Snake-Men

In the boundless void beyond the Divine Domain, a tall figure shrouded in profound golden light stood outside the Divine Domain's Crystal Wall, secretly observing it.

"When did this kid get so many high-quality believers?"

Class Teacher Wu Hai studied Lin Xiao's Divine Domain in surprise. His gaze swept over the more than six hundred Gray Mist Fishmen before settling on Lin Xiao's avatar, which was arming and rallying the faithful. He nodded. "Looks like he's been putting in effort lately. In that case, I'll assign him this Card!"

He flicked out a Card held between his index and middle fingers. The Card rapidly disintegrated into a sky full of golden mist, which formed a golden rainbow bridge under the restraint of Divine Power and flew into the Divine Domain.

Lin Xiao, who had remained within the Divine Domain all this time, immediately sensed a foreign object entering. At the same time, a light screen popped up before him, followed by a system notification:

"An invader is establishing a Portal. The first wave of invaders will arrive in fifteen minutes. Player, please prepare!"

His heart tightened. In the murloc tribe, a sharp gleam flashed through his avatar's eyes. Raising the newly forged Bone Blade in his hand, he roared, "Children, the invaders have arrived! The Lord of Gray Mist is watching us. It is time to display our strength and courage!"

The already-mobilized murlocs waved their weapons and howled wildly. Though disorderly, their morale was high.

Having long grown accustomed to the murlocs' style, Lin Xiao was quite satisfied. He took the lead in charging out of the tribe, with a great swarm of murlocs pouring out behind him.

This time, he did not bring out all the murlocs. He only brought roughly three-quarters of them: nearly all the True Believers, Devout Believers, and Fanatic Believers in the tribe. All of them had learned the Salted Fish Thrust skill.

The hundred-odd Nominal Believers left in the tribe had not learned Salted Fish Thrust and possessed limited combat strength, so there was no point taking them out to die.

Though the Diagnostic Exam was not as dangerous as the midterm or Final Exam, it was hardly simple. A mishandling could lead to losses painful enough to break one's heart.

Although they were students, they were still Divine Creatures. Within the Human Federation's Super-Fantasy Deity Civilization, they might be comparable to newborn infants, but within certain small planes of the Chaotic Void Sea's Crystal Wall Systems, they already counted as formidable beings capable of stirring storms.

The way to cultivate the strong naturally could not be like that of ordinary students, spending every day at school studying. They had to face all kinds of dangers to temper themselves.

Every major class and every test was an ordeal. One careless mistake could inflict devastating losses upon their Kinfolk.

Many students suffered a crippling blow from a moment of carelessness, never recovering afterward. They sank into decline and, even after graduating high school, remained merely Common Divine Creatures, unable to become demigods for their entire lives.

As before, the invasion Portal was established in the upper-left corner of the Divine Domain.

That was simply how his Divine Domain's terrain was. Only its left edge had a coastline, while the tribe was in the lower-left corner. Unless the invaders were aquatic creatures, they could only appear in the upper-left corner.

A pitch-black gate of light, three meters in diameter and rippling with dim light like waves, hung in the air one meter above the beach like a Black Hole. Strands of black, ghostly light slowly revolved around the circular gate. With a soft sound, the dim light bulged outward into the shape of a humanoid creature. Something sharp pierced through it, revealing a Blood-Stained Spear.

"Hiss, Gelas above!"

A Snake-Man nearly two meters tall emerged from the Portal. His upper body was humanoid, while his snake tail brought his total length to over three meters. He slammed his Blood-Stained Spear into the sand, leaving a small crater, then opened his mouth and extended his forked tongue to taste the air. Slowly, he said, "I smell the sea, and lots of fresh Little Fishmen."

At that moment, a second equally muscular Snake-Man emerged from the Portal. His forked tongue flicked in and out continuously. He struck the beach with a Bone Staff, and a sharp gleam flashed in his narrow eyes. "I smell heresy!"

He reached out and grasped the gemstone-studded Skeleton at the top of his Bone Staff, saying in a hoarse voice, "Great Gelas has told me to kill every murloc in these waters."

The first Snake-Man to emerge turned with his thick spear in hand, raising it high as he hissed loudly, "Warriors of Gelas, come forth!"

The Portal's dim light rapidly swelled. A slightly smaller Snake-Man crawled out, followed by a second, then a third. Soon, twenty Snake-Men had emerged in total.

"This test's difficulty is a little over the line!"

Lin Xiao's true body, which had been watching the Divine Domain all along, furrowed his brow. Although there were only twenty-two Snake-Men, they were rather strong. At the very least, half a month ago, he would have had to fight for his life and suffer unavoidable Kinfolk losses for any chance of defeating them.

Gray Mist Fishmen were a low-grade race, as low as a race could get. Their average combat strength was about on par with goblins.

Well, they were a little stronger in water.

Snake-Men, on the other hand, were a Medium Race. Even at their most basic, without any advancement, their racial talents gave them combat power that completely crushed Gray Mist Fishmen. Especially those two leaders—they were certainly no weaker than second-tier units, and might even have professions.

This lineup posed a modest challenge even for the top-ranked students in class. For those near the bottom, it was brutally difficult.

Had his Golden Finger not activated and turned years of accumulation into strength, if he still only had a little over a hundred murlocs like before, he would probably have needed to lose at least a third of them to pass this test.

But there were no ifs in this world. Times had changed. With his strength greatly increased, Lin Xiao's confidence rose as well.

The murloc chieftain avatar led more than five hundred Gray Mist Fishmen charging out of the tribe. In a chaotic formation, they surged like a swarm toward the Snake-Man squad that had only just left the Portal.

There was no real tactic to speak of, nor was there any way to command the murlocs. They held an absolute numerical advantage anyway, so he could just select them all and send them charging in one wave.

With more than five hundred murlocs gathered together, their numbers were quite considerable. The long, narrow beach was blanketed in a sea of black.

At first, the Snake-Men were indeed startled by the sight of so many Gray Mist Fishmen. However, savage smiles soon appeared on their faces. The twenty Snake-Men lined up in a row, while the Snakemen Leader raised his Blood-Stained Spear and hissed loudly, "Great Gelas is watching us! Kill all the Little Fishmen, and Gelas will grant us even greater strength!"

The other Snakemen Leader, holding the Bone Staff, said nothing. He merely raised his staff in silence. One gemstone-set eye of the Skeleton atop it lit up, and streams of blood-red light poured forth, forming a cloud of bloody mist that flew toward all the Snake-Men. Wherever it passed, red glowed in every Snake-Man's pupils, and their spears were coated in a layer of blood-red light.

Snake-Man divine spell: Boiling Blood Spell.

It raised fighting spirit and increased weapon sharpness.

After being enhanced by this divine spell, the Snake-Men's fighting spirit surged. It also somewhat reduced pain and fear.

The Snake-Men already possessed an absolute advantage in individual combat strength. With the divine spell's enhancement, they became even more powerful. Their sharpened spears could likely kill a murloc with a single thrust.

The two sides rapidly closed in. Led by their chieftains, the Snake-Men leaned forward, assuming a charging stance.