Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

The special observer left, just like that.

His attitude said it all. This place was a lost cause.

“Cut your losses. Stop letting your undead army just hand over Rune Essence, not to mention all the Soul Cores they’ve already given away.” Colonel Griffin couldn’t help but make a cynical remark.

「It was now half past nine.」

But even with the constant ambushes on their rear flank, the steady advance of the people from Dongfu City showed no signs of stopping.

Looking through his binoculars, he could see the distant battalions burning corpses as they advanced.

They’d learned their lesson.

The chain explosions from the undead’s Corpse Explosion Skill had made the Dongfu forces wary of walking among those powder kegs. Now, for every hundred meters they advanced, they stopped to incinerate the corpses, using the lull to quickly replenish their artillery shells.

Though this slowed their advance, it allowed their troops to regroup. The Blood Bottles and Blue Bottles sent from the central command were also distributed during these breaks.

“The people from Dongfu City clearly have orders not to act rashly. Their discipline isn’t ironclad, but it’s good enough—much better than our band of disorganized mercenaries.” Colonel Griffin sighed.

He also noticed the enemy’s ranks had thinned. They were clearly being sent to reinforce the city’s various border towns, which meant their own allies on other fronts were finally making a push.

Matel remained silent, a grim expression on his face.

Looking at the situation, it was clear the enemy was digging in for a war of attrition. They were advancing methodically, confident that their prey couldn’t escape.

This was one of the major drawbacks of deploying a Teleportation Gate.

Frankly, the situation was already crystal clear. Of the forces teleporting in, only a little over ten thousand remained. Oblivious to the disaster unfolding, more people kept arriving from Oran City.

The moment they arrived, they were utterly dumbfounded.

And who wouldn’t run?

“Prepare to retreat.”

Matel wasn’t one for pointless bravado. He signaled to a subordinate.

The contract he’d signed with Lord Vesela yesterday was nine pages long, filled with supplementary clauses. This was partly to avoid getting swindled, and partly due to his professional habits as a financial magnate.

These clauses covered things like recalling the Gate of Bones and how to retrieve and repurpose the six Soul Artifacts that had pierced the veil of reality.

After all, each Soul Artifact was etched with the marks of sorrowful souls.

According to the supplementary contract, when not needed to form the Gate of Bones, these Soul Artifacts could also be used as evil weapons by Demon Warlocks.

It was, after all, a contract fulfilled by sacrificing tens of thousands of Spellcaster souls. If the Soul Artifacts were single-use, the loss would be staggering.

After this failure, there would likely be turmoil within Oran City, and the six Soul Artifacts would be crucial tools for suppressing dissent and consolidating their power.

What’s more, the supplementary clauses included a provision for upgrading the Soul Artifacts.

By feeding them enough Spellcaster souls, their power could be further augmented, unlocking even more sinister effects.

‘There are still plenty of remnants from the Sect, not to mention a whole gang of rabble-rousers. I’ll have to start cleaning them up as soon as I get back.’

The overall strength of the Undead Calamity army was already the highest they could bargain for. The next tier would have required a sacrifice of a hundred thousand souls, which would have allowed even more powerful Dominator Level monsters—or even an avatar of Lord Vesela himself—to cross the planar boundary.

According to the grand promises Vesela had made, his main body’s Rune strength was consistently Lv10 or Lv11, powerful enough to easily obliterate all living forces on the other side.

They were skeptical, of course. You can’t fully trust the word of a Demon.

Matel, for one, was dissatisfied with the advertised scale of the Undead Calamity. Was the description “overwhelming” just a literary flourish?

….

「Ten o’clock.」

Within the Gate of Bones, the six dormant, sealed Soul Artifacts suddenly began to tremble.

As if pulled by invisible threads, they simultaneously broke from their positions, transforming into six streams of violet light that shot into the Soul Box floating behind Matel.

In an instant, the entire Gate of Bones emitted a piercing shriek, like ten thousand souls wailing in unison.

The core linkage supporting its existence had been severed. The gate’s structure shook violently, and the putrid green energy flowing across its surface rapidly dried up.

Finally, to the cheers of the Dongfu forces, the entire eighty-meter-tall Teleportation Gate collapsed from the inside out, turning into a cloud of pale bone dust that scattered on the morning wind in the blink of an eye.

However…

The retreating enemy had left a few parting gifts.

The surrounding area was littered with various traps, and the terrain was dangerously complex, which indirectly hindered any pursuit.

As for the massive undead army that had been abandoned, with the collapse of the Gate of Bones and the removal of the Soul Artifacts, their binding compulsion was broken. They immediately began to scatter in chaos.

The less intelligent skeletons and Ghouls continued to shamble forward out of sheer inertia, but the many Death Knights, now freed from their bonds, chose to flee on the spot, no longer daring to face the human army ahead.

“Fuck, they’re turning on them.”

What made everyone secretly snicker was that two of the Death Knights, along with a group of Corpse Witches, actually turned on the Olan People.

Clearly, they were venting their rage.

Seeing things go south, the glorious tradition of abandoning one’s comrades was once again on full display.

It couldn’t be helped. In the eyes of these bloodsucking financiers, the Magic Guide Hub Crystal Pillars were worth far more than the lives of their own men.

At least, it balanced out on the ledger.

Interestingly, it was the same in Su Chen’s eyes.

He wasn’t interested in their lives. After downing his last Great Recovery Potion, his cold gaze fixed on a Teleportation Gate protected by a barrier.

The barrier had shrunk significantly, its edges flickering with unstable ripples. Clearly, someone inside was removing the Magic Guide Crystal Pillars.

‘I can’t let you take all of them.’ Su Chen’s eyes narrowed, his expression determined.

Right now, the barrier was being sustained by only the last two Magic Guide Crystal Pillars. To get the pillars through the Teleportation Gate intact, they would have to deactivate the barrier first.

This brief window of opportunity, combined with the chaos of the retreat, gave him a chance to fish in troubled waters.

‘Here we go.’

VMM!

Su Chen’s figure blurred, becoming a dark afterimage that tore through the air. Three successive Shadow Assaults carried him deep into the enemy’s formation.

He was protected not only by a dual-layered Telekinesis Barrier but also by a shimmering Water Mirror Screen, which deflected all incoming Slow-down Skills and Shadow Nails.

Amid the chaos, most of the Olan People were only focused on escaping, allowing Su Chen to cut his way through to the two men carrying the pillar.

Why should they risk their lives for the Lorentz Conglomerate over a few measly doomsday rations?

“Burst!”

A blast of Strong Will shattered their heads, and his Telekinesis immediately coiled around the Magic Guide Crystal Pillar like steel cables.

He wasn’t greedy. He immediately unleashed a brilliant Lighting Skill, bathing the area in a blinding, shadowless white light.

Moreover, now that the Technique had reached Lv7, it did more than just illuminate. After stripping everyone in the area of their Perception, it would instantly vaporize any attempt to probe with Spiritual Power.

Su Chen had previously been hassled by a Three-Star Light Element user. After killing him, he had conveniently taken the skill for his own use.

This allowed him to completely scramble the enemy’s attention.

‘Time to go!’

Su Chen raised his right hand. The Water Arrow Skill Rune embedded in his control gauntlet activated instantly, compressing a surging torrent of water into a high-pressure water arrow that shot forward at incredible speed.

It moved so fast that it was even imbued with a four-fold Attached Damage ripple.

BANG!

The water arrow precisely struck the Teleportation Gate’s energy hub, punching clean through it. The Rune Array within began to fracture, and the spatial structure emitted a piercing shriek.

The next second, a chaotic torrent of energy surged from the gaping hole. Like a dam breaking, the rupture spread outward at a visible rate.

‘It’s over.’

Blades of spatial turbulence tore through the air, carving dozens of deep gouges in the ground and shredding the surrounding bodies into a bloody mist.

But Su Chen’s figure was long gone. The moment before the storm erupted, he had already made a perfect escape via Tunneling Shuttle.

The powerful experts who had been hunting him just half an hour ago had long abandoned any thought of pursuit. Fleeing for their own lives was all they could do.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

Any further resistance was futile. Everyone was running for their lives.