Chapter 145: A Remarkable Hunting Ground

[You have entered the first floor of Glory Battlefield.]

[Kill battlefield monsters to earn Glory Points. Glory Points may be exchanged for battlefield rewards.]

[Accumulate 1,000,000 Glory Points to enter the second floor and unlock its exchange list.]

[Kill another Lord to receive one tenth of that Lord’s Glory Points.]

[Glory Battlefield will remain open for three days. The final Ranking will be determined by accumulated points at noon three days from now.]

[You may leave at any time while out of combat. Leaving early forfeits eligibility for a Battle Name.]

[Current Lords in Glory Battlefield: 1,852,392]

Cassian’s feet met solid ground again. Gray light stretched across a barren battlefield, and the notices continued sounding in his ears.

The participant count was climbing rapidly. It passed two million almost at once.

The sky seemed barely a kilometer above them. Bones lay scattered across the desolate ground among broken armor and rusted weapons. The low, gray ceiling made the whole place feel cramped despite its size.

A white pillar of light rose more than ten kilometers away, reaching all the way to the sky. That was probably the passage to the second floor.

Cassian opened the exchange list first.

"Forty points for a piece of Level-40 Elite equipment..."

He moved down the list.

"A Glory set. Rare, with good attributes. Two thousand points for the whole thing. Reasonable."

Then he found the function he had expected.

"One hundred points to locate another Lord. Not expensive."

His attention returned to the rules.

"One tenth of another Lord’s points for killing them. They’re encouraging the races to fight. Even Lords of the same race won’t all leave each other alone."

Strength would decide most of the Ranking, but luck would play a part. Two equally strong Lords might find very different hunting grounds. One could meet Boss after Boss while the other found nothing but ordinary monsters. A rival higher on the list might die and leave a place open.

Being able to take points from another Lord suited Cassian very well.

"Crystal Seven. Survey the terrain and find the monsters."

"Yes, Lord."

Crystal Seven changed into the Echo Crystal Bat form she had recorded before departure. Her crystal wings spread across a body twenty meters long, and she rose into the gray sky.

Cassian opened the Channel.

[Nessa Fenwick: This place is so gloomy.]

[Elara Vayne: Don’t worry, Nessa. I’ll locate you in a little while. If we’re close enough, we can meet up.]

With Cassian’s gift to rely on, Nessa did not want to hold anyone else back.

[Nessa Fenwick: Don’t worry about me. Go earn your points. You should try to reach the second floor and get a Battle Name!]

[Darian Frost: Over three million Lords now. The first floor could be tens of thousands of kilometers across. Meeting up won’t be easy.]

[Tobias Reed: I thought fewer than a hundred Lords from Riftward had decided to enter. Tidecrown might have ten thousand altogether. With twenty-eight Provinces, how are there this many people?]

Mira joined the discussion from outside.

[Mira Calder: Most of them must be Divines, Machines, and Demons. Be careful.]

Then Seraphine sent a message.

[Seraphine Valcrest: I’ve encountered a Divine Lord.]

The replies came all at once. Avoid a fight if possible. Nobody had many points yet; there was little to gain from killing an opponent now.

Even Cassian’s gaze sharpened.

[Seraphine Valcrest: Too late. This one seems certain he can take me. Whether I want a fight has nothing to do with it.]

Crystal Seven’s report arrived just then.

"Lord, the survey within a hundred kilometers is complete. I’ve detected eighteen life-signs that may belong to Lords."

Cassian nodded.

"And the nearest monsters?"

"Directly beneath us."

A skeletal arm punched through the earth and reached for his ankle.

"Undead. As expected."

Cassian brought his foot down.

The arm shattered. Cracks raced across the ground in every direction, and the earth for dozens of meters around them sank more than an inch.

[You have killed a Skeleton Warrior — Elite. Battle Essence +400 | Aether +50 | Glory Points +8 | Bone Sword — Elite ×1]

[You have killed a Skeleton Archer — Elite...]

More than a hundred reports filled the battle log. The impact seemed to have destroyed every undead creature buried beneath that patch of ground.

A single stamp had earned him more than a thousand Glory Points.

Liora looked at him with shining eyes.

"Such strength, Lord."

Seraphine’s fight had ended as well.

[Seraphine Valcrest: An ordinary Divine. I’ve dealt with him. A pity he had no points.]

The others breathed more easily.

[Rowan Ashford: Impressive! Perhaps the Divines aren’t so remarkable after all.]

[Seraphine Valcrest: Don’t get careless. We’re among the Human race’s best. That Lord might have entered the Realm for recreation.]

[Nessa Fenwick: Cassian, someone is looking down on Lords who just want to enjoy themselves.]

Seraphine had no ready answer to that.

Cassian smiled and closed the Channel.

"Seven, keep surveying and send us the positions of the monster groups. Everyone else, split up and hunt."

"Yes, Lord."

He divided the force into ten groups, keeping them within ten kilometers of one another. Rhea, Crystal Nine in human form, and Sigrid stayed with him.

Against monsters no higher than Rare Quality, his people had little to fear.

"Giselle, three hundred skeletons, seven kilometers in the direction I’m marking."

"Lady Aurelia, another five kilometers ahead. More than a hundred Ghouls have just emerged. A Rare Ghoul Chief is leading them."

Crystal Seven kept updating the Domain Channel.

There were no powerful Bosses to fill the score in a single kill. With Seven finding targets and the groups tearing through them, Cassian hardly needed one. In only a few minutes, his total passed ten thousand Glory Points.

The pace was remarkable.

The undead seemed endless. As quickly as his troops destroyed them, more appeared. From what he knew of the first floor, truly strong Bosses were not going to appear here anyway.

He stayed in the same broad stretch of territory and kept hunting.

During that time, he spent points to locate the others from Riftward. Lyra and Tobias were the closest, both less than a thousand kilometers away. Everyone else was farther off.

Twenty minutes later, Cassian found himself facing another Lord across the gray battlefield.

"So I’ve met a Divine too. They really do seem much more willing to enter than Humans."

He had seen plenty of images of the race. This was his first living example.

The Divine stood three meters tall, his body covered in black, bony armor. He carried a greatsword. Despite his fearsome face, a strange air of nobility surrounded him, as though he had been born to rule the other races.

A squad of Rare Human Marksmen stood among his troops.

Cassian gave them a speechless look, then returned his attention to the Lord. Curiosity kept him studying the unfamiliar figure for a little longer.

The Divine was studying him too. At first, he had seemed cautious.

Then he confirmed Cassian’s race and saw only three troops beside him. His bearing changed at once, filling with overbearing confidence.

"Human slave. Kneel before me!"