The player forces were largely composed of agents from different civilizations. Even those active on Blue Star specialized in reconnaissance, yet they were by no ans lacking in combat prowess.
From the mont night fell, the movents around Bai Ye Town naturally didn’t escape the watchful eyes of these scouts. Players with visual talents in the real world had already observed the town’s situation from a distance using their [Eagle Eye] ability, relaying the information to their commanders.
"The person on the city walls… it’s Bai Ye, and she’s dressed as a black-robed assassin."
Aside from the primary commanders in the ga, a team of intelligence analysts on the Stellar Network stood ready to dissect battlefield intel. When the black-robed figure appeared on the walls, the analysts quickly cross-referenced their intelligence.
The Stellar Alliance had already investigated Ye Bai, and the truth about the Markus Group’s abduction of Ye Bai on Blue Star had co to light. The assassin faction, the mysterious assassin boss active in Tute City, the black-robed assassin who had been lurking near Bai Ye Town for so ti—all these threads were now connected.
There was no doubt that Bai Ye and Ye Bai were closely linked. The only uncertainties remaining for the Stellar Alliance were whether Bai Ye and Ye Bai were two separate individuals or one and the sa, as well as the full details and cause behind the anomalous tsunami incident on Giant Ocean Star.
Regardless, the analysts behind this battle had no trouble providing intel on Bai Ye:
"Based on current intelligence, Bai Ye’s assassin persona targets Bloodline Bearers—players. The characteristics of an assassin are…"
"Bai Ye’s level is estimated to exceed 50. She triggered a quest when slaying the Blood River boss in Landu City. Since both sides could instantly kill other players, her exact attributes couldn’t be calculated."
"It is confird that Bai Ye is a hidden spellcaster class, wielding a wide array of spells. Her most powerful ability is an area-of-effect lightning spell that devastates everything within a hundred-ter radius…"
…
Piece by piece, information and deductions about Bai Ye were relayed in detail to the commanders of the player forces.
After synthesizing the data, it appeared that none of Bai Ye Town’s NPCs were making any moves. It seed Bai Ye intended to use the sa lightning spell she had employed before to deal with them, while also donning her assassin garb to harvest the spoils of battle.
However, what gave the commanders pause was that the lightning spell indiscriminately damaged structures as well. Was Bai Ye planning to go down in flas, sacrificing her own territory?
"Hold your positions."
Sensing sothing amiss, the commanders issued the order to wait and observe.
The disciplined player forces surrounding Bai Ye Town obeyed without question, but they weren’t the only enemies the town faced tonight. The siege bosses spawned by the town’s two-level leap in rank were also on the move.
Fluorescent spores from the Tree of Genesis drifted across the town’s direct jurisdiction, illuminating the eerily silent settlent.
The player forces had already received orders to split ranks at a mont’s notice, clearing a path for the monsters assaulting Bai Ye Town.
"Boom!"
A thunderous crack tore through the cloudless night, splitting the sky near Bai Ye Town with a golden fissure. Unlike a natural lightning strike, this golden scar didn’t fade but remained suspended in the air.
The next mont, accompanied by the flapping of wings, over a dozen creatures with tawny feathers and white plus erged from the rift, their piercing cries cutting through the night.
[Griffins] – Elite monsters, individual levels 55-60.
"Boom!"
Another bolt of blue lightning struck, tearing open a second spatial rift.
From within ca the unsettling skittering of chitinous limbs as ter-long giant scorpions crawled forth. Each elental scorpion’s tail glowed with a different hue, radiating an aura of dread.
[Elental Scorpions] – Elite monsters, individual levels 50-55.
"Boom!"
The third thunderclap was tinged with the crimson of chaos.
A sharp, elongated horn pierced through the rift first.
"Groooaaar…"
A deep bellow followed as a colossal beast over twenty ters long erged—a creature with a rhino-like head, gaping maw, and a whip-like tail.
[Kodo Beast] – Boss monster, level 60.
Two waves of elite monsters, plus a tier-three level 60 boss—this was the trial Bai Ye Town faced after jumping from level 5 directly to level 7!
When a territory ascends to city rank, the siege monsters no longer spawn from the surrounding areas as they do for town-level upgrades. Instead, they tear through space itself, manifesting in a manner befitting the territory’s acquired esoteric knowledge.
The sight sent ripples of unrest through the player ranks. The monsters’ dramatic entrance and unprecedented levels shattered their expectations once again.
"Is this how monsters appear when upgrading from level 5 to level 6?" Bai Ye Town had always been ahead of the curve, and this scene imdiately drew intense scrutiny. So players logged off to report the details to the analysts, ensuring other territories preparing for upgrades would be forewarned.
But most couldn’t tear their eyes away from Bai Ye Town—from the solitary figure standing atop the walls.
The siege monsters had erged via spatial rifts much closer to Bai Ye Town than the player encirclent. At this point, even if Bai Ye mobilized her town’s defenders, it would be too late.
How could she possibly handle this alone?
Were it not for Bai Ye’s established reputation for enigmatic power, everyone would have called this sheer arrogance. Their emotions were conflicted—part of them anticipated watching her fail spectacularly, while another part whispered the uneasy thought, "Could she actually pull this off?"
"Rumble…"
The ground trembled as the monsters roared, their levels surpassing every player on the field. As one, they charged toward Bai Ye on the walls.
During territory upgrades, siege monsters prioritize attacking living beings within the territory. With every other resident safely indoors, Bai Ye stood as the sole active lifeform outside—no need to draw aggro when the monsters would naturally converge on her.
The griffins in the sky were fastest.
A dozen of the winged beasts swooped down, their powerful talons poised to rend flesh—a signature attack of these high-tier aerial predators.
Scouts using [Eagle Eye] noticed Bai Ye’s weapon was no longer the familiar sword but a spellbook, the standard armant of magic-wielders.
"Rustle…"
The black pages flipped—a telltale sign of spellcasting.
"SCREEEEE—!!!"
The next instant, the diving griffins shrieked in agony—then fell silent.
Without any incantation ti, a pale beam of light suddenly shot out from Bai Ye, whose black robes billowed around her, piercing through four or five charging griffins in one strike.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
With three consecutive instant-cast second-tier necromancy spells—[Death Ray]—over a dozen griffins, all above level 55, were instantly annihilated in the blink of an eye.
"How is this possible… Did she not use a magic scroll?!"
"No, she didn’t..."
"Contact the think tank—we need Bai Ye’s stats assessed imdiately..."
Of course, the players had never encountered griffins before and had no idea of their level. But in World’s End, monsters had far more health than players. The fact that they were one-shot was proof enough of Bai Ye’s overwhelming damage.
Dealing with the griffins was only the beginning.
Once the battle started, the pages of Bai Ye’s spellbook never stopped flipping.
Dense swarms of elental scorpions—at least a hundred of them—climbed over each other, scaling the city walls. Their tails brimd with elental venom; a single strike would inflict lingering elental damage.
But after finishing off the griffins, crimson ring-shaped arcs of light began flying out from Bai Ye in rapid succession.
[Scythe of Death] danced and whirled among the scorpion horde. For as long as the spell lasted, every sweep of the arc claid the life of another giant scorpion.
In the blink of an eye, a thick layer of scorpion corpses piled up beneath the walls.
It was only a matter of ti before the entire swarm was wiped out.
But… what about the boss?
The player army turned their hopeful gazes toward the final, unusually massive kodo beast.
The kodo beast charged toward the city walls. This colossal creature, built like a steel war machine, shook the ground with every thunderous step. Any elental scorpions too slow to dodge were crushed underfoot, exploding into puddles of elental fluid.
So of the scorpions retaliated, lashing out with their venomous tails, but their attacks couldn’t even pierce the kodo beast’s thick hide.
Even at just level 60, a third-tier boss was on an entirely different level from second-tier creatures.
The kodo beast barreled toward the section of the wall where Bai Ye stood—its sheer montum alone would bring the entire structure crashing down.
Yet in response, Bai Ye rely extended a single pale, almost bluish finger, pointing at the beast.
Only those with enhanced vision could barely make out a wisp of gray mist, like drifting smoke, flying from her fingertip and silently sinking into the kodo beast.
The high-tier necromancy spell [Plague of the Mind] struck the beast, ignoring its staggering health pool and instead draining it by 10% every second.
"Thud… thud… thud…"
To the player army, it looked as though the kodo beast’s charge gradually slowed. By the ti it finally reached the base of the wall, trampling over countless elental insect corpses, exactly ten seconds had passed.
"BOOM—"
The kodo beast’s massive body collapsed at Bai Ye’s feet.
Silence fell once more—both within Bai Ye’s town and among the surrounding players.
Before this mont, no one could have imagined that this sudden monster siege, from start to finish, would last less than ten minutes! Even the nearby wild beasts hadn’t had ti to arrive yet!
But while ordinary players were still reeling from the shock, the commanders quickly regained their composure. The think tank had already recorded Bai Ye’s displayed combat prowess. She was strong—far stronger than anyone had anticipated.
Yet the outco of a war wasn’t determined by a single individual’s strength. Unlike mindless monsters that blindly attacked Bai Ye, humans could strategize. With enough players, even a sacrificial squad could stall her while the rest razed Bai Ye’s town.
"East District, Fifth Squad, stand by… Recon team, flank from the south…"
The commanders began issuing orders through ntal links, directing each squad leader. Now was the ti to showcase the art of command—
"Wait… What the hell is that?!"
Just as the player army began moving according to their orders, an unexpected change occurred in Bai Ye’s town.
Ye Bai leveled up. The pages of her [To of Death] flipped rapidly as her mana drained, fueling one of the artifact’s abilities.
[Raise Servants]: Consus the caster’s mana and health to convert corpses into undead minions. Conversion cost scales with level difference (max 20 levels).
Waves of soul energy surged forth, seeping into the surrounding monster corpses.
"Whoosh—"
Clusters of ghostly green flas ignited in the corpses’ eyes. The elites and bosses that Ye Bai had just slain now rose—stiff, slow, but unshakable—from the ground.
In gas, players were called the "Fourth Calamity" for their "immortal" nature. But World’s End had another kind of undying force, also known as a calamity.
The Undead Scourge.
"Tap." Ye Bai leaped down from the wall, landing amidst her newly risen undead legion. With soulfire flickering in her gaze, she turned her attention to the player army ahead.
It was ti to show these ignorant players what a true artifact could do.
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