"Return!!! The power of this Evil God!!!"
The Evil God's will projection suddenly roared.
Soon, countless branching paths inside the Evil God's Maze began to disappear. The number of routes shrank, and the crossroads were greatly reduced.
But in doing so, the Evil God's will projection successfully reclaimed a vast amount of power.
After all, the more complex and massive the maze was, the more power it consumed.
Since these humans were so bizarre—and isolating them didn't work—he might as well reduce the number of maze branches and force them to move in groups… and slaughter one another!
At the same time, he could recover a large portion of his strength.
"Manifest, Red-Eyed King!"
"Arise, Lord of Bones!"
"Heed this Evil God's call—Headless Knight!!!"
…
One after another, beings with powerful aura and different forms were created!
All of them were brand-new guardians forged by the Evil God's will projection.
He had already planned it out—these guardians would eliminate the invaders.
No matter how strong the invaders were, as long as they were gradually worn down, they could be killed batch by batch!
But that wasn't the key.
"Appear! The strongest existence forged from one-seventh of the power reclaimed by this Evil God!"
"Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon!!!"
…
As the Evil God's will projection roared, an incomparably terrifying existence slowly emerged!
This dreadful being possessed strength not inferior to an ordinary Human Emperor!
It had been forged using a full one-seventh of the reclaimed power!
And its true terror wasn't just its immense strength—
It could continuously grow stronger by killing invaders, devouring their blood and souls!
The more it fought, the more it slaughtered, the stronger it would become!
"Hohoho… let this Evil God's Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon begin from the weak and gradually slaughter these invaders!"
The Evil God's will projection grinned, full of confidence in victory.
However, changes were happening again on the players' side.
After the Dark Soul Guild players defeated the guardian at the end of the fourth segment, they quickly established the fourth bonfire and teleportation array.
And then—
A flood of figures poured out like a swarm.
Ten thousand of them.
They were the third beta test players!
Both humans and demons!
Among them were two particularly special figures.
"Hahaha! Teleportation arrays are way faster!" King Lufei and Emperor Zoro jumped out in a flash.
"Brother Lufei? Weren't you the first one who rushed in earlier?" The Dark Soul Guild player who built the array was stunned.
Weren't King Lufei and Emperor Zoro the first to charge into Myriad Beast City? How did they end up this far behind?
"Zoro got lost. I followed him around in circles for ages. In the end, I was smart and decided to return to the Golden Warship first and use the teleportation array to come in!" King Lufei explained.
"…" Emperor Zoro's face turned slightly red. He said nothing.
"Brother Lufei, this Evil God's Maze isn't simple! At first it was just ordinary traps and mechanisms, but then—holy crap! Brother Lufei?" The Dark Soul Guild player was still trying to explain when King Lufei had already disappeared without a trace.
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Brother Lufei!" Emperor Zoro said as he dashed off—in the opposite direction.
Dark Soul Guild player: "???"
Meanwhile, the other players were already arguing noisily.
"Damn it, you demon scrubs! Go farm mobs in the city area! Why are you coming in here to steal our kills?"
"Bullshit! The city mobs were cleared ages ago! Let the mercenary NPCs handle the leftovers!"
"We from Dark Soul Guild haven't even finished mapping the route to the final chamber! Why did you all rush in? Young people—what's the hurry?"
…
Every checkpoint suddenly became overcrowded with players, and the arguments grew louder.
"What's going on?" The Evil God's will projection frowned upon noticing the situation.
So many invaders had suddenly flooded in.
And since he had reclaimed a significant amount of power, the maze's branches and forks had been drastically reduced!
Clearly, even if he used spatial techniques to scatter the invaders, it was inevitable now that some branches or side paths would still have several—even over a dozen—invaders moving together.
"The number of invaders is simply too great! If this Evil God spreads the guardians I created evenly across all routes, their combat strength will definitely be insufficient. The worst-case result? They won't be able to stop anyone at all!"
"Hehehe… but how ingenious is this Evil God!"
…
The Evil God's will projection quickly expanded its vast consciousness, sweeping across the entire maze.
It clearly perceived the number of invaders on each route, their auras, and their strength!
And in the next instant, it made its arrangements.
If a route had many invaders—and they were strong—then it would assign more trash-tier guardians to stall them through sheer numbers!
If a route had few invaders—and they were weak—then it would dispatch powerful guardians to eliminate them!
Soon enough, the arrangements were complete.
Routes with many players were assigned garbage guards—slime monsters, skeleton soldiers, and the like.
Routes with fewer players were assigned powerful entities such as the Red-Eyed King and the Lord of Bones!
As for the extremely powerful guardians like the Headless Knight, they were granted mobility and the ability to freely traverse the maze. In other words, once a Headless Knight killed the invaders on one route, it could immediately head to the next route and continue fighting!
After finishing the arrangements, the Evil God's will projection curled its lips and smiled wickedly again.
Most of the guardians were merely meant to stall for time!
The true killing move was still the Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon, forged from a full one-seventh of the reclaimed power!
"This Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon's strength rivals that of a Human Emperor. But to be safe, it should start by killing the weakest invaders first. Gradually wipe out the weakest batch, then move on to the mid-tier ones, and finally deal with the strong!"
"That way, it will be absolutely stable!"
"As it slaughters more and more, the Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon will grow ever stronger—eventually surpassing even a Human Emperor!"
…
The more the Evil God's will projection thought about it, the more it felt its plan was absolutely damn perfect!
So the current task was simple:
Find the weakest-looking one!
Thus, the Evil God's will projection swiftly shifted locations.
"Hmm?" Its gaze sharpened as it saw four imposing figures walking forward.
The one on the left had only one arm, yet walked with an arrogant swagger. A scar marked one eye, a great cloak billowed behind him, and beneath his feet one could faintly sense a tyrannical aura slowly circulating.
The other three were even more terrifying!
One stood four meters tall, wielding a massive long blade, sporting a huge white beard, and bearing a body covered in brutal scars—a clearly battle-hardened powerhouse!
The other two—one with a black beard, another with enormous black horns growing from his head—were obviously ruthless figures as well!
And the Evil God's will projection clearly remembered that the other invaders referred to these four as…
The Four Emperors!
That name alone sounded outrageously overpowered!
By the most conservative estimate, these four might very well be four Human Emperor-level experts!
The Ten-Thousand-Soul War Demon it created was merely comparable to a Human Emperor. If it ran into these four… wouldn't it be instantly crushed?
"Heh. This Evil God won't be that stupid—challenging such terrifying experts right now!"
Without hesitation, the Evil God's will projection shifted away and looked toward another route.
Ten figures, dressed in black-and-white battle robes, each holding a domineering, fierce, wild Zanpakutō!
Each had a different appearance, but all wore expressions that screamed: I'm the strongest, the coolest, the most badass!
"These ten… if I recall correctly, the other invaders called them the Captains of the Gotei Thirteen? Since they're captains, their strength must not be weak. Conservatively speaking, if the ten join forces, they might rival a Human Emperor…"
After a brief thought, the Evil God's will projection decided to avoid these obviously dangerous figures as well.
"Damn… this one is far too terrifying!"
Its gaze shifted again—and landed on another existence.
This person walked casually, yet with every step, a black crater was stamped into the ground.
The aura of forty-eight demonic marks slowly emerged, distorting the surrounding space itself!
One look—and it was clearly a monster!
"Eh?"
Soon, the Evil God's will projection's eyes lit up as it locked onto another figure.
"Wow, this place is so well made!"
A small young boy wearing a straw hat, straw sandals, and a red vest.
This guy—
One look and he screamed…
Total weakling!
"It's you!"
The Evil God's will projection was overjoyed and lunged straight at him…