Chapter 156: A Rapidly Changing World
Cain smiled faintly.
"It seems there are plenty of monsters outside too."
That was good as he had no interest in being surrounded by useless people forever.
If their world was genuinely facing an invasion from another race, then having powerful Awakeners appear elsewhere could only benefit them.
Whether those people eventually became allies or enemies was a problem for later.
Cain left the building.
By the time he returned to the battlefield, the last wounded Zombie Race soldier had already died.
Jack was wiping blood from one gauntlet.
"Found anything?"
"50 Blood Crystals."
Ron looked over.
"Only fifty?"
"Unfortunately, yeah." Cain clicked his tongue.
Zombie Cores had already been piled together near the middle of the battlefield.
The four 2nd Echelon enemies provided the most valuable ones, while dozens of 1st Echelon Cores had been gathered around them.
Cain added the Blood Crystals.
"Move back."
Everyone gave him enough room.
Dark-gray Ruin energy spread from his body and covered the resources.
The contamination inside the Zombie Cores reacted immediately, as black traces appeared within their surfaces before breaking apart under the higher-ranked energy.
The same happened to the Blood Crystals.
Foreign impurities were erased, leaving behind only concentrated energy that could be absorbed safely.
The entire process did not take long.
Cain withdrew the Ruin energy once the last trace of contamination disappeared.
He separated most of the available resources for Sonya.
Her 1st Echelon Mana Core needed to move all the way from its current stage to Perfected before Cain would allow her to accept the Advancement Mission.
A smaller portion went toward Alex.
His Core had already reached Flawless at the previous outpost.
So, he only needed enough additional energy to cross the final stage.
"Use them."
Sonya immediately sat down.
Alex did the same.
Cain did not bother watching the absorption.
He had seen enough Mana Cores strengthen over the past day to understand the process without staring at them every time.
Instead, he inspected the map they had taken from the Zombie Race.
One of the marked positions was much larger than their current location.
It was also the nearest major outpost to the Southern Anchor Gate.
Cain thought to himself as he had decided that this place would be their next target.
The sooner they destroyed it, the less time the Zombie Race would have to reorganize.
Several minutes passed.
Alex opened his eyes first.
"Finally Perfected Stage."
"Accept your mission." Cain nodded in satisfaction.
Alex focused on the Advancement option.
A translucent screen appeared before him.
His eyes moved across the information before he looked toward Cain.
"Same as Elara and Nathan."
Nathan immediately understood.
"You need to cooperate with a Level 50 1st Echelon Awakener?"
"Yup." Alex nodded with a wide smile because in this way, he could also get help from Cain and Advance to 2nd Echelon much faster, easier, and safer.
Cain smiled in satisfaction as he could help another one to reach 2nd Echelon faster.
He was still Level 50 and remained in the 1st Echelon because of his abnormal Advancement Mission.
For once, being unable to advance immediately was useful.
Cain could help both Nathan and Alex satisfy their requirements.
Sonya finally opened her eyes.
The Fire Mana around her had become considerably steadier.
She placed one hand against her chest, sensing the Core inside.
A satisfied smile appeared.
"My Core has reached the Perfected Stage."
Before she could say anything else, another World Announcement interrupted them.
[World Announcement.]
[The sixth player to successfully advance to the 2nd Echelon has appeared.]
[The name "Northern Tyrant" shall be recorded in the history of this World.]
[Northern Tyrant has received a Blue Scroll.]
Cain closed the notification immediately as he couldn’t be arsed with them, since the ranking was moving faster than before.
He looked at Sonya and smiled.
"Accept your mission now."
Sonya nodded.
A System panel appeared.
Her expression became thoughtful as she read the requirement.
"What did you get?" Cain asked.
Sonya turned the screen toward him.
[2nd Echelon Advancement Mission]
[Participate in the defeat of a 2nd Echelon being.]
[You must deal the greatest amount of damage among all individuals who directly contribute to the target’s defeat.]
[Mission Progress: 0/1]
Cain read it once.
"That’s easy."
Sonya raised an eyebrow.
"Easy?"
"Just use the same method."
Cain sheathed his sword properly.
"I’ll disable it, then you just need to throw your skill at it."
Sonya thought about the requirement.
"As long as I deal more damage than you?"
"Exactly."
Cain had only cut off the legs of Elara’s target earlier.
There was no reason he could not do the same for Sonya.
Severing enough of the target’s lower body to prevent it from moving would count as participation, while Sonya could inflict the overwhelming majority of the total damage afterward.
Cain then looked toward the map.
The next outpost was large enough that finding several 2nd Echelon enemies should not be difficult.
If anything, he was more concerned about how many there might be.
Cain stored the map.
"Let’s go."
They left the ruined outpost immediately as there was no reason to remain after gathering everything useful.
The group moved quickly across the Corridor, following the route marked on the Zombie Race map.
Cain remained near the front with Nathan.
The communication device still hung from his waist.
It had been useful for confirming that the Zombie Race possessed a network connecting its military positions, but Cain had no intention of attempting to use it as he planned to let it flow in case he would obtain information from it later on.
The enemy probably knew that something was wrong.
But, how much they knew remained uncertain.
If the Zombie Race was given some time to gather its forces around the Southern Anchor Gate, the difficulty of destroying the World Gate Core would increase enormously.
Naturally, Cain had no intention of giving them that much time.
Another golden screen appeared while they crossed a section of fractured black terrain.
[World Announcement.]
[The seventh player to successfully advance to the 2nd Echelon has appeared.]
Cain dismissed it after glancing at the name.
A minute later, another announcement came.
Then the ninth player appeared.
The intervals continued shrinking.
Cain began paying more attention after the number passed ten.
Something felt unusual.
He recognized almost none of the names from the people who had entered the Invasion Corridor.
At first, that could have been a coincidence.
Once the ranking climbed farther, the pattern became difficult to ignore.
Cain remembered most of the noteworthy entrants.
Many had possessed ranking titles from earlier World Announcements, making their names easy to remember.
Yet the people now entering the 2nd Echelon were mostly different, as they were those who didn’t enter the invasion corridor and were still in their world.
Another announcement appeared as he thought about it.
Cain looked at the name.
He did not recognize it from the Corridor participant list either.
His suspicion became stronger.
Apparently, their world was progressing faster than he had expected.
The double Experience inside the Corridor was useful, but it was not enough to make the people outside irrelevant.
He found that some events must have happened in the outside world, or else there was no way that a lot of people advanced to the 2nd Echelons this fast.