At this moment, an utterly absurd scene unfolded across the Death Vige zone.


    The newly spawned wave of gue-ridden zombies was terrifyingly numerous! They even squeezed their torsos to shreds just to emerge from the houses!


    Many of the monsters copsed to the ground without even making an entrance, trampled in a frenzy.


    It made one wonder how those dpidated houses could contain so many monsters.


    But, if the initial scene was merely horrifying, what followed was a vision of hell that would drive countless yers to despair!


    At the entrance of every household, at least a dozen gue-ridden zombies were stacked up. At a nce, those innumerable monsters crept forward at a slow pace.


    The movements of the gue-ridden zombies were almostical, but their sheer number was terrifying to behold!


    Indeed, at this moment, numerous yer teams exploring the Death Vige were in utter chaos.


    "What''s going on?? Why are so many monsters spawning all of a sudden?"


    "Fuck! The number of monsters is still increasing!"


    "Holy shit! What''s happening??"


    "Don''te any closer, stay back!"


    "Argh!!!"


    …


    yers were horrified to find that after the sky turned blood-red, the speed at which monsters spawned from the surrounding houses dramatically increased!


    Leveling up and monster ying in Death Vige was always a risky endeavor. With every change in the vige''s coordinates as a cycle, hundreds of yers would lose their lives in each cycle.


    Many teams were already at their limit in terms of monster aggro and damage output.


    With the sudden surge in the number of gue-ridden zombies, the yers were overwhelmed! First, the warriors couldn''t hold the aggro, allowing the gue-ridden zombies to rush towards the ranged sses. Then, once the ranged sses were entangled and their damage output was silenced, they couldn''t use healing abilities.


    In a vicious cycle, both front and back lines fell together!


    Under the crimson sky of Death Vige, a simrly bloody requiem yed, with countless yer teams wiped out in an instant!


    Meanwhile, in the southwestern corner of this special region.


    "Damn it!"


    "Why did the difficulty of this map suddenly spike so much?" The blue-haired young man who had previously invited Sterl to team up was holding a tower shield, struggling to fend off the enemies.


    The female assassin behind him cursed while trying to fend off the monsters that had lost their aggro, to prevent them from targeting the archers and mages.


    Despite this team being verycautious and retreating to an area with fewer monsters after entering Death Vige, and their strength being superior to others exploring this map.


    But... facing the tidal wave of gue-ridden zombies was still too hard!


    Previously, they faced only about twenty to thirty monsters at a time. But now there were at least a hundred monsters, with gue-ridden zombies continuously gathering from all directions.


    The adventure team led by the blue-haired young man, even if they could resist temporarily, were doomed.


    "We''re done for! We''re definitely going to die!" The team''s mage, in the midst of casting, suddenly copsed, throwing his staff to the ground: "I''ve got a private message from Norman and his team.They''ve been wiped out!"


    Upon hearing these words, the team, already teetering under the onught of a tidal wave of monsters, became even more disheartened.


    "Argh!!" The female assassin was the first to slip up, getting hit by several gue-ridden zombies at once. The stack of gue buffs on her skyrocketed, and her health plummeted rapidly… Despite quickly drinking a potion from her bag to halt the decline, her eyes were filled with despair.


    Because their team could barely defend themselves, let alone kill the enemy, and the number of monsters kept increasing.


    "Fuck… Let it go at that."


    "Meeting you as a leader was my luck!"


    "Let''s be teammates in our next life," said the archer with a nonchnt smile.


    "In my next life… I don''t even know if I''ll be able to save up enough money to afford a gaming pod." the blue-haired young man joked.


    Unlike Earth humans, these yers knew that even if their characters in[Transcendence]were deleted and they could no longer log in, it wouldn''t mean the end of their actual lives.


    At this moment, they showed a remarkable sense of detachment, beginning to wave goodbye.


    However… once their gaming characters died, the enhancements given to their real selves would also dissipate. These yers were well aware that returning to reality would mean a fall from being superpowered individuals to the bottom of society.


    In a sense, this kind of downfall brought damage that was no less severe than death itself.


    The adventure team smiled with their lips, but their eyes held only despair and emptiness.


    And such scenes were happening all over the Death Vige map.


    …


    Yet, someone was having the time of their life.


    "Fuck! It''s so great!"


    Sterl was exhrated!


    He was surrounded by a peculiar azure glow, the effect of activating the Ster Domain, which doubled his energy recovery rate! Moreover, after the hatching of the Starlight Dragon, thanks to the main star''s effect, Sterl had inherited a portion of its energy pool.


    He was no longer the unlucky soul gued by constant mana shortages.


    To other yers, the increasing number of gue-ridden zombies was a deadly threat.


    But for Sterl, it was a non-issue.


    Though the monsters spawned ferociously, they had to squeeze out of the houses slowly.


    And what about Sterl?


    He didn''t even need to use his double energy-consuming skill, Phosphorescent Fire-Falling Star Form.


    Just using the storm mode of this skill was enough!


    At that moment, Sterl uttered two sybles!


    mes burst forth, charring several gue-ridden zombies. Hundreds of monsters still surrounded him tightly.


    But the next second, stardust sttered!


    Countless blue lines sshed across the space!


    From a high vantage point, the area where Sterl stood resembled an artwork, with monsters falling like dominoes from the center to the outskirts, turning into minced meatyer byyer!


    Hundreds of monsters were cleared in an instant!


    Then, the houses along the path made noises as if they were producing more gue-ridden zombies.


    Sterl didn''t wait. Instead, he sprinted forward, running to a street he hadn''t cleared yet.


    Seeing hundreds more gue-ridden zombies attracted by him and gathering, he couldn''t help but grin even wider.


    He unleashed another skill…


    Clearing the field!


    As Sterl continued to cut down a multitude of monsters, his earpiece kept buzzing with notifications.


    [You havepleted a loop of the repeatable quest, receiving abat-grade magic orb]


    [...gained experience...]


    [...gained experience...]


    …


    Simultaneously, Sterl''s experience bar surged!


    The experience needed for level 21, filled!


    The experience needed for level 22, filled!


    Level 23…


    Moreover, the power of blood within the Bloody Diamond also rapidly condensed.


    31 strands…


    32 strands…


    …


    Thus, while numerous yers were wailing in despair,


    Sterl forcefully carried out a rapid march through the Death Vige, killing his way through and clearing vast areas!


    Even more, the more he fought, the more proficient his movements became.


    A Bloody Sprint suddenly elerated him into the center of a monster group, followed by an explosive me Storm and a blooming Starlight Ssh at the center!


    Next, he utilized the teleportation ability that came with the Ster Domain, diving into the monster groups and repeating the process.


    After the continuous usage penalty for Bloody Sprint vanished, he switched back to this move for discement.


    Sterl aimed not only to farm experience but also to improve his proficiency with Bloody Sprint!


    After such a mechanized operation, Sterl could even manage to take down a group of monsters every thirty seconds… This was mainly because he needed to keep moving. Otherwise his efficiency would be even higher.


    Soon, due to the great distances he covered,Sterl encountered some yers along the way.


    Some were crying andughing in groups, others were inexplicably killing each other, shouting, "We''re going to die anyway, I''ve always hated your guts!" and some were holding their heads in their hands, sobbing, "Brother, let''s hit the road together."


    Then, these yers were dumbfounded.


    Because just a second ago, they were all emotionally prepared for a tearful farewell!


    And what did they see?


    A figure shed by.


    Seemed like a muscr man with a scarred face?


    This big guy raised his hand—


    mes erupted.


    Then, starlight scattered everywhere!


    Gone.


    This ''gone'' didn''t just refer to the big guy''s figure disappearing. The surrounding monsters were also gone, all chopped into minced meat??


    So much so that the yers stood there, stunned for quite a while, even pping themselves to make sure they weren''t dreaming, this was real.


    "What the hell is this??"


    "Could it be that this is the Death Vige''s protection system, that an NPCes to rescue us when the monsters spawn crazily??"


    "It must be! How else could the difficulty of this ce suddenly increase so much?"


    "Only an NPC could have such strength, his skills must be of purple quality or higher, right?"


    "Is this NPC in their second or third transformation? Too fierce."


    "I get it now! Facing hundreds of monsters was just a cutscene for us to watch. As long as we hold on for a little while, we can survive!"