Chapter 90

Emperor's Tomb Mountains.

"What the hell is this thing? Its attack is insane—why does it feel even worse than the Black Tide, chasing me down to bite?"

"This bug's magic resistance is crazy high—I had to throw three fireballs to kill one. Melee's gonna rise in this patch, it's brutal. I hope melee stays in the dumpster forever; we mages are still the true gods of the meta."

"The Thunder Roll tactic is kinda fun—just line up with your buddies, switch to Thunderstride form, and roll forward. The only downside is you're pretty fragile."

……

While the rampant insect tide violently assaulted the Eye of Evil Tower, insect warrior units on both flanks of the main frontline crossed the boundary of the Phantom Marsh and entered the Emperor's Tomb Mountains region.

All resources along the way were devoured and consumed.

During this time, the insect tide made initial contact with players exploring outside.

To the players' eyes, the frenzied insect warriors were indistinguishable from the Black Tide Xie Sui.

Insect warriors who had not evolved abilities to counter Meng Yuan Chu's properties, though ferocious in combat, lacked any effective countermeasures and could only rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm.

Without doubt, the players who chose the melee Star Vein combination were the happiest.

In the terrifying Black Tide, numerous Xie Sui lifeforms had already emerged that could not be killed by non-elemental damage; melee had no advantage unless paired with elemental-damage Painful Minghun.

For example, Thunderstride Painful Minghun-enhanced lightning enchantments, or Ink Flame-enhanced fire enchantments.

But pairing with magic-based Painful Minghun would inevitably weaken physical attributes.

But in combat against insect warriors, melee players need not worry about this issue.

The situation of the insect warriors was the exact opposite of the Black Tide Xie Sui.

Their crystallized life structure effectively resisted elemental damage, but proved extremely vulnerable to pure physical damage.

This discovery sent melee players into ecstatic jubilation, all declaring that the long-awaited melee-revival patch had finally arrived.

While players passionately discussed the sudden insect tide, Qi Sheng, lurking behind the scenes, was still on the frontline watching the battle between the Black Tide and the insect tide.

The intensity of their clash far exceeded that of the battle between the terrifying Black Tide and the players.

During this time, the terrifying Black Tide siphoned node energy to rapidly spawn new Xie Sui, while the mastermind behind the Phantom Marsh controlled the insect warriors to frantically gather resources and rapidly spawn new insect warriors.

Both sides were in high-intensity troop production.

Under the glow of the Evil Moon, two differently colored waves converged at the center of the main frontline.

To the north, the insect tide resembled an endless ocean of crystal, primarily composed of Crystalwing-class units as the core combat force; under the mastermind's control, all insect warriors appeared wildly frenzied and bloodthirsty, their numbers too vast to count, surging forward like tidal waves—each collision of death brought shattered carapaces and spurting bodily fluids, the air thick with a pungent stench of blood.

On the other side, the Black Tide Xie Sui resembled demons crawling from the depths of darkness; once spawned, they immediately plunged into battle, and upon death, they remerged into the Black Tide, only for new Black Tide Xie Sui to be spawned again.

Both sides possessed massive combat unit numbers; no matter how many died, fresh forces always filled the gaps from behind, continuing their endless slaughter.

What made Qi Sheng most speechless in this process was.

It seemed like a prolonged war of attrition, where both sides should have suffered continuously expanding losses.

But according to the sampling and analysis feedback from the Guidance, the overall strength of both the terrifying Black Tide and the combat insect tide had not weakened under high-intensity confrontation—in fact, both were rapidly growing.

On the Black Tide side, the Black Tide absorbed energy by having its spawned Xie Sui kill insect warriors, rapidly increasing its own strength through consumption.

On the other side, the insect tide's mastermind, by continuously collecting the pheromones dispersed by the Black Tide, caused the newly spawned insect warriors to rapidly increase in strength.

In less than half a day, the insect mastermind, based on the Black Tide's characteristics, spawned a new combat unit: the Shieldwing.

Built upon the Crystalwing base, its body surface gained a hardened, shield-like carapace, milky white under the Evil Moon, glowing with a soft luster, its body tripled in size, its form heavy and bulky.

This was a lifeform restructured by the mother insect, specifically designed to counter the Ghost Child; its milky white carapace contained multiple defensive layers capable of progressively nullifying the area damage from the Ghost Child's self-explosion.

Crucially, the Shieldwing's heavy carapace could open like wings to protect the insect warriors behind it.

Both sides were rapidly evolving through their racial traits.

This sight left Qi Sheng stunned.

It felt to him as if the Black Tide and the insect tide were grinding experience points together, leveling up in tandem.

The war of attrition had been turned into a bug by these two infinitely potent races.

In any other game, this would clearly be a ban-worthy offense.

But as the great battle dragged on, victory was gradually becoming clear.

The moment the insect tide became locked in a prolonged war, victory had already begun tilting toward the terrifying Black Tide.

In terms of consumption-based growth, the mother insect relied only on nearby resources and could not strengthen itself by consuming Xie Sui, whereas the Black Tide could absorb partial growth nutrients from the corpses of slain insect warriors.

In growth speed, the Black Tide clearly outpaced the insect tide.

But what puzzled Qi Sheng was that the insect mastermind showed no intention of ending the war—it continued to mass-produce troops and fight on.

At this time, on the forums, players had already noticed the war between the Black Tide and the insect tide.

【Live broadcast of an insanely epic battlefield—way more thrilling than holographic movies, come to my stream and watch!】

Poster: Assassin on the Edge of the Blade.

Content: Black Tide vs. Insect Tide Brawl—Live Stream Link (Redirect)

……

Entering the live stream scene, the player's Guidance avatar, equipped with the "Dusk Shadow" Painful Minghun, switched to Shadow Form to observe from a distance.

In the scene, two boundless torrents continuously collided, the earth trembling beneath their battle.

The live stream's comment section was also wildly active:

ThisBeaver: Holy shit, this scene is insane! By the way, it looks like our player faction just got another enemy—according to Guidance's analysis feedback, these insects are just a tiny fraction of a massive swarm; in the future, we players are gonna face dozens of powerful hostile factions.

StormCloud replied to ThisBeaver: You're wrong. It's not that our player faction will face dozens of enemies—the core setting of this game makes players merely one of many potential factions. Haven't you seen the insect tide and Black Tide fighting each other? The future will be a total free-for-all, with all NPC factions hating each other and attacking on sight.

Nightfall Approaching: The guy above is right—same as my thoughts. In the game's setting, our player faction is just one among many. In places we haven't explored yet, other races are already waging brutal wars over resources… Also, while we're at it, I'll drop an ad: anyone with extra Shou Shou Jili, sell me some? I've left the village alone twice and died both times—been online ten minutes, spent two hours in the penalty box, I'm about to go insane (Explorer wiping tears. jpg).

BerserkChicken replied to Nightfall Approaching: Holy shit, the missing person's back! The forum was just discussing why you suddenly went silent—some guys guessed you hit real-life trouble. One guy said he knew you in real life, called you, and found out you got dragged to Iron Ox City and got fucked a hundred times by eighteen Iron Ox males.

EvilCounter: Wait, aren't we players the protagonists here? How'd we turn into spectators? The insect tide and Black Tide are completely ignoring us. I'm gonna charge over there and show them who's boss.

DivineWing: The battle's too brutal, but the new insect units are better than the Xie Sui—kill them and you get evolution points and Shou Shou Jili, plus extra materials you can offer to Beneath Di Zhao for more Shou Shou Jili. Overall, the rewards are higher than killing equivalent-level Xie Sui. I'll organize a guild push soon.

DivineKing replied to DivineWing: You idiot Wing, while the Black Tide's distracted, go seize a domain node! Gather your guys and meet us at the Emperor's Tomb Village gate—we're hitting the Gray Mist Forest to try and capture the Yun Tian domain node. Been craving the Spirit Field reward for ages.

……

The war between the insect tide and the Hei Chao Xie Sui ended after twenty hours.

The insect warriors, unable to advance to the Evil Eye Tower, withdrew like a receding tide under the command of the central brain; some insect warriors crossed the regional boundary from the flanks and entered the Emperor's Tomb Mountain region, beginning exploration and information gathering.

This process resembled players clearing map fog by mapping new territory.

The information gathered by the insect warriors was likewise transmitted to the central brain.

Facing the withdrawal of the insect warriors, the Hei Chao Xie Sui, controlled by the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit, did not pursue.

For the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit had noticed that the player race began assaulting the domain nodes across various regions of the Emperor's Tomb Mountain as the Hei Chao Xie Sui contracted its strength.

When the base crystal was ambushed, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit flew into a rage and decisively unleashed the Hei Chao Xie Sui to ravage the Emperor's Tomb Mountain region once more, resuming confrontation with the players.

But the prolonged war against the player race left the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit feeling deeply frustrated.

Though the battle against the insect tide was difficult, at least the Hei Chao Xie Sui could grow stronger by consuming insect warriors.

Yet the prolonged war against the player race was entirely the opposite.

Although the threat and pressure from the player race were far less fierce than the insect tide and relatively easier to handle, during the conflict the Hei Chao Xie Sui suffered only losses with no gains whatsoever.

The Earth-Nian Evil Spirit understood this as evidence that the Hei Chao Xie Sui was still in its low tide phase, its consumption strength insufficient to digest the peculiar life structure of the player race.

Only when the Hei Chao Xie Sui's consumption strength reached a certain threshold could it counter the strange property by which the player race's life energy instantly merged into the heavens and earth upon death.

Thus the Emperor's Tomb Mountain region descended into utter chaos.

Players vs. Hei Chao Xie Sui.

Players vs. insect warriors.

Hei Chao Xie Sui vs. insect warriors.

The three factions engaged in a chaotic battle, each viewing the other two as enemies.

That the war between the Hei Chao Xie Sui and the insect tide evolved into a three-way brawl was precisely the outcome Qisheng delighted to see.

If the insect tide and the Hei Chao Xie Sui continued to wipe each other out, both sides' strength would keep rising.

Although under the four rules of the Monster World, players need not fear death, their development speed would clearly be hindered.

The game mode would shift from the current one-hit-kill slaughter back into the difficult progression of a Souls-like mode.

……

That same afternoon, the day the Hei Chao Xie Sui and the insect tide ended their war.

While rapidly scanning forum posts, Qisheng came across a thread that made him laugh and cry in equal measure—the players had pulled off another outrageous stunt.

【I finally solved the unsolvable puzzle—epic guide drops, please tip and like!】:

Poster: Performance Artist.

Content:

Ahem, no more nonsense, let's get straight to the point.

I'm sure everyone has faced difficulty choosing when pairing Star Vein combinations.

Choosing a magic-based Star Vein combo means weak defense and poor mobility, especially when it's time to flee—your short legs can't match those of melee Star Vein players; your only advantage is extremely high output and long-range striking power, making you the top monster-killing build in the current patch.

But if you choose a melee Star Vein combo, you gain defense and mobility, and your movement speed is several times faster than magic-based Painful Minghun users—but the problem is your damage output is severely lacking, and you can't perform long-range or area-of-effect strikes like magic-based Painful Minghun users.

The weaknesses of both Star Vein schools are glaringly obvious.

So I wondered: could we combine their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses?

This idea sparked inspiration after the insect tide entered the Emperor's Tomb Mountain region.

Among the insect tide is a special unit called "Xingchi Mu"—according to the guide's parsed information, it is the insect tide's resource-transporting troop unit.

While reviewing the parsed information, I suddenly had an epiphany.

Why can't players create a mobility-enhancing mount?

Although the game has no mount system, every player can transform into a monster form—technically, anyone can become a mount.

Let me describe the combat style I envisioned.

I chose a magic-based Star Vein combo; I ride atop my good brother's back in battle. My good brother switches to Black-Scale Snake form (a thirteen-meter-long black-scaled serpent—he follows the monster-path growth route, has used only the Black-Scale Snake Painful Minghun since entering the game, never switched), forming a powerful combination with both output, mobility, and defense.

At my command, my good brother charges through the battlefield, and I simply stand on his head casting spells—my feet never need to move.

After multiple tests with my good brother, we identified two ideal mount forms.

They are the Black-Scale Snake and the Roar (bear form).

These two monster forms make excellent mounts.

Their massive size means insects can only reach my good brother's knees—posing zero threat to me atop him. And since my good brother is always moving, it's nearly impossible for enemies to climb up and kill me.

Especially the Roar form, which has sonic-stun crowd control—he immobilizes, I eliminate, and our monster-killing efficiency is extremely high.

Here's a demo video (video attachment).

Opening the video, Qisheng saw two players standing atop a massive boulder, gazing at the raging insect tide in the distance.

At that moment, one player turned to his friend beside him:

"Let's go."

Hearing this, the player beside him nodded, then switched into Black-Scale Snake form—his body contorted into a thirteen-meter-long black-scaled serpent, slithered down the boulder, lowered his head, and the other player stepped forward two paces to stand atop the serpent's head.

"Charge!"

As the player atop the head gave the attack command, the pair charged into the insect tide.

The Black-Scale Snake lifted its body, raising the player five meters off the ground, while the player atop its head continuously gathered fireballs and hurled them into clusters of insects.

Whenever the insect tide surged toward them, the Black-Scale Snake would charge through and retreat, seeking a region with fewer insect warriors, then lift its body again to create a safe output environment for the player on its head.

As the poster claimed, this combo compensated for the weaknesses of both melee and magic Star Veins, offering exceptional mobility and defense alongside high output efficiency.

At the end of the post, the poster wrote:

After watching the demo video, I'm sure everyone now understands the power of the mount build.

But no amount of explanation beats firsthand experience—I suggest everyone try it, and if it doesn't work, come back and roast me.

……

Elderly Pay-to-Win Player: I opened this post out of curiosity, and it left me stunned. Dude, you're really bold—I've heard this saying among veteran players: the ultimate gear in gaming is never the game itself or your hardware; the top-tier configuration is simply having a group of good brothers who can have fun playing together.

You'll understand this saying when you get older: as you age, the brothers and friends you once played with all build families and careers, your connections dwindle, and eventually they vanish from your game friend list, becoming forever dimmed icons.

But after reading your post, I realized this saying could be interpreted literally—I truly couldn't hold it together.

In short… your good brother is definitely the top-tier among good brothers—cherish him well.

Nightfall Approaches: Wait… people shouldn't… at least they shouldn't… never mind, I suddenly don't know what to say. Your concept is theoretically feasible, but there's one problem harder than fixing a weakness: not everyone can find a good brother willing to be a mount. (Four-Eye Clan's helpless sigh. jpg)

This Beaver: Hahaha, bro, you're truly a genius. I think your crazy idea is absolutely viable. Also, can I borrow your good brother? I just asked around in my guild group if anyone wanted to be my mount—they're all cursing me now. Clearly, my good brother isn't as reasonable as yours, unwilling to sacrifice himself for power.

Drunkenly Beating the Eclipse Clan: Dude, this guide is way too abstract. The weakness of the Star Vein school can be solved—we'll get more types of Painful Painful Minghun in the future, and eventually we'll find viable combinations. But the idea of making a good brother your mount? I'll never solve that. Your guide is way beyond me—it's shattered my worldview.

Dark Lands Are So Fun: The game sold you 128,888 for too little—you're getting wilder and wilder. The Eclipse Clan official hasn't added mounts, but you've custom-created the mount feature? Your insane, twisted ideas constantly make me feel out of place. I suggest the devs lower the freedom level—your freedom's gone too far, you're all playing abstract now. I'm too scared to imagine what even more twisted gameplay you'll come up with next.

Coke with Ice, Chugged: Boss, transfer me 100 Shou Shou Jili right now. I told my good brother your idea, and he punched my head three times hard—said the method works, but only if I become the mount, and he'll switch to ranged DPS. I refused, and he's threatening to hit me again. Boss, pay my medical bills! (God of Wealth clenching fist, red-faced. jpg)

……

The content of this post left Qi Sheng utterly speechless.

As the designer of the Challenger System, he had never imagined such a bizarre playstyle could exist.

He had truly turned his foundation into something extraordinary.

Theoretically, this tactic is entirely feasible—but as the forum players said:

The playstyle is a profound insult to brotherhood.

The difficulty isn't whether the tactic works—it's finding a good brother willing to sacrifice himself.

(End of Chapter)