A demon-purple domain slammed into a dark-green tide, and the void cracked with web-like energy fissures.

Purple Iris' blade had yet to leave its sheath, yet the earth beneath her feet collapsed with a roar.

Countless thorns burst from the ground, each wrapped in sticky humus, coiling round her ankles like pythons hunting prey.

“Petty tricks!” Purple Iris sneered; countless violet slashes erupted around her.

The thorns were shredded in an instant, but as they burst they sprayed dark-green slime that blocked the follow-up strikes.

The giant tree's face shrieked. Humanoid bulges on the trunk suddenly swelled, and dozens of half-melted wooden puppets tore through the bark. Their joints still clung to scraps of flesh.

“So Survivorss were used as fertilizer...” Purple Iris' pupils shrank; her right hand finally drew the blade.

The light of the sword swept like a crescent moon, the front rank of puppets cut in half—but what spilled from the cross-section was not sawdust, but stinking liquid mixed with shredded organs.

The liquid ignited on contact with air, turning into a dark-green sea of fire that sealed her retreat.

Bai Cheng narrowed her eyes at the border of the domain.

She was now certain the puppets were made from Survivorss, yet in recent days Outpost City had reported no mass disappearances of residents.

Then where had these people come from?

Another channel?

The sites for each channel's Outpost City were chosen at random. Bai Cheng and the townsfolk had long since surveyed the perimeter of the Dark Forest.

There was no trace of any other leader's Outpost City anywhere nearby.

Bai Cheng frowned; something felt off.

So far neither Yu Nian nor Leng Ningxue aboard the train had sent concrete information; clearly the signal here was jammed.

But what if Outpost City was actually safe, and the Survivors from #1 channel had lured her here on purpose?

She stopped overthinking—once she dealt with him, everything would be settled.

By now Purple Iris had finished gathering power.

She saw a ghost-blue halo coat the blade—sign that her strength had been compressed to the limit.

In the next instant the girl blurred into a purple lightning bolt amid the vine-sea; where the blade passed, tiny black rifts tore open in space itself.

The colossal tree wailed. The face on its trunk was split lengthwise, dark-green sap spraying like a storm.

But the real killing move revealed itself only now.

The shredded sap condensed mid-air into countless needles whose tips flashed with the same purple light as the domain—Purple Iris had hidden her slash-energy inside the foe!

With a flick of her blade, myriad slashes burst outward, mincing the regenerating tree into fine hash.

The Special Channel Survivors parasitizing the trunk was finally forced to show his true form. His chest was cleaved open, bone visible; clumps of rot and pus kept falling.

All his earlier confidence was gone; terror filled his eyes.

He could not understand how Purple Iris could be so strong—both were King-tier, yet he had been defeated in a single move.

Throwing her a fearful glance, he turned and fled without hesitation.

Cold light flashed in Purple Iris' eyes. Her blade still raised, the ground beneath her cracked as she shot after him like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The Survivors's body twisted, turning into a mass of dark-green humus that slithered across the ground, trying to vanish into the forest shadows.

“Running?” Purple Iris sneered. She clawed the air with her left hand; countless purple threads inside the domain snapped tight, sealing every escape within a hundred meters.

The humus struck the threads and boiled violently, letting out a hiss of corrosion.

Forced back into human shape, the Survivors staggered, his face ashen.

“You... you're no ordinary King-tier!” he rasped. Foul liquid seeped from the wound in his chest; he was clearly at his last gasp.

Purple Iris gave no reply; the ghost-blue halo gathered again at her blade tip.

As the sword fell, the Special Channel Survivors was completely finished off.

But killing him did not end the matter.

In moments his corpse ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) dissolved into dark-green energy that poured into the ground and vanished.

At the same time the earth shook violently, and a weird hum rose in the distance—something colossal awakening underground.

Bai Cheng spun round, pupils shrinking. “What is that?!”

Deep in the forest dozens of giant trees exploded at once. Thick vines danced like pythons, and at their center slowly rose an altar woven of flesh and withered wood.

On the altar, broken bodies were bound by countless roots and devoured.

Among them hung not only corpses of other Survivorss but also employees of every race.

And judging by their gear, Bai Cheng could sense these were no ordinary Survivorss.

“No—this is wrong.” Bai Cheng suddenly realized.

This was the Dark Forest, the second map of the novice phase. So long had passed since they arrived—how could any Survivors still be lingering here?

Those who could return to the Dark Forest at this stage... Bai Cheng stared at the distant altar, eyes sharpening.

The corpses were clearly leaders from other channels.

Were they killed during this hunt and their bodies deliberately brought back by the Special Channel Survivorss?

Or had they, like her, been lured back to their own Outpost City?

Bai Cheng looked at Purple Iris nearby; the latter nodded and sped toward the altar to investigate.

Purple Iris moved like lightning, her blade whipping up a purple storm that bore down on the altar.

The writhing vines tried to block but were shredded into flying debris by the fierce slashes.

When she landed at the altar's edge, thick blood was seeping along its grooves into the ground, and the whole structure suddenly blazed with dark-red runes.

“Some kind of ritual?” The tip of Purple Iris' blade flipped a half-melted corpse, revealing a dark-green crystal embedded in its chest.

It was identical to the core she had just cut from the giant tree.

She checked the other bodies one by one—exactly as expected.

Though she could not tell the altar's exact purpose, she was certain the ritual was unfinished.

Without hesitation she released a wisp of her domain; countless slashes instantly ground the altar to dust.

At the same moment, back aboard the powered railcar, Bai Cheng finally received another message from Yu Nian on the train.

Bai Cheng's brows knitted tightly.