The altar loomed before Alex, its massive sphere of pulsating crimson energy radiating an oppressive aura.
[Overlord City Altar]
[HP: 100,000,000]
Much like the barrier around the [Fox Tribe Village], it had a lot of health, and it was the final obstacle in their siege, its destruction would decide the fate of Overlord City.
“Let’s finish this,” Alex said, his voice calm but firm.
Alice and Aurelia stood at his side, their expressions resolute.
Behind them, his undead army waited, their weapons glinting in the eerie light.
Alex raised his hand, summoning a flurry of spells to rain down on the altar.
Fire Meteor blazed through the air, colliding with the structure in a deafening explosion that sent shockwaves through the chamber.
Demonic Spear! Crimson Cataclysm! Arc of Divinity!
The altar shuddered but held firm, its health bar barely dented.
“Don’t hold back!” Alex called out.
Alice launched a barrage of light-infused arrows, each strike chipping away at the altar’s defenses.
Aurelia dashed forward, launching her her daggers at the orb, slicing through the air as she performed a flurry of precision strikes.
Meanwhile, Alex unleashed Rain of Fire, the flaming projectiles scorching the altar’s surface and leaving trails of molten energy in their wake.
The undead joined the fray, slashing and battering the altar relentlessly.
Bony knights swung their massive swords, while spectral wraiths lashed out with incorporeal claws.
Even grand skeletons hurled chunks of debris at the structure, each impact accompanied by a dull thud.
Minutes turned into what felt like hours as the group attacked in perfect synchronization.
The altar’s health bar ticked down steadily, though its sheer durability made the process grueling.
“Is this thing indestructible?” Alice muttered, loosing another volley of arrows.
“It’s going down,” Alex replied, his tone unwavering.
He cast Fury of Thunder, bolts of lightning slamming into the altar and illuminating the chamber in flashes of blue.
And after around twenty minutes since the start, with one last Fire Meteor and a combined assault from everyone, the altar’s health dropped to zero.
The sphere cracked, fissures spreading across its surface like spiderwebs, before it erupted in a brilliant explosion of light and sound.
The blast washed over them, harmless but blinding.
When the light faded, the chamber was silent, save for the soft hum of residual energy dissipating into the air.
And so, an announcement rang.
Ding!
[Players: FateBreaker, StarPillow, and Aurelia have destroyed the Altar!]
Another one followed immediately.
[The Attackers Win!]
[Thus, Overlord City will not be established, and MartialMage will be prohibited from trying to establish another city for 3 months!]
Alex’s lips curved into a small smile.
The penalty was a significant blow to Daniel and his ambitions.
This was the harsh reality of the game. If you failed to establish your first city, you were sidelined for months.
Succeed, however, and you could build as many cities as you wanted, provided you conquered the [Monster Tide Trial].
But failure at higher levels came with steeper penalties.
If you succeeded in establishing your city, then after a while managed to acquire the material and money to upgrade it, you would have to go through a second and harder trial.
If you failed this one, your city wouldn’t be destroyed, but you would be prohibited from upgrading yours for 4 months.
The higher the level, the more the penalty would be, basically.
The game wasn’t just a test of strength; it was a brutal, unrelenting competition that pitted players against each other.
Alex’s mind wandered briefly as he reflected on the game’s design.
It wasn’t just encouraging conflict, it was demanding it.
The rules were crafted to force players into battle, and strength was the ultimate currency.
And soon, the consequences of Universal Descent would bleed into the real world.
Within a year from now, people would uncover ways to transfer their in-game powers to reality.
Crime rates would skyrocket, and law enforcement would struggle to keep up.
The end of the world had started since Universal Descent appeared, but it was truly humanity that started the fire that would burn them all.
Soon after, monster attacks would become frequent, and then… the gods.
A shiver ran down Alex’s spine at the thought, but he shook it off. There was no use dwelling on the inevitable.
Ding!
[Top Contributors:]
[1st Place: FateBreaker]
[2nd Place: Aurelia]
[3rd Place: StarPillow]
[4th Place…]
“WHAT?!” Alice shouted, her voice echoing in the chamber as she saw it, “I was so much more useful!”
Aurelia smirked. “Guess the game disagrees. My win!”
Alex chuckled softly, shaking his head as the two women bickered.
To him, second and third place didn’t matter, what mattered was that they’d won, but it seemed like the two had some sort of rivalry.
Still in the now-dark altar chamber, Alex unsummoned his undead.
One by one, they dissolved into shadows, vanishing into the void.
Then, he turned his attention to the notifications he hadn’t checked during the battle.
Ding!
[You have slain…]
[You have slain…]
[You have slain…]
The system displayed a long list of defeated enemies, each kill meticulously recorded.
Unfortunately, the players didn’t grant experience, only monsters did.
Even so, the low-level monsters provided minimal gains, raising Alex’s level by just one.
[Level Up!]
And of course, the extraction prompt was there too.
[+172 Strength, +128 Spirit, +59 Agility, +85 Vitality]
His stat gains were impressive, a testament to his domination in the event.
But another notification appeared, reminding him of something he’d neglected.
[You haven’t used your “Skill Evolution” for a while now!]
“Yeah,” Alex muttered.
It wasn’t that he’d forgotten; he’d simply been too busy.
Only two skills remained unevolved: [Electric Storm] (Basic) and [Chains of Restraint] (Advanced).
Deciding it was time, he chose the latter.
Ding!
[You have upgraded “Chains of Restraint” (Advanced) to “Chains of Destiny” (High-Tier).]
[Chains of Destiny lv1: Fifty transparent chains emerge from your staff, reducing enemies’ speed by 200% and stunning them for 10 seconds. Shackled targets take 1000% Spirit as damage. Mana Cost: 300,000. Cooldown: 2 minutes.]
This skill’s damage was completely based on the amount of spirit he had, which could be both good and bad depending on the situation.
What was amazing about it though was the speed reduction and the stun.
These were the things that could turn the tides of a battle.
With the notifications cleared, two final messages appeared.
One was about the end of the event.
[The Monster Tide Trial of Overlord City has ended!]
And the other was addressed solely to Alex:
[The Heart of Calamity has seen your achievements. It assimilates further with your being.]
“…?” he raised his eyebrows before turning his gaze back to the girls.
“Yeah, but Alex prefers me!” Alice boasted, her grin wide as her argument with Aurelia continued.
“W-What? That’s only because he knows you better!” Aurelia retorted, her cheeks tinged pink.
“Nuh-uh,” Alice teased, her smirk turning mischievous. “We do the deed every day, after all.”
“W-What?!” Aurelia’s face turned scarlet.
Trained as an assassin from childhood, she was skilled in combat but clueless in matters of intimacy, in contrary to her brother who loved to fool with women instead of doing his work.
Alex’s relationship with Alice was clearly a sore spot.
“I-I… Forget about it!” she stammered, crossing her arms with a pout.
Alex decided it was time to intervene.
“You both did a good job,” he said, his tone reassuring.
Aurelia’s face lit up at the praise, and she shot Alice a smug look.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said, his expression growing serious. “We’ve caused enough havoc. Now, it’s not just Daniel who’ll be after us.”
He opened his [World Map] and gripped their hands, preparing to teleport them back to the [Fox Tribe Village].
FateBreaker had officially positioned himself against the most powerful guilds and families in the game.
In Universal Descent, his strength was unmatched, but the real world was a different story.
Alice and Aurelia, as well as their families could be in danger.
And Alex wouldn’t allow that.