Chapter 501: Chapter 501 Officially Setting Off

By the time Lin Xiao set out on his official expedition, he had amassed 21 Leaders and 4 Lords under his command, with 5 enhanced elites and 241 elites. The number of ordinary cannon fodder NPCs was limited to just 352, as he had sold all the excess ordinary Demon Marks. He didn’t need too many ordinary NPCs and had decided to take an elite-focused approach.

The 21 Leaders comprised one Rogue, four Leader Priests, two Ice Mages, two Fire Mages, two Thunder Mages, and two Arcane, with four Leader Shooters; the number of Leader Warriors remained at four.

However, there were three super warriors with a Lord Template and one Star Mage with a Lord Template, with all five of the enhanced elites having a warrior template.

Holding even one subordinate with a Lord Template would be deemed strong for other players, while Lin Xiao, capable of exploiting cheats, possessed so many more. This abundance was something only he, with his ability to cheat, would allow himself.

A troop of just over five hundred left the Expeditionary Army Fortress, and under the watchful eyes of other players, they slowly departed from the influence of the Expeditionary Army Fortress, passing the fortress’s edge without stopping to continue forward.

Two days later, the team had moved beyond the reach of the Expeditionary Army, and the surrounding environment immediately became hostile.

When the Gate of the Other World first opened, the area was a confluence of lava and fel energy, with hot poisonous gases filling the air. It was only after the mages of the Main World purified the air and recreated the landscape that the area was somewhat normalized.

Situated far from that area now, the crimson barren earth that met their eyes was the true face of this Alien World.

This world had already been devastated by the Demons, and it was uncertain whether it had been completely obliterated. At least from his current perspective, Lin Xiao deemed the world as destroyed, a place where ordinary people could not possibly survive.

Upon leaving the Expeditionary Army Fortress, Lin Xiao had prepared a large amount of necessities for living, having been ready for a long trek that could last several years.

All along their path, they encountered Demons, with the majority being wandering wild beasts that had been transformed by the power of the Demons. There were very few encounters with regular Demon soldiers, and it was even rarer to see organized Demon camps.

Lin Xiao found it difficult to understand why the major races of the Main World would spend such great efforts to enter this evidently devastated Alien World. What resources could there be in this world?

Without resources, why incur such a cost? Could it just be due to the influence of that enigmatic Dominator?

That may be one of the reasons but definitely not the only one.

However, he had no way to find the answer, as players had limited means to intertwine with the worlds of the native NPCs. Even with occasional interactions and communications, they could not uncover these deep mysteries.

Ever since the Expeditionary Army Fortress was established, many leaders and heroic lords of various races ventured deep into this Alien World, yet until now, there has been no news, and no one knows what they went to do.

In the second month after leaving the Expeditionary Army Fortress, while crossing a massive path through the middle of a lava swamp mixed with green fel energy, they encountered a super fel-infused lava giant, a Lord with a template and a height of a hundred meters and Level 81. It was probably a super-sized Magma Element or Fire Giant that had been corrupted by the Demon’s fel energy, emerging from a large lava lake in the center of the swamp to attack them.

This time, the first Lord-level BOSS under Lin Xiao, the Star Mage, demonstrated his powerful star magic with Star Chains restricting the super fel-infused lava giant. A group of leaders and three Lord warriors fought with sustained attacks and control, taking half an hour to grind down this Lord-level super BOSS with over thirteen million health points.

They looted a Purple Demon Mark and a T5 Level plate belt as well as the Ring of the Magma Giant King—an item so large that it could serve as a belt for a human.

They also retrieved the heart of the Magma Giant King of Purple Epic quality, which could be broken down into precious materials for enchanting or crafted into a piece of jewelry or equipment. Of course, if given to an ordinary Fire Element or Magma Element, it would boost them to a Leader of the Magma Elements with a Lord Template.

After crossing the lava swamp, the troops reached an even more desolate wasteland.

This area was likely once a series of hills, but now every reddish hill was cracked open, with gaping fissures and uneven hollows everywhere. In the center of the hills, he saw a sword slash tens of meters wide and fifty meters deep that stretched for a kilometer. He speculated that long ago, the natives of the Outland waged a tremendous battle against a Demon army here.

From the sword slash, it could be inferred that this Outland once housed entities capable of reaching the Demigod level; such scars could only be inflicted by beings of at least a Demigod level and above.

The rank of Demigod presumably meant Level 90 and above. Considering the difficulty curve of leveling up, Lin Xiao estimated it would take him a hundred years to reach Level 90.

Scattered throughout the hills, numerous Magic creatures loomed—mostly scorpions, centipedes, wild boars, snakes, and other resilient life forms that, after becoming demonized, grew dozens or even hundreds of times larger. Their levels were about the same as the creatures near the Expeditionary Army Fortress, upwards of Level 55, with the occasional elite among them.

In this region, the troop didn’t encounter any large BOSSes and managed to safely traverse the shattered hills to arrive…

…at an abyss that was likely two kilometers wide, curving left and right with no end in sight. Looking down, the thick fog tossed and turned like a Bottomless Abyss, with no bottom visible, abruptly severing the path ahead.

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Space here became chaotic, with rocks occasionally floating up and falling back down out of nowhere. Within the abyss, numerous stones of varying sizes tumbled in the thick fog, a scene that reminded Lin Xiao of the edge of a collapsing plane he had once seen, with its Plane Crystal Wall shattered, the Earth of the Plane exposed in the Void, corroded by Void Energy until it became desolate and barren, huge chunks of Earth peeling off and drifting into the Void to be crushed.

Lin Xiao looked up at the sky, where the dim sky held no sun or moon, only bands of bright auroras that stretched across the Void, providing the world with light.

“Could it be that this plane has truly shattered?” he wondered.

Even if it hadn’t, he guessed it must be nearly so.

With no way forward, they had to turn and choose another path to proceed.

Traveling along the right side for nearly a month, the sheer cliff of the abyss became rarer until it came to an abrupt halt where a massive mountain blocked their way. The team passed through here and entered a vast plain that was nothing but desolate wasteland as far as the eye could see.

On the exceedingly barren plain, not a single tree could be seen, much less grass, to say nothing of the countless Demons.

To be honest, if they hadn’t brought enough food and water when they set out, they would have had to return halfway due to lack of supplies.

Less than two days after entering the plain, he discovered a Demon Camp. Lin Xiao, bored to death from the journey, excitedly ordered his subordinates to prepare to attack the camp with his girlfriend.

Two hours later the troops rested in the camp strewn with Demon corpses, before continuing on their way.

On the eleventh day of entering the plain, he unexpectedly encountered a player named Sunset, a Level 68 Elves Rogue. With the normal level cap for Elves being Level 65, the fact that he managed to achieve Level 68 and venture so far without dying on the way back proved he was an elite player.

It was rare to meet another player, so they traveled together, chatting casually.

From him, Lin Xiao learned that he hadn’t come this far by choice but had accidentally activated a One-way Teleportation Array and was sent to an unknown place.

It was an extremely remote location, far beyond the reach of the Expeditionary Army Fortress’s resurrection field. He had died several times, always being resurrected at random locations instead of the Expeditionary Army Fortress to which his Hearthstone was bound.

With no other choice, he wandered aimlessly and it took him over a year to finally stumble upon Lin Xiao in this place.

After learning of his journey, Lin Xiao had a stroke of inspiration and purchased a map from him for a thousand Gold, a map that included the locations where he had teleported to and the areas he had wandered through over the past year.

Sunset readily agreed to the trade and eagerly set off to return home.

Lin Xiao was equally eager to check the acquired map and discovered that Sunset had traveled much more extensively than he had imagined and that the map was more detailed than expected. Not only had Sunset personally explored many areas, but during their previous exchange, Lin Xiao heard him mention that he had encountered living Natives of the Outland and traded with them for more information to expand the map. Many of the locations had not even been visited by Sunset himself.

According to the map, both the location he was currently at and where the Expeditionary Army Fortress was situated were part of an enormous map called Hellfire Plains, which was even larger than the main world’s large maps.

It was hard to believe, considering he had been traveling for months away from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, but in fact, he had not yet left this large map.

This vast map called Hellfire Plains was one of the seven remaining parts of the whole Outland, one of the most barren places, and also one of the largest battlefields against the Demons.

The plain he was currently on was known as Blood Wasteland, which was at the edge of the battlefield where the Natives once resisted the Demons. Countless lives had been lost here, and the few kilometers wide Bottomless abyss that separated Blood Wasteland from the other side was the main battlefield of the decisive battle. Natives’ champions and the Demon Legion’s champions clashed there. The Native champions banded together to slay a Leader of the Demon Legion, triggering the wrath of the highest Demon commander, who descended and shattered the entire world with a single blow, splitting it into several vast fragments that now floated in the Twisted Void.

Hellfire Plains were located on the eastern side of the shattered world, and The Gate of Other World opened by the main world was placed at the far east of the Hellfire Plains.

He was currently at the western side of the plain. Continuing westward, he would enter the ruins of the Natives’ Kingdom, where Undead roamed. Their endless hatred for Demons persisted even in death, and they would violently attack any Demon that appeared. As a result, it was one of the rare places without Demons or Magic creatures.

As Sunset mentioned before, if one killed enough Demons, their relationship with the Undead in the Shattrath Ruins would not be friendly, but they would not be attacked upon entry.

From past experience, if one could find a powerful Undead in the ruins, it might be possible to unlock a unique prestige system exclusive to the local Undead.

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