Chapter 231 – Red Robe's New General, Sudden Monster Tide

“Is it spatial dislocation?”

The Lord furrowed his brows, but upon careful consideration, quickly dismissed this possibility.

Spatial dislocation was irresistible, yet at the very least, it would cause changes in the surrounding environment and give them a distinct sense of spatial displacement.

He had felt nothing of the sort.

Moreover, his eyelids kept twitching, and the ominous premonition in his heart grew increasingly vivid, as if he were prey trapped in a spider’s web.

“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”

“I am a Lord from the Divine Radiance Empire! Who dares treat me as prey!”

Even when compared to the Undead King and Blast King, he wasn’t far behind.

His squad’s combat power remained intact; even if they encountered experts like Eternal Star or Godwood, it was impossible for them to go completely unnoticed.

Whoosh—

A faint sound echoed.

The Godly Radiance Lord snapped his head around, only to discover that another member of his team had vanished.

The elite eleven-member squad was now down to seven.

But this time…

“I saw it!”

He spotted brown roots tightly binding one of his generals, dragging them into the dense, tangled depths of the root system. By the time the Godly Radiance Lord noticed, most of his general’s body had already been pulled into the root thicket, leaving only a pair of combat boots exposed.

“Mary!”

He shouted to his outstanding general, the ‘Fire Element Mage.’

Not far away, the woman in vibrant crimson robes had not been self-aware for long, but her coordination with her Lord was already seamless.

At this moment, even if it meant harming allies, she had to obliterate these eerie roots.

She raised her staff high, and surging flames rapidly gathered at its tip. The next moment…

“Pop—”

The condensed, ready-to-burst ball of flame shattered like a bubble. The woman in bright red robes stood motionless, her eyes beneath her mage’s hat turning dull and vacant, her mouth slightly agape, like a broken doll.

The next moment,

Whoosh—

Roots coiled around her like serpents, binding the unresisting Fire Element Mage and dragging her deep into the root thicket.

Then, the serpentine roots slithered into her collar, sleeves, and skirt, clinging tightly to her skin as sharp thorns pierced into her.

The super absorption began!

Tree Spirit Grandma drained her life force and energy.

Red Robe absorbed her Mental Energy, consciousness, and Soul Power.

The two perfectly divided their prey.

In just a second or two, a powerhouse who ranked among the top in the Third-Order Warlord Tier was left on the brink of death, reduced to a mere power source.

The Godly Radiance Lord’s squad was down to six… no, five.

In the blink of an eye, another general had vanished.

Towering ancient trees surrounded them, blocking out the sunlight, casting the area in an eerie gloom like the lair of a monstrous terror.

“This place is wrong, terribly wrong!”

“Escape, we must escape!”

“I am a noble representative of the Divine Radiance Empire! How can I be eliminated here! I still bear the sacred mission of finding Tianyuan!”

The Godly Radiance Lord and his four remaining strongest generals formed a tight formation.

A Holy Light High Priest showered them with pure white radiance;

A glorious shining spirit burst forth with dazzling brilliance;

A fear knight brandished his Heavy Sword;Yet the next moment, the dense roots surrounding them began dancing wildly, whistling as they shot out and interwove across the four directions, forming a massive net that trapped them firmly within.

Ding-ling—

A pleasant bell chime echoed through the dense forest, growing increasingly eerie.

A dozen seconds later, when the Godly Radiance Lord regained his senses, his four heavenly kings had already collapsed one after another, leaving him standing alone in desolation.

A chill ran through his entire body.

He felt as though countless pairs of eyes were watching him.

Who was it? Who dared mock him so brazenly!

Was it the prince of Godwood?

At this thought, the Godly Radiance Lord’s shock and anger faded, leaving only fear.

“I withdraw!”

He shouted loudly.

This was one of the rules of the Chaos Forest—those who suffered fatal injuries or voluntarily forfeited would be eliminated and teleported out.

The next moment, the Godly Radiance Lord’s figure vanished with a flash of light, leaving only a bundle of scrolls falling to the ground. Immediately after, his subordinates, who had been dragged deep into the root thicket, also disappeared one by one, eliminated from the arena.

Red Robe’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“How could you, Godly Radiance Lord, be so spineless!”

“I let my guard down!”

In her vision, beyond the dense root thicket lay a chilling Netherworld Market.

Within the market, thanks to Red Robe’s diligent management, numerous minor ghosts now resided, but prior to this, there had only been one and a half ghosts of significance—A-rank Agent Victor and his Netherworld Ghost.

Now, however, beside this A-rank agent, figures could vaguely be seen in the ghostly shops on either side: mages in vibrant red robes, knights in black armor, voluptuous and holy priestesses, and more.

Their forms were all rather indistinct.

Abruptly, these ten figures shattered one after another with soft popping sounds. Three of them reformed after breaking apart, though their forms grew even fuzzier, retaining only their general features.

Red Robe’s harvesting plan had failed.

Yet, in theory, it should have worked—just like before, when she transformed A-rank Agent Victor, placing him in a ‘death-like’ state without triggering his resurrection artifact.

In the Chaos Forest, she could have permanently trapped her enemies’ souls within the Netherworld Market, leaving only empty shells to be teleported back by the rules.

Such was the terror of epic abilities.

Of course, only a very few epic abilities possessed such bizarre effects.

The transformation process simply required a considerable amount of time.

“Godly Radiance Lord, I’ll remember this grudge!”

“Hmm, learn from this lesson and keep striving.”

She, Red Robe, had been hoping for a grand harvest here to secure a comfortable, retirement-style life in the future.

…

Outside the Chaos Forest,

Though only an hour had passed since the start, subordinates and even lords had already been successively eliminated.

The waiting powerhouses weren’t surprised.

The strength of representatives from smaller nations varied greatly. The weakest among them—entire teams of eleven—couldn’t withstand a single powerhouse casually stepping out from a major nation’s team.

Buzz—

“Another group’s been teleported out. Oh my, several figures… no, a full eleven of them… Another team completely wiped out.”

“Seems like the fourth one today. The battles are quite intense.”

“Wait, isn’t that the lord of the Divine Radiance Empire?”

The legends of the Divine Radiance Empire were utterly baffled.

This couldn’t be right.

How long had it been since they entered?

Their representatives this year weren’t weak either.The legendary figure in charge suppressed his emotions and coldly asked, “What happened?”

The Lord who had been teleported out of the arena was physically unharmed, but he stood dazed for several seconds before regaining his composure. His subordinates were in even worse condition—most had dull, vacant eyes, and some had even collapsed to the ground, thick fluid dribbling from their mouths as their bodies twitched faintly.

The Godly Radiance Lord stammered, “I… we encountered…”

He described how terrifying the roots were and how many powerful enemies must have been lying in ambush within. After a long pause…

He finally hung his head and said, “I’m sorry, Lord Lawrence, I was indeed careless. If I hadn’t charged into the enemy’s ambush…”

He… wouldn’t have been completely wiped out.

The Empire had conducted simulations of encounters with the princes and princesses of Eternal Star and Divine Wood. While they truly couldn’t be defeated in direct combat, with their own team at full strength, they could have sacrificed two or three subordinates to cover their retreat and successfully escaped.

After all, their Divine Radiance representatives were also powerful.

But now…

The person in charge, Lawrence, wanted to rage, but this wasn’t the time or place for an outburst.

He could only console himself, “Forget it, this guy was never a seed contestant anyway. Being eliminated is just being eliminated. Besides, compared to the Dragon Court Competition slots, eliminating Tianyuan is far more important.”

After all, the Dragon Court Competition slots only mattered for this cycle, whereas a powerhouse at the level of the Cold Moon City Lord could secure more resources in conflicts of interest.

With national pillar-level powerhouses unable to intervene easily, figures like the Cold Moon City Lord represented the top tier of elite fighters.

He was just worried whether their Divine Radiance Lords could locate Tianyuan.

Now that one had been eliminated, the efficiency of finding Tianyuan had slowed, and that was the most infuriating part.

“I hope Tianyuan’s strength is substantial. As long as Tianyuan can hold out until the third day, according to calculations, Deadbone, Explosion, and the others will have a 99.6% probability of encountering Tianyuan at least once.”

“Then we can proceed to the second phase of the plan.”

…

As time passed, more and more Lord teams in the Chaos Forest gathered the Heaven-Earth Scrolls and synthesized them into Tokens.

The battles within the giant forest grew increasingly fierce.

Deadbone looked at the scroll in his hand—finally, after days of Heaven scrolls, an Earth scroll had appeared.

After a moment’s thought, he tapped his heavy sword lightly on the ground, and an opening appeared in the Undead Holy Mountain. Immediately, undead creatures such as vampires, abominations, and skeleton generals emerged from within.

He assembled nine of them.

Then, he dressed one of the vampires in ornate armor and handed the Heaven-Earth Scrolls to this vampire.

A short while later,

Hum—

As the newly formed Token emitted ripples of light in all directions like a shining beacon.

The undead squad quickly began to run.

Deadbone followed at a distance, concealed within the forest like a ghost.

The Rakshasa Squad, Dolai, and the Lu Liu Squad each employed their own methods of fishing.

The team of Tree Spirit Grandma and Red Robe were undoubtedly masters in the art of fishing. With a Token as bait, their efficiency in laying traps had greatly increased.

And as they engaged in hunts and crushing battles, the combat prowess of Tree Spirit Grandma and Red Robe didn’t diminish—instead, it grew.

Tree Spirit Grandma maintained her peak fighting strength by absorbing life force;

Red Robe’s energy was slightly depleted, but the Netherworld Market was gradually expanding, showing great promise.

Once this Token ceased emitting light ripples, Red Robe took out another set of Heaven and Earth scrolls and merged them.The light patterns once again spread out.

“Look, we’ve found prey.”

In the distance,

a pitch-black figure was strolling among the giant trees. Standing over three meters tall with horns on his head, he wore heavy black armor that resembled scales.

Just by standing there, he emanated a terrifying, bone-chilling aura.

“Before finding the special prey named by the Lord, let’s start with some smaller game to whet our appetite.”

So thought the Fear Lord.

He hadn’t joined forces with the Undead King, instead splitting into two teams. The Fear Lord led two minor generals separately, hunting freely. Only when they discovered traces of the special target ‘Tianyuan’ would they communicate through the Lord-Hero contract.

Then, he, the Fear Lord, would unleash his unique Epic Skill ‘Fear Cycle’.

This was an illusion skill that could make enemies witness their deepest fears. But if that were all, it wouldn’t deserve to be called an Epic ability. The most powerful aspect of ‘Fear Cycle’ was—Reincarnation—it could make targets trapped in fear wake up, forget all memories of the previous illusion, and continue experiencing the second, third, and fourth rounds of fear illusions.

Subsequently, the accumulated fear from multiple rounds of illusion experiences could directly crush and shatter the enemy’s mind, causing them to die spiritually and consciously.

Due to the rules of the Chaos Forest, he couldn’t truly kill the target, but if he subjected Tianyuan to dozens of illusion rounds, this Lord would wake up in fear day and night even if he didn’t die.

“Jie jie jie jie jie—”

The Fear Lord’s low laughter echoed through the forest.

He traveled unhurriedly, gradually approaching the target area where the light patterns had spread.

Soon, he found the target.

Several dozen meters away, a figure stood motionless, holding a Token.

“Bait?”

“Hah, only ants need to devise traps meticulously. The strong only need to push forward straightforwardly.”

The Fear Lord stood with his hands behind his back, gesturing with his chin toward the two followers beside him, “You, go snatch the Token. Hmm? Didn’t you hear my words!”

He was somewhat angry.

But after half a second of anger, he suddenly realized that somehow, the two lackeys who had been following him…

Had disappeared!

“Heh heh heh heh heh ha ha ha—”

The Fear Lord emitted a low laugh, “Interesting, interesting.”

He surveyed the surroundings and quickly noticed something off about the roots around him—they contained not only life energy but also spiritual imprints.

But before him, the Fear Lord, all concealment was meaningless.

“Fear Ripples.”

Invisible spiritual ripples spread out; fear would descend upon the hidden ones.

The next moment,

Pa pa pa—

Several roots drooped down, but roots further away continued to wriggle.

—Tree Spirit Grandma used parts of her body to withstand the Fear Ripples, then immediately discarded these body parts, allowing her to directly escape the illusion’s disturbance through a method similar to ‘substitution’.

As for such body parts, she could easily grow plenty of them.

The Fear Lord’s expression had been gradually turning serious, but when he sensed the illusion power falling before him, the corners of his mouth gradually lifted, and his entire body leaned back slightly.

He nearly burst out laughing.

To dare play with illusions before him, the Fear Lord—this was the funniest thing he had seen all year.

He didn’t resist as the power of the illusion descended upon him.

The next moment, the world transformed.The black earth stretched endlessly, with countless grave mounds neatly arranged in rows. In the distance stood a crimson pavilion, and at the horizon where the night sky met the land, a massive blood-red moon slowly rose, obscuring half the firmament.

Clad in black armor, the Fear Lord was nailed to a tall cross.

“This illusion is quite interesting, but…”

Beneath his helmet, the Fear Lord’s eyes shimmered with rings of eerie light.

Two seconds later, the world shifted once more.

The scene remained unchanged, but the figure pinned to the cross was now Red Robe.

“My illusion arts far surpass yours.”

The Fear Lord spread his arms wide.

Layer upon layer of reincarnation illusions stacked together—even an opponent with skill equal to or greater than his would be crushed by endless fear.

Red Robe had to admit that her mastery of illusion arts was slightly inferior to the powerhouse before her.

After all, the Fear Lord possessed an epic ability specialized in illusions.

After all, since the version update, Red Robe had not been as diligent in refining her illusory world.

She nodded and said, “My illusion arts are indeed not strong enough, but if I were to summon a real illusory world, how would Your Excellency respond?”

Red Robe was excited.

She snapped her fingers as well, and in the next moment, the world transformed for the third time.

The blood moon and black earth vanished, leaving only the crimson pavilion standing.

Outside the crimson pavilion lay a bustling market. Even shrouded in dense black mist, countless vendors could be heard hawking their wares.

“Come take a look, come have a see!”

“Fresh human brains, hearts, and livers, 20% off!”

“Hiss~ Hiss~ Want a thigh bone? We’ll saw it on the spot—buy as much as we’ll saw as much.”

The Fear Lord found himself in this chilling yet lively Netherworld Market.

A vendor in front of him asked, “Want a conscience? Cheap sale, just one heart for the price.”

The Fear Lord paid no mind.

No matter the form it took, illusions were still illusions—they held no meaning before his eyes.

He snapped his fingers.

Snap—

The crisp sound echoed, only to be drowned out the next moment by the market’s lively cries.

The Fear Lord fell silent for two seconds, then snapped his fingers again.

Snap—

A cold wind whispered, brushing past the Fear Lord’s heart.

He remained silent for a few more seconds, veins bulging on his deathly gray hands as he frantically snapped his fingers.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

It was as if slap after slap was coldly striking his face.

But he could never break through the Netherworld Market with illusion power alone. For this place was both illusion and reality. With a real foundation in place, unless the Fear Lord’s illusions were powerful enough to interfere with reality, his efforts were futile.

His consciousness and soul, having passed through two layers of illusions, had completely entered the Netherworld Market.

All that remained in reality was an empty shell.

Buried deep within the tangled roots of the forest.

Several dozen minutes later, Red Robe wiped the sweat from her brow. “Tired… so damn tired.”

If her goal were merely to defeat or eliminate the Fear Lord, she wouldn’t have needed to go to such lengths. But to completely trap him and transform him into a Ghost General of the market was no easy task.

Yet it was absolutely worth it.

Even if only a Remnant Soul remained after the transformation, its power incomparable to its peak, this Ghost General could still easily slay experts at the Third Order or even those newly advanced to the Fourth Order.Most importantly, Red Robe had preserved some remnants of the ‘Fear Cycle’ ability with her full effort.

And she, Red Robe, the master of the Netherworld Market, could also borrow this ability.

At this moment, before the crimson pavilion of the Netherworld Market, a translucent ghostly figure stood tall.

Faintly visible were black armor and two curved horns—the likeness of the Fear Lord.

He murmured, “Respected… Young Miss Red Robe… I shall… spread fear… on your behalf.”

Red Robe: I’ve recruited a new subordinate! (Yay)

…

A day and a night had passed.

Outside, strong individuals were being eliminated one after another. Many representatives from smaller nations had already been completely wiped out, and even among the great nations, many powerful figures had withdrawn.

In the Taixuan Alliance, as many as twenty-one generals had been eliminated—a truly unsatisfactory result.

However, Mount Luofu Master, Cold Moon City Lord, and a few others showed no signs of displeasure.

Taixuan’s poor performance this year had been expected from the start.

Moreover, the Divine Radiance Empire next door had thirty-four individuals eliminated, including one Lord.

The Divine Radiance representative was in a foul mood.

Naturally, this lifted their spirits.

“Damn Taixuan!”

Although the elimination of their Divine Radiance representatives had nothing to do with Taixuan, Lawrence insisted on blaming Taixuan anyway. For no other reason than that if Taixuan hadn’t risen so powerfully, their Divine Radiance would have long unified Blue Star and developed even greater national strength.

“Laugh all you want, foolish Taixuan people.”

“You probably don’t know what trump card we, Divine Radiance, have prepared.”

“Wait until you see the dazed and broken Tianyuan—then let’s see if you can still laugh.”

Thinking this, the Divine Radiance representative finally felt less stifled.

Undead King, Fear Lord, you must bring honor to this king.

Inside the Chaos Forest,

The Undead King had just hunted a prey. Picking up the Token that fell to the ground, he wondered, “I wonder how many prey Fear Lord has hunted and if he has any information on Tianyuan.”

As Fear Lord possessed the Hero identity, the two could communicate through it.

The Undead King sent a message and waited quietly.

Due to interference from the special venue, communication between Lords and Heroes was somewhat delayed.

It was common to wait a while for a response.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, ninety seconds, three hundred seconds.

The Undead King felt something was very wrong.

Even if Fear Lord had been eliminated, he should still be able to communicate simply with this Hero.

How could there be no response at all?

Was he occupied with urgent matters and unable to break away?

“Fear! Fear! Hey! Reply, Fear!”

The forest remained silent, with only the Undead King’s uneasy voice echoing far and wide.

…

People’s anxieties differ; Mu Yuan was merely frustrated at not finding suitable prey.

Riding the dragonized Xiliu, he galloped through the giant forest, mentally communicating with his two subordinates, Deadbone and Dolai, while using his Mental Link ability to constantly probe the approximate locations of other squads.

At the same time, outside.

The representatives of the Seven Great Nations gradually changed their expressions.

Cold Moon City Lord received a communication and said, “What? The Crimson Mist omen has appeared again, and several Great Domains have experienced monster tides, mainly concentrated in the eastern Twilight Plains and central Ancient Highlands?”

“This is troublesome.”

Xixiang City Lord murmured, “I’ll immediately dispatch strong individuals to the front lines to crush as many main forces of the monster tides as possible.”Such a monster tide would not threaten the vast Taixuan Alliance.

However, it would affect the representatives currently fighting in the Chaos Forest. After all, they were all relatively new Lords with territories located on the periphery of Taixuan.

Once the territory is attacked by a monster tide, can they still fight with peace of mind?

Especially Tianyuan.

They only know that Tianyuan is located in the Twilight Plains, but they are unaware of its exact position, making it difficult to provide precise reinforcements.

“In any case, we must try to crush the main force of the monster tide and also notify the lords of these regions to sound the alarm.”

Outside the Tianyuan Territory, the monster tide has not yet appeared so early.

But Isloria, who is guarding the territory, can already see the Crimson Mist drifting in, foretelling ill omens.

Meanwhile, Daisy, who acts as “Mu Yuan’s secretary” in the real world, has also received a warning message from the Player Association.

She quickly relayed the information back to the territory through a special channel.

Isloria also used her Hero authority to notify the Lord, who is still on the front lines.

“A monster tide has actually broken out?”

Mu Yuan remained relatively calm.

However, many lords in the Chaos Forest began to worry.

6K chapter combined into one…

(End of chapter)