In the hazy, white light of the mind's world, the sudden appearance of the Mind Beast stands out starkly.
Shaking off its abnormally ugly body, its ferocious eyes, filled with the Mind Beast, rotated 360 degrees to survey the new environment before it.
A magnificent palace soon came into view, with halos revolving around it, radiating a soft Radiance, like a symbol of wisdom.
Thump!!
The gates of the Hall of Wisdom burst open with a deafening roar, unleashing a powerful suction that swallowed the unsuspecting Mind Beast. A tearing scream echoed through the air in an instant.
The portal slowly closed, and through the not-yet-fully-closed portal, one could see that the Mind Beast that had just entered the Hall of Wisdom were warmly welcomed by countless distracting thoughts of living beings, and were quickly overwhelmed, their bodies shattered, becoming part of the power of the Hall of Wisdom.
The plan was a success. For Gustavo, the Mind Beast that he would avoid at all costs was nothing more than fish on a chopping board, fresh and delicious, when faced with Logo.
After all, Logo needs more than just the Power of Faith; he also welcomes all kinds of evil desires—a cat is a good cat as long as it catches mice, regardless of whether it's black or white.
Human nature is so tolerant that it gives Logo and Gustavo a lot of room to maneuver.
On the other hand, feeling his mind suddenly become exceptionally pure, Gustavo felt that he could continue to devour resources until the "Cornerstone" could no longer withstand it.
In short, for Gustavo after the experiment's success, one of the two major obstacles that plagued other members of the Devouring Faction— "mental will"—was almost negligible.
After that, you can focus your energy on improving the "Cornerstone".
Wouldn't that maximize growth efficiency?!
"However, we can't be careless. We should still pay attention to improving our mental will, otherwise, if we can't expel the Mind Beast in certain special circumstances, it will be troublesome. Also, when facing powerful mental beings, a weak mental will is a big problem..."
After the initial excitement, Gustavo returned to his composure. The experience of Luck Deprivation had solidified his character; he habitually considered the worst-case scenario, remaining remarkably steady and never taking risks—not in his lifetime!
With this in mind, Gustavo activated his [A Thousand Grindings and Ten Thousand Blows] Attribute Talent.
As light and shadow shifted, the scene before him transformed into an incredibly realistic world. Gustavo's gaze gradually became hazy, his memories clouded by his own will, as he immersed himself in this world, accepting the various hardships and trials he had endured.
A total of 50 trials were conducted. After each trial, Gustavo would continue to consume the resources at hand to become stronger. At the same time, he would use the power of the surrounding Demonic Sea to comprehend its power composition, gaining a lot and his strength continued to grow steadily.
Time slipped away little by little.
The boundless Demonic Sea became even clearer and more transparent, resembling liquid crystal from afar. Under its hazy luster, it appeared exquisitely beautiful and harmless.
In reality, only Gustavo, who was within it, could sense that the power of the surrounding Demonic Sea was becoming increasingly restless, like a wild beast in heat, frenzied, tyrannical, and increasingly destructive, its overall strength rapidly increasing in an unreasonable way.
If, a little over a year ago, Upper God could barely manage to exchange a few blows with the King of the Demonic Sea and entangle this Astral Realm Anomaly, then now, forget about it.
Ordinary Upper God would face an uphill battle against the current King of the Demonic Sea, with the risk level not just being nine out of ten, but at the very highest. Perhaps only the most powerful Upper God could contend with him. And to completely suppress the King of the Demonic Sea, only the actions of Main God could guarantee absolute success.
This is before the King of the Demonic Sea has entered its starvation period. Once it does, its destructive power is simply unimaginable.
Buzz!!
A silent tremor erupted from the depths of the soul, followed by a familiar voice echoing in the ears, "The Chaos Tide has arrived; prepare to strike..."
Bang!!
Amidst the raging Demonic Sea, this virtual world, which had once existed for a considerable period, was utterly destroyed.
Narnia, who was outside the gravitational barrier, was immediately backfired by the power of the Demonic Sea and collapsed to the ground, her soul in a state of chaos. The other God Level Dragon-Hunting Spider were shocked and quickly used various methods to help Narnia recover.
After a long while, Narnia, who had gotten up again, let out a deep breath, her spider-like eyes filled with fear. "Is this the true power of the King of the Demonic Sea? Truly formidable..."
"I wonder how that brat Gustavo managed to keep going. He's a real oddball." The God Level Dragon-Hunting Spider discussed among themselves. As the power of the King of the Demonic Sea increased day by day, their curiosity about Gustavo skyrocketed.
Thump thump thump!!
Herzan, seated in the superior position, curled up one of his golden swords and tapped the table with his knuckles. The noisy hall immediately quieted down, and all eyes turned to him.
Herzan first looked at the panting Narnia and asked, "Has the message reached you?"
Narnia nodded slightly. "What needed to be said has been said. The interrupted remarks are unimportant and won't affect the main matter. With that brat's quick wit, he'll know what to do when he sees the Gate of Myriad Worlds."
"Very well, since that's the case, let's proceed according to the established plan. This is a golden opportunity for our ' East 3 War Zone ' to make a name for itself, so let's not slack off!"
"Yes!"
The group of God Level Dragon-Hunting Spider, their Pupil Light gleaming, were all eager to try their skills. With Herzan's command, they left the hall.
The Astral Realm has an extremely complex order structure, with countless planes, Void bodies, beings, dimensions, etc., operating in their own places and working together to maintain the stability of the Astral Realm system.
As the largest known multiverse system, the Astral Realm has an exceptionally wide range of influence.
From the inside out, based on the strength of the influence of the Astral Realm rules, the Astral Realm can be divided into different regions: the "Core Zone," the "Inner Zone," the "Outer Zone," the "Assimilation Zone," and the "Expansion Zone."
Further outwards lie the "Chaos Zone," almost unaffected by the rules of the Astral Realm, and the "Black Abyss," completely unaffected.
The "Expansion Zone" is incorporated into the new plane, and the "Assimilation Zone" conquers and assimilates the new plane. Once the new plane is fully integrated into the Astral Realm rule system, the area will gradually become the "Outer Zone."
The location of the Elven Plane is the "Outer Zone," and the above process has been gone through a long time ago.
Generally speaking, the interdimensional exploration operations, or "reclamation" often mentioned by the major powers in the Astral Realm, refer to planes located in the "Assimilation Zone".
The reason is that the planes in this region have been assimilated by the Astral Realm rules, and Astral Realm Transcendent and various technologies based on the Astral Realm rules can exert their full power.
Conversely, in the "Expansion Zone," where the sparse Astral Realm rules have not yet completely transformed the various planes, the strength and technology of Transcendent beings from the Astral Realm will be suppressed to a certain extent. In extreme cases, they may even lose more than 90% of their power, becoming extremely vulnerable and dangerous.
The forces capable of conducting large-scale resource extraction operations here are at least mid-level Astral Realm; even rudimentary Astral Realm civilizations are somewhat inadequate. They could easily be wiped out before even acquiring any resources, suffering severe Yuan Qi to their civilization. The risk factor is extremely high.
Of course, while the "Expansion Zone" is dangerous, it also has great benefits.
Because the Astral Realm rules are relatively weak here and the Astral Realm Will pays little attention, many operations that are not permitted within the Astral Realm "Assimilation Zone," such as acts of Destruction planes, become commonplace here and go unpunished.
It is well known that destructive mining is far more efficient at acquiring resources than sustainable mining practices.
The "Expansion Zone" thus became an important way for major forces in the Astral Realm to obtain resources. The reason why the Treacherous Destruction Continent was stationed in the "Expansion Zone" was because the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan was actually a vanguard force sent by the "Primogenitor Mountain," similar to a border guard, protecting their own logistics members while they collected resources.
In some ways, the Astral Realm can be seen as a super-sized being that also needs to 'eat, drink, and excrete' in order to maintain its healthy growth.
The so-called Chaos Tide can actually be understood as the "feeding behavior" of the Astral Realm.
Every so often, the Astral Realm opens its Endless maw and sucks in everything in its path. Planes, matter, energy, and strange life forms located in the "Chaos Zone" are swept up by this powerful suction force, turning into Chaos Tide that fly towards the "Expansion Zone."
During this process, resource gathering teams from various factions stationed in the Expansion Zone will be mobilized, operating at full capacity, each employing their own unique methods to acquire all sorts of resources.
Enormous profits naturally lead to numerous disputes. At this time, necessary military Intimidation is indispensable. The Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan does this job. After all, among the many giant beast clans in the Primogenitor Mountain, the Dragon-Hunting Spider is one of the more capable ones. The Treacherous Destruction Continent is a natural super war fortress, so it was naturally sent to the Expansion Zone to serve as a garrison.
As the natural enemy of the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan, the True Dragon Clan, led by the True Dragon Empire, would certainly not let go of this enemy that they believed must be eliminated, and would never allow the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan to grow stronger.
Thus, the True Dragon Clan quickly followed and drove a thorn into the Treacherous Destruction Continent —the Supreme Mechanical Dragon Nest, personally guarded by "Dark Light Dragon Ancestor Clauvidius," one of the Supreme God- level powerhouses of the True Dragon Empire.
During each Chaos Tide, the two races would clash fiercely, engaging in a frenzied battle, soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, with blood spilled Void.
Their Berserk fighting style and relentless determination scared away the neighboring tribes that had been stationed nearby, leaving only the two races, now enraged, locked in a deadly battle.
The reason why Gustavo's paternal lineage was almost wiped out was because of the fierce battles with the True Dragon Empire. The extremely brutal war was constantly draining the potential of the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan, which was exactly what the True Dragon Empire intended.
The True Dragon yearn to bleed the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan to their last drop of blood in the Expansion Zone.
Even if they can't destroy the Treacherous Destruction Continent, they should still suppress the development of the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan. After all, the True Dragon Clan is large and powerful, and they can use a portion of their strength to keep the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan occupied without affecting their own development.
Using one's own resources to harm others is the most intractable strategy; it's a blatant and overt scheme, yet the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan is powerless to stop it.
Seeking help from the Primogenitor Mountain?
Don't forget, the Chromatic Dragon Clan is also a member of the Primogenitor Mountain, and most of the Dragon-Hunting Spider's allies are also allies of the True Dragon Clan.
Then you'll just have to tough it out yourself.
There's no way to hide, and you can't escape. Since the True Dragon Clan can hunt you down to the Expansion Zone, they can naturally hunt you down to other areas of the Astral Realm as well.
The Expansion Zone is actually the best choice for the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan because of its abundant resources. The Star Capture User class of the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan is particularly adept at destructive resource gathering, and the existence of the Black Hole Domain further increases resource gathering efficiency.
With ample resources, the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan was able to withstand the relentless bombardment of the True Dragon Empire; otherwise, they would have been completely wiped out sooner or later.
The relationship between the two races, whether stemming from innate bloodline conflict or the blood feud formed through subsequent battles, is irreconcilable.
Neither side will let go of the slightest opportunity to harm the other.
Even with the risky operation of using Astral Realm Anomaly, which seemed unbelievable to other forces, the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan only held a brief discussion before unanimously approving it.
risk?
As long as those reptiles can be killed, a little hardship is nothing!
The Void of the Astral Realm is already extremely dark, so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face. However, the Void of the Expansion Zone is even darker. It is as difficult as piercing through frozen ground with a shovel to spread light here.
And it was in this extremely dark environment that giant, octopus-like creatures emerged.
Peeling away the darkness, one can see that these octopuses are entirely blue, with silver specks dotting their surface. Intricate Bloodline Totem are etched on their round foreheads, and countless tiny Black Hole are distributed across their eighteen tentacles. The gravity emanating from these Black Hole weaves an invisible barrier that not only enhances Energy Absorption efficiency but also resists various attacks from all directions.
The Bloodline Totem atop the octopus behemoth's head is no mere decoration; it can gather the power of warriors, unleashing terrifying individual combat strength, and also emit a buffing totem Radiance, similar to a war aura, enhancing the overall combat effectiveness of the troops.
As a powerful faction on par with super-civilizations, Primogenitor Mountain is considered an authority in the realm of the Astral Realm. Its war fortresses are primarily composed of biological behemoths, which contain advanced bloodline technology and have extremely high troop production efficiency.
Moreover, relying on its vast bloodline population, Primogenitor Mountain has developed a unique summoning system and a bloodline sorcerer system, whose individual combat strength is also not to be underestimated.
As a member of the Primogenitor Mountain, the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan naturally focuses on developing biological bloodline technology. These octopus-shaped war beasts are among the most common types of war weapons on the Treacherous Destruction Continent.
Inside the octopus behemoth, Narnia, who had recovered from the backlash of the Demonic Sea's power, gazed at the pale green projection before her.
Each plane, with its unique shape, stretched out long tails of energy, flying towards their location like a swarm of tadpoles.
These planes appear to move slowly, but that's just how they appear on the projection. Their true speed has long surpassed the speed of light, by billions of times. They are completely unrestrained by the rules of the Astral Realm and are comparable to continuous teleportation, rushing over in a mighty torrent.
Some of the more fragile planes were forced to disintegrate at this terrifying speed, turning into countless fragments of matter that continued to be swept forward by this torrent.
"Are all the monitoring buoys deployed?" Narnia asked without turning her head.
A Dragon-Hunting Spider behind him immediately replied, "A total of fifteen million Void monitoring buoys have been deployed. Once an enemy approaches the warning area, they will be detected immediately."
Narnia nodded slightly. "Hmm, very good. Have all units on high alert. Our mission this time isn't just resource gathering; we also need to act as bait. The latter is of higher priority. Be careful to protect yourselves. No one is allowed to attack without my orders!"
The order was given, and a burning fighting spirit began to ignite in Narnia's heart. "Come on, reptiles..."
Located in a Void region on the eastern side of the Treacherous Destruction Continent, the mechanical dragon nest called the Star-Forging floats silently. Its size is comparable to an ordinary plane. It is purple with countless dragon patterns engraved on its armor. Inside, Space-Time overlaps, and hundreds of millions of arsenals operate autonomously. Every moment, a huge number of mechanical warriors are conceived and enter the barracks to wait for orders.
Surrounding the Star-Forging Dragon Nest are hundreds of smaller mechanical dragon nests. Countless True Dragon and dragon-like creatures move in and out of these war fortresses, converging into an innumerable torrent. The roars of dragons rise and fall, transforming into endless sound waves that fill the entire space.
Suddenly, as if receiving a command, a full twelve small mechanical dragon nests, in groups, activated their space jump systems and moved in a certain direction.
The commander of this mechanical dragon's nest force is named Stofen, nicknamed the Star-Burning Dragon. He is an old rival of Narnia, has a fiery temper, and is extremely strong in individual combat, but is inferior to Narnia in terms of war strategy.
"Hmph, these stinking spiders are still so arrogant, daring to swagger out and send out troops to carry out resource gathering missions. They simply don't take our great True Dragon Clan seriously!" Inside the dragon's nest, Stofen, whose true form had transformed into a hundred-meter-tall creature, exhaled a breath carrying sparks, his star-like vertical pupils burning with raging fury.
To Stofen's left, an indigo True Dragon opened its massive, fang-filled maw and sneered, "Heh, perhaps they know they can't hide it from the Empire's advanced detection equipment, so they're just putting on a show to avoid demoralizing themselves."
These words drew thunderous laughter from many True Dragon, and the atmosphere inside the dragon's nest became lively.
And so, amidst the comments of the True Dragon regarding the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan, the twelve dragon nests finally leaped out of space and arrived at their designated locations.
Clapping~
Mechanical chains emerged from a dragon's nest, their tops transforming into dragon claws, and pulled out a barely perceptible spherical device hidden in the Void.
"Void monitoring buoy, it seems we're not far from our target..."
Stofen suddenly stood up from his throne, his broad dragon wings unfurling behind him. Countless golden-red threads shone on the surface of his dragon scales, and terrifying energy radiation swept out in waves. In an instant, the temperature of the entire dragon's nest soared, and all kinds of mechanical devices instantly went into overload mode.
Kill them all!
The domineering dragon roar echoed through the depths of the Void along the energy veins. The twelve dragon nests ignored the densely distributed monitoring buoys ahead and charged forward, eventually clashing with the forces led by Narnia.
A fierce battle erupted.
The Star-Burning Dragon Stofen and the String Controller Narnia, two Middle God- level warriors, dismounted from their respective vehicles and engaged in a one-on-one battle.
The difference is that Narnia still retains some focus to command the troops in battle, while Stofen has handed over all command to his deputy who has fought alongside him for many years, and is single-mindedly fighting his old rival.
' Star-Burning Fire '
With dragon wings covering the sky, Stofen's size suddenly expanded to be comparable to half the size of an ordinary plane. Blazing flames burned on his body, and the Divine Realm descended, turning a large part of the Void into a world of fire.
Seeing this, Narnia remained calm and composed, leaping back and forth in the sea of fire like an elegant dancer, gradually weaving a crystal-clear spider web. The next moment, puppets emerged from the holes of the web, fighting alongside their master.
As the battle dragged on, and the two sides became locked in a fierce struggle, unable to distinguish one another and unable to retreat, another force of the Dragon-Hunting Spider Clan arrived. This force was also led by a Middle God, nicknamed the Poison Widow, Vinara.
Stofen was taken aback by what he saw. Even though he was not good at commanding troops, he realized that his side was surrounded and that it was a trap.
"Narnia, you despicable bastard, you're truly shameless!" Stofen shouted as he instructed his deputy to call for backup, which was exactly what Narnia wanted.
Not long after, news reached Stofen that the support troops had been attacked by the Treacherous Destruction Continent Eastern War Zone 3 shortly after setting off, suffering heavy losses.
"Stofen, this is a trap. The Mitrola Clan is using us as bait to lure the reinforcements here, and then they'll deploy forces to ambush them on the way..." The deputy's urgent words echoed in his ears.
Stofen, who was being besieged by two Middle God, almost spat out a mouthful of blood, his heart filled with rage.
"How dare you use me as bait! This is outrageous!"
"Tsk, among the True Dragon Clan, fools like you are rare. It would be a real waste not to use you as bait!"
A slightly languid, mature woman's voice echoed, its sarcasm incredibly strong. The speaker was none other than the Poison Widow, Vinara. Not only did she cultivate the "Poison Divine Law," but her mouth was also incredibly venomous, her taunting skills at their peak. With just a few words, she made Stofen's eyes turn bloodshot, and he flapped his dragon wings and charged forward, only to be brutally beaten and become even more precarious.
"Tsk tsk, sure enough, some dragons just can't get it right, no matter what..."
Mockingly, Stofen charged forward again, only to suffer even more severe injuries.
After several attempts, Stofen completely shut down his hearing, folded his dragon wings, and used his immense life force to defend himself.
If you can't beat them in a fight or out-argue them, what else can you do? This is the only way!
Meanwhile, more and more True Dragon troops, like Stofen, are encountering similar situations.
The Treacherous Destruction Continent Eastern War Zone 3 committed almost all its forces to engage in bloody battles with the True Dragon Forces belonging to the Star-Forging Dragon Nest in various regions. It also used various maneuvers to divert the defending forces of the Star-Forging Dragon Nest, greatly reducing its defensive strength.
Thus, Gustavo, who had been dormant in the Tirmis Gravitational Field, finally got his chance to make his appearance.
A portal shimmering with starlight slowly emerged, ignoring the interference of the King of the Demonic Sea, and slowly opened.
This is the Gate of Myriad Worlds.
On the other side of the Gate of Myriad Worlds lies the Void region where the Star-Forging Dragon Nest is located.
Crossing this gate will allow us to penetrate deep into the enemy's rear.