Chapter 29: Lunar Phase: Last Quarter Moon

【Challenger Notice: The Waning Crescent in the Di Zhong Mountain Range region is about to fade, entering the Last Quarter Moon phase. Players, please prepare!】

Last Quarter Moon Scene Introduction: The second intensity stage among the five phases of the Evil Moon, duration unknown.

Change: A large number of evil spirits that exist only in the Last Quarter Moon scene will descend upon the Di Zhong Mountain Range region following the lunar phase change, and the evil spirits of the Waning Crescent scene will vanish.

Change 2: The terrain and environment have changed.

……

Accompanied by the notification sound ringing in the players' minds.

The scenes in various areas of the Di Zhong Mountain Range changed accordingly.

Towards the direction of the Ancient Battlefield.

The scene originally covered in corpses vanished with a distortion of space; what refreshed in its place was a large number of blood corpses, entirely crimson with black hair growing on their bodies.

Towards the direction of the Blood Plain.

The crimson plants blooming across the plain dissipated with the wind; what followed was countless twisted vines and withered ancient trees, along with a large number of evil spirit lives.

Towards the direction of the Artifact Spirit Valley.

A surging Dahe river appeared in the center of the valley; besides the monsters and Meng Yuan Chu monsters that already existed, a large number of twisted cores that floated in mid-air with dense tentacles growing all over them refreshed.

But these evil spirits were immediately besieged by the Artifact Spirits upon appearing.

The switch from Waning Crescent to Last Quarter Moon seemed to integrate an entire unknown space into the Di Zhong Mountain Range; while the terrain changed, a massive surge of new evil spirit lives emerged.

When the earth-shaking changes ended, the dim light cast by the Waning Crescent also turned into a dazzling blood-red, and the floating energy particles in the air increased fivefold.

Players exploring in various scenes instantly fell into the predicament of being surrounded by evil spirits.

Bloodthirsty evil spirit lives will attack any target possessing life fluctuations within their line of sight (perception) range, including players.

Especially in the direction of the Ancient Battlefield, where the vast majority of players were hunting Cursed Weapons.

Before the lunar phase changed, the refresh rate of evil spirits was not high; one had to wait for the black tide energy to accumulate within the corpses before they could transform into Cursed Weapons.

Recently, under the players' frenzied hunting, the refresh speed of Cursed Weapons has gradually failed to keep up with the players' kill efficiency, causing every Cursed Weapon refresh to trigger a scramble; many players could only continue deeper into the Ancient Battlefield direction to find huntable targets in more distant places.

With the Waning Crescent turning into the Last Quarter Moon, the offensive and defensive positions between players and evil spirits reversed.

A massive number of blood corpses trapped the player groups, launching bloodthirsty attacks with no fear of death.

Furthermore, the hunting level of the blood corpses refreshed in the Last Quarter Moon reached levels 8-15, with comprehensive strength several times stronger than the level 1-3 Cursed Weapons.

With the combination of quantity and level suppression, players were completely at a disadvantage in their confrontation with the enhanced evil spirits.

The number of online players in Qi Sheng's mind dropped at a visible speed, as a large number of players were killed and forced out of the game.

During this period, the regional chat channel also exploded.

"So this is the lunar phase switch that the new player guide mentioned as occurring probabilistically. I previously thought the lunar phase in each region was fixed, with different phases only in different large areas. The intensity of just the Last Quarter Moon is already this high, it's terrifying!"

"The blood corpses are too fierce! They have high health and high defense. Our squad fought for a long time just to kill one, only for a group to come nearby and surround us. Now my teammates are dead, and I've given up resistance and am waiting to die..."

"Help! I'm surrounded! I don't want to enter the one-hour respawn cooldown (storm crying)!"

"The lunar phase switch is too terrifying; the monster difficulty has increased several times. If it were the Full Moon or the Great Evil Moon phase, wouldn't the evil spirits' levels break one hundred?"

"The twisted plants on the Blood Plain generally have a hunting level of 12+. I'm truly drunk; it's hard even to run, I'm waiting to die!"

"Let you guys be stubborn with your mouths usually, complaining that the refreshed monster numbers are too few and not enough to fight. Now it's enough, right? If it's not enough, wait until the First Quarter Moon comes (dog head)."

……

After the lunar phase switch, except for the players inside the Dark Cave who remained safe and sound, all other players were attacked by enhanced evil spirits.

The reason is related to the special nature of the Black Tide; non-evil spirit things do not change with the lunar phase change.

The iron-shell beetles inside the Dark Cave did not vanish, nor did they turn into stronger monsters.

But the players outside were not so lucky.

Within a short time, the number of online players dropped from 9800+ to less than 1000.

Regarding this, Qi Sheng was already mentally prepared.

The different lunar phases of the terrifying Black Tide can be understood as five different layered spaces; when the Waning Crescent switches to the Last Quarter Moon, the Waning Crescent space is replaced by the Last Quarter Moon space, and all things related to the Black Tide within the scene will switch along with it.

For example, the Cursed Weapons on the Ancient Battlefield did not completely disappear; they will reappear when the lunar phase switches back to the Waning Crescent.

For players at the current stage, the intensity of the Last Quarter Moon scene is obviously unbearable.

But he had no solution.

The change of the lunar phase is affected by the tides of the terrifying Black Tide; exactly when it will switch back to the Waning Crescent is completely unknown.

What can be confirmed is that the Di Zhong Mountain Range region is not the core area of the terrifying Black Tide energy corrosion; here, the probability of refreshing stronger lunar phases is extremely low.

In his five hundred years in the Monster World, he had only seen the fourth-stage Full Moon once in the Di Zhong Mountain Range region.

In his memory, the Full Moon scene could be described as demons dancing wildly.

Abyss Great Demons, Void Erosion Worms, Touches of Fear... a single glance would reveal a large number of super evil spirit lives with hunting levels exceeding 100.

Evil spirits blocking the sky and sun, like a locust plague ravaging the Di Zhong Mountain Range; wherever they passed, very few lives could survive.

As for the "Great Evil Moon," regarded as the final form of the terrifying Black Tide, only the Four Servants in their peak period had experienced it; he had never seen it with his own eyes.

【Boss, this lunar phase switch might not necessarily be a bad thing.】

Turning his head to look at the floating Guidance Water Sphere beside him, Qi Sheng nodded with a smile:

"Indeed."

He naturally understood Yin De Xiang Fa's thoughts.

Compared to the Waning Crescent scene, while the intensity of the Last Quarter Moon scene increased significantly, the intensity of the energy between heaven and earth also became more abundant.

The Last Quarter Moon scene nurtured a large number of Black Tide spiritual plants; among them were many Black Tide spiritual items produced after the Black Tide swallowed other worlds and integrated them into the Monster World, and under the refining of Black Tide erosion energy. These things can all be purified into pure Shou Shou Jili through the method of burning at the altar.

While the risk is high, players exploring outside can also gain more surprising rewards.

Although the sudden lunar phase switch forced a large number of players offline, Qi Sheng could be certain that players would quickly adapt to the Last Quarter Moon intensity and continue to create more Shou Shou Jili revenue for him.

After this wave of offline players comes back online and exits the new player village, they will surely be able to find a way to cope.

If your strength is insufficient, form a group to act.

The hunting difficulty increases, but the reward for killing a Blood Corpse is several times that of killing a Cursed Soldier.

Judging through various dimensions such as hunting efficiency, hunting difficulty, and opportunity probability, the conclusion calculated by the guidance is that the comprehensive return rate of the Waning Crescent is 1.3 times higher than that of the Waning Moon.

And this value is only temporary.

As the players' strength grows, the comprehensive return rate brought by the Waning Crescent will continue to climb.

(End of this chapter)