Meanwhile, a brand-new world quest triggered in the Rune Core’s task hall.

[World Quest: Purge the Flesh Abominations (In Progress)]

[Description: The spirits of the old world refuse to fade. The Broken Star Ring has brought the will of a bygone era. Flesh Abominations will slaughter all living things. Spellcasters, be prepared.]

[Objective: Slay all Flesh Abominations and defend the city’s Light Prism Tower.]

[Contribution Board: Reopened.]

[Note: A blessing of protection has been bestowed upon the Level 6 Light Prism Crystal. Within the range of the tower’s radiant light, one will gain Concept Level Divine Power to resist all negative status effects.]

“Holy shit, get to the task hall! A new quest just posted!”

The startled cry ignited the crowd, and everyone surged forward to see the newly posted quest.

At the very moment the quest was posted, the first to notice the impending disaster were the reconnaissance units circling high above the city’s edge.

High above the fissure zone in the Eastern Border Forest, several Wind Eagles belonging to the Investigation Legion were gliding. Despite the influence of Elemental Suppression, their swift flight was unimpeded.

“SCREECH!”

Suddenly, a shrill cry tore through the dim, gray sky.

Through their shared vision, the Summoners in the rear witnessed a hair-raising sight.

The once-silent fissure zone was now seething with activity.

Countless pale, shriveled arms clawed at the fissure’s edge as hunched figures scrambled out from within.

Those Cave Dwellers, who had once cowered like rats in the earth, were now bathing in the bloody light cascading from the Star Ring overhead, receiving a baptism from an ancient divinity.

What followed was a bizarre scene.

The monsters stopped in perfect unison. Facing the Broken Star Ring to the north, they all fell to their knees, worshipping it with frenzied piousness.

THUD! THUD!

They smashed their foreheads hard against the rock, their bodies trembling as they received the Star Ring’s summons.

Tendrils of bloody light, as if finding an outlet, transformed into crimson glows that poured into the monsters’ bodies.

But this ritual of prostration was merely the prelude to the dark hour to come.

“GRAAH!”

Following an ear-piercing shriek from the leading Cave Dweller Priest, the masses of Cave Dwellers finished their prostration and began to sprint madly toward the human settlements.

Terrifyingly, it wasn’t just the traditional Cave Dwellers; other bizarrely-shaped flesh abominations were also crawling out from the forbidden depths of the fissure.

….

In Dongfu City, columns of signal smoke rose into the air.

“A massive horde of Cave Dwellers is approaching at high speed from the eastern fissure zone!”

Under the dim, deathly-still sky, a black tide of Cave Dwellers swarmed over the mountain ridges.

Ever since Su Chen had informed them of the Elemental Suppression phenomenon, the Combat Defense Department had formulated numerous defensive plans against the Cave Dwellers. Moreover, a hidden piece of good news was subsequently discovered.

After the world quest was announced, everyone within the range of the Level 6 Light Prism Tower’s aura found they could effectively counteract the effects of Elemental Suppression; the flow of Elemental Particles became much smoother.

The newly unlocked Magic Energy Light Prism Towers also exhibited a unique quality, possessing the same excellent ability to counteract the suppression.

However, they couldn’t just defend the geographical center. The other 99.9% of the Earth Realm still needed to be defended, and the eastern border was without a doubt the focal point of this defense.

“The first wave is here! Coordinates, 15 degrees east, distance three thousand meters!”

On the high ramparts, several Summoners used the vision of their Summoned Pets to survey the front lines.

On the forest’s horizon, the vanguard of the Cave Dweller assault appeared like a surging black river, rushing forward from the distance with terrifying speed.

“Ready!”

On a section of the wall at the Qixia Border, the commander raised his signal flag, and the defensive emplacements immediately prepared to fire.

“Fire!”

In the next instant.

BOOM!

BOOM!

The first to attack were over twenty large-caliber smoothbore cannons, urgently redeployed from strategic points in the rear.

These heavy conventional weapons once again demonstrated their terrifying suppressive power. Despite the astounding Elemental Suppression in the air, the smoothbore cannons fired solid steel projectiles.

WHOOSH!!

The heavy shells streaked across the drab, silent sky, each trailing a fiery tail, and landed precisely in the center of the monster horde.

Fire and smoke instantly erupted within the black tide, causing significant casualties.

Soon after, the Magic Energy Light Prism Towers also began to fire.

The Light Prism Towers had a built-in ability to counteract the suppression, a range of a full kilometer, and a lock-on targeting function.

For a moment…

SWOOSH!

A beam of light as thick as a water barrel swept out, instantly vaporizing the Cave Dwellers who had thought themselves so tough.

Its penetrating power was so fierce that the high-temperature disintegrating energy annihilated more than a dozen figures in a single sweep.

“Nice!”

The two observers with spotting scopes were both visibly excited.

According to previous tests, the power of a single shot from the Magic Energy Light Prism Tower completely surpassed a Lv8 Light Bullet Skill. As for how much higher, they couldn’t be sure.

Furthermore, its advantages in range and auto-targeting alone made it a complete game-changer.

Under the heavy artillery bombardment, the first, aggressive wave of the Cave Dweller assault was blown to smithereens less than five hundred meters from the wall.

Flesh splattered and severed limbs tumbled through the mud. The forested area before their position had been thoroughly ravaged by the barrage.

“We stopped them! Haha, these rats that crawled out of the ground are as fragile as ever!” an artilleryman shouted, pumping his fist in excitement.

At least, judging by their combat performance, the Cave Dwellers still hadn’t regained their wits. They were lost in a collective frenzy, like marionettes driven by a divine call to slaughter Spellcasters.

“Once the Broken Star Ring’s trajectory passes overhead, we have to mount a full-scale operation to clear out that fissure zone,” an officer added, feeling a bit more at ease as he spoke of his hopes for the future.

The words had barely left his mouth when the momentum of the distant Cave Dweller assault grew even more immense, splitting into more than a dozen separate waves.

To make matters worse…

THUD!

A deep thud, like the beat of a giant war drum, suddenly echoed from the bottomless fissure. A pair of massive, bluish-purple claws slammed onto the edge of the fractured rock.

In the blink of an eye, an enormous head covered in a black carapace thrust up from the earth.

‘One of the three colossi from before?’

Hovering high above the city, Su Chen used his superior long-range vision and sensed a faintly familiar, chilling aura emanating from it.

He was certain this was one of the colossi that had previously been seated on a throne.

However, what now appeared before him was an indescribably ugly, mutated creature.

Its once sacred and inviolable aura had completely vanished.

Even under the radiance of the Broken Star Ring, the Power that had been crushed by the Laws of the Age of Magic could not be restored.

Its constantly writhing, dark purple, rotting flesh had burst through its battle robes. Though its head still retained a vaguely human contour, one half of its face was completely sunken and carbonized, while the other had sprouted a dense cluster of compound eyes.

Most nauseating of all, its entire body was embedded with the hundreds of partially digested limbs of Cave Dwellers.

This once-noble being had devoured its own people to sustain itself, transforming into this disgusting, tumor-riddled monstrosity.

Calling it a Flesh Abomination was no exaggeration.

“ROAR!”

It let out an inhuman roar. Hundreds of deformed claws growing from beneath its abdomen began to scuttle in sequence, propelling its incredibly bloated body forward with surprising speed.

“Adjust coordinates! Fire!”

On the defensive line, the commander’s voice roared without cease.

The already-calibrated smoothbore cannons unleashed another volley.

BOOM! BOOM!

Amid the roar of gunpowder, the cannonballs became streaks of black light, smashing precisely into the Flesh Abomination’s back and abdomen.

However, what happened next was cause for despair.

THUMP!

With a dull thud, the shells exploded against the layered, purple, rotting flesh, but failed to break through its defenses.

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