Chapter 204-2: Calamity Strikes, Terrifying Bully (2) |
“Earthmind, based on these days’ battle records, I discovered something strange.”
As the Evil Eye finished speaking, a montage of edited footage presented itself in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
The images showed recent combat records of the Black Tide’s clashes with the player race.
The focus was on changes to terrain on the battlefield and even changes to the weather.
At this time, the Evil Eye continued explaining.
“Plant growth, Extreme Cold weather, geomorphic changes, war amplification… these abilities are all very special and are very similar to the abilities of that Primordial Monster we saw before.”
With that, the towering figure of the Lord surfaced in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
This Primordial Monster was certainly no stranger to the Earthmind Evil Spirit.
Back when the player race fought it, he even made a point to pass by and taunt it.
“Players can obtain abilities from a Primordial Monster.”
The Earthmind Evil Spirit immediately understood what the Evil Eye was getting at.
Before this Primordial appeared, he and the player race were already old opponents, yet he had never seen players display this kind of ability. Then, just a month or so after the Lord was contained, players suddenly began exhibiting the Lord’s ability traits.
Although the strength was far inferior to the Lord, comparison of the footage basically allowed the judgment that this was indeed the Lord’s ability.
Facing the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s inquiry, the Evil Eye did not draw a direct conclusion.
“A single case cannot prove whether the player race can obtain power traits from a Primordial Monster, but what is certain is that members of the player race cannot obtain special powers from other creatures. For example, the player race cannot obtain the corresponding power system from the Black Tide Evil Entities we generate. This issue requires further observation.”
The Earthmind Evil Spirit frowned slightly.
“I remember you said that Primordials cannot be truly devoured and killed, and their life structure cannot be completely destroyed.”
“Correct. We have tried countless times to obtain the power of the Primordial, but have always failed. Facts prove that the outward form of a Primordial Monster is merely the concretization of a world’s cornerstone, while its true body is the foundational rules that delineate the world.”
“So the death of a Primordial Monster is only the temporary dissipation of the extended portion of its rule power. It will ultimately be reshaped somewhere in Monster World.”
After hearing the Evil Eye’s explanation he asked. “Since it cannot be devoured, how can the player race obtain the Primordial Monster’s power?”
“There is also the possibility that the player race has mastered a kind of mimicry ability, using only an ability trait similar to the Primordial.”
After the Evil Eye finished, multiple video clips surfaced in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
They showed player made Evil Entities created as player jokes, whose bodies were all stolen Written Word warriors yet were set by the players who love jokes into the appearance of Black Tide Evil Entities.
“Just like the Evil Entities in these images, all created by players using some method to mimic the Evil Entities’ appearance.”
“Record it.”
As long as the information concerned the player race, the Earthmind Evil Spirit would attach importance to it.
Confrontation with the player race in its eyes was a protracted war. The more it understood, the better it could win.
While the player legion was still rushing on the way, the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s consciousness began reviewing the battle footage of recent clashes with the player race.
It focused on the new war abilities the Evil Eye had mentioned.
The emergence of this ability was indeed troublesome, and there was no specific countermeasure yet.
After continuously reviewing footage for a long while, the Earthmind Evil Spirit suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
“Evil Eye, give me the detailed energy fluctuation records of the corresponding battle footage.”
A vast amount of data information immediately presented itself in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
After scrolling through the images for a while, the player race finally arrived.
In the perception view, an even larger army of players than before came surging in.
Charging at the very front were the very familiar Gargoyle-form players.
The Earthmind Evil Spirit decisively controlled the Black Tide to generate destruction-series and plague-series units to form defensive walls stretching to both sides.
War was on the verge of breaking out.
Two flowing wave lines intersected and a fierce clash began.
In this renewed engagement, a thought sprouted in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
“Evil Eye, widen perception and mark every type of energy data fluctuation on the perception screen.”
“A moment, processing that much information is a bit heavy.”
The Earthmind Evil Spirit waved its tendrils and its body blossomed with pitch-black flowing light.
At once, the battlefield scene in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind changed.
Energy Index: 2.423.
A string of numbers appeared on the screen and followed the trajectory of an Inkflame fireball flying into the sky, the number locking to the fireball as it moved.
Energy Index: 3.742.
New numbers surfaced, flying toward a Vitality Arrow in flight on the battlefield and likewise locking on to follow it.
More and more data information appeared over the war footage.
Each ability released by players was presented as numerical information of energy intensity.
Before long, the screen was filled with various data, and new data continued to pour in.
After switching screens, multiple battlefield views were simultaneously filled with energy records.
“Stop.”
The Earthmind Evil Spirit suddenly spoke, then had the Evil Eye extract the data on the screen.
The data for abilities similar to those of the Primordial Monster were all extracted.
“Again.”
After extracting the data from the perception screen, this time the marked data no longer targeted the abilities released, but the origin of the releases, judging through energy intensity comparison which player was releasing the ability.
After clearing seventeen perception screens in succession, the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s thought flashed, and a large number of doomsday-series units were generated on the battlefield, turning into a flood that began to assault a corner of the player flood, with the front-line warriors as the target.
Just then, the ground in the area attacked by Evil Entities trembled and a string of numbers appeared.
Energy Value: 92.229.
The Earthmind Evil Spirit drew a stroke with its hand, switching the perception screen to the saved recorded footage and fast-rewinding toward the player legion.
“Energy marking.”
“Understood.” The Evil Eye responded and continuously generated numbers that flew toward figures within the player legion’s camp.
Above each player’s head, an energy number was jumping.
Before long, the string of numbers the Earthmind Evil Spirit wanted appeared and flew toward a figure at the rear of the player legion. The value floating above his head was exactly 92.229.
But the Earthmind Evil Spirit did not rush to a conclusion.
Perception blanketed the figure tied to the corresponding energy number in all directions, not sparing even the pores on his body.
“Evil Eye, detailed recording.”
“Understood.”
In the subsequent observation, the Earthmind Evil Spirit confirmed its conjecture.
Whenever this figure’s gaze focused on a region, the environment in that region would change.
To obtain more data information, it altered its combat strategy and generated damage output-type units to launch wave after wave of assaults, putting pressure on the player legion.
It created opportunities for the other side to display abilities.
Through continuous perception scanning, the Earthmind Evil Spirit gradually mapped out the characteristics of the other side’s abilities.
When a green sigil surfaced on that player race member’s forehead, the abilities released were plant growth and control.
When a red sigil surfaced on his forehead, the ground cracked and lava gushed forth, during which endless flames could be controlled to sweep the battlefield.
When an ice-blue sigil surfaced on his forehead, he could change the temperature of a region and generate an ice-and-snow domain.
“Got you.”
A ferocious smile curled the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s lips.
Before this it already knew there was a commander-type warrior within the player legion. After many engagements it had even become familiar with the other’s command rhythm.
But finding this target was not easy.
It had tried reading the communication information of the player legion under wartime conditions, attempting to analyze who exactly was commanding.
Repeated analysis yielded no results. It could be sure that players also had built-in communication channels and, like the Black Tide and the Swarm, could communicate internally through some specific method.
This had also been proven during the early infiltration plans.
Afterward it changed its method of searching.
It wanted to start from the frequency of mental fluctuations to find this hidden commander-type player.
The idea at the time was simple. Since it was a commander-type player, he had to observe the course of war through perception. It was impossible to command at will without understanding the battlefield.
That attempt still failed.
The spiritual fluctuation data extracted by the Evil Eye showed that a large number of warriors in the player legion had activated spiritual perception states. The spiritual frequencies released stacked in layers, making it impossible to find the target among them.
But this time, prompted by the Evil Eye, it began paying attention to the ability that changed the environment.
It then discovered that the guy using power similar to that of a Primordial Monster could precisely control the flow of battle every time.
For example, when the player race’s front-line warriors needed to retreat, rock shields would be generated quickly to assist.
This was very much in line with the characteristics of a commander-type player.
He put the use of power at the strategic level of influencing the course of war, rather than simply using it in combat to output damage.
With a judgment index in hand, capturing the hidden command unit was not difficult.
It had the Evil Eye conduct a carpet search using energy marking, extracting and recording all energy release data.
With this attempt, it indeed found the hidden command unit within the player legion.
The other side had clearly not realized that releasing abilities meant the possibility of exposure.
After locking onto the target, the Earthmind Evil Spirit did not immediately make a move.
Scanning and observation continued.
It began recording the other’s command rhythm information.
Although it could not find the other’s mental link communication channel through perception to directly obtain communication information during command, it could still start from the details.
The Evil Eye also kept recording God King’s facial changes according to the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s requirements during this process.
Frowning, smiling, changes in the eyes… the records were constantly updated.
In theory, as long as there was enough information on emotions and facial changes, one could judge the general direction of the other party’s command intent each time.
Because subtle facial changes are outward manifestations of emotion.
With enough facial change data, one could identify, based on the changes in war, the correlation between specific expressions, specific emotions, and command decisions.
For example, if the other side slightly frowned each time, then by looking at the changes in the battlefield deployment and after recording a massive amount of information, one could predict which command strategy the other side was about to adopt.
This is also the normal process of transforming the thoughts of a living being into practical action.
First there is a thought, then an emotion corresponding to this thought is generated, then the emotion is reflected in subtle changes in expression, and then intent is generated.
Finally, the intent is transformed into specific commands and transmitted.
To better acquire command data, the Earthmind Evil Spirit altered its intention in controlling the Black Tide.
The goal was to make the other party generate as many emotional changes as possible, then record the expressions and note the next changes on the battlefield.
Half an hour later, the Earthmind Evil Spirit grinned and said.
“The final step of the test is to observe the change in the player legion’s combat rhythm after he disappears.”
With that, the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s thought flashed, and Black Tide energy gathered and compressed below the tower, ultimately generating a void-series unit: Void Blink.
In the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s perception, spatial data information of the other side’s location appeared.
In a flash, the Void Blink vanished.
It suddenly appeared next to the target, and the tendrils it released wrapped around him.
The sudden turn of events left even the nearby players no time to react.
By the time they realized that something was terribly wrong, God King’s figure had already disappeared with the Void Blink.
At this moment, God King, equally dumbfounded, felt a strong sense of weightlessness surge over him.
When his vision cleared, he found himself standing on a platform.
The platform was surrounded by thick pitch-black fog.
Directly ahead, a familiar and imposing figure hovered in the air, and behind it writhed tendrils and the ferocious Evil Eye linked to it.
“Damn, that works too.”
God King’s eyes widened immediately.
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