When the Game Ends
High on the cliff, Black Ape was still waiting patiently. He trusted Black Fang's abilities. A simple reconnaissance mission couldn't possibly trouble his comrade.
Time passed. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Half an hour.
Black Fang still hadn't returned.
Black Ape began to feel uneasy. According to protocol, if there was no signal after fifteen minutes, it meant something had happened.
He tried to contact Black Fang through their psychic link, but was met with only a deathly silence.
A bad premonition enveloped Black Ape. He knew something had really gone wrong.
He faced a difficult choice. One, immediately retreat to the base to report, which was the safest option. Two, risk going down to search for Black Fang, but this could lead him into the enemy's trap.
Curiosity and loyalty to his comrade won out over fear. He decided to go down.
He moved even more cautiously than Black Fang had. He didn't go straight to the last known position where Black Fang disappeared, but circled around another way, using every obstacle to conceal his figure.
After searching for a while, he saw it.
Under the faint moonlight, Black Fang's body lay motionless beside a boulder. Silent and cold.
Black Ape's heart felt like it had stopped. He hid behind a thicket, not daring to get closer, using his spiritual sense to probe.
No aura. Black Fang was dead.
Killed silently. There were no signs of a fierce struggle nearby. This proved that the enemy had killed Black Fang in a single move, giving him no chance to resist.
Fear began to gnaw at Black Ape's mind. How strong must the enemy be to be able to do this?
And then, he saw it.
Something that horrified him even more than his comrade's death.
On the boulder next to the corpse, a symbol was carved in blood. A smiley face :).
It wasn't a trophy. It was a mockery. A blatant provocation. The enemy hadn't just killed Black Fang; he wanted to send a message. A message that said, all of you, in my eyes, are just a joke.
Black Ape no longer had a shred of courage to stay. He turned and fled for his life. He no longer cared about concealing his tracks. In his mind now, there was only one thought: get back to the base, tell Black Shadow about the monster they were facing.
Inside the underground base.
Black Shadow was still pacing back and forth. The waiting was making him more and more agitated.
Suddenly, the door to the command room burst open. Black Ape rushed in, his face ashen, panting heavily.
"Sir Black Shadow!"
"What is it?" Black Shadow frowned. "Where is Black Fang?"
"Dead... he's dead, sir!" Black Ape stammered. "Black Fang has been killed!"
The air in the room froze once again.
"Speak clearly!" Black Shadow roared.
Black Ape tried to regain his composure and recounted everything he had seen. About Black Fang's silent death, and about the horrifying smiley face symbol.
After listening, Black Shadow's expression became extremely ugly. He wasn't angry, but afraid. A fear that he hadn't felt in a very long time.
The enemy was not only strong, but also extremely intelligent and ruthless. He was playing a psychological chess game, slowly strangling their morale.
"Where is he? Did you see him?" Black Shadow asked.
"No... no, sir," Black Ape shook his head. "He's like a ghost. I couldn't sense his aura at all. But... but I have a feeling he's still out there, watching us."
Black Ape's words made the other "Night Shadows" in the room shudder. An invisible enemy, who could easily kill a Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, was lurking right outside their base. The feeling was no different from having a blade held to their throats.
Panic and fear began to spread throughout the entire base. The iron discipline of the "Night Shadows" began to show signs of wavering.
Black Shadow knew he couldn't let this situation continue. He had to do something to restore his subordinates' morale and to break his opponent's gambit.
He stood before the map, staring at the location of the chaotic battlefield outside. He knew the enemy was definitely there, hiding and waiting.
A bold and risky decision formed in his mind.
If you can't find the tiger in the jungle, then... burn the whole jungle down.
He turned to his subordinates, his eyes becoming crazed and ruthless.
"Prepare the 'Blood Sacrifice Formation'," he ordered.
Hearing these words, all the "Night Shadow" members turned pale.
"But sir," one of them stammered. "That formation... will require a great sacrifice..."
"I KNOW!" Black Shadow roared. "But we have no other choice! I want to turn that entire valley into a sea of blood! I want to see where that 'ghost' will hide in a sea of blood!"
He had decided to go all-in. A cruel gamble, not just against his enemy, but also with the lives of the monsters outside.
A rain of blood was about to begin. And Lam Minh, who was leisurely observing from a distance, had no idea that his game was about to become much more serious and bloody than he had planned.
...
On the high mountain peak, Lam Minh was still observing with ease. He saw that the battle outside had begun to show signs of cooling down. Both monster herds were tired and had suffered heavy losses. The steel door of the base, though dented, was still holding strong.
"Looks like it's almost time for me to clean up," he murmured, preparing to end his act.
But then, he suddenly frowned.
His spiritual sense detected a sudden change. From deep underground, inside the "Night Shadow" base, a sinister and death-filled energy was slowly forming. It was very weak at first, but it was growing at an alarming rate. It carried a sense of death and defilement that made even him feel uncomfortable.
"What is that?"
He focused his spiritual sense, trying to penetrate the layers of earth, rock, and the base's defensive barrier to see inside. His Peak Foundation Establishment cultivation allowed him a hazy view, like watching a heavily static-filled film.
Although the image was very blurry, he still saw a sight that left him stunned.
He saw a vast space that looked like a sacrificial altar. The ground was carved with strange symbols that were glowing with a blood-red light. In the center, there was something that looked like a well, radiating a thick deathly qi.
And more horrifically, he saw human figures tied to stone pillars. Although he couldn't see clearly, from their silhouettes, he could confirm they were human! His own kind!
A few "Night Shadows" were performing some kind of ritual. They were using sharp weapons to cut the sacrificial victims, letting their fresh blood flow down and soak into the grooves on the altar. The desperate screams were blocked by the barrier layers, but the pain and resentment radiated out clearly.
And standing in the center was Black Shadow himself. He was mumbling ancient incantations, controlling the increasingly powerful evil energy.
"A sacrificial formation..."
Lam Minh's heart sank. The leisurely, playful look on his face completely vanished, replaced by a terrifying coldness.
He might not care about the life and death of the Madakaros; he could happily watch them slaughter each other. But he could never turn a blind eye when he saw his own kind being treated so cruelly, being turned into sacrifices in a disgusting ritual.
Who were those people? Why were they here? Were they captured soldiers? Or kidnapped civilians? These questions swirled in his mind, but he was sure of one thing.
He could not let this continue.
The game was over.
His plan to "watch the tigers fight from a mountaintop" had been shattered by a cruel move he could not have anticipated. His patience had run out.
He stood up, his eyes as cold as ice. A true, unconcealed killing intent exploded from him. This killing intent was so strong that the small animals in the vicinity trembled and fled.
"You... have really pissed me off now."
He no longer had any intention of playing games. He wouldn't wait for Black Shadow to come out. He wouldn't wait for the monsters to break down the door.
He would personally shatter that "tortoise shell" and put an end to that disgusting ritual.
He looked towards the ancient temple where the atrocity was taking place. The Thuan Thien sword in his storage ring, as if sensing its master's rage, also began to vibrate softly.
A direct assault, the last thing Black Shadow would expect at this moment, was about to happen.
The stalking tiger had finally decided to bare its fangs.