As everyone in the War Department felt uneasy and apprehensive about the impending crisis, a member of the think tank suddenly burst into the conference room:
"Code Red! Donghai City is covered by an inexplicable white light!"
Everyone's expression changed. As the former second-largest city of Great Yan, Great Yan would never have abandoned Donghai City if not for the dragon being too close.
But after the entire eastern front's main force was annihilated by that dragon, and even nuclear missiles became ineffective, the entire eastern region of Great Yan fell into complete silence.
On the main screen of the command center, real-time satellite footage was displayed.
It showed that approximately five percent of Great Yan's territory, on its easternmost edge, was shrouded in lead-gray clouds.
Everyone knew clearly that the source of these clouds was a terrifying monster capable of annihilating human civilization.
And now, to the west of this cloud cover, at the original location of Donghai City, a massive ball of light had suddenly appeared, piercing through the clouds.
The light sphere radiated an area of nearly ten thousand square kilometers, which was already about one percent of Great Yan's total territory.
Such a colossal anomaly had likely been noticed by the entire world.
The think tank member, who had rushed in, holding the analyzed intelligence, quickly read aloud:
"On the fourteenth day of the apocalypse, at 13:25:33, the light sphere abruptly penetrated the lead-gray cloud layer created by Forbidden Target Number One."
"The moment the light sphere appeared, its size did not change. According to satellite image comparison, the light sphere covers the area that was once the entire Donghai City."
"At the nearest observation points, no system prompts were received by professionals after directly viewing the light sphere. Based on this, the think tank infers that this light sphere should be unrelated to Forbidden Targets or invading races."
Great Yan's official definition of a Forbidden Target was an existence on par with that ice dragon.
Any powerful being that, upon observation, would forcibly trigger a system judgment, was uniformly referred to as a Forbidden Target.
Currently, based on intelligence exchanged among surviving nations, there were approximately five Forbidden-level existences worldwide.
Among them, the dragon located at the easternmost edge of Great Yan was Forbidden Target Number One—Frost's Pride.
...
And the invading races were extra-dimensional beings with intelligence and complete societal systems that descended uniformly after the chaos of the first day of the apocalypse.
On the first day of the apocalypse, countless monsters descended in chaos across the world.
For instance, the Night Wolf of Donghai City, the Hundred Demons that annihilated Inazuma, the Ice Monsters of Mao Xiong country.
These monsters often appeared in small, scattered groups, and it was not impossible for humans to annihilate them by concentrating their forces.
But on the morning of the second day of the apocalypse, the invading races descended.
The moment these invading races appeared, they began to purge the monsters that had descended earlier.
However, they were not friendly towards humans either; humans were merely toys and slaves to these races.
Several invading races had already arrived in this world, and the one attacking Great Yan was the Undead race.
And the main force of the Undead race was currently gathered outside the Imperial Capital.
According to the desperate intelligence obtained by scouts, there were still far too many beings above the Lord-level among the Undead race.
Even without the system's constraints, the Imperial Capital would have likely fallen long ago.
But these invading races seemed to have clear territorial divisions; at least, there was no sign of a second invading race appearing within Great Yan's borders.
Therefore, given the appearance of the Undead race, this light sphere, which was so different in style from the Undead race, was also highly unlikely to be related to the invading races.
However, as everyone in the room gazed at the immense ball of light, their hearts grew heavier.
Even if it was unrelated to Forbidden Targets and invading races,
Such a massive disturbance that could instantly cover a city, rationally speaking, should also have nothing to do with humans.
So, besides the Forbidden Targets and invading races,
Had new troubles emerged in Great Yan?
And the people in the command center did not know that the moment the light sphere rose,
Deep within the Undead's stronghold outside the Imperial Capital,
Several majestic gazes cast various meaningful glances in the direction of Donghai City.
----
"Ura!"
Amidst thunderous roars, the burly men of Mao Xiong country looked with awe as a petite blonde woman, accompanied by a giant bear several meters tall, slowly entered the Winter Palace.
Under Katerina's leadership, Mao Xiong country had barely maintained stability in its capital.
And such a blonde Valkyrie had earned everyone's respect.
A bald, middle-aged, short man looked with admiration at his proud daughter.
The Orcs, one of the invading races, had launched an attack on his country with Kimchi Country as their base.
But the frigid weather clearly caused great trouble for these red-skinned Orcs.
Although the country's population had also experienced a terrifying decrease at the beginning, for now, they could still hold on.
However, it remained to be seen what would happen after the Nightmare difficulty level was allowed to enter.
And if their southern neighbor, Great Yan, could not withstand the Undead race,
What would their country do to resist those cold-indifferent corpses if they reached the northern frozen land?
"Father, is there something wrong that you rushed me back from the battlefield so urgently?"
The blonde Valkyrie looked at her father, who held the highest authority, with confusion.
Pulsky nodded with a heavy expression:
"Our neighbors might be in big trouble. In their Donghai City, a brand new white light sphere has appeared."
"And according to the intelligence department's judgment, if the Nightmare difficulty level intervenes, the Undead might truly annihilate Great Yan. At that time, we will have to face the dual threat of the Undead and the Orcs!"
"Although I don't know why, our neighbors have suffered the strongest attacks since the beginning of the apocalypse."
Yes, in fact, among all the major powers, only Great Yan had encountered the highest intensity of attacks from the very beginning.
And the invading race that attacked Great Yan was, so far, the strongest one!
"And when our neighbors fall, according to their old saying, we will also suffer the consequences of their demise!"
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Similar conversations were happening all over the world.
Inside a castle in Europa, knights clad in metal armor looked with grave expressions at the suddenly appearing white light sphere.
Although civilian casualties were heavy, the nobles, with their sufficient firepower, had found their new positions after the initial chaos.
....
In a magnificent temple in India,
A man leaning against a giant lizard, with a grim expression, spoke to his fellow Kshatriyas:
"The gods have decreed, the enemy is in the East!"
Outside the temple, the numb-looking populace was passively dragged around by anyone wearing white robes.
Humans in this temple had truly become livestock.
...
In the United States,
In a secret research institute beneath the capital,
The once frail leader had now fully regained his youth.
He looked at the giant light sphere in the satellite image, his expression gloomy and uncertain:
"Something discordant has appeared in the script."
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End of Volume One
Next Volume: Descent! Chapter Two!