Armies Gathered

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "Issue a proclamation in the city: Tomorrow, I will lead my army into battle against the Naga army. All adventurers willing to participate can sign up. For every enemy killed on the battlefield, you will gain the Immortals Reputation. Also, send a message to Song of the Ocean, asking her to cooperate with us in the battle tomorrow."

"Also, I've sent a challenge to the Elemental Will and the Naga, telling them to meet me on the beach tomorrow. I bet they'd love to fight me."

Just as Xiao Yu had guessed, the Elemental Will readily agreed to tomorrow's battle, and the battlefield was chosen to be the beach of the Lost Island, so that neither side would suffer losses.

Early the next morning, a densely packed army of elementals emerged from the Yarvis City, forming orderly ranks like a tidal wave, and surged toward the beach of the Lost Island.

Upon receiving the message, Qin Shiyue, after communicating with Xiao Yu, also summoned her mermaid army and appeared on the beach. To Xiao Yu's surprise, the number of mermaids was much larger than he had expected, totaling 40,000, and it seemed that there were many new types of soldiers he had never seen before.

The two met again on the beach of the Lost Island.

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "You have quite a force; that's surprising."

Ariel (Mermaid Queen): "These are all troops sent by other Mermaid Kingdom. Because I conquered the Lost Island, defeated our nemesis the Naga, and reclaimed our mermaid race's sacred artifact, our kingdom's prestige among the twelve Mermaid Kingdom has greatly increased, thus gaining some support. But your strength has also increased. I watched the video of you fighting the Dreadlord, and I must say, you're increasingly impressive."

Qin Shiyue's look today also exudes a queenly aura. She wears a crown on her head and holds a golden scepter in her hand, both of which are legendary equipment she once seized from the Naga Treasury. She wears a long dress made of pearls and is surrounded by the blue light of ocean magic.

It's been a while since we last met, and Ariel's strength has improved as well, reaching the level of a three-skull BOSS and even earning the title of Mermaid Queen. However, compared to Xiao Yu, her growth is still far behind. This is the difference between players. Because Xiao Yu focused entirely on improving his personal strength to obtain the title of the strongest BOSS, he didn't pay much attention to managing his faction. His troops suffered heavy losses in continuous battles. Ariel, on the other hand, had to consider the entire studio, so she focused on expanding her faction. Naturally, her military strength was abundant, but her personal strength growth was not as fast. It's hard to say who is right and who is wrong.

However, Ariel knew there was no turning back at this point. Not only would she owe favors, but if she lost the Lost Island, her guild would be crippled. So this time, she was going all out and mobilized most of her troops.

The army was arrayed in battle formation, and almost every adventurer was present. Seriously, a battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops—this kind of scene is a rare sight, perhaps only seen a few times a year in the entire game. Wouldn't they be adventurers who thrive on chaos if they didn't come and join the fun? Not to mention, there were hundreds of bosses to fight, and these were story-driven bosses. Killing them in the story is a story-driven kill, dropping story-related equipment—and the loot is incredibly high; the rewards are exceptionally generous.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean, the Elemental Will and the Naga army also appeared on the surface.

Although the two forces have formed an alliance, they clearly do not fully trust each other. The two armies are clearly divided and densely distributed across the sea.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but sigh. If the Scourge of the Ocean were still around, he could unleash a powerful attack right now, and his experience and reputation would skyrocket. But there was no way around it; you have to pay the price to gain something. Without the battlefield to attract adventurers, it would be impossible to earn so much money, and it would be impossible to gather so many adventurers around him to fight.

Speaking of adventurers, Xiao Yu couldn't help but look towards the adventurer army on the flank of the main army. He was mainly paying attention to the guilds. Right now, the guild leaders of those adventurers were gathered together discussing something. Due to his evolution into Chaos Elemental, Xiao Yu's hearing had also become extremely strong, and he could clearly hear the adventurers' conversation.

War Soul King: "Once the battle starts, we, the Glory War Soul, will be responsible for the Sea Elemental Lords. Nobody should try to take it from us!"

Dinosaur Express Koseidon: "That Ice Titan is our Dragon Roams the World's prize!"

Thor the Thunder God: "Then our War God Hall will take care of the Naga boss. That Naga Highlord's sword looks really cool! But the Naga forces are a bit too close to the Horde."

Moonshadow Chaser: "Boss Thor, I suggest you pick a weaker boss. Those skeleton-level bosses are surprisingly strong in the story campaign, unlike the knock-off versions in dungeons. I think that Sea Giant King over there is pretty good. It's a skeleton-level boss, so it should drop decent equipment. The difficulty isn't too outrageous either. Plus, that Sea Giant King looks rather clumsy, and it has a weak point in its neck. If you weaken it to the point where it can't fight back, I'm 70% confident I can Execute it."

Thor the Thunder God: "Alright, let's choose the Sea Giant King. As before, we'll split the loot 30/70."

Before the battle even started, these large adventurer guilds had already reserved some of the more conspicuous bosses in the opposite sea, which made Xiao Yu chuckle. If these adventurers were really that capable, that would be great.

What surprised him, however, was the presence of some heroes among these adventurers, though they were all mediocre exploration heroes. These exploration heroes were those who followed adventurers without official positions within the Alliance or Horde; they were essentially story assassins. A very strong adventurer team would sometimes have an exploration hero finish off a boss to ensure a large loot drop. Furthermore, heroes gained priority loot rights after killing a boss, making them highly sought after in story campaigns. They were frequently recruited by adventurer guilds. Large, wealthy guilds would train their own exploration heroes, but smaller guilds or those without wealthy members had to rely on looters.

He would be very happy if these adventurers and exploration heroes were able to kill the enemy's boss.

Just as he was thinking this, in the ocean, the two leading BOSSes of the Elemental Will, escorted by dozens of elite guards, walked a distance towards the beach and stopped in the shallow water. Dozens of sea giants lined up behind the Ice Titan and the Sea Elemental Lords, which was quite impressive.

Azathoth walked forward, floating in the air, until he reached the edge of the beach. He was alone, without any guards.

The two bosses over there clearly hadn't expected their opponent's appearance to change again; it looked even stranger than when they saw it in the video.

Monari (Sea Elemental Lords): "It's been a long time since I've seen Azathoth. I never imagined we'd meet again under these circumstances."

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "It has indeed been a long time, but I'm not surprised. My goal is to unify the Elemental Plane; we will go to war sooner or later."

Gonggong (Frost Titan): "You actually didn't hide in the city and had the guts to come out and fight. I must say, Azathoth, I admire your courage."

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "Your courage is less admirable. You bring a bunch of lackeys with you when you come out to negotiate. Are you afraid I'll kill you?"

Gonggong (Frost Titan): "You! -- Hmph, there's no need to provoke me. This time, I'm not doing this for personal grudges, but for the Elemental Will. You are absolutely no match for the power of the entire Elemental Will."

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "Elemental Will, huh? That's just a name. You've certainly mobilized a considerable army, haven't you? How many troops? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? When Azshara first tried to reclaim the Lost Island, she sent two hundred thousand, and I still defeated her in one move. Now, all of you combined don't even have two hundred thousand. I can only say, hmph, you're incredibly naive to think you can defeat me with such a small force. Just hope you won't be crying after your entire army is wiped out."

Speaking of the troops, Monari really felt a pang of heartache. He had committed his entire army to this battle, and regardless of victory or defeat, he didn't know how many troops he would lose after the war. These troops cost a lot of money. A low-level soldier cost fifty dollars, and if twenty thousand troops died, a million dollars would be gone. Elite soldiers were even more expensive, and unlike ordinary low-level soldiers who could be produced at will, elite troops had to be trained slowly, and once they died, there was no way to replace them.

He had lost over a thousand troops in that probing battle, which had pained him greatly. Hearing Xiao Yu's words now, he felt a pang of regret.

Gonggong (Frost Titan): "What are you afraid of? The guild will replenish your troops if they die. You won't suffer any losses. Just charge in when the battle starts." Gonggong, the Frost Titan beside him, seemed quite arrogant. "Besides, you had an artifact last time, but this time it's different."

Azathoth (Source of Chaos): "It's definitely different now. Last time, with two skeleton-level enemies, it was a bit difficult to take down 200,000 Naga. This time, with four skeleton-level enemies, killing your 150,000 troops should be a bit easier."

Before they could even get into playing around, a Naga Highlord came over.

Faras Bloodfin (Naga Highlord): "Hey, have you finished your negotiations? Her Majesty the Queen has ordered you to prepare for the attack."