[Divine Oracle World]
[Eastern Inferno City, Wilderness Area]
[Lv71, Moonlight Forest (Golden Tier Two)]
Outside the forest, a group of five young players who looked like college students, with levels around 68–69, were heading toward Moonlight Forest.
Among the five, a level 68 Grand Priest girl [Rainbow Ice Cream] with her hair tied in a bun gripped her staff tightly with both hands. Looking somewhat nervous and scared, she said to the others:
"I heard there's a Ghost King outside the city recently, killing players indiscriminately everywhere. I've already seen quite a few players on the Divine Oracle forums who were killed."
"We won't run into that Ghost King, will we?"
As soon as she finished speaking.
Another 69-level Sword-and-Shield Warrior boy with yellow hair, [June Breeze], rested his greatsword on his shoulder and turned around to make a face at Rainbow Ice Cream, "Wow~ Do I look like a Ghost King to you?"
"Annoying! I'm serious!"
"A lot of players on the forums have run into it!"
Another level 69 Magic Knight boy, [Wordless Book], also laughed with a completely unconcerned expression, "How could the dignified Ghost King of the Supreme Race, the Ghost Clan, appear in a Level Two Main City?"
"I've read Divine Oracle's game lore. Forget Ghost Kings, even Ghost Generals are extremely rare in Level Two Main Cities. You can only see them in Level One Main Cities!"
"Besides, even if there really is a Ghost King in Inferno City, how could we possibly run into it so easily?"
"I'm telling you, Wu Qiqi, you're way too timid! If you get a boyfriend in the future, you probably won't even dare take a walk in the woods at night, right?"
"Hmph! Annoying!"
"Hahahaha!"
Amid their laughter and conversation, they entered Moonlight Forest.
The next second.
Everyone was completely stunned by the scene that appeared before their eyes.
Black energy filled the forest.
Ahhh!
Accompanied by a series of screams, several players were killed by a powerful force, turning into several streaks of white light that shot into the sky.
Immediately afterward, a black shadow turned around within the black mist.
It was a Dark Archmage dressed in black robes and holding a Staff of the Dead, his entire body flowing with a dark aura and emitting a powerful presence that made it hard to breathe.
"G-Ghost King!"
"It really is a Ghost King!"
"Run!"
The college-student players saw the level 100 Ghost King Soul Manipulator · Zade and panicked, turning around and running.
But the moment they turned around, they saw a young mixed-race Sword-and-Shield Warrior girl in crimson armor, with a tall figure, golden hair, and blue eyes, blocking their way.
Her pair of long, fair legs were truly eye-catching.
But the sharpness radiating from the battle blade in her hand was also enough to make their backs turn cold.
"Where are you running off to, brat?"
"Since you're here, then stay!"
As soon as she finished speaking.
Super God Athena gripped her battle blade and charged toward the five.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
-63645!
-65432!
-59993!
They practically had no chance to resist.
The five level 68–69 student players were all killed on the spot.
Five streaks of white light lit up.
At the same time, Soul Manipulator · Zade raised the staff Soul Devourer and absorbed the soul power from the place where the five had died and disappeared.
At this moment, Qin Ming and Ji Ningshuang walked out of the black mist.
"How much has its growth increased?", Qin Ming asked Soul Manipulator · Zade.
Soul Manipulator · Zade raised Soul Devourer.
The next second, Soul Devourer's data panel appeared before the three of them.
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[Soul Devourer] (Divine Artifact · Growable)
Quality: C-rank (Growth: 11.34%)
Divine Artifact Effect: The holder's damage coefficient for all skills +50% (if it is a multi-hit damage skill, this coefficient is distributed evenly)
Description: A weapon specially forged by the Ghost Clan Venerable, Soul Reaper · Raffa, during the ancient war of Divine Oracle a thousand years ago, specifically to fight against the God Clan…
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A trace of impatience appeared in Ji Ningshuang's cold, stunning eyes, "An entire morning, and its growth has only increased by a little over 11 points?"
"It's only C-rank right now, and at this growth rate, it's way too slow!"
"At this rate, I'm afraid Rulebound will have already cleared the secret realm and come out of the Land of Abandoned Ghosts before Soul Devourer reaches S-rank!"
Qin Ming said, "The Land of Abandoned Ghosts is an Lv85–95 Ghost Clan Golden-rank secret realm. Even Rulebound won't have an easy time clearing this secret realm."
"However, we really do need to speed things up a little."
Super God Athena gently stroked the long blade in her hand and said arrogantly, "Since Soul Devourer grows by extracting soul power through killing players, when all is said and done, the three of us simply don't have enough manpower."
"I'll summon the people from the Super God and Genesis Guilds right now. As long as we expand the hunting range, we can speed up Soul Devourer's growth."
Qin Ming, however, rejected the idea, "No."
"The biggest problem is that Soul Devourer's absorption range is limited."
"When a player dies, soul power will be produced during the period before they turn into white light and return to the city to revive. Once the player revives, the soul power disappears. This process means the soul power can only exist for around ten seconds."
"And Soul Devourer can only absorb soul power within a range of 50 yards."
"So it has nothing to do with the speed or number of players we kill."
"Even if we have more manpower and kill more players, Soul Devourer still won't have time to absorb all the soul power."
"Only by expanding Soul Devourer's absorption range can we solve this problem and accelerate its growth."
As soon as Qin Ming finished speaking.
Soul Manipulator · Zade suddenly said in a deep voice, "The more soul power Soul Devourer absorbs, the stronger its power becomes. When Venerable Lord Raffa forged Soul Devourer back then, he had already considered this problem."
"So, while Lord Raffa was forging Soul Devourer, he also forged another magical artifact, the Soul Refining Orb."
"Within the same spatial domain, the Soul Refining Orb can ignore distance and absorb soul power from all over the place for Soul Devourer to use."
Hearing what Soul Manipulator · Zade said, Ji Ningshuang was pleasantly surprised, "Ignoring distance within the same space… In other words, the range in which this Soul Refining Orb can absorb soul power is enough to cover the entire territory of Inferno City?"
"If that's the case, we don't even need to deliberately kill players. As long as any player dies within Inferno City, they can provide soul power for Soul Devourer, allowing Soul Devourer to gain Growth."
"And Inferno City has a full ten million players! Players are dying every moment, and soul power is being produced every moment!"
"If that's the case, it won't even take a day… No! It'll only take one or two hours for Soul Devourer to reach above S-rank!"
Needless to say, at this moment, even Super God Athena could not help being moved.
She hurriedly asked Soul Manipulator · Zade, "Where is the Soul Refining Orb?"
Soul Manipulator · Zade thought to himself, "You stupid woman! If I knew where the Soul Refining Orb was, I would have found it long ago. Why would I have waited until now?"
On the surface, because he was still in a weakened state and needed the help of Super God Athena and the others to recover from his weakness, Soul Manipulator · Zade remained fairly polite toward Super God Athena, "I don't know."
Super God Athena glanced at him, "Useless!"
Soul Manipulator · Zade (inner OS), 'I'll tolerate you one more time for now. Once I recover from my weakened state, I will definitely kill this small and brainless stupid woman!'
However, thinking that as long as they found the Soul Refining Orb, they could rapidly restore this Ghost King from its weakened state, and then use it to cripple Rulebound.
And they could also revive the Ghost Forbidden Army and sweep across Inferno City, including the major guild forces such as Chaotic World, Iron Blood, and Prosperous Age that had ties with Rulebound, leaving Rulebound with no chance to rise again.
In this way, they could complete Godfather's grand undertaking.
Super God Athena still took this matter somewhat seriously.
"I'll contact Godfather right now!"
"Godfather must have a way to find the location of the Soul Refining Orb!"