At the same time that Atimo's fleet was destroyed, Han Xiao, who was loitering on the border of the Gaolu Star Cluster, received intelligence from Phillip, along with the planetary data accumulated by the Great Cosmos Corps.
"Let me see how much I've gained~" Han Xiao blinked and opened the documents to browse through them.
Although the power of the Great Cosmos Corps is merely a castle in the air and superficial, they have discovered quite a few planets over the years, scattered across several star systems in the central part of the Gaolu Star Cluster.
Some of these planets were originally inhabited by indigenous civilizations, but they were all enslaved by the Great Cosmos Corps. Unlike the mere fragments recorded in the previous Crimson Dynasty's records, this document details the Great Cosmos Corps's plundering process in detail, including video footage, filled with killing and bloodshed.
Shaking his head, Han Xiao contacted Commander-in-Chief Tarrokov.
"I've obtained the data on the Great Cosmos Corps; I've sent you a copy."
"Well done." Tarrokov was pleased, quickly glanced through the document, nodded and smiled, "The Empire will remember your contribution."
Before Han Xiao could speak, the panel reacted.
[You have submitted the [Great Cosmos Corps Exploration Data]!]
[Crimson Dynasty Contribution +1500]
[Personal Exploration Points +550]
[Shattered World - First Ring] Rating increased by one tier.
The main storyline of Shattered World is a faction quest. Currently, exploring Gaolu is the first stage. All players share the quest rating, which depends on everyone's total exploration points.
This is a special exploration achievement. After more than a month of exploration, everyone's mission rating was originally D-, but now all players' ratings have been directly upgraded to Grade D.
It may not seem like much, but it's a major main quest of S+ difficulty. Each small improvement in rating takes a long time, and it gets harder as you progress.
However, the 1500 Crimson Dynasty contribution points were the reward that really cheered Han Xiao up. Last time, he spent 6000 contribution points to exchange for the Ultimate Knowledge [Mechanical Life Spark] from the Empire, and he still had 2000+ contribution points left.
He has now received 1500 contribution points in one go. He only needs to acquire a little over 2000 more points to exchange for a new Ultimate Knowledge. Because of his status, the cost of exchanging for Ultimate Knowledge is halved. In his previous life, an ordinary player would need 12000 points to exchange for one.
However, ordinary players who join the Crimson Dynasty can obtain military ranks and continuously complete tasks to improve their ranks, thus enjoying more and more discounts—but even at the top, they can not reach their own 50% discount.
The hidden quest brought by Maple Moon gave him a small windfall, which pleased Han Xiao.
Such a capable player deserves not only a reward, but a substantial one, which will also encourage other players to explore hidden quests.
No one gets rich without unexpected windfalls, so jungling is definitely a good way to get ahead.
While he was checking the panel, Tarrokov didn't stop either, saying, "This intelligence can save us a lot of manpower. I'll have someone enter this data into the star map later. Since you've already sent people to the Eliminate the Great Cosmos Army, you'll temporarily take over their territory. Anyway, you've adopted a decentralized exploration mode, so leave a team to develop the central part of the Gaolu Star Cluster."
"Okay." Han Xiao smiled; this was his secondary objective.
Compared to the planets in the border star systems, the central region of the star cluster is the most prosperous area in the future. This time, in order to the Eliminate the Great Cosmos Army, the expedition team has legitimately established a long-distance passage. At that time, they can go directly to the central region of the star cluster and occupy all the most famous planets in their previous life, thus secretly making their way to the center.
Once you've secured the territory, other imperial allies participating in the exploration won't be able to take it; they'll have to go around it. As long as you take control of the most prosperous areas in the star cluster first, you'll earn the most.
Moreover, with the groundwork laid by the first long-distance trek, he wouldn't arouse suspicion when he secretly retrieved Universal Treasure from the eastern part of the star cluster in the future.
Tarrokov then stated that he would report to the Empire and request that the Empire reward the Black Star Army with additional resources to help replenish its manpower.
The two chatted for a while before hanging up.
Han Xiao connected with Phillip's vision, which gave him time to turn his attention to the battlefield far away in several star systems, to see how the players and Atimo were doing.
Bang bang bang!
Explosions!
The surging crowd surged forward, charging along the crater walls toward Atimo in the center like a tidal wave.
Atimo fought alone, weaving through the crowd to evade attacks. Countless beams of energy were released from various parts of his body, shooting at the crowd in all directions like a mobile artillery platform.
Beams of light swept across the crowded battlefield, striking different locations and causing violent explosions that sent figures with shields flying.
The battle had been going on for quite some time, with countless players using their abilities. Various colored lights flickered across the battlefield, and all sorts of abilities emerged one after another. Atimo's negative status effects never fell below thirty. Although the duration was short, the sheer number of players meant that the negative status effects kept refreshing.
With such a large level difference, Atimo's speed gives him an advantage, and he constantly changes position, making it impossible for players to lock onto him or hold his aggro. This means that players from different areas are randomly facing Atimo's attacks, and once they encounter him, players who have only recently reached Grade B are basically unable to withstand Atimo damage.
Players usually fight a dungeon boss in small teams of a few or dozens of people. This was the first time that hundreds of thousands of people were fighting a real character of an excessively high level. Every team wanted to get the most damage, regardless of friendly fire, and the scene became chaotic.
This battle was much more difficult than any player or illustrator had anticipated. The various tactics devised before the battle were basically useless; one could only improvise.
However, what the players don't know is that Atimo is under countless times more pressure than they are.
He weaved through the crowd, intending to use them as human shields to make the enemies hesitant to attack, fearing accidental casualties and thus weakening their offensive. However, he was astonished to find that these people didn't care about the lives of their other comrades and were willing to risk blowing up their comrades to attack him.
Even the cold-blooded Atimo was taken aback by the player. Despite having nowhere to run and the opponent already having the upper hand, the player was still using such a reckless fighting style!
This is so cold-blooded! The Black Star Army is so ruthless!
The player was fearless, and his tactics were useless. Atimo could only endure massive concentrated attacks every moment, and had to constantly expend energy to maintain his shield.
The player's attack power was only at the Grade B, but little by little, it added up. He dared not let his body take so much damage, after all, he did not have a strong physique.
His shield couldn't block all damage, especially the relentless psychic attacks that made his head buzz; most of his negative status effects were inflicted by psychic attacks.
Atimo also had several minor injuries, and his health was slowly decreasing. He didn't have a high recovery ability; even when he used his energy to stimulate cell division, the regeneration rate couldn't keep up with the rate at which his health was decreasing.
Moreover, with his strength being depleted so quickly, he felt that, given his current condition, the chances of killing all the enemies were becoming increasingly slim.
Although he thought this way, Atimo did not want to give up and wait for death as long as there was even the slightest chance of survival.
"Even if we can't escape, we'll still inflict massive casualties on your superhumans!" Atimo thought fiercely.
Even if it means death, I will take a piece of flesh from the Black Star Army. Since their fighting style is so crazy, I can inflict maximum damage on the enemy.
Atimo's figure flashed, and he moved to another area. Suddenly, his foot clicked as he stepped into a series of mechanical traps. The strong magnetic field gripped his body, creating a strong restraining force that slowed his movements.
"Come here, everyone! I've got him!" one player exclaimed joyfully.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! The turrets surrounding Atimo, shrouded in the Mechanical Force of different players, all turned and spewed fire at him, unleashing a dense hail of bullets.
Atimo roared in a deep voice, and the energy shield solidified once more. A hail of bullets struck the shield, sending up a continuous stream of sparks and fragments of light.
Boom! His tentacles and fingers shot out beams of energy one after another, like a peacock spreading its tail, instantly blasting away the surrounding turrets that were attacking him.
Immediately afterward, he stomped his foot, releasing an energy shockwave with a bang that shattered the mechanical trap holding him, freeing him. Just as Atimo was about to retreat, his mind suddenly went blank, and a dozen or so psychic masters rushed over, throwing silent mental shockwaves at him.
The momentary delay allowed a large group of martial artists to rush forward, their fists, brimming with aura, bombarding the shield like cannonballs.
Bang bang bang!
The shield began to flicker and sway. Atimo gritted his teeth, and multiple tentacles swept out like whips. With each attack, an energy shockwave erupted, and the immense force sent the martial artists who had entangled him flying, crashing into a large crowd.
Ground combat was very disadvantageous for him, so Atimo tried to fly again, but after only a dozen meters off the ground, he felt immense pressure and his movements became extremely sluggish.
Looking up, countless magic circles floated in the sky, layered with numerous anti-air spells.
Even if Grade B mage's spells were combined, it would be difficult to trap Calamity Grade. However, it would also take Atimo a lot of time to cross the no-fly zone, and he dared not do so because it would easily make him a target.
Even if he took to the air, if he didn't kill off all the pursuers, they would still catch up in their spaceships. He didn't think his flying speed was faster than a spaceship's, so where could he possibly escape to on this planet?
The two sides fought a bloody battle, and after an unknown period of time, Atimo was exhausted.
He couldn't remember how many enemies he had killed; it might have been tens of thousands, while the number of his own people accidentally wounded by the enemy was probably several times greater than the number he had killed.
"A bunch of lunatics!" Atimo spat out a mouthful of blood, dragging his heavy body to continue fighting.
His strength was almost gone; he was exhausted, and his injuries were getting worse.
"It seems I have no chance..." Atimo's heart sank to the bottom, and he became even more ruthless.
At least the enemy suffered heavy casualties; they'll take a bunch of them down with them even in death!
However, at this moment, Atimo dodged another concentrated attack. Looking at the still densely packed crowd around him, a sudden realization struck him, and he became aware of an anomaly that he had been ignoring while engrossed in the battle.
After fighting for so long, we should have killed a lot of enemies, but since there have been no enemy reinforcements, how come... the number of enemies seems to have remained unchanged?!
Atimo was suddenly stunned.
In his worldview, if someone dies, they are definitely dead. He doesn't have the concept of resurrection, so he doesn't consciously observe the situation. The battlefield is so chaotic, with over 300,000 enemies, that he simply didn't have time to identify who he was facing. In addition, his own situation was extremely dangerous, and he was so focused on fighting that he couldn't be distracted. Only now has he noticed this unusual situation.
Noticing this, Atimo observed carefully for a while, then his expression suddenly changed drastically.
"These people... they're immortal?!"
Atimo's eyes widened in disbelief. A profound despair, like a bolt of lightning, swept through his body in an instant, and a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.
No wonder, no wonder they didn't care about casualties; it turns out these people simply don't have the concept of "casualties"...
He thought he had inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, but it turned out to be just wishful thinking, his resistance... a futile struggle...
If it were simply a matter of having many enemies, Atimo would still have the desire to fight to the death. But when he discovered that the enemies could resurrect, Atimo's mentality collapsed, he became utterly desperate, and his will to fight vanished.
"Ah--" Atimo no longer harbored any illusions. He roared to the sky, releasing all the remaining strength in his body without reservation.
Rumble!
A dozen thick beams of light swept across the battlefield, instantly killing anyone who touched them. They cleared large areas of empty space on the battlefield in an instant, and with just this one strike, tens of thousands of players were wiped out.
"Attention! Everyone lie down! This should be the final stage of the boss fight; it's almost time to kill!"
Teams of players quickly transformed into prone campers, as the beam of light swept over their heads, and the intense aftershocks alone caused them some damage.
The dozen or so beams of light quickly dissipated, having exhausted all their essence. Atimo finally drained himself dry, swaying unsteadily as if he might collapse at any moment.
Bang!
The next moment, a cannonball blasted Atimo to the ground. Seeing this, the players perked up and hurriedly got up, rushing towards Atimo to compete for advantageous positions and unleashing a barrage of Atimo.
Almost unable to resist, Atimo was like a doll being fought over by a group of people. His hands and feet were quickly torn off, and he was left to be abused by the players. His eyes became increasingly lifeless, and the faces of the players around him looked like grotesque demons to him.
As he lay dying, Atimo suddenly hallucinated; the faces of the players changed, as if they had all become his face for a moment.
He was momentarily dazed, his mind drifting back to his years of plundering, and suddenly felt a pang of emotion.
Is this karma...?
Pfft!
The next moment, his vision spun, and his head was ripped off by someone. The light in Atimo's eyes vanished quickly, leaving only a gray-white expanse, devoid of any life.
"Hahaha! The kill reward is ours!"
The Dynasty's team erupted in cheers.
Tai Erzi was overjoyed. In his excitement, he casually tossed Atimo's head around, Kings and Generals beside him shook their heads helplessly.
"Tsk, it's actually Dynasty."
"I died three times and didn't even get a hair on my head. What a huge loss!"
"Why don't we take care of them here?"
The professional player teams from other guilds glared at the Dynasty.
Strong Vodka and Captain Old Henry were somewhat disappointed. The BOSS reward had been taken by a top club. It would have been better if it had been given to some smaller clubs. It seemed that the Dynasty would be a formidable opponent again in this league.
During the chaotic battle, they kept targeting the Huaxia players' team, trying to fake friendly fire. However, they also found themselves suffering a lot of friendly fire as well, with each player dying about three times... They guessed they were being targeted by the Huaxia, resulting in mutual attacks.
Regular players, though they didn't receive any rewards, were still quite excited.
--Atimo, this is the first true Calamity Grade BOSS to die at their hands!
This is the first kill by a player on Calamity Grade!
On the other side, Han Xiao also received Phillip's report and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally, the Calamity Grade has been killed..."
If it were Calamity Grade like Ashes, players wouldn't be able to defeat it even after using up all their resurrections.
But Atimo didn't have such monstrous abilities; he was just an ordinary Calamity Grade. Phillip caused his ship to crash, but the players had ships to pursue him, so he had nowhere to escape but to fight against more than 300,000 players. Meanwhile, the players had already reached Grade B combat power, which was enough to achieve a qualitative change. In the end, Atimo could only die with regret.
In Han Xiao's eyes, this incident was a milestone achievement for the players, and also a turning point in their changing mindset.
In the previous life, players only managed to kill the first Calamity Grade monster in version 4.0. After that, players knew they possessed the combat power to threaten ordinary Calamity Grade, and their mentality changed, becoming more confident... and even more reckless.
This is unavoidable. Players have too much initiative, and sooner or later they will have this idea. However, at present, the impact on Han Xiao is very limited. His combat power and influence can suppress the little devil in the hearts of most players.
He deliberately had the players deal with Atimo so that they could kill a Calamity Grade enemy as members of the Black Star Army and make it part of the Legion's story... Without Phillip's help, they wouldn't have been able to stop Atimo from escaping, and thus wouldn't have been able to kill the first Calamity Grade boss.
Therefore, this first kill is both a player's achievement and a result of the faction's overwhelming victory. Once players understand this, it will actually increase some players' sense of belonging to the faction.
Moreover, this first kill is a milestone event and a collective action by the Legion. The memory of this collective achievement may strengthen the bond between many people and the Legion.