Chapter 226 – Border

Upon entering the second underground level’s entrance, the several great alliances’ 1,000-man team and World Dominators and Blackwater’s 100-man team found themselves arriving at a rainforest.

The environment here was completely different from the first underground level. There were large floating islands above the expansive rainforest and a gigantic divine statue at the heart of the rainforest. The statue was several dozen kilometers in height, like a giant that overlooked the entire Boundary Mountain Range.

Before everyone could get a closer look at the gigantic statue, an indescribably oppressive feeling enveloped them, causing them to suffocate for a moment.

What a powerful mental oppression!

Gu Yiren held his head in agony as he experienced a restrictive feeling enveloping his entire body. He also felt as if he had gone from being in a superhuman state to becoming no different than an ordinary person.

“You’ll start to feel better once you get used to this feeling,” Thousand Swords said when he saw the pale complexions on Gu Yiren’s and Tao Yuwei’s faces. Then, he quietly explained, “The Boundary Mountain Range’s second underground level is completely different from the first underground level. If your Concentration standard isn’t high enough, you might even lose consciousness directly. In addition, you’ll also find your character bodies becoming no different than your real-world bodies. You might retain your Basic Attributes, but your Physique has already fallen to the standard of a Henglian master in the real world. Your Stamina should also be the same as a real-world Henglian master.

“Because of the Stamina restriction, even God-ranked experts with Tier 4 Basic Attributes would be incapable of defeating Mythic monsters. They might even die to a Grand Lord of the same level if they aren’t careful. So, you must be extremely cautious when fighting the monsters here. You must eliminate the mindset that you are fighting in God’s Domain. Instead, think you are fighting those monsters in the real world.”

“Understood!”

Gu Yiren instantly understood the meaning his teacher was trying to convey. He also finally understood the horrors of the second underground level.

The reason players could be in combat for more than ten hours consecutively was because God’s Domain was a virtual world, and players were manipulating virtual bodies governed by artificial parameters such as Stamina and Concentration.

However, if players were given the same limitations that their bodies had in the real world, even if they could kill every monster with just one full-powered attack, they could still die easily when surrounded by hundreds of monsters. After all, people in the real world could not stay at peak performance for long periods.

In other words, they needed to abide by a few rules if they were to fight in the second underground level.

Firstly, they couldn’t use combat techniques, which required the continuous use of their full strength. If they did that, it’d be no different than sprinting at full speed in the real world; their bodies would start to tire in only a matter of seconds.

Secondly, they would need to ensure they could finish the monsters they challenged within a certain time. If they couldn’t do so, they would collapse from exhaustion, becoming powerless to the point where even a Common monster could kill them.

Simply put, fighting the monsters in the second underground level was no different than fighting God’s Domain’s monsters in the real world!

In such a situation, even peak experts would face extreme difficulty fighting Great Lords of the same level, let alone Grand Lords and Mythics. This was because every Great Lord past Level 100 would have HP in the tens of millions, while the normal attacks of a peak expert could only do around 100,000 damage per hit.

If they couldn’t fight using combat techniques, Skills, and Spells consecutively like they used to, they’d need at least several minutes to defeat a Great Lord. If that were the case, they’d probably become thoroughly exhausted after only two or three consecutive battles…

At this moment, Gu Yiren finally understood why his teacher had said that just entering the second underground level was an opportunity in and of itself.

If players were to explore the second underground level without learning to conserve their Stamina, they would unlikely progress very far.

Meanwhile, the conservation of Stamina covered many aspects. It wasn’t just a matter of reducing the activity of one’s body. There was also the usage timing of combat techniques, Skills, and Spells, as well as the usage of the surrounding environment, etc. Learning how to conserve Stamina was a strict test.

If he could learn how to control his Stamina in the Boundary Mountain Range’s second underground level, he would definitely see a qualitative change in his combat capabilities.

“Everyone here must move in a defensive formation! You are also absolutely forbidden from fighting alone! You must fight in groups of three or more! It doesn’t matter even if you are going up against a Level 100 Lord!” Chiyang Tianhe commanded as he looked at the players gathered before him. “If I find any of you fighting alone, I will kill you myself!”

Nobody present had any opinions regarding Chiyang Tianhe’s commands. Everyone here was a combat veteran, so they understood how foolish it would be to fight alone in their current circumstances. They’d probably have difficulty even walking after two or three fights if they chose to fight without help.

Although their Stamina would slowly regenerate over time, it wasn’t safe to stay in the same location for too long when out in the fields. It would be even more dangerous to do so here. Hence, rather than let those who had run out of Stamina become a burden to the team, it’d be much better to simply dispose of them.

I really don’t know why Black Flame has decided to bring a team here, Blackwater’s Jing Yang thought to himself, a smile appearing on his face as he immersed his senses in the second underground level’s environment. Regardless, they’re dead for sure this time!

Shi Feng not fearing Blackwater’s withdrawal from the Asura Mercenary Alliance was something Jing Yang did not expect. His superiors had even admonished him because of his arbitrary decision to withdraw Blackwater from Asura.

Now that Asura’s team had successfully broken through to the second underground level, Asura’s fame would definitely skyrocket. If his superiors were to learn of this, he would definitely receive more than just a scolding this time.

However, after experiencing the second underground level’s environment, Jing Yang no longer worried about his future.

The Boundary Mountain Range’s second underground level might be crucial for players’ Tier 4 promotion, but there was no way Asura could make any noteworthy progress here with only a 100-man team. Even if Asura’s team had two God-ranked experts, death would still be the only outcome awaiting the team in the second underground level.

In fact, a God-ranked expert might even have to flee if they came across a force of just ten peak experts. In the second underground level, the advantage of numbers could easily compensate for the gap in quality.

Shortly afterward, World Dominators and Blackwater began safely making their way to the divine statue under the several great alliances’ lead. Although the journey to the statue was arduous, with every battle requiring them to face several hundred Level 115 Great Lord ranked Void Eudemons, the coordination of 1,000-plus Flowing Water Realm experts and above allowed them to progress without any casualties.

After an entire day of fighting, they finally reached the divine statue.

What the heck? Why haven’t we caught up to Asura’s team yet? How far have they progressed?

While Jing Yang was breathing heavily and looking at the collapsed Void Eudemons before him, confusion filled his heart.

Their group had spent the past day either fighting or resting. Moreover, they fought every battle with great difficulty. They would have long since been annihilated if they didn’t assign at least three or four players to deal with every Great Lord ranked Void Eudemon they faced.

Logically, if a 100-man team were to face these Void Eudemons, the team should collapse and suffer annihilation after advancing a few kilometers.

Yet, even after they had advanced for one whole day, they had failed to see even the shadow of Asura’s members.

If not for their Rangers and Assassins using their Tracking Skills and verifying that the players they were trailing after were indeed Asura’s members, he would have thought they had chased after the wrong team.

In reality, Jing Yang wasn’t the only person shocked by this situation. Chiyang Tianhe and the others were also secretly amazed.

The divine statue was the heart of the second underground level. It was also where the several great alliances’ vanguard team had taken great pains to reach. Yet, the Asura Mercenary Alliance had managed to reach this place with only a 100-man team. This was simply incredible.

“We found Asura’s members, Commander Omen!” an Assassin on scout duty suddenly reported through the team chat.

“Good! Get ready to surround them! We absolutely cannot let them escape this time!” Death Omen commanded.

Along with Death Omen’s command, 1,000 Flowing Water Realm experts and above quietly made their way toward Asura’s team’s location. Once near their destination, Chiyang Tianhe, Ruthless Sky, and Death Omen each led a detached team and split into three directions, very much afraid that they would let Asura’s team get away again.

This game of cat and mouse is finally coming to an end. Thousand Swords sighed when he saw that even Chiyang Tianhe had taken action. He understood that Chiyang Tianhe was finally getting serious.

Previously, the Honorary Elder from Solar Temple had only stood aside and watched when the Flower of Seven Sins’ members moved to intercept Asura’s team at the second underground level’s entrance. After all, Solar Temple had nothing to do with the feud between the Asura Mercenary Alliance and the Flower of Seven Sins. He also didn’t expect Asura’s team to actually succeed in getting past the Flower of Seven Sins’ members.

However, it was a different story now that Asura’s team had entered the second underground level.

The several great alliances had put Chiyang Tianhe in charge of blockading the second underground level’s entrance, so it was a great humiliation for him to let Asura’s team break past the blockade. So, he needed to redeem himself now.

As for the so-called Valkyrie of Light, even if she was a Beyond Domain Realm, Thousand Swords doubted that she would be a match for Chiyang Tianhe, much less the 1,000 experts on Chiyang Tianhe’s side.