Beneath an abandoned building, Ethan and the others hid inside an underground cave Garrick had carved out.

Right now, Ethan, Chris, Henry, and Sean were sitting cross-legged on the dirt, swallowing crystal cores one after another. The rest of the squad spread out around them, keeping watch.

Those four were the backbone of the team. If anyone got priority on upgrades, it was them.

This run had netted them a total of thirty-two Tier 25 crystal cores.

Ethan was already mid–Tier 25. He only needed six cores to push higher. The other three needed nine each—so even with thirty-two, it still wasn’t enough.

In the end, Ethan, Chris, and Henry all reached peak Tier 25.

Sean made it to mid–Tier 25.

Once the upgrading was done, nobody lingered. They climbed out of the underground cave and immediately went back to hunting for more Outland Beasts.

While Ethan’s team was out there killing for crystal cores, the major races among the Void Realm creatures across the globe were tearing into each other even harder than before.

After exhausting every possible method and still failing to go back, the Void Realm creatures had no choice but to accept reality. Then they did what any invading species would do.

They started figuring out how to claim a place in this world.

And if you wanted the most comfortable foothold?

You took a human city.

Human cities had everything—supplies, shelter, infrastructure—and plenty of things their original worlds didn’t. Compared to rebuilding from scratch in the wilderness, occupying a compound and enslaving humans to serve them was practically paradise.

The problem was, there were only so many cities to go around.

So the real war for the compounds finally exploded into the open.

Under the terrified eyes of humanity, the new occupiers of each compound launched into endless battles. Void Realm creatures came again and again to challenge for territory, and without real strength, there was no way to hold on.

Every compound had become the center of a storm.

Atlas City compound was no exception.

Yesterday, they’d gotten lucky and avoided anything too overwhelming—but luck didn’t last forever.

This morning, two powerful Void Realm groups arrived at Atlas City compound almost at the same time.

Maxwell had an Enhanced with a sensory-type ability. The moment he learned what kind of strength was walking toward them, he made the call.

No struggle. No heroic last stand. He wasn’t going to waste lives on a fight they couldn’t win.

The two Void Realm groups quickly clashed outside the Atlas City compound.

After a savage battle, the group with nature-type abilities won and took control of the city.

Honestly, the two sides hadn’t been far apart in overall strength. The deciding factor was simple: the nature-type group could heal.

In a drawn-out, grinding fight, that one edge was enough.

Once they moved into Atlas City compound, Maxwell immediately handed over the central mansion and ordered his people to treat the newcomers with full courtesy—food, lodging, anything else they asked for.

Maxwell understood the situation perfectly. If resistance was impossible, survival came first. As long as he kept smiling and made himself useful, they might hesitate before slaughtering everyone.

His strategy worked—at least for now. After entering, those Void Realm creatures didn’t launch into mass killing.

Maybe they’d realized they weren’t going back and would be living in this world long-term. If that was the case, they still needed people to run errands, cook, clean, build, and serve.

So they didn’t kill recklessly.

And it wasn’t just Atlas City.

Today, Void Realm creatures occupying other compounds also stopped slaughtering like they had yesterday.

Because if they truly couldn’t go home... then with so many of their own kind to support, they were going to need servants.

If they killed all the humans, who was left to serve them?

So as the dimensional rifts closed, humanity’s situation actually improved—at least a little.

The situation in the Atlas Federation was finally starting to settle into something... readable.

Five major compounds.

Atlas City compound had fallen to a group of Void Realm creatures with nature-type abilities. They’d come through a dimensional rift that opened on the grasslands of Windora State.

Heartland City compound was occupied by a light-type faction, from a dimensional rift deep inside Blackpine Wilds.

Goldcrest City compound belonged to an ice-type faction that descended from a rift at the very peak of the Whitecap Peaks.

Clearford City compound had been seized by a fire-type faction, crawling out of a rift on top of Mount Mitchell.

They were all terrifyingly strong—almost every faction had Stage S powerhouses anchoring them. That was the only reason they’d managed to hold their cities through wave after wave of challenges from other Void Realm creatures.

By now, there was only one compound left that hadn’t been taken.

Fallen Star City.

Maybe it wasn’t just the Atlas Federation, either. Across the entire world, Fallen Star City might’ve been the only compound still in human hands.

Fallen Star City hadn’t been ignored. Several groups had already tried their luck today.

The Eldoria factions backed off the moment they heard the name Azure Nereids. They clearly didn’t want to pick a fight with the Nereids over a city they hadn’t fully understood yet.

As for the groups from other Void Realms, they were much easier to deal with. The Fallen Star Guard crushed them before they could do any real damage.

From everything so far, the creatures born on Eldoria were probably the strongest invaders in the southern region of the Atlas Federation. The other Void Realm creatures were dangerous, but they weren’t in the same weight class.

For now, Fallen Star City was getting lucky. The Eldoria factions still believed human compounds were everywhere, so they were roaming the region, looking for softer targets.

But once they realized Fallen Star City might be the only human-held compound left...

They’d come back. And they wouldn’t come back gently.

Still, the Atlas Federation couldn’t beat them—but other countries probably could. The Eldoria powerhouses had high tiers, sure, but it wasn’t like the rest of the world had nothing to answer with.

At that moment, in the Rus Federation...

A massive bird tore through the sky at full speed.

Behind it, a dense swarm of figures chased like a storm front closing in.

The giant body was covered in wounds—several of them deep enough to be fatal under normal circumstances. It wasn’t flying so much as running for its life.

And the things chasing it?

Humanoid creatures with wings.

Winged Clan.

Honestly, the roc’s luck was almost comical.

Not long ago, it had nearly been killed by these same Winged Clan—if Ethan and the others hadn’t stepped in, it would’ve died right there.

After that rescue, the roc had gone on a revenge spree.

It hunted those Winged Clan bastards nonstop, driving them out of the Atlas Federation and all the way into the Rus Federation. Under its relentless slaughter, the already-thinned ranks of Winged Clan elites were practically wiped out.

Then the dimensional rift opened.

Dozens of survivors—Winged Clan elites who’d escaped the roc’s pursuit—fled back to their own world.

And they came back with reinforcements.

With armies.

After that... the roc got bullied all over again. It was beaten half to death by a huge crowd of Winged Clan experts and forced back onto the road of desperate flight.

Only this time, there was no miracle waiting for it.

This time, the Winged Clan had sent out a true powerhouse.

Tier 35—same as the roc.

Right now, that monster was glued to the roc’s tail. No matter how the roc twisted and dove, it couldn’t shake the pursuit.

Worse, its injuries were catching up with it. As the damage deepened, its speed bled away.

At this rate, it wouldn’t even make it out of Rus Federation airspace.

Then—

A range of snow-white mountains appeared ahead.

The roc’s eyes lit up mid-flight, sharp and sudden.

It couldn’t believe it had ended up here.

It knew whose territory that was.

They’d come from the same Void Realm... but the two of them had never gotten along.

Normally, the roc would rather chew glass than owe that thing anything.

But now?

It had nowhere left to go.

A ruthless glint flashed through the roc’s eyes.

It folded its wings and dove straight down.

The Winged Clan elites surged after it without hesitation, chasing like a spear thrown from the sky.

At that moment, several surviving Winged Clan fighters recognized where the roc was headed and yelled in alarm, "Stop! Don’t follow it in!"

Too late.

The Winged Clan elites in front were moving too fast. By the time the warning left their mouths, the vanguard had already plunged into the mountains after the roc.

"Roooaaaar..."