Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

Besides, the Teleportation Gate was the top priority; they couldn’t afford to have their attention diverted by the enemy.

This decision was undoubtedly a wise one.

Once the large number of experts from the eastern front arrived to provide support in an instant, the situation immediately clarified, and a full-scale counterattack began.

The snowball effect became unstoppable.

It all happened too fast.

Perhaps neither side had expected the situation on the eastern front to be resolved so quickly.

Of course.

On the western front opened by the enemy, because it had remained undisturbed for a long time, people from Oran City who were unaware of the situation continued to arrive. By noon, their numbers had likely swelled to over ten thousand.

To put it bluntly, you probably couldn’t even kill ten thousand pigs in a day and a night.

And when this massive enemy force, after repeatedly failing to press forward to the city’s border, suddenly noticed people at the front starting to flee in panic, considerable chaos erupted.

These people weren’t a well-trained army. Other than the ”Oran City” label, they were all strangers to one another, with no bonds to speak of.

Once the situation collapsed, there was no hope of stopping the stampede.

As the setting sun sank in the west, its afterglow splashed across the dense forest like blood.

The forest was no longer verdant. At least several hundred columns of gray-black smoke rose slowly. Amidst the embers of war, corpses littered the ground—some half-buried in mud, others hanging from broken branches.

Even more tragic was the state of Throat-Splitting Canyon, which had once served as Oran City’s western hub.

A large number of rapidly constructed modular buildings had been completely blown apart and torn to shreds. The surroundings were littered with all sorts of flesh and gore. After the Teleportation Gate collapsed, it left a massive crater in its place.

Looking further out, one could see many people still hunting down the fleeing Olan People.

Others knew when to quit while they were ahead and began looting the corpses, checking for any dropped Runes that hadn’t been picked up, as well as for any Element equipment the bodies might have.

Chaos is a ladder.

The endless slaughter would also cause Rune Essence to circulate rapidly, thus creating powerful experts in batches.

This scene was undoubtedly the original intention of the world quest.

If a Magic Goddess truly sat enthroned in the heavens, gazing down, she would surely be gratified by the slaughter between the forces of these two cities.

Perhaps everyone was aware of how disgusting the mechanics of this world were. But whether due to humanity’s inherent flaws or the temptations of Demons, they ultimately ended up in a ”Gu-rearing” scenario.

...

As early as five in the afternoon, Su Chen, having slaughtered at least sixty people on the western front, finally headed back.

He and Ruoruo didn’t pursue them too far, choosing instead to shift to the northern front. Yan Ziqian and the others, however, were still with the main group, continuing to hunt down the remaining enemies.

Meanwhile, on the northern side of Dongfu City, there had indeed been a breach. Teleportation Gates North 1 and North 3 were successfully infiltrated and successively destroyed by an elite enemy force.

But they had the home-field advantage, after all. With ”firefighting” teams rushing in from all directions, they eventually drove the enemy out of their territory.

By nine at night, when Su Chen returned from the forests of the Northern Territory, his day of fighting was finally over. The Energy Bars of several of his main Runes had been completely depleted and refilled five or six times.

All quiet in Dongfu.

Beyond the city’s four borders, even in the city center that had been infiltrated, the fires of war had been extinguished.

The day-long offensive from Oran seemed to have come to an end.

”The Rune Core’s key area only had a large section of its wall breached. Also, because our forces were packed too densely, some unknown AOE attacks caused quite a few friendly casualties,” a returning member reported.

According to the description, only the Forward Base pushed out into the forest was almost completely destroyed.

This was logical.

Without eliminating this base, Oran City’s attacking force could never have crossed the defensive line to advance on the Rune Core’s key area.

”The enemy is truly packed with experts. Our southern assault corps is still on the defensive. The higher-ups have no plans to press their Teleportation Gate tonight; they’re just having people rest in shifts.”

Combining this with the official broadcast news, everyone knew this assessment wasn’t an exaggeration.

”There’s only one day left. The other side probably can’t pull any tricks now. I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but I hope more Olan People come to attack.”

This purely warmongering statement was met with agreement and praise from many.

The days of continuous warfare had allowed most people to quickly piece together and complete their Rune systems.

To supplement everyone’s combat strength as much as possible, the Security Committee even had the Equipment House on the border distribute free armor, bulletproof vests, and weapons like Magic Crossbows and One-Handed Swords.

A rather unspoken truth was that teammates who unfortunately died could also drop Runes. ”Looting their bags with tears in your eyes” was another way to get stronger.

This also led to quite a few internal conflicts and contradictions.

Regardless, as long as they survived, participants in the war would grow stronger quickly.

”The mid-tier players will probably reach the level of Lv5 in All Elements. For now, their advancement is blocked by the need for Spirit Marrow Crystals,” Yan Ruoruo commented.

Successfully advancing to a class guaranteed at least three Lv4 Runes.

The starting point for a Rune Caster was already quite high.

The only annoying thing was that about thirty percent of the enemy forces were One-Star Rune Walkers, who generally just dropped Spiritual Dust Sand.

And many of them hadn’t even completed their class change, yet they dared to join in on the chaos of this war.

It showed a complete disregard for human life.

”The top-tier players have surely dabbled in numerous Lv6 Runes by now, and the small handful at the very peak have used this wartime dividend to quickly accumulate Lv7 Runes,” Su Chen added, reflecting on the current situation.

The hiking backpack on his back was nearly full with a large bag of Runes and Spiritual Materials, a testament to just how insane the situation had become.

Even Yan Ruoruo’s All Elements Rune Map was just short of Lv7 Grand Completion; she was only missing Spiritual Shelter. On top of that, she had obtained an incredibly rare Lv7 Cognitive Distortion Rune, bringing her personal Spirit Element map to a total of six.

Due to the Soul Core, without any special assistance, even supreme experts would get stuck at the Lv8 threshold, finding it difficult to advance.

But Su Chen, relying on the Core Authority of the Grand Elemental Master and his previous sacrificial offerings, was equivalent to possessing one Lv9 and six Lv8 Runes.

This was the advantage granted by a Five-Star hidden class.

’They’d better give out some Soul Cores when the contribution rankings are settled.’

To be honest, as soon as the war was over, he had to press deep into the forest. Otherwise, his personal power advantage would gradually be eroded by those catching up from behind.

”Too many people have died. The market is definitely flooded with Spiritual Materials and Runes. Everyone will be able to complete their required Rune sets very quickly.” Su Chen was keenly aware of this fact.

He glanced at the trading post in the distance. It was packed to the brim; even the people queuing outside would have enough to share and trade for the Runes they needed.

Before Lv8, Runes could be accumulated purely through quantity; there was no real threshold to speak of.

”Every 7th level is a power spike” was just a rule of thumb summarized by independent experts, named so because it usually unlocked a powerful new trait.

But stepping into Lv8 was an all-around leap and enhancement, where even the Rune’s structure seemed to return to a state of primal simplicity.

’Magic Blessing talents and Star Level promotions can also widen the power gap. They’re even more critical than Runes,’ Su Chen thought. He wasn’t worried about it, though. After all, his primary advantage was still the physical feedback effect from his family’s Jade Pendant.

As for whether the scale of the war would expand further tomorrow, he found it unlikely.

Over the course of the day, the enemy had likely suffered over ten thousand deaths. There were also numerous deserters who failed to teleport away and had scattered frantically into the distant forests. Many were even driven into dead ends. Considering the dangers lurking there, their chances of survival weren’t high.

However, compared to Oran City’s population of over two million, it didn’t seem like much.

But population alone was useless. To put it bluntly, what mattered was the number of Rune Casters.

Otherwise, it didn’t matter how many ordinary civilians they had.

”Today’s wave definitely hit the enemy where it hurts. The biggest variable now is probably what tricks the Demon Warlocks are planning to pull,” Su Chen said.

According to official directives, all corpses of the slain were to be incinerated. This was partly to prevent the outbreak of plagues and improve sanitation, and partly to stop the souls of the dead from being harvested by the Demon Warlocks.

This information reportedly came from the Sect.

Those corporate magnates in power often used human lives as bargaining chips to trade with Demons.

To a certain extent, this war perfectly suited their agenda.