Chapter 188 – Foreign Players

This miniature Secret Realm likely held nothing of value anymore.

After Dolai’s continuous digging with loud bangs, it ultimately sighed in disappointment.

Perhaps due to its destructive excavation, or maybe because this Secret Realm was too small with limited defensive stability, the space began to vibrate with a buzzing tremor.

The surrounding stone walls cracked with sharp sounds, revealing glimpses of drifting gray mist through the fissures.

The gray mist was seeping inward.

Within the Secret Realm, thin black cracks suddenly appeared.

“The Secret Realm is collapsing!”

The ceiling split apart, dust showered down, followed by fragmented stones. Even Dolai sensed the danger.

If it were just an ordinary structural collapse, everyone present—except for a few birds—would have been unafraid.

But this was the collapse of a Secret Realm, accompanied by spatial turbulence.

Even the vortex-shaped spatial gate, maintained by Isloria using numerous Soul Crystals, flickered with faint arcs of electricity around it, appearing highly unstable.

Seeing this, the Undead General felt deeply insecure.

He projected the Sacred Mountain, briefly supporting the space, and quickly ordered Dolai, Isloria, and the others to retreat tactically.

As the Undead General stepped through the spatial gate, he could see the depths of the Secret Realm crumbling inch by inch. The stone walls collapsed with a deafening roar, and the gray mist surged in like a tide. Wherever it passed, the already aged items grew more decayed and ashen, as if dried for a thousand years, scattering like dust in the wind and vanishing.

Thus, a Secret Realm collapsed, annihilated in the spatial turbulence, leaving not a trace behind.

A minor entity like him, if caught in it, would have perished instantly.

Weak, still too weak.

Buzz—

The vortex-shaped spatial gate crackled with arcs of electricity, finally unable to hold and disconnecting after a dozen seconds. The entire azure vortex continuously shrank until it returned to its origin point. The foundation platform below cracked and gradually dimmed, losing its luster.

A thrilling exploration had come to an end.

The Undead General and Isloria prepared to leave.

Isloria had several Incarnations busy in the City Lord’s Mansion, but her true self was more efficient on-site. She also wanted to study the mechanical guards—whether to develop firearms and weapons from them or create mechanical maids for daily use, she thought both were quite promising.

The research would take place in the Mage Tower.

The Lord had already granted her this Tower.

However, the Elementary Mage Tower’s built-in instruments and equipment were somewhat scarce and basic. Isloria pondered whether she should handcraft some tools. Besides, the Mechanical Dragon was also worth delving into; after her epic evolution, many new abilities awaited practice and development; and there was the Lord’s concept of a Starlight Orb network; and…

Her schedule was already filled for the next three months.

The Undead General was also very busy. He had discovered several monster groups and Tribes that could potentially threaten the territory and needed to eliminate the threats as soon as possible. This world was still far too dangerous.

General Dolai was… probably busy too.

It was responsible for bringing the valuable spoils back to the Lord~!

Of Tianyuan’s three Generals, two were preparing to return, while one was heading elsewhere.

Suddenly,

The Undead General paused mid-step, “There’s a prying gaze. Is it some kind of intelligent monster?”It was extremely sensitive to such gazes, after all, the ambushes and assassinations it had encountered during exploration were far more than just ten or eight times.

This faint gaze, though more concealed, could not escape its perception.

Another monster trying to harm them!

How could it be allowed to live!

Deadbone paused for two seconds, not even drawing his sword, and simply pointed into the distance. An inconspicuous Bone Spike shot out.

The Bone Spike was like a bullet, but as it neared its target, it erupted with powerful undead energy, exploding with a bang two hundred meters away.

Boom—

Gray flames surged upward.

A bluish-gray figure darted out from the gray flames, raising both hands high. “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, brothers, it’s a misunderstanding! I’m a player from the Xuan Nation, a real good guy!”

The figure, clad in bluish-gray combat attire, was a plain-looking young man.

Based on his clothing, equipment, and appearance, it was clear the young man was a player and not a monster. Moreover, the young man wasn’t using the world’s common language but fluent Xuan Nation dialect.

Both Deadbone and Isloria were proficient in the Xuan Nation dialect.

Even Dolai understood it. Because when it awakened its self-awareness, it naturally learned the native tongue of its Great Lord.

Deadbone was momentarily taken aback.

If the peeper had been a monster, regardless of whether its appearance was hideous or alluring, he could have simply cut it down with his sword. But now, this person was a player, and a Xuan Nation player at that. He was somewhat unsure how to proceed and could only remain vigilant while seeking the opinion of the great Lord.

The young man in bluish-gray combat attire advanced a few dozen meters before stopping, seemingly observing etiquette by maintaining a safe distance.

He said, “Fellow countrymen, I’m just a passing adventurer. I only took a closer look because I noticed something unusual here. It’s all a misunderstanding! We’re all Xuan Nation players—let’s not harm our camaraderie.”

His gaze swept over Deadbone and Lu Liu, finally settling on Isloria.

He directed his words at her.

Dolai: “???” Am I really that unnoticeable?!

Upon receiving the message, Lord Mu immediately turned on the War Falcon-brand television to observe from afar.

The young man’s explanation seemed reasonable enough.

Encountering other players in the wild wasn’t uncommon. Even deep in the Wilderness, some Elite players dared to venture alone into dangerous territories, much like the adventurer captured by Night Dancer, who had been reduced to a juice-making tool.

Still, something felt off.

Though the young man’s Xuan Nation dialect was fluent, his manner of speaking and tone seemed a bit strange.

The young man also took the opportunity to scrutinize Isloria, Deadbone, and the others.

“It’s a Lord’s army.”

“One Lord, two high-tier generals, and dozens of elite soldiers who don’t seem low-tier.”

He glanced at the sky, where a bluish-gray figure had flashed by moments earlier, but he had keenly caught it.

That was a Storm War Falcon, a rare three-star tier unit.

With such a setup and such performance, it seemed…

“This is the army of a newly promoted Lord from Taixuan! And with this kind of configuration, they must be among the top of the new Lords. I, Mitsukami Hikaru, have hit the jackpot today!”

His heart burned with excitement.

The bounties offered by the Eye of Divine Radiance were clearly priced. Newcomer Lords were one tier, second-generation Lords another, and the highest tier was Tianyuan.The Lord before him was at the very least a rising star among Lords. By simply observing and memorizing key details, he could exchange the information for a considerable bounty. If he could intercept and kill this Lord, the reward would be even greater.

However, Mitsukami Hikaru hesitated over his next move—whether to pretend to be a player from the Xuan Nation and retreat to report the information, or to strike directly.

To report the information, he would have to use a communication tool. Since they couldn’t infiltrate player territories in person, this was the only way.

After a moment of hesitation, Mitsukami Hikaru decided to retreat.

It was a cautious choice; he feared alerting the enemy.

At that moment, Isloria spoke up, “Are you really a player from the Xuan Nation?”

Mitsukami Hikaru nodded sincerely, “Of course! I’m a pure-blooded Xuan National!”

But Isloria’s gaze was sharp as an arrow, “You’re lying!”

Behind her, three magical orbs hovered.

An auxiliary skill had been activated silently.

Skill: Heart Inquiry.

It could detect whether a target was lying—though it was ineffective against overly powerful targets. The person before her, however, was not beyond its scope.

Over a dozen Skeleton Generals swiftly closed in from both sides.

Mitsukami Hikaru’s eyes narrowed as his entire body merged into the shadows. In the next instant, he reappeared over a hundred meters away, right in front of Isloria.

This was the maximum range of his Shadow Blink.

His landing spot was deliberately chosen.

As he emerged from the Shadow Blink, his flawed version of a mark materialized, summoning one Shadow Assassin unit after another. Their cold blades gleamed with an eerie light, forming what seemed like an instant-kill prison that enveloped Isloria.

Mitsukami Hikaru grinned viciously, “You chose the wrong way to respond.”

But before he could finish speaking, he realized that all the Shadow Assassins he had spent vast resources to train—each at the threshold of the Elite Rank—were frozen mid-air.

Even his own movements gradually slowed, as if mired in mud or crushed under the weight of a mountain.

All around, a dazzling River of Stars shimmered, enveloping the entire area.

It rendered the assassins lunging toward him like insects trapped in amber.

Instant annihilation.

“If this were before my evolution, I might have struggled to suppress you all, but now…”

She was an Epic, after all.

And she had yet to fully unlock the potential of her Epic Rank.

…

At the Eye of Divine Radiance stronghold.

“Hound 33 confirmed lost. His reconnaissance range was sectors D36 to D39.”

“Hound 114 confirmed lost. His reconnaissance range was sectors G52 to G56.”

In a short time, they had lost many operatives.

They might have been killed by monsters or sniped by Taixuan’s elite patrols.

This was within expectations.

These Hounds, lured with hefty rewards from outside, were only meant to scout and probe for traps. The real operation was yet to come.

And they had patience.

The prey would not escape.

…

In Tianyuan Territory, Mu Yuan witnessed Isloria restrain and suppress the enemy firsthand.

But before he could ask anything, the foreign player’s nostrils, mouth, and ears began gurgling and spewing water. In just two or three seconds, he dissolved into a puddle of pus, leaving no trace of bones or even his clothing behind.

A death soldier?

No, it seemed more like a pawn with a hidden failsafe.

Isloria was somewhat frustrated.

The Undead General, meanwhile, pondered whether he could develop a skill to read memories.Mu Yuan thought the idea was feasible, but using it on these cannon fodder would likely yield little effect.

Because they knew very little to begin with. Even if something could be extracted from their minds, one would still need to be wary of whether it was a misleading trap set by the mastermind behind the scenes.

It would be better to leave it alone.

Hold the position firmly, improve strength, and then no matter what schemes, spies, or assassins come…

Just blast them apart with one punch!

Second update…

(End of chapter)