Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

Chapter 29: Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

[Challenger Prompt: The Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region is about to transition from Waning Crescent to the Waning Crescent phase. Players, please prepare!]

Waning Crescent Scene Introduction: The second intensity stage of the five major moon phases of Evil Moon, duration unknown.

Changes: A large number of Evil Spirits unique to the Waning Crescent phase will descend upon the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region with the moon phase change. Evil Spirits from the Waning Crescent phase will disappear.

Change 2: Terrain and environment will change.

As the prompt echoed in the players' minds.

The scenes in various areas of the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range shifted accordingly.

Towards the Ancient Battlefield.

The scene, once littered with corpses, dissipated with spatial distortion. It was replaced by a large number of blood zombies, entirely crimson red with black fur growing on their bodies.

Towards the Crimson Plains.

The crimson plants that once bloomed across the plains vanished with the wind. In their place came countless twisted vines, withered ancient trees, and a large number of Evil Spirits.

Towards the Spirit Artifact Valley.

A rushing river now flowed through the center of the valley. In addition to the monsters and Primal Monsters that already existed, a large number of twisted cores, floating in mid-air and covered in dense tentacles, spawned.

However, these Evil Spirits were immediately met with an assault from the artifact spirits as soon as they appeared.

The Waning Crescent switched to the Waning Crescent phase, as if an entire unknown space had been integrated into the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range. As the terrain changed, a large number of new Evil Spirits emerged.

The earth-shattering changes concluded. The dim light cast by the Waning Crescent turned into a dazzling blood-red, and the ambient energy particles in the air increased fivefold.

Players exploring various scenes were instantly plunged into a predicament, surrounded by Evil Spirits.

The bloodthirsty Evil Spirits would attack any target within their line of sight (perception) that possessed life fluctuations, including players.

This was especially true in the direction of the Ancient Battlefield, where the vast majority of players were hunting Cursed Soldiers.

Before the moon phase change, the spawn rate of Evil Spirits was not high. They needed to accumulate Black Tide energy within the corpses to transform into Cursed Soldiers.

Due to the frenzied hunting by players recently, the spawn rate of Cursed Soldiers had gradually failed to keep up with the players' kill efficiency. This led to fierce competition every time Cursed Soldiers spawned, forcing many players to venture deeper into the Ancient Battlefield to find huntable targets further away.

With the Waning Crescent changing to the Waning Crescent, the tables turned between players and Evil Spirits.

A massive number of blood zombies surrounded the player groups, launching ferocious, bloodthirsty attacks.

Furthermore, the blood zombies spawned during the Waning Crescent phase had hunting levels ranging from 8 to 15, their overall strength several times greater than the level 1-3 Cursed Soldiers.

With the suppression of numbers and levels, players were at a complete disadvantage in their confrontation with the enhanced Evil Spirits.

The number of online players in Qi Sheng's mind plummeted visibly, with a large number of players being killed and logging out of the game.

During this time, the regional chat channel also exploded.

"So this is the phased moon transition that the novice Guider mentioned! I thought the moon phases were fixed for each region, and only the larger areas had different phases. The intensity is already this high with just the Waning Crescent, it's terrifying!"

"These blood zombies are too fierce! High HP, high defense. Our team took half the day to kill one, and then a group of them came and surrounded us. Now all my teammates are dead, and I've given up resisting and am waiting to die..."

"Help! I'm surrounded! I don't want to face a one-hour resurrection cooldown (crying)."

"The moon phase transition is too terrifying, the monster difficulty has increased severalfold. If this is the Full Moon or the Great Evil Moon phase, won't the Evil Spirits levels break a hundred?"

"The twisted plants in the Crimson Plains are generally level 12+, I'm so done. It's hard to even run, just waiting to die!"

"Serves you right for being so stubborn and complaining about not having enough monsters to kill. Now you have enough, right? If it's not enough, wait for the Waxing Crescent phase later (doge)."

After the moon phase transition, all players except those inside the Gloomy Cave were safe. All other players were attacked by the enhanced Evil Spirits.

The reason is related to the special nature of the Black Tide. Things not classified as Evil Spirits do not change with the moon phase.

The Iron Shell Bugs inside the Gloomy Cave did not disappear or transform into stronger monsters.

But players outside were not so lucky.

The number of online players quickly dropped from over 9800 to less than 1000.

In response to this, Qi Sheng was mentally prepared.

The different moon phases of the terrifying Black Tide can be understood as five different layered spaces. When Waning Crescent switches to the Waning Crescent, the Waning Crescent space is replaced by the Waning Crescent space, and everything related to the Black Tide within the scene switches accordingly.

For example, the Cursed Soldiers on the Ancient Battlefield do not disappear completely; they will reappear when the moon phase switches back to Waning Crescent.

For players at this stage, the intensity of the Waning Crescent phase was clearly unbearable.

But he had no solution.

The moon phase change was influenced by the tides of the terrifying Black Tide. It was completely unknown when it would switch back to Waning Crescent.

What was certain was that the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region was not the core area corrupted by the terrifying Black Tide energy. It was highly unlikely for stronger moon phases to spawn here.

In his five hundred years in the monster world, he had only witnessed the fourth stage, Full Moon, in the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region once.

In his memory, the Full Moon scene could be described as a dance of demons.

Abyssal Great Demons, Void Corruptors, Terrors of the Deep... a glance would reveal a large number of super Evil Spirits with hunting levels exceeding 100.

The sky-obscuring Evil Spirits rampaged through the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range like a plague of locusts, leaving little life in their wake.

As for the "Great Evil Moon," considered the ultimate form of the terrifying Black Tide, only the Four Great Servants in their prime had experienced it. He had never seen it with his own eyes.

"Big bro, this moon phase switch might not be a bad thing."

Turning to the Guiding Water Orb floating beside him, Qi Sheng smiled and nodded.

"Indeed."

He naturally understood Guider's thoughts.

Compared to the Waning Crescent scenario, the Half Moon scenario significantly increased in intensity while also making the world's energy more abundant.

The Half Moon scenario nurtured a large number of Black Tide spirit plants. Many of these were produced when the Black Tide annexed other worlds and integrated them into the monster world, refining them with Black Tide's corrosive energy into Black Tide spirit items. These items could be purified into pure Sacrificial Power by burning them at altars.

While the risks were high, players exploring outside could also find more surprising rewards.

Although the sudden moon phase switch forced a large number of players offline, Qi Sheng was certain that players would quickly adapt to the Half Moon's intensity and continue to generate more Sacrificial Power for him.

Once these offline players reconnected and left the newbie village, they would undoubtedly find ways to cope.

If their strength was insufficient, they would form groups.

The hunting difficulty had increased, but the rewards for killing Blood Corpses were several times greater than for killing Cursed Soldiers.

Evaluating across various dimensions such as hunting efficiency, hunting difficulty, and opportunity probability, Guider's calculations concluded that the comprehensive revenue rate of the Half Moon was 1.3 times higher than that of the Waning Crescent.

And this figure was only temporary.

As players grew stronger, the comprehensive revenue rate brought by the Half Moon would continue to climb.