Chapter 338: Fight Like a Warrior (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

The bloodlight of the Evil Moon spread with the black tide's expansion, engulfing the battlefield.

The great battle continued, but the lantern in the Archivist's hand was gradually dimming.

The bone lantern, once that devoured countless civilizations, held within it each flickering starlight representing a sacrificed civilization.

Every time the black tide, under the control of the evil spirits, annihilated a civilization's army by swallowing its warriors from within the space, one starlight on the bone lantern would extinguish, the base of a civilization's tombstone would collapse with a thunderous crash, and that civilization would vanish forever.

The black tide's sweeping through the subspace caused the flame to violently sway, illuminating the Archivist's withered face with panic.

Though he had heard of the black tide, this was his first time facing it.

Only now did he understand how terrifying the black tide truly was, as the elders had warned.

On the level of warfare, his civilization's army was utterly suppressed.

The evil spirits drawn into the isolated battlefields did not sever their connection to the black tide; instead, they transformed into millions of scalpels, meticulously dissecting the civilization's army.

The metallurgical secrets that corroded living bronze civilizations, the celestial forces that disrupted star-orbit civilizations, the psychic shocks that shattered the symbiotic systems of the Bloodvine Ancients… each time the evil spirit warriors analyzed a civilization's trait, they rapidly generated new evil spirits to suppress the civilization's army.

It felt to him as if this were a puzzle game in the eyes of the evil spirit warriors.

Every civilization was a question.

The rapidly generated evil spirits were the answers the evil spirit warriors provided.

It had posed ten thousand questions, hoping to overwhelm the black tide's war-decision efficiency through sheer volume.

Under normal circumstances, when a force faced the fragmented battlefield of civilization spaces, it would completely lose unified command capability, forced to rely solely on the combatants within each civilization space to form independent armies.

The role of central command had become utterly useless.

But the problem was, every single question was far too simple before the evil spirit warriors.

They did not even need to think to rapidly provide answers.

They solved ten thousand questions simultaneously, submitted answers simultaneously—there was no ideal scenario of command failure.

The Archivist's expression was panicked; the bone lantern trembled in his palm.

Fine cracks on the lantern's surface were spreading; the once brilliant starlights were extinguishing one after another.

He realized the strategy of fragmenting the battlefield was accelerating his own defeat.

Every time he split off an isolated space, he was handing the black tide a laboratory to analyze a civilization.

"Return to burial."

Instantly, an invisible force radiated outward from the bone lantern in concentric ripples.

These ripples were like a signal.

When the ripples of Return to Burial reached the battlefield's edge, the ten thousand civilization warriors' internal civilization spaces erupted like boiling furnaces, spewing back every evil spirit they had swallowed.

This time, the Archivist no longer pursued battlefield fragmentation; instead, he redirected all nourishment back to the civilization warriors.

The battlefield returned to its original state: a direct clash between civilization warriors and black tide evil spirits.

First to return to formation were the civilization warriors forged from the Mechanical Civilization's smelting.

Their massive alloy-cast mechs exploded open, their chest energy cores blasting forth blue-purple energy streams that instantly vaporized approaching evil spirits.

Then, chain-saw-like light blades shot from their joints, carving brilliant arcs through the black mist, disintegrating every evil spirit they touched into black mist.

But such attacks did not truly kill the evil spirits, nor could they absorb the dead evil spirits' power like players could.

Even if civilization warriors absorbed the evil spirits, that power would still return to the black tide, reborn as new evil spirit warriors to rejoin the battlefield.

The energy loss inflicted upon the black tide was negligible compared to the casualties among the civilization warriors.

At that moment, countless octopus-like soft-bodied evil spirits suddenly formed, their eight tentacles covered in suckers; once attached to the mech's surface, they secreted potent acid, the alloy armor hissing shrilly as it corroded.

On the other side, the civilization warriors shaped by the Rift-Space Civilization flickered rapidly across the battlefield, constantly teleporting through space.

Each swing of their Rift-Space blades tore open space, sucking nearby evil spirits into it and hurling them into the Void World.

There, they were shredded by Void forces.

But beneath the Evil Moon's glow, even black mist shattered by Void counter-currents returned to the battlefield the next second.

The Rift-Space warriors' assaults held no real significance.

They merely temporarily banished powerful evil spirits into the Void, only for them to return to the battlefield soon after.

And the most brilliant combatants on the battlefield were unquestionably the Soul Civilization's warriors: the Awakened.

Their foreheads bore ancient soul runes.

Chanting incantations continuously, countless soul chains extended from their isolated spaces, wrapping around black tide evil spirits and purging them en masse.

Yet from deep within the black tide came a piercing shriek—a crimson figure burst forth, its bloodlight colliding with the Awakened's soul chains, unleashing terrifying energy waves.

The impact sent the Awakened spitting blood, their radiance dimming noticeably.

The one who appeared was Mochong, commander of the Tide of Pain under Earth Thought's evil spirit.

He was the only rule-level unit within Earth Thought's black tide possessing self-awareness.

With Mochong's appearance, crimson mist surged from the black fog.

Pain-type units flooded forth like a tide, their power coalescing into an emotional prison that enveloped the battlefield.

Mochong hovered above the battlefield, arms outstretched, countless crimson threads erupting from his body, linking with the Pain-type units.

The Corridor of Wailing was thus unfurled.

This was the ultimate killing technique developed by Earth Thought's evil spirit, requiring Mochong's rule to activate.

It turned emotion into a tangible weapon.

He never used this against players.

Because it was meaningless—any player who surpassed the emotional threshold could nullify all emotional effects.

But here, there were no players.

Five ultimate emotions erupted simultaneously, awakening in the civilization warriors' fused memories all their sorrow and pain.

First to erupt was the Abyss of Despair, unleashed by the Weeping Maiden in tandem with Mochong.

In the mind of the mechanized Civilization Warrior, an image of the mother planet exploding suddenly flashed, and the precise gears within its body abruptly stopped turning.

It then knelt to the ground, its body trembling uncontrollably.

Endless despair completely enveloped it; that was the feedback of countless pains from the twilight of a civilization.

Under the influence of the Rules, this emotion could not be escaped at all.

Just then, the Skeleton of Frenzy, linked with the Demon Seeds, wove a Hell of Rage that shrouded the battlefield.

The Civilization Warrior, refined from the Curse-Blood Dragon Tree civilization, suddenly roared at the sky; floating in its mind were the resentment, hatred, and madness in the hearts of countless living beings when the civilization collapsed... these emotions caused it to lose control completely.

Next came the Eternal Echo released by the Death Bell Acolyte linked with the Demon Seeds, the Repentance Spider Nest released by the Regret Spider Mother linked with the Demon Seeds, and the Endless Fear released by the Throat of Fear-Cloth linked with the Demon Seeds.

The five ultimate emotions ravaged the battlefield, bringing extreme pain to all Civilization Warriors.

There is always one emotion that can cause a Civilization Warrior fused with civilization memories to collapse.

Even the Recorder controlling the Civilization Warriors was affected; the expression on its face uncontrollably shifted between sorrow, pain, and despair.

It tried to suppress the surging emotions, but to no avail.

The entire battlefield thus fell under the control of the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

This Evil Spirit commander, who would fly into a rage when facing players in the Imperial Tomb Mountains and whose emotions would fluctuate violently for various reasons,

displayed only absolute coldness and terrifying battlefield dominance against the civilization army of the Bei Yuan Clan, like a precise war machine without emotions.

Whether dividing the battlefield or gathering for combat, the Di Nian Evil Spirit created an overwhelming advantage.

The Hei Chao Xie Sui under its control advanced with a sweeping posture.

At this moment, behind the Forest of Steles, the Recorder watched the Civilization Warriors retreating step by step, the bone lamp in its hand still trembling violently.

The speed at which the starlight on it extinguished had not eased even after gathering for combat.

Cracks on the lamp wall increased; the Yan Sheng Lao Yin derived from the "Civilization" Rules showed signs of returning to its original form.

This battle could be described as a total collapse.

In the Recorder's eyes, the war advantages the Bei Yuan Clan could easily create when fighting other races and factions all became weaknesses suppressed by the Hei Chao.

It finally witnessed the terrifying battlefield dominance displayed by the advantage of the entire system.

The Recorder's fingers dug deep into its palm, and dark golden blood beads seeped out from beneath its aged skin.

The bone lamp emitted a fine, cracking sound of being unable to bear the load in its hand; for every crack that appeared on the lamp wall, a civilization tombstone in the perception field collapsed with a boom.

The Civilization Warriors, once invincible in other worlds, now fell in waves like wheat being harvested.

In this desperate situation, the Recorder chose to gamble its life.

The bone lamp vibrated, and invisible ripples spread across the battlefield.

The remaining Civilization Warriors suddenly froze, then collectively turned and converged toward the center.

All civilization characteristics began to forcibly fuse.

This was the Bei Yuan Clan's ultimate battle technique: Ten Thousand Burials Return to One.

Only the highest-grade Yan Sheng Lao Yin derived from the Rules could cast it, fusing all civilization characteristics into one.

But this step required a detailed understanding of different civilizations oneself.

The one in its hand was merely a secondary-grade Yan Sheng Lao Yin derived from the Rules; forcibly releasing civilization fusion would only cause the Yan Sheng Lao Yin in its hand to shatter completely.

But now it had no way back.

The starlight inside the bone lamp floated into the air simultaneously, and all Civilization Warriors fused rapidly.

The life intensity of the main warrior climbed rapidly.

The precise gears of the Mechanical Civilization bit into the rune arrays of the Curse-Spell Civilization; the regeneration characteristics of the Plant Civilization and the decay laws of the Undead Civilization eroded each other, causing conflict and explosions; the cognition and memories of the Interstellar Civilization were forcibly compressed into the symbiotic consciousness... a new civilization was born through forced assembly.

It finally took the form of a Civilization Warrior a thousand meters tall.

Its left arm was a cannon barrel entangled with metal and flesh, its right arm a whip-blade condensed from plants and viruses, its chest embedded with 3,800 energy cores from different civilizations, and its back extended with 36 pairs of wings of varying lengths.

The Civilization Giant under Ten Thousand Burials Return to One trampled the earth and launched a final charge against the Hei Chao.

On the Hei Chao side, the figure of a Demon Seed Warrior rose from the Hei Chao, rapidly growing taller under the infusion of Hei Chao energy.

But compared to such a colossal object as that Civilization Warrior, its form still appeared very small.

When the will of the Di Nian Evil Spirit descended, the Demon Seed spread its arms, facing the challenge of the Civilization Giant.

The Civilization Giant fired its collapse cannon; the Demon Seed did not dodge or avoid, letting the beam capable of annihilating mountains penetrate its body.

But the damaged body healed rapidly under the infusion of Hei Chao particles, and its combat power remained unaffected.

While roaring with an open mouth, it linked with the five major emotion evil spirits to simultaneously release ultimate emotional damage.

Civilization fusion also meant that all negative emotions were fused in along with it.

Ultimate emotional damage was comparable to "True Damage" in games.

Even the Civilization Giant trembled uncontrollably.

Seizing the opportunity, the Demon Seed surged forward, its form turning into a streak of crimson light, its five fingers like blades striking the giant's chest directly.

When the Demon Seed touched the Civilization Giant, the forcibly fused civilization consciousness collapsed completely.

The giant knelt to the ground, and thousands of phantom images of civilization tombstones began to appear on its body.

Every tombstone represented a civilization swallowed by the Bei Yuan Clan, and now they were collectively counter-attacking.

In the Mechanical Civilization fragment, thousands of engineers wept over their life's work being burned; in the Curse-Spell Civilization, countless black-robed figures angrily denounced the evil invaders... all anger, pain, death, and sorrow erupted completely.

The collapse of the Civilization Giant was a collective counter-attack of different civilizations.

The massive body began to disintegrate.

Countless cracks opened on its back, and its wings withered like dry leaves.

Every feather that fell turned to ash in mid-air.

The head of the Civilization Giant tilted backward, emitting a non-human wail from the throat where metal and flesh merged; it was like the superposition of thousands of voices, and also the final accusation of countless civilizations before their extinction.

The Demon Seed, controlled by the Di Nian Evil Spirit, coldly watched all this.

Its palm was still buried in the giant's chest, streams of blood-colored energy flowing between its five fingers.

The Recorder of Canon, watching this scene from afar, trembled in terror.

The civilization's ultimate weapon was being dismantled from within.

The civilization it had once treated as nourishment had, under the influence of emotional damage, become a spiritual weapon to crush the civilization giant.

In the end, the giant's body crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar, dissolving into a roiling storm of chaotic energy that swiftly dispersed as the Black Tide swallowed it.

Having failed to withstand the Black Tide's assault even with its last resort, the Recorder of Canon was utterly despairing.

Run!

At this moment, it no longer hesitated for a single instant. It spun around, transforming into a streak of dim grey light that tore through the air, fleeing madly toward the horizon.

Its tattered robes snapped and fluttered in the wind, shedding fragments as it fled at high speed, like a mummified corpse weathering away.

The fear of death shrouded its heart.

Failing the Burial Fire Trial would cost it the chance to enter the Core Layer.

But compared to staying alive, losing all that was trivial.

"Trying to run?"

Suddenly, the Evil Moon blazed with blood light; crimson radiance cascaded down like chains, instantly pinning the entire space dead.

No matter how the Recorder of Canon tried to activate the spatial-jump device imprint in its hand, it could not tear open space—the entire space seemed to have become a reinforced cage.

The Black Tide churned in response.

The viscous tide rose like a living thing, surging into a sky-covering wave that swept in from all sides, encircling its target.

The Recorder of Canon struggled frantically, trying to tear through the Black Tide's encirclement.

But all resistance was futile; its strength before the Black Tide was like a single drop of water trying to fight the entire ocean.

Before long, the Black Tide swallowed it whole.

Black mist poured into its mouth and nose, its ear canals, its eye sockets, and even seeped into its spiritual sea of consciousness.

Its consciousness began to blur; in its final field of vision, there was only endless darkness.

The Burial Fire Trial had ended in complete failure.

The Black Tide receded, and the Evil Moon's radiance gradually dimmed.

A few shattered remnants of rule-derived imprints, their energy spent, fell from the air.

The Earth-Thought Evil Spirit didn't even spare them a glance.

Its opponent's strength was decent, but only decent—far from reaching "beast-tier."

Compared to the chaotic brawls with the beasts back home, this fight was a refreshing breeze, very stress-relieving.

Just as the Earth-Thought Evil Spirit manipulated the Black Tide, crossing the former stele-forest region and pushing further outward.

The Bei Yuan Clan, the Burial Fire Sacred Hall.

Within the dim hall, several thousand bronze soul-lamps burned quietly.

Each lamp represented a Bei Yuan clan warrior participating in the trial out on campaign.

Suddenly.

"Crack!"

One soul-lamp exploded without warning; sparks from the bursting wick traced faint streaks of light through the darkness.

Outside the great hall, a figure clad in the garb of a Sacred Hall guardian, seated cross-legged upon an altar, suddenly raised its head.

Dark-gold pupils flared within the shadows, like two burning fireballs.

"My son."

A low voice rumbled, making the entire Sacred Hall tremble, and then the figure slowly rose; the Burial Fire imprints coiled around its body shattered inch by inch.

"Elder…." It jerked its head up, looking toward the depths of the great hall.