The CG of Kadman City being destroyed by the Astral Realm tear is still pinned in the featured posts on the forum. Basically every little player has viewed it more than once before entering the game.
But that CG was shot by Cheche from a distance of the disaster scene. Although it looks spectacular, it lacks the impact of close-up observation.
Especially when the starlight under the night sky is ignited by wild spirit energy into a purple color, it’s like a constantly expanding balloon that finally bursts under step-by-step compression, scattering millions of filthy spirit energies into the material world in that instant of wonder.
The sky was torn apart.
It was as if a second Astral Realm rift had been opened in the material world of Transia.
The ensuing scene of destruction was very much like the devastating explosion when a large number of aerial bombs were dropped on the ground all at once, with equally wild shockwaves accompanied by ground tremors and eerie howls that tore through eardrums.
The light that rose afterwards took on an ominous purple-black color. Of course, this scene was not without several dimensional meteorites falling from the sky with purple wildfire, crashing into the ground with savagery and madness – that was the deadly accompaniment when otherworldly disasters appeared before one’s eyes.
The energy release of the Astral Realm tear that occurred in the gnoll encampment was less than one-tenth of that when Kadman City was swallowed up. Therefore, the Astral Realm rift that was torn open lasted for less than 15 seconds before slowly healing under the double pressure of the material world and the Astral Realm.
From this point of view, Tris truly deserved to be called a Spirit Sovereign. She had accurately calculated the scale and yield of this great explosion even before casting the spell.
But the problem was, first, the gnoll camp was far smaller than Kadman City.Secondly, the position where Murphy and the 140 little players were now was far closer than when they observed the Astral Realm tear last time.
Their teleportation landing point was just outside the central area of the gnoll camp, less than 1,500 meters from the core of the Astral Realm tear’s spirit energy collision.
This was the “extreme safety zone” calculated by Tris.
Here they would not be harmed by the dimensional meteorites that accompanied the Astral Realm tear, nor would they be pulled into the Astral Realm rift by the first wave of spirit energy impact and rapid collapse.
Murphy was well prepared. At the moment the Astral Realm tear was successfully released, he spread his huge Blood Wings, like two overlapping shields in front of him, preventing the first wave of Spirit Blast and energy release from affecting him, not even messing up his hairstyle.
But the other little players didn’t have this sense of self-protection.
They watched wide-eyed the entire process of the Astral Realm tear from brewing to eruption at this extreme distance.
It was only when they saw the rolling purple spirit smoke sweeping over like an exploding storm dotted with wildly dancing tiny lightning that they screamed and exclaimed, raising their shields or simply covering their eyes.
“Holy crap!”
“Ah, my dog eyes are going blind.”
“Why am I suddenly hit with three negative statuses at once?”
Amidst the strange screams and wails, the Astral Realm manticore next to Feel You Poor let out a roar and stepped forward, spreading its bat-like black wings. The wild, filthy wind from its homeland was very enjoyable. As its huge body’s cloud-like mane danced wildly, this giant beast from the Astral Realm threw back its head and roared.
It was so joyful that even the black scorpion stinger on its tail was swaying.
Ah, it’s high!
This is the taste of home. How I want to bathe in this comfortable filthy wind and gnaw on a few fresh hearts, then wash them down with a few gnoll heads.
“Awoooooo”
Accompanying the Astral Realm manticore’s high was the deep and far-reaching wolf howl.
In the impact of the Astral Realm spirit energy, Murphy’s direwolf George crouched low and rushed out from the active Astral Realm vortex. This kind of active Astral Realm spirit energy area was the best home field for an Astral Realm Summoner. Murphy only needed to spend one-third of his usual spirit energy to complete the Extended Summoning technique, and the effect was better than in other occasions. The Extended Summoning brought out more Astral Wolves, those flickering starry points representing one wolf after another jumping from the Astral Realm into the material world.
They howled one after another as they charged into the spreading Astral Realm shadows ahead. George, as the temporary alpha, led his pack of over 40 members, rushing into the chaotic area almost completely shrouded in filthy shadows ahead of those little players who were blown about by the Astral Realm wind.
Life in the material world would be weakened in it, but these Astral Realm creatures could move freely as if they were hunting in their homeland.
The core camp directly affected by the Astral Realm tear was like a complex environment of storm, wildfire, and night mixed together, reducing visual visibility to a very dangerous level.
Due to the vampire’s perception of life, Murphy could easily calculate that in those 15 seconds of the Astral Realm tear, at least 3,000-4,000 elite gnolls were swept away. Their array deployed here was really too dense.
This was equivalent to wiping out at least a quarter of Kenport’s elites deployed in the main camp in one go. May those gnoll pups have a more pleasant ‘journey’ in the Astral Realm.
But they were certainly lucky.
Even death was instantaneous, without much pain, while their comrades who were still left in the material world’s tear zone might not be so fortunate.
Murphy flapped his wings to hover in the air. Holding Necessary Evil, he looked back. Those gnolls in the outer areas behind were originally about to pounce on these uninvited guests.
But the sudden eruption of the Astral Realm tear struck a heavy blow to the hearts of these barbarians, making them stand dumbfounded as if they had experienced a cruel divine punishment. The Astral Realm mist that followed had already dispersed.
This shadow that could not be dispelled and the despair derivatives constantly emerging from it would make them even more helpless.
They no longer needed to be worried about.
After all, no gnoll would dare to charge towards the vampire assault force that came with the “divine punishment” through those ominous purple flames still burning on the ground ruins.
“Follow me and charge! Kill every gnoll you see!”
Murphy’s voice was clearly transmitted to every little player’s ear through the Computation Bead.
In such a complex spirit energy environment, things like Computation Beads should be interfered with, but the “player system” simply replicated from the administrator system was very subtly still maintaining quite reliable operation in this environment.
Murphy didn’t think this was the ability of the Computation Bead itself, it was definitely his administrator system that “added a little something” to it. But with his command, the second raid dungeon in the Reality Realm game, 《Decisive Battle at Anderma Hills》, officially began.
The vampire lord, bearing the pressure, took the lead and charged into the camp shrouded by Astral Realm spirit energy, just as he had charged into the city ruins against the storm when Kadman City was destroyed that day.
His heart was as cold as iron, ready for a great slaughter.
Blood light flashed in his eyes, and his sharp, frightening canine teeth were bared, even the blood thirst that vampires relied on for survival was ready to activate at any time.
He knew he was facing the elite gnoll army gathered by Kenport from the entire Transia region. These bastards, although not as troublesome as the Wolfsbane vampires, were definitely not opponents that could be easily dealt with.
There must be a hard battle today, and although Murphy was quite resistant to indulging in blood sucking, the situation was such that he could no longer show mercy.
Perhaps today he would become a truly blood-thirsty dark creature, or perhaps today he would fully savor the beauty of bloodshed, allowing himself to slide along the path of countless fallen vampires into the depths of midnight’s abyss.
This was the breaking of a taboo.
It meant that unknown risks would quietly emerge, and this alone put immense pressure on Murphy. After all, as the newly appointed governor of Transia who had not yet secured his position, he already had enough to worry about.
If his body were to develop any more problems, it would be disastrous.
However, when Murphy rushed into the battlefield, he suddenly realized that he might have overthought things, as he seemed to have underestimated the impact of the spirit energy wash from the Astral Realm tear on the gnolls.
“Ah, it hurts… Kill me!”
A gnoll barbarian, its mind ignited by the foul spirit energy, lay pitifully on the ground, with purple flames burning like greedy ghosts above its eyes.
It was the corrupt mental power destroying its spirit.
Though it had not suffered any physical damage, it crawled out of the tent flattened by the spirit storm like a dying person. When it saw Murphy descending with flapping wings, those green eyes, which should have belonged to an enemy, reflected a glimmer of relief.
It reached out its paw.
Trembling, it extended its hand towards Murphy, howling:
“Please! Kill me!”
Murphy ignored the enemy’s plea. He amplified his vampire senses to perceive his surroundings once more.
Within just a 30-meter radius of where he stood, there were few surviving creatures in the collapsed tents. Purple spirit flames danced in the shadows with an eerie posture, and the ground was littered with strange, uninjured skeletons.
Even the gnoll barbarians who had survived by chance were suffering from both physical and mental torment, all because the foul spirit energy was tearing apart their already chaotic and barbaric minds.
Those who had spent the first half of their lives as bandits could hardly possess any firm will. How could such completely unguarded souls maintain their sanity when faced with the onslaught of corrupt forces?
Let alone fortify their minds to counterattack?
Murphy had overlooked the large-scale “mental storm” that accompanied the Astral Realm spirit energy wash. At this moment, looking at the gnoll barbarian howling for death beneath his feet, he suddenly remembered the numerous Kadman City residents who had died in the sewers.
They, like these gnoll barbarians, had no wounds on their bodies, yet they still died, as if their souls had been taken away by invisible ghosts.
That wasn’t actually the case.
This was a super large-scale Sanity check that came with the massive outpouring of foul spirit energy when the Astral Realm rift opened. The effective range covered all areas directly affected by the grand ritual, and the tragic outcome of those who failed the Sanity check was right before his eyes.
Fragile wills would be directly torn apart by the wild Astral Realm spirit energy.
Even if they survived the first wave, there would be subsequent continuous mental impacts to wear down their sanity and plunge them into irresistible madness. Though they wouldn’t die, the pain on a spiritual level was harder to bear than physical tearing.
Compared to this invisible but cruel extermination, the energy bursts and shockwaves during the grand ritual’s explosion, and even the direct impact of dimensional meteorites pulled down from the Astral Realm, seemed insignificant.
The vampire lord’s expression turned peculiar.
He realized that although he had personally experienced the disaster in Kadman City, his understanding of the Astral Realm tear grand ritual as an “uneducated” Summoner was not thorough. No wonder Tris and Femis had been so serious when deciding to execute this tactic
They were both excellent Spirit Mages.
They knew very clearly what would happen here after they cast their spells!
“Hmm, my friend, of course I will relieve you of this cruel pain. That’s why I’m here.”
Murphy bent down, holding the furry head of the screaming gnoll barbarian below in an almost “gentle” manner. He saw the chaotic light surging and covering in its eyes.
This indicated that the creature’s spirit was on the verge of collapse.
Compared to the pain it was enduring physically, its spirit was fading into nothingness.
If Murphy left it alone, it probably wouldn’t die, but becoming a raving mad vampire like those in the Blood Vulture Halls would be its final destination.
As a merciful lord, Murphy didn’t want to see this happen, so he raised his hand and brought it down, decapitating the gnoll barbarian with a hum from Necessary Evil.
He clearly heard the relaxed moan as this fellow breathed its last.
Tsk tsk, even death was seen as a relief. It seemed that the war he had started today had indeed committed unforgivable and horrifying sins.
“Go.”
Murphy released his fingers, letting the blood-crazed demon sword fly like a greedy snake into the dim battlefield shrouded in Astral Realm shadows ahead.
He casually tossed aside the gnoll’s head and drew Frostfang from the other side of his waist, holding the Miser’s Hunting Crossbow in his hand.
With the flapping of his Blood Wings, Murphy hovered once again.
The pressure had completely disappeared from his blood-colored eyes.
He knew that this tactical gamble had already severely tilted the scales of victory, and all that remained was to unleash a hunt to secure an almost impossible victory for his city and his people.
“Stay calm, they’re just gnolls. How hard can it be?”
Murphy said to himself, trying to cool his heated heart, but he knew the value of this victory, so the smile that appeared at the corners of his mouth was naturally undisguised.
“You’d better not be so relaxed”
The voice of Lady Femis sounded from behind.
Holding the Night Howl Staff, she had entered a full combat stance. Crimson spirit energy formed thorny spears hovering on both sides of her body, ready to be locked onto targets and hurled to pierce enemies at any moment by the Spirit Mage.
This was clearly an extremely delicate manipulation of spirit energy, and in the young lady’s other hand was a ball of accumulating, jumping electric arcs – a spirit lightning bolt ready to be unleashed.
Flapping her wings, she said to Murphy:
“Those whose spirits can be overwhelmed by Astral Realm spirit energy are not worth being vigilant about, but Kenport’s core elites probably won’t be so easily eliminated.
Especially Kenport himself.
He comes from the Dark Mountain range. I’ve heard from the veterans of the Blood Pact Knights who have been fighting gnolls for years that their hunting priests have their own ways of protecting their minds.
They can even protect their troops from mental spells.”
“I know what you mean, and I’m looking forward to it too.”
Murphy nodded, looking at the deathly silence ahead, and said:
“After all, if victory comes too easily, it feels bland and tasteless. A battle without challenge is a torment even for the winner.
However, it wasn’t until I saw this scene with my own eyes that I realized what kind of psychological pressure you and Tris were under. Does casting such an inhumane spell make you feel uneasy?”
Femis didn’t answer immediately.
She looked at Murphy with a subtle gaze, and after a few seconds, she said:
“First of all, I’m not human. I don’t have such a thing as humanity.
Secondly, our enemies are gnolls. If the Astral Realm tear could be freely released anywhere and achieve such brilliant results as we see before us, do you believe Lord Payne wouldn’t have plowed through the entire Dark Mountain range from top to bottom with Astral Realm tears?
No, Murphy, we don’t have any psychological pressure.
The biggest hidden danger in this risky plan that Tris and I devised is that we’re concerned about what kind of impact opening the Astral Realm rift three times in a short period will have on Transia’s ecology.
It certainly won’t lead to the extinction of all life, but it will definitely bring some fundamental changes to this land.
This is our homeland after all.
As for the life and death of these gnolls
Sorry, we vampires don’t have that much mercy to spare for them. What? Do you feel heartache, Murphy? You really are a sensitive and kind son of midnight, aren’t you?”
“Kind?”
Murphy said with a gloomy face:
“Why do you insult me so? You know what this word means among our kind, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.”
The young lady revealed a mysterious smile and said:
“And what I want to express is exactly what you’re imagining right now, Murphy. You’re not even as ruthless as your warriors. By a vampire’s standards, you’re really quite unqualified, you know.”
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