......

    In the end, Shin decided not to join the battle, especially when he was curious about the background of the mysterious group that set an ambush just now. He was also quite interested in the special method of finding the other possessors of the Fallen God’s Fragment.

    He just glanced at the battlefield and sent a message to Exheart, informing the latter about the bits of information that Shin had ’gotten’ from Asesino and others earlier. Then he left immediately after.

    He did not care whether Exheart would listen to his advice and inform the rest of his friends. He just left and went deep in the Plagued Lands to farm some points ’peacefully’.

    ...

    Exheart, on the other hand, put a lot of weight on the information that Shin had given him, particularly when he learned that everything was a multilayered plot schemed by one of the main perpetrators of this event.

    He could now help but feel an intense shiver down his spine when he realized all of this, especially about making this place a core source of the Plagued Energy once enough Plagued Monsters were killed.

    There was also the matter of the fallen players turning into Plagued Creatures once they died here while being exposed to too much plague energy.

    Regardless of all these, they had more than one reason for them to leave this place as soon as possible.

    Exheart immediately informed his friends, roughly explaining everything, before saying that it was better for them to leave. Some trusted him and showed their support while others were quite skeptical of his words.

    Exheart could not blame those guys either. After all, this place was indeed a good place to farm more event points. If only he had trusted Shin, then he would most likely not have left as well.

    But since it was a huge plot, he would rather look for another place to farm rather than stay here.

    ...

    A couple of hours after Exheart and those who believe his words left, something strange happened on the battlefield.

    Zombified people started crawling out of the ground, taking the form of fallen players, and started slaughtering everyone.

    Plagued Monsters also started appearing one after another, signifying that this place had already transformed into a plague nest.

    The combined numbers of the plague zombies and monsters started to surpass the killing rate of the experts fighting here, turning the tides of the battle.

    It did not take that long until all the remaining players were annihilated, transforming the majority of them into plague zombies as well.

    The major turning point was not the number of monsters. But it was the highly skilled plagued zombies, who had inherited the skills and abilities of the fallen players. Their battle A was so high, rivaling those elite NPCs.

    Some of the players with keen senses were able to notice the strangeness when Exheart and those who believed him pulled out from the battlefield.

    Most of them were from the top forces, who were still holding their grounds strongly despite losing their leading figures.

    Losing their leaders was just one of the reasons why left retreated. The other reason was they had suspected something the moment they realized the changes in the atmosphere, particularly the level of the plague energy gathering in the battlefield the more Plagued Monsters were killed.

    What interested the players more was this new major race that could be available to the public – this Plagued Race.

    Some ’experts’ online started calculating the pros and cons of this new race and the process that one needed to convert into one.

    For now, there was only a single way to become one, which was to voluntarily let themselves get infected by the plague at the Awakened Continent.

    This was going to be hard since only the elites of the elites could reach the second continent. This alone discouraged a lot of people. But that did not mean that they would stop backseating those who had already been infected.

    Arguments broke out between these people, although most of them only joined the fun.

    ...

    Almost an entire week (real-world time) had passed since Shin had defeated Ken.

    He had spent most of his time hunting in the Plagued Lands, grinding more event points while training his breathing techniques and polishing his fighting style.

    His name was firmly seated at the top of the leaderboards as he had hunted quite a lot after killing Ken and earning himself a huge gap from the others.

    During his time in the Plagued Lands, a lot of things happened. Aside from hunting some regular plague monsters, he had also encountered quite a lot of players from the Plague Race.

    At first, many people wanted to take him down, even planning to infect him. After all, he was a very powerful person in the game, so their side would gain a powerful combatant once they were successful.

    Unfortunately, none of them succeed even after working together and attempting to trap him with a monster horde.

    They had only presented themselves as bonus points for Shin along with the plagued monsters that they had brought.

    Any form of plot was ineffective against him due to his overwhelming power. He could also freely escape if he had encountered a troublesome situation.

    Given his insane speed and several means to escape under his arsenal, it was impossible to catch someone like him. That was unless they found someone equally strong to hold him down. Find adventures on empire

    In the end, those people stopped bothering him. They even started avoiding him completely, not wanting to give him extra points.

    His efficiency dropped sharply because of this, making him somewhat upset. He could not do anything about it aside from actively hunting in the depths of the Plagued Lands.

    During this time, more and more people also started to appear in the region as the other experts joined the event, especially when the chieftain-rank Plagued Monsters were appearing more frequently.

    The competition became much more intense, especially when some of these experts had other motives, such as joining the other side.

    Plots also became more common as some people started scheming to earn more points. Some sold their ’companions’ to the Plague Race Players in exchange for some regular Plagued Monsters that the other party controlled.

    These ’transactions’ became more common as more people arrived and joined the event.

    It did not take long until everything got out of hand, forcing the Righteous Churches to act.

    ......