As the Starfire Base distributed the confirmed coordinates of the contaminated sites and the characteristics of the evil god's followers to all parties through the liaison, the atmosphere across the entire continent of Til suddenly became tense.
Once upon a time, the terror of those evil gods still loomed like a dark cloud over the memories of many ancient races.
The terrifying sight of twisted flesh, annihilated consciousness, and everything reduced to chaos is enough to send chills down the spine of any rational being.
Today, similar threats have resurfaced, though on a much smaller scale and at a much lower level than before. However, their inherent similarity and covert infiltration have put all forces on high alert.
The fragile balance just established by the "Spark Charter" has now revealed its value.
Compared to the evil god's calamity that could sweep across the entire continent and destroy all order, the resource disputes and border frictions between races suddenly seemed insignificant.
In the Eversong Forest of the elves, Elessia's will swept through the woods, and countless ancient trees seemed to come alive, their roots penetrating deep into the earth, sensing any discordant impurity.
The Elven Rangers and Dryads formed the Pure Squad, wielding weapons imbued with natural purifying light, relentlessly annihilating any twisted plants or aberrant creatures they discovered.
An elven commander coldly addressed his subordinates:
"Internal differences can be set aside for the time being, but corruption from outside the world must be thoroughly burned away with roots and flames."
In the orcish tribes, Uranus' roar echoed in every shaman's dream.
The war drums sounded again, but this time not to launch an attack on the nearby human villages or dwarven mines.
The orcish warbands, wolf riders, and newly awakened bloodthirsty shamans unleashed their furious rage upon the corrupted yetis, sandworms, and deformed monsters crawling out of the rifts.
An orc warlord, brandishing a blood-stained giant axe, laughed maniacally as he cleaved a Shadow Aberration in two, roaring:
"Now that's more like real prey! Let these cowardly scum who dare not fight head-on know who the master of this wilderness is!"
In the mountains of the dwarves, runecrafters worked through the night to produce a large number of purification bombs and barrier cores based on a simplified version of the [Purification Radiance] principle provided by Lind.
Deep within the mine, the clanging of mining no longer echoed, but rather the hum of purification beams and the dying screams of the aberrant creatures.
King Muradin personally oversaw the battle; each strike of his warhammer was accompanied by a holy light that dispelled the darkness (originating from the initial fusion with the energy of the light veins), and his voice boomed like thunder.
"Our mountains must not be defiled! Crush these filthy things that have crawled in with fire and steel!"
The Naga's abyssal song echoed through the ocean as they wielded giant sharks and manipulated water elementals to hunt down corrupted schools of fish and the evil god's minions that sought to establish nests in the seabed fissures.
Elder Serasan hovered in the surging undercurrents, her staff drawing upon the power of the deep sea to reduce a twisted coral reef and its aberrations to dust. She spoke coldly:
"The balance of the ocean is protected by us. Any external evil will drown in the bottomless abyss."
Even among human empires, the mutual suspicion and border troop deployments were temporarily set aside.
For the first time, the military forces of the Kree Empire and the Sass Empire engaged in limited intelligence sharing and coordinated operations to eliminate key targets.
The Empire's mage and knightly forces, working together, painstakingly cleansed the corrupted tombs and the berserk mountain villages with improved arcane magic and enchanted weapons.
The imperial envoy who had once spoken with such restraint at the Starfire Base meeting was now back at work coordinating supplies and troops, his face devoid of its usual composure, replaced only by solemnity and urgency.
For a moment, the entire continent of Tiel seemed to have reached a silent understanding.
The various forces that were previously arguing over a forest, a mineral vein, and a fishing ground are now united against a common enemy, venting all their anger, energy, and newly acquired power on these unfortunate, exposed followers of the evil god.
This sudden "clean-up" operation, while causing considerable losses and turmoil in various places, also forcibly suppressed many internal conflicts in a brutal way, and promoted the initial integration and limited trust between different races and forces in actual combat.
The liaison office at Xinghuo Base was busier than ever before, no longer filled with arguments, but with the transmission of battle reports, the exchange of experiences, and requests for limited material assistance.
Meanwhile, in Blackrock Territory, Lind quietly observed all of this.
He watched as the red markers representing contamination points on the holographic star map dimmed and disappeared one by one. Although new and more hidden points were occasionally discovered, the overall trend was improving.
"Pressure can sometimes be a catalyst for cohesion."
Lind muttered to himself.
The threat from the evil god, by a twist of fate, put a brutal "stress test" on the new order he created, and initially proved its necessity.
But he knew very well that this was just the beginning.
The threats lurking deep within the Shadow Abyss and even beyond the stars are far from being eradicated.
The current unity is a reactive response to the crisis; once external pressure eases, internal conflicts will inevitably resurface.
Moreover, those evil gods... are they really just going to passively wait to be wiped out?
Linde's gaze returned to the direction of the Howling Abyss, his eyes deep and unfathomable.
He used this cleanup operation to not only purify the Shadow Abyss, but also to promote the simplified version of the [Purify Radiance] rune system.
This is not just aid, but also a covert surveillance and defense network that spans the entire continent.
The energy data fed back from countless nodes is continuously flowing into the database of the Starfire Base, where it is constantly processed and analyzed by the [Deconstruction Halo] in his mind and the analytical instruments.
He was studying, analyzing, and trying to deduce more information about the original source of these evil gods from their manifestations, energy structures, and behavioral patterns, as well as... their possible next moves.
“Directing internal conflicts toward external enemies temporarily stabilizes order… but the real test lies in whether this forced unity can be transformed into internal cohesion during the lull in the crisis.”
Linde turned and walked toward his laboratory.
The flames of war on the mainland do not require his personal intervention for the time being; he has more important things to do—to further optimize the Shadow Abyss monitoring network, to deepen his research into the nature of the evil god, and… to continue his own exploration beyond the mortal realm.
He had a premonition that the war with these extraterrestrial beings would not be confined to the Shadow Abyss and remote rifts forever.
The real storm may be far in the future, but preparations must begin now, every second counts.
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Brothers, first of all, I want to apologize. I've been dealing with some personal issues lately and haven't been able to update for a long time. But I'm finally done with that now and will be resuming updates.
Please bear with me!
\(`Δ')／
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