A pitch double-terminated crystal floated in the open field, and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of corpses of strange yet majestic creatures lay in its immediate surroundings, with their blood drenching the ground red.

The roars of creatures echoed as four figures were clashing against massive creatures, only seen in legends, a towering creature, a mix between a scaled lion and a deer, with a majestic, fiery mane.

A winged serpent, a majestic Thunderbird, a pixie dragon, and lastly, the scaled lion deer Chimera that resembled a mythical Kirin from East Asian mythology, all being 6★, bosting early to midstage Sixth Rank strength.

The boys were handling the creatures fine, while Saahira was not present, having been sent away to prepare for a potential team wipe should Alex's ambitious plan not come to fruition.

Beside Alex, all three boys wore grim expressions, not because of the current battle but because of the grim challenge awaiting them.

As Alex had wanted, the Rutharok king had arrived and did so an hour after the night began, and as planned, seeing the group get sieged by the horde of monsters because of crystal that reeked overwhelming bloodline purity.

The Rutharok king, being an intelligent creature, didn't dive head-first into the clash and waited in the distance, his golden eyes overseeing the battle, knowing that the human confidence stemmed from some preparation he had made.

So he waited in the distance, the crystal gaining his interest, not for himself as any outsider bloodline would be poison to him, but he could use it for other purposes.

Alex could sense the density of death mana growing in the surroundings and knew that with the death of these four 6★ creatures, the time of false hope would begin before the Corpse Eater took form.

Everything was going as planned, and his plan had entered its final stage, and a great victory was just a step away, but unbeknownst to Alex, beside the Rutharok king, a formidable foe was also lurking in the shadows alongside, plotting not only his demise but also to seize the fruits of his labor.

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(Live Stream Commentary)

"The hunter sets his sights on traping a lion while the lion lurks with intent to strike down the hunter. Little do they know, a cunning wolf lies in wait, plotting to claim them both as prey.""Ruler has a wild plan, and it seems he will get the clash he wants, but his plan to blind the Rutharok king seems near impossible."

"Maybe he could pull it off, but can he stand his ground against a creature at the peak of Elementalist Rank,"

"The one thing he and everyone else is unaware of is that in eighteen minutes, the last hour of the night will begin, and at that time, the 7★ creature will take birth," Zero said, making the viewer numbers on the commentary stream skyrocket and after a small pause he continued.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, You heard it right, the 7★ creature will take birth, and I will not spoil and let you experience the moment yourself, but what I can confirm is that if Ruler can hold on for the small window, thatthe 7★ creature will take to form, and then make the two giants clash each other,"

"He will have a 60% chance of survival, and if the odds stay in his favor, then 23% chance to kill steal and a 1% chance to also kill the 7★ spawned creature,"

"However, these odds will not matter, seeing that Killian is waiting to make his move, and if he destroys the crystal, then we will see a completely different scenario,"

"Regardless of how things develop, we will surely have an entertaining show to watch, so grab your popcorn and drinks, and let's sit back and enjoy the show," Zero said, giving enough information to raise the viewer's expectations and interest.

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"The Battle Zone"

"Make sure you protect the crystal no matter the situation," Alex said before he shifted his gaze back to the Rutharok king. lights

Alex had just killed the deer Chimera and knew that in fifteen minutes at most, the crystal would absorb the death energy, and the Corpse Eater would take birth.

Fifteen Minutes was a long time to stay alive against a creature who held the majority advantage and could end the battle in a matter of seconds.

The Corpse Eater would take form around the crystal that each group had worked hard defending all night, and once he took the form, it was impossible to retrieve the crystal, while defeating the creature meant destroying the crystal that was his core, which was a nearly impossible task.

This was why 100% of the teams were destined to lose their safe zone on the first day, and Alex could have just burned the corpses or thrown them a hundred meters away to not let the crystal absorb the death energy needed to summon the Corpse Eater, but he couldn't do it on the very first day simply because it will look suspicious and raise questions.

The Corpse Eater would die on the first ray of light, and while the teams were destined to lose their safe zones, depending on their performance, they would also receive bonus points.

So Alex had first planned to take a stand against the creature to gain some points, knowing it would be impossible to kill or conflict with it for sixty minutes straight.

But now Alex was planning to not only take out the first 7★ beast but also kill the Corpse Eater and become the first and the only one to do it.

'I need to be careful of any opportunist,' Alex thought after he used the team tracker to check the location of every team, not finding any outsider in his boom but also knowing that any team could easily hide their location.

Alex kept eye contact with the towering figure looming in the distance, the Rutharok king, who was adorned in ebony bone armor and a multiple-horned skull mask, with his piercing golden eyes glimmered ominously in the darkness of night.

Alex calmly began to take out dark orbs one after the other, throwing them all around him, with each orb creating an invisible field the moment it landed.

Alex had spent 200K points to buy twenty lighting and frost bombs, and their damage would be similar to early stage Sixth Rank, and while they could do nothing to the king, the orbs were good enough to take care of the Rutharok, who came with the king.

After throwing the twenty orbs and nodding at Venedikt, he vanished, appearing away from the bomb field with his Ruler Pride and Dragon Might activated, and so his unique eyes.

The Rutharok king appeared before Alex, his golden eyes staring down at him, with a brutal, untamed mana pressure crashing against the dense shroud of darkness in a battle of dominance, visibly changing the space around the two.

"Human, I thought you would have made some preparations to stand against me, as treachery runs in your vermin blood," The Rutharok king, named Lothir, said in his deep voice as he held his head high.

"It disappoints me that your monkey brain thought so highly of yourself to consider a higher Race like me will employ cheap tricks against a weak opponent like you,"

"You are welcome to use your cowardly eyes to cast illusions, and I will still win," Alex said, doing his best to mess with Lothir's mind so at least he would take some time before relying on his eyes.

Alex knew that once the Corpse Eater began to take form, Lothir would feel the danger and would want to deal with it while he could, as his pride would not allow him to retreat, and even if he got past his pride and decided to retreat, he would have an obstacle to clear.

The Rutharok race hated being compared with monkeys or even humans, and Alex did just that so he could force him into proving his battle prowess by not using his eyes.

"I know what you are aiming to achieve, and while it would be blissful to make you suffer in a pit of fire, ripping you alive and seeing the fear of death in your eyes will be better," Lothir said, giving a more level headed answer then Alex was hoping.

Lothir instantly swung his arm forward, which didn't even touch Alex, as he moved backward a moment before it came, happy with how things were turning out fine and that he wouldn't need to start by using his time skills.

The half a dozen Rutharok who came with them stood in the distance, fuming with anger at the disrespect shown to their king, and like they wanted revenge, they moved like phantoms toward the crystal.

As the conflict began, Killian and his team stood a small range away, hidden from sight, waiting for the opportunity to jump and claim the reward.