Chapter 690: Tak's Shocking Statement, Chaos Begins

[WARNING! Long-range strike incoming, prepare for impact!]

As the alert sounded.

Three tactical nuclear missiles had already breached the tower's defenses, slamming into the structure.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With no energy barrier to protect it, the high tower crumbled to dust inch by inch under the unprecedented explosion.

In that instant of detonation, the searing heat reduced everything atop the tower to ashes.

A mushroom cloud rose, while electromagnetic pulses, thermal radiation, and shockwaves expanded outward in a ring formation.

Although Tak's emergency escape pod had managed to eject at the critical moment.

The tactical nuclear missiles had arrived far too quickly, he never got the chance to put any real distance between himself and the blast.

Tossed about by the explosion's shockwave, the escape pod tumbled and went hurtling through the air.

The energy barrier enveloping the emergency escape pod shattered in less than three seconds.

But those three seconds were enough to carry the pod clear of the blast's core zone.

Finally arcing downward, it crashed into a valley several kilometers away.

The escape pod tumbled and collided relentlessly against the ground.

Its thick protective plating was progressively torn apart and battered from the constant rolling and impact.

Bang!

At last, the pod slammed into a massive ancient tree, embedding itself firmly in the trunk.

Thick black smoke rose from the escape pod, accompanied by the crackling hiss of short-circuited electrical systems.

Tak had narrowly escaped with his life.

[WARNING! Emergency escape pod electronic systems damaged, functionality impaired.]

[WARNING! High-radiation contamination detected. Leave the current area immediately and seek appropriate medical treatment.]

[WARNING!...]

Tak coughed up blood, his mind foggy and reeling. The torrent of warning messages flashing across the virtual light screen dissolved into meaningless buzzing in his ears.

"I'm alive!"

That thought surfaced in Tak's mind.

He pressed the release button on the escape pod and kicked the hatch open.

Staring at the distant ruins of his tower, now collapsed into rubble wreathed in roaring flames and billowing black smoke, a flicker of lingering fear passed through his eyes.

Then he thought of the twisted sapling he hadn't managed to bring along.

"Moon Shadow's Breath, Molten Demons... My research achievements, all destroyed by you! I was so close to creating an entirely new race, so close to..."

Tak's gaze landed on a page in the virtual light screen, his expression twisted with hatred and pathological madness.

"Blood Clan, Fallen Abyss, Bloodlands, none of you are worth a damn. My tower is finished, my civilization will soon be destroyed too, but don't think you've won. Since I'm destined to be eliminated."

"Then let this storm rage even fiercer! I want more people buried with me..."

"Ha... hahahaha... hahaha..."

[Do you wish to activate the "Voice of Civilization" privilege?]

- [YES]

Tak didn't hesitate for a single moment, a hint of derangement gleaming in his eyes.

[The "Voice of Civilization" privilege has been activated. Please compose your announcement...]

-

"Leader, the high tower has been destroyed, but Tak didn't die. He managed to escape at the last moment."

Yu Yuan looked at the photo Alpha had sent over and furrowed his brows slightly.

In the photo, Tak, looking like a half-treant, stood in an open area beside the battered escape pod, one hand pressed to his forehead, laughing uproariously at the sky as he stared at the tower reduced to ashes in the distance.

That scene, combined with the current atmosphere, was utterly unsettling.

"What about the tree spirits converted from those forests?" That was what Yu Yuan cared about most.

"Leader, your speculation was correct. The conversion of tree spirits in all six forests has stopped, but the ones already converted remain fully active."

"They're converging toward the city, roughly several thousand in number."

So that's how it is!

Yu Yuan pondered.

For now, the fighting was essentially over, only some cleanup work remained.

"Have the Pioneering Group head to the tower area and capture the enemy players. They're Silver-tier creatures, confident you can take them down?"

Alpha's confident voice came through the headset.

"Leader, rest assured. We'll get the job done."

Hearing Alpha's confident words, Yu Yuan smiled.

He turned his gaze to Xiao Xi beside him.

"Prepare for battle. Several thousand ancient treants are converging on our position. These treants are massive, this will be a tough fight."

"Yes!"

Xiao Xi acknowledged the order.

Knight, who was still locked in combat with the Twisted Tree Spirits, received a message from Yu Yuan.

[Wolf Den · King: A wave of stronger treants is surging toward us. Eliminate the current enemies as quickly as possible.]

Seeing this, Knight raised his molten lava greatsword.

"Speed it up!"

Yu Yuan had just sent the message.

When a message suddenly arrived from Greenfield, it caught him off guard.

But the moment he looked at it, his expression froze for a beat before shifting to one of pleasant surprise.

[Greenfield the Finest: Whoa, this is huge! The entire Civilization Ladder just blew up. "Tak's High Tower" actually managed to bypass the restrictions of wartime status and post a pinned message on the Civilization Ladder channel!]

Attached were several screenshots of the chat channel.

[Tak's High Tower (Voice of Civilization): The despicable Fallen Abyss has already joined the war between the Blood Clan and the Bloodlands. They intend to join forces and destroy us, the Bloodlands.]

[The Blood Clan Progenitor, that vile and shameless bastard, was originally a traitor from the Bloodlands. Now he stops at nothing to secure victory.]

[Blood Duke, I am about to die. Please avenge me! Don't let my sacrifice be in vain!]

[To all my colleagues in the Bloodlands, beware, beware the Blood Clan and the Fallen Abyss... beware...]

The amount of information packed into Tak's statement was enormous, simultaneously focusing everyone's attention on two individuals, the Blood Clan Progenitor Gurlad and the Blood Duke.

Then came several photos, the images showing none other than Knight raising his molten greatsword high, leading Goting and Merlin in slaughtering a massive twisted tree monster.

The other photos captured earlier scenes of Twisted Tree Spirits swarming the Blood Slave Guard.

Tak's intentions were simple and clear.

[Greenfield the Finest: The Civilization Ladder is absolute chaos right now. Players from the Bloodlands, the Fallen Abyss, and the Blood Clan are all hurling abuse at each other. Especially Tak's curses toward the Blood Clan Progenitor, that guy's got some serious guts.]

[In the past, even during faction wars, players on the Civilization Ladder channel rarely dragged beings above Gold into their quarrels.]

[One reason is that beings above Gold possess transcendent authority, they're life forms on an entirely different dimension. Basic respect is mandatory.]

[But more importantly, no one knows what hidden methods these beings above Gold might possess. If you pissed one off and it crossed the Star Track Barrier to kill you directly, you'd only have yourself to blame.]

Yu Yuan was just about to reply when Greenfield's next message came through.

And it contained only a single sentence.

[Greenfield the Finest: Holy sh*t... The Bloodlands and the Fallen Abyss just went to war! And the Wild Throne joined in too, also targeting the Fallen Abyss...]