The Era of Gods

Chapter 503: Chapter 503 Trace of Void Storm and Children of Nightmare

Lin Xiao was quite curious about one thing: at the Shattrath Ruins, he hadn’t seen other players from the Expeditionary Army, not even passersby.

He didn’t know whether they hadn’t come here or had crossed the Hell Wall from some other place, or were in some other direction on the Hellfire Plains.

But now, there weren’t many players from the Expeditionary Army who had established a firm foothold outside, so it wasn’t too strange not to see any for the time being.

As early as a year ago, some players from the Expeditionary Army had left the Expeditionary Army Fortress and ventured deep into the Different Domain. Most had failed and died, with only a very few managing to secure a foothold.

Following the bumpy and winding underground passages, they arrived at a huge subterranean space about two days later. At first glance, this underground space was filled with Undead creatures and some strange subterranean beasts,

They cleared out the Undead and some strange subterranean creatures within the underground space, including a monster covered in tentacles with strong spiritual power and the ability to control other creatures.

Lin Xiao pulled out a map and compared it with the underground space, then hesitated before saying,

“Strange, where’s the path?”

After comparing the map back and forth, he came to the face of a sheer cliff and stood dumbfounded for a long while. According to the map, there should have been an exit here, but now there was just a sheer cliff; the path was gone.

Looking again at this underground space, there was only one other path marked on the map as a passage to the Under World.

His girlfriend carefully studied the stone wall covered in unidentified black moss and said,

“It must have collapsed or been blocked. Try digging.”

He nodded, waved his hand, and two warriors transformed into Supreme Naga approached. With their giant claws, they easily dug through the rubble, but the deeper they went, the harder the rock became and harder to dig. Moreover, the deeper they dug, the more they felt a palpable sense of dread, as if approaching some terrifying existence.

“Stop!”

He gestured for his men to halt, his gaze flickering slightly. His girlfriend felt the same trepidation, and they exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.

Two days later, the team returned to the surface. They neither continued to dig forward nor took the alternative route into the Under World but headed straight back home instead.

He wasn’t a fool to knowingly court danger.

As for the Under World, that was even less likely a destination. Who knows what was down there? Plus, his subordinates were not well-suited for combat in the Under World and could not fully exert their strength, so it was better to return, especially when that wasn’t the only path available.

Five days later, the team appeared several kilometers outside of Demon City. The Lead Scout, Dark Moon, approached to reconnoiter Demon City and soon brought back some bad news.

Demon City was protected by a Forbidden Sky Formation, and within the city was a very powerful Demon. Additionally, the city’s position in a canyon meant only one side was accessible for a siege, making it unrealistic to think of taking the city by storm, even with the assistance of the Undead from Shattrath.

In other words, it was impossible to pass through here.

When in doubt, consult the locals. So Lin Xiao returned to Shattrath and sought out the Great Lich Lord. The Great Lord was quite surprised to hear about the situation in the Under World, and after some thought, he suggested two paths.

One was to follow the Hell Wall southward or northward, where perhaps a valley or fissure could be found.

The other was to activate an ancient Teleportation Array within the Shattrath Ruins that could transport them to the location of another Kingdom from the ancient times of this world.

But the Great Lich Lord informed him that, in ancient times, that Kingdom was the initial landing point for Demons. It was the Mages of that Kingdom, while conducting some forbidden experiments, who had attracted the attention of Void Demons, leading to the Demon invasion and the first great war of ancient times taking place there.

So now, no one knew what the situation was like there—it could be a lair teeming with Demons, a death land overrun with Undead, or even a death land ravaged by terrifying energies.

Considering the risks, once they were teleported there, the Teleportation Array would be shut down again. This meant it was a one-way trip; once they went there, they wouldn’t be able to return.

After considering for a moment and consulting with his girlfriend, Lin Xiao decided to give it a try.

The world was too vast, and relying on travel by foot was too slow. It would be much better to directly reach into the depths of the Different Domain in one step.

Although that place was where the Void Demons had first descended, the main forces of the Void Demons had long since withdrawn after plundering this world. Those that remained were not the main forces, so while there were definite dangers, they wouldn’t be insurmountable.

Moreover, the teleportation point was not the exact site of the Void Demons’ first descent but just a location within that Kingdom.

Thinking this over, Lin Xiao conveyed his decision to the Great Lich Lord, who didn’t try to dissuade him, but instead led him and his subordinates to a giant Teleportation Array beneath the center of Shattrath Ruins, large enough to accommodate hundreds of people at once.

As they prepared to activate the Array, the Great Lich Lord gave him a reconnaissance mission and an item, instructing him to explore an area called Forbidden Land and to search for something. The item would react within a range of one hundred meters, so he would know what it was.

He promised that if the item could be found, he would risk opening the Teleportation Array again to bring them back and reward him with the Orange Legend accessory ‘Will of the Undead’.

A seemingly ordinary quest for an Orange Legend-tier accessory; frankly, Lin Xiao was quite interested.

After accepting the mission, several Undead Mages took their positions and began to cast spells. Under the leadership of the Great Lich, they activated the Teleportation Array.

“`

Void Storm, the ruins of Alkron, the remains of an ancient kingdom. The once prosperous city has now been covered by ruins upon ruins, becoming the home of various undead and magic creatures.

In the center of the ruins lies a giant pit with a diameter of over ten kilometers, constantly filled with the aura of death, and the respawn rate of the undead monsters is exceptionally fast.

When Biggs and his team first arrived here, they thought about defending this pit, where the undead respawned quickly, as a resource for their subordinates to farm experience. However, after seeing groups of players passing through the Teleportation Array every one or two months, he realized that it would not be easy to secure.

Instead, he felt that repeatedly clearing the monsters and inadvertently making it convenient for others, without any benefit for himself, made no sense. So, he simply stopped.

So now, Biggs had already given up on the place and only stationed a few subordinates there to build a small lookout post, also sending a partner to monitor the pit and inform any newcomers to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

That day, the surge of undead aura in the massive pit alarmed the player on duty this month, Dominique. Observing the situation within the pit, he noticed a strong white beam of light shooting up into the sky, signaling the arrival of someone through teleportation.

Indeed, just two hours later, an army surged out of the pit, breaking through the encirclement of the undead, which then retreated back to the edge of the pit.

“Someone’s coming!”

Lin Xiao looked alertly toward someone approaching from the outside of the pit…

“A player?”

Dominique stood in the distance and waved, saying:

“I am delighted to see a new human player in the vastness of the Void Storm. As one who came before you, please allow me to introduce you to the situation here.”

“Please do.”

Although he did not fully trust this player who seemed to have been guarding the place, he figured listening wouldn’t hurt.

Dominique began:

“We call this the Void Storm. After preliminary exploration and interaction with the natives, we’ve learned this is a community consisting of several large shattered floating landmasses and numerous smaller fragments of earth suspended in the Twisted Void, remnants of the original world and the site where Demons first descended during ancient times, as well as the main battleground of the first decisive battle.”

“Later, this part of the world was shattered and turned into the Void Storm Area we see now. Our current location is a part of the ancient Kingdom of Alkron. Most new players who come here stay for a while before heading to other areas.”

“This Void Storm Area is vast, with just the floating landmass containing the Alkron Ruins covering over a million square kilometers. Of such large broken floating landmasses, we have discovered seven or eight so far, and we estimate there are more in the distance. Many players have been heading to these other landmasses. We can provide you with a map, and you can choose a landmass to conquer.”

As he spoke, Lin Xiao received a system prompt:

“Player Dominique is transferring a document to you. Would you like to receive it?”

“Accept.”

Then, a huge map appeared before Lin Xiao, showing a third area lit up in addition to representing the Hellfire Plains and the Shattrath Ruins. The area was incredibly vast, but only the rough outlines were visible, with clear details of Alkron Ruins and the rest of the huge floating landmass and other lands remaining unclear.

He saw many green dots scattered across it. On closer inspection, he noticed names and some information next to the dots. Lin Xiao glanced at a few of them, not recognizing any nor paying particular attention, aware only that these were fortresses established by other Army Stream players who had come to this area.

One of the key points clearly marked was a base near this teleportation portal, where Biggs’s name was very conspicuous.

“Biggs?”

The name sounded familiar to Lin Xiao. He transmitted the map to his girlfriend as well, who laughed after reviewing it:

“Isn’t that the player who was ranked seventeenth on the Orange Legend leaderboard? He challenged you once before.”

“Oh!”

He remembered now, an old acquaintance indeed.

Since it was an old acquaintance, Lin Xiao thought it would be good to pay a visit. After mentioning this to Dominique, he seemed surprised and stepped aside to communicate with someone unknown. After a while, he came back and said:

“My boss will be here soon.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

It was apparent that Dominique was still unaware of Lin Xiao’s identity, showing no particular reaction to hearing his name before or now.

After a while, three figures emerged from the faint mist in the distance and flew towards him. Soon, a somewhat familiar face appeared—the man was surprised to see Lin Xiao as well.

Half an hour later, he was inside Biggs’s fortress, a base converted from an ancient ruin.

This ancient ruin was like a large-scale ancient arena, with outer walls resembling city walls built from durable stone, which had not weathered even after tens of thousands of years. Biggs had discovered it and renovated it slightly, building a high wall at the only breach to create an outlet, simply needing to assign his subordinates to guard it steadfastly.

“`