When the anti-monopoly regulations of the three Universal Civilizations were released, the effect was akin to war mobilization. The four Star Clusters making up the free competition zone began to surge as all the watching forces made their choices.

Only a small number of forces were unwilling to get involved, and they thus reluctantly gave up on their investment that had lasted for several years, withdrawing from the competition. Most of the forces were unwilling to get out, and they deployed forces to stand on the three Universal Civilizations’ factions, engaging the agents of the Super Star Cluster Alliance in frontal battles within the inner and central ring Star Clusters.

Just like how the civilizations predicted earlier, when the fourth exploration phase was close to being completely over, the trend of free development would gradually reverse to frequent armed looting. With the outbreak of large-scale conflicts, the flames of war spread rapidly. Under the attention of the entire universe, the free competition zone entered a state of war.

The armed forces of the majority of organizations launched a blockade, immediately curbing the expansion trend for the Super Star Cluster Alliance. The four Star Clusters opened up countless battle fronts, in which the stronghold planets on the edge of each faction’s territory continued to repeat the process of losing and recovering, appearing on the map as though sharp teeth were constantly chomping up and down.

The Emerald Star Cluster was divided into fourteen battle zones, most of which were located in the inner and central ring regions. The bridgehead of the Super Star Cluster Alliances scattered in the outer edge area was under the most intense siege, with their strongholds quickly falling. However, the majority of people present just wished to seize more territory. Thus, the intensity of the war was still under control, where everyone tacitly banned the use of Planetary Obliteration weapons, focusing mainly on their fleets and surface combat. After all, if they blew the planet up, there would be no territory left to grab. Thus, the surface combat weapons and the role of Supers were very important.

The large-scale war also represented the rapid depletion of battleships, ammunition, weapons, and equipment. Demand determined the market and gave a large number of opportunities to the financial groups to make money during wartime.

The financial groups in the Flickering World sold various war resources. This included the Black Star Army’s Germinal Financial Group whose orders were skyrocketing. The logistics department’s assembly line was in full operation, shipping boxes of arms to the free competition zone.

On the other side, at Han Xiao’s order, the armed forces of the army assembled at the army’s frontline exploration stronghold, attacking the Ferdinand Star System, where the Modo Civilization was located.

At present, the regular forces of the Super Star Cluster Alliance had yet to be activated, and their agent forces were used as the outer defense lines. The Black Star Army’s forces advanced straight, deep into the defense line, exchanging fire with the agents belonging to the Super Star Cluster Alliance.

In the inner ring sector of the Emerald Star Cluster, a stronghold on the edge of the Super Star Cluster Alliance was attacked by a large armed organization under the Super Star Cluster Alliance, and their main force was temporarily stationed there.

And today, this planet was raided by the advanced forces of Black Star.

With the stronghold as the center, a hemispherical sky-blue energy shield was inverted on the surface, covering tens of millions of kilometers. Above the shield was an intense interstellar war. The defense fleet was struggling to resist the attack of the Black Star Army’s fleet, slowly being smashed to pieces.

Small spaceships acted like hummingbirds, wandering throughout the crisscrossing light cannons in the battlefield, up and down, left and right, using thrilling maneuvers to avoid the artillery fire while shooting their assault capsules from time to time, smashing through the enemy battleships. The capsules would penetrate deep into the ship’s armor to help the players land on the enemy ship.

The blue tail flames of the rear thrusters from the heavy assault battleship formation left traces of light on the dark battlefield, shining as though they were a swarm of meteors. Supported by the powerful dark matter engine, the assault ship array chopped through the formation of the enemy, tearing the defense fleet into pieces. Bit by bit, they shattered the enemy’s coordinated defense.

With the Army Commander being one of the best Mechanics in the universe, the ship manufacturing technology of the logistics department was naturally outstanding. The performance and firepower advantage of their battleships were similarly dominant. The dense energy beam easily penetrated the defensive lines of the stronghold defenders and hit the protective shield like a torrential downpour, creating a series of cobweb-like glowing cracks.

In the headquarters of the shaking ground base, the atmosphere was extremely tense, and the base commander stared at the durability of the shield anxiously.

“The reinforcements aren’t here yet?”

“Commander, the other allies are unwilling to fight against the Black Star Army, and they refuse to come to our rescue. Only the nearest Modo Civilization has sent troops, and they are coming through the Hyperdrive Base Station at the moment.”

“Damn it, these b*stards… Notify each captain that they cannot allow the Black Star Army to break into our base! Once they send in their immortals en masse, we’re finished!” the base commander screamed.

The nickname for the players, the Cancer of the Universe, had spread throughout the galaxy, and they were unanimously known as the King of Ground Warfare. If a battle was maintained within a fleet, they could hold out for a period of time. However, the moment the Immortals broke through the ground defense line, there would only be one outcome: a one-sided defeat.

Faced with the Cancer of the Universe—who were not afraid of death, could resurrect, and disregarded their lives—there was no soldier that would not feel jealous. When confronted with such an opponent, no matter how many casualties the enemy created, it was useless. The ground army would have no morale to go to war.

There was no need to even mention the tens of millions of Immortals that the Black Star Army sat on. Now that they were rushing toward the battle zone controlled by the Modo Civilization, it was basically a walking meat grinder.

Even the agent forces of the Super Star Cluster Alliance hurriedly stayed away from the direction the Black Star Army was taking out of fear, not daring to obstruct them. Their goal was clear; they were there just for Modo, and no one wanted to waste their troops for nothing.

“Commander, the durability of the base’s protective shield has fallen below twenty percent. Three of our energy furnaces have overheated and are expected to break in eleven minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Please give instructions!” the operation team leader said in a flustered tone.

The base commander gritted his teeth while looking at the retreating fleet. “Prepare the reserve fleet to take off at any time to seize air supremacy. Preheat all anti-aircraft turrets and activate all missile wells. The moment the shield is broken, fire immediately. All Machinery divisions, armored divisions, and Supers, get ready for ground combat…”

A series of orders were issued, and the soldiers and vehicles quickly got in position, looking up at the battlefield in outer space. From time to time, soldiers could be heard gulping nervously in the communication channel.

In this tense atmosphere, every second seemed like a year. Under the horrified gazes of the base soldiers, the blue shield covering their heads exploded into light motes.

The next moment, a series of whistling sounded ensued.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Airdrop capsules with shields passed through the net of firepower, dropping down one by one onto various locations within the base, emitting white smoke.

The moment the hatch slid open, teams of heavily-armed Grade B players stepped onto the ground, blatantly charging toward the ground troops.

The quickly approaching Immortals looked akin to the Devil himself in the eyes of the base soldiers. They mustered up their courage and rushed up with an angry roar.

Boom!

Two torrents on the ground clashed!

The Grade B realm was already considered the backbone of the universe, and the moment they came into contact, the more than a hundred thousand players smashed the armored divisions onto the ground, frontally crushing them. The vehicles piled up or exploded, the light of the flames flickering off the players’ mechanical suits.

The player waves swallowed the area one after another, flooding the battlefield composed of steel and flesh, causing huge casualties.

It was not that there were no players besieged to death, but the troops of the base saw that every player who they tried their best to kill was resurrected on the battlefield the next moment. Their work was an act of futility.

Despair took hold of every soldier’s heart, and the seeds of fear blossomed, forming their deepest nightmare.

Very quickly, the first soldier whose mentality collapsed fled in a panic. This was akin to a signal that caused more to desert their troops and run.

“They’re all devils!”

“This is a losing battle. Just run!”

“I don’t want to die!” Desperate shouts rang out from the communication channel, and the base’s defenses quickly collapsed.

The base command originally wished to go into battle to inspire morale but was shot with a super long-ranged concentrated energy projectile by a Cannon Master and was immediately turned to ash.

At this moment, the cosmos not far from the planet flashed, and the support fleet of the Modo Civilization appeared at the warp point. Seeing the state of the battle, they knew that it was too far gone.

“We’ve arrived too late. They’ve already been attacked by the Cancer of the Universe. There’s no saving them.”

The captain ordered the fleet to turn around immediately.

Bang! The conference table was pounded hard.

“Tell me, how do we deal with the Black Star Army?” Roddick, the Commander of the Modo Civilization Expedition Fleet, was furious. His roar echoed throughout the conference room.

Before the war, the Black Star Army could not attack the Modo Civilization alone due to the help of the Super Star Cluster Alliance. But now that the latter was too occupied with its own war, this was the best time to start.

This was supposed to be the surrogate war phase, where the Super Star Clusters would only watch the situation, but because of the Black Star Army, the Modo Civilization had to move out in advance, losing their qualification to wait and watch. They had fallen into a disadvantage. “Most of our allies are unwilling to fight head-on with the Black Star Army. We can only resist it personally, not allowing him to enter our territory.”

“The other Super Star Clusters will not sit back and watch our line of defense being breached. They will provide support.”

“Even so, their support will be limited. The goal of the Black Star Army is clear-us, and us alone. Everyone is worried that intervening too much will cause the Black Star Army to drag them down as well.” Everyone discussed their thoughts in low volumes, and the atmosphere in the room was gloomy.

If it was any other armed organization, the problem was not that serious. After all, the Modo Civilization was still a Super Star Cluster Civilization and had sufficient armed forces.

However, with the current limitation to the war intensity, Supers were very important. The Immortals of the Black Star Army were too devious. Even if they could stop the Immortals for a while, they would not be able to withstand the casualties.

“We can only let the Immortals deal with other Immortals. We have also recruited many Immortal organizations. As long as they are given enough money, they can be dispatched to resist the Black Star Army,” Lagos proposed. “We can only do this for now.”

It was a loss for them to take out their normal Supers, whom they had painstakingly cultivated, to fight against the players. Only Immortals could fight against Immortals.

Roddick was gloomy. “Unfortunately, we’ll need to force the Black Star Army to withdraw if we want to get out of this situation.”

“What should we do, reconcile with Black Star?”

“That’s impossible.” Roddick decisively shook his head. “Only by getting rid of Black Star himself will the army fall apart… Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us.”

“Well then, if we change the direction, it’s okay to cause Black Star some trouble so that he has no time to take care of us.”

“You have a plan?”

“Not at the moment,” Lagos shook his head thoughtfully. “But I may have a way to deal with Black Star…”