Chapter 278: Chapter 278: Changes

In the name of that idea, these five hundred Naga warriors and two thousand Wise Goblin Mages were prepared to be sacrificed.

There’s no way to hold them off, nor for very long, but the goal is to accumulate enough Creation Energy and the power of the rules before failing. Just one or two more occurrences like the previous one would be worthwhile, even if it means immediate elimination and return.

The Mages kept building and reinforcing defense Arrays within this small temporary fortress, layer upon layer, reinforcing them.

By the time the black liquid tide surged up tens of meters high and engulfed the Floating Islands, they had overlaid more than twenty layers of Arrays on this multi-tiered fortress, less than a hundred meters in diameter. With the superimposition of over twenty layers, the originally invisible and transparent Shield turned into a layer of dense white light that almost obscured everything within.

There were two entrances and exits in the defense enchantment stacked over twenty layers, through which they could enter, and the enemy could as well.

He deliberately left these entrances and exits, not just for a potential future escape but mainly to provide a way for the enemy to enter, reducing the pressure on other parts of the defense enchantment.

As the twenty-third layer of defense enchantment formed, the overwhelming black tide had surged to within five hundred meters of the altar. Looking out from the exit of the enchantment, one could see a tsunami-like surface of black liquid, with countless bodies wriggling, twisting as if there were numerous monsters moving beneath a layer of viscous fluid.

“Boom!”

The black liquid tide slammed fiercely against the brightly layered defense enchantment, and Lin Xiao could clearly feel the enchantment trembling the instant it was struck.

However, the defense enchantment, combined with the power of all the Mages united in casting it, was indeed formidable. The first wave of impact failed to break even the first layer of defense.

Lin Xiao stood inside the fortress, looking up through the myriad layers of defense enchantment. Beyond the outermost enchantment, countless viscous spiritual bodies clung to it, their invisible forces eroding the defense and billowing black smoke everywhere.

Below the fortress, at the two entrances of the defense enchantment, the Mages had deliberately constructed a long magic corridor, filled with various horrific magic traps.

When the Evil Spirit Entities that emerged from these two corridors entered, they instantly disintegrated into black smoke, which was then rapidly incinerated by the auto-igniting magical flames, leaving behind only minute cores that fused back into the black tide and disappeared.

Seeing all this, Lin Xiao wasn’t too surprised, nor in a hurry. Even if cores littered the ground, he couldn’t pick them up at this moment.

No hurry, the priority was to survive this crisis. As long as they could hold out until later, there would surely be plenty of opportunities.

He continually enhanced his subordinates with protective body Shields, attack Speed Ups, and other Strategic Spells. With healing boosted by Intelligence attributes and a five hundred percent Talent enhancement, even wounds that left one at death’s door could be easily recovered from.

The thunderous noise above was the battle between the Titan Giants and the Evil Spirit Entities atop the altar. Regrettably, being inside the defense enchantment, he could not see the situation outside and could only guess.

He had some confidence in these Titan Giants. From the words of the Titan Giant Leader, he could tell that such battles had happened more than once. If they had withstood it in the past, they would certainly withstand it now.

As for his own temporary fortress, it seemed secure as not even the outermost layer of defense enchantment had been breached. Yet, he did not believe it was impenetrable, nor was he very confident in holding out till the end.

But now, regardless of confidence, he had to keep persisting, all the way to the end.

Fortunately, this time it was only the Incarnation that descended, not the True Body. Otherwise, it would be truly disastrous.

In the days to come, it would be an endless struggle and attrition.

While he found himself in dire straits here in the Ruins of Myriad, the Hero Continent was also in turmoil.

As more and more players advanced in level and strength, they began leaving the major camps’ main cities; wilderness heroes became increasingly common. The competition for resources intensified, and every day many players were eliminated.

The comprehensive strength ranking list was uniformly anonymous, but the top four players all had power exceeding five thousand. In contrast, the fifth to tenth places had power levels around three thousand, indicating a clear difference in tiers.

Many were curious about these individuals, wondering who they were and why their strength surpassed the others by so much.

Even Lin Xiao was quite curious. Having equals in strength was not surprising, but it was rare for three to emerge simultaneously, and for him not to be the first.

Although the list was anonymous, every individual knew their own power points, and thus their ranking. He now had a high score of 5448 power points, ranking second.

What surprised him most was the first-ranked player, who had an astounding 5894 power points, a cut above his own.

This made him wonder if this might be another contestant who, like him, had summoned their Clan to descend.

If it were a summoning of the Clan, then that person was truly formidable.

You see, apart from him, the highest Hero Level right now was only Level 4, and they had just leveled up not long ago. Based on the ten million experience points needed to reach Fifth Level, it’s estimated that no one would reach Fifth Level within a year without an accident.

Of course, whether one could reach Fifth Level was actually a minor concern. For the topmost powerhouses, a difference of one level didn’t mean much. The key lay in advanced treasures and advanced soldier types.

Only these could significantly enhance your strength in the blink of an eye. While ranks could enable you to command more troops, considering everyone found it hard to level up and stood at the same rank, possessing high-level treasures and advanced soldier types naturally made one stronger.

As time passed and the one-year deadline drew closer, most players became increasingly anxious. They explored day and night, seeking resources and points to the extent that some started harboring ulterior motives to hunt and kill other players.

According to the tri-monthlv changes, the experience and points earned from eliminating other players would increase each time, which tempted many to take risks and hunt other players to accumulate experience and points rapidly. In a desolate canyon, more than twenty one-eyed giants each standing seven to eight meters tall barreled through a sea of skeletons like tanks, shattering countless dry bones with every stomp. Led by the one-eyed giants, accompanied by a large number of ogres, they blazed a trail of crushed bones through the sea of skeletons that filled the canyon.

In the sky, thunderbirds spread as far as the eye could see, swooping toward the densely packed vampires and ghosts in the distance. The thunderbirds plunged into their midst, clashing fiercely with vampires and ghosts amid a chaotic mix of deathly aura and lightning, with the battle incredibly intense.

On the battlefield, behind the undead forces, sat an Undead Hero astride a Nightmare Warhorse with hooves ablaze with black flames, around whom several players had united under his leadership.

On the barbarians’ side, Dongfang Piaoxue sat alone on a gigantic wolf with snow-white fur. In contrast to the fully armed opponents, he wore a simple white robe, appearing gracefully at ease. He seemed largely indifferent to the battle before him, only occasionally surveying the battlefield and spending most of his time communicating with others through his address book.

After the fifth quarter passed, in addition to the update of the overall strength rankings, a communication feature was also unlocked. All heroes who had met and approved each other’s requests could add each other as friends for communication.

Dongfang Piaoxue had already contacted several of his classmates, including Li Xiushen and Shen Yuexin. At the moment, he was chatting in a group conversation with several classmates.

As the one-year deadline neared its end, he had reached Level 4, tamed more than twenty powerful one-eyed giants-troops that excelled in both melee and ranged combat and were extremely formidable. Moreover, after going through great difficulties, he barely managed to unlock a treasure and acquired a Thunderbird barracks, which skyrocketed his abilities. Now, with a combat strength of over 3400, he ranked tenth.

He was quite satisfied with this achievement since there were so many competitors. This Ruins of Myriad didn’t only house players from the HuaXia District but also included elites from three other major forces. Making it into the top ten was already quite remarkable.

His goal was simple: to secure his top ten position and strive for the top five. That meant he aimed to retain his spot in the top ten while aspiring to climb even higher.

During the group chat, someone asked,

“Has anyone seen Lin Xiao around the Cathedral camp? I wonder if he’s still there.”

Dongfang Piaoxue glanced at the message and replied,

Before the rankings went anonymous, I seem to recall seeing him in the top ten. With his strength, he definitely wouldn’t have stayed in the Sanctuary Camp. He most likely ventured into the unknown territories early on. Now, who knows where he’s ended up.”

At that moment, Li Xiushen chimed in,

“The one-year deadline is almost upon us. When the time comes, there will undoubtedly be major changes within the Ruins. They might even open up teleportation between different camps. It’s very likely that we’ll be forced to eliminate each other, so we need to be cautious. Should we find a spot to gather and band together in response?”

Shen Yuexin was silent for a moment before responding,

“It’s a bit early to gather now. Let’s wait until the year is up to see what updates come our way before we decide, alright?”

“Okay!”

“Sure.”

Everyone agreed.

Drawing back his attention, Dongfang Piaoxue twisted his neck to look towards the sea of skeletons that sprawled over the hills in the distance and smiled slightly. He gestured with a wave of his hand.

Elsewhere, in a forest, Shen Yuexin stood atop a towering century-old tree, her gaze sweeping over a boundless sea of trees. Behind her on the tree trunk stood a beautiful and majestic silver pegasus, which stood quietly behind her, occasionally glancing back at the densely-packed army in the lush forest.

After a brief silence, Shen Yuexin sighed softly and pulled out an exquisitely detailed map from her storage space— a treasure map that bore the bold words “Emerald Secret Realm.”

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao sat silently on a stone chair atop a floating island, staring into the Vault of Heaven.

The defensive barrier, once over twenty layers thick, was now reduced to a mere dozen. Despite endless erosion, it was still surprising it had held up this long, especially since they lacked even a single legendary fighter.

Beyond the fortress, endless waves of Evil Spirit Entities attacked relentlessly, never ceasing their assault. Each day, countless of these entities perished at the fortress’s two entry and exit points, with most of their cores mysteriously dissolving into nothingness. Only a small fraction was intercepted.

But these were the poorest quality cores, where it took a hundred to fuse into a single unit of Creation Energy.

As a result, the efficiency of accumulating Creation Energy was pitifully slow, amassing just over forty units in a month.