Southern Purgatory City.
The Lv100 Divine Forbidden Land.
Under the watch of Lonely Island and Super God Athena.
Ghost King Soul-Commanding Envoy · Sade floated above the Divine Forbidden Land with the SSS-Rank [Soul Devourer] in his hand, the scepter pouring out an endless stream of dark undead energy that seeped down into the ground.
Underground in the Divine Forbidden Land, an evil dark power was stirring.
It was as if something down there was about to burst out!
The system voice kept ringing out.
[Map Announcement]: "Ding~ Dark power awakening progress: 75%!"
[Map Announcement]: "Ding~ Dark power awakening progress: 76%!"
...
Meanwhile, outside the Divine Forbidden Land.
Dragon Soul Aoshi, Dragon Soul Whisper and Dragon Soul Dusk, who had tailed Lonely Island here, were lying low in a hidden spot.
The announcements ringing in his ears had Su Muqiu frantic with worry. "The Ghost Royal Guard is about to awaken! Chief, we can't wait any longer!"
Before Dragon Soul Aoshi could say anything,
Dragon Soul Whisper, standing to the side, said urgently, "No!"
"That Demon Knight, Lonely Island, is Level 80, and he's third on Purgatory City's Heaven Ranking. His strength is no joke."
"And there's also Super God Athena, a Level 79 Sword and Shield Warrior, sixth on Purgatory City's Heaven Ranking. Anyone can see she's far above the rest."
"Even if Ghost King Soul-Commanding Envoy · Sade has to keep channeling to awaken the Ghost Royal Guard and can't move in the meantime,"
"the three of us alone can't handle Lonely Island and Super God Athena. If we rush in, all we'll do is tip them off."
As Dragon Soul's strategist,
Dragon Soul Whisper analyzed the situation calmly. "Wait a little longer. At the rate the Ghost Royal Guard is awakening, our people will get here well before it's done!"
Just as Dragon Soul Whisper was saying this,
there was a commotion behind them.
They turned around.
It was Dragon Soul Guild players, hurrying toward the Divine Forbidden Land!
"They're finally here!"
Su Muqiu said eagerly, "Let's move!"
Meanwhile, inside the Divine Forbidden Land,
Super God Athena had her eyes fixed on the Ghost King as he awakened the Ghost Royal Guard step by step.
Her heart was full of longing. "Once the Ghost Royal Guard awakens, no one will ever be able to stand in the way of Godfather's grand ambition!"
"Godfather is the undisputed number one in the world of Divine Oracle!"
The moment she finished speaking,
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
a dense rain of arrows suddenly fell from the sky.
"Enemy attack!"
"Careful, Godfather!"
Super God Athena reacted fast. She activated the S-Rank skill [Sword Shield] (blocks all ranged attacks for its duration) and held off the arrows raining down overhead!
The next second,
Swish, swish, swish!
along with a rustle in the grass,
an invisible force closed in fast from behind.
"Asking for it!"
Super God Athena's gaze turned cold.
Whoosh!
One sweeping slash sent out an arc of blade light, forcing several assassin players who had crept up in stealth to show themselves!
The next moment,
Super God Athena gripped her cold war blade,
stretched out her long legs, and leapt in.
Slash, slash, slash, slash!
In a burst of lightning-fast strikes,
she cut down all six Dragon Soul Guild assassin players, all around Level 77-78, in a matter of moments!
Behind them, Su Muqiu, who had seen it all, said in surprise, "This Super God Athena is that strong?!"
Dragon Soul Whisper said, "That's why, if the three of us had rushed out just now, we'd have failed for sure."
Just then,
Whoosh!
Dragon Soul Aoshi pointed his sword at Lonely Island and Super God Athena ahead and ordered, "Kill!"
At Dragon Soul Aoshi's command,
thousands of Dragon Soul Guild players behind them poured into the Divine Forbidden Land.
Weapons in hand,
they charged at Lonely Island and Super God Athena!
A trace of worry showed through Super God Athena's cold expression. "I never thought they'd actually find this place!"
Lonely Island, though, was in no hurry.
He took several magic scrolls out of his bag
and crushed them.
The next second,
Pop, pop, pop, pop!
countless black bugs the size of fists were summoned from underground.
The swarm surged forward like a tide, flowing around Lonely Island and Super God Athena toward the Dragon Soul Guild players ahead!
"Explosive Bugs!"
"Why are there so many?"
"Everyone, watch out!"
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The Explosive Bugs blew up the moment they met anyone.
Whenever they touched a Dragon Soul Guild player, they exploded.
The damage from a single blast was next to nothing,
but there were just too many of them.
With Lonely Island's SS-Rank talent Heavenly Demon Frenzy boosting their numbers tenfold,
the countless Explosive Bugs couldn't pose a lethal threat to the Dragon Soul Guild players, but holding back their advance was more than enough!
And just as the endless wave of Explosive Bugs, pouring out of the ground one after another, had stopped the Dragon Soul Guild players and left them barely able to move an inch,
a system announcement that sent a jolt through every Dragon Soul player present rang out over the Divine Forbidden Land.
[Map Announcement] (Divine Forbidden Land): "Ding~ Attention, all players: the system has detected a dark power awakening. Awakening progress: 100%! Players, please evacuate the Divine Forbidden Land as soon as possible!"
Dragon Soul Whisper felt a jolt of shock.
"Damn!"
"The Ghost Royal Guard has awakened!"
Rumble, rumble!
As the ground shook and the mountains trembled,
they looked up and saw that the sky, clear and cloudless a moment ago, had changed in an instant. Wind and clouds churned and black clouds pressed down overhead!
An unbearably oppressive aura enveloped the entire Divine Forbidden Land, and every Dragon Soul Guild player inside felt an enormous pressure unlike anything before.
At the same time,
the ground shook violently under everyone's feet.
It was as if something was about to burst out!
Dragon Soul Aoshi, realizing something was wrong, frowned and gave the order at once. "Retreat!"
"All troops, fall back!"
But it was too late.
Whoosh!
A black mist seeped up from underground and quickly spread through the crowd, swallowing every Dragon Soul player.
Within the mist, pairs of ghostly hands grabbed the Dragon Soul Guild players by the legs and climbed up them.
"What is that?!"
"What's grabbing me?!"
"Aaaah!!!"
In moments, screams rose all over the Divine Forbidden Land, one after another.
Then,
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
over a thousand pillars of white light shot into the sky at the same moment!
One thousand five hundred Dragon Soul Guild players.
Within three seconds.
Wiped out.
The sight of over a thousand white lights flaring at once was stunning even in broad daylight.
Plenty of solo players grinding monsters in the area all turned their eyes toward the Divine Forbidden Land at the same time.
"Holy crap! What happened over there? So many people died at once! That's wild!"
"Don't tell me a huge BOSS spawned?"
"Holy crap! We've gotta go take a look. If it really is a huge BOSS and we take it down, we're rich!"
The players, clueless but dreaming of getting rich overnight, moved in toward the Divine Forbidden Land.
But
every player who tried to approach the Divine Forbidden Land, without exception, was crushed into white light...
Meanwhile,
the black clouds over the Divine Forbidden Land began to spread out in every direction.
The endless darkness was swallowing Purgatory City, step by step...