On the high platform, Blood War Eight Wastelands stared at the wasteland below, now a full-blown meat grinder. His face was flushed with excitement.
"They've lost it! Every last one of them!"
He watched the leaderboard on the screen. The numbers marking each team's points were climbing like rockets.
"Guild leader! That's one hell of a prize! A Demigod Artifact? Those guys are going to fight with everything they've got!"
Dragon Soaring World stood quietly, the dark-red Undying Battle Soul trembling in his hand as if answering the murderous intent rising from the distant battlefield.
His gaze never lingered on the players charging into battle. Instead, he studied the enormous energy map in front of Light Snow.
"How does it look?" he asked evenly.
Light Snow pushed up her glasses and swept a finger across the screen, bringing up a dizzying stream of data.
"Highly abnormal."
Her voice was as calm as ever, though she spoke a little faster than usual.
"Sin Monsters are being cleared 170% faster than projected. Stimulated by the Hunting Festival, the players' Battle Intent Burning has far exceeded the system's preset threshold."
She pointed to the dense clusters of light marking player teams on the map.
"But the Sin Karma energy from the slain monsters hasn't fully dissipated. Look here."
Light Snow enlarged the map. Countless fine threads of dark-purple energy leaked from the slain monsters' corpses. Rather than fading into the air as before, they seeped underground and converged on several specific coordinates like rivers flowing into the sea.
Beneath the entire wasteland, the Sin Karma energy seemed to have formed a vast, intricate network.
"Holy shit!" Blood War Eight Wastelands leaned in, eyes wide. "Is this building up to something huge?"
The curve of Dragon Soaring World's lips grew more pronounced.
That was