John first issued a guild announcement, informing everyone that they would all be heading to Zone 3 in three minutes.

After that, he continued studying the Zone War panel.

[The specific rules for this Zone War are as follows:]

[1. This Zone War is the first Zone War and has special rules. Aside from needing to kill every Zone 3 player once, you must also head to the various main cities of Zone 3 and destroy the Revival Springs within them.

Only after all Revival Springs have been destroyed and every Zone 3 player has been killed once will Zone 5 be considered victorious.]

[2. For every Revival Spring destroyed, the Zone 3 players belonging to that main city will be considered defeated and will automatically be teleported back to Zone 5.]

[3. If the players of Zone 5 are defeated, all players will have 10 levels deducted. The equivalent amount of EXP will then be calculated as the defeat penalty and gifted to Zone 3.]

...

"As expected, the rules are extremely disadvantageous for the side declaring war."

After John finished reading, he did not show much surprise.

He also compiled these rules into the announcement and sent it out again.

...

[John] (Guild Leader): "In three minutes, everyone will be teleported. These are the specific rules for this Zone War. Read them carefully. Also, I have already assigned which main city of Zone 3 each of you needs to go to. When the time comes, you will be teleported automatically."

John rarely sent announcements. The moment this announcement was sent out, all the players of Zone 5 immediately erupted.

[Dean] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "Wait, aren’t these rules targeting our Zone 5 way too hard?"

[Kent] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "No choice. We’re the side declaring war, so naturally it’s like this."

[Reynolds] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "What are you afraid of? With Boss John here, are you seriously worried we’ll lose?"

[Jason] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "Losing is definitely impossible, but I’m still looking at these specific rules. We’re supposed to be split up to fight."

[Jason] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "What if one of our main city groups fails?"

[Baron] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "If you fail, then just wait to be punished! Hahaha!"

[Grant] (Zone 5, Overlord Guild): "We’ve developed for so long. Don’t tell me we don’t even have the confidence to win. This battle is ours!"

...

Because John had already led them through several desperate comebacks before, even after seeing that the rules were extremely disadvantageous for Zone 5, the players did not show the slightest dissatisfaction.

Their confidence and morale remained as high as ever.

John was very satisfied with the players’ reaction.

In his view, even if their strength was weak, that was not a problem. The most important thing was confidence.

It had not been in vain that John had deliberately cultivated them in this direction for so long.

Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

Very soon, large amounts of white teleportation light appeared throughout Zone 5.

The Zone War was about to begin.

...

Zone 3.

After the demon race invasion, and after all Zone 3 players had been demonized, all the cities of Zone 3 had long since fallen and become part of the Warren.

Countless demon race creatures now lived there, wantonly ordering the players of Zone 3 around and making them work for them.

However, after war was declared, these demon race creatures also quickly stood together with the Zone 3 players.

To them, the Zone 3 players were the foundation that allowed them to remain in the human world.

If the Zone 3 players disappeared, then they would naturally and inevitably be expelled from the human world and sent back.

The most ridiculous thing was that, because the former guild leader of Zone 3 had died in the Warren and returned as a blank-slate player, the Zone 3 guild had launched an internal power struggle ahead of time.

Even now, the Zone 3 guild had already split into fragments and still had not managed to choose a new guild leader.

So, in name, these players were instead being ruled by demon race creatures.

...

Demon Lord’s City.

This place had originally been Thunder Main City of the Thunder Empire. After its fall, it had completely become part of the Warren.

Inside the corrupted castle at the very center, Aroka, the current highest-level player in Zone 3, respectfully knelt before a demonic dragon.

"My lord, those hateful humans will arrive soon.

"Please protect us and safeguard the peace of our demon race."

The being Aroka was bowing to was a Level 300 demonic dragon.

In his view, this demonic dragon was absolutely enough to crush the vast majority of Zone 5’s players. Even if John came, he would have no choice but to admit defeat.

After all, Aroka had personally seen this dragon emerge from that massive demonized teleportation array.

He still could not forget the overwhelming pressure that had seemed to change the color of heaven and earth. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Otherwise, the players of Zone 3 would never have recognized an NPC as their boss.

The demonic dragon opened its enormous mouth filled with sharp fangs.

"What are you panicking for? I already said that those humans are nothing more than snacks delivering themselves to our door. They are not worth worrying about."

After hearing this, Aroka immediately calmed down.

"Then everything will be entrusted to you, my lord."

Just then, a wave of humming came from the outside world.

Immediately afterward, all Zone 3 players heard the announcement.

[Zone 5 players have descended upon this Zone. All players, please resist!]

[As this Zone is the defending side, you have obtained a special buff: all attributes increased by 5%!]

The Zone 3 players, who had originally been somewhat terrified, immediately gained a huge boost of confidence when they heard that they had actually obtained a special buff.

[Salomon] (Zone 3, Death Guild): "Hahaha! A 5% attribute increase! With my current level, that’s a few hundred points!"

[Morel] (Zone 3, Death Guild): "Come on then, you trash from Zone 5! We are demon race now!"

[Villad] (Zone 3, Death Guild): "Not to mention we have the lords of the demon race assisting us. Zone 5 has absolutely no chance of winning."

...

The players of Zone 5 had no idea that Zone 3 had already become this arrogant.

The moment they appeared, they quickly surged toward the nearby main cities.

When they saw the demonized human cities and forces, they were also somewhat shocked.

But immediately afterward, that shock turned into fury!

"These scum of Zone 3 actually betrayed the human race!"

"No wonder Boss John declared war on Zone 3. If it were me, I would have done the same!"

"Drive out the demons and restore humanity! Return clarity to the human race!"

After seeing that the entirety of Zone 3 had actually fallen to the demon race, the anger of Zone 5 was instantly ignited.

Their morale rose even higher. Even if they had to face the death penalty, they would make the players of Zone 3 understand the price of betrayal!

"Kill!!!"

Demon Lord’s City had the largest number of Zone 5 players assigned to it.

Alan took the lead, carrying his demon race giant axe. With a single slash, he directly hacked dozens of demon race players to death!

Even though the Zone 3 players had a 5% attribute bonus, in front of Alan, they were no different from ants.

The current Alan, wielding the SSS-rank demonic axe bestowed upon him by John, descended upon Demon Lord’s City like a true demon god.

Behind him, the players of Zone 5 howled as they charged toward Demon Lord’s City.

Even though countless demons stood before them, they showed no fear at all!

Today, Demon Lord’s City would definitely be flattened!