Chapter 266 – After the Disaster

“One treasure, two treasures, three treasures…”

In the devastated wilderness, Dolai was rummaging through corpse after corpse, rapidly uncovering rare spoils of war with its keen sense for treasures, grinning from ear to ear.

It even used its splitting ability, dividing into one, two, many little Dolais, searching everywhere like diligent bees.

These Eye of Divine Radiance players could be considered elite.

Even though they weren’t Lords, and even though they were on a long-distance mission without carrying excessive wealth, General Dolai still managed to retrieve over a thousand Soul Crystals from their bodies and the nearly destroyed Eye of Divinity Base.

Additionally, there were 11 Scrolls of Excellence Grade Magic.

Three were offensive-type ‘Radiance of Light’. Previously, an elite Divine Radiance player had used one, only for General Dolai to swallow it whole.

Three were defensive-type ‘Sky Barrier’. Another elite Divine Radiance player had used one before, manifesting a massive light shield covering a hundred-meter radius. While the protective area was considerable, its single-point defense was relatively lacking. The player who used this Scroll quickly fell, and many others died on the spot before even getting a chance to use their Scrolls.

When Mu Yuan obtained these high-grade Scrolls, he didn’t need to examine or study them carefully—the Eye of Divine Radiance players had already demonstrated their pros and cons for him.

The remaining five were auxiliary-type ‘Veil of Secrecy’, suitable for medium-scale troop movements to conceal tracks and presence.

Although the Eye of Divine Radiance players who used the Scrolls fell quickly, Mu Yuan didn’t underestimate these Scrolls because of that.

High-grade Scrolls are expensive and not easy to acquire.

Top-tier spenders and second-generation players like Jiang Luoxing often purchase such Scrolls. For no other reason than to preserve their lives.

Mu Yuan contemplated that the three offensive ‘Radiance of Light’ Scrolls could be sold. These sell well, and he had no use for them himself. The other two types of Scrolls could be kept for personal use.

The most precious high-grade Scroll was actually the spatial confinement type used earlier by the Eye of Divine Radiance commander.

Items involving spatial teleportation and spatial confinement are always extremely rare. The Eye of Divinity Base might have obtained one only due to specific reasons.

Dolai felt heartache, adding another mark of resentment against the already deceased V-masked commander.

Mu Yuan, however, didn’t find it regrettable.

Spatial confinement—how rare could it be?

Red Robe’s ‘Netherworld Market’ skill could achieve the same, if not stronger, effects than that Scroll. Isloria’s River of Stars and Deadbone’s Undead Holy Mountain both possess confinement effects, though not as specialized.

Mu Yuan speculated that the Specter series troops evolving normally to epic grade might possibly awaken skills similar to those in the Netherworld Market? By then, Tianyuan Territory would have even more spatial confinement techniques.

Besides these high-grade Scrolls, Dolai also found many mid and low-grade spell scrolls, along with various rare materials and artifacts.

Most were war-related Materials and artifacts.

One type was particularly abundant: ‘Calamity-Inducing Demon Flowers’ and similar strange objects, totaling 144 items, making even Mu Someone inhale sharply… these things aren’t common. Even ordinary-grade demon flowers are rare in the market.

Among them, one Calamity-Inducing Demon Flower was identified as a Superior Grade.Mu Yuan planned to store it in the deepest part of the warehouse—after all, he dared not ignite the outstanding-grade demon flower, as experimenting with it might truly lead to disaster. When the Tianyuan Territory’s overall strength advanced several levels in the future, they could use this demon flower to make a profit.

Compared to the cheerfully grinning General Dolai, Isloria, who was inventorying the spoils of war, was on the verge of tears, her heart aching so much she could barely breathe.

In her eyes, the spoils weren’t items, rare materials, or remnant souls and soul crystals.

She saw only one thing.

Equipment and instruments containing advanced technology.

There were many such devices in this Eye of Divinity Base, ranging from small office coffee machines that refreshed the mind to the large-scale Iron Dome defense system spread throughout the entire base…

Most of them, in Isloria’s view, held significant research value.

But!

Broken! Broken! Still broken!

Under the first wave of attacks from the Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon, most of these instruments and equipment were destroyed. The remaining ones were then mostly damaged by the residual effects of the Fourth-Order Experts’ clashes.

Isloria could barely salvage a few usable pieces.

Dolai wanted to comfort her, but as it opened its mouth halfway, it suddenly remembered that it was the one who had unleashed the Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon. It could only let out an “oops” and pretend nothing had happened.

Isloria didn’t blame Dolai.

She understood clearly that even a lion must use its full strength to catch a rabbit, let alone the fact that the Eye of Divinity Base was no rabbit in their eyes. They had anticipated that the base would have numerous powerful experts and mysterious, unknown killing techniques.

For this reason, Dolai had to exert its full effort to first destroy this heavily fortified base.

Perhaps the reason this battle was so easy was precisely because the Eye of Divinity Base was blasted to ruins before it could play much of a role.

Moreover, the tactical command was given by the Lord himself.

Isloria understood all the reasoning, but that didn’t stop her from feeling heartbroken—it was just too painful.

She could only gather some of the more intact debris to study later when they returned.

“In that case, let’s take the entire base with us. With Dolai here, it won’t be difficult to clear out these damaged devices. We might as well scrape off the ground and take it all back with us,” Mu Yuan said, generously offering Dolai’s services.

The head of the transport team, Dolai, was more than willing, thumping its chest enthusiastically. “Leave it to this Dolai!”

Moving everything wasn’t an easy task, especially since the equipment was already damaged and required careful handling to avoid violent disassembly, so it would take time.

They had been out for most of the day already, so the Undead General took Sario and a few other officers back to the territory first.

As he put it, the Tianyuan Territory was currently too vulnerable, with only two or three epic-tier officers left behind. They couldn’t afford to stay away for too long.

Mu Yuan thought this was right.

Currently, the high-end forces of the Tianyuan Territory could at most handle two or two and a half descending envoys, which was indeed far from reassuring.

“Lord, you shouldn’t linger here for too long either. The outside world is dangerous, after all.”

After all, the world was still shrouded in lingering crimson mist.

The commotion from the earlier battle had also attracted wave after wave of wild monsters, ranging from Apprentice Tier to Commander Tier.

Of course, General Dolai feared none of these newcomers and slaughtered them all without hesitation.

The danger level was approximately zero.

But approximately zero isn’t zero. Even if there was only a 0.001% chance of danger, in the Undead General’s view, that was still significant. What if, because of this commotion, they attracted a wandering Legendary Realm monster?The fate of the previous Goblin Legend remains unknown, though he’s likely still alive.

This left Deadbone feeling uneasy.

Before departing, Deadbone traveled over a hundred kilometers north, created some disturbances there, summoned a group of undead creatures from the Undead Holy Mountain, and directed them to march northward.

Afterward, he took a long detour and returned to Tianyuan Territory.

Besides equipment, materials, and instruments, there were other spoils from this battle.

People.

V-Face Commander and the seven other advanced players from the Eye of Divinity Base had all been eliminated. Some agents were captured alive and now lay trapped in Red Robe’s illusionary cycle of reincarnation, lost in endless slumber.

These agents held little value for Mu Yuan, as he found it difficult to extract any useful information from them through interrogation or memory reading.

However, this was only true from his perspective.

In the hands of the Taixuan Liangyi, these captives still held some worth.

As for concerns about exposing the location of Tianyuan Territory? There was no need to worry.

If the Divine Radiance Empire could gradually pinpoint Tianyuan Territory’s location through subtle clues, the Taixuan Alliance certainly could as well. In his view, his identity was likely no longer a secret to the Mount Luofu Master and the Cold Moon City Lord.

Using some verification methods, Mu Yuan handed the captives over to Wang Dong and Bai Lingzhi, who were operating in the area.

The two were utterly bewildered but ultimately escorted the prisoners southward.

They hadn’t even made a move, yet they were credited with a major achievement?

Of course, the core credit belonged to that mysterious individual.

…

Two or three days passed quietly after the fall of the Eye of Divinity Base.

“It’s receding!”

“The concentration of Crimson Mist particles is rapidly decreasing!”

Isloria’s fourth incarnation, busy with equipment inside the Intermediate Mage Tower, exclaimed excitedly.

But even without her announcement, Mu Yuan could see the wispy Crimson Mist beyond the territory visibly dissipating, growing increasingly sparse.

The gloomy sky overhead gradually brightened.

Dark clouds began to scatter until, at one moment, one ray, two rays, three rays… brilliant sunlight tore through the clouds, shining brightly upon the land, dispelling all corruption and despair.

The monster hordes thinned as well.

After the last scattered monsters were eliminated by the defenders, no more emerged from the horizon.

The Crimson Mist disaster, which had lasted nearly two months, finally came to an end on this day.

“It’s over.”

On the Stone Ridge Town defense line, a player lay directly on the ground under the dazzling sunlight, completely disregarding appearances.

Not that there was any appearance left to maintain.

After days of intense battle, most players looked disheveled, their armor or robes stained with dried blood. Even female players who had integrated the natural elf legacy and possessed superior looks and temperament showed no trace of beauty when unbathed, covered in sweat and blood with matted hair.

They lay where they fell, sprawled where they collapsed. After fighting until today, who still cared about appearances?

The Stone Ridge Town city walls still stood tall and majestic. Most players weren’t injured—they were simply exhausted, worn out like dogs.

But they smiled.

“We’ve won.”

“We’ve overcome disaster once again, defending our home!”

“We are Heroes!”

…

Post-disaster reconstruction work began in full swing.In this era, within the Eternal World, as long as a territory isn’t breached by the monster tide, repairing and rebuilding various damaged structures isn’t particularly difficult.

Rebuilding is straightforward.

The main challenge lies in the inventory and distribution of spoils.

Unlike the simple structure of Tianyuan Territory, most lords of peripheral territories hire additional players to assist in defense. After the battle concludes, the lords naturally allocate a portion—sometimes even the majority—of the spoils to these defending players as compensation.

For military strongholds like Stone Ridge Town, the Player Association coordinates the distribution. Post-battle rewards and contributions are allocated to individual players or player groups based on factors such as defensive positions, duration of defense, and notable performances during the war.

Simultaneously, a post-war exchange list is published.

Players from Stone Ridge Town, by virtue of their status as local garrison forces, enjoy discounted rates when exchanging items from this list.

Although some players grieve for their fallen troops, the majority have already begun a frenzy of exchanges. After all, life must move forward. Carefree players focus solely on the rewards, while those with concerns are hurrying to arm themselves in preparation for an uncertain future.

Two days later, in the Elven Courtyard Realm.

“Grief? Of course, there’s grief.”

Jiang Luoxing sighed, “In some core towns that weren’t breached by the monster tide and suffered little damage, players might have started post-war celebrations, enjoying themselves immensely. But… some places are different.”

“Take Blackstone Town, a frontline stronghold in my region—it was brutal. Three sections of the city walls were breached by high-tier monsters. Not only were troops lost, but players also suffered heavy casualties. It’s said that over a hundred players died in Blackstone Town, and three lords perished as well.”

“Fortunately, Blackstone Town held out in the end.”

As he spoke, Jiang Luoxing felt a lingering fear. If Blackstone Town had fallen, swallowed by the tide, his Luoxing Territory would have followed suit, unlikely to escape disaster.

“I heard the Great Sun Lord had particularly bad luck. His territory was targeted by high-tier intelligent monsters, and two of his generals fell in battle.”

“Even worse was a lord from our batch who ranked in the top thirty of the Golden List. It wasn’t that he failed to defend his territory, but the frontline stronghold in his region collapsed. In the end, he too…”

Jiang Luoxing trailed off, sighing deeply.

From the outcome, he was far luckier than those two. His losses were minimal, and he had gained considerably.

Liu Miumiu’s situation was even more stable.

The frontline stronghold in her region held firm against the monster tide.

She added, “Not just the frontline strongholds—the battles at the major frontline cities were reportedly intense as well, with countless Legendary-level clashes.”

“For instance, outside the famous Boulder City, five Legendary battles erupted. Rumor has it that even more Legendary Realm experts were lurking nearby, though they never showed themselves.”

“In the Giant Amber City region, a true Fallen God Attendant arrived—not an avatar, but its true form. It seems one of our Taixuan’s Legendary Realm experts fell to this Fallen God Attendant. Later, it took several Legendaries and multiple Military Soul Legions of over a thousand soldiers each to jointly hold off this Fallen God Attendant.”

Was the true form of a Fallen God Attendant stronger than imagined?

Were they all this powerful, or did their strength vary?

The avatars of Fallen God Attendants, in Mu Yuan’s view, seemed fairly consistent.

He pondered this.His sources of information weren’t as well-informed as Jiang Luoxing, Liu Miumiu, and others, but he still shared some intelligence he had.

At that moment, ripples appeared in the glowing portal of the Secret Realm in the distance, and the tall Cold Moon City Lord strode over with powerful, imposing steps.

As soon as she arrived, she brought shocking news.

“It’s confirmed—the Fusion between our Blue Star and the Eternal World will occur within the next month.”

(End of Chapter)