Chapter 50: Spatial Stone Acquired! War Compass Locks Onto Six Enemies!

"Frost Mages."

John spoke in a low, commanding voice.

"Split into three groups!"

The two hundred pale female mages quickly divided into three groups.

"First group, Ice Wall!"

"Second group, Ice Wall!"

"Third group, Ice Wall!"

Three enormous walls of ice rose from the ground, connecting with one another and enclosing the BOSS’s position in layer after layer of icy barriers.

The BOSS continued blinking from place to place, but no matter how fast it moved, it couldn’t outrun the speed at which the ice walls were forming.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

The space available for movement grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, the BOSS was trapped inside an icy cage less than twenty meters in diameter, repeatedly slamming into the frozen walls.

John’s eyes sharpened.

"Now!"

He raised his hand, lightning gathering at his fingertips.

Ophelia lowered her head, purple flames surging within her dragon’s throat.

Raistlin tapped his staff, condensing six-colored motes of light into a multicolored sphere at its tip.

All three shouted their skills simultaneously.

"World-Ending Dragonflame!"

"Elemental Burst!"

"Lightning Bolt!"

Purple flames, a beam of six-colored light, and a massive bolt of lightning struck the BOSS at the same time.

BOOM!!

The BOSS’s HP instantly dropped to zero, and its body disintegrated into specks of light.

[You have slain the Spatial Aberration Lv20 (Elite Boss)!]

[Obtained: Spatial Stone ×1.]

[Obtained: Basic Resource Selection Pack ×10,000, Tier 1 Unit Equipment ×100.]

John walked over and bent down to pick up the transparent crystal, whose interior shimmered with shifting streams of light.

"All right. We’ve completed our objectives for this trip."

He was just about to store the loot in his inventory when—

[Ding!]

[System Notification: Your territory is under attack!]

John’s movements froze for a moment.

Already?

He immediately opened the unit and follower interface.

Strangely, the numbers for his units and villagers hadn’t decreased at all.

In fact... the units he had left behind in his territory seemed to have gained a little experience.

Standing amid the floating fragments of shattered rock, John began to think.

"Something’s not right."

Over the past few days, his troops and he had scoured nearly every resource point around his territory and marked numerous locations on the map.

Yet they had never discovered another player’s territory nearby.

And now, someone had somehow made it all the way into his territory?

"Interesting."

John narrowed his eyes.

There was only one possible explanation for how the enemy had found him before he could discover them.

"They must have an item that increases movement speed, or a talent that allows them to travel faster."

"Otherwise, there’s no way they could have appeared near my territory so suddenly."

"Right now, they’re hidden while I’m exposed. Simply rushing back to defend won’t solve the problem. I need to find them first."

With that thought, John didn’t immediately return. Instead, he opened his inventory.

A palm-sized bronze disc floated into the air before him.

[War Compass]

[Effect 1: Reveals the exact coordinates of any hostile target that has previously attacked the lord’s territory.]

This was the perfect time to use it.

[War Compass: Scan for hostile lords in the surrounding area?]

"Scan."

[Scanning...]

[Available targets locked: 6.]

Six small red dots appeared on the surface of the compass in a flash, clustered closely together.

John glanced at the distance.

They were very close.

"Well, isn’t that convenient?"

John grinned.

"And judging by the familiar way they’re grouped together, they’re almost certainly players from the Judgment Alliance."

A new notification appeared on the compass.

[Establish a Lord Portal at the current location?]

[Cost: 50,000 gold coins.]

[Portal duration: 30 minutes.]

John glanced at his gold coin balance.

That morning, he and Ophelia and Raistlin had already taken down two bosses: the Ancient Thorn Mother Tree and the Spatial Aberration.

Meanwhile, Bladeborne and Sylvie’s team had been making excellent progress as well. His inventory was filling up with resources once again.

Fifty thousand gold coins was pocket change.

"Confirm."

BOOM—!

Space itself seemed to twist before him.

A gigantic blood-red archway emerged out of thin air.

Its frame was covered in twisted runes, while churning red mist filled the doorway. From a distance, it looked like a bloodshot eye that was constantly dripping blood.

"Ophelia. Raistlin."

John turned to give his orders.

"Collect the loot, then come with me."

...

Judgment Alliance, Newbie Continent, Third Division.

Inside the territory of the Third Division’s leader.

Six players who had just crawled out of their Lord Altars were now kneeling on the floor.

Their leader, Swifthoof Kalen, was hurriedly reporting what had happened.

"So, you’re telling me that you went looking for the area beneath the golden thunderclouds, found a territory shrouded in fog, discovered a castle inside it, and then... encountered dragons?"

The Third Division Leader sat in the main seat, staring at them in disbelief.

Swifthoof Kalen nodded frantically.

"Absolutely! We all saw it! And it had to be Tyrant’s territory. He’s the only player with a castle at this stage!"

The Third Division Leader looked at the six kneeling players as though they were idiots, then burst into laughter.

"Kalen, Kalen. I think you’ve been so badly frightened that you’ve lost your minds."

"Do you even know that the weakest dragon-type units are six-star?"

"Even our Judgment Alliance, including the players already based on Godfall Continent, has fewer than ten people who possess dragon-type units."

He brushed the dust off his clothes and spoke disdainfully.

"So, in my opinion, that was simply a wild dragon territory. You idiots trespassed into it, and the wild dragons punished you for it."

"That place absolutely cannot be Tyrant’s territory. No matter how impressive he is, he’s still a newcomer. There’s no way he could have that kind of power."

"But, Leader!"

Seeing that the man refused to believe him, Kalen grew so anxious that sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"There were houses there, and villagers, and—"

"Enough! Are you questioning my judgment?"

The Third Division Leader’s expression instantly darkened.

The Judgment Alliance had a strict hierarchy. Subordinates were absolutely not allowed to challenge their superiors.

Kalen shrank his neck, and his voice immediately dropped.

"I wouldn’t dare!"

"You wouldn’t dare?"

The Third Division Leader sneered and rose to his feet, looking down at him.

"Then who was it that ignored the Alliance’s orders and went exploring another territory without permission?"

"Kalen, don’t forget where your resources come from."

"The units you have now? Without the Alliance’s support, you wouldn’t have been able to gather enough resources to train them in the first place."

The more he spoke, the angrier he became.

"And that’s not even the worst part! The units the Alliance spent resources training for you are all gone now."

"You also managed to get the units belonging to the other five lords killed along with yours."

"Exploring without authorization and failing to report your movements? What exactly were you thinking?"

With every sentence the division leader uttered, Kalen lowered his head a little further.

By the time the Third Division Leader finished, Kalen’s back was soaked with cold sweat. He lay flat on the floor, barely daring to breathe.

RUMBLE!

Just then, an enormous crash shook the entire building.

The Third Division Leader stumbled and nearly fell over.

"What the hell is going on?!"

He steadied himself and shouted angrily toward the door.

No one answered.

Outside, explosions, screams, and the sounds of collapsing buildings filled the air.

"L-Leader!!!"

A member of the Judgment Alliance came tumbling through the doorway, his face deathly pale.

"Our territory! We’re being attacked! There are... there are so many Dragon Knights!"