Chapter 1022: Devil Ah

Chapter 1022: Devils

In the absence of Cataclysm-tier entities, a mere thousand B-rank players were more than enough to dictate the tide of a minor ground engagement.

Though the resource stronghold of the Little Bear civilization boasted four or five times their number in superhumans, bolstered by formidable defenses, these stood as mere offerings to the macabre art of demolition; before the self-detonating players who had transformed into ravenous hounds of war, all was consumed in a blinding crucible of light and heat, marching toward the final dissolution of flesh and spirit, until they became one (reduced to ash).

Extreme mutation and suicide tactics stood as the players' two most brazen trump cards; to these warriors, life was but a fleeting spark destined for a brilliant detonation, like a match struck to illuminate the dark, burning itself to warm the multitude (by way of explosion), a sacrifice so magnificently terrible it brought tears to the eyes of their foes.

With an overwhelming numerical superiority in B-rank combatants, aided by the Crescent Moon Consortium's forces, the engagement held no suspense; the resource base fell swiftly to the players, and Handegabu, along with a contingent of officers who remained within, were taken alive.

The base now bore the scars of relentless detonations, its grounds and structures marred by sprawling patches of charred ruin, while peripheral players from the Consortium and the guilds swept the battlefield, tallying spoils; upon the central plaza, Handegabu and a cluster of captives crouched in the dust, hands clasped over their heads, faces drained of color, encircled by a ring of players.

"Shall we put them all down?" asked Xie Xiaojian, vice-captain of the Jiangcheng squad, turning his gaze toward Kuangdao beside him, his fingers twitching with eager anticipation.

"Hmm..." Kuangdao murmured, his brow furrowing. "Let me give it some thought."

The allied forces of these guilds had scattered to assault various resource outposts, with Kuangdao's Jiangcheng Guild leading this particular vanguard.

During the fray, there had been no time for mercy, but now that the enemy was broken, it was time for the professionals to harvest their experience; provisioning the veteran players was, after all, one of the guild's sacred duties.

Fengyue cast a casual glance over Handegabu and his lot, blinking slowly. "Perhaps we should ask for their names first, to see if it might trigger a quest?"

At this, Kuangdao and the other professionals raised no objections.

Seeing this, Fengyue strode directly to the captives and asked, "Who commands this place?"

A ripple of agitation passed through the crowd; many hesitated, weighing the cost of betraying their superiors, yet Handegabu stepped forward, his face etched with defiance, teeth gritted. "I am the commander of this base, Handegabu. Are you mercenaries of the Crescent Moon Consortium? What manner of faction are you, truly?!"

Even now, the shock had not fully receded from his soul; these were over a thousand B-rank superhumans! Where on earth had they emerged from?! They had dismantled his supposedly impregnable defenses in mere moments; such a force could never be mere nobodies in the mercenary underworld!

Fengyue suppressed a smile, maintaining a mask of icy neutrality. "We are the Jiangcheng Guild, formerly the Immortals Division of the Black Star Legion, and currently an auxiliary armed branch subordinate to the Legion."

A sharp, internal crack echoed in his mind.

The revelation struck like a bolt from a clear sky; Handegabu froze utterly, his face a portrait of disbelief, never having imagined he would hear the name "Black Star" fall from their lips.

The Crescent Moon Consortium had actually aligned themselves with the Black Star Legion?!

Stunned and mentally unmoored, the anger that had fueled him moments ago dissipated like morning mist, leaving only raw panic.

His initial instinct was to dismiss it as a lie, yet as the peculiar anomalies of the battlefield flashed through his memory, clarity dawned upon him.

No wonder some foes who had clearly fallen had risen again; he had been unable to piece it together until now. It was the legendary Immortals Division of the Black Star Legion. Their provenance was undeniably true!

"Y-you..."

Confronted by the shadow of the Black Star, Handegabu's spine went soft; the confidence bestowed upon him by his stellar civilization drained away completely.

If even he was reduced to such a wilted state, the other captives trembled uncontrollably, overwhelmed by a terror beyond measure.

Fengyue pondered for a moment, deciding it was best to actively prompt the quest, and asked, "Is there anything you wish to request of us?"

At these words, the captives froze, and despair instantly washed over them.

It was over; they were asking for their final wishes!

Sensing the thickening dread, Handegabu clenched his jaw and roared backward, "None of you shall beg for mercy! As soldiers, dying in battle is our honor!"

He had already made peace with sacrifice upon defeat, and now that resolve returned to him.

Fengyue scratched his head, his tone deceptively earnest. "Beg me, then. If you beg, we might just let you go."

"In your dreams! I would rather die than be toyed with by you!"

"Uh... are you sure you won't try? It might actually work, you know."

"Devil! Demon! You are delusional!"

A scene unfolded that left the Crescent Moon Consortium members utterly bewildered: the captives were fiercely resolved to die, while their captors pleaded with them to live.

Yet at that very moment, the Consortium observers noticed profound hesitation and turmoil dawning on several captives' faces; a chill seized them as they believed they had deciphered the Immortals' true intent, and a creeping dread took root.

——I understand now. They are sowing discord among the enemy... demanding both the shrimp and the pig's heart. What a terrifying lot they are!

Not everyone possessed Handegabu's unyielding spirit; soon, one captive gritted his teeth, rose to his feet, and despite the commander's furious glare, voluntarily began to beg for mercy.

Fengyue glanced at his interface; indeed, a quest had materialized, formatted as [The Plea of XX], promising a modest sum of experience in exchange for their release. He turned to Kuangdao. "Shall we accept this kind of quest?"

"The experience is meager, but even a mosquito's weight adds up. Let's do it," Kuangdao nodded.

Upon hearing this, Fengyue instructed the begging captives to crouch to the side; seeing the precedent set, many wavering prisoners eagerly scrambled to plead for their lives.

Some triggered quests, others did not; the players sifted through the captives with the casual scrutiny of shoppers at a market, sorting them into two distinct groups.

"The remainder hold no quests. Proceed."

Without hesitation, the professionals transformed into executioners, slaughtering Handegabu and the unyielding faction to the last man; though most were weak in combat, their status bonuses yielded substantial experience, while simultaneously boosting their standing on the Hackstar questline.

"Too brutal..." muttered a Crescent Moon Consortium member watching from the sidelines, instinctively averting his gaze from the players and swallowing hard with nervous tension.

Had they been in command, they would never have dared to provoke the Little Bear civilization, likely releasing the prisoners; yet these Black Star Legionnaires displayed such ruthless efficiency, taking lives without a flicker of remorse or change in expression.

The Black Star Legion truly bred dangerous individuals!

The begging captives watched the slaughter in trembling terror; only when Kuangdao granted them leave did they feel as though they had been granted a reprieve, scrambling frantically toward the base's exit.

At that precise moment, Kuangdao and the other professionals suddenly paused, their eyes darting to their interfaces.

The instant the captives crossed the threshold, the minor plea quests completed in unison.

"The completion criteria are that lenient? Well, it is only a minor quest worth ten thousand experience," Kuangdao muttered, scratching his head in confusion before exchanging a knowing glance with the others and nodding.

Three minutes later.

The released captives once again crouched in neat formation upon the plaza, their faces masks of utter bewilderment.

They freed us, only to drag us back. What is the meaning of this?!

"Let us try again," Fengyue coughed lightly. "Does anyone else wish to beg for mercy? We shall let you go."

Though his tone sounded genuinely sincere, to the captives' ears it rang with cruel mockery, igniting furious rage in many.

They were truly playing with us!

Could they not simply grant a swift death?!

A warrior may be killed but never humiliated; they should have chosen to die with dignity alongside Handegabu from the start!

Most fell into sullen silence, yet a few, having already shattered their pride once, did so again, clinging to hope as they begged anew. This time, however, no quests materialized on the players' interfaces.

"It seems this type of quest can only be triggered once; it cannot be farmed," Xie Xiaojian shook his head, a hint of regret in his voice.

"I suspected as much. If it could be repeated, there would be ghosts involved," Fengyue retorted, rolling his eyes.

Kuangdao sighed in resignation, drawing his alloy combat blade, still stained with fresh blood. "If that is the case, then there is nothing more to be done."

Thirty seconds later, the group had secured another batch of experience.

The professional players dusted off their hands and joined the ranks sweeping the battlefield nearby.

Only the Crescent Moon Consortium members remained, having witnessed the entire spectacle of toying with and slaughtering captives; their eyes betrayed sheer horror, a cold dread seeping into their hearts, leaving their bodies rigid with fear.

To offer hope only to shatter it, plunging the enemy into a deeper abyss of despair... these people were utterly merciless!

They shuddered collectively, exchanging glances, and forged a silent consensus.

——Under no circumstances must they provoke this group; they are nothing less than a pack of devils!!

...

Several guilds struck at separate resource outposts in coordinated waves, securing victory at every turn, a record that instantly filled the six remaining powers on Hake with equal parts shock and fury, prompting them to frantically inquire into the origins of the reinforcements summoned by the Crescent Consortium.

With the raids concluded, secrecy held no value, and the players’ true affiliations soon rippled through the sector; once verified, the revelation struck terror into every rival faction.

The Black Star Legion? Heaven help us, a power not to be trifled with.

Beyond their formidable pedigree, the sheer might of these Undying was outright terrifying; over five thousand Class-B supernaturals could stride across Hake with impunity.

A reputation precedes its bearer, and as the news spread alongside their brutal campaign, three factions immediately lost their nerve, recognizing the futility of resistance and withdrawing without a word, abandoning their outposts and Hake itself, utterly cowed by the Legion’s name.

The remaining three—a pair of stellar civilizations and a rival syndicate—refused to yield the planet so easily, hastily consolidating their forces, scaling back their installations, and bracing for war as if facing an imminent cataclysm.

Yet the players pressed no immediate assault; instead, aided by the Crescent Consortium, they fortified their captured outposts and quietly resumed extraction operations.

Within the largest of these strongholds, the core members of Skyreach, River City, and Torrent stood before the warehouse doors, watching convoys of haulers ferry in fresh yields, their eyes gleaming with the unmistakable sigil of Inar.

“A veritable fountain of wealth,” murmured Endless Azure, her face alight with delight, “our guild has secured another steady vein of immense revenue, and our coffers shall never know want again.”

“It seems this strategy was indeed sound,” Haotian replied with a measured nod, silently tallying in his mind how a single day’s yield might be traded for arms and provisions of war.

A buoyant cheerfulness settled over the assembly, for the majority of Legion veterans harbored a profound and unabashed passion for amassing wealth.

There was little choice in the matter; though the Legion’s wares were both fine and affordable, the upkeep proved staggering—weapons demanded tempering, mechs required mending, munitions needed replenishing, evolution sigils craved charging, vessels called for purchase, not to mention the relentless cycle of upgrading gear… every transaction bled nothing but pure, unadulterated Inar.

Their purses had been utterly drained by the Black Star Quartermaster, that siren of ruin, leaving the Legion’s ranks lacking in everything except one thing: they were desperately, unequivocally short of coin.

Now that the guilds had chosen their homesteads within Legion territory, these core operatives had ventured into the Free Contested Zone to plant their own footholds, pursuing quests for growth and profit alike, their operations finally settling into a steady rhythm.

To the eyes of countless guild members, a radiant tomorrow seemed to beckon from the horizon.

……

While Skyreach and its sister guilds anchored themselves upon Hake, other Legion-affiliated companies seized disparate opportunities, taking root and flourishing across the Emerald Cluster.

In the wake of Phiri’s destruction, Hela had claimed another world as her bastion and joined the great tide of free exploration; with nearly every soul eager to chart new territories and claim mineral rights, Gorutan’s attention remained elsewhere, leaving her unbothered for the time being.

The influence of these Legion-adjacent guilds slowly permeated the Emerald Cluster, and as the Black Star Legion’s maneuvers drew mounting scrutiny, the ripple of their expansion soon caught the eye of numerous rival powers.

Many factions watched with quiet curiosity as the Undying legions fractured into semi-autonomous affiliates, puzzled by the Black Star’s design and content to observe from the shadows.

As the Huaxian guilds steadily fortified their bridgeheads within the Free Contested Zone, the first wave of foreign travelers, having endured a grueling voyage, finally breached the Shining World—players hailing chiefly from the Southeast Asian sectors of the Black Hole Rim.

——

(The match delayed my pen today, leaving this chapter somewhat brief; Yao’s struggle weighed heavily upon my heart, and tears, unbidden, traced their way down my cheeks.)