Burning From the Inside Out

Unaware that something was amiss, the players who were sprinting forward were already behaving strangely.

The first to show signs were the holders of the [Treasure Chest] Talent who had previously severed the [Live and Die Together] link in order to protect themselves and were placed in the center of the team for refuge.

Without warning, a small, deep, dark spot appeared beneath the skin of the back of his right hand, which was supporting the wooden box. The spot wasn't attached to the surface of his skin; rather, it seemed to be an unusual color emanating from deeper within.

The next second, a thin, hair-like black flame silently emerged from the center of the dark spot.

The moment the Black Flames appeared, a small piece of the corresponding flesh, bones, and even the deeper energy channels beneath them silently disappeared, leaving a smooth-edged void.

He was the first to notice, grabbing his bald head, and quickly asked:

What happened to your hand?

He remained unresponsive, his eyes staring blankly into the distance, reflecting no light or shadow, only a gradually Diffusion Ethereal darkness.

The bald man frowned, slapped him, and still didn't reply, quickly realizing what was happening.

"It's not just physical injury! It's a psychological attack! Something that directly affects the soul or consciousness!"

Healers nearby immediately gathered around upon hearing the sound. This was a Legendary priest of level 83, skilled in soul healing and purification.

Without hesitation, he pressed his palm, which radiated a soft Holy Light, against the forehead, attempting to probe the state of the soul and stabilize it, but he immediately sensed something was wrong.

Why is this soul shell empty?

The priest probed with his senses and glimpsed the scene within his soul:

Inside the ultra-thin, transparent shell of the soul, there was only one thing.

A flame of unusually deep color floated Jingjing in the soul. It lacked the vibrancy and flamboyance of ordinary flames, instead exhibiting a liquid-like sense of stillness, much like the flames in the Black Flame layer outside the Fire Domain.

"Mental attacks directly Burn the soul; once it's burned away, there's no saving it."

What was the attack medium? How did you get hit?

"Unknown."

"Keep him alive! We still need his Talent." The bald man gritted his teeth, while ordering his companions to find a medium for the strange Black Flames to attack.

Players really need the strategic cores to bring their Talents to [Starry Sky Forbidden Land].

As Charge, the deep blue figure began to grow larger in the players' eyes, and obstacles started to appear.

In the sky, the incandescent Fire Domain stopped showering down massive Black Flame Meteorites. Instead, Fist- sized pure white energy orbs fell sparsely but precisely, like hailstones.

Each sphere of light contained terrifyingly high temperatures exceeding one million degrees Celsius and Berserk Fire Elements, which swept across the medium, leaving behind scorching trails that distorted the view.

A ball of light struck the ground thirty meters away from the commander.

There was no deafening explosion, only a soft "poof" sound, the sound of someone exhaling through their lips, and the same sound as someone's buttocks.

Immediately afterwards, the ground that was hit instantly vaporized, turning into an expanding plasma fireball with a diameter of more than ten meters. The blazing white light engulfed everything around it, and the high-temperature shock wave swept outwards, carrying with it glass-like fragments that had melted and then instantly condensed.

Even from a considerable distance, the shield the commander had erected rippled violently, its surface showing signs of being scorched by the high temperature.

The commander decisively abandoned his plan to proceed on his own and instead had a Legendary player carry him along, while simultaneously dodging the high-temperature energy balls falling from the sky.

"Avoid! Predict the landing point! Don't cluster together!"

The energy orb hindered the players' high-speed movement, causing a temperature explosion that turned the ground into Chaos sea of light, and simultaneously igniting something...

On the ground, pre-set, Constant Spells quietly lit up.

[Sensory Abnormalities ], [Mana Disorder], [Elemental Imprisonment], [Mental Frenzy]... Various large-scale crowd control and disruption Spells were activated simultaneously. Although the individual effects failed to restrain the Legendary player, their combined effect was enough to severely disrupt their movement, casting, and coordination.

The combination of large and powerful Spells is constant, which is an application branch of Su Luo's newly improved [Spell Permanence Technique. As for these chaos and control Spells, many of them come from the deformed terrain outside the Land of Darkness.

A Legendary mage was affected while undergoing a [Mana Disorder] attack. His body suddenly sank, and his movements slowed down by half a beat. In that instant of hesitation, seven or eight [Elemental Imprisonment] spells instantly lit up around him, imprisoning him in place. A pure white ball of light fell from above his head, attempting to melt him through.

"No--!" The player beside him was furious and threw his crystal shield in an attempt to intercept, but it was too late.

The light exploded, leaving only a small pool of molten crystal and a few wisps of smoke in its wake. A powerful, Legendary mage had perished.

"Magic-based classes, stick close to the tank! Utilize their resistances and area-of-effect abilities to stabilize the surroundings! Prioritize identifying and avoiding ground traps! Healers, focus on maintaining everyone's status!"

The commander gave the order again, recognizing that these traps were extremely unfavorable to magic-based classes that relied on a stable spellcasting environment and precise Mana.

However, in the brief moment when he was engrossed in analyzing the battlefield and issuing orders, he noticed something in his hand.

A wisp of black clung obediently to his fingertips; there was nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, he found himself unable to think; the world before him gradually transformed into a silent, Burn Black Flame...

Commander, dead!

The Legendary players, halfway through their charge, noticed that a Black Flame was appearing on the bodies of the remaining non- Legendary players, who then slammed their heads to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

"This flame... it's burning from the inside!" The bald man suddenly realized, understanding the principle of the Black Flame, and immediately looked inward at himself.

"Everyone who is still alive! Immediately! Right now! Introspect your soul! Focus on checking for any abnormal spiritual attachments or foreign objects!"

Even without his reminder, after the commander also died in the same way, the surviving players were already terrified and quickly realized what was happening, immersing their senses in their own mental world.

The scene in the bald man's own mind made him gasp.

A silent Black Flame clung to his soul, Burn one-fifth of it. It directly affected his inner spiritual world, Ignite his thoughts, burning away his reason, and disintegrating his will.

Upon discovering this scene, the bald man felt a burning pain, despondency, and a splitting headache.

"That's it! That's the thing!" The bald man instantly realized, both shocked and furious. "This thing can lurk! It can silently parasitize the soul! It can also... it can burn away our own perceptions and memories! We won't even notice when we're infected! We can only see it when it burns through the soul, penetrating from the inside into the body!"

This is even more sinister than the Fire Domain outside!