Chapter 103: Members of the Atlantic Empire? All Wiped Out for Contribution
How could the mere title of a goddess keep over 70 countries in line, making them obediently hand over one-tenth of their revenue each year?
It was the fear of devastating repercussions for any disrespect or betrayal against the Alliance that kept those countries obedient under the Dark Moon Alliance\'s rule.
Today\'s incident was extremely serious!
However, when these NPCs tried to investigate the matter and gathered all the witnesses, they received an answer that left them utterly bewildered.
"The one who attacked was Constantine from the Atlantic Empire? They were killing each other."
The Dark Moon Alliance NPCs had expressions that seemed to say, "Are you kidding me?"
Yet, everyone around them swore they weren\'t mistaken. After all...
The appearance was the same, the techniques were the same, and even the mastery-level fist technique and the gold-quality skill [Divine Flame Drive] were used. Who else could it be but Constantine?
At this moment, one of the three NPCs from the Dark Moon Alliance suddenly returned to his colleagues and whispered, "The Atlantic Empire confirmed. They did not detect any outsiders using Divine Flame Drive."
"It is very likely that Constantine went mad trying to achieve legendary status by completing some forbidden task."
"That does seem to be the case." another NPC chimed in.
Meanwhile, inside a building made of special purple crystals, players and NPCs from a dozen countries were waiting idly.
The three NPCs from the Dark Moon Alliance could only announce reluctantly, "This seems to be a case of internal strife. Our Alliance does not interfere in the internal affairs of each country. So there is no need for concern."
"The Alliance will continue to ensure that no inter-country conflicts occur."
"Now, the gathering is dismissed."
The three NPCs were only third-class in strength themselves. Feeling that the truth had been uncovered, they couldn\'t justify detaining people from the surrounding countries of the Atlantic Empire like criminals.
The previously tense atmosphere quickly dissipated.
The multitude of players gradually left, their expressions relaxed. They had nothing to do with the incident and had just been waiting for the Dark Moon Alliance to clarify the situation.
Only the people from the Divine Mountain Empire had strange expressions on their faces; they were utterly confused.
After all, they knew Constantine had died long ago and couldn\'t possibly appear here.
The investigation results from the Dark Moon Alliance only left them even more bewildered.
The problem was that the Divine Flame Drive, a gold-quality skill, couldn\'t be faked. Even the Atlantic Empire had personally confirmed that this skill hadn\'t leaked out. So, if the person who attacked wasn\'t Constantine, it had to be someone from the Atlantic royal family.
"Could it be that, like our country, they are also fighting for the future throne and killing each other?"
The players chatted openly about the situation.
At this point, the Fourth Prince overheard and felt a bit awkward, but he shook his head and said, "Indeed, the princes of the Atlantic royal family all have a chance to ascend to the throne. But the Emperor of the Atlantic Empire is in the prime of his life and has even broken through to the legendary realm. He can live for another three to five hundred years.
There\'s no point in fighting for the throne now."
What?
Seeing this possibility dismissed, the players became even more puzzled.
Could it be that Constantine really didn\'t die?
After all, he was killed in a mental space. If he had some contingency plan to escape death, it wasn\'t impossible.
Though everyone was confused, they didn\'t voice these speculations.
After chatting for a while and arriving at no conclusion, they shifted the topic.
No matter who the attacker was, it was a good thing; they had solved a major problem for the Divine Mountain Empire.
Only one person had a peculiar expression: Felicia. She was occupying Faye\'s body and kept glancing at David, feeling something was off.
In the sea of consciousness, Faye had a strange look on her face and said, "Ancestor, aren\'t you overthinking this?"
"How could it be David?"
"How could he use the Divine Flame Drive without the Atlantic royal family noticing?"
"You\'ve explained it to me before, right? The Divine Flame Drive has seals placed by multiple demigods, and even ordinary demigods can\'t escape detection."
"Besides, David has never shown any ability to change his appearance."
"It just doesn\'t make sense for it to be him, does it?"
Felicia fell silent.
She had noticed something while using Faye\'s perspective—
When Constantine appeared, David was conveniently absent, although he reappeared soon after.
But the problem was, David\'s disappearance and reappearance perfectly covered the time frame of Constantine\'s appearance and disappearance. Any normal person would find it suspicious.
However, Faye\'s points were also valid and couldn\'t be ignored.
Felicia could only furrow her brow and keep her doubts to herself. Yet, she had a feeling that whatever David was hiding might be even more extraordinary than she initially thought.
Felicia turned her head and saw "David" enthusiastically discussing what might have happened with Constantine with others. When David noticed "Faye" looking at him, he merely gave a warm smile and nodded in acknowledgment.
...
Sterl, while nodding at "Faye," hummed a little tune to himself.
Indeed, Constantine was a great benefactor!
If it weren\'t for him dropping the Divine Flame Drive, which allowed Sterl to learn and upgrade it, Sterl wouldn\'t have chosen to attack the people of the Atlantic Empire. After all, if he were caught by the Dark Moon Alliance, it would spell trouble.
They had gods backing them, and a few legendary figures could easily deal with Sterl.
The reason Sterl dared to act was because he leveraged the Divine Flame Drive, the Atlantic royal family\'s anti-counterfeiting mark. With Sterl\'s current attributes, unless a legendary figure intervened, no one could see through his disguise.
Of course, Sterl wasn\'t acting to uphold the dignity of the Divine Mountain Empire. He realized that if the Atlantic Empire\'s people continued to target them, even attempting to kill all Divine Mountain Empire players, he would inevitably have to act. Worse, the Atlantic Empire people might get help from the Dark Moon Alliance NPCs.
If he lost the initiative, Sterl might have to reveal many of his trump cards just to barely survive, and he could even lose his chance to enter The Netherworld.
Therefore, a thunderous, decisive strike to eliminate the problem was his best choice.
And Sterl didn\'t come away empty-handed. Although the system warned that killing players in a safe zone wouldn\'t yield benefits from NPCs.
His disguise fooled the world but not the [Transcendence] system.
The system promptly notified him:
[You have issued a severe provocation in a god-level faction\'s territory and successfully deceived everyone.]
[You have gained +1 legendary status.]
Sterl was stunned for a few seconds. Wasn\'t it said that legendary status points could only be gained through main quests and hidden tasks?
He quickly recalled that he had earned his first legendary status point by achieving a remarkable feat.
Clearly, this special value, as the name suggests, could be obtained by performing legendary acts, though achieving such feats outside of quests was usually very difficult.
Deceiving a god-level faction was typically a surefire way to get oneself killed. Sterl managed to pull it off only by leveraging a gold-quality skill that theoretically would never leak out.
The risk was incredibly high, making it much more challenging than gaining legendary status through regular main quests.
With this extra gain, Sterl was naturally in high spirits.
"Another legendary status point." But before he could revel in his joy for long, he suddenly felt that the atmosphere around him had changed.
"What is that..."
Sterl looked up into the sky. The originally blazing sun suddenly dimmed, transforming into a dark moon!
In the center of the dark moon, a figure wearing a long robe and a demon mask appeared.
At this moment, no further explanation was needed.
Sterl\'s interface directly showed the data.
[You are affected by the laws of shadows and the moon, entering a state of suppression.]
"Laws of power? Could it be..."
Sterl looked at the figure in the sky.
Two words floated into his mind—
"Demigod." the Fourth Prince said slowly, "I originally thought that at most a few legendary figures would come to preside over the ceremony to enter The Netherworld. But such a high-level figure?"
As he spoke, he couldn\'t help but gasp for breath, clearly struggling under the demigod\'s pressure.
Despite the intense pressure, everyone present, including the Fourth Prince, began to smile!
A demigod leading the team signaled the high importance that the Dark Moon Alliance placed on this event!
It seemed that the chances of finding valuable treasures in The Netherworld were incredibly high!
"Damn, this quest is even more lucrative than we thought!"
"This time, entering The Netherworld, I\'ll either come out rich or die trying!"
"A demigod is here! Just how wealthy is The Netherworld?"