Game of the World Tree

As the chaos of the battlefield raged on, the clash between the players and mercenaries further intensified, creating a symphony of clashing steel along with the cries of pain that echoed throughout the vicinity.

At the center of it all, the black dragon faced off against a small group of silver-ranked experts…

Around them, people would constantly die, leaving the ground underneath their feet a deep shade of red as fallen bodies mysteriously vanished into ashes before being carried off by the wind.

Of course, Meryer paid no mind to these as he desperately struggled to fend off the mercenaries’ attacks. Alas, as time wore on, more and more wounds began to appear upon his battered body…

Yet despite the odds stacked against him, the small band of silver rankers surrounding the black dragon found themselves locked in a stalemate, as they found the juvenile black dragon to be way much stronger than they had initially anticipated.

Even with thirteen of them attacking together, as well as having previously used a rare scroll containing sixth-ring magic to immobilized their opponent, two of the silver experts still fell prey to the dragon’s claws and dragon breath.

Meanwhile, while the ongoing battle between the black dragon and the silver rankers reached a stalemate, the clash among ordinary mercenaries became increasingly challenging due to yet another unexpected event.

Suddenly, within the middle section of their formation wherein the archers and mages are securely located, hundreds of mercenaries drew out their weapons and without warning, attacked those mercenaries around them.

“W-What’s happening!?”

“Have you gone mad? Why are you guys attacking us!?”

The blindsided mages and archers screamed in anger as these mercenaries whose actually players in disguise, began to ambush any mercenary close to them, laughing heartily as total mayhem broke out smack in the middle of the mercenary group.

With the players’ sudden ambush, the situation on the battlefield became even more chaotic.

After hearing the commotion, the rest of the players at the forefront cheered while the mercenaries’ formation began to show signs of collapse.

Nevertheless, the battle still continued on as it grew even fiercer, with the ground already stained a deep shade of blood-red.

What no one noticed however was that the blood being spilled on the ground seemed to be pulled by some inexplicable force as it began moving on its own along a certain trajectory.

Without anyone noticing it, the blood eventually began forming a vast and intricate magical array beneath the battlefield.

And when the array finally took shape, as if on cue, the dozens of mages lent by the Borderlord all simultaneously drew daggers from their sleeves and decisively plunged them right into their own hearts.

The surrounding mercenaries were stunned by this sudden turn of events.

Then, to their horror, they noticed streams of black blood gushing from the chests of these suicidal mages.

Several tense seconds passed and each of the bodies of these mages dissolved akin to ice meeting flames, leaving behind only a noxious puddle of black sludge.

This ominous sludge then quickly merged with the array on the ground, as it emanated a deep glow, before releasing wisps of black mist.

Immediately after, a prevalent aura of malevolent chaos began to spread continuously across the battlefield.

As soon as this occurred, the mercenaries engaged in battle feel a heaviness in their bodies, as if something is pulling at their legs.

Instinctively, they lowered their heads, only to be horrified to see black arms emerging from the ground, trying to grab their bodies while emanating an evil, dark power that relentlessly corroded them.

As the corrosion further progressed, their terror deepened as their bodies swelled, encasing them in layers of ominous black scales.

Similarly, the malevolent power also began to affect the players.

However, as the black arms reached for them, the players quickly noticed these bizarre arms couldn’t breach their flesh.

Despite this, this sudden change still startled the players.

“What the hell! What is this thing? I nearly jumped out of my skin!”

“Shadows? Aren’t these shadow monsters? Fuck! These things are pulling at my legs!”

“Quick, cut them off!”

The players swiftly brandished their weapons, but it seems that only those purchased from the system’s exchange store have a lethal effect on these creepy black arms.

Realizing this, the players skillfully freed themselves from the entanglement of these strange black arms without expending too much effort.

However, it wasn’t the same for the mercenaries at the center of the massive array, as almost all of them began mutating into monsters one after another…

As the black energy fully corroded them, most of them eventually lost their senses and began letting out beast-like roars.

At this moment, the players finally recognized the form the mercenaries’ mutated into:

“Oh no! They’re mutating into Scaled Monsters!”

“We can’t let them complete their transformation! Kill them quickly!”

At the same time, the dozen or so silver ranker battling the black dragon also noticed the drastic changes on the battlefield.

Watching their fellow mercenaries succumb to the malevolent force and turn into corrupted monsters, they were both shocked and furious.

However, they couldn’t afford to pay attention to such things because, to their horror, they themselves found out that their own bodies were also beginning to be affected by that evil power.

And at this moment, the mercenaries who had initially begun to mutate finally completed their transformation.

The fierce black armor made of scales, as well as the distinctive draconic tail, are exactly like the Scaled Monsters that players have encountered before!

However, after transforming into these Scaled Monsters, their physical mutation did not stop there but expanded further.

As they expanded, numerous cracks began appearing upon their bodies, as black mist spread continuously from them…

Eventually, they reached their limit.

Accompanied by painful howls, their bodies burst into puddles of sludge surrounded by black mist.

And these sludges, as if endowed with life of its own, instantly rushed towards the black dragon whose still incapacitated due to the control spell from the golden scroll.

From the looks of it, Meryer also suffered from the influence of that strange power.

At this moment, although his body did not undergo any changes, his eyes gradually became vacant and dull.

With almost no resistance at all, Meryer was enveloped by the surging black sludge.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a remote hidden space, an old voice rang slowly, with a hint of satisfaction.

“Hehe, finally caught you.”

Then, suddenly, strong spatial fluctuations fully enclosed Meryer’s body.

Under a deep glow, his huge body suddenly became illusory and distorted, before gradually disappearing altogether…

This was not a teleportation magic, but rather, a spatial skill exclusive to mythical beings.

In fact, every being that attained mythical status could expend their divine power to perform this kind of teleportation to the extent wherever their own power could reach.

However, this time, it wasn’t Evé, but Nidhogg who had cast the teleportation.

The entire operation to hunt the black dragon was merely a ruse, and its true purpose was to exploit the chaos to discreetly spread Nidhogg’s power onto the battlefield, and capture the black dragon, before sending this juvenile dragon back back to his own place.

There was no need for Nidhogg to involve himself personally, nor was it necessary since regardless of who the opponent was, or what traps they had set up, this scheming ancient dragon wouldn’t step into it and only needed to capture his target remotely via teleportation.

He was certain that this plan would work since Nidhogg believed that no one knew he could perform such teleportation.

Nonetheless, this type of teleportation can actually be easily interrupted by any other mythical beings.

However, with him being able to wield the power of the abyss, Nidhogg found a way to remotely simulate a Celestial Domain by using abyssal power from a long distance and temporarily isolate the power of other gods.

The massive array on the ground just now was what he used to artificially simulate a Celestial Domain.

Therefore, regardless of who the opponent was, within the Celestial Domain Nidhogg simulated, they couldn’t stop him from teleporting the black dragon away.

Of course, this domain was fake and can be easily countered by other mythical beings.

However, Nidhogg seized this time difference and he actually succeeded.

The moment Meryer’s figure disappeared, the array on the ground suddenly collapsed, leaving only a group of mutated mercenaries and players continuing to fight.

And somewhere in the Maple Leaf Territory, within a hidden underground ruin, an illusory dragon-shaped figure lurked in its deepest part.

Suddenly, a deep light flashed in front of him, and a young black dragon with injuries all over his body materialized out of thin air.

It was Meryer.

Watching the young black dragon appear before him, a hint of pride and joy faintly appeared on the illusory dragon’s face.

Nidhogg then extended his dragon claws towards Meryer.

But right at the moment he was about to grab the other party, Meryer’s vacant gaze suddenly became alert.

His hazy crimson vertical pupils immediately turned into gorgeous purple eyes, and deeply gazed onto the illusory dragon figure.

“Finally caught you.”

A melodious female voice whispered, echoing through the underground ruins.

After hearing this feminine voice, the smile on the illusionary dragon’s face instantly froze.

— 321 —

【 FINALLY CAUGHT YOU 】

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