In the central mountain range of the central continent,
The collision and compression of continents formed continuous towering mountains here. The extremely high altitude meant that this place was covered in snow year-round, a vast expanse of white, as if all life had been extinguished.
Yet, this was the core headquarters of the world's largest power—Nine Dragons.
Beneath the snow-capped mountains, within the sprawling Nine Dragons base,
Ivanov's expression was grim as he gazed at the rescue message from Crescent Moon City:
"These damned rats..."
Suddenly, a flippant voice sounded beside Ivanov.
A middle-aged man with curly hair, wearing a white lab coat and appearing as a researcher, looked at the battle report from Crescent Moon City with a relaxed expression:
"Old Ivan, the Boss has already ordered us not to bother with those rebels, so just ignore these messages."
"Anyway, none of our livestock has been lost. Once the few battlefields are suppressed, it will be very simple to reclaim them."
This was a luxurious conference room.
In the conference room, besides Ivanov and the man in the white lab coat, there was also a fierce-looking bald man in military uniform, sitting with his eyes closed and saying nothing.
Upon hearing this, Ivanov retorted with unwillingness:
"Of course, I know those rats won't damage our livestock, but since the war back then, when has Nine Dragons ever suffered such humiliation?"
"This world belongs to Nine Dragons! The resistance of these rats is a provocation to Nine Dragons' authority!!"
Lei Di, the head of the Technology Department, spread his hands helplessly: "Old Ivan, you're just too serious. Relax a bit."
"Besides, among these rebels, apart from that otherworldly leader, the rest are just common folk. There's no need to worry."
Speaking of this, seeing Ivanov still somewhat unconvinced, Lei Di, who was responsible for human cultivation and battle armor research, suddenly changed his expression.
The flippant demeanor completely vanished. The curly-haired man in the white lab coat instantly unleashed a soul pressure that surpassed Ivanov's.
"Also, Old Ivan, get it straight! The biggest problem facing Nine Dragons now is the otherworldly monsters on several battlefields!"
As soon as Lei Di finished speaking, Neumann, the second in command responsible for Nine Dragons' armed combat, abruptly opened his eyes.
A blood-red fluctuation, almost condensed into substance, flashed momentarily in the conference room.
Under the soul impact, both Lei Di's pressure and Ivanov's unwillingness were swept away.
And surprisingly, the eyes of this second-in-command of Nine Dragons, the supreme leader of the martial faction, were both dull and grey-white.
He was actually blind!
Yet, neither Lei Di nor Ivanov dared to underestimate him.
Under their tense gazes, Neumann spoke to Ivanov:
"Ivan, report on the current situation of the major battlefields."
His calm voice carried the meaning of blood and fire. Upon hearing this, Ivanov answered without hesitation:
"Currently, in the seven major ocean battlefields from the third to the ninth, the frequency of otherworldly monster appearances has increased by fifty percent each month over the past three months!"
"The garrisons of the seven ocean fortresses have launched multiple sorties. Even without the appearance of apostle-level monsters, they have maintained absolute control of the battlefields. However, the losses of the grassroots forces in these six battlefields have already approached ten percent."
Neumann's expression remained unchanged, quietly waiting for Ivanov's further report.
In the solemn atmosphere, Ivanov hesitated for a moment before continuing:
"In the first and second continental battlefields, for the past three months, the frequency and scale of otherworldly monster appearances have been more than double that of the ocean battlefields!"
"Furthermore, in both major battlefields, apostle-level monsters have appeared once this month!"
"Currently, in the first battlefield, the grassroots combat units have suffered a loss of forty percent."
"The guardian of the first battlefield, Kyle, after slaying an apostle-level monster, sustained thirteen percent damage to his battle armor."
"Because the first battlefield is in a desert area, the damage to our new city resource points was relatively small. In this battle, three new cities were completely destroyed."
Lei Di frowned. Grassroots combat units referred to all regular battle armor below the apostle level.
Each battlefield was garrisoned by nearly a hundred thousand battle armors under normal circumstances. This forty percent loss meant the death of tens of thousands of soul battle armors, the lowest being S-class.
As the officer in charge of research and human cultivation, Lei Di couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache at this moment.
As for the loss of new cities, Lei Di didn't care too much. Three new cities meant the death of about thirty million livestock.
This small loss could be compensated by increasing the production scale of the cultivation factories.
"In the second battlefield, the loss of grassroots combat units is close to fifty-three percent."
"The guardian of the second battlefield, Asimov, after slaying an apostle-level monster, sustained twenty-four percent damage to his battle armor."
"In the apostle-level battle, forty-three new cities were affected and destroyed!"
Neumann lightly tapped the table, interrupting Ivanov's report.
The expression of this stern, martial faction officer also turned grim:
"Lei Di! Have the reasons for the increased frequency of otherworldly monster appearances been found?"
Lei Di's expression jolted, and he quickly replied:
"The space detection system has not reported anything! None of the soul-users with player identities have received any additional mission prompts!"
"I am very sorry, but we still have not found the reason for the increased frequency of otherworldly monster appearances..."
In several years, the nine battlefields had never experienced such a synchronized wave of monster attacks.
Even the apostle-level monsters had mostly appeared all at once when the Doomsday Game first descended.
In fact, what truly concerned Neumann were the apostle-level monsters that appeared in the first and second battlefields.
No matter how many grassroots combat units were lost, as long as the apostle-level battlefield guardians remained, they had the ability to dominate the entire battlefield.
However, apostle-level monsters had the potential to harm the battlefield guardians.
The two monsters that descended this time were both individually killed by the battlefield guardians.
But if an apostle-level monster were to spawn in a lower-ranked battlefield, the weaker guardians there might even be killed by the monster.
Whether it was the loss of new cities or grassroots forces, for Nine Dragons, these were things that could be replenished at any time.
Even Nine Dragons True Guards could be artificially created for Nine Dragons, which had harvested the entire world for twenty years.
But each apostle-level was unique to Nine Dragons!
If there were indeed losses of apostle-level beings, the headquarters' guardian strength would inevitably decrease.
And here, there was still the most important Zero Battlefield!
Yet, after several months of this abnormal situation, Lei Di was still saying he didn't know the reason?!!
Neumann's heart blazed with anger!
Buzz!
A blood-red arc of electricity flashed through the air, targeting the panicked Lei Di!