Chapter 110: Tier-Two Commander! Crimson Follower!
"10%... 20%... 30%... 45%!"
The occupation progress.
It kept increasing!
It had already been fifteen minutes since Little Bell activated the Fate Stone.
If it had been a village-level core, it would have been successfully activated by now, but this core’s activation progress was still less than halfway. Fortunately, the chaos they created was significant enough, and the Dragon-Lizard People were being successfully held back. This inevitably gave rise to some hope.
"Come on! Come on!"
"Hurry up! Hurry up!"
"Maybe the City Lord is entangled by the big lizard!"
"If we can just hold out for another ten or twenty minutes, this base-stealing operation will be a complete success!"
"Oh my god, this is so intense! If we succeed in this mission, we’ll be great heroes!"
Just as the excitement peaked—
The sound of air being torn rang out.
Dozens of arrows came flying in.
Zhou Ji shouted loudly, "Watch out!"
As everyone scrambled to dodge or block the arrows—
Suddenly, a blood-red spear followed closely behind, flying at a speed too fast for the naked eye to detect. It instantly pierced through Little Bell, who was activating the Fate Stone, creating a massive hole in her body on the spot.
314 (Fatal Critical Hit!)
Little Bell cried out, "Crap! I’m going to die!"
As she collapsed, the Starsea aura entwined with the Fate Stone immediately began to dissipate. The previously climbing occupation progress began to plummet… 46%, 45%, 44%!
Chenxi decisively stepped forward to continue the activation, halting the loss of Starsea aura and stabilizing the declining progress.
"Damn it!"
"It came anyway!"
"I knew it wouldn’t be that easy!"
"Everyone stay calm, we’re just halfway through. Hold on and we’ll make it!"
"Everyone protect Sister Chenxi!"
Mad Blade Old Wang and Salted Fish Thrust immediately pulled out their upgraded reinforced shields, activated their Iron Armor Skill, and shielded Chenxi from the arrows flying in from all directions.
Even though Chenxi was activating the city core, it didn’t stop her from using skills. Healing spells and rejuvenation incantations were cast on the other players.
Meanwhile, the other players all moved toward the Fate Stone and formed a defensive formation.
Dozens of soldiers surged into the City Lord’s Mansion.
There were nearly thirty ordinary soldiers and twenty personal guards of the City Lord.
In addition, there was Wang Zhi himself, wearing red and looking sinister.
"Good!"
"Their numbers aren’t too high!"
The players quickly glanced at the unit info.
【Sanxiang City Guard】, Level 10 ordinary unit... Description: Trained ordinary soldiers of Sanxiang City.
【Crimson Guard】, Level 8 elite unit... Description: The City Lord's personal guard in Sanxiang City. Though they appear to be human soldiers, they are in fact blood corpse puppets created by dark arts.
【Sanxiang City Lord: Wang Zhi】, Level 11 elite unit... Description: The ruler of the Ancient City of Sanxiang, once a loyal and kind leader, who has now become deranged and brutal due to mental corruption.
Most of Wang Zhi’s forces had already been held off.
There was no way he could have pulled them back in such a short time.
Although the number of enemies in front of them wasn’t small, it was clearly not to the point of being unmanageable.
After all, these players weren’t weaklings.
Each of them was Level 9 or 10, and factoring in equipment, skills, and attributes, their overall strength was on par with average elite units of the same level.
In this situation, they weren’t weak at all.
Plus, they had a Tier-Two strength NPC, Zhou Ji, helping out.
They couldn’t claim an absolute advantage, but at least on paper, their strength wasn’t being crushed.
Wang Zhi spotted Zhou Ji at once: "You again!"
"Hahaha, not killing me right away was your biggest mistake!"
"Oh, is that so? Then I’ll correct that mistake now—I don’t think it’s too late!"
Wang Zhi noticed that the one activating the Fate Stone wasn’t a foreign tribe member, but a proper human being, which shocked him greatly.
Could humans also seize the Fate Stone?
"Wang Zhi, you old scoundrel, you're cruel and heartless, slaughtering your fellow countrymen. Your crimes are deserving of death! If any of you still want to live, then lay down your weapons and leave at once!" Zhou Ji attempted to persuade a few of the confused soldiers on site.
But Wang Zhi’s expression turned dark as he shouted loudly, "Zhou Ji colludes with outsiders to steal the Fate Stone—he’s the real villain who abandons the people! Whoever brings me his head will be rewarded with a thousand dou of grain and a hundred bolts of cloth!"
Dozens of soldiers showed greedy expressions.
They were already too afraid of Wang Zhi’s power to defect.
Now with such a reward—grain and cloth in large quantities—which might not seem like much in peaceful times, but in this era of material scarcity, it was a huge fortune.
"Kill!"
The soldiers launched their attack on the players.
Frontline soldiers advanced with shields and spears, while those in the rear kept drawing bows and firing arrows.
Although the soldiers were only ordinary units, as trained warriors they still posed a threat.
What’s more, the City Lord’s personal guards took this chance to strike from both flanks, trying to form an encirclement against the Calamity Army.
"Damn it!"
"I got hit in the butt with an arrow!"
"The enemy firepower is pretty intense!"
"If this keeps up, we’re at a disadvantage!"
"Lao Ye, no choice, use that thing."
The players weren’t afraid of fighting these dozens of enemies head-on, but their mission wasn’t to fight—they were there to cover the activation.
In this kind of situation, passive defense was not ideal.
The city core activation could be interrupted at any moment.
However—
This kind of situation—
The players had already anticipated.
They had long prepared countermeasures, so they weren’t panicked.
"Time to show some real chaos today! Let me hit you with some Abyss shock!"
Ye Li Meng grinned viciously as he unfurled a black scroll emitting a mysterious aura.
As the scroll was opened, a surge of dark energy burst forth like a cloud of ink, instantly condensing before them.
A wave of madness and filth engulfed the area.
"Ah!"
"What is that?!"
Even the ordinary soldiers were dumbfounded.
Even Wang Zhi was stunned by the being that appeared.
The player had summoned a monster with seven horse heads, over a dozen hooves, a half-man-half-horse form—part of its body vaguely retained a humanoid shape, but it was covered in grid-like gaps of black smoke and hollow flesh.
Its right hand was a mass of tentacles and flesh wrapped around a massive halberd.
Abyssal Corrupted — Pei Yuanshao!
The scroll Ye Li Meng used was dropped from Pei Yuanshao when he was slain two days ago.
It was a one-time consumable that summoned a mindless Pei Yuanshao to aid in battle.
This guy was an Abyss Commander!
Clearing out these small fry should be a piece of cake!
Hooves thundered like rain, he charged like the wind, his momentum like rolling thunder—he rushed into the crowd instantly.
Pei Yuanshao raised the massive halberd high, charged up a terrifying energy for a few seconds, then swept it in a half-circle—instantly knocking ten soldiers flying.
The attacks and arrows from the other soldiers felt like mere tickles on his body.
"Hahaha!"
"Too strong!"
"Too bad it’s one-time use!"
"I wonder how long until Pei Yuanshao respawns."
"A powerful item like this—we should farm more of them!"
Pei Yuanshao rampaged in the front lines, unstoppable, slashing wildly, while the players supported from afar with bows and shields.
During all this, the occupation progress continued climbing: 53%... 54%... 55%!
With the players' cover and cooperation—
These minor enemies couldn’t block Pei Yuanshao’s attacks at all.
In just a few minutes, all the soldiers were down.
Pei Yuanshao was about to attack Wang Zhi, but was struck by a blood spear summoned by the latter, immediately losing several hundred HP.
But for a Commander unit, that wasn’t nearly enough to be fatal.
"Fiery Tiger Roar!"
Zhou Ji took the opportunity to launch an assault—Wang Zhi was knocked back several meters, his shield already cracked.
Pei Yuanshao closed in quickly, halberd raised in preparation for a crushing blow.
If this hit landed, even if he didn’t die, he would be seriously injured.
"Damned!"
Wang Zhi instantly activated a dark spell.
A near-illusory fluctuation radiated from his skull.
The flesh of twenty fallen personal guards began to evaporate.
Finally, their essence gathered around him to form four blood giants.
One of the blood giants had both hands turn into shields—
It blocked Pei Yuanshao’s ferocious assault.
"What is that?"
"This guy can summon too?"
"These five-headed giants look kind of familiar."
"Uh, I think they kinda resemble Melzargard, Boros' minion from One Punch Man, just with their bodies made of coagulated blood and flesh, way more disgusting."
"..."
The battle was at a critical point—
And they still had the mood to chat.
Zhou Ji had no choice but to admire the Calamity Army's composure.
At this moment, the players also saw the info for the blood giants.
【Filthy Blood Giant】, Level 11 elite unit… Description: A monster created through some dark ritual of an evil god.
Wang Zhi himself was a Tier-Two elite—
Now he had four more Tier-Two elites.
Didn’t that make him five Tier-Two elites in total?
This kind of power and formation could definitely pose a new threat.
They still couldn’t afford to be careless!
Just as expected!
Even someone as strong as Pei Yuanshao clearly couldn’t gain the upper hand.
The four Filthy Blood Giants could morph their bodies into various weapons or armor.
When they surrounded Wang Zhi in the center—
It was like four walls of iron—
Even Pei Yuanshao couldn’t break through them immediately.
Wang Zhi kept attacking.
One burning blood-red spear after another pierced into Pei Yuanshao’s body.
This Abyssal Corrupted being was under continuous assault, and his HP was running low!
Because the Abyssal Corrupted was not a normal lifeform, healing spells and rejuvenation incantations from players had no effect on it.
If Wang Zhi continued attacking, Pei Yuanshao would soon be eliminated!
"Brothers!"
"Are we charging or not?"
"Of course we charge!"
Street Slayer said, "There are so many of us, if we all rush together, are you saying we can’t handle one guy?"
Ye Li Meng nodded, "Old Wang, Salted Fish, Wraith, Chief Pai, Old Pig, and Lao Zhou—you cover us and protect Sister Chenxi. Everyone else, stack all your buffs on me—we're charging in!"
"Kill!"
"Calamity Army will win!"
"Victory is right before our eyes!"
Ye Li Meng, Street Slayer, Lone Boat, Black-Eyed Rui Ge, and Niu Shisan simultaneously activated Blood Sacrifice Talismans, protection charms, and their Lord’s Auras.
These players were already among the strongest warriors or rangers of the Calamity Army, with baseline strength at the level of elite monsters of the same tier.
Now, they had gone all out.
Especially the Level 2 Lord’s Aura.
With a 30% boost to all attributes—
Each of them was close to top-tier elite level.
Five top players + Abyss Commander Pei Yuanshao + Zhou Ji, Chimera Wraith, Artist Chief Pai and others attacking from range—even though Wang Zhi had four powerful and troublesome blood giants, they were not enough to hold out!
Current progress: 71%... 72%... 73%!
Occupation progress!
Steadily increasing!
The players were suppressing the City Lord in battle!
The situation wasn’t just good—it was excellent!
The Calamity Army seemed to see the dawn of victory!
Wang Zhi could clearly feel the Fate Stone being rapidly eroded and occupied.
He could also feel the overwhelming pressure coming from all directions, making him both terrified and furious, like a trapped beast.
"You can’t win!"
"You will die today!"
A hoarse will appeared in his mind.
Wang Zhi froze: "Who are you? Why are you in my mind?"
The hoarse voice didn’t answer, and continued: "If you want to live... if you want to kill all these people before you... if you want supreme power... if you want to truly serve the great Crimson Mother..."
The voice grew clearer in his mind, filled with temptation.
"Who exactly are you?!"
The voice still didn’t respond, as if it lacked sentience, and just kept speaking on its own: "Then become one with me!"
Wang Zhi seemed to realize where the voice came from, and immediately lowered his head to look at the skull in his hand.
Ever since he obtained this mysterious bone ten years ago, he had gained immense knowledge and powers he could never comprehend before.
He had only wanted to use this knowledge to better build and protect the city.
He had offered sacrifices to the Crimson Mother to gain more power—
All just to protect more people.
Yet within this skull hid a deep and dark will, something he had never discovered in the past ten years.
When did it begin influencing me?
Could it be that I’ve been under its control all along?
The realization sent a chill down Wang Zhi’s spine, as if waking from a nightmare.
His mind rapidly reviewed everything he’d done in those years, and he realized he had been changing into another person.
No!
More accurately—
He had been turning into a monster!
"What are you hesitating for? You’re about to die! Only by merging with me can you survive!"
No!
It’s not saving me—
It just wants to seize the opportunity to take me over!
Even though Wang Zhi realized this terrifying truth, at that moment his body had already lost control.
He slowly raised the skull in his hand and wore it like a helmet on his head.
In the next instant—
His briefly clear eyes were once again flooded with a hundredfold madness.
Wang Zhi let out a hysterical shriek that no human vocal cords could possibly produce.
Before the players could figure out what was happening, the four blood giants’ bodies evaporated into mist again.
They all gathered around Wang Zhi—
And were absorbed into his body.
Then a terrifying mutation occurred!
Wang Zhi’s clothing was torn apart as enormous masses of blood and flesh burst forth.
In just a few seconds, his body swelled dozens of times in size.
He transformed from a human into a quadrupedal blood-red monster.
On his neck, twenty heads grew in different directions and with different expressions.
At the center was the largest one—Wang Zhi’s original face.
"What is that?"
The players were stunned by the transformation.
They soon saw Wang Zhi’s updated status.
【Crimson Follower: Wang Zhi】, Level 11 Commander Unit... Description: Once the City Lord of Sanxiang City, he underwent a horrifying transformation under the influence of the Outer Gods, now wielding terrifying power no mortal can withstand!
A Commander-level monster?
And a Tier-Two Commander at that!
All the players were left speechless at the sight.
"It’s over!" Black-Eyed Rui Ge’s face turned deathly pale. "A Commander unit... and a Tier-Two Commander... we don’t stand a chance with our current strength!"