Chapter 79-1: Mechanical Overlord (1) |
The Evil Moon hung high, while ash resembling willow catkins drifted down from the sky like falling snow, corroding the land.
Countless Evil Entities converged into a towering tide, rampaging through the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
North of the ancient battlefield lay the Earthfissure Furnace region.
Qi Sheng’s gaze overlooked the ground from high above, seeing numerous players gathered here, engaging in a desperate battle against the Black Tide Evil Entities sweeping forward. Behind them, a steady stream of players continually reinforced the frontline losses.
Twenty-five hours earlier, a team of players exploring the Earthfissure Furnace region discovered something strange.
The rampaging Evil Entities were organized, excavating spiritual ore from underground and transporting it north in bulk.
The players did not understand the Evil Entities’ objective, but they were very interested in snatching the spiritual ore being transported.
After an intense battle, this player squad seized a batch of spiritual ore from the Evil Entities and, after sacrificial tallying, reaped considerable rewards.
When this information was posted on the forum, it attracted the attention of numerous guilds, who quickly organized forces to join the plundering operation.
During this time, Qi Sheng’s consciousness followed the Evil Entity convoy transporting the spiritual ore and discovered that the ultimate destination was the tall tower where the Dinian Evil Spirit resided.
The transported spiritual ore was thrown into the furnace at the tower’s center to be smelted and converted into energy required for the growth of the Black Tide.
However, this presented a puzzling problem to Qi Sheng.
The Black Tide possessed the ability to devour all energy. Why go through the time-consuming and laborious process of transporting and processing the spiritual ore? It could simply devour the ore on the spot, directly absorbing its internal energy into the Black Tide.
Guide provided the answer: in its low-tide state, the Black Tide’s devouring and conversion efficiency was poor. Devouring structurally stable materials like spiritual ore on the spot would result in very high conversion losses. But smelting them in the Evil Eye Tower maximized the conversion efficiency.
This was the purpose of the Evil Eye Tower’s existence.
When fully empowered, the Black Tide required no auxiliary tools and was itself the most powerful energy devourer and converter.
With this knowledge, Qi Sheng began to closely observe the players’ actions in plundering the spiritual ore.
After twenty-five continuous hours of plundering, Dinian had noticed the players’ activities and dispatched more Black Tide forces to escort the spiritual ore.
The difficulty of plundering the ore escalated, which was why the major guilds had chosen to cooperate.
On the ground at the volcano’s base, dozens of pits of varying sizes had appeared, recently excavated by Evil Entities for the underground spiritual ore resources.
Each time an Evil Entity emerged from a pit with a batch of spiritual ore, players would advance toward that direction, striving to seize some of the ore.
As more and more Black Fog gathered, the pressure on the player army mounted, and casualties continued to rise.
During this period, the regional voice channel was extremely lively.
“Brothers, I can’t hold on anymore. Heading to the little black room for a one-hour mental break. See you all when I’m done.”
“Anyone nearby have a healing potion? I can keep fighting. I’m so close to leveling up it hurts not to.”
“The Clone Fireball build is insane! Aside from the heavy consumption problem requiring constant potion use to replenish mental power, it’s totally the strongest team battle build this patch. Feels amazing! If only you frontline guys could hold out longer, I’d still be fighting. You’re dragging me down.”
“We’re about done here. Our guild snatched a ton of spiritual ore. Just waiting for the mental break to end so we can divvy up the loot, hehe.”
“Everyone nearby clear out. Before I die, I’m going to self-destruct and take out one more wave of Evil Entities.”
—
Just as this round of plundering was winding down and Qi Sheng was about to shift his view to other players, a sudden change occurred.
A massive black vortex abruptly appeared in the sky. As it spun, countless fine black cracks spread along its edges. The churning clouds were instantly shredded by an invisible force, and the nearby space twisted along with it.
Countless dark-golden humanoid figures rained down from the spatial vortex.
Zooming in, Qi Sheng saw that these dark-golden figures were mechanical lifeforms.
The moment they landed, the mechanical warriors launched an overwhelming sweep of the surroundings, targeting both players and Evil Entities alike.
These mechanical warriors wielded both melee beam swords and ranged energy cannons. Their arms could reshape into different weapon forms at will. Neither players nor Evil Entities could withstand them; they were utterly unmatched before these mechanical beings.
The sudden arrival of the mechanical warriors completely shattered what little resistance the already collapsing player army still had.
During this time, the regional voice channel was filled with curses. Players expressed their displeasure with the mechanical warriors through colorful language artistry, while others frantically asked what these newly arrived mechanical warriors were.
The battle lasted less than one minute. The previously chaotic scene was swept completely clean. All players and Evil Entities had vanished.
This sight clearly frightened Dinian who was controlling the Black Tide’s movements. The distant Black Fog masses ceased advancing, turning around and retreating instead.
The sudden appearance of the mechanical warriors also piqued Qi Sheng’s curiosity.
“Guide, analyze!”
[Understood.]
Instantly, a flood of information surfaced in Qi Sheng’s mind.
[Iron Soul]:
Hunt Level: 83
Target Description: Living metal warriors, the pinnacle fusion of technology and bioengineering. The Mechanical Overlord has perfectly merged cold, hard machinery with the tenacity of life, creating a new warrior form that possesses both flesh and exceeds machines. These have been named Iron Souls. All Iron Soul warriors can grow stronger by devouring iron ore.
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