“No! Something’s wrong!”
Wu Ming emerged into the void, with auspicious clouds swirling above his head and the illusory image of the Primordial Temple appearing behind him. Transcendent light swept outward, and numerous vengeful spirits, demons, and even weaker Divine Abominations disintegrated into dust under the white radiance.
Amidst numerous supreme protections, hordes of Divine Abominations fell beneath the golden metropolis formed from the Dragon King’s Throne.
Although the casualties were severe, the gods still firmly held this defensive line, effectively driving a nail into the Inner World, waiting for future expansion.
Yet Wu Ming felt no joy at all—in fact, he felt a chill.
“The Void Mask won’t be this weak!”
Although the Void Mask was still terrifyingly formidable today, Wu Ming had an instinctive feeling that the opponent was holding back.
“But that’s absolutely impossible! Our first victory signifies a reversal of attack and defense. From now on, the gods will surely advance step by step. This is a straightforward strategy with no way to counter it!”
“Unless…”
A sudden realization flashed through Wu Ming’s mind, causing a deep glimmer to pass through his eyes…
…
Several years passed in the blink of an eye.
Since the gods’ counterattack into the Inner World and successfully establishing a foothold, the fusion of the two worlds had entered a strange state of stagnation.
Meanwhile, the calamity in the main world began to weaken.
Conversely, increasing numbers of elites poured into the Inner World, following the gods to struggle through hardships, determined to purify this evil origin.
Yingyue wore a military uniform with a long sword hanging at her waist, appearing extremely heroic, as she emerged amidst radiant light.
“This is the Inner World?”
She lifted her head, gazing at the somewhat clear sky and the many stars emitting gentle light, and without hesitation, stepped out of the teleportation hall.
“Good, you must be the new recruits from the Empire?”
At the entrance, an officer stood beneath a flag, seemingly having waited for some time.
“Major Yingyue of the Piaoqi Corps from the Dachang Empire reporting for duty!”
Yingyue took a deep breath and loudly declared.
“Excellent!”
The military manner obviously pleased the officer: “The Inner World is a massive battlefield. Within Crescent City, everything is under military control. You all have military ranks and merits, so you’re familiar with the rules. I won’t elaborate further… Now, follow me!”
Since the commencement of the counterattack into the Inner World, the gods had continuously expanded outward from the Dragon King City as the core, establishing thirty-six outer cities as outposts and defensive lines. Each city was heavily guarded by numerous deities to counter potential attacks by Divine Abominations.
These elite mortals, on the other hand, were used to wear down demons and vengeful spirits.
Although the decisive factor in the battle still lay with the upper echelons, the outcomes of these lower-level skirmishes could still serve as a crucial weight tipping the final balance, so the gods naturally wouldn’t neglect them.
Crescent City was primarily defended by the human race.
“Officer, when will we be deployed into battle?”
Yingyue caressed the cold blade at her waist, and the killing intent emanating from it momentarily stunned the officer.
“Worried there won’t be opportunities here?”
He replied with a mixture of amusement and exasperation: “There are no civilians in any of these cities. This place is our battlefield against the Inner World. The more demons and vengeful spirits we kill, the less influence the Inner World will exert on the outside world.”
“I understand…”
Yingyue slowly exhaled, gazing at the clear sky.
Legend had it that the sky of the Inner World was once perpetually shrouded in a blood-red hue, but later the gods purified the divine corpses in the heavens, allowing some stars to begin transforming.
“No moon… Yin…”
Yingyue silently sighed.
The battles in the Inner World were extremely brutal. Even her patron deity, the Moon Goddess, had perished during the initial frenzied counterattacks by the Divine Abominations.
Moreover, her kin in the outside world had suffered heavy casualties from attacks by demons and vengeful spirits.
Fueled by both old grudges and new hatreds, Yingyue had almost without hesitation enlisted in the Dachang Empire’s expeditionary force, determined to come to the Inner World to avenge her loved ones and her faith.
“Speaking of which… we’re really fortunate that the supreme god defending this place is from the Ser continent! It’s said that even the leader of the Divine Abominations can’t do anything to him, so we suffer the least disturbances from them here…”
The officer rambled on, when suddenly a piercing alarm echoed throughout the city.
“What is this…?”
All the new recruits immediately tightened their grips on their weapons, but the officer merely shook his head nonchalantly: “No need to get too tense. It’s just monster attacks on the city walls. They happen a few times every day. As long as the Divine Abominations don’t show up, our True Gods won’t intervene either…”
“In situations where neither True Gods nor Divine Abominations are involved, this is our stage!”
“Stage?!”
Yingyue looked up and immediately saw a swarm of skeletal bone birds, darkening the sky. Under the bombardment of cannons and crossbows on the city walls, many were heavily damaged, but a few managed to slip through the defensive fire, even penetrating the city’s protective enchantments, entering the city.
“Damn it, it’s Spirit-Devouring Birds!”
The officer cursed: “They specialize in breaking through enchantments and barriers! Be extremely cautious when encountering them in the wild. Although they’re basically committing suicide by breaking into the city, they’re still a huge nuisance!”
As he grumbled, he drew a black longbow from his ring, strung an arrow, and released it with a swift motion.
Whoosh!
The arrow flashed, and several Spirit-Devouring Birds in midair exploded into fragments.
“A storage ring and a magical bow?”
The new recruits, including Yingyue, were all stunned, not expecting an ordinary-looking person to be equipped with such valuable artifacts, let alone possess such terrifying strength.
“Don’t be envious!”
The officer laughed heartily: “In the Inner World, as long as you bravely slay monsters, the rewards are extremely generous. Basically, anyone who survives can accumulate a set of magical artifacts… or exchange them for noble titles, land, or jewels recognized by the Empire. In fact, many adventurers come here just to try their luck, although most end up failing…”
“By the way, this city is jointly defended by Eastern and Western forces, so don’t be surprised if you see Western mages and knights here!”
As the officer spoke, suddenly he turned his head, looking toward a section of the wall, his expression turning serious: “Something’s wrong!”
Boom!
At that moment, a violent tremor came from that direction, seemingly shaking the entire city.
“A Magic Beast! Never thought this attack would include such a big fellow!”
Magic Beasts were terrifying war beasts. Although their maximum rank was only five, they had thick hides and tough flesh, extremely strong vitality, and their strength was astonishingly great, making them ideal for breaching walls and tearing down defenses.
Among the monsters, they were very rare types. Also, since they weren’t sixth rank yet, unless they directly attacked the city’s core, the guardian deities rarely intervened.
“There’s trouble over there. We’ll go to reinforce immediately!”
The officer tightened his grip on the longbow and issued orders.
“Understood!”
Yingyue drew her sword, a trace of bloodthirsty excitement appearing on her face.
She wasn’t just a priestess of the Moon Goddess who relied solely on divine magic; her swordsmanship and martial arts were top-notch. Although the death of her patron goddess had caused some of her magical abilities to decline, she still retained about seventy to eighty percent of her strength, making her an elite warrior wherever she went.
When she quickly leapt onto the city wall, Yingyue took a deep breath.
Monsters!
A sea of darkness, an endless swarm of monsters as far as the eye could see!
At the forefront of these creatures was a mammoth-like elephant the size of a small hill, its four massive tusks resembling siege rams. With a charge, the ground trembled, and then it slammed heavily into the city wall.
Bang!
The ground shook again. Despite being prepared, the Western knights and mages defending the city were thrown into chaos. Several unlucky ones were directly shaken off the wall, becoming food for the monsters below.
“Hah! Green Heaven Nine Heavens!”
At this moment, accompanied by a loud shout, Yingyue’s officer suddenly attacked.
He bent his bow and released an arrow. The emerald-green projectile suddenly exploded mid-air, splitting into nine trails. Dragging long tails of flame, they grew in size as if possessing their own sentience, seeking out the Magic Beast’s weak points before drilling straight in.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Massive bursts of green flame erupted across the Magic Beast’s body, causing it to howl in pain as huge wounds appeared. Surprisingly, its remarkable regenerative abilities were completely ineffective here.
Injured and enraged, the Magic Beast slammed into the wall again with even more ferocity.
Bang!
Amidst the flying dust and debris, the wall, previously protected by numerous talismans and enchantments, finally could no longer withstand the destruction and partially collapsed.
Several mages lost their footing, being thrown into the air. Despite immediately activating their spells, they couldn’t escape the pursuing monsters below.
“Hmm?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Yingyue noticed a Western mage nearby who had been caught in the chaos. Although he managed to climb back onto the wall with magical assistance, a mantis-like monster was already following him, raising its blade-like arm.
“Die!”
She shouted lightly, her sword becoming a streak of light. In a hundred-pace flying sword strike, it instantly pierced the mantis monster’s head.
“Er… thank you!”
The mage was momentarily stunned before coming over to thank her, speaking in a strange Eastern accent.
“You’re welcome. Do you speak the Dachang language?”
Yingyue looked at the mage’s still youthful face, slightly surprised by his fluency.
After all, among mages who could use the Tongues spell, those who still learned languages were extremely rare.
“In Crescent City, I’ve made many Eastern friends. Using spells is too troublesome… Thank you again for saving me. My name is Bruce, from the Ser Kingdom!”
The young mage introduced himself.
“The Ser Kingdom? The supreme god defending this place is your patron deity!”
Yingyue remarked in admiration.
“He is our late king, the Undead, the Blue Dragon, Conqueror William!”
Bruce proudly replied, pointing toward the central light pillar of the city: “He is always protecting His people!”
Boom!
At that moment, a completely frenzied Divine Abomination charged forth, causing the defenders on the wall to cry out in alarm.
Instantly, a figure emerged from the central light pillar of the city. A giant hand directly smashed down, crushing the Divine Abomination into paste, prompting cheers and adoration from the crowd.
Yingyue stared at the familiar silhouette, her mind going completely blank.
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