Chapter 58: Anti-Tide |
Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, north of the ancient battlefield.
“One, two, three… Petrify!”
As Zhou Xiao shouted, a layer of black material quickly coated his body. At the same time, the blood corpse’s claws slashed toward him, striking his shoulder. His body sank from the force, but he took no real damage.
Seizing the opening after the blood corpse’s attack, Zhou Xiao immediately canceled the Petrification trait, dodged sideways to avoid its close-range bite, twisted his hips to gain momentum, and smashed a heavy punch straight into the blood corpse’s neck.
Crack!
A crisp bone-snapping sound rang out as the blood corpse collapsed.
“Got it!”
Though not yet completely dead, its broken neck prevented the Corrosion Core in its brain from controlling its lower body. Zhou Xiao quickly took the chance to launch a storm of punches at its head.
Several minutes later, Zhou Xiao finally stopped, panting and sitting down on the ground.
[Challenger Notification: Killed Evil Entity Blood Corpse. Evolution points gained: 118; Sacrificial Power reward: 23]
Just half a day ago, Zhou Xiao had read a strategy post on the forum that mentioned a unique technique for the Gargoyle inherited soul: ‘timing output.’
The post included video footage recorded from another player’s perspective.
In the video, a player with the Gargoyle primary form used the freely controlled Petrification skill to exploit the blood corpse’s attack windows, successfully defeating a blood corpse four levels higher.
The footage had greatly shocked Zhou Xiao.
Though he also played Gargoyle, watching that player felt like watching someone play an entirely different game. He felt completely clumsy by comparison.
The timing output technique from the tutorial piqued his interest.
After repeatedly studying the video and calculating the attack intervals, he decided to personally try this combat method.
The results were excellent.
After ten minutes of chipping away, alternating Petrification on and off, he finally broke the blood corpse’s neck and pulled off a successful solo kill against a monster two levels higher.
Looking at the blood corpse remains on the ground, Zhou Xiao felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Before playing Dark Land, he had loved Souls-like games. Though painful, the thrill of overcoming difficult challenges always left him exhilarated.
The fully immersive realism of Dark Land amplified this feeling even more. The satisfaction of both the challenge and the reward was absolutely incredible.
After resting for a while, Zhou Xiao got up and prepared to look for his next hunting target.
Just then, a black shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his path.
Focusing his gaze, Zhou Xiao was stunned.
“God of Wealth?”
Hearing Zhou Xiao call him God of Wealth, Broken Star remained expressionless, though he felt deeply frustrated inside.
He couldn’t even remember how many times these mysterious creatures had called him God of Wealth now.
Every time they met, these beings would greet him from afar with friendly waves, calling out ‘God of Wealth’ as if they were close acquaintances.
After many days of observation, Broken Star had failed to locate the shuttle.
Today, he finally decided to act.
The mysterious being standing before him was his target.
“Tell me, where is the shuttle?”
“Shuttle? What shuttle?”
The so-called ‘player’ showed no trace of fear, making Broken Star realize that intimidation was useless. His tone softened slightly, though his voice remained cold.
“The shuttle that arrived with me. Where did your people hide it?”
“How would I know where it’s hidden? And what does this have to do with me?”
“He is your kin. Of course it concerns you,” Broken Star replied coolly.
Hearing this, Zhou Xiao was full of question marks.
“You’re being unreasonable. If someone took it, go ask them. I didn’t get any benefit from it, so why should I be responsible for the trouble?”
“As a member of your race, how could you not be involved?”
“God of Wealth, you’re really being unreasonable now…” Seeing such bizarre logic, Zhou Xiao rolled up his sleeves, assuming a posture as if ready to explain the principles to him properly.
The two eventually sat down cross-legged in the field of white plants and began a debate.
Two worlds, two ways of thinking, collided in their argument.
Unlike Earth, Broken Star’s world operated as a collective where the interests of the entire race were inseparable from every individual.
But players thought very differently.
Neither could convince the other. In the end, Broken Star interrupted Zhou Xiao and pulled out a purple crystal, handing it to him.
“Find the shuttle for me. I will pay you a reward that should satisfy you.”
Through their conversation, Broken Star realized this race was far from united; its members didn’t seem to care about each other’s interests at all.
He had noticed this before. These self-proclaimed players often broke out into violent internal conflicts, fighting brutally, showing no mercy to their own kind.
He no longer wanted to argue. He simply wished to locate the shuttle and leave.
Zhou Xiao lowered his head to examine the crystal, and the analysis information appeared:
[Name: Purple Soul Crystal]
Spiritual Ore Grade: 7
Description: A condensed soul energy crystal. Can be used for sacrificial offerings, crafting armed vehicles, or directly consumed for Body Tempering experience.
—
Seeing that the God of Wealth casually offered a level 7 spiritual ore, Zhou Xiao’s eyes widened.
Since Dark Land launched, the highest spiritual ore players had encountered was level 5, which had already triggered massive conflict.
Yet here, the God of Wealth casually pulled out a level 7 ore.
Still, Zhou Xiao didn’t reach out to take it.
Though this was just a game world, and he could easily betray the deal afterward without consequence, he preferred to treat the game as a real world, following his own principles and values.
A single level 7 ore wasn’t enough to make him compromise.
With this in mind, Zhou Xiao shook his head.
“Sorry. I can’t do it.”
“My offer isn’t high enough?” Broken Star frowned slightly.
“You misunderstood. It’s not about the price. No matter how much you offer, I can’t do it… If I’m not mistaken, your so-called shuttle has already been sacrificed to the Emperor’s Sign by my people.”
“Sacrificed to the Emperor’s Sign?” Hearing this, Broken Star’s face filled with disbelief.
“Your people still believe in the Emperor’s Sign?”
“Is that a problem?” Zhou Xiao turned to look at Broken Star.
“The Emperor has been gone for ten thousand years. Although He was once the sole faith of countless races in Monster World, in this era, it’s rare to find any forces that still worship the Emperor’s Sign.”
Realizing that this conversation might reveal part of the game’s lore, Zhou Xiao grew curious.
“If you don’t believe in the Emperor’s Sign, then who do you serve?”
“Anti-Tide.”
“Who is that?”
Faced with the question, Broken Star subconsciously recalled the memory images left behind by his ancestors before he joined the reserves.
In the image, a towering figure sat upon a blood throne, his face blurred under blood-colored energy.
Below the throne stood countless solemn Anti-Tide Legion warriors.
That was Anti-Tide, his faith.
Although he never saw Anti-Tide’s face clearly, the voice remained etched in his mind.
“The Emperor self-dissolved. The Four Gods have fallen. We have lost all hope of reigniting the Emperor’s Sign’s flame. But I have not given up. I will lead you to continue waging war against the Black Tide, until we reclaim our homeland… I do not need to inherit the Emperor’s Sign, I will surpass the Emperor’s Sign!”
The declaration of war sparked a thunderous roar from the warriors below.
Thus, the Anti-Tide Legion was born.
The era of the Emperor’s Sign had ended. From then on, Anti-Tide became the sole faith of countless races on the Pale Continent, and becoming an Anti-Tide warrior was Broken Star’s lifelong dream.