The system prompt flashed on the screen, and John and his group decisively chose to join The Immortals faction.
Other powerful figures from various races hesitated for a moment, but eventually, they also chose to join The Immortals faction.
At this point, the warriors from Shadow Clan became restless.
“This is unfair, this is targeting our Shadow Clan! I protest!” one of them yelled angrily.
The others, however, looked at him with disdain. Although they were all part of the Lord God faction, they held no fondness for Shadow Clan.
Of course, they were even more hostile toward The Immortals, but the reality was that only if The Immortals faction won could they advance to the next trial and obtain the ultimate rewards.
For the treasure of The Immortals in the Secret Area, they had no choice but to temporarily align with The Immortals faction.
One person sneered, “You can always choose the Shadow Clan faction. Who knows, maybe you’ll win after all?”
“Exactly. You Shadow Clan people always claim to be the top race, right? I have high hopes for you,” another mocked.
The others joined in, taunting the Shadow Clan warriors.
Enraged, the Shadow Clan warriors gritted their teeth but had no other option. They dared not choose the Shadow Clan faction, for if they lost, they would be teleported away or even perish here.
[Please choose a faction as soon as possible. If no choice is made within ten seconds, you will automatically be placed in the weaker faction.]
The system prompt echoed again, and a ten-second countdown began.
“My lord, let’s join The Immortals. We are no match for those guys,” one of Shadow
Clan’s subordinates said anxiously, looking at their leader.
It was clear that Shadow Clan was the weaker side.
The leader of Shadow Clan was Yealper, the lord of the 47th City.
The number of a city lord signified their rank in strength. Yealper was exceptionally powerful, even rivaling a Tier 3 Overseer in the early stages.
But despite his power, he knew that joining Shadow Clan to oppose the other factions would be a suicide mission.
Grinding his teeth, Yealper hesitated for a moment, but as the countdown reached its final second, he joined The Immortals faction.
“Humph, coward.”
“I thought your Shadow Clan was supposed to be so strong. Turns out, you don’t even have the courage to fight The Immortals.”
The others mocked him mercilessly.
Yealper’s gaze turned cold, and he silently made a mental note of the individuals who had spoken so disrespectfully.
However, his subordinates could no longer hold back their anger. One of them shouted, “We’re not afraid of you! We only joined The Immortals faction to fight for the ultimate treasure!”
“Heh, still acting tough, huh? You’re just as shameless as before,” the others sneered.
John stood off to the side, arms crossed, in a posture that suggested he was just watching the show.
It seemed that all the other races looked down on Shadow Clan.
Jolyne observed that even Shadow Clan had joined The Immortals faction and felt a pang of disappointment in her heart.
She, from the Feather Race, knew that the disaster her people faced was brought on by Shadow Clan. She had hoped to use this opportunity to kill a few of the Shadow Clan’s strong warriors.
[Faction Selection Completed: It has been detected that no strong warriors from the Shadow Clan faction have joined, automatically generating Shadow Clan warriors.]
The Secret Area prompt flashed, and John initially thought that without a Shadow Clan faction, the trial would proceed immediately. But now it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Whoosh!
The surrounding Shadow Laws surged, and massive, powerful auras descended. “Golden-Patterned Hunters?” John was surprised. A large number of Hunters with golden patterns appeared around him. They weren’t the queen insects, but they had reached the demigod realm. The majority were lower-tier gods and mid-tier gods, and some were even upper-tier gods, all with golden patterns. There were at least one hundred thousand of them. Not only that, a huge army of Shadow Clan puppets arrived, all of them at the upper-tier gods level, with many of them being city lord-level experts from Shadow Clan’s main cities. “Why do I feel like The Immortals are the weaker side?” someone said, astonished.
Others also had serious expressions, vigilantly watching the Golden-Patterned Hunters army and the Shadow Clan puppets.
Yealper, seeing this, wore an excited expression and silently led the Shadow Clan warriors to retreat to the side.
Although he had joined the The Immortals faction, he had no intention of fighting the
Shadow Clan puppets.
Moreover, the Golden-Patterned Hunters’ brood mothers were immensely powerful, and he
didn’t feel confident enough to deal with them.
[The First Trial of the Secret Area Begins]
A prompt appeared.
Instantly, the Golden-Patterned Hunters’ brood mothers and the Shadow Clan puppets were activated. They roared and charged at everyone.
Burning Sky’s expression changed slightly. He immediately reminded the group, “The Overseers should deal with the Golden-Patterned Hunters, while the rest handle the Shadow
Clan puppets.”
After speaking, he rushed straight at a Golden-Patterned Hunter.
Black flames surged around him-it was Hellfire.
However, the Hellfire that Burning Sky wielded was different from John’s Golden Lotus
Hellfire.
This black flame carried a sinister, corrupting power. Several Golden-Patterned Hunters were engulfed in the black flames, and they instantly screamed in agony as the flames burrowed into their bodies. Within moments, they collapsed to the ground, burning from the inside, their bodies charred black and their life forces extinguished.
What a bizarre method!
John was shocked. Burning Sky’s power far surpassed what he had expected.
Fortunately, he had his Golden Flame Lotus, which made him immune to the effects of this
Hellfire.
The battle erupted in an instant, and the area was filled with cries of pain. Ordinary upper-tier gods couldn’t withstand the attacks of the Golden-Patterned Hunters.
These Golden-Patterned Hunters were far more powerful than ordinary Hunters.
Roar!
With an enraged roar, several Golden-Patterned Hunters locked their sights on John and his
group.
“Godslayer, be careful, this one has soul-based attacks,” Ice Talker warned. Around him, the power of the Ice and Wood elements surged as he charged toward one of the Golden-
Patterned Hunters.
John, curious, also joined the battle, but he didn’t actively attack. Instead, he wanted to
observe the methods of these Golden-Patterned Hunters.
One of the Golden-Patterned Hunters lunged directly at him.
Puff!
Blood sprayed as a damage number flashed.
-2,200,000
1% of his health was lost, and it was accompanied by 1% of soul damage.
John felt a wave of dizziness in his head. He now understood the Golden-Patterned Hunters’ attack methods. If he were surrounded by tens of thousands of these creatures, they
could easily slay even a The Overseer or a Lord God-level powerhouse.
It seemed that the earlier warnings about the Hunters’ Brood Mothers weren’t exaggerated.
However, for John, these Golden-Patterned Hunters still posed no threat.
No longer testing them, he decisively struck back.
Buzz!
A massive sword intent surged, and three longswords flew out, effortlessly shredding the
Golden-Patterned Hunter.
[Golden-Patterned Hunter killed, 67.66 billion experience gained]
[Plunder Talent activated, Shadow Power +10, Physical Crit +1]
The prompt flashed. Just like the Shadow Clan’s upper-tier gods, Golden-Patterned
Hunters could be Plundered for 10 points of Shadow Power.
His Shadow Power had already reached over 6 million points, but it was still only 1% of the
health damage, with no noticeable increase.
Roar… Roar…
More furious roars echoed as a large number of Golden-Patterned Hunters surged toward
them.
The pressure on everyone increased, and they had to fight with all their might. Particularly for Cand-Dragon and Jolyne, it was a life-threatening situation. Both were peak
upper-tier gods, but there was still a significant gap between them and The Overseer.
If even 100 Golden-Patterned Hunters struck them, they would surely perish. The Immortals faction had already suffered casualties.
John no longer held back his power. A powerful gale swept through the area, and an
overwhelming pressure enveloped the battlefield. He immediately activated Heaven and Earth Transformation, transforming into a towering giant.
The massive commotion drew more attacks from the Golden-Patterned Hunters and the
Shadow Clan puppets.
“Die!” he roared, fearless. Three terrifying sword beams ripped through space. With a single horizontal sweep of his longsword, large numbers of Golden-Patterned Hunters were slain. “Impressive!” Burning Sky watched the scene, his brows furrowing. It seemed that Humdwar had been right-this human’s strength was not to be underestimated based on
appearances alone.
Even so, he was not afraid in the slightest. His soul was powerful, his body was strong, and he
had no weaknesses. Killing John would be a simple task for him.
Boom! Boom!
The air was filled with a rumbling sound as the power of laws surged, and the Hunters roared incessantly. The casualties on The Immortals’ side continued to rise.
It wasn’t that these individuals weren’t a match for the Golden-Patterned Hunters. Rather,
they each had their own agenda and didn’t engage in a full-scale fight. Burning Sky and the others were intentionally holding back, allowing the Golden-Patterned Hunters to slaughter more of the strong fighters in order to reduce the number of
competitors.
As a result, John and his group became the ones to kill the most Golden-Patterned Hunters.
As the battle continued, the losses on The Immortals’ side grew severe, and only the peak- level The Overseer and upper-tier gods remained. Everyone had stopped holding back and was fully engaged in battle.
John, in particular, focused on the Shadow Clan puppets, more than thirty of which were as
powerful as the Shadow City Lords.
He was curious to see if killing these puppets would also allow him to Plunder insights into
the Shadow laws.
Whoosh!
Blood began to fill the air as the Blood Domain was activated. This was a Blood Domain cast
by the more than thirty Shadow Clan puppets, filled with a powerful, bloody killing aura that suppressed everyone’s strength.
However, John was not afraid in the least. With a wave of his hand, he cast his own Blood
Domain.
Boom! Boom!
The two Blood Domains collided, and the thunderous sound echoed across the battlefield.
The powerful power of laws tore apart the space, and endless spatial turbulence surged around them.
However, John’s Blood Domain was even more powerful and quickly dominated the field.
These Shadow Clan puppets had no emotions. Ignoring the countless skill attacks, they charged through the spatial turbulence and fearlessly rushed toward John. “Hmph, overestimating yourselves!” John sneered, his disdain evident. Three sword beams intertwined as he unleashed a frenzy of attacks.
Crack!
The Shadow Clan puppet in the front was instantly shredded.
[You killed a Shadow Clan puppet, gaining 26.766 billion experience points.]
[Plunder talent activated: Shadow Law comprehension +0.5%, Shadow Power +10, Strength
+5000, Skill Points +1000.]
The prompt flashed. These powerful Shadow Clan puppets could indeed be Plundered for
Shadow Laws comprehension.
However, compared to the Shadow City Lords, they only yielded 0.5% of the Shadow
Laws comprehension.
John was more than satisfied with this. With a thought, he directly stored the powerful
Shadow Clan puppets into his World-in-Hand.
Even if they only gave 0.5% of Shadow Laws comprehension, these Shadow Clan
puppets would still provide a significant boost to his Shadow Power.
With the powerful Shadow Clan puppets gone, the pressure on everyone was greatly reduced.
They now found it much easier to slaughter the ordinary Shadow Clan puppets. With the World-in-Hand backing him, John was even more confident, effortlessly killing thirty-two Shadow City Lord-level puppets.
He gained another 16% in Shadow Laws comprehension, bringing his total to 38.1%. His
control over the Shadow Laws became much more refined, and his strength also received a
substantial boost.
With a thought, he exited the World-in-Hand.
The remaining Golden-Patterned Hunters and Shadow Clan puppets were quickly dealt with, and the The Secret Area prompt appeared once again.