at the General level.

(PS: Chapter 122 mentions that the Earth-Will Evil Spirit had its subsidy tier raised by one level by the Monarch, granting it Commander-level resources.)

This leads others, upon checking his battle record and rank information, to believe he is utterly unworthy of participating in command operations at their node.

But the problem is, they don't even look at what high-stakes game they are playing; anyone would collapse under such pressure.

This broken place, the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, is a place where simply surviving is already an achievement; battle records are good for nothing.

Thinking of this, resentment rose in the heart of the Earth-Will Bully.

It's not like they just got a suitable development environment at the start; even a pig rolling on the keyboard could control the Black Tide to swallow everything with a favorable wind.

What about me?

I have to apply various tactics, calculating resource consumption while also seeking strategies to defeat the enemy and secure victory.

Disaster Reversal Tactics, Mental Taunt Tactics, Player Infiltration Plans, Chest Tactics, Information Gathering Tactics, Data Simulation Tactics... Laozi dared not rest for a single moment just to survive; can they compare?

To put it in player terms: they drew an SSR spawn point at the start; even rolling their face on the keyboard guarantees a win. This operation is something my grandmother could pull off with her feet to achieve a perfect victory; what the hell are you pretending to be!

If the Black Tides truly had equal resources and combat power, I could beat them until they doubted life itself.

Hearing the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's frantic ranting, the Evil Eye silently nodded.

It agreed with these words completely.

Facts prove that the Earth-Will Evil Spirit has always been playing in high-stakes games.

If not for the restrictions imposed by the Player Race and the Insect Race, its development steps would have long since broken through the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, far from the difficult situation it faces today.

Thinking of this, the Evil Eye spoke up at this moment to offer comfort and provide emotional value:

"Di Nian, those warriors who only mindlessly push forward are merely trash who can only win favorable games."

"And you, my Commander." The Evil Eye looked at the Earth-Will Evil Spirit, its voice carrying respect:

"You are playing chess with your life; every move is a desperate situation, every battle is growth, and even breathing requires calculating losses... You are the strongest new-generation Evil Spirit Commander in my eyes, at least in the Pale Continent region."

"Shut up." The Earth-Will Evil Spirit glared.

"Oh."

The Evil Eye's praise only made the Earth-Will Evil Spirit feel worse.

As thoughts surged, it took a deep breath:

"Evil Eye, perhaps we can change our method to earn external resources from other nodes."

"I don't understand." Hearing these words, the Evil Eye was somewhat confused.

"Other nodes refuse our assistance, purely out of concerns about face and battle record issues," the Earth-Will Evil Spirit said slowly:

"But if we change our thinking, instead of offering help in the posture of a strong one, what if we provide development support in the capacity of a partner?"

The Evil Eye's pupils slowly contracted into a thin line:

"Do you mean packaging the proxy-playing service as a strategic investment?"

"Exactly so." The Earth-Will Evil Spirit nodded with a smile:

"Many nodes are in a situation similar to ours; even if they are merely temporarily trapped in a development bottleneck, they must crave the ability to break through the blockade. Our assistance is undoubtedly a timely help in a time of need."

"The specific plan is to inject a portion of resources in the form of cooperation, negotiate to obtain war profits, then seek opportunities to provide command assistance, thereby earning more external resource profits, achieving mutual benefit and win-win results."

"After all, the Evil Spirit Warriors of other nodes are simply unwilling to admit they need charity, but having external forces provide cooperative support is a form of assistance that other nodes find difficult to refuse."

The Evil Eye immediately understood the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's idea:

"Change proxy-playing to investment?"

"That's right. There is another benefit to doing this: as long as there is one cooperation, a certain level of trust can be established. When nodes we have cooperated with encounter difficulties in the future, the first thing they will think of is to ask for my help, gradually building a long-term cooperative trust relationship. In the future, if I encounter trouble and request support, they have no reason not to lend a hand."

"This gives me the opportunity to establish a resource domination chain and construct a resource network woven by me..."

After listening to the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's analysis, the Evil Eye nodded:

"Not a bad idea. Doing this also allows us to bypass the Monarch's supervision, after all, this is an agreement signed between two nodes while the Evil Spirit Warriors are still alive... Let's try it."

Following the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's thoughts, the Evil Eye sent the message to other nodes.

Three hours later.

The Tian Yuan Node received a message.

At this moment, the Evil Eye looked up at the Earth-Will Evil Spirit:

"Di Nian, work has come in. Are you in or out?"

Hearing the reminder, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit immediately perked up:

"What work?"

"The other node does not need you to participate in the battle command, but requires you to provide resource assistance."

"How much resource do they need me to contribute?"

"Seventy percent of the resources of our node, which will be fully returned after the battle ends, plus an additional twenty percent of the resources from the profits of this battle."

"Trying to bribe a beggar? They want seventy percent of my resources and only give me two percent!" Veins on Di Nian's forehead jumped; he felt this request was simply too outrageous.

"In or out?"

"In!"

Although dissatisfied in his heart, he still decisively agreed.

The Evil Eye did not answer. Suddenly, Gao Ta trembled, and countless dim red light points lit up inside the pitch-black tower body, flashing alternately like blood vessels pumping.

The energy data packet composed of Black Tide energy finally shot out from the tower tip, transforming into a pitch-black light pillar flying toward the Evil Moon in the sky, leaving a long black trail in the air.

Using the Evil Moon as a relay station, energy resources transferred rapidly.

"Let's go over and take a look."

"I need to apply; you are not qualified to go to other nodes without authorization."

"Hurry up."

The Pale Continent, Land of Embers.

The moment consciousness descended upon the Gao Ta node, a scene of decay and desolation met the eyes.

The scorched black earth was crisscrossed with cracks, like a shattered spiderweb spreading in all directions.

From the fissures, wisps of murky black smoke rose intermittently, carrying a pungent odor.

Within perception, the mountains were reduced to bare slopes; rocks were scorched black and shattered by intense heat. Wild winds raged across this land, emitting a mournful howl, as if countless wronged souls were wailing.

Not far away, dried-up rivers lay like ugly scars across the scorched earth.

The riverbeds were covered with cracked clumps of mud, along with piles of twisted, deformed black wreckage.

The consciousness projection of the Di Nian Evil Spirit looked up and saw a brilliant crescent moon.

The battle record of the Node Commander flooded into his mind.

Like him, the other was a Commander-level Evil Spirit Warrior.

He had descended into the Monster World two months later than him, yet his consumption record was in the three digits, and his territory was twenty-nine times larger; he couldn't help but curse silently in his heart.

The enemy's information also appeared in his mind at this moment:

【Ember Dragon Clan】:

Population: 1,393,832 (Discovered)

Comprehensive Combat Power Rating: Commander Level

Biological Forms: Composed of three species—Volcano Dragons (Fire), Abyss Swamp Dragons (Poison), and Hurricane Pterodactyls (Wind)—each occupying different ecological niches within the clan.

Volcano Dragon: Massive and muscular, covered in scales like molten lava, wings spread like a curtain of burning flames, with a huge head capable of spewing high-temperature magma from its mouth. Wherever they go, the earth is scorched; they are the symbol of power within the Ember Dragon Clan.

Abyss Swamp Dragon: Slender and winding body with poison sacs, capable of moving flexibly through complex terrain. Its tail is like a venomous whip, skilled at creating battlefield poison fog (refer to Plague-type units).

Hurricane Pterodactyl: Light and agile, with broad and tough wings, possessing high mobility, skilled at creating battlefield storms.

Clan War Characteristics: Skilled at manipulating natural weather as weapons, possessing extremely strong battlefield control, and relying heavily on environmental changes.

Clan Social Structure:...

Recorded Tactical Methods:...

Weakness Records:...

After reviewing the information on the opposing force, the Di Nian Evil Spirit decisively retrieved previous battle footage records.

With the assistance of the Evil Eye, the footage accelerated by a factor of one thousand.

Countless images flooded into his mind.

In these images of direct confrontation, the Evil Spirit Warrior's command habits focused primarily on controlling Death Calamity-type and Wild Tide-type units.

Facing the Ember Dragon Clan, whose battlefield destructive power was immense, every advance was difficult.

But to the Di Nian Evil Spirit, what kind of difficulty was this? It was merely a wall that could be knocked down with a few more collisions.

Even asking for help over this? Simply trash!

Thinking that the other had arrived two months earlier, it was obvious that his previous development model was purely brute-force pushing, and he still hadn't learned how to make good use of the unit library.

At this moment, the voice of the Evil Eye sounded in his mind:

"Di Nian, you are wrong. The other party seeking resource assistance is not because they cannot handle it themselves, but simply to break through environmental limitations as quickly as possible and accelerate their development."

"I know, but they are still trash."

Evil Eye:...

His gaze turned toward the battlefield direction, where a new round of engagement was gathering momentum.

The Black Tide swept across the land, with Death Calamity-type units falling like raindrops from the churning black clouds.

At the far end of the shared perception image, the horizon burned Xiong Xiong, with countless sparks dancing in the distance.

The Volcano Dragons appeared first, their massive bodies shattering the earth's rock layers, each step triggering eruptions of magma from beneath the ground.

Their bodies were like moving mountains, with rivers of gold-red fire flowing through the gaps in their scales, and hundreds of thousands of dragon eyes glowing amidst the dust and smoke.

When they collectively spread their wings, a scorching light curtain pierced the air, illuminating an area of dozens of li as if it were midday.

The wind blowing in carried a scent of sulfur.

Shortly after, the Hurricane Pterodactyls tore through the clouds to appear, their wing membranes vibrating during high-speed flight, emitting a booming sound. Storms were born from the flapping of their wings, and the sky was instantly torn into tattered curtains.

In the shadows below, the Abyss Swamp Dragons slithered along the ground, withered and dying the remaining vegetation wherever they passed, leaving behind bubbling swamps of toxic slime.

Just as they were about to make contact with the Black Tide army, pale green spiritual runes appeared on the scales of the Abyss Swamp Dragons, and countless swollen poison sacs beat rapidly.

Roar!

Accompanied by a deafening roar, an Ember Ancient Dragon, three times larger than its peers, appeared immediately after.

The next second, a million Ember Dragons roared simultaneously.

The sound waves transformed into a tangible shockwave, causing the nearest Shanfeng to collapse amidst the roaring.

Magma columns spewed collectively by the Volcano Dragons pierced heaven and earth; poison fog released by the Swamp Dragons and storms whipped up by the Pterodactyls intertwined in the sky, forming a death vortex with a diameter exceeding dozens of kilometers.

The clouds were dyed a murky purple-red; boiling poison rain poured down, corroding deep Kong Dong into the ground.

Through the data provided by the Evil Eye, the Di Nian Evil Spirit already knew the strength comparison between the two sides: the Black Tide was in an absolute disadvantage.

This was also the reason this node chose to seek help.

His gaze turned to the figure floating on the platform ahead.

This Evil Spirit Warrior's name was "Ghost Fang." He wore a set of dark silver, fearsome armor. The surface patterns were intricate; the shoulder guards resembled backward-growing bone spikes, surrounded by six metal barbs. Two red-patterned crystal stones were embedded on either side of the chest plate, giving it a domineering appearance.

The battle record data showed that before arriving in the Monster World, Ghost Fang had already fought in countless battles in small world campaigns.

He had participated in small world wars twelve times, always serving in a supporting combat role.

It was precisely because of its outstanding performance in commanding evil entities during these campaigns that it was chosen to become an evil spirit warrior of Monster World, and began to develop its war-command abilities.

But Ghost Fang was different from it — it did not graduate from the Abyss Trial.

Reviewing past campaigns, one can see that Ghost Fang's luck was very good. Near its initial landing site, the Corrosion Core held a large reserve of unextracted Black Tide energy, and its growth momentum was far beyond what he could compare to.

Secondly, the number of nodes within its territory that could continuously produce energy income was as many as 18.

"Di Nian, you're jealous."

The Di Nian evil spirit did not respond, its gaze turning toward the battlefield.

The Black Tide army under Ghost Fang's command clashed fiercely with the Ember Dragon Clan.

But in terms of combat power, the Ember Dragon Clan was stronger than the Black Tide army by far more than a little — it was a one-sided slaughter throughout, dragon shadows sweeping across the battlefield.

Operating under habitual thinking, Ghost Fang chose to continue generating output-type units, accelerating the devouring speed to obtain resource energy to feed back into the Black Tide.

This scene made the Di Nian evil spirit frown involuntarily.

This style of fighting was indeed viable — after all, the Ember Dragon Clan were not players; every one devoured allowed the Black Tide to grow.

Secondly, the evil-entity units that died in battle could also transform into black mist and automatically merge back into the Black Tide, so the energy loss was not much.

But from its perspective, this Tao Da Fa had serious drawbacks.

Suppose the Ember Dragon Clan were allowed to tear through the Black Tide's defensive line and strike directly at Gao Ta — a decapitation crisis could easily arise.

Facing a war where the enemy was strong and we were weak, the best war mode should be defense-oriented.

Relying on the Black Tide's devour-and-grow characteristic, the Ember Dragon Clan's strength would be whittled away bit by bit.

In the later phase, when the combat-power gap was no longer a crushing trend, then adopt a violent offensive strategy.

Through the war imagery, the Di Nian evil spirit slapped a series of labels on Ghost Fang.

No patience, aggressive, tactically short-sighted, poor at weighing trade-offs… failed to find a balance between offense and defense, between short-term resource acquisition and long-term war trajectory, stubbornly choosing the most familiar violent offensive style of fighting, knowing nothing of how to flexibly adjust its strategy.

"Di Nian, this is a common problem for new commanders — don't forget your own combat strategy when you first descended."

The Di Nian evil spirit did not answer, its gaze focusing on the battlefield.

The Black Tide was constantly being Si Lie You Zhong under the Ember Dragon Clan's assault — Ghost Fang's tactics looked fierce, yet carried a reckless air.

"Too smooth!"

Just as the Evil Eye had said, Ghost Fang had never truly experienced a desperate situation.

Unlike its bitter struggles on the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range battlefield, where even victory came at a cost.

Ghost Fang's growth after descending into Monster World had no twists and turns.

It had yet to learn from hardship when to endure, when to gamble, when to abandon present temptations to lay out the future.

The Black Tide's authority to devour all things had made Ghost Fang accustomed to the invincibility of fighting to sustain war.

Even when occasional failures appeared, they were nothing more than a ripple in the resource pool, soon to be covered by even more plundered resources.

So it did not understand that defense was not cowardice, but rather meant wearing down the enemy's sharp edge into a blunt blade.

Nor did it understand that retreat was not defeat, but accumulating stronger power for the counterattack.

These were all combat habits cultivated on favorable battlefields.

From this one could see that Ghost Fang had never experienced a true desperate situation in the small-world campaigns either.

Watching Ghost Fang's operations, the Di Nian evil spirit was utterly uncomfortable, unable to help complaining inwardly:

"No way — the enemy has begun charging, they're about to push Gao Ta, and you're still continuing to spawn output units?"

"I'm begging you, take a look at the perception map, will you? The flank troop line is about to be torn apart, and you're still not changing?"

"What an idiot — if you keep fighting like this, Gao Ta blows up, Laozi's resources are all lost, how am I supposed to play when I go home?"

The Di Nian evil spirit at this moment looked exactly like a cloud player in a livestreamer's stream.

Full of emotion inside, yet unable to fire off a danmaku comment.

In the end, it let out a weary sigh in its heart:

"Forget it, I'm done scolding."

Although if Gao Ta blew up, its investment would all be down the drain — no resources earned from external channels, and most of its capital thrown in.

But for the Ember Dragon Clan to actually take Gao Ta was not easy either — the Black Tide's devouring characteristic kept its gains in a state of continuous growth.

Fighting to sustain war, the Black Tide was also growing stronger with each battle.

One could see that Ghost Fang at this moment also appeared very tense.

Through the reminder from the Evil Eye it carried, it had begun switching tactics — Calamity-series units entered the stage one after another, forming a defensive line in an attempt to block the Ember Dragon Clan's decapitation strike.

But in commanding Calamity-series units, Ghost Fang appeared very unfamiliar.

"Ghost Fang, I'm familiar with Calamity-series units — give me command authority." The Di Nian evil spirit finally could not stand it any longer and spoke up to propose.

Hearing these words, Ghost Fang's cold gaze turned toward him.

"Ghost Fang, Di Nian is indeed very skilled in the use of Calamity-series and Plague-series units — I recommend transferring command authority." The blue-skinned Evil Eye floating behind Ghost Fang offered its suggestion.

"I can win this battle."

"I know you can win, but I can resolve the problem faster — let the Black Tide under your command break through the Ember Dragon Clan's blockade at the quickest speed. Don't forget I also have investment in this battle; our interests and goals are aligned."

Hearing these words, the coldness in Ghost Fang's eyes faded slightly, but it still hesitated somewhat.

Seeing Ghost Fang waver, Di Nian pressed the advantage:

"Of course you can win, but I hope this campaign can end faster."

As it spoke, the Di Nian evil spirit raised its hand and waved — the battlefield projection instantly enlarged, the Ember Dragon Clan's offensive was highlighted, and wherever dragon flame passed, the Black Tide's evil-entity units evaporated in swathes. Although the Calamity series had stabilized the line after appearing, the rate of attrition remained alarming.

"Look here." The Di Nian evil spirit's fingertip pointed at a breach torn open by the dragon clan's elites:

"Your Calamity-series units are all stacked on the front, but only Shadow Stalkers are left on the flank — the enemy's Dragon Flame Priests will burn through this defensive line in three minutes."

As it spoke, the Di Nian evil spirit's thoughts shifted in an instant, and a large number of light points appeared on the projection.

Each light point represented a different unit type, simulating the situation to assist its own tactics.

Suspended behind Ghost Fang, the blue-skinned Evil Eye flickered faintly in its pupils, data streams cascading like a waterfall:

"Calculation complete. If Di Nian takes over and uses this new set of tactics, our casualty rate is projected to drop by 83.82%."

Ghost Fang's pupils contracted slightly.

Di Nian seized the moment to press the advantage.

"Ghost Fang, I can help you solve the problem."

Hearing these words, Ghost Fang's fingers suddenly clenched tight, and the Black Tide atop Gao Ta churned in response.

Finally, it squeezed a single word through clenched teeth:

"Fine…."

As the words fell, command authority transferred.

But this time, the Di Nian Evil Spirit had no intention of stealing resources.

The previous two times it could steal was because one of them was a complete newcomer, with Gao Ta's construction not even finished.

Combined with unfamiliarity with the player family, it handed over all permissions to him.

At another Black Tide node, even the Evil Spirit warriors had vanished, so the blue-skinned Evil Eye could only give him all command authority.

But this time, Ghost Fang only gave the Evil Spirits control rights and resource consumption rights, while all resource consumption data would be recorded by the blue-skinned Evil Eye.

Even if it wanted to steal, it couldn't.

Connecting with the Evil Eye, the Di Nian Evil Spirit formally entered carry mode after taking over command authority.

The Black Tide on the battlefield suddenly stagnated at this moment, as if even time itself had frozen, then the Black Tide violently contracted.

The Evil Spirits on the battlefield were instantly broken down, transforming into the most primal Black Tide energy.

The next second, the Evil Spirits reassembled in an entirely new form.

The first to appear was the plague-type Evil Spirit "Necrotic Bone Bulwark."

Its massive form was as if compressed from countless corpses; dragon flames swept in, the scorched bone shards on its surface rapidly flaking off under the burning, revealing writhing flesh beneath that absorbed fire damage and converted it into elemental curses.

Every attack from the Ember Dragon clan was pouring strength into itself.

At the same time, a sticky plague fungal carpet began seeping out from the battlefield surface.

Countless tiny spore sacs floated on the fungal carpet's surface; whenever a dragon clan member stepped on them, the sacs would silently burst, releasing elemental toxins.

Facing the entanglement of plague-type units, the Ember Dragon clan unleashed blazing breath, but this instead accelerated the volatilization of toxins, and a pale green toxic mist gradually spread across the battlefield sky.

Catastrophe-type units also generated at this moment, pulling back the front line to form an unbreakable wall.

Then came countless frenzy-type units "Scale-Eroding Worms."

These translucent worms were tiny in size, precisely burrowing into dragon scale gaps under the Di Nian Evil Spirit's control, voraciously devouring flesh and blood.

During this, the Evil Eye continuously provided data support.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit also threw itself wholeheartedly into the war.

The battle situation gradually began to reverse.

At this moment, no one was more surprised than Ghost Fang.

Observing the battlefield, it was astonished to discover that the Ember Dragon clan's ferocious charge, under the Black Tide controlled by the Di Nian Evil Spirit, was like striking cotton.

Blazing flames couldn't completely incinerate the Catastrophe Bulwark, and violent assaults were blocked by the fungal carpet.

Even more fatally, as time passed, the parasitic Scale-Eroding Worm colonies inside the dragon clan began reproducing massively by devouring flesh and blood, causing their movements to grow increasingly sluggish, and their dragon flame and storm breath gradually lost their power.

Di Nian's set of tactics was completely different from the Black Tide style under its control.

It didn't pursue unleashing the Black Tide's devour-and-grow characteristic, but instead adopted the most insidious method, draining the Ember Dragon clan's vitality bit by bit.

It was downright despicable to the extreme.

Even more outrageous was the backlash from the Catastrophe units.

As an Evil Spirit commander, Ghost Fang couldn't imagine why Di Nian would care so much about the survival of every unit.

It focused control down to the status of every single Evil Spirit unit.

As the disadvantage reversed, Ghost Fang's gaze locked tightly onto the battlefield, feeling disbelief in its heart.

In its command philosophy, the Black Tide's strength lay in rapidly devouring everything with a surging momentum; no matter how strong the enemy, the Black Tide's devour-and-grow advantage could complete a reversal and crushing victory.

But the Di Nian Evil Spirit's tactics were like a meticulously laid conspiracy, with every detail exuding calculation.

Watching those precisely controlled Scale-Eroding Worms, a chill ran through Ghost Fang's heart.

These frenzy-type worms from the Third Palace shouldn't have appeared on a battlefield of this scale, yet now they had become the lethal killing move gradually consuming the Ember Dragon clan.

It had never imagined that war could be fought this way—not relying on the Black Tide's greatest advantage, but using such a delicate method to gradually drag enemies into the abyss.

What shocked Ghost Fang even more was the Di Nian Evil Spirit's attention to every single unit.

In its view, units were nothing more than Xiao Hao Pin; if they died, they died, as long as it could exchange them for final victory.

But the Di Nian Evil Spirit was completely different—it regarded every Evil Spirit unit as precious resources, and before they lost combat ability, it would quickly backlash them, then nurture them anew.

This meant the Black Tide force on the battlefield was always in a state of continuous replenishment.

"Madman…"

A chill rose up Ghost Fang's spine.

It suddenly realized the essence of the Di Nian Evil Spirit's tactics—this wasn't fighting a war of attrition, but attempting to squeeze out every last bit of the Black Tide's power.

It wanted to push the Black Tide resources in its hands to the absolute limit.

Having endured countless wars, this was the first time Ghost Fang had seen an Evil Spirit warrior utilize resources so efficiently.

Before witnessing this set of tactics firsthand, it would have only sneered at it.

After all, the Black Tide's advantage was devour-and-grow; it cared more about resource growth, not the extreme squeezing of limited resources.

Doing so was undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse, discarding the Black Tide's strongest advantage.

But after personally witnessing Di Nian's ultimate micro-control, it was thoroughly shaken.

Most importantly, this was the first time the Earth-Will Evil Spirit had come into contact with the Ember Dragon Clan, even with complete data records on hand.

But knowing the data and applying it on the battlefield were two entirely different things.

He even discovered that the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's understanding of the Ember Dragon Clan was skyrocketing during the war.

In the shared battlefield display, countless dots of data flickered wildly, running high-frequency calculations every single second.

Turning its head to look at the fully focused Earth-Will Evil Spirit, Ghost Fang's gaze changed.

The Earth-Will Evil Spirit at this moment, in its eyes, was like a battlefield artist in the middle of performing a precise war surgery.

Using the Black Tide as a blade, it dismembered the Ember Dragon Clan bit by bit into nourishment.

And the Ember Dragon Clan's resistance was all precisely contained, able only to let the surgical knife cut with precision.

It even noticed that while the Earth-Will Evil Spirit was steering the Black Tide into direct engagement with the Ember Dragon Clan, it had already spawned part of its troop types to sortie from underground.

Weaving themselves into a net in the shadows, preparing to intercept the Ember Dragon Clan's potential retreat.

The preparations for the later encirclement had been preset, and the confidence radiating from the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's face was as if it had already declared the Ember Dragon Clan nothing but prey pinned to the operating table, the right to escape stripped away in advance.

"Blue Eye, I want its information."

Ghost Fang said in a deep voice within its heart.

"Understood."

Instantly, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's detailed information appeared in Ghost Fang's mind.

Upon seeing the four words "Abyss Warrior" that Evil Eye had updated and tagged over half a year ago, Ghost Fang's pupils contracted sharply.

It suddenly understood.

This fellow was a survivor who had fought its way out of the Abyss Trial.

Also a potential seed qualified to make an "overstepping authority" request to the Sovereign — no wonder it could put on such a brilliant performance on the battlefield.

But the only thing that left it puzzled was—

The Earth-Will Evil Spirit was so outstanding, and had descended into Monster World even earlier than it.

While enjoying Commander-level resource support, its rank was still Overseer-level, and its territory resources and number of occupied nodes were also not many.

It tried to browse the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's battle records, only to find that the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's auxiliary eye had sealed off part of the battle data.

Without Sovereign-level authority it could not be browsed; this piece of data had only one line of text left on it:

【Player Strategy Guide: Encounter a player clan? Need a carry? Come to me, professional, paid!】

Ghost Fang: ……

It could not understand why the data for countering player clans had to be sealed away, and paid carry services even had to be offered for it.

With that kind of energy, wouldn't it be better to expand territory outward and obtain more resources?

Clearly possessing very strong strength, yet choosing to earn income through this method.

This truly left him feeling hard to comprehend.

(End of this chapter)