Zhang Yue's current location was already in the very core area of the World 17: the Death Territory of Source of Magic.
As a forbidden continent, this place had remained an entirely unexplored map for over a hundred years.
Unknown dangers and a powerful aura of darkness came rushing toward him.
Walking forward, what appeared before his eyes was a grand hall shrouded in darkness.
On the stone stele outside the hall, a series of characters resembling oracle bone script was engraved.
When Zhang Yue's gaze swept over them, a Dragon Nation annotation immediately appeared: War God Hall.
On the map, there was no marking for War God Hall. Zhang Yue's current location was a red zone.
Only the orange zone outside had visible map coordinates.
Red zones represented extreme danger—the core area.
It was also undoubtedly the most valuable part of the Death Territory.
Silence filled the surroundings.
Even though Zhang Yue had entered the Death Territory half a day later than others, it was evident that he was the first to reach this War God Hall.
Of course, this grand hall was not the final destination of the Death Territory.
The territory of the Death Territory was vast, and though this hall belonged to the core map, it was merely the tip of the iceberg of the red zone.
Elsewhere in the red zone, there were still many other hidden maps similar to War God Hall.
Just as Zhang Yue was about to approach the grand hall, suddenly, countless multicolored lights flew out from within the hall, scattering around Zhang Yue and condensing into numerous Demon Gods.
Flame Demon God, adept in fire magic, wielding blazing war blades for close combat.
Frost Demon God, holding a staff, exuding a chilling ice aura.
Hurricane Demon God, specializing in long-range archery attacks.
All of them were level 100 enhanced versions of Demon Gods, instantly surrounding Zhang Yue.
"You lot think you can stop Master?"
"Let Cherry take care of you!"
Before Zhang Yue could act, Cherry swiftly cast her spells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One after another, powerful SS-ranked spells rained down on the Demon Gods.
At the same time, Armageddon Black Dragon, Phantom Predator, and Skeleton King also launched their attacks.
Zhang Yue's pet army alone easily annihilated the Demon Gods.
The enhanced version of ordinary Demon Gods had power comparable to same-level Lord-tier Demon Gods.
But in front of Zhang Yue, they were nothing more than small fry.
However, after eliminating this wave of Demon Gods, inside the War God Hall, an even larger horde of Demon Gods surged out.
This time, their numbers were far greater than before.
Zhang Yue's interest was piqued.
'Such strong resistance… Looks like there's something valuable hidden in this hall,' With that thought, Zhang Yue raised his staff and personally took action.
Boom!
A Thunderstorm Tempest, enhanced by lightning magic, engulfed the horde of Demon Gods pouring out of the hall.
A massive triple damage effect dealing over 20 million HP instantly wiped out the Demon Gods, each of whom had less than 40 million HP.
Zhang Yue struck once, and the battle ended before it even began.
But, the Demon Gods inside the hall seemed endless. No matter how many he killed, more kept coming.
One wave down, another wave came.
Zhang Yue frowned slightly.
'Looks like I need a new approach.'
He attempted to fly over the walls on his dragon and enter the hall.
However, he was blocked by an invisible barrier.
Zhang Yue had no choice but to land on the ground and try breaking through by force.
But the relentless Demon God horde kept coming, giving him no chance to fight his way inside.
Just as Zhang Yue was feeling a bit stuck—
A message came from Phantom Predator:
'A large army of professionals are approaching.'
It turned out that, to prevent sneak attacks, Zhang Yue had assigned Phantom Predator to act as a scout.
Phantom Predator sent four shadows to guard the four directions: east, south, west, and north.
After all, this place was a public zone where professionals from over 200 nations around the world could enter.
And to compete for resources, all professionals here were essentially enemies.
Zhang Yue couldn't afford to let his guard down, or he'd risk getting stabbed in the back.
According to the shadow's intel, the enemy was coming from the same direction Zhang Yue had entered from, and they were very close.
Gazing at the endless waves of Demon Gods in front of him, Zhang Yue hesitated for a moment, then, an idea suddenly sparked in his mind…
———
Not long after, a large army of professionals arrived outside War God Hall.
Around 300 to 400 people.
Judging by their appearance, one might mistake them for people from the Dragon Nation.
But in reality, they were professionals from the world's third strongest country—Cold Nation.
Every single one of them was level 100.
Clearly, they weren't this year's new professionals, since newbies couldn't have reached the World 17 so quickly, nor leveled up this much.
Upon arriving outside War God Hall, someone in the crowd spoke confidently: "See? I told you! No way anyone got here before us!"
"This is the core of the Death Territory! This core map must contain tons of rare resources!"
"Nice! This place belongs to Cold Nation now!"
But, as they got closer to the hall, they saw piles of Demon God corpses lying outside.
At that moment, everyone froze.
"Ah, shiba! Who the hell did this?"
"No way… Someone actually beat us here?"
"Stay on guard! This place has already been occupied by professionals from another country!"
Immediately, tension filled the air.
Standing at the forefront was a purple-robed mage girl named [Tian Ya].
She cautiously turned to a warrior beside her, named [Tian You], and whispered: "Brother… Since this place is already taken, how about we just go somewhere else?"
At a closer look—
Tian You and Tian Ya looked very similar.
Both had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth,clearly siblings.
[Tian You], a level 100 elite sword-and-shield warrior, was evidently the leader of this Cold Nation professional army.
Carrying his greatsword, he spoke with arrogant confidence: "Sister, do you even know how high Cold Nation's international status is?"
"If the Dragon Nation hadn't taken advantage of a loophole in this year's tournament, Cold Nation would still be the world's third strongest country, just behind Lighthouse Nation and Bear Nation."
"So tell me, sister, what are you afraid of?"
Tian You smirked confidently, "If someone already took this place—even better! This is our chance to show off Cold Nation's international status."
Raising his sword, he pointed toward War God Hall and declared boldly: "I hereby declare—this map's territory belongs to Cold Nation!"
"Charge! No matter what country's professionals are inside—wipe them out!"
The next moment, hundreds of level 100 professionals from Cold Nation raised their weapons and rushed into War God Hall…
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