MoP: Ch. 175

---Third POV---

Once you entered a spatial rift, there was no coming back.

Of course, Viktor had prepared plenty for the return trip. He wasn't about to let the God of Snow's pitfall get him killed on Mount Wolcen. He just hadn't expected to underestimate how quickly the monsters grew, which led to some accidents.

As a result, a return journey that was already expected to be bumpy became even more difficult.

Fortunately, the rewards were worth it.

On the way, he fused the divine essences of the God of Snow and the God of Sky, gaining seven digits' worth of divine power and 2,000 player slots.

That was the real reason he could return so quickly.

He pulled off the piranha hanging from the bone of his left calf and handed it to the player who had hooked him.

"With a normal fishing line, a piranha will bite clean through it. Next time, use spider-silk thread."

Fisherman A looked baffled. "Isn't this spider-silk thread?"

Something occurred to him, and he turned to glare at the other fisherman who had been showing off earlier.

Fisherman B raised a French-style military salute.

"Not my fault. Those guys already emptied out the shop. Who knew the NPCs would end up selling fake goods?"

"No wonder I couldn't catch anything today!"

Viktor silently glanced at the two very obviously un-chewed fishing lines.

Well, he'd meddled for nothing.

Then he asked, confused, "The shop was emptied?"

Players' daily missions had become a very stable source of materials, just slightly above their rate of consumption. Except for limited items, of course. Weapons, magical gear, daily supplies, none of those should ever be out of stock.

How could the shop possibly get emptied?

Fisherman A casually said, "Obviously because today they..."

"Ahem!!"

Fisherman B furiously signaled at him with his eyes.

Their operation had been done behind the faction leader's back. No one knew how he would react once he found out. If he got angry, they'd be dead on sight.

A did stop, stared into B's eyes for two seconds, and asked, "What's wrong with your eyes? Twitching or something?"

Hopeless.

B pressed a hand to his forehead.

Viktor stared.

Did they think he was blind?

"Don't tell me, they took their weapons and went to Nary Town."

"Yep!"

Fisherman A snapped his fingers excitedly.

"Even though the two of us suck too much to get out of the forest, according to the forum posts, we already took Nary Town!"

Fisherman B muttered, "We're doomed."

A was still rambling on proudly about their achievements. When he turned around, the spot beside him was empty.

"The whole blitz took less than an hour. Huh? Where'd Viktor go?"

---

With no time to rest, Viktor sprinted all the way back to town. He saw fewer than twenty players along the route.

Considering the theoretical 900+ players in the starter village, that was clearly abnormal, and it only further confirmed the fishermen's words.

He went to find Alyanne first.

When she saw him, she immediately brightened with a radiant smile.

"Lord Viktor, you're back!"

"Did the players really go attack Nary Town?" Viktor asked.

Alyanne's smile faded slightly.

"My apologies. I tried to stop them, but it was completely useless. I only managed to keep these behind."

She handed him a booklet of seven or eight pages, all notes documenting players' actions over the past days.

Viktor flipped through it, let out a sigh full of mixed emotions.

"If they managed to do everything listed here, there's no way you alone could have stopped them."

Taking the booklet, he rushed straight to the church.

Sure enough, he found Luminaris near the statue.

Luminaris fluttered his white feathered wings. His whole spherical body had changed from pale gold to platinum.

"Undead! Look at me, I've faded!"

Terrified, he flew straight toward Viktor.

"Hurry and change me back!"

"You can't change back."

Viktor grabbed Luminaris by the wings and lifted him up.

"You still covered for the players while they sieged a city? Believe it or not, I'll put that faith-influenced skirt back on you right now."

It was one thing if Alyanne couldn't stop the players.

But Luminaris had a one-way contract with him. Viktor could contact him anytime. And before leaving, he had specifically told him to monitor the players' actions. Especially the players near Nary Town. Don't let them go overboard. The Watchers were still in their dormant stage.

But great, not only did they go overboard, they literally took down the entire town.

Dormant? This was dormant?!

Luminaris' wings flapped wildly, like an exhausted, overweight moth.

"I couldn't do anything!"

His voice grew smaller and weaker.

"I did warn them at the beginning, but then they fed me a lot of roasted meat and ice cream, and it tasted so good... I figured that as long as they succeeded, it wouldn't really be a bad thing..."

Viktor took a deep breath.

"You glutton."

He set Luminaris down on his shoulder.

"Hold on tight. If you fall midway, that's your problem."

Luminaris nervously grabbed onto Viktor's collarbone.

"Where are we going?"

"To let you experience firsthand what it's like to clean up after the players."

Viktor intertwined his fingers and gave a light twist.

The scenery around them fast-forwarded hundreds of times over, leaving only colored afterimages.

Luminaris, completely unprepared, let out a scream like he was losing control:

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

He used all his strength to cling to the bone beneath him.

"We're gonna die! Stop!!"

Ten seconds later, Viktor changed into a fresh wizard robe and dusted off the hem.

"Alright. We stopped."

Unlike the barely-intact God of Light's divine essence shard, the God of Snow's and God of Sky's essences were in perfect condition.

So he had gained quite a few new authorities.

The God of Sky's authority included space and wind. Give him enough divine power, and he could traverse the entire continent in a single second.

Definitely an S-tier travel cheat.

Helooked around at the endless yellow slopes and sparse white vegetation.

He clicked his tongue. "A wasteland is a wasteland. Even after hundreds of years, it's still the same."

This was the border region between Nary Town and the surrounding cities.

As a frontier city soon to be assimilated by the Great Oak Forest, its location was terrible.

Forest on three sides, a river on the fourth.

Only two main roads, one leading to Ironstone City, the other across the river to the Principality of Elise.

Everything around was barren.

After waiting a long moment with no response, he looked down.

Luminaris was sprawled on his shoulder, eyes vacant, like his soul still hadn't returned.

Viktor shook his head.

He didn't need Luminaris yet. Better to let him sleep. He had real work to do.

He reached into his storage and pulled out several green objects, tossing them onto the open ground ahead.

Instantly, the earth trembled, and a massive shadow rose from the ground.

He looked up calmly at the sun gradually being blocked out.

He had gone through hell to get back from Mount Wolcen. And the souvenirs he brought back were definitely not just piranhas.

---

Forest Tortoise, a monster that moved slowly but expanded its nest with frightening speed, carrying an entire miniature monster ecosystem on its back.

It was the key force that helped the Great Oak Forest expand during every magic tide.

For the developing Watcher, expanding territory was crucial, and Viktor had indeed set his sights on Nary Town.

That's why, on his way back, Viktor grabbed a few Level 5 Forest Tortoises, planning to use the magic tide as a perfect excuse to take the town. But since the players acted first, he had no choice but to clean up their mess before going back to hold them accountable.

Once the tortoises touched the ground, the Shrinking Spell vanished instantly. Their bodies inflated.

"Moo!"

As their bodies recovered, so did the pain. The moment their feet touched the ground, green blood seeped out beneath them, making them howl in agony. The blood spread rapidly, and wherever it reached, the barren land visibly transformed.

In some spots, clear water welled up from underground. In others, shoots of green burst out, sprouting quickly into saplings.

"Moo, oooh!"

Because the blood couldn't spread as fast as the Shrinking Spell vanished, the tortoises' cries grew hoarser and more drawn-out.

Their pillar-like brown limbs suddenly stomped down hard.

Boom! Boom boom!

Stones around them rattled, and the growing saplings shivered violently.

Luminaris, who had just regained consciousness, opened his eyes to see a massive tortoise leg right in front of him.

He sucked in a sharp breath.

"A Level 5 monster?!"

Then immediately fainted again.

Viktor glanced down at him. "When we get back, I'm giving him customized courage training."

As the saplings grew quickly enough to nearly block the sunlight around him, he tapped his toes and lifted himself, and Luminaris, into the air.

From above, the terrifying speed of the tortoises' expansion was even clearer.

In less than five minutes, the greenery had spread a full kilometer.

The most blood-drained tortoise's cries had weakened considerably. This was the price of monster expansion.

In areas outside their nest, even the air was poisonous to them.

They could only rely on burning their own life force to accelerate nest expansion and create a habitat they could survive in.

But Viktor wasn't worried they would just bleed themselves to death.

Magical creatures weren't that fragile.

Especially not Level 5 adult Forest Tortoises, famous for their vitality and already awakened to five rule abilities. The injury cost them a lot, but it was more than enough for dealing with any curious outsiders trying to investigate Nary Town.

He scattered a handful of seeds, which sprouted the moment they touched the ground.

"Due to unusual activity in the Great Oak Forest, the magic tide erupted early. Because it happened suddenly, the entire Nary Town was wiped out with no survivors."

"My condolences."

After confirming that the tortoises had separated in different directions, and that other monsters had begun appearing in the forming forest, his figure vanished like a popped bubble.

---

Viktor reappeared on the main road connecting Nary Town to Ironstone City.

Two groups stood neatly divided on either side of the road.

The larger group consisted of refugees who had long wandered nearby. The smaller group, only about a hundred people, were the players.

In the middle were several carriages and a row of prisoners tied up with nothing but a cloth to cover their modesty. Seeing the state of the dozen hostages, he nearly withdrew the foot he had just lifted.

A pretty thorough way to search someone.

But maybe don't use it in winter.

Apple held a large leaf from a sedge plant as a fan, lazily fanning himself.

"Thor, how long are we gonna keep staring at these NPCs?"

"It's already afternoon. They still haven't finished dealing with the town?"

He kicked the hostage beside him.

"Maybe the runaway mayor is mixed in with this group. Aren't they planning to come take these people back?"

Thor's face was flushed red from the sun. He replied, "I heard the town is holding a market day. It's a mess right now. Probably need to wait a few more hours before they can come."

Apple's mouth twitched.

"They've already replaced the mayor, and they still have time to do business?"

Thor shrugged. "People gotta eat!"

He glanced at the refugees glaring at them like hungry wolves.

"And the wasteland player who made the deal with them, even though he was just watching from the edge, got smashed to death. Otherwise we'd have just taken the hostages back ourselves."

He turned, and locked eyes with Viktor, who had just walked up.

He jumped in fright.

"Holy shit!"

"What? You seeing ghosts in broad daylight?" Apple looked over, and jolted just as hard. "Mother of..."

He scrambled to his feet.

"Lord Viktor! Listen to our explanation, I mean, uh, not an excuse!"

Viktor raised a hand to stop him, glancing at the restless players and refugees on both sides.

"The siege issue can wait until we get back. For now, tell me what happened here."

Apple's words twisted in his mouth.

"Uh, we teamed up with the nearby refugees to capture people, but the player who made the deal with them disconnected, so now they won't release the hostages."

Thor added from the side, "We agreed we'd take the hostages, and everything the hostages were carrying would be left to them. But now they're unhappy with that."

He pointed at the pile next to the carriage, gold, silver, various magical materials.

Even the hostages' clothes were there.

Viktor's gaze moved between the shirtless hostages and the pile of clothing. He was speechless.

Great. Very sincere.

He stepped forward, picked the money out from the pile, then walked over to the refugee leader.

As he approached, the refugee leader visibly trembled.

The people behind reacted even more, retreating quickly, some whimpering or choking back sobs.

He pretended not to notice.

He placed the money between the two groups, and beside it set down a few roasted potatoes, and half of a Stone-Bristle Boar. A Stone-Bristle Boar weighed at least two hundred kilograms.

"I'll trade these items, plus five crates of potatoes, for the hostages and the carriages."

The refugee leader swallowed, staring at him with wide eyes.

"You're the Butcher?"

Viktor spread his hands. "Maybe he's not the only sentient undead in the world?"

Who knew what the man was thinking. But after ten seconds of tense standoff, the refugee leader broke first.

He shakily grabbed one of the still-warm potatoes.

"This is a potato? Food?"

"Try it," Viktor said.

The refugee leader hesitated for one second, then, like a man facing execution, shut his eyes and bit down hard.

Apple, standing beside Viktor, lifted a hand.

"Remember to peel it, ah, forget it, pretend I didn't say anything."

After gulping down the whole potato, the refugee leader's eyes lit up.

"I'm full! It's sweet and soft, this is a staple food!"

The other refugees, hunched back in fear, lifted their heads at that.

"What? A newly discovered staple crop?"

"Does that mean we won't have to go hungry?"

Another refugee craned his neck to look at the potato. His expression changed instantly.

He shouted in alarm, "That's the devil fruit that once appeared in the Great Oak Forest! Eating it kills people!"