Chapter 918: Cut Down to Size

Zhang Lie raised his eyebrows.

What was going on that would threaten the draconian world? Only superior worlds would have the strength to do so. Could the draconian world have somehow aroused the attention of a superior world, or had the death spirits made their move early?

Following the original timeline, they shouldn't have enacted their plan just yet...

Regardless of what the problem was, it was clear that the forces remaining in the third realm were unable to handle the threat themselves.

In the third realm were the fruits of Zhang Lie's research on lord-class lifeforms...

Zhang Lie turned to Hong Xi. "Something's wrong in the third realm, and I have to return at once."

Hong Xi nodded immediately.

Zhang Lie summoned the members of Team Zenith, then headed back to Li Pu's room.

Li Pu was surprised. "You just left, Dojo Leader Zhang. Was there something you needed?"

"I need to borrow the use of Mars's teleportation apparatus to enter the dimensional realm, immediately!"

Li Pu nodded. "It's not a problem. I'll have my guards lead you there personally."

Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith returned to Mars that very moment.

When Zhang Lie saw the familiar landscape of the third realm, he sighed in relief. Nothing seemed to have changed—for now. He headed straight to where the draconian sage was located.

Just then, the draconian sage was meeting with the Yeluo chieftain, Zhang Hanxiang, Yun Bing, Chu Feng, and a few warlords.

They were all familiar with each other, and Zhang Lie greeted each of them in turn. Zhang Hanxiang stepped forward with a scowl on her face. "You're finally here, Brother!"

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Xing Ying lowered his head. "It's our fault—we were unable to hold back the enemies."

Zhang Lie frowned. "And who are these enemies?"

Yang Ze laughed coldly. "Who dares attack the draconian world? They're asking to die!"

Sun Xiaowu shook his head. "There are always idiots seeking death..."

The draconian sage replied, "Our enemy is the Worldpact Coalition."

"The Worldpact Coalition?" This name wasn't familiar to Zhang Lie. Either this coalition operated in the shadows, or his actions had resulted, via the butterfly effect, in the creation of this hitherto unknown organization.

The draconian sage reported, "This coalition was formed in light of our actions."

The draconian sage explained that the members of this coalition belonged to the worlds around the draconian world, which had banded together in order to resist the draconian world's assault on their territory. While Zhang Lie and Team Zenith were around, they were so afraid of the draconian forces' strength that they hadn't dared to do anything.

Subsequently, Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith had headed to Mars, and the warlords began to stop their expansion and consolidate their growth. Following Yun Bing's suggestions, they had begun to digest the resources of the worlds they had conquered. For half a year, everything seemed to be going exactly as planned.

"The problem started in the Chiyan world."

"The Chiyan world!" Yang Ze cried out.

Everyone turned to him. Yang Ze explained, "Captain, do you remember the world in which I got injured?"

"The Chiyan world, you mean?"

Yang Ze nodded.

The draconian sage continued, "We believe that, after the king of the Chiyan world recovered from his wounds, he began to organize an army to resist our continued growth. He denounced us as an evil power that was trying to corrupt the entirety of the third realm, and the hunters of the Milky Way as tumors that couldn't grow unchecked."

Zhang Lie scoffed. "Is that so?"

"At first, no one dared to respond to his call."

With the lack of news from Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith, however, those worlds gradually grew bolder. They began planning to revolt. No problems arose during the first six months of Team Zenith's departure, but after ten months, the worlds had set their plan in action.

They seemed to have realized that Zhang Lie and Team Zenith, the strongest representatives of the humans, had left the third realm.

Zhang Lie chuckled coldly. "So these worlds decided to revolt, is that it?"

Xing Ying replied, "Led by the king of the Chiyan world, the coalition grew to include over thirty medium-sized and ten large-sized worlds in the vicinity. Calling us tumors and viruses that were slowly infecting the third realm, they waged war against us, claiming that we would pose a grave danger to the realm if allowed to grow unchecked."

The draconian sage nodded.

Xing Ying sneered. "The coalition garnered considerable support even from faraway worlds. I suspect that we were growing large enough to contest their own claims to power and the resources they currently possessed, and that they're taking advantage of this opportunity to get rid of a competitor."

Zhang Lie mulled things over for a moment. "We've deepened the rift between the native inhabitants of the realm and the hunters of the Milky Way, then."

This rift had existed from the very beginning, but the superior worlds had always been the main threat.

Furthermore, only the natives of the three thousand worlds could become kings of the realm, which conferred the indigenous races with absolute strength. The hunters of the Milky Way weren't threatening in light of that power.

They were only visitors and travelers who didn't intend to stay in the third realm for long; they simply wanted to acquire their gene fragments and move on. As a result, there wasn't much conflict between the kings of the three thousand worlds and the hunters of the Milky Way.

The discovery of disaster gene fragments and appearance of limit-breaking potions caused a sharp spurt in the strength of the Milky Way hunters, making them a potent threat.

This allowed the warlords of the third realm to have the strength to take down kings of the realm if they worked together. After slaughtering many such kings, the remaining indigenous kings quickly banded together to combat the burgeoning threat.

This was a very natural series of affairs. The kings of the realm were willing to cooperate with the hunters while they were in a position of power, but now that the hunters had grown strong enough to threaten them, the kings of the realm had to make their move.

As the hunters of the Milky Way took over one world after another, the Worldpact Coalition was born—but its story would undoubtedly end in a tragedy.

Sun Mengmeng asked, "How are the worlds under our control?"

Xing Ying replied, "The coalition has been attacking all the worlds that we've taken over, and they've reclaimed over half of them by now."

Zhang Hanxiang clenched her fists tightly. "The inhabitants of those worlds that were recaptured were enslaved, their resources irrevocably pillaged, and the planets swallowed up by the leading members of the coalition—and they claim that we're the demons, the viruses, the tumors!"

Zhang Lie clicked his tongue. "What a mess. But I'm surprised you warlords working together weren't able to handle this coalition...?"