Published: March 12, 2025
Chapter 438: Defense of the Black Earth Wilderness
Three days after Zhao Hai and the others arrived in Flower City, death warriors had already appeared in the Black Earth Wilderness. These individuals entered the Black Earth Wilderness equipped with various antidotes, beginning their exploration.
However, they quickly realized they had made a grave mistake. Although they had consumed antidotes that temporarily prevented poisoning, allowing them to move within the Black Earth Wilderness, they soon found themselves besieged by large numbers of undead beings. These undead were formidable, and since they didn't rely on eyesight, the invisibility techniques employed by the death warriors were completely ineffective. Moreover, any hidden weapons used against the undead achieved no results.
Undead beings were the greatest headache for the death warriors on the continent, as they lacked effective means to deal with them. Hidden weapons were useless, poisons had no effect, and assassination attempts were futile. This left all death warriors on the continent extremely troubled when facing undead beings.
For the average undead being, the death warriors already found it challenging enough; when dealing with the undead unleashed by Zhao Hai, their fate was almost certainly death.
Zhao Hai didn’t let the undead act purely on instinct against the death warriors. He assigned a high-level undead to command every group of around a thousand lower undead, directing them in battle. When the death warriors first entered the Black Earth Wilderness, the undead didn’t attack them immediately, but as the death warriors ventured deeper into the wilderness, they would encircle and eliminate them.
Zhao Hai was aware of this situation as soon as the first death warrior entered the Black Earth Wilderness. He didn't pay it much mind; he had anticipated this day. As long as those who entered the Black Earth Wilderness were unable to return alive, no one would dare to enter again.
At this stage, the opposing side wouldn't send ninth-level experts into the Black Earth Wilderness. Ninth-level experts were not something to be dispatched like cabbages.
Generally, ninth-level experts were reluctant to act rashly, especially in a place like the Black Earth Wilderness which was too close to the Corpse Swamp. Almost all ninth-level experts were aware that the ninth-level magical beasts in the Corpse Swamp were incredibly powerful, and generally, the ninth-level experts on the continent were no match for them.
Moreover, in recent months, the seven-colored toxic fog from the Corpse Swamp had spread to the Black Earth Wilderness. Almost no one who entered came out alive. Even if a few occasionally returned, they were severely poisoned and died soon after.
This situation mirrored that of the Corpse Swamp, which is why ordinary people avoided entering the Black Earth Wilderness.
Of course, all of this was orchestrated by Zhao Hai, who wanted people to understand that the Black Earth Wilderness had become a second Corpse Swamp.
Zhao Hai’s plan was effective. Apart from the initial group that noticed the spread of the seven-colored toxic fog and came to investigate, no one else dared enter the Black Earth Wilderness. To them, it had become a source of great danger.
Naturally, the changes in the Black Earth Wilderness caused great unease among the people of the Versailles Principality, as they were adjacent to it. If the seven-colored toxic fog truly spread outward, they would be the first to suffer. Thus, the Versailles Family took the situation in the Black Earth Wilderness very seriously.
However, the seven-colored toxic fog showed no movement after it filled the Black Earth Wilderness. It ceased expanding outward but rather grew denser. Initially, some people could still come out alive, but eventually, no one could return alive.
Since Zhao Hai raised the banner of the Budah Family in the Versailles Principality, more people began entering the Black Earth Wilderness. These were death warriors from various nations, all well-prepared with antidotes and protective masks, but it was useless. None of those who entered came back alive. If it were just the toxic fog, some might have made it out, but sadly, the Black Earth Wilderness was not merely toxic fog.