831 First Kill
When Atimo’s fleet was wiped out, Han Xiao, who was currently slacking off in the Garu Star Cluster, received a report from Phillip. The information collated by the Great Cosmos Corps had been sent over to him.
“Let me see my reward...” Han Xiao began to look through the information excitedly.
The Great Cosmos Corps had discovered many different planets over the past few years and a few Star Systems scattered all around the Garu Star Cluster.
A portion of these planets had natives living on them, but these natives were all enslaved by the Great Cosmos Corps. The information in the Great Cosmos Corps’ database was not just words but also included some videos of the entire process of capturing a new planet.
Shaking his head, Han Xiao contacted the chief commander, Tarrokov.
“The information from the Great Cosmos Corps is in my hands. I will send a copy to you.”
“Good job.” Tarrokov briefly looked through the document and said with a smile, “The dynasty will take note of your contribution.”
Before Han Xiao could say anything, a notification popped up on his interface.
_____________________
You have submitted [Great Cosmos Corps Exploratory Information]!
+1,500 the Crimson Dynasty Contribution Points.
+550 Exploration Points.
[Flickering World—The First Phase] rating increased
_____________________
The Flickering World mission was a faction mission, and the exploration of Garu was the first phase. All the players would share the mission rating, and the mission rating would be dependent on the Exploration Points.
After a month of exploration, everyone’s mission rating was originally D-, but everyone’s rating had increased to grade D.
Although it did not seem like much, this was a S+ grade mission, and every small increase in the rating would take a very long time. The increase would also become more difficult toward the end.
However, the 1,500 the Crimson Dynasty Contribution Point was the reward that he was the most excited about. He had spent 6,000 Contribution Points on the Ultimate Knowledge [Mechanical Life Tinder], and he still had just over 2,000 Contribution Points left.
Having obtained 1,500 Contribution Points in one go, he only needed slightly more than 2,000 points to exchange for a new Ultimate Knowledge. Because of his status, the price of an Ultimate Knowledge was discounted. In his previous life, players needed 12,000 Contribution Points to purchase one.
However, ordinary players could obtain a rank when they joined the Crimson Dynasty and do missions to increase their rank. The higher their rank, the greater the discount that they could enjoy. However, even the maximum discount that they could obtain did not reach his fifty percent discount.
The hidden mission that Maple Moon had discovered gave him great reward, and Han Xiao was truly overjoyed.
He definitely had to reward such a capable player greatly so that the other players would be encouraged to dig out other hidden missions.
As he was checking the interface, Tarrokov did not stop talking. “This report will save us a great deal of manpower. I will get people to enter the information into a star map. Since you have already sent people to wipe out the Great Cosmos Corps, you can temporarily take over their territory. You can also leave some manpower to mine for resources in the center of Garu.”
“Alright.” Han Xiao smiled. This was also his motive.
Compared to the Star Systems in the periphery, the center of a Star Cluster was the most prosperous region. In order to wipe out the Great Cosmos Corps, his expedition forces had the perfect excuse to set up a long-distance travel route, and he would be able to enter the center of the Star Cluster in the future directly. This way, he would be able to discover all the famous planets and fill up his warehouse secretly.
As long as he discovered a territory first, the other allies of the dynasty who joined in later would not be able to snatch it from him. If he could take the most prosperous region of the Star Cluster, he would be able to earn the most from this mission.
Furthermore, now that he had already made a long-distance trip once, the others would not be suspicious of him if he ran to the east secretly to find the Universal Treasure.
Tarrokov then said that he would report the matter to the dynasty and let the dynasty reward him with resources and manpower.
After chatting for a while more, they hung up.
Han Xiao then connected to Phillip’s view, and he could see the battle between the players and Atimo, which was a few Star Systems away.
...
Boom!
Explosions were never-ending!
The flood of players charged toward Atimo, who was in the center.
Atimo fought valiantly and weaved around the crowd to avoid all the attacks while launching laser beams from every part of his body. He was like a walking artillery tower, shooting at the crowd in all directions.
Beams of light shot through the crowded battlefield, and explosions could be seen all around, sending many human figures covered in shield lights flying.
The battle had already been going on for a long while, and the battlefield was covered in a myriad of colors from the various abilities of the players. Atimo had no less than thirty negative statuses on him. Although these statuses did not last long, the sheer number of players he faced meant that the statuses kept refreshing.
With the huge gap in their levels, Atimo had the advantage in speed, and the players were not able to lock onto him or stabilize the aggro. It was akin to the players of the different regions facing Atimo’s attacks at random. As long as they met Atimo, the players who had only just reached Grade B were not able to tank the damage.
Players were usually in parties that only consisted of a few dozen players at the very most in the dungeons, and this was the first time that they had fought a boss with so many players together. Every party wanted to output as much damage as they could, and they were not afraid of friendly fire. As such, the battlefield was extremely chaotic.
The difficulty of this battle was much higher than what the players had expected, and all the tactics that they had thought of beforehand were completely useless. They could only react to the situation on the spot.
However, the players did not know that the pressure that Atimo was enduring was many times greater than theirs.
Atimo weaved through the crowd and wanted to use the crowd as his human shield and make the players cautious about friendly fire, thus reducing the intensity of the attacks. However, he was shocked to realize that this bunch of people could not have cared less about the deaths of their comrades and would go all out even if it meant the death of their comrades.
Even the cold Atimo could not help but be startled by the players. Even though he did not have any way to escape and the other party already had the upper hand, they still engaged in such a cruel method, disregarding the number of casualties!
This was far too cold blooded. The Black Star Army was actually so unscrupulous in their means!
Since the players were not afraid of their deaths, his strategy was completely useless. Atimo could only endure the firepower coming from all directions and had to exhaust energy to maintain his shield.
The attacks of the players were only at the Grade B level, but Atimo did not dare use his body to tank the collective damage of all the players. After all, he did not have a powerful physique.
His shield was unable to block out all the damage, especially the Psychic attacks that came from time to time, which gave him a huge headache. Most of the negative statuses inflicted on him were from the Psychic attacks.
Atimo also had plenty of injuries all over his body, and his health was slowly decreasing. He did not have a powerful recovery capability, so his recovery speed could not keep up even if he used his energy to stimulate the recovery of his cells.
Furthermore, with his energy being depleted so quickly, Atimo felt that it was becoming more and more impossible for him to kill all the enemies.
Although Atimo felt this way, he would not surrender as long as he had the slightest bit of hope.
Even if I can’t escape, I have to deal the greatest amount of damage that I can! Atimo thought to himself.
Even if he died, he wanted to bite off a huge piece of flesh from the Black Star Army. Since these enemies were so crazy in their attacks, he would be able to cause the maximum amount of damage to his enemies.
Atimo’s body flashed, and he appeared in another region. All of a sudden, a cracking sound could be heard under his feet as he stepped into a series of mechanical traps. The powerful magnetic force tied his body down and slowed his movements greatly.
“Everyone, come over! I caught him!” one of the players cried out.
The players in the surroundings immediately unleashed all their firepower on Atimo.
Atimo let out a low growl, and his energy shield glowed brightly. The bullets rained down on his shield, and sparks could be seen bursting all around.
Boom!
Energy beams shot out in all directions, and the artillery towers that were near him exploded.
Following which, he stomped on the ground and destroyed the mechanical traps under his feet, obtaining freedom. Just when Atimo wanted to retreat, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, and more than ten Psychics around him each greeted him with a mental attack.
In the momentary delay, a large group of Pugilists took the opportunity to charge forward, and their flaming fists crashed down on Atimo’s shield.
Boom boom boom!
The shield began flickering, and Atimo gritted his teeth. He then waved his arm, and an energy whip shot out and swept all the incoming Pugilists away.
Fighting on the ground was extremely disadvantageous to him, so Atimo tried to take flight again. However, he had only flown a few meters into the air before feeling a powerful sense of obstruction, which slowed his movements down greatly.
Raising his head to look up, there were countless magical formations floating in the sky to prevent him from flying.
It was impossible for Grade B Mages to stop him even if they stacked their formations, but it would take a long time for Atimo to weave through the anti-flying region. He did not dare do that as it would turn him into a live target.
Furthermore, even if he was able to fly, the enemy could still chase after him if he did not wipe them out. He did not think that his own flying speed was faster than a spaceship, and he would not be able to escape since he was stuck on the planet.
Both parties were locked in a long battle, and Atimo could feel a sense of fatigue.
He could not remember how many he had killed already. It could be tens of thousands, and the friendly fire among the enemy had probably killed even more people than him.
“A bunch of maniacs!” Atimo spat out a mouthful of spittle and dragged his heavy body to continue fighting.
His energy was already running out, and his body felt heavier and heavier by the second.
“It seems I don’t stand a chance...” Atimo’s heart sank, and he became even more ferocious.
At least the enemy suffered more casualties! He had to drag as many people to die with him as possible!
At this moment, Atimo avoided another wave of fire and looked around to observe the densely packed enemy around him. All of a sudden, he felt something extremely strange about the battle.
After fighting for such a long time, he should have killed many enemies, and the enemies obviously did not have any reinforcements. Why did it seem that the number of enemies had not changed at all‽
Atimo was stunned.
In his world view, death was certain, and there was no such thing as revival. Thus, he did not pay close attention to the number of enemies that he had to face. Furthermore, the battlefield was extremely chaotic, and there were thousands and thousands of enemies. He did not have the time to recognize the faces of every individual. Together with the fact that he was trapped in a dangerous situation, he only managed to notice that something was wrong.
After realizing this, Atimo began to observe the people around him carefully, and his expression changed greatly.
“This bunch of people... are actually undying‽”
Atimo’s expression changed drastically, and he had a look of disbelief on his face. A deep sense of despair filled his heart and spread out to his entire body.
No wonder... No wonder they don’t care about the fatalities. It turns out that this group of people don’t even know the concept of death...
He had thought that he was causing severe damage to the enemy, but it turned out that it was only a naïve thought. His own retaliation was a pointless struggle.
If it was only because he had to face a large number of enemies, Atimo would still have had the desire to fight them to the death. But after discovering that the enemy could still revive, Atimo’s mental state completely collapsed. He fell into complete despair, and his will to fight completely disappeared.
“Argh!” Atimo’s final trace of hope was destroyed, and he let out a roar to the heavens. He then burst forth with all his remaining strength without reserving the slightest bit of energy.
Boom!
More than ten thick pillars of lights swept throughout the battlefield, and all those who came into contact with one were instantly killed. Just this attack alone had wiped out more than ten thousand players.
“Take note! Everyone drop! This should be the final phase of the boss. We are going to enter the final struggle!”
All the parties hurriedly dropped to the ground, and the pillar of light floated past their heads. However, the burning energy source still caused some damage to them.
The light pillars disappeared quickly, and Atimo’s body shook unsteadily from side to side as though he would fall over at any moment.
Bang!
A cannonball sent Atimo crashing to the ground. As all the players witnessed this scene, they hurriedly got up and began spamming all their attacks at Atimo.
Atimo, who had lost his will to fight back, was like a doll for everyone to snatch. His limbs were quickly torn apart, and his body was tortured by the players. His eyes gradually became unfocused, and the players around him were like demons in his eyes.
Before his death, Atimo suddenly imagined the faces of all the players becoming his face.
He suddenly thought about his many years of robbing and pillaging.
Could this be his retribution?
Puchi!
The next moment, his head was ripped off by someone, and his sight turned gray.
“Hahaha! The reward for killing him is ours!” a player from Dynasty cheered.
Second Prince then waved Atimo’s head excitedly, and King Admiral shook his head by the side.
“Tsk, it actually belongs to Dynasty.”
“I died three times but didn’t even manage to touch a single hair on his body. What a loss.”
“Why don’t we get rid of some over here?”
The professional players of the other teams looked at Dynasty greedily.
Vodka and Captain Old Henry were disappointed that the reward of the boss had been snatched by the large clubs. Dynasty would probably be a powerful enemy again during the upcoming Pro League.
During the battle previously, they had aimed their attacks at the Chinese players and wanted to pretend that it was accidental friendly fire. However, they also realized that they had suffered from an unusually large amount of friendly fire, and each of them had died an average of three times. They were probably the targets of the Chinese players as well.
Although the ordinary players did not receive the reward, they were still extremely excited.
Atimo was the first Calamity Grade Super that had died by their hands!
This was the first Calamity Grade kill for the players!
On the other side, Han Xiao had also received a report from Phillip and heaved a sigh of relief.
“They finally killed a Calamity Grade...”
If it was a Calamity Grade like Ember, it would have been impossible for the players to kill him regardless of how many times they revived.
However, Atimo did not have such a perverse ability and was only an ordinary Calamity Grade Super. Phillip had caused the spaceship to crash, but the players had their spaceships to chase after him. Thus, Atimo did not have any route of retreat and had no choice but to face the players. Since the players had the strength of a Grade B Super, their strength had achieved a qualitative change, and Atimo could only die with regrets.
In Han Xiao’s eyes, this event would be a milestone that belonged to the players, and it was also the turning point for the players’ thoughts.
In his previous life, the players had only managed to get rid of a Calamity Grade Super during Version 4.0. After that, the players knew that they could have the strength of an ordinary Calamity Grade Super, and their mental state had a subtle change. They became even more confident in themselves... and more death seeking.
This was something that could not be avoided as the players were extremely opinionated. However, this influence was limited at the moment. Han Xiao’s personal combat strength and organization were sufficient to suppress the little demons in all the players.
He had intentionally allowed the players to deal with Atimo so that they could get rid of a Calamity Grade Super as members of the Black Star Army. If they did not have Phillip’s help, they would not have been able to stop Atimo from escaping, and it would have been impossible for them to kill the first Calamity Grade boss.
As such, this first kill was the fruit of the players’ effort and also the strength of the faction. As long as the players understood this, their sense of belonging to the faction would only increase.
Furthermore, this first kill was a milestone event and a combined activity of the army. Through this incident, this would tie even more players to the army.