Chapter 260: 259: The Function of the Stone Platform!
Chapter 260: 259: The Function of the Stone Platform!
At this point, in the middle of the ruins, Du Gang was muttering to himself, hiding in a corner.
He had been looking for several hours but hadn’t encountered anyone. He doubted if there was anyone left in the ruins.
After searching for several more hours with the same results, Du Gang decided to leave the ruins.
“That should be it, killing over a hundred people…”
Over a hundred people, the least of them were Controllers, some even reached the status of Master Controllers. They all got decimated along with their bodies and deities.
These people were nails in the wood, daring to kill him. If there was a first time, then there would be a second time. So, he decided it was better to end it all once and for all.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Du Gang noticed something different about the situation ahead of him.
In front of him, a circular stone platform similar to an altar appeared, towering about one meter high from the ground.
Above the stone platform, a large number of patterns were engraved which Du Gang couldn’t understand.
“Hum~~~!”
At this moment, these patterns on the platform started making a strange sound and simultaneously emitted rays of light.
The stone platform promptly lit up with over a hundred light spots, which, like fireflies, illuminated the dreary space.
“What is this?”
Du Gang squinted his eyes in thought, then suddenly remembered something, and started counting these light spots.
“One hundred and five…
He narrowed his eyes and muttered: “The number of people I killed… seems to be exactly one hundred and five….”
Were these two things somehow related?
“Hum~~~!”
Du Gang kept observing from below and found that the light spots on the stone platform, apart from emitting a faint sound, had shown no other action.
“What is this stone platform for? And what about these phosphorescent lights…”
He was somewhat puzzled, wondering if these things might be….
“Could there be some benefits?”
After coming into the abyss, he had found that diverse monsters could drop beneficial items. So, did these phosphorescent lights in front of him have any benefits too?
Du Gang licked his lips, a little tempted, but dared not step forward.
He worried about the potential dangers.
“Should I get someone to test it?”
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he quickly shook his head, “No, what if there are significant benefits and others absorb them?”
“One hundred and five light spots, it’s very likely because I’ve killed one hundred and five people…”
He thought to himself, “I’ve never heard of such a thing in the ruins, so either this thing is useless, or no one has discovered it…”
Having pondered for a while and unable to be sure, Du Gang decided to go and check it out.
“Anyway, let’s go and take a look!”
Just as he was about to go up, he paused quickly and released his body’s deity to stay behind.
“I will leave the deity here, in case the body dies, it can still resurrect….”
After leaving his deity, Du Gang took a deep breath before slowly making his way towards the stone platform…
……
Outside the Big Dragon Pit, countless human squads were gathering.
Each squad consisted of at least one Controller, and leading them were thirty or forty squads each led by a Master Controller.
Opposite these human squads were a vast array of Demon Clan squads.
Compared with the humans, the formations of the Demon Clan were even more numerous, amounting to nearly twice the number of human squads.
“Damn it, these damn demons, behaving themselves just a while ago, how come they have gathered all of a sudden…?”
“Even if they want to gather, why can’t they wait for us to leave the first layer of the abyss and then assemble…”
At this moment, the leaders of the thirty or so Master Controller squads were all a bit agitated.
Originally, the benefits of Big Dragon Pit were pretty much divided between the human and demon top-level squads. It was always very balanced.
But about ten days ago, after Yin Deyu and others fled, they inexplicably lost a round.
That time, it must have been the discovery of mankind’s strength that alarmed the Demon Clan, Therefore, the next day, the demon squad organized manpower and staged a sniper attack at the Big Dragon Pit, taking away thousands of humans, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses.
And, from that day forward, the members of the Demon Clan launched at full speed, gathering a mass of forces every day, seemingly eager to dominate the Big Dragon Pit.
“Damn, compared to these demons, we humans are just like scattered sand…”
The dragon horned youth was somewhat enraged, “It’s been ten days, and we couldn’t even gather ten thousand people, while the Demon Clan, seems almost at fifteen thousand…”
This indeed elucidated the difference between humans and demons.
On the human side, it was quite free. Those who mixed in the wild regions were the children of various families, there was no managing or ordering around.
In contrast, the Demon Clan was different, they had a strict hierarchy. Any demon of higher rank or status could command the others.
This enabled the Demon Clan to gather a plethora of forces in a short period of time.
“Ten full days, we’ve lost the Big Dragon for ten days…”
The dragon horned boy was distressed as he was just a hair’s breadth away from his third level essence, yet he was halted here.
Moreover, with the current situation, he cannot leave even if he was willing to abandon the remaining third level essence.
Now, with the disparity between humans and demons, and the demons having the upper hand, him leaving would be tantamount to proclaiming to the world that he’s a deserter.
“How do we counter them?”
At this moment, the dragon horned youth cast his gaze upon a seemingly wise man.
His name was Yao Anfu, a talented member of the Yao Family, with high intelligence, who served as temporary command during this battle rally.
Yao Anfu instantly responded: “Half an hour until the Big Dragon respawns, the Demon Clan will definitely send troops to slay it… notify everyone to charge in half an hour…”
They were blocked outside the Big Dragon pit and couldn’t even enter. Their only chance to break through was to attack while the enemy was dividing their forces.
Deep in the abyss, the jade talismans were unusable, and Divine Thoughts weren’t useful either. They could only give orders in advance by passing them from person to person.
Otherwise, he would like to try to adapt to the circumstances and experience leading troops into battle.
The dragon horned youth appeared apprehensive, “Anfu, can we defeat them?”
Yao Anfu shook his head, “I don’t know. The enemy has too many forces. We controllers alone can’t determine the outcome…”
They were indeed strong, with a dozen people capable of manifesting two hundred Naer’s divine power techniques. But what of it?
The Demon Clan also had powerhouses of the same level, and they outnumbered them.
“It’s all Yin Deyu and his comrades’ fault. I don’t know why they unexpectedly ran off…”
“Yeah, back then, five to six hundred people ran off immediately…”
Everyone knew that the reason for the Demon Clan’s sudden mobilization this time was the escape of Yin Deyu and others.
But they were unable to do anything about it because Yin Deyu hadn’t been seen for a long time.
“Those guys didn’t return to the mainland, did they?”
“Possible…”
The dragon horned youth suddenly thought of something and said, “Right, today is the tenth day we lost the right to fight for the Big Dragon. According to the military’s usual practice, if we still can’t take it back today, they should issue a call to arms, right?!”
The military wasn’t totally hands-off regarding the wild regions. The first, second, and third level wild beasts all possessed essence, which were tangible assets to increase strength.
Even if the military had already farmed enough, they still had to reserve some for humankind. Once a situation arose where humans couldn’t farm a certain area of wild beasts, the Demon Suppression Army would take action.
They wouldn’t directly send troops to attack. After all, the real armies of both sides were primarily attacking on the three main thoroughfares.
“If the military sends out a call to arms, we’d be dishonored…”
Yao Anfu shook his head and sighed, “When the Demon Suppression Army issues a call to arms due to the Demon Clan’s pressure, it’s often a time of weakness for the humans. Once this is spread, our reputation will be tarnished…”
A call to arms could summon back the divine spirits of the First Tribulation from the second layer of the abyss to help participate in the fight, and the military would issue some reward. The goal was to help those in the first layer of the abyss regain control over the Big Dragon.
Although the Demon Suppression Army’s call to arms didn’t require independents to pay a fee, those residing in the first layer of the abyss would lose face.
After all, this meant they had suffered ten consecutive defeats!
“At all costs, we must seize it. Tell them that if we fail this time, a call to arms will be issued…”
Even without Yao Anfu saying this, everyone understood. No one wants to bear the tag of being weak.
“Five minutes to go…”
“The enemy’s forces have reduced a bit…”
At this moment, Yao Anfu couldn’t stand it anymore, he directly ordered: “Charge!”
Having said that, he immediately led several super-strong teams around him to launch a charge against the Demon Clan.
After all, their aim was to regain control of the Big Dragon, at least to achieve a balance with the Demon Clan.
“Attack!”
With their charge, other human squads also rushed forward.
“Ugh!”
Seeing this, the opposing demon clan shouted excitedly.
Almost at the same time, all of the Demon Clan, without hesitating for a moment, charged towards the approaching human squads.
……
“How did so many people gather?!”
At that moment, Du Gang, standing on the stone platform, had his eyes glowing, hollow as if looking at the air in front of him, yet actually seeing another scene.
In front of him, as if encountering virtual reality technology, a huge abyss map appeared before him.
Countless black and white light spots were flashing on the map. According to the different colors of the light spots in various locations, he concluded that the white light spots represented humans, and the black ones represented the demon clan.
In the large dragon pit area, Du Gang saw tens of thousands of light spots flashing.
He already knew that this thing in the ruins was a map, and it even had a teleportation ability.
The function of the stone platform was completely clear in his mind the moment he stepped on it.
One hundred and five glowing spots, meaning he could teleport one hundred and five times.
The reason it hadn’t been discovered was that these light spots needed the death of a deity in the ruins to gather.
And more interestingly, this teleportation of his was two-way.
This meant that he could return again after teleporting to any place on the map, of course, with a day’s time limit.
“Could it be, during these days when I was away, something new happened between the humans and the demon clan?”
Du Gang shook his head, laughing, “Forget it, it’s none of my business, let them fight. Now, it’s the perfect time to think about where to teleport…”
After carefully considering the use of this stone platform, the biggest advantage was that it could teleport him directly to the demon clan’s wilderness area.
Currently, he had maxed out on the essence from level two wild creatures, but still lacked a lot from level one and three.
Level three was fine. One essence could increase one divine power point, and a Big Dragon could drop thousands of essences, meaning he had a chance to quickly stack power.
But level one wild creatures were troublesome. A wild creature could only increase very little divine power, requiring a lot of time to accumulate the maximum.
But now…
“The greatest use of this Ruin Map teleportation is that it can directly teleport me to the demon clan’s wilderness area and then teleport me back when in danger…”
Du Gang quickly found the pen of the demon clan’s wilderness area on the map.
At this moment, there were thousands of black dots in the demon clan’s pen wilderness area, not too far away.
Clearly, these black dots were the demon clan, all ready to farm the wild creatures in the pen.
“Damn, I’ll just go and steal their essences…”
Thinking like this, Du Gang quickly initiated teleportation.
“Whoosh!”
With a flash of white light, he had already appeared in a jungle area.
“Cluck cluck cluck!”
Just in time, as he landed, countless yellow chicken wild creatures spawned.
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, the present demon clan members began attacking the chickens. Their attention was on the wild creatures, nobody noticed the sudden appearance of Du Gang.
“They all have Destroyer-level power?”
Feeling the strength of these people, a smile appeared on Du Gang’s face.
“Shall I kill them?”
He shook his head. Killing the demon clan would only allow him to exchange their bodies for a hundred divine crystals at most, but if he didn’t kill them, it would allow them to continue killing the chickens.
There are many chickens here, it would take him some time to kill them all by himself. It’s better to let these demon clan members do it, as it would take them some time to absorb essence, giving him time to steal it.
“Whoosh!”
At this moment, Du Gang turned into a flash of lightning, swiftly heading towards the several demon clan members who had just obtained essence.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
The demons were immediately startled and screamed out, as they instinctively launched an attack at Du Gang.
Fifty Naer Divine Power Techniques?
Du Gang curled the corners of his mouth into a smirk, showing no response and bracing himself for the attack!
“Boom!”
Four or five attacks exploded upon his body in an instant. Astonishingly, despite enduring such assault, he came out without a scratch!
“Uh?”
The Demon Clan was stunned; they could do nothing but gape in disbelief.
Just when they thought they were doomed, Du Gang quickly collected their Essence and dashed toward other demons.
“???”
The remaining demons were baffled why Du Gang hadn’t taken the opportunity to strike them down.
But they didn’t take their chances, quickly fleeing the coop.
Meanwhile, Du Gang skirted around the coop’s periphery and began to sprint towards the inside.
All the demons, frightened by the sight of Du Gang and the aura of his might, gasped in shock, their cries of “Uh” echoed incessantly.
“Uh! Uh!”
As Du Gang delved deeper, the number of Essences he claimed increased. The demons that inhabited these areas did not flee but, on the contrary, charged towards him.
Listened to the consistent chorus of “Uh” behind him, Du Gang did not slow down, instead, he leapt deeper into the area. The count of First-Level Essences in his pocket was steadily increasing.
He came here for the Essence. At this moment, these demons were nothing more than insignificant figures to him, he couldn’t bother with them anymore.
After a short while, he had made his way to the innermost area of the coop. The demons that inhabited this place were considerably stronger than those outside. Nonetheless, they were still not capable of posing a threat to Du Gang.
“Thump thump!”
Quickly, he took a position on a tree at the very end, “Haha, I’ve hit the jackpot!”
Over a thousand wild beasts, each with five Essences, yielded a grand total of more than five thousand Essences.
Each Essence equates to one percent of Divine Power. Over five thousand Essences amounted to fifty Naers of Divine Power. Meaning, he would only need forty more expeditions like this to reach the maximum limit required for the First-Level Essence.
“Uh!”
At this moment, over a thousand Destroyer level demons had approached, encircling Du Gang with menacing intent.
As Du Gang looked at these demons, he found himself stuck in a dilemma, “Do I kill them or not?”
If he didn’t kill them, they could become a domestic disturbance. But if he did, he’d have to take the responsibility of refreshing the Yellow Chickens by himself.
Taking Essence was different from killing Yellow Chickens. Collecting Essence did not require him to lift a finger, only to be fast enough to claim it. Killing Yellow Chickens, on the other hand, required him to exert Divine Power. Even though each chicken only requires fifty Naers of Divine Power, a thousand of them would deplete too much of his Divine Power, more than he had to spare!
“I can’t kill them. If I do, my efficiency at collecting Essence will decrease…”
Currently, most of the demons were near the Big Dragon Pit, which created an excellent opportunity for him. Therefore, he decided not to kill them.
“However, not killing them doesn’t mean I can’t fight back!”
Under the bombardment of multiple attacks, Du Gang swiftly cast his signature World Creation spell.
This time, he didn’t just cast it, he also secretly activated the Jie-Character Secret, which doubled his attacking power, reaching a total of one thousand Naers of Divine Power.
However, he didn’t reckon his axe shadow against these demons but rather against their attacks.
“Boom!”
At this moment, a gigantic axe shadow eradicated a thousand attacks instantly and, without losing momentum, continued towards the ground.
“Thud!!”
The ground instantly cracked under this onslaught, a 100-meter long and 10-meter deep gap appeared.
“Uh?!!”
All the demons present were petrified by Du Gang’s terrifying combat strength.
The very next second, “Uh!” all the demons yelled and ran away in unison.
“What the hell?!”
Du Gang was taken aback. Without uttering a second word, he employed his footwork technique and, running at an extremely fast speed, bypassed everyone to reach the entrance of the coop, blocking all the demons.
“Uh!”
The demons present immediately stopped in their tracks, baffled once more, not knowing what Du Gang was trying to do. But their instincts kicked in, and they once again fled from the exit, retreating deeper into the coop.
This time, Du Gang did not pursue them.
He was initially worried that if these demons escaped, they could leak their location. He also wanted to make use of them to hunt Yellow Chickens for him.
Soon, with no demons in sight, Du Gang sat cross-legged on the ground, beginning to absorb the energy from these Essences.