Chapter 220-2: The Great Battle Concludes (2) |
At the start of the war, it had always kept the Primordial Monster near the tower.
Unless the players had the ability to decapitate it, they simply could not take the Primordial Monster from its hands.
Now that the Primordial had lost the meaning of toying with the players, only a testing use remained, in order to gain more information about the player race’s abilities.
Just as Starnet expected, after discovering that the players no longer cared about the Primordial Monster, the Earthmind Evil Spirit chose to give it directly.
By throwing, it sent Ice Mist Breath into the players’ line.
Its perception then spread to observe the players’ behavior.
But Starnet at this moment issued an order to capture alive, and nearby players immediately released Bind traits to imprison Ice Mist Breath.
It was certain that the Earthmind Evil Spirit was very curious about how the players would handle it.
Research, contact, kill. Whether or not this information was useful to the Earthmind Evil Spirit, what Starnet had to do was complicate the display of intelligence.
This was a complication in ability acquisition.
As for the aspect of ability display, it could not be prevented.
The Earthmind Bully would certainly discover in the next campaign or in multiple future engagements that the players had already mastered Ice Mist Breath’s ability.
But what Starnet was curious about was how the Earthmind Bully would respond.
In theory there was only one best response.
In the future, as long as a Primordial Monster appeared in the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, the Earthmind Bully would kill it, letting the Primordial Monster respawn randomly elsewhere in Monster World to prevent contact between the Primordial Monster and the players.
But this method could only limit the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
As the player legion developed, node spaces were continually increasing.
The Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, Colorful Mist Coast, Rimewinter Snowfield, Cavern world. It was clear that there would be more branch nodes in the future.
From the development trend of the player legion, one could see that the birth of new nodes was related to the increase in player numbers.
Monster World was a real world. Aside from very few regions where monsters could refresh, most areas, once explored by players, could not generate resources that met newbie players’ needs in a short time.
For example, the area near Colorful Mist Coast already had no monsters to hunt, and players needed to explore farther areas to find monsters to hunt.
Or the region’s intensity upgraded, causing newbie players to be unable to hunt and grow in that area.
Such as the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range and Rimewinter Snowfield.
At first, both regions were very suitable for newbie players’ growth needs.
As the Earthmind Bully, Battle Swarm, and Legion of Ecstasy rapidly grew, the confrontation intensity gradually upgraded and was no longer suitable for newbie players.
At that time, the high-dimensional existence behind the scenes would open new space nodes.
The initial scene Mechanical Ruins of the cavern world would also fall into a similar situation before long.
Thus it guessed that when the next round of recruitment opened, there was a high probability that new space nodes would be generated and players would obtain new environments to explore.
Though the Earthmind Evil Spirit was strong, it could only defend the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range and had no ability to interfere with Primordial containment at other nodes.
At the current stage, the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range was also the area most lacking in Primordial Monsters.
The Earthmind Bully’s defensive method of killing Primordials would certainly be effective, but not by much, and it would not affect players’ growth.
The final struggle continued.
The player legion’s defensive line was about to be pierced, and the number of tank players kept decreasing.
Although functional support players could release Light Shields for defense, it was only a temporary defense and far less important than tank players.
At this moment, Starnet adjusted the war mode to target killing more Black Tide warriors and Swarm warriors.
It would maximize the benefits of war.
Among the participants this time, the happiest without a doubt were the newbie players.
They died wave after wave, and once revival cooldowns ended they would reenter the battlefield to share kill rewards.
This brought much higher gains than their hunting in other space nodes.
The newbie players’ cycle-revival tactic played the role of battlefield cannon fodder.
By launching collective charges, they tried to disrupt the battle tempo of the Black Tide and the Swarm. Secondarily, they could also be used to probe the intentions of these two forces. Their combat value was limited. The main value was strategic.
But they did not lack combat value entirely.
Newbie players also released rule-trait abilities that could still cause defense-breaking damage to certain targets.
During the war, the cannon-fodder newbies were veritable shit stirrers on the battlefield.
If not limited, newbie players would dare to charge toward the rear of the Black Tide and the Swarm from all directions, causing endless disruption.
If targeted slaughter was chosen, a portion of combat power would be tied down.
In the eyes of the Earthmind Evil Spirit and even the Swarm hive mind, only the player race dared to play this tactic.
If other forces dared to throw in cannon-fodder strength, the result would be the exact opposite.
Cannon fodder, that easily digestible nutrient, would only make them grow stronger the more they fought as it kept charging.
However many came, they ate that many, a continuous supply of nutrients.
But the player race was different.
Even if killed and devoured, they did not produce a single shred of energy.
The most excited in the entire scene were also the newbie players. They basically received only two orders.
Assemble at the coordinate point indicated by the bullet screen, then, while shouting, launch a fearless charge toward another coordinate point.
They truly indulged in a high level war that only existed in the Honor Annals.
This experience also let many newbie players witness how terrifying the starter village was.
On the forum players often joked, ‘If you are really tough, go break into the starter village.’
As such players said, the starter village had already become in the eyes of the player community the highest hall of glory for top players.
It was the pinnacle battlefield that only the very elite in the player legion were qualified to enter.
But joy always ends.
In the three-way melee, player deaths gradually made it impossible to form battle formations.
The frontline defensive line formed by tank players was torn apart by the Black Tide, and plague series units followed natural-catastrophe units into the second line.
On the other side, the Swarm army also tore open the left wing defensive line.
At this stage of the war, Starnet still continued to command, ordering the remaining players to keep retreating, lengthen the battle line, and let the Black Tide and the Swarm clash.
Through the fight between the two forces, it would squeeze out a bit more space and profit from the war.
—
Two hours later.
Players on the battlefield were completely cleared out. Players who revived and walked out of Emperor’s Mound Village saw the war had ended and no longer headed to the main battle line.
Charging at this time was no different from seeking death.
Some players chose to watch from afar as the Earthmind Bully and the Swarm hive mind continued their clash. Others went to other space nodes, wanting to grow quickly through hunting and hope to earn the qualification to break into the starter village in the future.
During this time, a large number of players flooded the forum to discuss topics related to this battle.
Guest No. 1’s strike once again was dazzling.
Curiosity followed. Who exactly was this Guest No. 1?
At this time, on the Evil Eye high tower at the Abyss of Heaven Territory Node, the Earthmind Evil Spirit was also pondering the same question.
Even after clearing the players, it still had not found the hidden mysterious commander.
“Earthmind, there may be a possibility that the mysterious commander of the player race commands in a way similar to ours, that the player race is connected by spiritual perception, and the mysterious commander simply did not appear in this campaign, instead commanding the course of the war remotely.”
At this point, the Evil Eye paused briefly and continued.
“But this guess is not necessarily right. I retrieved the battle record and found that the mysterious commander actually had visual blind spots during the war, which is unlike a situation where perceptual coverage would appear. I cannot analyze a reasonable explanation.”
Hearing this, a thought surfaced in the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
“Retrieve the battle record.”
Upon hearing this, the Evil Eye immediately fed the battle record images into the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s mind.
Flipping through the battlefield imagery filled with various numerical symbols, the Earthmind Evil Spirit gradually verified its conjecture.
It discovered that whenever player casualties occurred, the visual blind spots the Evil Eye mentioned appeared.
This proved that the mysterious commander of the player race pieced together the battlefield picture through the visions of participating players.
“Earthmind, this vulnerability could be exploited in future conflicts.”
Hearing this, the Earthmind Evil Spirit smiled and nodded.
Though the mysterious commander was strong, it had finally found a slight flaw.
But the exact answer would require careful verification in the next engagement.
Now that the player race had exited, there was no need for the war to continue.
Next, outward expansion to obtain resources was the key.
In a single thought, the Black Tide in its perception image rolled back, choosing to withdraw from the battlefield voluntarily.
Countless Evil Entity units disassembled at this time and retreated along with the Black Tide.
Under the hive mind’s control, Swarm warriors immediately launched a pursuit, but after chasing for a short distance, they also chose to give up, turning into a blood-colored tide and returning to the Phantom Swamp region.
The starter village great war officially ended.
In this battle, the Black Tide under the Earthmind Evil Spirit’s control was undoubtedly the strongest side.
Yet it was also the one that suffered the greatest losses.
Players died without loss, the Swarm had rear supply, and only the Earthmind Evil Spirit was fighting with resources it had worked hard to earn, much of which was heavily looted by the players.
With the war over, the Earthmind Evil Spirit turned its gaze to God King, who was bound at its side.
With a wave, the black mist entwining God King dissipated.
As God King suddenly landed and stood firm, he raised his right middle finger toward the Earthmind Evil Spirit.
“Grandson, give your grandpa a clean end.”
Hearing this, the Earthmind Evil Spirit grinned with a ferocious smile.
“A clean end?”
“What do you mean, do you still want to torment me?” God King was also taken aback.
“No interest in tormenting you. I am very curious what your player race’s method of revival really is, but I clearly have no way to know the answer to that question, so I am more curious about this. If I imprison you at my side, what way can you use to leave?”
Hearing this, God King’s face suddenly changed.
“Do not worry, during this time I will maintain your bodily functions, then monitor your every move to prevent you from leaving by suicide. If you really cannot think of a way to leave, be prepared to stay here for the rest of your life.”
“You mother…”
“Hahaha.” Seeing God King furious and exasperated, the Earthmind Evil Spirit could not help but laugh aloud.