Out of the Way, Bug

Xiao Yu initially didn't have much of a concept of the Scarlet Crusade's strength, but as he gradually ventured deeper into the inner regions of the Eastern Plaguelands, he quickly understood what it meant.

The Eastern Plaguelands were originally teeming with Undead, with only occasional adventurers fighting monsters and leveling up. There was no sign of the living. But now, Xiao Yu often saw groups of Scarlet Crusade engaging in battle and slaughter with the Undead, or the traces left behind by their battles. Piles of charred Undead remains could often be seen by the roadside, clearly indicating that after killing a group of Undead, the Scarlet Crusade would often pile them up and burn them.

However, the corpses of the Scarlet Crusade were very rare. The deeper one went, the more common these scenes of battle and traces became. Of course, Xiao Yu ignored them, and the Scarlet Crusade dared not attack the mighty elemental army, so they ran away at a distance.

(It looks like they're reclaiming lost territory! Are these Scarlet Crusade going to wipe out the Eastern Plaguelands?) Xiao Yu thought to himself.

As Estero walked, he recounted the history of the Scarlet Crusade's expansion to the Water Elemental Lord.

The original Scarlet Crusade's power was basically limited to the area around Tyr's Hand, a small region in the southeastern corner of the Eastern Plaguelands. They built Tyr's Hand into a formidable fortress, resisting the Undead invasion and becoming the only remaining sanctuary in the Eastern Plaguelands. Those humans who survived the Scourge and plague fled to Tyr's Hand for help, which provided the Scarlet Crusade with a large reserve force and trained a large number of new recruits. However, the Scarlet Crusade could only adopt a defensive posture, as the new recruits were very weak in combat. They were okay for defending the city, but going out to fight was basically suicide. The situation changed completely when the Scarlet Glory Guild joined the Scarlet Crusade. Because players with the monster template cannot be killed by the storyline before advancing to rare elites, the Scarlet Crusade theoretically also gained a group of weakened versions of 'adventurers'.

Furthermore, because the Scarlet Crusade includes various monster types such as Scarlet Warrior, Scarlet Mages, Scarlet Priest, and Scarlet Knights, players of Scarlet Glory can form teams similar to adventurers. Although their combat strength is much weaker than that of adventurers, they are much stronger than ordinary Undead monsters.

These squads had a significant advantage in battles against the Undead, and quickly developed a large number of rare elites.

Once these rare elites advance to the city's elite rank, Scarlet Glory will send people to protect them during their leveling and combat. They will also organize planned attacks on nearby Undead bosses. By killing bosses, they can gain reputation and increase their reputation. Once these rare elites reach the elite template, their combat power will increase significantly, and they will naturally become much less likely to die.

Through this progressive training mechanism, Scarlet Glory successfully cultivated a large number of elite units, and formed the Dawn Knights with these elites at their core.

This knightly order is currently sweeping away the surrounding Undead, making the Scarlet Crusade's territory larger and larger. However, the surrounding Undead forces are not unified, and it is common for various forces to fight each other, which gives the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "I see. No wonder you were no match for them. But whether it's the Dawn Knights or the Twilight Knights, they are all ants before me, Azathoth!"

Xiao Yu's confidence was not without reason. The Annihilation state on his body had already stacked three times, which meant that the power of his skills had increased by 300%. Originally, a Fission Orb could deal 10,000 damage, but now it could deal at least 40,000 damage. That damage was simply explosive. Meanwhile, a medium-sized elite monster around level 50 only had 20,000 to 30,000 or 40,000 health. With Xiao Yu's current strength, he could basically kill it instantly.

Of course, such high destructive power also means that he will lose a lot of health points every time he casts a spell. It can be said that he kills 10,000 enemies but loses 5,000 of his own. However, he has a lot of health points, more than 6 million, and he has a group of sea siren priests and water siren priests around him to heal him, as well as Leah Bloodmoon, who is a great healer, so there is no need to worry.

As they ventured deeper, their actions attracted the attention of the Scarlet Crusade. An elemental army appearing in the Undead- strewn Eastern Plaguelands was bound to draw attention. Before they even reached the Corin's Crossing, a cavalry squad of the Scarlet Knights appeared in front of the army.

Leading the group was a mid-level boss, Edward (Crimson Paladin), level 47, with 320,000 health. Behind him were four elite Paladin and a dozen or so ordinary Crimson Warrior.

Edward (Scarlet Paladin): "Elemental Lords, I am Edward, Captain of the Scarlet Crusade's Retribution Order. Tell me, why have you set foot on this Curse land? And why are you walking with the Undead?"

The Scarlet Crusade has a morbid hatred for the Undead; the fact that they didn't immediately attack upon meeting suggests that the opponent is most likely a player.

Normally, Xiao Yu would probably try to achieve his goal through communication first, avoiding war if possible. However, Xiao Yu was not in the mood to communicate with them at the moment.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Get out of my way, you bugs! Tell your master I'm going to take over the Tower of Amalarui. If they're smart enough, they'll send your people as far away as possible. Of course, mortals are usually foolish, so if you're foolish enough to want to fight me, then gather all your forces at that tower and let me take care of them all at once, to avoid trouble."

His voice echoed with an electronic tone, a tearing sound that startled the blood-red Paladin's warhorse, causing it to stagger backward.

Seemingly feeling embarrassed, Edward's expression immediately changed.

Edward (Crimson Paladin): "Don't be so arrogant. We, the Scarlet Glory, are—"

Xiao Yu stopped wasting words and interrupted the other party with a single gesture: -- Fission Orb!

Boom! A ball of purple energy suddenly flew over.

A silent explosion rang out behind him. The crimson knight turned around, horrified to find that all his subordinates had vanished. The four elites and a dozen or so ordinary soldiers had all been instantly disintegrated. Behind him, a semi-circular black crater remained in the ground. Sweat immediately poured down his face. Such terrifying power—he couldn't even guarantee that his 320,000 health points would have allowed him to survive that attack. (Holy crap, what the hell!? That damage is insane!)

Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "I've had enough of your nonsense, you little bug. Now, before I change my mind, get out of here!"

Edward was so frightened that he turned and rode away on his horse, disappearing in a flash.

Estero, standing nearby, was dumbfounded. He thought to himself, "Holy crap, an instant kill! That's an instant kill! He can even one-shot an elite with 30,000 HP? Does that mean he can one-shot adventurers?"

Even the top-tier professional tanks, fully buffed, would probably only have around 15,000 to 16,000 HP. Of course, their defense and resistance are higher than the monsters, but they'd be roughly equivalent to elites with 30,000 HP, or even weaker. They'd probably be one-shotted as well. And that's the top-tier tank. Tanks from smaller guilds are lucky to have 10,000 HP.

One-shotting a full-health tank—that's every boss's dream! Adventurers rely on tanks holding aggro, healers providing support, and DPS relentlessly attacking. Now, if a tank can be one-shotted, what's the point of the tank tanking, and what's the point of the healers?

If even a tank like that can be wiped out in an instant, then it means that no matter how many adventurers come, they're all doomed. That's a huge difference in strength!

Despite being a three-skull-level Lich like Estero, against adventurers, aside from his most powerful move Finger of Death, which can easily one-shot them (but has limitations: a long 5-minute cooldown and can only kill one at a time), almost none of his other skills have the power to instantly kill adventurers of the same level. Seeing Xiao Yu wipe out a group of them in one go, he immediately lost his composure.

He had originally considered himself and Xiao Yu as equal partners, but now he suddenly felt that the gap between them was huge.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Let's keep going!" Xiao Yu said. The Elemental Legion continued to lead the way, and Estero obediently followed. In this world, strength ultimately speaks.

The journey became very quiet after that, and not a single Scarlet Crusade was seen along the way. It was likely that Edward had withdrawn all his men after his retreat.

Finally, the group approached the valley of Tower of Amalarui. Before they even got close, they encountered many Scarlet Crusade mobs, including Scarlet Defenders, Scarlet Priest, and Scarlet Warrior. These mobs were likely environmental monsters automatically generated by a monster faction and could not be directly commanded by Scarlet Glory, so they remained nearby.

They were usually the kind of monsters that adventurers killed to level up, and they didn't have any impact on the army. Agnes, who was clearing the way, took care of them all. However, after walking for a while, they encountered a group of adventurers.

This was a small team of five, fighting against the Scarlet Crusade's minions. When they saw the large army approaching, they immediately ran to the side in fright and watched from a distance.

Xiao Yu ignored them; he didn't care about a few adventurers. However, the presence of adventurers here meant that the Tower of Alamarui was now exposed to them.

Sure enough, as they ventured deeper into the valley, they saw more and more adventurers killing monsters and leveling up. When they got closer to the Tower of Amalarui, they could see from a distance that hundreds of adventurers were blocking the entrance to the dungeon at the foot of the Tower of Alamarui.

PS: Thanks to the reader 'Fire God' for the reward of 100,000 starting coins. The author is speechless and can only add another update to express his gratitude. Today's fourth update is the first update so far.