Chapter 74-1: Flaws in the Soul Growth System (1) |
“Don’t rush in alone! Everyone online, gather at the exit of Emperor’s Mound Village. We’ll charge out together.”
“I thought the Black Tide was terrifying, but it’s nothing. It’s basically a Musou hack-and-slash mode for us. So satisfying.”
“Although Guide said this is only the lowest tier of the Black Tide, and the Evil Entity creatures are barely at Crescent Moon level strength, it still feels great.”
“Looking for strong DPS to level up together. No Taunt Souls or other support Souls needed, only DPS.”
“If only we had a healer-type Soul that could restore HP. Even though we’re slaughtering the Black Tide easily, we can’t sustain. Once stamina or mental power runs out, we die.”
—
The Black Tide had already ravaged the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range for an entire day.
The players who had originally planned to grind revive cycles in Emperor’s Mound Village were now having the time of their lives.
The weakness of the enemies had completely exceeded their expectations.
The newer players who had joined the game recently had been complaining about starting off facing Waning Moon-level scenarios where the monsters were too difficult. But after encountering the Black Tide, everything turned around. Their strength was more than enough to go in and out of the low-tide Black Tide battles repeatedly.
The thrill of mowing down Evil Entities made even veteran players feel like the game had fundamentally changed.
Compared to the previous soul-like survival gameplay of hard mining, teaming up to challenge high level Evil Entities and monsters, the arrival of the Black Tide had transformed the game into a full-on hack-and-slash mode.
The only thing troubling the players was their lack of sustain. After each round of satisfying slaughter, they would inevitably be thrown into the one hour black room cooldown.
Every time they left Emperor’s Mound Village, it was a suicide charge, fighting until they returned as souls to the village.
In stark contrast to the players’ joy, the Dinian Evil Spirit, who had unleashed this Black Tide catastrophe, was deeply troubled.
At this moment, atop the tower platform at the Territory Node, the Dinian Evil Spirit watched the Black Tide sweeping across the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
During this process, it discovered a very serious problem.
As the Black Tide spread across the nearby areas, its strength did not increase; instead, it was continuously weakened by its encounters with the mysterious beings who called themselves players.
In order to investigate the origins of these mysterious creatures, it had personally followed them.
The conclusion it reached was almost unbelievable.
These beings, who called themselves players, did not appear to be natives of this world. Like the Dinian Evil Spirit itself, they seemed to originate from another world, having arrived here by crossing the barriers of Monster World.
In other words, the player race was also an invading force in Monster World.
But their method of invasion was completely incomprehensible, they arrived through the world barriers sporadically, sometimes dozens at once, sometimes individually, with no strategy or coordination whatsoever.
Upon contact with the Black Tide it controlled, the players would mindlessly fight until they perished.
This was entirely unlike the structure of any invading force, resembling a disorganized mob with no systematic combat power.
Yet despite being such a powerless small force, they had become an unresolved threat.
The player race possessed a rule trait that even the Evil Eye could not decipher. Upon death, they would completely dissipate, preventing the Black Tide from absorbing them. Likewise, Evil Entities killed by the players could not reintegrate into the Black Tide.
The battles had devolved into a war of attrition.
What the Dinian Evil Spirit did not know was how much reserve strength the player race possessed. But at this rate, the Black Tide’s strength would only continue to decline.
To run into such an unsolvable problem on his first expedition into this world deeply infuriated the ambitious Dinian Evil Spirit, yet he had no perfect solution. The only option he could think of was to continue wearing down the players’ reserves through constant Black Tide assaults, slowly grinding away at their forces.
When it came to a war of attrition, in the Dinian Evil Spirit’s eyes, the Black Tide legion was unmatched.
Before this, he had followed invasions into two small worlds.
In the early stages of each invasion, the arriving Black Tide legion was always at a disadvantage.
Especially during the invasion of the Dungeon World, the Black Tide’s commander possessed strength barely below Commander Class, not even on par with a few of the strongest beings in the Dungeon World.
But throughout the long years of the Black Tide’s rampage, the allied forces of the Dungeon World were gradually weakened, while the strength of the Black Tide legion rapidly climbed. By the late stage of the war, the commander had advanced to King Class, and he himself was promoted to Commander Class in that very battle.
In the end, during their final offensive, the Dungeon World was devoured entirely by the Black Tide, marking the end of that world.
Thus, in the Dinian Evil Spirit’s eyes, the Black Tide legion feared nothing when it came to war of attrition. Empowered by their ability to rapidly spawn Evil Entities, no force could outlast the Black Tide in a prolonged conflict.
Initial disadvantages when confronting new forces, or even evenly matched battles, to the Dinian Evil Spirit, were merely preludes to inevitable victory.
—
Primordial Altar
In Qi Sheng’s mind, data feedback from Guide was being displayed, the results of the players’ battle against the Black Tide over the past 29 hours.
After deducting the sacrificial power cost for player deaths and resurrections, the Black Tide had brought him a profit of 580,000 sacrificial power.
His income was exploding.
At this rate, the rampaging Black Tide would significantly accelerate the overall strength growth of the player army.
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