Chapter 182: Ten Million Essence! Easily Obtained! The Calamity Army Achieves a Breakthrough!
The second challenge began.
The Calamity Army sneaked toward Xinye City in a suspicious, stealthy manner.
They attempted to launch a surprise attack while the Evil Infant BOSS was unprepared.
Who would have thought they would once again be dragged into the twisted and chaotic space? This proved that the entire city was shrouded in distorted sound. Since sound itself could not be avoided, it was impossible to deceive the heavens and secretly infiltrate the city!
They could only fight head-on to the bitter end!
The Calamity Army learned from their mistakes, summarized their experience, and formulated an entirely new strategy.
After being dragged into the bizarre space, they no longer ran around like headless flies. Instead, they all gathered together and refrained from moving recklessly to avoid losing their sense of direction. They then began locating targets through sound.
【You have been affected by “Evil Wailing” and suffered 50 points of mental damage!】
【You have been marked by the “Wailing Curse.” Will Attribute -10% for 100 minutes!】
“Damn it!”
“The attack has started again!”
“Has anyone found the source of the sound yet?”
“There seems to be more than one sound source in this space!”
The Calamity Army discovered that the crying sounds disturbing this space were not coming from a single source. At least four to six different directions were emitting sounds, and each seemed capable of moving. The situation was far more complicated than they had imagined.
Mad Blade Old Wang declared, “Life and death mean nothing. If we’re not convinced, then fight! Who cares if there’s one or ten? If there’s one, we kill one. We wipe them all out and that’s that!”
Artist Faction Leader said, “Let’s find the nearest one first and test the results!”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge shouted, “Eleven o’clock direction!”
“Move out!”
The Calamity Army locked onto the nearest among the various sound sources. Instead of using the map to determine direction, they chose the sound source itself as the target and rapidly advanced toward it. Before long, huge spider-like monsters appeared ahead.
“Monsters!”
“They’re Xinye Survivors!”
“So many Xinye Survivors!”
Ye Li Meng burst into laughter. “Hahaha! This is a good sign! The harder they try to stop us, the more it proves we’re on the right track!”
At that moment, everyone felt another sharp pain explode in their minds.
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing” and suffered 52 points of mental damage!】
【You have been marked by the “Wailing Curse.” Will Attribute -10% for 100 minutes!】
Niu Shisan said, “Another wave. We need to hurry. The longer this drags on, the worse it’ll be for us!”
“That’s true!”
“A little unavoidable damage isn’t a big deal.”
“The problem is the curse stacking up. The lower our Will becomes, the more mental damage we’ll take!”
“If we can’t break this space quickly enough, then once our Will drops to zero, one mental attack will probably make most of us start seeing our great-grandmothers!”
“Kill them!”
“For the honor of the Calamity Army!”
“Crush these ugly giant spiders!”
“……”
The Xinye Survivors were fast and attacked at a rapid pace. They possessed some ability to wield weapons and use skills, along with various spider silk attacks and silk traps. In truth, they were fairly strong.
Aside from the top twenty or thirty elite players—
The other players stood little chance in one-on-one combat.
However, when eight hundred players formed a military formation—with tanks for defense, spellcasters for magic, healers for support, and assassins for burst damage—unless they encountered at least three or four hundred Xinye Survivors at once, these monsters posed little threat to the Legion.
The players fought steadily and methodically.
They advanced step by step like an entrenched army.
Wave after wave of Xinye Survivors launched attacks.
Again and again they were repelled, again and again they were exterminated.
Under the Calamity Army’s coordinated teamwork, only around ten players died while they wiped out over four times that number of Xinye Survivors. Such a casualty ratio was extremely impressive. One could even describe it as steamrolling through the battlefield, and the players were highly satisfied with the results.
Inside Xinye City, the players fought endlessly with blood and sweat.
Outside Xinye City, Hang Yu continuously picked up loot.
This wave left his hands practically numb from collecting.
【You collected loot: Essence +12000, Abyssal Magic Stone Fragments +15000, Xinye Survivor Sword +1, Soul-Calming Heart Protection Talisman +10!】
【You collected loot: Essence +12000, Abyssal Magic Stone Fragments +15000, Xinye Survivor Boots +1, Xinye Survivor Ring +1, Soul-Calming Heart Protection Talisman +10!】
【You collected loot: Essence +12000……】
【You collected loot: Essence +12000……】
The players’ efforts during this round—
Generated over six hundred thousand Essence.
Hang Yu was extremely satisfied with the Calamity Army’s combat performance. Cooperation between players had grown increasingly coordinated. They had already become a fairly mature fighting force, which was precisely why they could produce such a brilliant battle record.
However, if the players’ mistake during the previous operation had been reckless and aimless aggression—
Then their mistake during this operation was being overly cautious and conservative.
According to his observations—
The Xinye Nightmare Domain was merely a supporting mechanism.
Evil Infant Deng Ai’s primary attack method was curses.
This attack method was definitely not as simple as causing some group damage and weakening attribute stats.
If this continued, the accumulating curses would eventually bring catastrophic consequences to the Calamity Army!
Still—
That was fine.
Moderate suffering among players was beneficial to territory development.
Hang Yu had already prepared himself to harvest another giant gift package.
As for these hardworking little players, naturally Lord Hang Yu would not hog all the meat for himself without letting them drink some soup. Once this mission ended, he would reward them handsomely.
He continued activating the pearl.
Openly pocketing part of the loot along with all the Essence.
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing”……】
The third wave of mental attacks and curse buffs from the bizarre space arrived right on schedule.
The Calamity Army did not suffer major effects. After sweeping through dozens of Xinye Survivors, their confidence surged and their momentum soared. They charged forward unstoppable, feeling themselves drawing ever closer to the target.
At that moment, a distinctly different monster appeared ahead.
Its appearance immediately drew the players’ attention.
【Wailing-Possessed Xinye Survivor】, Level 20 Commander…… Description: Originally an ordinary Xinye Survivor. Because it was mentally possessed by the Evil Infant’s wailing, it obtained a portion of the Evil Infant’s power, increasing its strength severalfold.
“We found it!”
“That’s definitely it!”
“It’s a Level 20 Commander!”
“Good thing it’s Level 20. If it were even one level higher, we’d be in real trouble!”
The Calamity Army players could clearly sense the piercing cries of infants continuously emanating from this Wailing Survivor. Although its appearance differed little from ordinary survivors, it was obviously one of the core supports used by the Evil Infant to create this bizarre space.
“I think I understand the creation mechanism behind this bizarre space now!”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge said, “The Evil Infant BOSS either can’t or doesn’t need to personally enter the space. Instead, it descends through mental possession onto one or several monsters, then uses those monsters to influence the surrounding space.”
Street Slayer said, “So that’s how it is. In other words, as long as we kill these special monsters possessed by the Evil Infant, we can destroy the supports of this bizarre space and break free to confront the BOSS directly?”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge nodded. “There’s a very high chance of that!”
Ye Li Meng said, “There’s no better option anyway. No matter what, let’s try it first.”
“WAAAH—!”
The ear-piercing cries of an infant—
Instantly caused many people present to fall into a stunned state.
The Wailing Survivor seized the opportunity to rapidly approach. Two longswords slashed toward the crowd, and blood-red sword light swept out like crimson ribbons. The Calamity Army’s defensive line was on the verge of being torn open.
Bang!
Mad Blade Old Wang rushed forward.
Using his shield, he directly blocked the strike.
Old Wang’s defense was exceptionally high. Combined with the defensive skill from the Psychic Shelter Necklace and talisman buffs like the Taiping Protection Talisman, even a full-powered strike from a Level 20 Commander posed little threat to him.
“Get lost!”
Ye Li Meng swung his giant hammer horizontally.
The charged strike possessed overwhelming power and explosive damage.
The Wailing Survivor was instantly blasted backward. The terrifying destructive force shattered several of its legs and removed one-fifth of its health bar.
Realizing how dangerous the players were, the Wailing Survivor instinctively attempted to flee once more.
Unfortunately for it—
The Calamity Army had far too many members.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge immediately launched an attack. His body remained unseen as sword light flashed past, severing several more of the Wailing Survivor’s legs on the spot.
Its mobility immediately dropped.
The others instantly swarmed forward and surrounded it.
Various skills, weapons, arrows, and spells bombarded its body.
In the end, it fell beneath a devastating Explosive Flame Spell cast by Artist Faction Leader.
“That’s it?”
“Doesn’t seem that hard to kill!”
“Even though it’s a Commander unit, it doesn’t feel very strong!”
“It’s not weak. We just overwhelmed it with numbers so badly it couldn’t fight back!”
“This proves that individual strength is limited, while the strength of the masses and unity is limitless!”
This had originally only been an ordinary Xinye Survivor. It merely gained temporary strength after becoming possessed by part of the Evil Infant’s spirit, barely reaching the level of a low-tier Commander.
Its strength was not even half that of Demonized Zhang Bao.
It was roughly on the same level as the Thousand-Legged Earth Dragon from Centipede Canyon.
How could it possibly withstand such enthusiastic “hospitality” from the players?
Still, generally speaking, the players’ victory had come too easily.
This demonstrated that the Calamity Army’s growth had been immediate and effective. Once their numbers became large enough and the team sufficiently powerful, hunting same-tier Commanders became an extremely easy task.
And just one month ago—
This would have been nearly impossible!
Back then, the players’ foundations had been weak. Any Commander-class unit, even one with a lower level than theirs, could effortlessly crush them. When facing same-tier Commanders, players were no different from cannon fodder.
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing” and suffered 52 points of mental damage!】
【You have been marked by the “Wailing Curse.” Will Attribute -10% for 100 minutes!】
“That’s the fourth stack already!”
“We need to hurry and finish the mission!”
“Our Will attributes are getting lower and lower!”
“……”
The Calamity Army accelerated their pace. They quickly locked onto the second source of wailing.
The situation resembled the first one closely—
Another Wailing Xinye Survivor surrounded by dozens of Xinye Survivors.
Easy enough!
Ye Li Meng smashed forward with a hammer strike.
A violent Earthshock Wave spread outward.
Many nearby survivors instantly fell into rigidity or stun states.
Little Bell, Chimera Wraith, Brother Xiao Ma, and the other high-level Warlocks collectively unleashed Chain Lightning, instantly electrocuting multiple Xinye Survivors into paralysis. Immediately afterward, a prepared volley of arrows shot into the monster cluster.
Most of those arrows struck the Wailing Xinye Survivor directly.
Half its health bar vanished instantly.
Lone Boat seized the opportunity to approach using Dark Assault. A gigantic Qi-Slash over ten meters long descended, instantly decapitating the Wailing Survivor and dealing a fatal blow without suspense.
The second one was successfully eliminated!
The Calamity Army could clearly sense through sound differentiation that approximately three Wailing-Possessed monsters still remained within the bizarre space. As long as they eliminated the remaining three, the bizarre space would most likely collapse automatically!
However—
As the players pressed onward—
The obstacles and resistance they encountered grew increasingly severe.
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing” and suffered 88 points of damage!】
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing” and suffered 105 points of damage!】
【……】
At this point, the Calamity Army had accumulated six curse stacks. One of the four primary attributes—Will—had dropped by 60%. This caused the mental damage they received to rise higher and higher, while the resulting effects became increasingly severe.
After killing the third target—
The Calamity Army already carried eight curse stacks!
Many lower-level players were beginning to struggle badly.
The casualty count among the Calamity Army started rising noticeably.
By the time they successfully hunted down the fourth Wailing-Possessed monster, the curse stacks on the Calamity Army had already reached nine.
At this point, the players had become trapped riding a tiger they could no longer dismount from.
They had already realized—
There was a problem with their strategy.
Unfortunately—
It was too late.
They could only continue down this dark road to the end!
The Calamity Army launched an assault on the final Wailing monster. The surrounding Xinye Survivors fell one after another. Victory seemed moments away from complete conquest—
Yet at this exact moment, something unexpected happened.
【You have been attacked by “Evil Wailing.” You suffered 205 points of mental damage and entered a stunned state for 3 seconds!】
【You have been marked by the “Wailing Curse.” Will Attribute -10% for 100 minutes!】
The tenth curse stack descended!
The players’ Will Attributes completely dropped to zero!
Under these circumstances, not only did the mental damage spike drastically, but stun effects were also triggered. Without question, many Calamity Army warriors immediately collapsed and began hearing the call of their grandmothers from the afterlife!
However—
The top executives and elite combatants of the Calamity Army—
Every single one of them had eaten Thousand-Legged Earth Dragon meal sets before coming out.
Their equipment and resistances were already sufficiently strong to offset part of the damage, while the Earth Dragon Meat meals added 100 points to maximum health, allowing them enough HP to survive the attack.
Yet—
At that very moment—
Something even more unexpected occurred.
【The “Wailing Curse” upon your body has fully erupted. “Instant Death” has been triggered. HP -100%!】
Almost instantly—
Every surviving player—
Without exception, had their health bars completely emptied.
Regardless of level.
Regardless of HP amount.
Every single player exploded on the spot.
…………
Outside Xinye City.
Hang Yu rapidly received death notifications from the players.
【Player “Uncle Big Tree” has died. Abyssal Essence +5200……】
【Player “Hua Mulan” has died. Abyssal Essence +6400……】
【Player “Toasting the Moon” has died. Abyssal Essence +10000……】
【……】
【Player “Ye Li Meng” has died. Abyssal Essence +12500……】
【Player “Lone Boat” has died. Abyssal Essence +12500】
【Player “Black-Eyed Rui Ge” has died. Abyssal Essence +12500……】
【……】
It exploded!
Everything exploded!
Several hundred players—
Instantly wiped out all at once!
Although Hang Yu had anticipated this operation would not proceed smoothly, even he had not expected such a magnificent and tragic death.
“So that’s how it is!”
“Xinye City truly is dangerous!”
This time, the Calamity Army had essentially all died from curse-killing!
From the very moment they entered Xinye City, they had continuously been marked by the “Wailing Curse.” This curse effect was not merely a debuff lowering attributes—it was a terrifying curse-killing method, like a bomb growing increasingly more powerful.
Its trigger condition was—
The curse stacking ten times!
Or possibly the Will Attribute dropping to zero.
The moment either condition occurred, the Wailing Curse fully erupted.
Its effect was “Instant Death”!
What was “Instant Death”?
It was equivalent to a fatal attack appearing from nowhere. Forget the fact that the players had not been at full status at the time—even if every single one had been at full HP, this overwhelming attack would still have instantly killed them.
How sinister!
How terrifyingly powerful!
Hang Yu estimated that Evil Infant Deng Ai’s true body was extremely fragile. As long as the bizarre space could be broken and one reached its true form, even the Calamity Army would possess the power to defeat it.
The problem was—
The Evil Infant’s bizarre space was not easy to break!
Not only could it transfer all monsters within the Xinye region into the domain to create overwhelming threats, but it could also instantly annihilate enemies through this curse method.
Without sufficient intelligence—
Even opponents vastly stronger than the Evil Infant might die cluelessly to the curse, perishing without understanding what happened.
Even with Hang Yu’s strength, if he fell into such a trap unknowingly, he would likely pay an enormous price. That was one of the reasons why Hang Yu acted so cautiously and rarely entered battle personally.
As the saying went—
Open attacks were easy to dodge, hidden arrows were hard to guard against.
The Abyssal Plane was filled with dangers. At no time could one afford to underestimate anything.
Although the Calamity Army’s manner of death exceeded expectations—
Their deaths themselves were fully within expectations.
Hang Yu happily began calculating the profits from this round.
This operation had likely killed as many as 205 Xinye Survivors, generating a total of 2.42 million Essence. The players’ complete annihilation contributed another roughly 3.4 million Essence, creating a total profit of 5.82 million in one go!
This successfully pushed Hang Yu’s stored Essence beyond the ten-million mark!
His current Essence reserves had reached approximately 13.6 million!
What an astonishing number!
Before coming to Xinye, Hang Yu already knew today’s income would certainly be high.
Yet even he had not expected the players to wipe out twice after only two attempts, ultimately producing such exaggerated profits!
At this rate—
Whether himself, the Calamity Army, or the Azure Dragon Guards—
The entire territory was about to enter a period of explosive growth.
Besides the massive Essence profits, the Abyssal Magic Stone Fragments dropped by the Xinye Survivors had already accumulated to 45,000 in total. No matter the era, this was an enormous amount.
Hang Yu only took around 15,000 for himself.
The remaining fragments, worth approximately 30,000 Magic Crystals, were left as the players’ spoils of war.
After all, the players had risked life and death for this operation. They needed sufficiently sweet rewards and incentives. Only then would they continue charging forward with even greater enthusiasm in the future.
Besides—
Most of the Magic Stones would ultimately flow back into Hang Yu’s hands anyway.
This was also a measure for continuing Contribution Point issuance and maintaining economic liquidity.
…………
Not long afterward.
At Wangzhuang Hamlet Stronghold.
The Calamity Army regrouped once again.
Uncle Big Tree asked, “What the hell just happened? How did we suddenly die?”
Zha Jiang Mian said, “No clue! I was perfectly fine, then suddenly died!”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge replied, “It was a curse attack. We were too careless. We underestimated the Evil Infant’s attack methods!”
Through battle review—
The players quickly reconstructed the entire sequence of events.
Toasting the Moon summarized, “So from the moment we were dragged into that twisted space, the countdown had already begun. We were continuously marked by curses. Once the curse stacks reached ten, it triggered a direct instant-death attack.”
“This basically counts as a scripted kill!”
“If you can’t clear the mission within the time limit, it’s just instant GG!”
Artist Faction Leader said, “Honestly, art is explosion, and the Evil Infant truly understands art. I’m giving this death a five-star review. I’ve never experienced exploding on the spot like that before!”
The Calamity Army wore grave expressions.
Thanks to the Lord’s guidance, they had discovered a method to break through the bizarre space.
Yet it clearly would not be easy.
Salted Fish Thrust said, “From what we’ve observed, we get cursed roughly once every eight to ten minutes. At most, the curse reaches ten stacks after an hour and a half and triggers instant death. In other words, we have to break the bizarre space within that time limit.”
“An hour and a half?”
“So there’s a time limit too!”
“This failure happened because our tactics were too stable and conservative.”
“The planners really are sinister. Without stepping into the trap once, who could possibly figure this out?”
“I actually think this design is pretty interesting. This kind of time-limit mechanic increases the excitement, tension, and challenge of the mission. Plus it perfectly matches the Evil Infant’s abilities without feeling out of place.”
“……”
The players discussed noisily among themselves.
Although they had once again suffered a crushing defeat—
It did not seem to discourage them at all.
The Calamity Army had long become accustomed to death itself.
What they cared about more was freshness and immersive experience. Although Xinye City’s difficulty was extremely high, the design was exceptionally interesting and greatly stimulated their desire for challenge. As for suffering and abuse, that was simply unavoidable during game progression.
Ye Li Meng asked, “Rui Ge, what do you think?”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge replied, “If we move together, it’s very stable, but it wastes far too much time. Eventually we trigger curse-kill instant death. So the strategy of eliminating the Wailing monsters one by one is wrong.”
Ye Li Meng nodded. “In other words, the moment we enter the bizarre space, we should immediately split into five teams and attack all five leader monsters simultaneously. We have to break the space as quickly as possible!”
The moment those words were spoken—
The other players immediately voiced agreement.
Defeating them one by one was stable—
But far too time-consuming.
Only attacking simultaneously in five directions would allow the fastest clear.
Naturally, this process would result in even greater casualties—
But there was no alternative.
After all, unless the bizarre space was broken, the players would never even get the opportunity to confront the BOSS directly!
Once the tactical adjustment was finalized—
The Calamity Army immediately began restructuring into separate squads.
They split into five groups, each consisting of around one hundred players. Every team possessed relatively balanced combat power, and each would handle a separate target.
Moments later—
The Calamity Army completed its reorganization.
Team One, led by Ye Li Meng and Lone Boat.
Team Two, led by Mad Blade Old Wang and Artist Faction Leader.
Team Three, led by Little Bell, Chimera Wraith, and Chenxi.
Team Four, led by Toasting the Moon and Midnight Pig Slayer.
Team Five, led by Black-Eyed Rui Ge, Salted Fish Thrust, and Street Slayer.
“Brothers and sisters!”
“We cannot fail again!”
“This time, we must win! The mechanisms of Xinye City are becoming increasingly clear!”
“Yeah! At the very least, we need to break the bizarre space in one go and reach the BOSS! Otherwise those Cloud Players on the forums will laugh at us again!”
“Time is precious!”
“Charge charge charge!”
The Calamity Army launched another operation.
Their third assault on Xinye City had begun.
【You collected loot: Essence +12000, Abyssal Magic Stone Fragments +15000, Xinye Survivor Cloak +1, Soul-Calming Heart Protection Talisman +10!】
【You collected loot: Essence +12000……】
【You collected loot: Essence +12000……】
【……】
【Player “Dark Lucifer” has died. Essence +8000……】
【Player “A Sword Comes from the West” has died. Essence +10000……】
【Player “Zha Jiang Mian” has died. Essence +8000……】
【……】
Harvesting monsters—
Then harvesting players too!
This wave truly devoured both sides!
Stored Essence was skyrocketing wildly!
Although the players had split their forces into five teams, their combat strength remained extremely fierce. After suffering over half their members as casualties, they successfully killed all five Wailing monsters in just over half an hour.
The moment the players completed the kills—
The Xinye Nightmare Domain immediately began changing.
The surrounding chaotic mist and vivid colors rapidly faded away.
“It worked!”
The players all revealed delighted expressions.
This proved their strategy had been correct.
Once the five Wailing-Possessed monsters were found and defeated, the Xinye Nightmare Domain began collapsing at astonishing speed.
The oil-painting-like environment—
Suddenly darkened.
All colors lost their brilliance at that very moment.