Chapter 264 – Tracking and Base

Day 49 of the Calamity Moon’s descent. The Crimson Mist particles permeating the world, bringing filth and erosion, finally began to decline after reaching their peak.

The Star Gazing Association also released an announcement.

“This Crimson Mist Calamity Moon is expected to end within three days.”

This was a stimulant. Whether it was the Lords or the ordinary players participating in the battle, everyone had had enough of the endless monster assaults.

Even for relatively powerful territories or strong teams stationed in major towns, continuous fierce battles had left them utterly exhausted.

Luoxing Territory, Twilight Plains region.

“Finally, it’s almost over.”

Jiang Luoxing directed over a dozen nuns and priests to perform Holy Light healing on his injured troops.

His defensive forces were strong, and he had numerous defensive structures.

But after so many days of intense fighting, each soldier’s combat effectiveness had dropped to only sixty or seventy percent. If the waves had continued for another ten days or half a month, his territory might have faced the risk of the city walls being breached.

Fortunately, the hard times were almost over.

Tide-Calling Territory.

Liu Miumiu, dressed in a cyan-blue robe and white shawl, walked along the city walls. A blue line of life water extended, linking the Tide-Spring Spirits and Frost-Pond Celestial Maidens.

She stood still for a moment, catching her breath, then wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Still, a few Spring Spirits couldn’t be saved.”

“Am I too weak?”

She had never felt much urgency before.

Whether it was the Lord trials or the targeting by monster tribes, she wasn’t worried. She didn’t have lofty goals either—just living a stable life, maintaining a ranking among the top few Lords of her batch so as not to disgrace her elder sister.

Not too high, not too low, going with the flow.

But now, she felt she was somewhat weak. She didn’t aspire to compete for the top spot in her batch or shine on the stage, but at the very least…

She couldn’t accept the fact that veterans who had followed her for so long would sacrifice themselves before her eyes.

…

Tianyuan Territory, aside from that one incident where they were deceived and ambushed by the Serpent Attendant, had encountered no further surprises.

Whether it was intelligent monsters trying to replicate the ambush,

intelligent monsters emerging from the ground,

or intelligent monsters gathering a large horde to Charge,

they all met their end peacefully.

The most difficult to guard against were the monsters emerging from underground. Mu Yuan had no permanent solution for this, only temporary measures like surface reinforcement, underground detection, and internal patrols.

The outstanding-grade structure, the ‘Arcane Astrolabe,’ was activated by Lord Mu at its highest power, scanning the territory’s surroundings twenty-four hours a day.

Nothing was spared—whether moving on the ground, flying in the sky, or swimming underground.

Somewhat unexpectedly yet reasonably, the Astrolabe discovered some peculiar little rats.

…

Several kilometers outside Tianyuan Territory, on a certain ancient, sturdy tree.

A figure lay horizontally, his long boots tightly pressed against the thick trunk as if nailed into it. His entire presence was nearly undetectable, merging with the ancient tree like a short, thick branch.

“No doubt about it.”

“Being able to attract and withstand such a scale of monster waves, this territory must undoubtedly be Tianyuan Territory! Finally found you!”

A-Class Agent Soma was thrilled.

Heaven knows how long he had been searching!A few months ago, when he had just received this SS-level mission, he had been so expectant and excited. However, after months of life-and-death struggles traversing the Wilderness without finding even a trace of the Tianyuan Territory, all his passion and anticipation had long been extinguished.

Now, he just wanted to return to the Divine Radiance Empire and spend some intimate time with his thirteen lovers.

“Now that the location of the Tianyuan Territory has been confirmed, my mission is finally complete!”

“Promotion, salary increase, and official rank advancement are just around the corner!”

“To avoid complications, let’s go, go, go! Report back immediately.”

Soma had already made a brief report using communication equipment.

Now it was time for battle preparations.

Fortunately, the Crimson Mist disaster month hadn’t ended yet, allowing them to utilize the monster tide’s power to completely destroy the Tianyuan Territory in one strike.

The timing was perfect for them.

Thinking this, Soma felt grateful for the monster tide.

While these roaming monsters had caused him considerable trouble – requiring extreme caution when traveling and claiming many colleagues from their base – it was precisely because of the monster tide’s appearance that they could follow its convergence and movement directions to locate various outer territories.

Eventually leading them to this one, whose scale and size far exceeded ordinary newly established territories, clearly identifiable as Tianyuan’s domain at first glance.

Otherwise,

even given another six months to a year, they might not have been able to locate the Tianyuan Territory.

“Thanks for the guidance, monster tide.”

Soma clasped his hands together. Waiting for a moment when the monster flow beneath the ancient tree grew sparse, he lightly leaped down from the tree, drifting like a falling leaf.

Tilting his head slightly, he glanced at the large bird circling high above before carefully moving forward.

He proceeded with utmost caution.

Walking intermittently, sometimes transforming into a withered tree blending into the forest, waiting half an hour before continuing.

This pattern repeated.

Even with victory in sight, even though he could return home to enjoy his promotion in just a few days, even with his heart leaping with excitement, Soma remained vigilant.

This was the professional competence of an A-class agent.

Finally, after 14 hours and 25 minutes, A-class agent Soma walked toward a rock wall and disappeared through it as if passing through rippling water.

Four hundred meters away.

On seemingly ordinary wasteland.

Deadbone and Isloria stood openly – one skeleton, one human – yet seemed nonexistent. The surrounding monsters didn’t even glance at them, simply passing by on either side.

“The target has disappeared inside.”

Deadbone said through the Mental Link while maintaining his Domain.

Isloria pondered briefly, “Is that so? The target likely left through a teleportation array. This must be one of the entrances/exits to the Eye of Divinity Base.”

“Let’s go. The barrier shouldn’t be difficult to break, and given some time to study the teleportation array, I should be able to figure it out.”

She said.

Deadbone raised his hand, “Wait a moment longer.”

Actually, when they first discovered this A-class agent, Red Robe had suggested soul-searching to extract memories, but Deadbone considered this method insufficiently reliable.

They had captured agents from the Eye of Divine Radiance before, but both interrogation and mental intrusion had failed.

Resulting in the prisoners’ immediate deaths.

This was clearly due to tampering within these agents’ Seas of Consciousness.Red Robe’s power had grown significantly compared to before, yet whether mental intrusion and illusion control would be effective remained uncertain. If memory extraction failed, the lead from the agent would be lost.

They didn’t want to remain constantly on guard against counterattacks; they aimed to uproot the enemy entirely.

Now that the territory’s location was exposed, it also presented an opportunity!

After waiting a few more minutes, with continuous Domain scans confirming no issues, Deadbone and Isloria stepped forward.

In fact, if Isloria hadn’t mentioned that delaying too long might cause errors in her analysis, Deadbone would have preferred to wait longer.

Isloria approached the rock wall where the agent had vanished earlier, extending her white-gloved hand to touch it.

Hard, rough, uneven.

It seemed no different from an ordinary mountain rock wall.

However,

“It’s merely a concealed barrier solidified at the cave entrance.”

Breaking through by force wouldn’t be difficult.

For Deadbone and Isloria, who had now reached the Fourth Order, it could be shattered effortlessly.

But Deadbone also leaned toward a technical dismantling.

Thirty seconds later.

Hum—

A faint ripple seemed to spread out.

Isloria spoke, “Done.”

She lifted her foot, then paused to deploy three defensive barriers around herself before stepping forward, passing directly through the rock wall.

Deadbone followed closely behind.

The space inside the cave wasn’t large, with a conspicuous circular stone platform in the center, about one meter in diameter, engraved with intricate patterns.

Deadbone had some understanding of it, but it wasn’t his area of expertise.

“This is a miniature teleportation platform. It can only accommodate up to three people per activation, and after one use, it requires up to ten minutes before it can be activated again.”

“It seems the Eye of Divine Radiance’s funding isn’t that ample—or perhaps that’s not entirely fair. This is just a minor access point. Strategically, it isn’t suitable to deploy a larger teleportation platform here.”

Isloria spoke as she stepped forward and crouched down, running her hand over it.

She began channeling mana into several nodes on the platform. Instantly, a faint blue light appeared, circulating along the patterns before vanishing.

“This pattern, barring any surprises, should be the T-22 teleportation pattern of the Divine Radiance Empire.”

She had only seen it in book descriptions, and even then, only its external appearance, without the internal technical structure.

Naturally so.

Isloria was currently absorbing modern pattern techniques. The technology of this era far surpassed that of the Eagle Kingdom. By modern standards, she wasn’t yet qualified to call herself a Great Master of pattern studies, but…

When technique falls short, skills can compensate.

Isloria summoned the ‘River of Stars.’ This brilliant stellar river drifted within the cramped cave space, slowly settling onto the patterned stone platform.

As if imprinting it, the platform’s patterns were etched into the river.

Isloria analyzed, dissected, and pondered.

“There are anti-decryption technologies of the Divine Radiance Empire embedded here. I can’t directly utilize this teleportation array to launch a surprise assault into their base.”

“However, through research, I’ve roughly determined the teleportation’s directional coordinates. It’s not far from here.”

“Excellent!”

Mu Yuan’s voice came through the communication channel.

Within the territory, he looked at the Incarnation before him. “The heavy responsibility of destroying this evil base falls to you, Incarnation.””

The Incarnation, sharing his consciousness, turned expressionlessly and left to gather the generals and soldiers.Within a Lord’s Mark Space, the number of units that can be accommodated far exceeds nine.

The higher the territory’s Rank, the more units it can hold.

This is one of the advantages of being a Lord.

It allows for surprise attacks.

To uproot the enemy completely, Mu Yuan planned to dispatch most of his generals, which would leave only a few behind to guard the base.

The one holding down the fort was none other than Lord Mu himself.

The one leading the charge was also Lord Mu.

“Wait, with the creation of an Incarnation, has my workload doubled?”

There was a growing tendency to resemble Isloria!

Damn!

……

Northeast of Tianyuan Territory, deep in the Wilderness, an unknown number of kilometers away.

Two figures carrying bright yellow lanterns arrived at this location.

“No mistake. According to the clues, the largest base of the Eye of Divine Radiance in the Twilight Plains region is nearby,” said Wang Dong, a high-ranking official of Taixuan Liangyi.

Their mission was to destroy the Eye of Divine Radiance’s base.

Taixuan Liangyi had already dismantled several bases prior to this.

The number of bases eliminated in the past few months exceeded the total from the previous few years.

After all, the Eye of Divine Radiance had been particularly active during this period, and the more active they were, the more likely they were to leave traces, making it easier to track them down.

However, over these months, several Taixuan Territories had suffered heavy losses or even been wiped out due to the influence of the Eye of Divine Radiance.

The other high-ranking official, Bai Lingzhi, spoke up, “Brother Wang, shall we strike now?”

They were eager to act.

Wang Dong shook his head. “Although we are strong, for the sake of caution, we should wait for reinforcements to arrive before taking action. We must not alert the enemy.”

The two were not Lords but Ranger players who could only contract nine units.

However, they were on an entirely different level compared to ordinary Ranger players.

Ordinary Ranger players were weak, resource-poor, and lacked connections, often stumbling from the very beginning. Some veteran players struggled for two or three years without even reaching the Professional Tier.

Even well-established senior players typically peaked at the Elite level. Beyond that, limited by connections, talent, and financial resources, advancing further was extremely difficult, and even if they managed it, it would take a great deal of time.

Wang Dong and his companion were different.

Before being selected, Wang Dong had been an officer in the Xuan Nation. Unsurprisingly, he later joined an official organization and, with outstanding performance and impeccable political vetting, stood out in the early selection process.

He entered the Taixuan Liangyi department and received substantial support from the authorities.

From the start, he did not face the resource constraints that forced others to take detours. As he grew stronger, he exchanged contributions and achievements for rare items that ordinary players could not buy even with money.

To this day, after twelve and a half years in the Eternal World, Wang Dong possessed an elite team.

Among his nine contracted units, four were at the Fourth-Order Commander Tier, while the rest were all at the Third-Order Warlord Tier, each with unique functionalities. For example, the Netherworld Ghost, capable of tactical retreats; the Royal Griffin, able to carry people in flight; the Illusion Prophet, skilled in manipulating memories, and so on.

His teammate, Bai Lingzhi, was no slouch either, possessing three Fourth-Order Commander Tier units.

While their overall strength might not match that of seasoned Lords, in terms of high-end combat power alone, they surpassed many veteran Lords.

However,”Our target is the Eye of Divine Radiance, the primary base rooted in the Twilight Plains Great Domain. We absolutely cannot underestimate it! Remember, the few bases we destroyed earlier all had numerous Fourth-Order Experts, let alone this one.”

“Agents of the Eye of Divine Radiance mainly specialize in stealth and tracking, and their attrition rate is high, which is why they don’t appear particularly strong…”

True experts wouldn’t take on such high-risk work as being agents.

“However, the main base of the Eye of Divine Radiance must have genuine combat players stationed there, just like us, and possibly in greater numbers.”

“So let’s wait a little longer. We just need to keep an eye on our surroundings and lock down the base’s location before reinforcements arrive.”

“Keep scanning the area for anything unusual.”

“Brother Wang, th-there, there, there…”

A stammering voice rang out. Wang Dong frowned but before he could say anything, he followed Bai Lingzhi’s pointing finger and saw the light.

Dazzling bolts of thunder-blue and flame-red radiance bloomed from a certain spot in the Wilderness.

Rapidly swelling and intensifying, within mere two or three seconds, they transformed into nine vividly lifelike, divinely majestic thunder-scaled fire Dragons, coiled and intertwined.

The Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon—Dolai’s Handcrafted Edition!

The grand Spell within the Spell Furnace was originally forged by fusing Dolai’s Spell energy.

It’s just that the Spell Furnace had a higher capacity and produced more stable Spells.

But now, Dolai had entered the ‘Limitless Devour’ state. Its internal energy surged exponentially, whipping up a terrifying energy storm around it, as if an attendant of the Dao had descended.

A more powerful, more controlled, ultra-deluxe invincible version of Dolai—surpassing even the final trial experience of the Hero—had officially arrived.

It raised its staff high, energy raging wildly.

Nine thunderfire Dragons, each a hundred meters long, roared to the heavens and soared forth, hurtling toward the distant, unremarkable mountain peak!

(End of Chapter)