The Demon King is unfathomable

Chapter 564 The Battle of Death Valley!
Deep within the embrace of mountains lies a rift valley that resembles an abyss.

The miasma from the rotting corpses mixed with the poisonous fumes rising from the ground through the cracks, forming a thin, pale green mist among the jagged rocks.

This is Death Valley.

As its name suggests, this is a desolate wasteland abandoned by the living, where only the rat-men, who are afflicted with all kinds of venom, can live.

Thanks to this uniquely natural barrier, the ratmen who roam the mountains have caused the dwarves of the High Mountain Kingdom no small amount of trouble.

However, all of this has been reversed today.

The Great Tomb Warriors, known as the "Holy Spirit" and the "Dragonborn," surged through the pale green poisonous mist like a tidal wave, launching a fierce attack on the hastily organized defenses of the Skaven!
"Brothers! Charge! Let's get the first kill!"

"For the Horde! For Valoran—I mean, for the Demon Lord!"

"Don't block the way!"

"My fireball! Don't block my fireball!"

Accompanied by a series of strange cries, the undead army of the Great Tomb roared into the canyon like a black mudslide.

Leading the charge were a group of heavily armored lizardmen and skeleton soldiers.

Although they came in all shapes and sizes, some even missing limbs, their fearless and insane spirit was enough to terrify any regular army!

Amidst the anticipation of countless players, the "epic battle" that the official operations team had been promoting for so long has finally been brought to the table by the incompetent game planners.

In those pairs of eyes that glowed with green light, the Valley of Death, which was so terrifying, seemed like a golden land flowing with experience and contribution points!

In order to shed their status as beasts of burden and become noble high-level demons as soon as possible, almost every player went all out!

The pig-headed knight charged ahead at the very front.

This imposing "Dragonborn" warrior held a totem stone pillar that he had picked up from who-knows-where, and every time he savagely swung it, a bloody storm ensued!
This guy was bloodthirsty, his dark green scales covered with rat-man flesh, and his tail was thumping excitedly on the ground.

"Hahaha! Utterly insane!"

That can no longer be called a battle.

It's like they're tearing the house down!
The surrounding ratmen scattered and fled, terrified by the guy's actions. A ratman priest tried to chant incantations, but his skull was smashed by an axe that came crashing down on him.

Seeing the pig-headed guy running around everywhere, the minotaur warrior wielding a battle axe couldn't help but mutter a complaint.

"Can you fucking slow down? The people in the back can barely keep up!"

"Hahaha! I refuse outright!"

The pig-headed knight roared, his voice filled with excitement, until a dagger slashed through his ankle, causing him to let out an angry howl.

"Damn it! You rat dared to launch a sneak attack! I'll stab you to death with this stick, you pig-headed grandpa!"

The giant totem pole reached back and tried to grab it, but it landed on empty air.

However, the attack did not completely miss. The flying debris and the massive shockwave still struck the ratman assassin in the chest, causing him to bleed from his mouth and nose.

This guy doesn't have any supernatural powers?!

Enraged by the pig-headed knight's defeat at the hands of mortals, he reached forward with his front paws and crushed the ratman's skull!

However, at that moment, sharp stone projectiles rained down, smashing the pig-headed knight's head until it was covered in blood, forcing him to hold the totem pole in front of him to block them.

This guy has attracted too much hatred.

Not only the slave rats wielding slingshots, but even the rat-man priests in the distance had their eyes on him, shaking their bone staffs adorned with bells as they cast spells.

The insidious spells that struck straight to the soul transformed into streaks of ghostly light, covering everything under the cover of the flying stone projectiles.

The pig-headed knight, trapped in the enemy lines, gradually found himself unable to hold out and finally felt immense pressure. He could only look behind him for help.

Dude—

Save your father!

Although the pig-headed guy always acts recklessly, it is precisely because he has attracted so much hatred that the ratmen who are eyeing him do not realize that the real threat is actually behind this fool.

Just as the clan rats wielding halberds surrounded the burly lizardman, a pale blue frost wreath suddenly exploded beneath the pig's feet, spreading out in ripples that instantly froze the rats into blocks of ice.

"Good job!"

The pig-headed knight let out an excited roar, and with a sweeping motion of his totem, he smashed the ratmen into pieces!

"polite."

In the distance, [One Leaf Knows Autumn] calmly replied, while calmly waving his staff, the golden ring on his bone finger emitting an eerie light.

No unnecessary movements.

Each of his spells was precisely timed to match the enemy's attack rhythm; frost and flames intertwined in his hands, like a death symphony being played.

Although his spellcasting was not as fluid as the Demon King's, his smooth and flowing spellcasting movements still captured about one-tenth of the Demon King's essence.

Meanwhile, Hu Wan, draped in a shadow cloak, had silently blended into the pale green miasma.

Only when the ratman collapsed, clutching his bleeding throat, could the rats catch a glimpse of the pair of dark green daggers reflected in the fleeting shadow behind him!
As the undead rat charged into the ranks of the ratman priests and wreaked havoc, the ratman centurion in command of the battle's pupils contracted sharply.

What a quick move!
The strength of T0 players is terrifying!
On the other side of the battlefield, however, the scene was rather bizarre. Only a handful of people were holding the front line, and the other players seemed hesitant to approach.

"Hehehe, try my specially mixed Sprite with added ingredients!"

The player yelled "I slammed down the chemical pool in one gulp" and slammed a bottle of alchemical potion with eerie bubbles into the pile of ratmen.

With a loud bang, a thick cloud of red mist spread out, instantly engulfing the surrounding pale green mist.

At first, the rat people didn't pay much attention, after all, the rats were experts in using poison and were already proficient in all kinds of poisons and immune to all poisons.

However, they soon paid the price for their recklessness.

The ratmen who first came into contact with the red mist began to scratch their skin frantically until it was torn open and they let out a shrill scream.

The surrounding ratmen were terrified and screamed in panic as they fled backward, ignoring the centurion's shouts to stop them.

Table and chairs: "Holy crap, what the hell is that?!"

He downed the chemical pool in one gulp: "Cough, this is a freebie from a deal with the hellish dwarves. They said it's rat poison and asked me to take it to the front lines to test its effectiveness and then tell them. I don't know the exact ingredients."

Gou Shi: "...Goodness, thank goodness there were no friendly forces around, otherwise TK would have taken all the points."

Fortunately, the Hell Dwarves' technical capabilities were limited, and the red mist did not last long before dissipating into the smoke of the battlefield.

At least they didn't involve their own people.

At the forefront were players from the Great Graveyard's T0 and T1 tiers. They demonstrated extremely strong individual combat abilities, easily tearing cracks in the Skaven's defenses.

Behind those players was a massive army of newbies who entered the game with their beta test access to the expansion pack.

Some fought individually, some formed teams of three or five, and many more joined various game guilds to curry favor with stronger players.

For example, the most outstanding guild is Dragon Travels the World, the number one wealthy guild in Cataclysm Online!

Unlike those teams that charged forward with shouts, this disciplined team was a completely different sight on a chaotic battlefield!
They were like a real army, obeying orders without question and moving with lightning speed.

The ratmen quickly mistook this well-organized force for the elite of the three-race alliance. And because of this, the Dragonwalkers were forced to become the mainstay of this battle, bearing the burden of damage they shouldn't have had to endure.

However, this also hits the sweet spot for Long Xingwanli.

Isn't that exactly what he's after?
Without a rain of arrows, how can the bravery of the "first warrior" of the Kingdom of Gutaf be demonstrated?

"Brothers! Keep your formation! Don't break apart!"

Riding a cave spider, Long Xing Wanli stepped forward, brandishing a huge double-edged battle axe, his eyes filled with fierce fighting spirit.

The scales on his body were a deep, dark green, a testament to his high-ranking lizardman—or rather, dragon-blooded lineage!

By the way, he finally replaced the cursed harpoon he stole from the merman with equipment made by the Demon King himself.

"Qianli, raise your shields! Baili, cover me!"

Walking beside Long Xing Wanli, the vice president and secretary, Long Xing Wanli, still maintained a steady demeanor.

Although she was just a skeleton, she was exceptionally agile, holding the tower shield steadily like a mobile fortress.

She blocked the flying stones and poison arrows with her enchanted tower shield, giving the boss plenty of room to show off.

"Okay, brother!"

[Dragon Travels a Hundred Miles] drew his longbow to its fullest extent, his bony fingers not trembling at all, and then a flash of dark green arrow light appeared!
Each twang of the bowstring was accompanied by the scream of a ratman hiding behind a rock as he fell to the ground. Sometimes he was a ratman crossbowman, sometimes a ratman priest.

Although they didn't have the freakish individual strength of the "T0 Squad," their superior teamwork made them like a ruthless bulldozer, crushing the remaining Skaven forces along their path.

Victory seems within reach!
The ratman garrison stationed here had clearly lost its morale and began to abandon their armor and weapons, fleeing into the depths of the valley...

However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

The ground suddenly began to tremble.

The tremor wasn't the roar of a thousand horses galloping, but a series of teeth-grinding sounds, as if thousands of rats were gnawing at the earth.

The ratmen, who were fleeing in disarray, suddenly stopped and looked back in terror at the darkness at the deepest part of the valley.

A cloud of black mist is blowing in.

The moment they saw the black mist, fear gradually crept into their eyes. And that deep-seated tremor was a hundred times stronger than when they fought on the battlefield!
Unlike the trembling mice.

The pig-headed warrior, gripping the totem pole and standing still, had an eager look on his face and spat on the blood-stained totem pole.

"The big one is coming!"

Yi Ye Zhi Qiu flipped and gripped the magic wand in his hand, the soul fire in his skull flickering with a wary eerie light, sensing an unusual aura from the approaching "magical wind".

Without hesitation, he immediately used the Eye of Wind, encasing it within his skull, which shimmered with eerie green soul fire.

"Can you see what that is?" Hu Wan's figure stopped beside him, her eyes also looking into the depths of the valley.

"One Autumn Leaf Knows the Future" said solemnly, focusing on what lay ahead.

"I can't see..."

Hu Wan looked at him unexpectedly.

"Can't see?"

Yi Ye Zhi Qiu nodded slowly.

"Hmm... something is enveloping that thing. I can only vaguely sense that a terrifying aura is approaching this way."

The fact that he, with his Gold-level strength, couldn't see through what was behind the barrier already says a lot...

Almost the instant his words fell, a piercing scream suddenly tore through the sweltering air, descending upon the players. "Screech—!!!"

Immediately afterwards, countless bloated fleshy spheres burst forth from the seemingly solid darkness, their distorted shapes making it impossible to discern what they actually were.

"That's... a ratman?" The person standing in the distance stared in astonishment at the suffocating chemical pool ahead, even forgetting to throw away the two reagent bottles clutched in their hands.

Gou Shi, who was standing next to him, swallowed hard.

Do not--

That can no longer be called a living organism.

Their limbs were twisted on the ground, their backs were arched high, and their skin was stretched to the point of being translucent. What flowed beneath was not blood, but some kind of murky liquid that emitted a faint light!
What's most astonishing is their backs, where clusters of purplish-black crystal tumors are growing!

The crystal tumor flickered on and off, as if expanding and contracting with the monsters' breaths, spewing out visible, eerie blue dust.

Terrified by this thing, the minotaur warrior's sanity plummeted, and he let out a scream.

"Holy crap... what kind of monster is that?"

"Awooooo! First kill! Mine!" Completely different from his thinking, the pig-headed knight, Lizard, charged forward first, waving his totem pole.

Then--

There's no after that.

As always, Brother Pighead was incredibly brave, and this time he charged even further, disappearing headlong into the black mist behind the "Crystal Rat".

The charge of this peak Silver-level expert was completely swallowed up by the rolling sounds of tearing and biting without even splashing a drop of water.

Perhaps that's why he's still only at the Silver rank after all this time.

Although death in the expansion generally doesn't incur additional penalties, the loss of current experience points is part of the resurrection mechanic and must be experienced.

Watching "T0" disappear into the depths of the black mist in an instant, Long Xingqianli was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously raised the shield in his hand, preparing for a fierce battle.

At that moment, an even more horrifying scene unfolded: instead of rushing straight towards the players, the twisted monsters first overwhelmed their fellow ratmen who stood in their way!

With their fang-filled jaws wide open, they bit down on the necks of other ratmen and tore them apart in an extremely cruel manner.

"Help--!"

"Ahhhh!"

Blood splattered, and bits of flesh flew everywhere.

After devouring their own kind, the crystalline tumors on the monsters' backs instantly became even more vibrant, and their size visibly expanded.

"Watch out! They're still mutating!"

Yi Yezhiqiu felt a chill run down his spine, and slammed his staff into the ground, causing a huge fireball to rapidly condense above his head.

The burning fireball continued to expand, growing from one meter to three meters in diameter in just a few breaths, distorting the surrounding air with its heat.

It's like a sun burning over the battlefield!
When the fireball swelled to its maximum size, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu swung his staff forward with force, and the fireball crashed into the center of the enemy formation like a meteor!
boom--!
Fire shot into the sky!

The rising flames, carrying dust from the ground, coalesced into a small mushroom cloud!
However, even with the full force of this gold-level expert's attack, he only managed to incinerate less than a dozen twisted crystal rats.

Soon, the charred corpses were eaten by the rats behind them, becoming the driving force for the crystalline torrent to move forward!
The Dragon Soars Across the World guild's territory was the first to be attacked.

These "crystallized rats" were incredibly fast, like bullets fired from a gun, crashing into the players' ranks with a foul stench!
Caught off guard, several players were tackled to the ground and, before they could react, had their heads bitten off.

Blood splattered everywhere!

The Dragons of the World, who had previously advanced with unstoppable momentum, finally began to suffer casualties, and a fierce battle ensued.

Several top players from the Dragon Roaming the World guild reacted quickly, their swords and axes transforming into streaks of light as they slashed forward.

With the blessing of the Dragon God and the support of "qi", several crystal rats were quickly struck down and breathed their last, howling in agony.

In the distance, a mage waved his wand and cast a spell, orange-red flames and blades of energy flying wildly across the battlefield, accompanied by the sound of explosions.

However, even though the players dealt tons of damage, several mutants still managed to break into the formation.

Unlike ordinary monsters that only bite, the crystal tumors on their backs suddenly swelled and exploded, shooting out countless tiny crystal fragments!

These fragments, like shrapnel, easily pierced the skeletons' bones and the lizardmen's scales.

In just a moment, the shield wall of the Dragonborn warriors was riddled with holes, and the "Dragonborn" warriors holding up their shields suffered heavy casualties!

"Ah! My legs!"

"Never mind me, nurse, heal the team leader first—"

"Damn, did the game designer turn on the console?!"

Such formidable combat power is only for soldiers; it's obvious that the game designers saw them getting too ahead of themselves and put some pressure on them.

"Hold the formation—!"

Long Xingqianli brandished her tower shield, trying to push aside a mutant, but the opponent's strength was astonishing, sending her and her shield flying.

"Qianli!"

Long Xingbaili wanted to rescue them, but he was entangled by another mutant and had no choice but to draw his dagger to fight back!
Just as the guild's formation was about to collapse, a burly figure suddenly charged back from the flank.

"Roar--!!!"

Riding the cave spider, Long Xingwanli let out a deafening roar and decisively activated his berserk mode. His muscles bulged as if inflated, and his originally dark green scales shimmered with a blood-red sheen!

"Everyone, get out of here!"

The double-edged battle axe in his hand drew a fierce arc in the air, cleaving an oncoming mutated monster in half at the waist!

The incredibly hard crystal nodule was as fragile as glass in front of the giant axe, turning into countless flying fragments before it could even explode.

Pfft——!
The foul-smelling bodily fluids splattered all over Long Xingwanli, but he didn't even glance at them before continuing his charge into the enemy ranks.

Under the scorching sun, Death Valley had become a bloody hell.

Long Xingqianli, dragging his swaying body, stood up and shouted at the guild leader who was fighting on the front lines.

"Guild Master! Let's retreat! This monster's damage is too high, the brothers can't withstand it!"

Long Xing Wanli was panting heavily. His fine plate armor was now riddled with holes from corrosion, and a monster's claws had left three deep, bone-revealing wounds on his chest.

However, despite being covered in wounds, there was not a trace of retreat in his eyes, which were filled with fighting spirit.

"Screw you!"

Long Xing Wanli spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and the battle axe in his hand once again ignited with a red light.

He is a player.

The word "fear of death" doesn't exist in a player's dictionary!
The mighty dragonborn roared to the sky and charged once more against the monstrous, surging tide of monsters.

"The dragon roams the world! We will fight to the death!"

At that moment, his silhouette, distorted by the heatwave, somehow appeared tragically heroic.

What truly etched that heroic spirit into everyone's minds was Wanli's next sentence—

"The equipment lost in this battle—"

"I'll take them all by myself!"

Not only the Dragons Across the World guild, but all the players on the battlefield were excited, and in an instant, they roared and shouted as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

"Oooo!"

"You damned rat-men! I'll fight you to the death!"

"For His Majesty the Demon King!!!"

Startled by the enthusiasm of these animals, Baili, who had just gotten up from the ground, quickly added loudly from behind.

"Holy crap! Don't get me wrong, my brother was talking about reimbursing the guild's losses—"

"Hahahaha!"

Long Xing Wanli interrupted his explanation with a loud laugh, "No! A promise is a promise, I mean everyone!"

He was so engrossed in the killing that he completely forgot about things like breaking even.

Qianli, who had stood up with his shield, shook his head and stopped Baili, who was about to say something but didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and shook his head at him.

Anyway, this guy's allowance has no limit.

Let him go.

The meat grinder, which had been at a standstill, began to spin wildly again. In this valley filled with the stench of decay and death, the truly brutal battle had only just begun.

On one side is a torrent of crystals that destroys everything, and on the other side is a massive army of players who fight to the death!
As for the Skaven of the Carrion Clan—

In a deserted corner, they had been crushed into a bloody pulp by two fists that had collided, leaving only a pool of blood and foam on the ground...

On the edge of the chaotic battlefield, a skull rolled out.

Before the flickering soul flame was extinguished, he gulped down a mouthful of the chemical pool and let out a triumphant sigh.

"This life... has been worth it!"

The only regret is that Brother Wanli didn't tell him sooner.

If he had known that someone else would cover all the losses in this battle, he would have brought all the inventory and cleared it out in one go...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the high slope, "Shadow Demon General" Thanos looked down in astonishment at the horrific battlefield below.

What shocked him was not the ferocity of the Demon King's troops, but the "black wind" blowing into Death Valley, which, after gaining the upper hand, showed signs of receding.

It was as if this force wasn't there to stop the Demon King's army's offensive, but rather to clean up the battlefield.

"This is truly blasphemy..."

I didn't expect that Shanghai wasn't the only place with deep waters.

Thanos muttered to himself, lowered his index finger on the brim of his hat, and tucked the musket that the Demon King had given him into his pocket.

It seems——

This time, he won't need to take action.

(End of this chapter)