Chapter 36: Broken Star | Monsters Are Coming
Night had fallen, the world silent under the waning moon. The sky resembled deep crimson silk draped overhead.
At that moment, a black hole suddenly appeared in the sky.
From within, an object trailing blue flames emerged, streaking across the heavens and crashing straight toward the Blood-Soaked Plains of the Emperor's Mound Mountain Range.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, the blue fireball slammed into the vast plains, blasting open a crater over fifty meters wide. Shattered rocks flew in all directions, and the twisted vegetation nearby was scorched into charred remains by the intense heat.
As the rising steam dissipated, a massive square metallic box lay at the bottom of the pit, its surface slightly warped from the violent impact.
At that moment, the metal box trembled, and a heavy metal door opened upward from below.
From within stepped a humanoid boy, roughly 1.65 meters tall, with pale blue hair. He wore heavy rune battle armor, and his pure white pupils showed no hint of emotion, like a lifeless puppet.
Just then, a mechanical electronic voice sounded from the shuttle behind Broken Star.
"Combat trial initiated. The area within a 35-kilometer radius around you is designated as your trial zone. Leaving the trial zone will result in trial failure!"
Leaping out of the crater, the blue-haired puppet boy scanned the scorched earth around him, then raised his right hand to the metallic knob protruding from his left chest and twisted it like winding a clockwork spring.
With a series of crisp clicks, the complex patterns etched into the armor lit up from his left chest, spreading across his entire body.
The puppet boy then turned his gaze toward the waning moon hanging high in the sky, a grave expression surfacing on his face. He raised his right palm, where a black gemstone appeared, and suddenly clenched his fist, crushing it.
As the black crystal shattered, the powder scattered and turned into black smoke upon contact with the air, rising upward.
Instantly, the Evil Entities of the Blood-Soaked Plains, like beasts smelling blood, surged toward the puppet boy's location.
Swish!
The puppet boy lowered his stance as two blue energy blades extended from his wrists. A flash of murderous intent gleamed in his pure white eyes.
His gaze swept across his surroundings.
Fanged hyena-like Evil Hounds, dark specters rolling forward like masses of black spheres, Evil Spirits shrouded in rotting black mist… and countless blood corpses. More and more Evil Entities swarmed from all directions.
The puppet boy transformed into a streak of blue light, charging forward. His figure weaved through the horde of Evil Entities, and the energy blades in his hands cut through the darkness like scissors. All Evil Entities he passed were split in two, turning into black smoke and vanishing, leaving only black crystals behind.
As he fought, his movement speed grew faster and faster, like a dancer gracefully weaving through the Evil Entities. The cold gleam of the blue blades followed his body like the swirling hem of a gown.
At that moment, players exploring the Blood-Soaked Plains noticed the strange behavior of the Evil Entities and began asking questions in the regional channel.
"What's going on? Does anyone know why all the Evil Entities are running in one direction?"
"I thought I was done for, but they just ran off. Survived by luck, feeling great."
"I'm heading over to check it out. Brothers, join my livestream for live coverage. If you can, please send some sacrificial power as tips!"
Curious players began following the direction the Evil Entities were heading.
Many also seized the opportunity to start livestreams, broadcasting the scene to players who couldn't reach the Blood-Soaked Plains in time, hoping to profit.
When players approached the area where the puppet boy was located, the scene before their eyes left them stunned.
The blue figure moved through the Evil Entities like a dancer, twin blue blades cutting through them effortlessly, elegantly harvesting the Evil Entities surrounding him.
But what drew the players' attention even more were the black crystals scattered everywhere.
These were energy crystals dropped only after killing Evil Entities above level 10, which could be exchanged for sacrificial power at the altar on the function panel.
To the players, these black crystals were no different from cold hard cash.
The price of 1 point of sacrificial power had already skyrocketed to 150 credit coins, and acquiring large amounts was extremely difficult, with only small trades possible through individual players.
At this stage, whether gold-farming players or ordinary players, everyone wanted to strengthen themselves first before worrying about profits, creating a massive sacrificial power shortage.
Faced with the scattered black crystals, nearby players wasted no time.
They began frantically collecting the crystals, tossing them into their personal inventories.
Watching this scene through livestreams, countless viewers went crazy, flooding the live chats with comments.
"Bro, please, report your coordinates in the regional channel! I'm rushing to the Blood-Soaked Plains right now!"
"Argh! I'm still on respawn cooldown. Watching you pick up money hurts more than dying. Stop picking them up, do you hear me? Stop!"
"This stream is giving me a heart attack! I just wanted to spectate, but now I wish I could grow wings and fly over to pick crystals with you."
The regional voice channel also exploded over the crystal-grabbing frenzy.
Players scattered across the Emperor's Mound Mountain Range all began converging on the Blood-Soaked Plains.
The players who arrived first had already gone completely mad, following behind the blue figure's movements, constantly collecting the black crystals left in his wake.
At this moment, the battling puppet boy also noticed the growing crowd of players behind him.
When he saw them picking up the black crystals, intense killing intent surged in his pure white eyes.
He abruptly stopped advancing and twisted the winding knob on his chest once more.
The once-dim rune armor flared brightly as the spring tightened.
His body turned into a streak of blue light, changing direction and streaking toward the players. His figure flashed past one player, and before the player could even see the puppet boy's face, the death notification rang in his mind.
Now, the puppet boy's targets had become the players.
Many players disintegrated into black smoke after crossing paths with him, their bodies drawn back to Emperor's Mound Village by Yan Ming's spatial power to be reconstructed underground.
"Damn! He's attacking us now! Should we run?"
"Jesus, my buddy got sliced in two in the blink of an eye and turned into smoke. This guy's insane!"
"Run? Hell no! Dying only costs 10 sacrificial power, but each crystal is worth at least 5 sacrificial power. Grab two and you're even. Keep grabbing, fill your bags!"
Facing the puppet boy's slaughter, the players didn't retreat. Instead, they grew even more frenzied.
Everyone wanted to grab as many crystals as possible before dying.
Meanwhile, information about the puppet boy surfaced as players analyzed him during the slaughter.
[Broken Star (Celestial Rune Race)]
Hunt Level: 53
Target Info: Descendant of the Celestial Rune race's main bloodline, hailed as the strongest of the Celestial Rune race's new generation, currently undergoing combat trials before joining the Anti-Tide Legion.
The players who obtained this information immediately shared it in the regional chat channel.
Both on-site and distant players were shocked by the boy's hunt level.
A hunt level of 53 was something they had never encountered before in the Emperor's Mound Mountain Range.
At this moment, Broken Star also sensed something was wrong.
After killing the players who were grabbing the crystals, the stolen crystals vanished completely into black smoke alongside them.
The black crystals were proof of his trial's success. As they kept disappearing, Broken Star grew anxious.
In a flash, he seized a player who was about to grab a crystal by the neck, lifting him up and staring coldly into his eyes with his pure white gaze. He questioned.
"Where are the crystals you picked up?"
Broken Star's words were automatically translated by the parsing system into language the player could understand.
Hearing this, the player showed no trace of fear despite facing death. His eyes kept darting toward the glowing black crystals on the ground, and with his face turning red, he shouted.
"Let me pick up one more and I'll tell you!"
Broken Star: "…"