SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God Chapter 659 What now?

In stark contrast to the chaotic frenzy at the northern gate, the situation at the eastern gate was significantly more tranquil—if such a word could even be used. While the northern gate had become a stampede of shrieking players and crumbling defenses, punctuated by massive explosions as Aurora orchestrated destruction like a choreographed ballet...

...the eastern gate remained eerily silent.

In this moment, every observer was fixed upon a scene at the eastern gate that was as calm as it was terrifying.

Damon sat in a cross-legged position atop a gargantuan lotus flower. The construct was forged entirely from condensed venom and blood, its petals glistening with a luster that signaled certain death for any mortal soul.

He was encircled by thousands of lotus buds arranged in flawless concentric rings. Each bud throbbed with thick, toxic mana, expanding with a morbid elegance as they prepared to unfurl.

A poisonous miasma rolled away from him, blanketing the battlefield like a sentient fog of doom. It advanced with unnatural speed, claiming the lives of anyone and everyone caught within its reach.

The players monitoring the livestream were frozen in a stunned silence. How could such a massive power disparity exist? What hope did they have of winning a war against this? In fact, was their entire guild even capable of organizing an offensive on this scale?

NPCs and members of the Nine Rivers city guilds collapsed by the hundreds and thousands, falling like stalks of wheat before a relentless scythe. The most gruesome detail? They didn't die screaming. There were no flashy special effects. They simply... ceased.

Their passing was quiet and instantaneous. As soon as the miasma brushed against them, their HP bars vanished as if they had never been there at all. Guild healers fell into a state of pure panic. "Why aren't our heals working?!"

The NPC frontline, usually known for being disciplined and stalwart, shattered instantly.

"Retreat!"

"Get away from that mist!"

"Don't breathe it in! Don't even let it touch you!!"

However, the fog surged forward faster than any of them could run. It was unstoppable. Some even attempted to strike the air itself, but their attacks only served to scatter the poison further and wider.

At the heart of this devastation, Damon remained motionless, peaceful, and utterly terrifying. He appeared as though he were Cultivation in a garden composed of corpses and toxins. His eyes remained shut, his focus entirely on the lotus blossoms surrounding him.

Simultaneously, he was harvesting vast quantities of blood essence from the mountain of fallen bodies. He hadn't even needed to move a muscle to instigate this carnage. The rhythm of the war did not concern him; he was far more preoccupied with his lotus blooms and the way his poison had diversified into various forms.

Within his soul space, his two blood avatars were also occupied, extracting insights from the ongoing conflict. While theoretical research yielded results, nothing compared to the actual execution and large-scale homicide for advancing one's mastery of the poison arts.

Furthermore, he wasn't being entirely passive. Following his journey to the Umbra's legacy world, his skills had seen incredible growth, particularly his shadow clone technique. He could now control ten shadow clones, and his general shadow manipulation had improved significantly. His shadows were now capable of wielding shadow energy in ways he couldn't have imagined a month prior.

They were no longer merely mindless extensions of his power. They hunted like predators and struck with the precision of assassins. They utilized shadows to seize and dismember even D-ranked players with ease. Although they couldn't manifest his poison abilities—since those were tied to his Nine Million Poisons body—they could now utilize a much wider array of his skills.

Using Shadow Step, they darted across the battlefield like living nightmares. Each clone acted as a flickering silhouette with its own tactical mind, weaving through the miasma with impossible grace to appear behind distracted players, execute NPC captains, destroy formation nodes, and haul corpses into the lotus field for the blood avatars to drain.

The audience watched the madness unfold in a state of speechlessness. How could anyone oppose such an adversary? A single man was systematically claiming the city at his own leisure. There was no traditional battle of armies here; it was merely a one-sided slaughter and occupation.

To be honest, the entire city was essentially being transformed into a wasteland. This had ceased to be a war and had become a natural disaster. The only logical choice left was to abandon the area entirely.

A handful of C-ranked experts attempted a desperate stand. Grouping into various formations, they charged toward Damon behind protective golden barriers meant to repel the miasma, but these "brave" souls were eliminated in an instant.

Calling them "brave" felt inaccurate. It was bravery in the same way that walking into a volcanic eruption with a wooden umbrella could be called bravery.

The moment the C-rank experts made their move, dozens of shadow clones and shadow beasts surged from the earth like horrors finally unleashed. The golden barriers flickered as they pushed through the toxic fog, sparks of holy light clashing against the miasma.

For a fleeting second, it seemed they might succeed. Then the shadows struck, and that hope met a violent end.

SHRRRIP!!

A shadow beast manifested beneath one expert's feet, its jaws made of pure malice and darkness, biting down with a sickening crunch. He struggled briefly before more beasts swarmed him from every direction, completely overwhelming him.

Another expert tried to protect his comrades with a radiant dome and activate his domain, but a shadow clone materialized behind him and drove a blade of shadow through his spine.

A third expert swung a magically enchanted greatsword, howling with desperate rage, only for a shadow clone to catch the edge with its bare hand. A moment later, several shadow beasts appeared and began to tear him apart.

The expert’s face turned pale.

"S-shit! How?!"

The clone tilted its head, mimicking Damon’s exact mannerism. It then plunged its fist through the man's chest, causing shadow tendrils to burst outward like blooming flowers of midnight.