The Monster is Coming

Chapter 488 If it's at the village entrance, that makes perfect sense (Seeking monthly votes~)

After the Zerg Overmind gave birth to the Extreme Hunter, all three scourges at the village entrance now possessed demigod-level units.

Combat strength is now even again.

This caused the Evil Spirit Alliance's mental network to instantly erupt in chaos, with curses rising and falling.

"What the hell is this thing? The Zerg's mainframe can just have whatever it wants. This is a demigod!"

"We've worked hard for half a year, and it just collapses with a single tremor? In the words of the players, how can we not report this?"

"This guy's life force seems stronger than Wanji's. He doesn't care about any logic in getting stronger. This is a monster world, not a bug world."

The mental network was in complete chaos, with curses, doubts, wails and angry roars all mixed together. All the evil spirits were shaken to their core by this unreasonable way of becoming stronger.

At almost the same time, the player's battle group chat channel was flooded with all sorts of "greetings":
"StarNet, have you been kicked in the head by a donkey? Is this balance achieved with your feet? Is it reasonable for the Zerg to instantly create demigods? I'm fucking idiot."

"The Earthly Bully had at least half a year of build-up, so while it was surprising, at least there was some logic to it. So, what is the logic behind the Zerg's strengthening?"

"Painless childbirth, instantly producing a demigod unit, or to go even further, just produce a god-level expert to suppress the entire field."

"What's the point of fighting? The Earth Bully is using a computing power cheat, with maxed-out predictions, invincible tactics, and all-around unit advantage. The Insects are using a breeding cheat, and they can have any unit they want... Only we players are honest people... Even though I'm a free-to-play player, I have to shout 'Refund!' today!"

Although the two sides are different forces, the words they uttered were exactly the same.

If all sorts of curses are put together, both sides can understand them instantly, and might even join the group immediately.

Just as both channels were overwhelmed by the same grief and indignation.

Three figures radiating divine power hung in the sky in a triangular formation, their immense auras colliding and compressing each other, causing the space to distort in an unstable, wavy pattern.

On the player's side, Tu Hu's golden light had completely subsided, transforming into tangible dark gold battle patterns that covered his entire body.

It wielded the sword of civilization in one hand, and the oppressive aura emanating from its body was like an invisible mountain range, weighing heavily on the hearts of every living being.

On the Zerg side, the Dark Purple Extreme Hunter, with its body seemingly composed of blades, exuded a violent killing aura. Its six sharp, curved limbs hung naturally, and its tail blades unconsciously swayed, leaving black cracks in the air as they tore through space.

On the Black Tide side, Wanji's humanoid body stood in mid-air, its surface shimmering with dark black and crimson spirit patterns. It had its hands hanging at its sides. Although it had no weapons, it was a creation of rules that combined "civilization's glory" and "civilization's end," exuding two completely different auras of vitality and destruction.

The three of them each occupied a certain area, and at the very moment their auras collided and reached a critical point.

boom!
The battle broke out instantly.

The first to move was the Zerg demigod: Extreme Hunter.

Its form vanished abruptly, and in the next instant, six blade-like limbs silently bloomed behind Tu Hu, stabbing at his vital points from six tricky angles, so fast that they left no afterimages.

Only the piercing scream of the air being torn apart arrived late.

The tail blade transformed into a thin, purplish-black line, pointing directly at Tu Hu's back.

clang!
A deafening sound of spatial collision erupted.

Tu Hu didn't even turn around, but held the Sword of Civilization horizontally forward.

While it appears to be blocking attacks from the front, the Sword of Civilization actually forms a three-dimensional defense in the form of a domain.

Compared to offense, defense is the strongest aspect of the sword of civilization.

A simple parry intercepted all of the Blade's attacks, and the area where the rules touched exploded with dazzling sparks.

The shockwave from the collision exploded in a spherical shape, instantly evaporating the swamp mud below.

Almost at the same time that Tu Hu raised his sword to parry, Wan Ji also moved.

It raised its left hand toward the direction of the Extreme Hunter.

The scenes of civilizations rising and falling in the eyes of those on the left and right suddenly accelerated.

In an instant, countless phantom images of glorious eras of civilization appeared out of thin air, forming a cage of civilization, carrying the "weight" of civilization as it pressed down on the Extreme Hunter.

This was certainly not done to help Tu Hu.

Compared to the abilities that Tu Hu has already demonstrated, Di Nian E Ba is more interested in knowing just how powerful the newly generated demigod units of the Zerg are.

Faced with this attack, the Extreme Hunter's figure blurred again, transforming into countless overlapping purplish-black lines, and in a very short time, it swung the six blades tens of millions of times at a terrifying speed.

Each strike precisely hit a structural node of the illusory civilization.

From afar, a storm of purplish-black blades suddenly erupted from the location of the Extreme Hunter.

The magnificent phantom of the city was shattered into countless points of light, with turbulent energy currents roaring, before being cleaved apart again by the blade's edge.

A crack was forcibly torn open in the phantom of civilization.

The storm abruptly stopped the next second.

The Extreme Hunter's body transformed into a purple lightning bolt of condensed perfection, instantly disappearing from the gap in the cage of civilization that had been violently torn open, its speed so fast that it completely ignored air resistance.

One moment it was still in the shattered phantom, the next it had appeared above Wanji's head.

All the limbs retracted, like a falling purple drill, slamming down with violent blood and energy.

Wanji's right eye suddenly blazed with intense flames. He clenched his right fist, and countless images of the destruction of civilizations swirled around the tip of his fist. Without dodging or avoiding, he met the attack head-on with a punch.

Boom! ! !
A muffled, loud bang was heard, and black, red, and dark purple energies became wildly intertwined.

The terrifying aftershocks caused the earth to tremble violently.

As for Tu Hu, after the first round of assassinations by Ge Kai Ji Lie, he took a step forward and unadornedly slashed vertically with his sword.

This sword strike carried the will to create heaven and earth and separate the pure from the impure. The golden sword energy condensed into a thread, encompassing the entangled Wanji and Jilie, along with the space in which they resided, within the range of the strike.

The battle between the three demigods escalated into a fierce contest as soon as they made contact.

Each collision caused the mountains to tremble and the earth to groan.

Overbearing sword intent, extreme speed, and the rise and fall of civilizations—three forces intertwine wildly.

Just as the three demigods were fighting to the point of madness in the sky, with the aftershocks of each collision washing over the earth like a natural disaster, the battlefield below was also forced into Unified Mode due to the unbearable pressure.

Faced with the rain of energy fragments and the shockwaves that tore the earth apart, the God-King and other commanders raised their hands to release battle formation imprints.

The well-trained battleband players responded to the order and quickly returned to their positions according to the formations they had practiced countless times.

A tremendous amount of energy rose from each player, converging and intertwining wildly above the battle formation, eventually coalescing into towering, illusory battle formations.

There were golden-armored dharma figures clad in golden armor and wielding giant shields, or phoenix dharma figures with wings on their backs and spewing flames from their mouths... With the combined power of the masses, they managed to create a relatively safe area amidst the aftershocks of destruction, and then launched an attack on the insect swarm and the black tide.

At this moment, the three parties reached a tacit understanding without each other.

The Zerg Overmind's will swept across the battlefield, and countless low-tier Zerg units that were charging or about to be annihilated by the aftershocks were quickly devoured by the frantically writhing fungal carpet beneath their feet, their bodies melting like candles.

The fungal carpet contracts violently, reprocessing the biomass and energy it has absorbed.

In the blink of an eye, one after another, new Tyrant-class Zerg units, larger in size, with thicker carapaces, sharper claws and teeth, and equipped with rule-level resistance, emerged from the boiling creep.

It roared and charged toward the phantom of the battle formation and the black tide.

The Black Tide, controlled by the Earthly Bully, employs a more efficient method of alliance.

With just a thought of the bully, the evil spirits that have been generated will transform into black tide energy particles, surging back into the turbulent black tide like rivers flowing into the sea.

The surging black mist instantly boiled, compressed, and reshaped.

Darkness settled within, and pain howled within. One after another, Abyss Overlords, whose bodies were comparable to hills and whose bodies were wrapped in dark red chains of pain, and whose life strength reached the level of the Fourteen Palaces, slowly emerged from the depths of the black tide with steps that could shatter the earth.

These malevolent beings, their eyes burning with flames, wielded massive weapons as they charged towards the battle formation and the Zerg tyrant.

The sky is a battleground of demigods, while the earth is a killing field composed of battle colossi, flesh and blood tyrants, and abyssal overseers.

This is because all three parties have activated their demigod-level combat power.

This elevates the dimension of war to another level, vaguely resembling the rudiments of a battlefield on the fringes of the tide.

……

This battle at the village entrance has become a hot topic on the forum.

A large number of players went to the live broadcast room to watch the game.

However, the reaction of forum players was completely different from that of the Allied Warband players; they could even be described as "calm."

There's a saying that's always circulating on the forum: You think you're so tough? Then dare to go and try your luck on the battlefield at the village entrance?
The forum widely acknowledges the value of this statement.

Players who can stand firm against the relentless tactical crushing of the Earth Demon and the unreasonable mass production of the Zerg Overlord, and even carve out their reputation in the village's meat grinder, are all recognized by all players as top-tier powerhouses.

Besides their own combat strength, the village entrance is also seen by players as the ultimate testing ground for their willpower.

The "mental attack tactics" of the Earth Bully have been iterated many times and can easily provoke emotional fluctuations in players.

The terrifying aspect of this tactic lies in its personalized customization.

The Evil Eye Network, under the command of the Earthly Bully, possesses an almost abnormal learning ability.

Each player can have a customized profile and an emotional model. For example, if a player is unmoved by trash talk like "greeting relatives," then change the direction of the mockery and mock their appearance. If that doesn't work, adjust it again and mock the player's skills... If that still doesn't work, keep digging deeper. This deep digging can even extract key information from other players' daily communication and use it for probing mockery.

The Evil Eye records every subtle reaction a player makes during intense combat.

Are you elated after a successful ambush? Are you frustrated by a crucial team wipe? When facing a losing situation, do you silently persevere or unleash a torrent of profanity? When a teammate makes a fatal mistake, do you furiously criticize them or calmly offer comfort?
Through massive data collection and analysis, the Evil Eye Network will gradually outline the "emotional weakness map" of each player.

For example, if player A is extremely arrogant and cannot tolerate being mocked in any way, then the tactics against him will be full of humiliating feints and teasing. The evil spirits will openly mock the opponent's incompetence and point out the specific shortcomings, rather than simply making sarcastic remarks.

Player B has an overly strong sense of responsibility and is afraid that his mistakes will cause the team to lose. Therefore, the attacks will focus on the "ugly" release of his key skills, and he will be regarded as a burden to the team, constantly amplifying his psychological pressure.

Player C may appear calm, but in reality, they are obsessed with a certain combat rhythm. So, use the most filthy and chaotic scenes to shock their senses and disrupt their actions.

This is like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, or cutting flesh with a dull knife.

Players can keep telling themselves that this is just a game, and it's all fake.

However, the negative feedback that is precisely targeted and repeatedly attacks weaknesses will slowly erode the player's rational defenses, like water dripping on a stone.

The bully's psychological tactics always find new angles, leaving participating players frustrated to the point of internal injury.

Ultimately, many players will find that rather than being tormented by this "tailor-made" mental torture, it's more enjoyable to simply let loose, go crazy and hurl insults at each other, and vent in their rage.

And this just happened to fall into the trap set by the local bully.

A player who is emotionally out of control is easier to predict than a player who is absolutely calm.

The Earthly Bully understands this principle well: as long as emotions exist, there are weaknesses.

The core of its tactics is to find emotional weaknesses and then repeatedly exploit them until the player loses control.

Therefore, every player who steps into the village battlefield is not only fighting against the black tide, but also against their own deepest weaknesses.

Although the God King and his Divine Hall Guild, along with several other renowned top-tier warbands, are merely a few of the most prominent flagships in the current player camp, they cannot represent the whole picture.

The local bully is merely a pawn in the vast war system of the terrifying Black Tide.

But all players know that the Earthly Bully cannot be measured by ordinary evil spirits.

Its growth trajectory is guided by the word "struggle".

From the beginning, it was just one evil spirit, one tower, and one evil eye, to now, it has formed an alliance of evil spirits with more than a hundred evil spirits under its command.

It only took it four years to set up the demigod killing scheme and cultivate Wanji.

The Zerg Overmind is even more overpowered; its expansion of power seems to depend solely on what it wants each day.

The player has already killed five evil warriors: two in the Misty Coast, one in the Eternal Ice Lake, one in the Halberd of Slaughter, and one in the Land of the Sun.

Only the local bully remained steadfast.

As the star of the opening CG during newbie recruitment.

Many players who have been playing since the game's launch have spent four years at the village entrance, increasing their Star Pulse Gauge from the initial 1 to 10+.

The Soul has been changed several times to accommodate different tactics, yet it is still locked in a fierce battle with the Earth Spirit Bully.

This is enough to prove the significance of the "village entrance battlefield".

In comparison, even ancient races with powerful Divine Realm experts and long histories, such as the Blue Lantern Clan and the Ming Shi Clan, are ranked lower in terms of threat level than these two village bullies in the subconscious "strength rating" of players.

After all, these races have a rich and complex history of development.

They're all veterans of the team, not even in the same league as the rising stars and bullies.

Therefore, when the latest battle report on the forum announced that the bully had pulled out the demigod Wanji and the Zerg mastermind had given birth to the demigod Jihun on the spot, the players' reactions were surprisingly calm.

Their mindset was completely different from that of the God-King and even the members of the Allied Chapter.

They didn't even gasp or question; the comments under the battle report posts were mostly like this:

"Oh, the bully and the worm brain have gotten stronger again. That makes sense. How is it not reasonable?"

"I have no idea what you're all so shocked about. I knew those two beasts were hiding something. What's wrong with this? I don't understand what's making you so surprised (explorer shrugs helplessly.jpg)"

"No problem, this is very village entrance style, reasonable, quite reasonable."

"Let's all go, let's all go. It's not unusual for the village entrance to get stronger after the version update. Let God King come up with a new tactic before tagging me. It's not a big deal. If a god suddenly appeared on another map, I would definitely curse him out. As for the village entrance, all I can say is that God King and the others still need to practice."

The players who replied all carried a rationalized mentality after being numb to it countless times.

A player-made "Village Entrance Epic" montage video is circulating on the forum, and it continues to receive a lot of views.

The video opens with a view of the iconic, terrifying Imperial Tomb Mountains from the player's perspective.

The menacing tower that rises from the ground after the earth is torn apart, the evil eye burning on the top of the tower looking down on the earth, the domineering figure standing in the air with his arms crossed in the night wind, and the scene of a blood-red evil moon hanging high in the background... These are also some of the scenes that many new players are shocked by when they first enter the game.

Immediately afterwards, the scene cuts quickly, accompanied by a super-exciting background music, showing the highlights of the Earthly Bully's repeated "evolutions".

From its initial brutal attack that left the God of Wealth spitting blood and becoming weak and unable to resist, to the Black Tide transforming into a tactical unit that it could command with ease... the final scene is a magnificent one where it floats above a high tower, with the surging Black Tide violently churning behind it.

The background music reaches its climax at this moment, with a cold and oppressive synthesized sound that also serves as the video's title:
"You think... this is my limit?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the camera suddenly zoomed out, from a close-up of the bully's cold, hard jaw to an aerial view of the entire Imperial Tomb Mountain Range.

Centered on the Evil Eye Tower, the pitch-black tide, as if alive, surged forth from every crevice of the mountain range, gathering and arranging itself in an orderly fashion around the tower, condensing into silent, deadly, and endless legions of evil spirits in the air and on the ground.

Natural disasters, death disasters, apocalypse disasters, plagues... and vague, terrifying outlines like mountain ranges appear and disappear in the depths of the black tide.

Darkness dragged the entire world into eternal darkness.

The final image freezes on the scene where the Earthly Bully slightly raises his head, his eye sockets burning with intense crimson flames, merging with the boundless black tide army behind him.

The most upvoted comment below the video is just one sentence:

"Who do you think you are on this battlefield? I'm the main character!"

This video perfectly illustrates why forum users find any breakthroughs by the Earthly Bully reasonable.

In the eyes of players, the Earthly Bully has long surpassed the category of "individual BOSS".

It is itself a natural disaster that is constantly escalating and never ends.

It grows stronger, just like the tide rises and the sun rises in the east; this is one of the most fundamental "rules" of this game world.

Do you think this is the limit of the Earthly Bully?

No, it can do even more outrageous things.

The same applies to the Zerg.

From the moment the Zerg Overmind first appeared in the miasma north of the Emperor's Tomb Mountains, it was destined to be an inescapable nightmare for this land.

If the oppressive presence of the Earth-type bullies stems from their ever-evolving intelligence and tactics, then the terror of the Zerg originates from their utter lack of emotion and their infinitely expanding numbers.

The tactics are so simple they're despair-inducing: an overwhelming horde of Zerg.

There was no probing, no detours, only an overwhelming Zerg swarm that engulfed everything.

It is more brutal than the Earthly Bully, with only efficient war commands based on slaughter and devouring.

It is even more ruthless than the Earthly Bully, because it never accepts surrender, knows nothing of mercy, and the only creed engraved in its genes is to eliminate everything that is not of its kind.

Players still remember how, in the Battle of Giant Realm, the Zerg used endless, suicidal Acid Burst Zerglings to corrode and disintegrate the steel defenses built by the "Tigers," ultimately turning them into a wriggling carpet of fungi.

I also remember during the expedition to the "Monument Abyss Lands," when faced with the civilization barriers of the Monument Abyss Clan, the Zerg Overmind spawned an overwhelming number of burrowing insects and spore turrets, using the most savage methods to devour and digest the Monument Abyss civilization, transforming it into nutrients for its own expansion.

The Zerg's behavior, from beginning to end, can only be described as "brutal".

Its power requires no strategy or calculation of gains and losses, and it doesn't even need to reason.

More is more. If you kill 10,000, it will hatch 100,000.

You destroy one hatchery, and ten more emerge from the depths of the creep.

From the lowest-level Crystal Winged Order when they first appeared, to the demigod "Extreme Hunter" who tears through space today.

The Zerg mastermind followed a growth path that was constantly overpowered.

Players' expectations of these two "arch-enemies" at the village entrance have been raised to an absurd level.

Regardless of the outcome, the response is always: Oh, standard procedure, reasonable.

Behind this nonchalant "I knew it" attitude lies a sense of accustomedness born from repeated beatings.

Because the village entrance is still that same unreasonable village entrance.

What seems unreasonable is actually reasonable.

If it were reasonable, it would seem too unreasonable.

　Asking for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)