Chapter 941: The Fate of Challengers
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 941: The Fate of Challengers
The Game World.
With the independence of Igesuo’s Surface City, the impact had begun to resonate through the surrounding regions like a rising tide.
However, this influence remained limited.
Because the Infinite Group controlled so many of this world’s channels—communication, entertainment—the vast majority of people, even in the cities neighboring Igesuo, remained deeply immersed in their games.
Most had become desensitized by the constant stream of fake, sensationalist news, dismissing reports of rebellion as mere friction in the chaotic borderlands. Furthermore, the internet was flooded with fabricated entertainment news, warping their perception of reality.
A real-life version of "let them eat cake" was playing out in every corner of this world.
To ensure that no second city followed Igesuo’s example, the Infinite Group was forced to dispatch Vanguard Players to apply targeted pressure. However, their primary focus had shifted to other cities showing signs of unrest, prepared to strike with an iron fist the moment trouble flared.
As for Igesuo?
On the surface, it was enough to let them make a bit of noise every day. After all, that city housed a "Calamity Witch," who completely neutralized the players' advantages.
One had to realize: if Igesuo didn't have the Calamity Witch, what would the Real Protection Association be facing?
A relentless, full-scale assault by Vanguard Players!
Yes, a full-scale assault.
Not mere harassment. These Vanguard Players could even set their respawn points right on the front lines, launching targeted, endless waves of aggression to seize territory.
After all, the Game World was their home turf!
By controlling the world's Luck, they effectively controlled the rhythm of its development. This was the true power that "Fourth Calamity" players could exert. Moreover, all resources were consumed within the world; aside from a few essential costs, the recovery of player qualifications was a nearly cost-free cycle.
But this overwhelming advantage had been severed by the Calamity Witch.
She could strike directly at their foundation!
And what was that foundation?
People. More accurately, professional players with elite gaming skills. These individuals were essentially "tenured" personnel, cultivated with nearly unlimited resources by the Infinite Group. After all, they were the tools used to harvest other worlds!
The Game World did not lack people. It lacked people with high talent.
Thus, the death of every Vanguard Player was a painful loss for the corporation. This was the consensus among many Game Architects.
However, the twelve members of the Supreme Council were thinking even further ahead. They were terrified that the Calamity Witch would use her methods to track down the physical residences of these professional players. Then, she could simply show up in person and initiate an extermination.
She was just one person! How could they defend against a target so small yet so lethal?
They couldn't—not even with the Vanguard Players. Forcing a war of attrition through sheer numbers would inevitably lead to massive casualties. Even the twelve members of the Supreme Council could not bear the consequences or the responsibility of losing so many high-end players at once.
Consequently, they had no desire for a direct confrontation with the Calamity Witch and only dared to engage in small-scale harassment. This was used to test her data—reaction time, destruction weight, protection range, and so on.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, she was just one "person." She couldn't possibly cover an entire world, could she?
Ultimately, the Calamity Witch shared similar attributes with other visitors from outside the world. Their world had already seen so many outsiders, yet they maintained their absolute rule and dominance. One more variable was just another debt on a long ledger—nothing to lose sleep over.
Furthermore, they knew that the outsiders were not a united front. They had even learned from a certain Wizard Apprentice that this Calamity Witch was a target they were sworn to kill. It wasn't just them; many other outsiders held deep-seated prejudices against the Witch race.
And did the Real Protection Association truly believe that because they held Igesuo, the city was an impenetrable fortress?
Even within the Association, there were moles—deeply hidden double agents serving the Infinite Group. Thus, the Infinite Group had a fairly clear picture of everything happening within the Real Protection Association in Igesuo.
They supported the infighting among the outsiders. This support wasn't just moral; it was material. Of course, this aid was provided in secret. On the surface, these people were all enemies of the Group!
Moreover, the Infinite Group had not gone public with the Calamity Witch’s ability to kill players across the network. Even those who knew her well only knew she had a habit of "pulling the plug." While such a threat might be terrifying across two different worlds, this was their own world. Pulling the plug was painful for these factions, but it was manageable.
The Infinite Group had also learned through their secret channels that the Calamity Witch had not told the Real Protection Association about this specific ability. They were naturally delighted by this, labeling her as "arrogant."
That was for the best! This way, they could incite the other outsiders and certain high-ranking members of the Association to marginalize her. If they were lucky and managed to offend her, the Calamity Witch might even wipe out this branch of the Real Protection Association for them.
That would be killing several birds with one stone.
Unfortunately, every outsider who had dared to challenge the Calamity Witch’s authority recently had ended up dead.
Some "informed sources" claimed these people weren't actually dead, but had been turned into specimen-like trophies through the Witch's evil arts. They were supposedly still alive, displayed in the most prominent spots of her residence to showcase her invincible power.
The Real Protection Association was currently hesitating, their internal structure fractured into three factions.
The first faction believed that no single entity should hold absolute power. They advocated for moving away from the Calamity Witch’s protection and were very close to the other outsiders, working hard to recruit them into the Association. These people had even made secret pacts with the outsiders that had yet to be made public. Whether any of them were receiving "subsidies" from the Infinite Group remained to be seen.
The second faction was pro-Witch, led by Tang En. He was currently the only one capable of communicating with the Witch and held the position of Vice Chairman. This faction was expanding at a visible rate, with members of the neutral faction seemingly picking a side every day. Tang En had rapidly consolidated the power befitting his rank, to the point where even the Association’s Chairman felt a sense of wariness toward him.
Most of the high-ranking members were old-timers—shrewd, experienced, and capable of playing subtle political games that were hard to guard against. Unfortunately for them, they had run into Tang En, a man who wielded extraordinary power despite his status as an ordinary person. Those supporting Tang En weren't necessarily sincere, but their interests were aligned.
The Association had been in turmoil lately, with many deaths. Whether these people died from internal power struggles, forced suicides, or assassinations by outsiders was unknown. Regardless, everyone tacitly blamed the Infinite Group.
As the days passed, the Omni-Link Main Network Tree planted in the city center began to display its formidable aggression. Those who thought it would take centuries to reach its current size were proven wrong in a matter of days.
It wasn't just a tree that was growing. It was the ambition of the pro-Witch faction led by Tang En.
It was also the desperation of the anti-Witch faction. They realized they had made a mistake, but when they tried to investigate the Omni-Link Main Network Tree using historical records, they found themselves at a dead end.
After all, that was a game that had already been shut down. Even strategy guides wouldn't record the growth rate of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree. Furthermore, by the time the Game World invaded that plant-tech world, the trees had long since stopped growing. How could they possibly find such information?
So, they could only pray that the tree would hit its limit soon and stop. Moreover... they had to stay on guard in case the Calamity Witch used the tree for something else.
Perhaps to set up communications? Or some transcendent method capable of flipping the entire city?
But no matter how hard they racked their brains, they could never conceive of the concept of a "Power Network."
In truth, the Terminal of Myriad Worlds in the Game World possessed characteristics similar to a Power Network, but its structure was fundamentally different. The network they wove was better described as a "Luck Network." They used the Terminal of Myriad Worlds as a core, relying on inherent traits to weave an order of "Transcendent Pixels"—a creation centered on [Transcendent Knowledge].
My Power Network, however, used Order to build the network itself; it was a derivative technique of [Transcendent Knowledge] creations.
* * *
Currently, at the city limits.
As the echoes of spell explosions and combat faded, a group of people quickly arrived on the scene. It was Tang En and his followers.
"Lady Witch, did this battle cause you any trouble?" Tang En looked at the figure I was dragging by the hair and instinctively shuddered.
Though the body was barely recognizable as human, the mangled flesh was still writhing in a grotesque fashion, slowly self-healing. This was the "Undying" nature of those at their wit's end; powerful vitality allowed an individual to enter an extreme state while slowly recovering.
This was the fundamental reason why it was difficult for this clone of mine to truly kill these fellows. If I were surrounded, even this clone wouldn't be able to hold out.
"Just more trash. Once you've cleared the scene, come to my place."
After saying this, I pulled a witch hat from my storage space and put it on. Then, clutching my "trophy" in one hand, I sat sideways on my flying broom and headed back to the city.
"Yes!" Tang En called out to my receding figure. He then led his men to begin the cleanup.
Even though this was the edge of the city, it was still densely populated. Damaged buildings needed repair, and displaced people needed relocation. Of course, they could choose to ignore it, as these people would always find a way to survive. However, as a committed resistance force, the Real Protection Association had to consider these people; reputation mattered.
Meanwhile, I rode my flying broom at a low altitude through the city, carrying the suppressed outsider to announce the victory.
"It's the Calamity Witch! Heavens... another outsider."
"Good riddance! These are the bastards trying to destroy our world."
My passage overhead drew gasps of awe from countless people. Such were the inhabitants of this world: conditioned by games to be bellicose and find joy in slaughter, yet so disciplined by a harsh reality that they lacked the blood to rebel.
Their boundaries between reality and the game had been blurred; one could say they all suffered from mild schizophrenia. In their dazed reality, they needed a representative figure to vent their frustrations against the status quo. They viewed me as a spiritual symbol and a bastion of faith.
At my level, there was no need to correct anything. Whether they were ignorant, foolish, radical, or cowardly, as long as they could be guided to resist, the method was sound. Moreover, this was just a clone, so I could afford to be a bit more uninhibited.
After finishing my "parade" and checking that the Omni-Link Main Network Tree was doing fine, I returned to my residence. What was supposed to be a temporary suite had now become my official home.
I tossed the defeated challenger onto the floor and ignored him for the moment.
In the past few days, this was the fourth person I had dealt with who dared to challenge me openly. Including the Fallen Elf, that made five. I didn't actually need that many vessels to gestate the Knowledge Mother Trees, but I kept them anyway.
Unfortunately, this fellow wasn't particularly lucky. He was just a refugee from a destroyed world, possessing no heritage from his home world—only a few final blessings. But those things couldn't be stripped away.
This situation had become common for me. Some heritages weren't suitable for me, or were so aggressive that I had to use my main body's summoning methods to forcibly destroy them. Others would rather destroy themselves than let me have them.
Consequently, my harvest was meager. Aside from the Fallen Elf's World Tree seed, I had only received one other heritage so far. And that heritage hadn't been "gifted" by any of the four who challenged me openly. It came from someone who challenged me from the shadows.
However, I had other plans for those who challenged me from the shadows.
Ultimately... these people would all become "puppets" for my clones. I naturally wouldn't let them be exposed. For my main body, crafting a clone that looked exactly like these guys was beyond simple.
When the time came, these disguised clones would mingle among the other outsiders.
They wanted to kick me out of the Real Protection Association? Fine by me.
As for who would end up surrounding whom in the end... that remained to be seen.
After tidying up a bit, I waited quietly for Tang En's arrival. Tang En didn't need to waste time at the scene; he could come over directly after giving his orders.
Before long, there was a knock at my door.
"Come in," I said. The door swung open.