Chapter 313: The Great Victory In The Mountains Of The Dead
Two lines of crimson text kept flashing, plunging everyone in the command cabin into silence for a moment. Even the battle-hardened members of the Dragon Hunting Corps all wore solemn looks.
Under normal circumstances, they would not take Viscera Refining Realm martial artists and Bone Forging Realm experts of this scale seriously.
But after the fighting with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s grey-robed disciples in the Mountain of the Dead, many members of the Dragon Hunting Corps already knew the grey-robed disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could transform.
Martial artist level could erupt with the level of an Advanced Bone Forging Realm martial artist, and Bone Forging Realm could erupt with the level of Initial Stage Blood Coagulation.
Right now, 6,186 martial artists and 262 Bone Forging Realm experts, estimated in the worst way, were equivalent to 6,186 Advanced Bone Forging Realm martial artists and 262 Initial Stage Blood Coagulation experts.
6,186 Bone Forging Realm experts were still manageable; many major powers could field that. But 262 Blood Condensing Realm masters, a number comparable to the first-rate major powers within the Four Regions. Even their Red Moon Merchant Guild had to treat that carefully.
“That old bastard Kui Lang really knows how to dump trouble on me. What does he mean by only a bit more than fifty disciples with strength comparable to Initial Stage Blood Coagulation? Utter nonsense. Do they not bother to investigate a faction properly before taking action?” Rhein Manster looked at the numbers on the screen, frowned slightly, and could not help cursing. “Jena, notify Team One and Team Four to come support. Everyone follows me out to meet them!”
“Yes!” Captain Jena looked at Rhein Manster, who stood up, with a trace of excitement in her eyes, and hurried to notify the people on the other two sky battleships to rush over.
“Is the commander planning to make a move personally this time?” Vice Captain Silent Hunter looked at Rhein Manster walking out of the ship’s main hatch, his face filled with excitement.
As the commander of the Dragon Hunting Corps, Rhein Manster had not made a move for many years. He mostly commanded from behind the lines. The last time he acted personally was against a high-level cataclysmic monster.
What was known to the outside world was only that Rhein Manster was at the Peak High-level Blood Condensation Realm. But only the captains and vice captains knew that Commander Rhein Manster was already a Half-Step Heavenly Human, far beyond any Peak High-level Blood Condensation Realm martial artist.
Peak High-level Blood Condensation was simply the body’s physical fitness reaching its limit, but stepping into the Heavenly Human Realm was still incredibly far away.
Because to break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, one had to pass two thresholds.
These two thresholds blocked 9% of Blood Condensing Realm masters. The first was breaking the body’s limit, and the second was completing full enhancement of the brain.
The first required physical strength to reach 400 tons, while an ordinary Peak High-level Blood Condensation strength was only about 180 tons. Even if a Sequence Transcendent Martial Skill reached Third Level Perfection Realm, actual strength would be only around 250 tons, still far from the 400-ton baseline.
Those Blood Condensing Realm masters who passed the first threshold were called Half-Step Heavenly Humans. Their strength was no longer comparable to Peak High-level Blood Condensation. They only needed to take that final step and complete the brain’s first full enhancement to become Heavenly Human Realm grandmasters, beings that even the domain cities of the Four Regions had to treat with caution.
Strikes at the Heavenly Human Realm were extremely rare in the Four Regions. As a Half-Step Heavenly Human, Commander Rhein Manster was still inferior to a Heavenly Human Realm grandmaster, but as a vice captain of the Dragon Hunting Corps, Silent Hunter had never seen with his own eyes what a Half-Step Heavenly Human was truly like. He only knew from Team One’s captain that Commander Rhein Manster was a Half-Step Heavenly Human.
Now that Commander Rhein Manster intended to make a move personally, getting to witness the strength of a Half-Step Heavenly Human on the spot was something he did not even dare dream of.
Outside, on the other side of the sky battleship.
“There really are a lot of people gathering this time.” Fang Zhen looked at the players converging around them and could not help clicking his tongue.
In past large battles, having over a thousand people was already impressive. Now over six thousand had gathered at once, which greatly exceeded Fang Zhen’s expectations.
“Of course. After 0 opened, the cap jumped straight to eight thousand people, with five hundred more added every day. If not for many people lacking martial artist-level strength and not daring to come, the headcount would be even higher,” Twilight of the Gods said with emotion. “Before, we were the ones getting ganged up on by NPCs. I didn’t think there’d be a day when we’d be the ones ganging up on NPCs. Times really have changed.”
“Yeah, this game is getting more and more cutthroat.” Yi Ye Fu Yun swept a glance at the Bone Forging Realm players present and sighed. “I thought having a bit over a hundred Bone Forging Realm by now would already be impressive, but I didn’t expect so many people to reach Bone Forging Realm. Turns out a lot of people were grinding hard in secret. It’s brutal.”
At this, Luo Wu Shang, Lu Fanchen, and others from large guilds were not surprised at all. On the contrary, this number seemed very normal to them.
It truly was difficult to advance from martial artist to Bone Forging Realm, but the ones able to get in now were all top gamers and people with excellent talent. Not to mention the current 262 people; in a few days, surpassing five hundred would not be impossible. After all, after the 0 version update, they had seen many familiar faces, all from well-known large guilds.
These people’s level was not much worse than that of the famous top experts. In this era of explosive martial arts hall resources, as long as one was willing to die, improvement came very fast, far beyond when they themselves had first joined the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
While everyone surrounded the Dragon Hunting Corps and discussed how to deal with them, shadows moved on the deck of the sky battleship. A large number of Dragon Hunting Corps members walked out, shocking all the players.
“So many Blood Condensation Realm NPCs?” Yi Ye Fu Yun stared at the figures on the deck with astonishing qi and blood, his jaw nearly dropping.
Their decision to surround and kill the boss was based on the impression that there were quite a few Blood Condensation Realm NPCs on the sky battleship. The video had already shown more than twenty of them, which was equivalent to more than twenty Blood Condensation Realm bosses, already extreme.
Now it was even more exaggerated: casually over thirty, each at a decent level, including Intermediate Blood Condensation Realm martial artists. Even with more than two hundred Bone Forging Realm players gathered, taking this down would not be easy.
“Look! That old man seems to be the final boss!”
“Damn! I can’t move! The qi and blood of this final boss are so strong. He feels far stronger than the other Blood Condensation Realm bosses. What level is this?”
As Commander Rhein Manster of the Dragon Hunting Corps appeared, the players felt a wave of oppression. In particular, the martial artist players, even hundreds of meters away, were easily suppressed by Rhein Manster’s qi and blood, unable to move at all. His strength was terrifying.
Even many Bone Forging Realm players present felt their bodies becoming hard to move.
“You insects, all die today!”
Rhein Manster did not waste words. His qi and blood erupted, and a gigantic vajra phantom over two hundred meters tall appeared. The vajra clenched its fists and hammered down toward the ground below the sky battleship.
Boom boom boom…
Each punch was like a missile strike, blasting the ground into small craters with radii exceeding twenty meters. Punch after punch shook heaven and earth, completely changing the terrain.
“So this is the strength of the Half-step Heavenly Human Realm?”
Silent Hunter was deeply shocked as he watched Rhein Manster’s phantom unleash a frenzied barrage.
Other Blood Condensation Realm experts, even super geniuses like him, could only condense a phantom when using a martial skill. But he could sense that Rhein Manster’s phantom was not from any martial skill. Instead, Rhein Manster had turned the phantom into a part of himself. Every punch from the phantom was like his own real punch.
The normalization of the phantom.
For Blood Condensation Realm, phantom attacks were like ultimate techniques, but in Rhein Manster’s hands, they had become basic attacks. Other Blood Condensation Realm experts were no different from infants before him.
However, after Rhein Manster controlled the phantom to unleash this crazed output, though the earth shattered and over a thousand players died, these players were all at martial artist level, not a single one at Bone Forging Realm.
“They dodged?” Rhein Manster looked at the Bone Forging Realm players moving in midair, slightly surprised that Bone Forging Realm could fly.
But that kind of flight only made him curious. His control of the giant phantom did not slow. With just one punch from the phantom, a Beginner Level Bone Forging Realm player who had just transformed and failed to dodge in time was hit, slammed into the ground, and died on the spot, reduced to a pile of mush.
“The commander is indeed the commander. Even an expert with strength comparable to Initial Stage Blood Coagulation could not withstand a single punch.” Silent Hunter sucked in a breath as he watched the player fall to his death.
He was confident he could kill a Beginner Level Bone Forging Realm player, but it would take time. Rhein Manster did it with a casual punch. It felt like dealing with him would take at most two punches. His strength was beyond human.
He even felt they did not need to help at all. Rhein Manster alone could wipe out the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
“Die!”
After killing one, Rhein Manster turned his gaze to the leaders among the players, manipulating the giant phantom to strike again. It was as if his qi and blood had no limit and the giant phantom was Rhein Manster himself.
Just as Rhein Manster was about to kill another Beginner Level Bone Forging Realm player, a tall figure stepped in front in advance and threw a punch at the incoming air cannon.
“Vice President Luo, are you insane?” Fang Zhen stared in disbelief at Luo Wu Shang, who had taken the initiative to intercept.
Every punch of Rhein Manster’s phantom carried power no less than what Fang Zhen’s Extreme Super-Class Martial Skill, Super Electromagnetic Cannon Type 2 Modified, had unleashed back then.
Taking it head-on with a fist, even in a transcendent state, would likely result in instant obliteration.
Boom!
A thunderous crash echoed through the Mountain of the Dead, followed by Luo Wu Shang retreating three or four steps before steadying herself. Her expression, however, remained extremely calm, clearly largely uninjured.
“Who… are you?” Rhein Manster stared at Luo Wu Shang, full of surprise.
His phantom attack might appear simple, but in terms of power, each strike was equivalent to a Sequence Extraordinary Level attack, and he could throw them out continuously as if they were ordinary phantom punches, without any burden.
Yet Luo Wu Shang had taken one head-on and was fine. It was unbelievable.
“Commander of the Heavenly Might Defense Group under the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.” Luo Wu Shang looked at Rhein Manster’s questioning gaze and instinctively answered.
As for blocking the phantom’s strike, Luo Wu Shang was also surprised. She had thought using the matching cultivation method’s Ghostlight Hand would at least cripple her arm and require some time to recover. She did not expect that after the secret technique reached the Second Level in all aspects, the transcendent enhancement would increase so much.
“Commander of a defense group under the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall?” Rhein Manster could not help laughing. He nodded and said, “You are qualified to make me get serious. Jena, you and all captains and vice captains go clean up those insects. I will deal with this little girl.”
“Yes!” As Jena answered, she also quickly noticed that the other two sky battleships had already arrived. They were Team One and Team Four. Now the Dragon Hunting Corps was all present.
In an instant, the captains and vice captains of the Dragon Hunting Corps, along with large numbers of Blood Condensation Realm experts, charged toward the players. All players who could transform chose to transform and rushed into battle, clashing in midair.
The nine captains of the Dragon Hunting Corps each unleashed their signature martial skills. Every one was a Sequence Transcendent Martial Skill at Third Level. The nine vice captains also used Sequence Transcendent Martial Skills, only their Third Level had not reached perfection.
Suddenly, eighteen enormous phantoms, each over a hundred meters tall, appeared in midair and smashed toward the crowd. Every strike was like a volcanic eruption, something Bone Forging Realm players who had not mastered High-Class Super-Class Martial Skills could not possibly endure.
Just as the eighteen giant phantoms were about to hit their targets, a woman spun with a spear in hand, manifesting a phantom over three hundred meters tall. As she lifted her hand, three hundred greatsword phantoms, each several dozen meters long, appeared around her and crashed down upon the eighteen giant phantoms.
For a time, internal force collided and thundered in the sky, the explosion echoing for dozens of kilometers.
When the explosions finally ceased, the eighteen members of the Dragon Hunting Corps were all a bit pale; some even vomited blood from internal force backlash. The woman, though equally pale as snow, did not suffer backlash. Her injuries were much lighter than those of the eighteen.
“Who are you?!” Second captain Jena stared at the woman in disbelief.
Their Dragon Hunting Corps’ nine captains and nine vice captains had just fought to a draw with a single grey-robed disciple of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Who would believe this?
“Vice leader of the Azure Sky Defense Group under the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.” Ye Qinglu did not hide it, speaking as she quickly adjusted her breathing and used the opportunity to recover.
“You? Vice leader of a defense group?” Jena stared at Ye Qinglu, utterly stunned, feeling like Ye Qinglu was playing her.
If a single vice leader of a defense group from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could fight their eighteen leaders to a draw, just how monstrous was the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s defense group?
Both the members of the Dragon Hunting Corps present and the martial artist-level players were shaken by this grand and shocking scene.
Especially the players who had only started playing High Martial Arts Descend recently. They all had goosebumps.
Such a battle was like a clash of gods and demons. Every frame was true art, something no other game could compare to.
“So this is what combat in High Martial Arts Descend is like?”
Can Dao Ru Xue from Azure Travelers stared in excitement as Ye Qinglu held back the eighteen god-and-demon-like phantoms in the air. She bitterly hated her own low level. She was still only a Beginner Martial Artist and had not learned the transformation secret technique, so she could not participate in battle at all.
On the other side, under the storm-like attacks of Rhein Manster’s gigantic vajra phantom, Luo Wu Shang was completely on the back foot. But with the terrifying defense and recovery power of an extraordinary lifeform, she was several times harder to handle than an ordinary cataclysmic monster. Rhein Manster had no way to deal with her quickly. Whenever he wanted to assist the rest of the Dragon Hunting Corps, Fang Zhen, Chen Ya, Li Ranxing, and the others used Super Electromagnetic Cannon Type 2 Modified to attack from range, making it impossible for him to target anyone else.
As time passed, casualties on both sides became increasingly severe, especially for the Dragon Hunting Corps. They had fewer people than the players to begin with. With the main combat power of the Dragon Hunting Corps all tied down, their squad leaders and regular members were no match for the other Bone Forging Realm players.
In just two to three minutes of fighting, less than half of the Dragon Hunting Corps remained. The players had lost only a few hundred martial artists and a few Bone Forging Realm players.
Seeing more and more of his people die, Rhein Manster had no choice but to order a retreat, gathering the Dragon Hunting Corps onto one sky battleship and flying at high speed toward the Smiling Skull’s area.
As Rhein Manster and the others withdrew, the players all erupted in cheers.
Although it was a pity they failed to kill the boss, they had obtained two sky battleships and a large number of flying transport vehicles. This would undoubtedly allow them to step into a new era.
Meanwhile, after the Dragon Hunting Corps retreated, the atmosphere inside the sky battleship command cabin was extremely heavy.
“What are the casualties?” Rhein Manster asked.
“Based on the recent tally, 358 injured, 636 dead, including 16 squad leaders, 5 vice captains, and 2 captains,” Jena said with deep pain. “Should we report this to the higher-ups?”
“We can’t hide it. Better we report it ourselves.” Rhein Manster shook his head.
For Kui Lang’s sake, his Dragon Hunting Corps had suffered a disastrous loss. There was no way to hide this from the merchant guild headquarters. The Dragon Hunting Corps had never taken such heavy losses. Replenishing personnel and resources depended on the headquarters. Unless they stopped recruiting and refused resources altogether, the headquarters was bound to find out.
Very quickly, news of the Dragon Hunting Corps’ crushing defeat reached not only the headquarters of the Red Moon Merchant Guild, but also the news of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s great victory spread to the major factions in the Wushan Region, stirring up a huge uproar.
