Chapter 279: Imperial Ranking War: Berserk God’s Fall

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A couple dozen miles away from the Rock, fifty members of the Berserk Mountain God Empire were moving through the forest at full speed.

They weren’t trying to hide their presence from the monsters around them so much as they were trying to avoid unnecessary fights. Every monster they encountered was a waste of time and energy, and they couldn’t afford either. Their target was already known. The location of the Rock had been exposed, and as the closest team to the Heavenly Bronze Empire’s base, they had a massive opportunity in front of them.

They intended to take advantage of it.

Their plan was simple enough. Reach the Rock before the other Imperial Teams, break through the Heavenly Bronze Empire’s defenses, kill as many members as possible, and collect the fivefold merit points before anybody else arrived. If they could eliminate even ten people, the reward would be enormous. Their ranking had been at the bottom for six months, and this was the first time the World System had handed them an opportunity to make up for everything they had lost.

They weren’t going to let it slip away.

The team moved quickly, occasionally splitting around large clusters of mutated monsters before regrouping further ahead. Their leader, Adrian Arclight, kept them moving without wasting words, while the others followed with weapons already drawn and their senses spread around the forest.

There was desperation in the way they moved.

They had been miserable for months.

The Extreme Heat had nearly ruined them. The Extreme Cold had been even worse. When the Extreme Pollution arrived, they had suffered more than most, lacking the formations and cleansing facilities that had protected the Heavenly Bronze Team. Then came the Nuclear Fallout, which made an already terrible environment even more hostile. Their base had barely survived, their supplies had dwindled, and their people had been forced to live in conditions that would have been unthinkable before entering the secret realm.

Now they had a chance to change everything.

Five times the merit points.

That number had burned itself into their minds.

They had spent six months thinking of merit points as something that was difficult to accumulate and even harder to use meaningfully. Now, suddenly, every member of the Heavenly Bronze Team had become a walking treasure chest.

They wanted their share before the other teams arrived.

What they didn’t understand was that merit points were never just numbers.

They represented resources.

They represented equipment.

They represented strength.

And the Heavenly Bronze Empire had accumulated an absurd amount of them.

The Berserk Mountain God Team had been so focused on what they could gain that they had completely forgotten what their opponents had gained during the same six months.

More importantly, they had forgotten that the Heavenly Bronze Team had one advantage none of the other teams could match.

Information.

Ren could see them.

Ren could hear them.

And he had been watching them for the past hour and a half.

The Berserk Mountain God Team had no idea.

They continued moving through the forest, completely unaware that fifteen members of the Heavenly Bronze Empire were already following them.

Adrian Arclight led the squad through the trees with fourteen others spread behind him. They weren’t moving like a conventional hunting party. There was no unnecessary talking, no careless movement, and no attempt to stay in one obvious formation. Ren had given Adrian precise instructions before they left the Rock, including the direction the enemy would approach from, the locations where they were likely to stop, and where the ambush should be prepared.

Adrian hadn’t questioned any of it.

There was no reason to.

Ren had already shown them that his information was reliable.

The fifteen members had been following their enemies for ninety minutes without being detected. They had moved whenever the Berserk Mountain God Team moved, stopped whenever they stopped, and used the surrounding forest to conceal themselves whenever the distance became too small.

Then they began removing people.

The first victim disappeared while the group was crossing a narrow section of forest.

There was no scream.

No clash of weapons.

No explosion.

One moment, the man was walking beside the person in front of him.

The next, he was gone.

Nobody noticed.

The second disappeared several minutes later.

Then the third.

The fourth.

The fifth.

Each time, the process was almost identical. A brief opening, a movement too fast for ordinary eyes to catch, and another member of the Berserk Mountain God Team vanished into the forest.

The assassins didn’t leave bodies behind.

They didn’t leave blood trails.

They didn’t even leave enough evidence to tell the remaining members that something had happened.

By the time anyone realized something was wrong, five people had already been removed from their formation.

"Wait."

The voice caused everyone to stop.

One of the members looked around, his brows tightening.

"Where’s Kalen?"

Nobody answered.

He turned around.

The man who had been walking behind him was gone.

"Where’s Kalen?"

This time, the question was louder.

People began looking around.

Someone called another name.

No response.

Another person checked the rear of the formation.

Nothing.

Then someone counted.

The number was wrong.

They counted again.

Fifty had become forty-five.

The realization hit them like a bucket of cold water.

"Five people are missing."

"What?"

"They were right here!"

"Did they split off?"

"No! Nobody gave an order to split!"

"Search the area!"

The formation immediately became chaotic.

Weapons were raised.

Chakra surged.

People began looking into the surrounding forest, but the darkness between the trees suddenly felt different.

There was something watching them.

They couldn’t see it.

They couldn’t sense it.

But they could feel it.

A killing intent seemed to linger around them from every direction, sometimes appearing from the left before disappearing, then returning from somewhere behind them. It wasn’t a single presence either. Their instincts were screaming that there were eyes everywhere.

They were being watched.

Hunted.

The Berserk Mountain God Team finally understood what had happened.

They weren’t the hunters.

They were the prey.

The forest suddenly felt enormous.

Every tree became a hiding place.

Every bush became suspicious.

Every shadow looked like something moving.

Adrian’s expression became grim as he ordered everyone to tighten their formation. They were already on edge, and that was exactly what the hidden attackers wanted.

What they didn’t know was that Adrian was simply waiting.

The fifteen Heavenly Bronze members had already established their positions.

The trap had been prepared before the Berserk Mountain God Team even arrived.

Adrian glanced toward the surrounding trees.

Then he received the signal.

Ren’s voice had already reached him through the communication formation.

Now.

Adrian raised his hand.

The forest exploded.

Several patches of ground surrounding the Berserk Mountain God Team erupted simultaneously. Trees were blasted apart, earth was thrown into the air, and the sudden shockwave sent several people stumbling. The explosions weren’t powerful enough to kill anyone. That wasn’t their purpose.

They were meant to create chaos.

The Berserk Mountain God Team immediately panicked.

"Enemy attack!"

"Protect the center!"

"Don’t spread out!"

"Watch your surroundings!"

Their commands collided with one another as smoke and dirt filled the forest. Nobody knew where the enemy was coming from.

That was when Adrian lowered his hand.

The assassins moved.

Fifteen figures emerged from the smoke and darkness almost simultaneously.

The first man died before he could turn around.

A sword pierced through his back and exited his chest, followed by a violent burst of chakra that shattered his internal organs. Before his body even hit the ground, the attacker had already disappeared into the smoke.

Another Heavenly Bronze member appeared behind two enemies who were trying to defend their flank.

One strike.

Two bodies.

Another squad member intercepted an opponent attempting to retreat, cutting off his escape before driving him into the ground.

The Berserk Mountain God Team finally understood the situation.

They were surrounded.

Not by monsters.

Not by some unknown natural disaster.

By people.

A trained squad had infiltrated their formation, and these people were far stronger and more coordinated than anything they had expected.

"HEAVENLY BRONZE!"

Someone screamed the name.

The realization spread instantly.

It was them.

The team they had come here intending to slaughter.

The team whose members were supposed to be walking bags of fivefold merit points.

The team they had thought was unaware of their approach.

Now they were the ones being slaughtered.

Adrian stepped through the smoke, his weapon already stained with blood.

His expression was cold.

There was no hesitation in his eyes.

The orders had been simple.

No survivors.

He raised his weapon and looked across the battlefield.

"Don’t let a single one of them leave this forest."

The fifteen members of the Heavenly Bronze Empire responded immediately.

The Berserk Mountain God Team fought back desperately, but desperation could not compensate for the difference in preparation, equipment, coordination, and information.

They had entered the forest believing they were going to raid a helpless enemy.

Instead, they had walked directly into a hunting ground that had been prepared specifically for them.

And somewhere far away, inside the Rock, Ren watched everything through his sensory network.

He didn’t need to intervene.

Not yet.

The first battle of the confrontation had already begun.

And the Berserk Mountain God Empire was about to learn exactly what happened when greed convinced the weak that they were strong enough to hunt the strong.