Wei Huan's vigilance bore fruit almost instantly.
A crack of thunder that rent the sky and a streak of rainbow light appeared simultaneously from two different directions, both zeroing in on the red war machine in the sky.
It was Xu Qingqiang's vehicle!!
Before anyone could react, these two incredibly powerful strikes slammed into Xu Qingqiang's chariot nearly at once. The protective shield flickered with strain and abruptly shattered. Because of the suddenness of the breach, the shield's explosive backlash didn't just strike the surrounding Dark Beast royals; it also caught the nearby Level 5 vehicles.
Both the Level 5 vehicles and the Dark Beast royals were sent flying. Before Xu Qingqiang could respond, two identical thunderous strikes descended from the same direction.
Xu Qingqiang had always lived by the mantra that the best defense is a good offense. This philosophy extended to his vehicle. His chariot was armed to the teeth with Level 7 Sentry Towers, Level 7 Net Launchers, and Level 7 External Serrated Blades—attack was his primary focus. His defenses, however, were mediocre. Since those strikes could break his shield, they could certainly breach his hull.
Danger!
At the critical moment, Xu Qingqiang neither dodged nor accepted his fate. To Wei Huan's surprise, knowing he couldn't evade, Xu Qingqiang accelerated headfirst into the incoming rainbow light.
BOOM!
The lightning striking from above seemed locked onto the roof, hitting the sports car squarely and denting it further into a flatter shape. But to Wei Huan's relief, what he expected to be a tragic mutual destruction turned into a flash of brilliant light. After a momentary struggle of forces, the impact dissipated.
When the sports car reappeared, its hood was slightly crumpled, but it had held together without exploding!
Wei Huan realized then: 'Typical Xu Qingqiang.' He had used offense as a defense, utilizing the power of his external anti-collision bars to actively meet the attack, thereby canceling out the energy of the enemy's strike.
'Swish! Swish!'
Two more attacks appeared. The enemy, failing with the first volley, actually dared to try a third time!?
Once, twice, three times—what kind of pipe dream were they having? They wouldn't get another chance. Xu Qingqiang wouldn't stand there like a sitting duck, and Wei Huan would not allow the existence of Dark Beast royals that could threaten his fleet.
After a brief search, Wei Huan quickly locked onto the targets. When he saw that these two attacks were being launched by two Pseudo-God grade Heroes, he was momentarily stunned, realizing where his oversight lay.
The Dark Beast royalty would obviously be the main force of this encirclement, but the equally lethal Pseudo-God Heroes wouldn't be left on the sidelines. The best strategy was for both to appear together, aiming for a surprise strike to sever one of Wei Huan's "arms." As for attacking Wei Huan directly, they hadn't even considered it yet. A Level 7 shield was too troublesome; striking it without a guaranteed breach would only alert the prey.
The Dark Beast royalty's calculation wasn't bad. Had this plan fallen on any other Level 5 vehicle, it likely would have exploded. An exploding vehicle contained thirty to forty Challengers; falling into such a meat-grinder of a battlefield would mean a near-certain death. Fortunately, they were greedy; they wanted Xu Qingqiang's life.
Setting aside whether Xu Qingqiang would have died if his car blew up, the plan was brilliantly dismantled by his quick thinking, allowing him to escape unscathed. Now that the enemies were exposed, Wei Huan would keep a close watch, and the AI of each vehicle would monitor for long-range attacks from Pseudo-God Heroes. Once they were on guard, blowing up their chariots wouldn't be so easy.
However, this caused Wei Huan's fleet to become wary, hesitant to expose themselves to the two Pseudo-God Heroes. While Dark Beast royals preferred close-quarters brawling, there were a few long-range specialists among them. Attacks launched from unknown angles and times were a massive threat to the vehicles, causing the fleet to hold back and stifling their movement.
For a moment, the two sides fell into a strange stalemate. "Stalemate" was the last thing Wei Huan wanted to see.
His undead were blessed, which meant they were on a timer. Between the two-hour combat limit and the need to reserve time for a safe withdrawal, he had less than an hour of actual fighting time left. An hour wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Yet, being forced to the final step of retreating was something Wei Huan desperately wanted to avoid. Whether he could successfully leave and whether he could find this many royals again if he returned were all unknowns.
Wei Huan did not want to leave his future to fate. Fate had to be held in his own hands.
"Yake, here. Drop a few more," Wei Huan said, pointing to the area with the densest concentration of Dark Beast royals—right around himself.
"How many?" Yake asked.
"How many do we have?"
"Ten."
"Drop five."
"..." Yake fell silent for a moment before reminding him, "You are also within the blast radius. With five Forbidden Spells appearing simultaneously, no one knows how much damage they will cause."
Wei Huan glanced at his system and said only one word: "Drop."
A military order was absolute. Despite Yake' worries, when the command was given, he could only obey.
'Swish! Swish! Swish!'
Five Golden Scrolls were launched at the designated coordinates. Clustered there were four Dark Beast royals and one long-range Pseudo-God Hero; furthermore, one of those four royals also possessed long-range capabilities. These ranged units interfered too much with the battlefield, and Yake understood Wei Huan's intent.
But looking at Wei Huan's vehicle less than two kilometers away, and the undead army spread throughout the zone, Yake couldn't help but worry. 'They'll be sucked in.'
The power of five scrolls fired in unison had never been seen before, but it was bound to be catastrophic. If...
Amidst these fears, Yake watched as a gargantuan vortex began to form. First, the first scroll opened. Before the vortex could fully take shape, the second opened, merging its energy with the first. Then the third, the fourth, the fifth. The entire process took roughly three seconds, but to Yake, those three seconds felt like three minutes.
He clearly saw the expressions of the Dark Beast royals shift from surprise to terror. He saw the chaotic energy at the center expand rapidly like a star going supernova. He also saw his own vehicle, along with the Dark Beast royals across a ten-mile radius, pinned in place by an invisible, intangible force.
He saw the royals trying to flee, but they were immobile, their eyes wide with sheer horror. Then, from the epicenter, a powerful force erupted, sweeping through everything like a cosmic solar wind.
In that instant, Yake could see nothing. His vision was obscured; even after exiting Eagle Eye mode and looking out from the War Platform, there was only blinding white light. The energy from the origin was too violent, even destabilizing space; he couldn't release any abilities within the heart of this explosion.
Indeed, he was on Wei Huan's main command vehicle. Though his own vehicle was strong, Wei Huan needed his long-range support, so when Wei Huan's vehicle was sucked into the massive vortex of energy, he was right there with him.
The white light outside did not fade for a long time, and the violent air currents sent the vehicle rocking incessantly. As powerful as a Level 6 vehicle was, it was still shaken by this apocalyptic power. Yake gripped the railing, staring outside; the newly recharged shield clearly couldn't withstand damage of this magnitude and was rapidly approaching its breaking point.
Thinking of something, Yake' eyes flashed with golden light again, attempting to project his Eagle Eye into the distance. But soon his body swayed, and he doubled over, clutching his eyes in pain.
"Ugh..."
"Yake?" Wei Huan noticed his condition.
Yake covered his eyes, his voice raspy: "The violent energy is interfering with my ability. Eagle Eye is unusable."
"No need to look. I know."
Wei Huan had already seen the situation in their area through the cameras of other, more distant vehicles. The Challenge System was an unknown power; at least at the current battlefield level, it couldn't easily disrupt their communications.
To the onlookers, the vehicle they were in looked like it was in the midst of a terrifying natural disaster—a celestial collision. The blinding light was endless, looking as if the entire ocean had been ignited and was burning. Yet even facing such a horrifying environment, Wei Huan's face remained calm, his eyes filled with composure.
He wouldn't gamble with his own life, Mu Zhong's, or the lives of the many crew members. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"Don't worry," he said, finally reassuring Yake. "This is exactly what I wanted."
As he spoke, Wei Huan looked up at the flickering shield outside. Right as he watched, the shield finally broke again.
'Pop!' A soft sound.
But it was followed by a 'Swish!'—a muffled sound that made one's skin crawl.
The power of the Level 7 shield's breach condensed into a ring, incredibly sharp and fast, slicing outward like a scythe. The ultra-condensed energy seemed capable of cutting through all things in the world, and this vortex was no exception.
The vortex was split in two. Sliced along with it were the Dark Beast royals who had been helplessly trapped by the vortex's energy. It was unclear how many were cut, but it was certainly more than the ones they had originally targeted. Amidst a chorus of agonizing screams, dense black smoke dissipated along with the vortex's energy, the after-currents of the whirlpool churning into a black, foul-smelling gore.
As a new wave of seawater washed through, sweeping away the massive clouds of black, the world was revealed anew, the view before them significantly cleared. The eyesores—those bizarrely shaped Dark Beast royal Primordial Spirits that offended human aesthetics—had all vanished.
In this direction, where there had been roughly ten royals a moment ago, not one could be seen. All that remained were the bare territory cities, their walls sliced away, leaving only ruins. On the walls, the two Pseudo-God Heroes who had been standing there were also gone, seemingly vanished into the great vortex along with the bricks and mortar.
The danger zone that had been crawling with royalty was now clear, leaving only Wei Huan's white vehicle floating a hundred meters above the ground. Of course, the undead army was also gone.
But...
But!?
After a brief three-second silence, murmurs erupted in the livestream.
[Holy crap, what just happened? Can someone explain?]
[Science and logic, I guess.]
[I don't quite get it, but it seems Wei Huan set a trap, stepped into it himself, and then broke out of it using a method I don't fully understand. Maybe a scientific physical phenomenon?]
[I don't get it, but it's awesome! All I can say is, that move was explosive! As expected of my Papa Wei! Godfather, please accept my bow!]
The livestream exploded with voices; even those who rarely commented couldn't help themselves. The scale was too grand, the crisis seemed overwhelming, yet the conclusion was so satisfying it felt like a spiritual ascension.
Ten or so Dark Beast royals! And who knows how many Pseudo-God Heroes! Just sliced away like that? Are you playing a game of Match-3 with them? One swipe and they're all gone?
Wei Huan's move shocked the world. It wasn't just the viewers on Blue Star; the generals of the main army groups and his own crew members were all left speechless for a long time by this maneuver.
In the video feed, Mu Zhong's expression shifted from worry to shock, and finally to adoration. His eyes shining, he looked at Wei Huan and said, "How did you think of that? You... you..."
Indeed, actively launching five Level 6 Forbidden Scrolls, wrapping yourself inside, and then personally breaking the violent energy sphere—this was literally using a skill to group the mobs and then farming them in a batch!
The key question was: Is this even a human thought process? Who could be extravagant enough to use five Level 6 scrolls at once? Who would dare to enter the great vortex voluntarily? And who would have thought that the energy of a breaking shield could end the vortex while simultaneously killing the clustered royals?
'Fuck, fuck, fuck!'
Mu Zhong's face was anything but calm, and his heart even less so. If not for his good breeding, he would have cursed out loud. He rarely found himself at a loss for words, but he was now; he couldn't finish a sentence and nearly bit his tongue.
But Wei Huan's expression did not relax. He was talking to Mu Zhong; had it been anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered. There were more important things to do. The green flame in Wei Huan's left eye flickered back to life. Before turning his gaze away, he said, "We have a Level 7 shield. Other vehicles cannot replicate this tactic."
As he finished, Wei Huan's vision moved outside. He saw the undead army being summoned once more from the portals, surging onto the battlefield in a grand tide. Specifically, the Two-Headed Hidden Demons Wei Huan had personally arranged—six hundred of them had been deployed in a short time, spreading their wings and racing through the water like torpedoes, trailing bubbles as they charged into the city.
The goal was simple: slaughter.
He had only destroyed the royals' Primordial Spirits; not a single royal life had been harvested yet. If he didn't hurry, these royals would successfully leave combat and flee. If possible, Wei Huan didn't want to let a single one go.
The overwhelming undead tide surged toward the Royal City. When the Hidden Demons charged in aggressively, the royals—whose Primordial Spirits had been shattered and were now in their dazed original forms—finally reacted.
'Wait, no, is this how you fight? Can you give us some reaction time? And your study of scrolls and shields is a bit too thorough, isn't it? You were just waiting here to farm us in a batch?'
'RUN!'
At a time like this, what were they waiting for? The power of the great vortex had claimed the lives of countless ordinary Dark Beasts and the city's population; it was now impossible for them to manifest their Primordial Spirits again. Facing Wei Huan's undead army and his fleet in their Level 5 original bodies? How was that different from suicide?
Deep in their souls, the King's angry roar resonated. Those cries, sounding like curses, made them tremble. But fortunately, even a King prepared for sacrifice couldn't watch them truly go to their deaths; the command to retreat finally arrived.
They could run!!
The Dark Beast royals wished they could dig a hole and vanish. As the undead army returned, they transformed into their smallest, least conspicuous, and most escapable forms—burrowing, flying, or playing dead. As long as they could stay out of combat for one minute, they could return to the Dark Beast plane.
Unfortunately, Wei Huan would not grant them their wish. Like every other time, the undead army poured in with despair-inducing numbers, digging three feet deep to find every royal. One by one, the Dark Beast royals were unearthed. They struggled and resisted, only to be torn to shreds by the swarming Hidden Demons, dying one after another.
[Obtained 68,400 Points]
[Obtained 63,300 Points]
[Obtained 72,000 Points]
[Obtained 81,000 Points]
...
Beautiful!
Notification after notification popped up in the system window. The five scrolls he had just used—weren't they being earned back right now? And with interest. After killing seven royals in one go, the reinforcements of the Dark Beast royalty finally arrived.
Wei Huan ordered the vehicles to withdraw, but the undead army stayed, pressing on to find two more royals despite the pressure. One royal was rescued, but the other was slain.
[Obtained 101,000 Points]
After this one engagement, only 304 Dark Beast royals remained. Furthermore, after the last royal died, the already crumbling Dark Beast territory began to sandify and dissipate. It seemed he had killed a City Lord; no wonder the points were so high.
Thus, a divinely skillful tactic was successfully executed. Wei Huan had broken the deadlock and carved a hole in the encirclement. He could retreat if he wanted to, but he wouldn't. He looked at the regrouping Dark Beast royals, his eyes shining. The joy of batch-farming—only those who do it truly understand.
And now that the preparation period had passed, the Royal Cities were fixed in place and could no longer move. This meant Wei Huan could leave whenever he wished. He could attack or defend at will; the initiative of the war was firmly in his hands.
So, before the enemy could react, Wei Huan decisively told Yake, "These coordinates. Drop five more."
"Yes!" This time, Yake answered with full vigor, his eyes filled with nothing but admiration.
And so, the Dark Beast royals ordered by the King to provide rescue became Wei Huan's primary targets due to their unintentional clustering. Even if there were only five, taking them all out would be a significant gain.
When Wei Huan repeated the trick, launching five more Level 6 scrolls, the Dark Beast King—watching the vortex form—saw its rage turn from ferocity into helplessness.
Ultimately, the world level was too low. Even though the Dark Beast royalty had powerful racial talents that made them seem divinely aided at the start of this conflict, they couldn't overcome the gap in combat power brought by world levels. Furthermore, the humans' development of the Level 6 world didn't look like it had only been a month; with so many Level 6 vehicles and Level 7 components, it was as if they had been adventuring in that world for two or three years already.
How did they do it?
As the Dark Beast King looked away in grief, countless questions arose in its mind. 'Are humans truly this strong? Or is this Necromancer simply that formidable? Can he, by himself, arm a civilization to this degree?'
The newly appearing great vortex, just as Wei Huan expected, sucked in all five Dark Beast royals. Even Primordial Spirits as strong as "Gods" were no match for the explosive power of Level 6 scrolls, tossed helplessly into the chaos.
Wei Huan's vehicle raised its shield and once again, amidst the bared teeth of the Dark Beasts, actively drove into the vortex. This time, everyone knew what would happen. They were only curious about that soul-stirring moment when the miracle occurred.
[Obtained 65,900 Points]
Just as he entered the vortex, Wei Huan received a pleasant surprise. It seemed the royal that had been rescued earlier hadn't escaped the Reaper's scythe after all; without its Primordial Spirit, it couldn't even withstand the damage of the vortex, contributing its full points.
Then, the anticipated shield explosion occurred once more. This time, no one was nervous for him; instead, they watched with wide eyes, waiting for the heart-pounding moment to follow.
'Swish!'
The circular halo appeared again, slicing through light, slicing through water, as if the world itself were being cut. Then, the familiar black smoke swirled in the vortex, rapidly expanding outward. The sudden, explosive scene allowed one to easily imagine the Dark Beast royals being sliced in half.
"Die!"
"Hahaha! Die!!"
"Again! Again! Let's see if you dare to come again!"
The livestream was filled with cheers and a revitalized spirit. Specifically, when the vortex dissipated and Wei Huan's undead army went to find the royals for the final kill, the surrounding Dark Beast royals—of which there were still many—fell into a painful dilemma.
To save them or not?
Over ten of their kin had already been trapped there. If they didn't help, five more would die. But if they did, this hateful human would clearly seize the opportunity; once sucked into that vortex, they too would likely die inside.
Hesitation, struggle—but the final decision did not rest with these royals on the battlefield. It rested with the Dark Beast King.
What the royals feared and hesitated over was exactly what the King was pondering. There were too many things it could and could not do, but every consequence was too heavy to bear, preventing a true choice.
During this moment of hesitation, Wei Huan's undead army had already filled the battlefield, skillfully unearthing the hidden Dark Beast royals. The King no longer had to struggle; trembling with rage, it turned its gaze elsewhere, not forgetting to glare fiercely at Beast King Lie along the way.