The Era of Gods

To survive, they would fight with all their might without holding back. This type of combat, facing death at any moment, is the most effective at stimulating potential and could easily lead to their advancement.

Due to the vast and despairing gap in strength, most of the five Children of Nightmare were directly overpowered; only two, unwilling to give in, burned their very essence, their Divinity, resulting in a somewhat reduced divine reward after being slain.

The five Children of Nightmare provided sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, four, and five points of Divinity, adding up to a total of sixty-one points of Divinity.

Over one hundred cards of various levels, including four Ancient Quality Cards.

There were certainly more than four Ancient Cards loaded into the total fields of the five Children of Nightmare, but only these four could be separated from the fields. Among them was a very valuable Ancient Five Star Card—the Well of Corruption, capable of summoning a well infused with the Power of Corruption.

This was an Ancient Miracle Card, which had a simple effect: load the card into the Divine Realm to summon the miraculous structure, the Well of Corruption.

The Well of Corruption contained the Power of Corruption that could corrupt and degrade the target.

Once the Well of Corruption was loaded, the surrounding land would corrupt into fallen terrain. Benevolent creatures would suffer continuous damage and corrupting effects while active there, but creatures from Evil Camps entering the land would receive ceaseless healing. Prolonged absorption of the Power of Corruption could potentially lead to promotion.

Although this artifact was a miraculous construction of the Evil Camps, it did not mean Ocean couldn’t use it. He first dissolved most of the less useful cards into nutrients to strengthen the Well of Corruption.

Without Creation Energy to transform it, a massive influx of Creative Power could still enhance it on its existing foundation, greatly expanding the effect’s radius.

Then, he directly loaded it into the Underworld Divine Realm Space within the Divine Terrain, placing the Tower of Corruption in this special bottom layer of Divine Domain Space designated for incarcerating or banishing evil creatures.

Next, he classified and merged various Ecology Cards and Resource Cards, using the Creation Rubik’s Cube to purify the Nightmare Power contained within, synthesizing them into powerful cards to be loaded into the Divine Realm as circumstances dictated.

He managed to produce several super large Basic Ore Vein Cards, all loaded into the Main Divine Realm.

After dealing with these, Ocean spent…

Thirty points of Divinity and thirty thousand Divine Power to promote ten Rank 7 Supreme Naga into legendary Lords of Nagas.

As for the remaining thirty-one points of Divinity and just over twenty thousand Divine Power, he saved them for the time being as both Divinity and Divine Power could be used at any moment.

With seventeen legendary Lords of Nagas and six legendary Heroes, Ocean now commanded twenty-three Rank 8 legendary Clan members. This was an exceptionally high specification, a formidable force that many middle-tier Demigods did not possess.

Before leaving the Divine Territory, Ocean issued several Divine-mandates to Slarda.

In summary, there were three:

One: Greatly increase the reproduction of the Clan members.

Two: Open the Ancient Coliseum, granting him the right to extract prisoners from the Netherworld, to train warriors with real opponents in hopes of obtaining more powerful followers.

Three: Establish an immensely fortified giant city fortress within the Main Divine Realm.

After issuing all the Divine-mandates, Ocean retrieved his Incarnation. The two points of Divinity that constituted the Incarnation were recovered, but the ten thousand Divine Power returned less than five thousand.

At the same time, a vast and unparalleled dark power had nowhere to settle, so he cast it into the Netherworld.

After all, for him, the Netherworld was like a trash dump. Whatever it was, as long as it was negative and unable to be accommodated by other Divine Realm spaces, it could be thrown into it, and he wasn’t worried about whether harboring too much negative energy there would cause any mutations.

With the Divine Realm’s limit in place, no matter how much it mutated, it wouldn’t escape his control as the Master of the Divine Realm. Should anything terrifying emerge, he would know immediately and it wouldn’t go out of control.

Two days later, Ocean organized all affairs, and all his will retreated back into the crystal-like Soul, which hung above the divine throne. The radiant, translucent orb slowly disappeared, and the Divine Realm once again dimmed.

The vast expanse of the Black Sea suddenly bulged with a water dome several kilometers in size. Shortly after, an unimaginably huge Giant rose from the sea, its tentacles hanging from its neck swaying gently, with ripple after ripple of invisible auras slowly spreading out.

The profound gaze of the immense Giant pierced through the endless black mist between heaven and earth, looking far into the distance, the sea. Once his soul’s essence ascended to immortality, most of the world’s hidden secrets were unveiled to him automatically. His gaze itself possessed the Eye of Truth, allowing him to clearly see through the heavy black mist that was omnipresent, the boundless waters of the sea, and…

Above the thick clouds of the Vault of Heaven, immense and fearsome figures reside.

With the Evil God’s Eye of Truth, he could see past the ever-present clouds above the Vault of Heaven, where creatures no smaller than him, some perhaps even larger, seemed to be swimming. Above the thick clouds of heaven, it was as if there was another world entirely.

Being able to look directly at the secrets of this world and experience a preview of a True God’s perspective was a rare opportunity for Ocean, one that most people would never have the chance to experience.

Now he could enjoy it. Once he left this world, he would probably have to give up both the Body of Evil God and that immense Evil God’s Divine Soul, so such an opportunity would no longer exist.

Becoming an incarnation of an Evil God, this indescribable and eerie being, Evil Alien Races, the terrifying dark sea, was to Ocean what an ordinary world’s ocean would be. He, in his own right, was the strangest and most indescribable, the most terrifying enigma.

With the Eye of Truth, he peered through the seabed and into the distant waters of the great sea, where myriad creatures beyond ordinary imagination lurked quietly. A colossal creature, five kilometers tall, swam across the surface, causing the strange inhabitants to scurry away, including some with massive bodies. The feeling was exhilarating.

After a while, following a thundering roar, the colossal being slowly sunk back into the sea, leaving a tremendous vortex in its wake before it disappeared without a trace.

……….

Black Flag Island, more than three hundred kilometers to the south, a fleet composed of a five-masted giant sailboat leading over a dozen three-masted large sailboats was entangled in a melee with a fleet of seven ironclad ships.

Although the sailboat fleet had a numerical advantage, they were at a disadvantage in the naval battle against the ironclad ships. From a distance, the ironclad ships utilized their larger number of cannons for long-range bombardment, resulting in two of the three-masted sailboats being sunk. Now, their wreckage was crawling with creatures covered in tentacles, secreting slime to envelop the ships and transforming their flesh, while more beasts tore at the struggling sailors and corpses in the water.

A large number of creatures, attracted by the cannon fire and the light from the explosions, were converging nearby. Ordinarily, the fleets would have fled by now, but at the moment, they were still engaged in combat under the forceful suppression of their commanders.

Five Children of Nightmare gathered on the deck of an ironclad ship, observing the battlefield and frequently glancing maliciously at the giant five-masted sailboat several kilometers away. Standing on the deck at the bow of this nearly two-hundred-meter-long sailboat were four Human Divine Territory Players. A woman, illuminated by the light of the explosive fire, glanced at the distant ironclad behemoth and said with some concern to her companions,

“Ironclad ships have too much of an advantage at sea. Even though we outnumber them, it’s not certain that we can win. I think next time we need to switch to warships with cannons.”

“Next time…”

Another Divine Territory Player pointed at the Children of Nightmare who occasionally cast cold glances their way and said,

“There won’t be a next time. They have a numerical advantage and a military advantage; they won’t let us get away.”

The leader among the four stroked his chin, paused, then laughed,

“Don’t worry too much. Although they have one more person than we do, it’s unpredictable who will win or lose before the battle is fought. Nobody knows how strong the opponent is until they fight.”

“Moreover, our reinforcements are already on the way. Black Flag Island has received the message, and the Alliance Hierarch has already sent support. We just need to hold out until it arrives.”

However, his words didn’t provide much comfort to his companions, and the first woman to speak said,

“That’s all well and good, but the main point is whether we can hold out until the reinforcements arrive.”

The leader smiled, then suddenly gave a loud order,

“All hands, retreat toward the direction of Black Flag Island while fighting.”

The signalman immediately relayed his command to the entire fleet using flag signals and drumbeats, and the massive sailboat fleet began a fighting retreat.

The ever-dark waves of the Black Sea raged on, and the clash between the two large fleets seemed insignificant on the vast ocean, with the occasional flashes of explosive fire and booming sounds attracting the surrounding creatures, including some extremely bizarre beings and gigantic monsters.

Plans rarely work out as envisioned, and as the sailboat fleet retreated while waiting for reinforcements, their destination was a distant lighthouse.

This lighthouse was one of several near Black Flag Island, serving to guide nearby ships. In the perpetually dark Black Sea, ships could only navigate long distances by the lights of these lighthouses.

After retreating for an indeterminate amount of time, the leader, Wang Nan, who had been fully focused on commanding the fleet, suddenly frowned and asked his companion, Tai Li,

“How long have we been retreating?”

Tai Li hesitated before replying,

“Two hours.”

At his words, everyone’s complexion changed, and they rushed to the edge of the deck to gaze at the lighthouse in the distance, identical to how it had appeared two hours earlier, cold sweat involuntarily forming on their foreheads:

“Damn, normally, we should have been close to the lighthouse by now after two hours, but the distance between us and the lighthouse is the same as it was two hours ago.”

“I think we’ve encountered something big.”

Wang Nan took a deep breath to stave off despair and commanded calmly,

“Assess our current position, determine the direction of Black Flag Island or the lighthouse, and re-establish our course. Leave this sea area as quickly as possible.”

“Oh, and send a message to the other side, informing them of the situation.”

“What if they don’t heed it?”

“Then we’ll all die together.”

Three minutes later, a response from one of the Children of Nightmare appeared before them:

“Die at sea, or fight us in a battle to the death!”

Wang Nan scoffed,

“How arrogant.”

After finishing, he turned serious and looked at his companions,

“Prepare for full engagement. I want to see why you Children of Nightmare are so confident when we are all high third-rankers.”