This time, 100,000 players had been selected.
Next time, only 10,000 would remain.
The competition was fierce.
Those who slacked off and failed to improve themselves would be eliminated, unable to keep pace with the players on the front line.
So, as soon as the rankings were released, they were more eager than anyone else to go out and hunt monsters, leveling up as quickly as possible.
At the same time, Long Zhantian issued an announcement, ordering the 99.9 million players inside the Land of Elements to leave.
Most of the players were affiliated with the official forces, so they followed the order without question.
In an instant, the Land of Elements was practically emptied.
As for those who refused to leave, once they found themselves alone, they were unable to withstand the terrifying environment of the Land of Elements.
Moreover, they did not dare offend either the official forces or the Thorn Guild. Naturally, they left as well.
As for anyone who stubbornly refused to comply, Long Zhantian had made himself clear.
The moment one was discovered, they would be killed immediately—and permanently barred from resurrection.
No one dared take that risk.
The remaining 100,000 players were filled with excitement. They were the chosen ones, the darlings of fate.
From now on, they would not only be able to slay gods; they might even become gods themselves.
Of the 100,000 players, 60 percent were members of the Thorn Guild, while the remaining 40 percent belonged to the official forces.
Regardless of which side they represented, there was no doubt that they were the 100,000 strongest players in the world.
The SSS-rank talent holders from other countries had long since fallen far behind them.
Soon afterward, everyone gathered together, with Feng Huimin taking command.
She had organized campaigns involving millions of people before. To Feng Huimin, these 100,000 players were nothing more than a single squad.
With Chu Fu leading the charge, the combat power of 100,000 people was no weaker than that of a million.
They rampaged through the Land of Elements, while also beginning to search for traces of the Divine Envoys.
Killing a Divine Envoy guaranteed at least one level gained, along with ten Divine Power Fragments.
This was something they absolutely had to do.
Meanwhile, overseas players were still reeling from the impact of the “God Rankings.” No one even paid attention to the latest version update.
[System Announcement: The Mechanical Descent version has ended. Game Version 7.0, “Zerg Invasion,” is now live.]
[Zerg creatures across the world are mutating, their strength increasing dramatically. Large numbers of Zerg have appeared in the wilderness and are expanding at an alarming rate. Players, find the Zerg Hives as soon as possible and destroy the conspiracy the Zerg are plotting!]
[Level 60 dungeon “Zerg Disaster,” Level 65 dungeon “Alien Zerg Warrior,” and Level 70 dungeon “Zerg Queen’s Nest” are now open.]
The Huaxia players who had left the Land of Elements threw themselves into the new dungeons.
In reality, only Huaxia’s players had reached Level 60 and were qualified to enter the new dungeons. The overseas players were still far from meeting the requirements.
“Plant Boss and the others are leveling up in the Land of Elements. They definitely won’t come back to compete with us for the first dungeon clears or the speedrun rankings. Brothers, let’s charge!”
“Level 60 Water Healer looking for a party.”
“Level 60 Lich King looking for a party.”
“Forming a group! Need AoE classes. Assassins not wanted—unless you’re Lu Xing.”
The leveling frenzy was in full swing.
The overseas players, however, found themselves in an entirely different situation.
“Holy crap! Why are bugs invading the cities? Those tiny bugs from before are already Level 11?”
“There’s a massive bug here—a Level 40 boss! Anyone want to team up and take it down?”
“Bug swarm incoming! Help!”
“I’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest! What do I do? They’re camping my corpse!”
“That’s nothing. I’m being attacked by a swarm of ants, and they’re carrying my corpse back to their nest! Offering a high reward for rescue!”
…
Inside the Land of Elements.
The 100,000-strong army monopolized all the resources, and their experience climbed at an astonishing speed.
Even so, once they reached Level 60 and above, gaining a single level still required three days.
Chu Fu knew that the higher one’s level, the slower the rate of advancement.
According to the original storyline, the players’ strength should not have been able to keep up with the speed at which the monsters descended upon the world.
But now, the situation had been reversed.
The players were leveling too quickly. Not only had they forced the monsters to descend ahead of schedule, they had even compelled them to launch their invasion prematurely.
They had no choice but to invade.
This was a rule the evil gods had to obey after invading the Primordial Gate.
Or perhaps it was the divine power contained within the Primordial Gate that was restraining them.
What a marvelous gate.
“There are only thirty days left until the game invades reality. We have to do our best to get all 100,000 players to Level 70 before then, so we can overcome the Zerg crisis in advance within the game.”
More importantly, once the monsters invaded reality, the time available to log in through the Primordial Gate would be reduced.
By then, there would be less and less time to level up.
While they still had the time, they had to level as hard as they could.
When Feng Huimin reached Level 60, her commander class gained the ability to include an unlimited number of players in a War Legion.
All 100,000 players were placed in the same legion.
Experience was divided equally, while all resources were handed over and distributed between the Thorn Guild and Longxiang Jiuzhou afterward.
And more often than not, only one person needed to make a move.
That person was Chu Fu.
The party crossed a land of molten lava.
Chu Fu immediately unleashed her Flood Disaster.
But that was not all. Her Flood Disaster was poisonous as well.
Dark clouds gathered in the sky, filled with corrosive liquid. The rain that fell from them turned black, pouring down like ink splashed across the heavens.
In moments, every elemental monster in the lava region was killed.
The most terrifying part was that the poison released by the skill could be offered up by the players in the party as sacrifices, allowing Chu Fu to absorb it in reverse.
The poisonous flood, fused with the lava, transformed into a new substance: toxic sludge.
Chu Fu absorbed it back into herself, further increasing her strength.
A self-sustaining cycle had formed, turning the skill into a perpetual-motion machine.
Even the players who offered themselves as sacrifices received attribute bonuses.
It was simply absurdly overpowered.
The group quickly cleared an entire region of the Land of Elements and continued toward the next area.
The next region was a vast expanse of shifting sand.
“I’ll handle this one! Leave it to me!”
Jiaojiao Bu Jiao shouted.
She did not need believers to offer sacrifices. Transforming herself into a stone giant, she began greedily absorbing the sand in front of her and converting it into her own strength.
Gradually, the ground was stripped bare, revealing the rocky crust beneath. The earth spirits were all killed by Jiaojiao Bu Jiao alone.
The experience was divided among the entire legion, so it did not matter who dealt the killing blow. But when it came to obtaining the benefits of the elements, Jiaojiao Bu Jiao had made an enormous profit.
Next, the metal-element magnetic force was absorbed by Shen Chi.
The light element was absorbed by the Holy Healing Angel.
The wood element continued to be absorbed by Chu Fu.
The dark element was absorbed by the Bitter Melon King.
The water, lightning, ice, and wind elements were absorbed by the players under Giant Dragon Zhantian’s command.
Viewed from a higher-dimensional perspective, the entire planet had developed a patchy bald spot.
The Elemental God, observing its own Land of Elements, was practically gnashing its teeth in fury.
But it knew that this was precisely the time when it could not act on impulse.
These humans had already gained overwhelming momentum.
If it sent Divine Envoys to kill them now, they would only be counter-killed.
Thus, the Elemental God issued a divine decree.
“All members of the elemental races: if you see humans, flee immediately. Do not allow yourselves to be killed.”
It had only one strategy.
Drag it out.
Drag things out until the game invaded reality. Drag things out for thirty days.
It could not allow these humans to grow any stronger.
