Although not fully recovered, the Lord of Infinite Crystal Clusters can still be considered a "Half-Step Transcendent Tier" at this point.
In this material world, He is undoubtedly the strongest at this moment.
His domain, imbued with the power of the Demonic Tide, swept across the land, turning the Skeleton Alliance into a wasteland where any creature other than the Skeleton Man would rapidly Aberration setting foot there.
The raging winds there are a manifestation of the Demonic Tide, the yellow sands there are the crystallization of power, and the creatures there are visitors from another world.
By lying dormant after awakening, He outmaneuvered all the powerful beings in the world in a way that no one could have predicted.
The two people closest to the otherworldly god, who had even seen him directly, were naturally the [Ginseng Rooster] and [Great Wei Boxing Champion], who were in charge of the negotiations.
However, their souls did not vanish under this terrifying Demonic Tide.
It wasn't just the two of them; in the previous two weeks of siege warfare, the number of players in the rebel army in the north of Sand Capital and the imperial army in the south had grown to nearly 100,000.
But none of the 100,000 players who faced the onslaught of the Demonic Tide were injured or killed.
The protection from Ed [Otherworldly Half] is like a protective film, evenly coating the surface of each Soul Returner soul, allowing them to maintain the integrity of their souls even when encountering events like "server fluctuations".
However, the situation at this moment was very special, so special that they could not even enter the soul spectator mode as they would after a normal death, but instead were directly plunged into a black screen.
As Ed's pre-set "circuit breaker" mechanism was activated instantly, all the souls that had separated from their bodies were sent back to the real world.
Thousands of players opened their eyes in terror, their ears ringing with emergency alerts from their smart devices.
They took off their helmets, jumped off their beds or deck chairs, and ran to the window as fast as they could.
Some saw the rapidly growing green belt plants, some saw their pets mutating at a visible rate, while many more saw a rift stretching across the sky, and behind it, Skeleton Man eager to pounce.
The signs of the end times are now clearly visible.
Crystal Cluster Palace, the two soulless player bodies did not turn to ashes and disappear; instead, their eyes lit up again.
After sealing off the border and securing the refuge of all creatures within the territory, Ed immediately projected his consciousness into the eye of the storm.
[You have indeed come, God of this world.]
The orb of light transmitted a message to Ed.
[You should have come sooner—what's the point of me "negotiating" with these ants? The one I wanted to see, the one I wanted to "negotiate" with, was you.]
"My universe does not welcome outsiders."
After the two bodies merged, they began to transform into Ed's human form, and a stern warning followed.
[Of course I understand, so you see--]
Countless slices of the real world were displayed before Ed's eyes.
Am I not searching for another universe to settle in?
The Lord of Infinite Crystal Clusters infused a great deal of information into the consciousness of Ed's body:
We are refugees from another world, and merely a temporary stopover in your universe.
[It's only natural that guests like us are rejected by our hosts, so I promise you--]
[Once I have complete control of this new world and have transformed it into an environment we can live in, I will immediately leave your universe with all the "transmigrators'" souls and the Skeleton Man.]
[Until then, consider this land temporarily lent to me. I only wish to help my creations survive, while you want to fight against the Demonic Tide. Let's not interfere with each other, what do you say?]
Ed sneered:
"Don't get in each other's way" sounds nice, but it doesn't.
"So who just now unleashed a Psionic Energy tsunami in my universe?"
"I originally thought that the Skeleton Man were a new race born from infinite possibilities, so I never thought of completely annihilating them."
"But now it seems they were just some insects that got in from outside."
The Lord of Infinite Crystal Clusters was not angry:
[Gods of this world, do not be arrogant.]
[I can tell you're not in very good shape either. The Demonic Tide is a cataclysmic event spanning countless universes; no single world possesses the power to oppose it.]
[Perhaps in the distant future, we'll meet again in another universe as two gods fleeing from disaster...]
"So you became the accomplice of the Demonic Tide, running rampant in my universe?"
[Why put it so harshly? No species can truly adapt to the Demonic Tide. Our race is like a small boat on the surface of the ocean, having only learned to coexist with the Demonic Tide to a certain extent.]
[When a tsunami is approaching, small boats always have to be the first to reach the shore.]
[You don't have much time left. Do you really think you'll have the strength to deal with us?]
Let's make peace here; I've never had any interest in your world anyway.
[Look, this new world, which hasn't yet been invaded by the Demonic Tide, doesn't seem to have any Creators coming to stop me, so as long as you don't disturb me for now...]
"Shut up."
Ed said coldly:
Don't even think about it!
All communication was fleeting; as the negotiations broke down, Ed's human body twisted and vanished, transforming into a gigantic tree that was expanding wildly.
There is nothing that can be called soil within the territory of the Skeleton Alliance, yet this giant tree seems to be rooted in the void and is growing at an alarming rate.
No, this can no longer be called "growth," but is more like simple expansion.
The dumbbell-shaped giant tree has countless branches and roots, each end pointing to a crystalline fissure leading to another world.
Without hesitation, the roots and branches pierced the crack and began to suture it swiftly and carefully, like a surgeon.
In the real world, countless people stared blankly as the crack in the sky, which had been torn open and was widening, gradually disappeared.
[It's all in vain. The barriers between universes are like dams; once they collapse, they can only be rebuilt when the Demonic Tide dries up.]
[Before that, I couldn't resist, and neither could you.]
"I know."
The giant tree, having lost its human form, responded in the same way:
"But at least I can bring the cracks together, making them easier to deal with..."
The Lord of Infinite Crystal Clusters was taken aback upon hearing this, and then felt the countless fissures he had created being gradually closed, just like the air bubbles created when applying a screen protector being squeezed together.
He can see that the World Rift pierced by branches from the same tree and roots from the same vein are brought together in one place, and then aggregated layer by layer to a higher level.