Chapter 109-1: Abstract Player Tactics (1) |
Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, north of the ancient battlefield.
The city formed by converging flames burst with bright light in the night.
After the Skyfire warriors who flew out from within the city entered the battlefield, the spiritual patterns on their bodies connected to each other, and in an instant they transformed into fire demons several meters tall. With a lift of the hand they could control endless blazing flames to sweep forward.
This was a racial force that could skillfully wield fire elemental energy.
Aside from the battle Swarm that had already evolved Skyfire traits, whether players or Black Tide Evil Entities, it was hard to hold out long under the scorching flames.
But as this battle lasted to the fourth day, the decline of the Skyfire race was fully on display.
For the three forces of players, the Swarm, and the Black Tide, engaging the enemy in a prolonged war meant victory.
And the Skyfire race’s advantage could not cross the limitation of a ‘war of attrition,’ which meant they were destined to have their combat power continually worn down in the campaign, fueling the composite strength of the three forces.
As the great war resumed, Qi Sheng’s gaze overlooked the land from high in the sky, but his focus was not on the Skyfire warriors.
The first newly born Black Tide Evil Entity took the form of a mass of cloud and mist without a lower body. Each swing of its thick arms could condense lightning and release an area thunderstrike. It was neither purely corporeal nor a phantom illusion, seeming to be between the two. Deep within the gathered mist, a faintly visible crimson eye could be seen, and beneath the eye was a giant mouth formed of pitch-black arcs of electricity. Each strike was accompanied by a deafening roar.
Analysis ability activated, a large amount of information flooded into Qi Sheng’s mind.
[Black Tide – Cloudburst]
Hunt Level: 14
Target Introduction: Black Tide Evil Entity, death-catastrophe series primary unit, possesses control over thunder-tribulation type area attacks. Targets struck are corroded by Black Tide energy, causing nausea, vomiting, infection, and a series of negative effects. The specific effects are influenced by the physical aptitude of the one affected. The stronger the physical aptitude, the lower the corrosion damage. If the body is strong enough, corrosion damage can be completely nullified.
His sight turned to the second newly born Evil Entity, and analysis information was activated.
[Black Tide – Brutal War]
Hunt Level: level 18
Target Introduction: Black Tide Evil Entity, natural-catastrophe series primary unit. Attacks carry both physical and magical damage. It also has powerful physical and magical defenses and can rapidly restore a damaged body by devouring other Black Tide Evil Entities.
—
The Black Tide Evil Entity referred to in the analysis as Brutal War had a humanoid form, tall and burly. Its muscles under the Evil Moon’s glow were as hard as rock. Every inch of skin was inscribed with Black Tide runes that corresponded with the Evil Moon, flickering with a faint red light.
Its head was covered by a thick black keratinous helmet inlaid with three energy crystals like gems. Beneath the helmet were eyes as deep as an abyss, radiating coldness and ruthlessness. It wore a set of black armor forged from Black Tide energy, the armor bristling with sharp spikes and twisted runes. In its hand it gripped a gigantic black battle axe, and on its back a pair of black wings had grown.
After nearly four days of brutal fighting, two more special unit types were born among the Black Tide Evil Entities.
The current special units had reached three series, namely plague series, death-catastrophe series, and natural-catastrophe series.
In particular the natural-catastrophe unit Brutal War performed brilliantly on the battlefield, with a role very much like the tank warrior build in the player camp that is constructed around the Gargoyle inherited soul as its core.
After a brief observation, Qi Sheng’s gaze turned to the Skyfire race.
His gaze zoomed in on the Skyfire hierophant king.
At this moment he sat upon a throne constructed of flame, with a head of red hair in messy disarray. Compared to his state upon descending, there was no light or confidence left in his eyes.
It could be seen that the constant assaults from the three forces had completely crushed his confidence.
This was also the point Qi Sheng found most baffling.
With this level of composite strength, how did they dare to break space and descend into the Monster World.
Descending was one thing, but they even made such a big scene, opening with a Heavenly Fire Descent.
Making a big scene was one thing, but upon arrival they did not even investigate the local power structure and directly built a flame city on the spot.
This behavior simply did not put the nearby forces in their eyes at all.
The problem is that if they had the kind of formidable strength of the Mechanical Overlord, where even the weakest unit, the Iron Soul, could have a hunt level over 80, that would at least be understandable.
After all, in the Monster World the fist makes the king. If you are strong, you can be a tyrant.
Never mind descending near someone else’s territory. If you have enough strength, even parachuting over another race’s homeland would not be a problem.
So the behavior of the Skyfire race seemed incomprehensible, simply courting death.
[Boss, this is the mysterious self-confidence of small world forces. Many races in small worlds rule as kings within their tiny plots of land, even being worshiped as gods by the local races. Such forces inevitably encounter bottlenecks in the later stages of development. The resources produced by a small world can no longer satisfy the development of their civilization. After encountering a bottleneck, they commonly generate one thought, which is to break open the world barrier and go to a higher world to develop. Yet the long years of ruling a small world make them develop a kind of mysterious self-confidence, believing their own strength is enough to make a grand showing in a broader world.]
[Severe misjudgment of higher worlds often leads to tragedy. The Skyfire race is obviously such a force.]
[But there is one point I find very strange. This small force was actually lucky enough to enter the Monster World directly. Perhaps in some other higher world they went to, the Skyfire race might really have gradually grown stronger, thereby breaking through the development bottleneck and ushering in a golden period of development. It is a great pity that they descended into the Monster World. Leaving aside the Black Tide and the Swarm, which are inherently natural-catastrophe level forces that span multiple worlds, even a random small force pulled from the Monster World could easily crush the Skyfire race.]
[It is like just leaving the starter village and directly entering a mythic map full of bosses. Too tragic.]
Guide’s explanation made Qi Sheng let out a speechless laugh.
Ever since Guide began browsing and understanding Earth’s Historical Database, whenever it gave him scientific information it would skillfully use Earth sayings, it indeed made it simple and easy to understand.
But regardless of what the Skyfire race’s purpose in descending was, there was no way he would let this big fat fish go.
In just these few days, slaughtering Skyfire warriors had already brought him and the players abundant sacrificial power gains.
The average level of the participating players had also risen considerably.
Skyfire warriors were even called by players the current version’s number one ‘wealthy monster’ in the game.
Both drop rate and hunting gains were far higher than the Swarm and the Black Tide, so the way players looked at the Black Tide and the Swarm no longer held the expectation of the past, only utter disdain.
To quote someone on the forum: “Only after killing Skyfire warriors do you realize the Black Tide and the Swarm are downright dirt poor monsters, with no desire to improve. They put all their growth points into power increases, yet they alone gave up the drop rate and sacrificial power gains we players care about most, he~ ptui, two pieces of trash.”
Comparing monsters most clearly highlights the differences.
Qi Sheng switched to player perspective at this moment.
If the war modes of the Swarm and the Black Tide could be described with words like cruel, mad, hideous, and grim, then the players’ overall offensive was more like an abstract performance show under a pile of loose sand.
At one corner of the battlefield, a Black-Scaled Serpent over ten meters long had a row of caster players transformed into Bonefire standing on its back. In battle the Black-Scaled Serpent charged straight through, and the Bonefire mages on its back cast spells while cheering nonstop.
“Ahahaha, the train build is just too powerful. This movement speed combined with our damage output, perfect.”
“Target that Skyfire warrior with the flame sword. Brothers, focus fire and throw at him.”
“Yah-hoo, the train is coming. Brothers ahead, make way fast. If we ram you to death we are not responsible for compensation. Brothers who want to get on, DM directly. Only 10 sacrificial power per hour, guaranteed to earn your money back, but mages using fire only, because we are a train build.”
“Ding, welcome aboard the Serpent Express. The train departs from Emperor’s Mound Village station for the flame city. Melee players are prohibited from boarding, and smoking is prohibited. Only Qi Eater is allowed. Please abide by train regulations. Next stop: little black room.”
At a western corner of the battlefield, eight players sat in a circle on the ground, chugging mental recovery potions and summoning three Flowing Shadow clones in turn to launch a self-detonation offensive.
“Hahaha, blew up two. I have the highest kill count this round. Transfer 10 sacrificial power each to me.”
“Damn, mine only blew them to low HP this time, didn’t kill. This makes no sense.”
“Call it dog luck. Watch me next round. I am going to blow up ten.”
“Unlucky as hell. The sacrificial power I earned these days killing Skyfire warriors has all been won away by you dogs.”
By self-detonating in sequence and then checking kill info in the squad voice channel, the eight players carried out a gambling match.
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