Chapter 190. Demons and Monsters (14) The Prototype of a Half-Demon Base

     The Yāojing(Spirit/Demons) beast-like combat experience was extensive. Born from the dangers of the battlefield, they patiently hid in the forest, secretly watching and waiting for the opportune moment.

     Three or four new Yāojing(Spirit/demons) arrived later, also moving silently.

     The forest welcomed a long period of tranquility, with only the sounds of birds and insects, and the minor noises of one human and two half-demons moving, clearing, and burying things at the center of attention.

     Two hours passed. Ye Mo had buried the vast majority of dead animal spirits, large tree trunks, boulders, and the like in the giant pit to the north. The two merfolk’s cleanup work expanded outwards from the center.

     Four hours passed. Ye Mo began to move trees and set up formations starting from the eastern edge.

     This formation is a combination of three arrays.

     The first is a spirit-gathering array, which is essential for every formation to ensure its longevity.

     The second is a large illusion array with both warning and protective functions. It requires burying a wood-elemental spirit jade and more than twenty wood-elemental spirit stones deep within the array’s core. It is very suitable for this territory with abundant wood-elemental energy.

     The other array is a killing array, somewhat drawing inspiration from the wood-elemental squirrel habitat Ye Mo encountered in the Irish dungeon, but with differences. For example, it secretly incorporates mental paralysis poison attacks, hidden poisonous gas attacks within the array, and deadly crossbow devices.

     The combination of these two arrays creates a heavily dangerous and murderous setup.

     However, no matter how cautious one is during the array deployment process, it is difficult to avoid leaking the rich wood-elemental spiritual energy.

     Hawk Eye Fusion!

     Level One Alert!

     Ye Mo, who was busy transplanting trees and digging holes, appeared no different from before on the surface. In reality, however, her mental energy was continuously expanding outward, and her muscles were tensed to their limit, subtly adjusting to the impending assault of the forest hunters.  

     Finally, the forest hunters seized their perfect moment to strike. The nearest few lunged forward, swift as lightning—one’s razor-sharp claws nearly tore into their prey’s flesh, while its gaping maw was moments away from crushing the prey’s skull.  

     Yet the “prey,” Ye Mo, remained unhurried. With calm precision, she leaped into the hole she had dug, narrowly evading the attack. The instant the hunter crashed heavily onto the ground, she gripped her sword with both hands and struck with full force.  

     Boom!

     “Meow!”

     “Down.”

 

   【Survivor Ye Mo has broken through the critical value of mental power, mental attribute +1. 】

 

     These sounds erupted almost simultaneously. 

     As the dust settled, the onlookers saw the brown-striped cat demon, pierced through the heart by the sword, instantly killed by the sheer force of the strike.  

     Meanwhile, even before Ye Mo could shout a warning, the red-tailed mermaid had already turned her gaze to the blue-haired mermaid—just as the latter crushed the core of the spatial array fragment. Spurred by the red-tailed mermaid and Ye Mo’s alert, the blue-haired mermaid reflexively shattered the crystal and teleported away from the battlefield.  

     Most of the fairies took no notice of their escape; to them, such insignificant creatures were hardly worth attention. Only one or two happened to witness their disappearance.  

     Their pupils trembled in shock, Unbelievable!

     After slaying the cat demon, Ye Mo had already climbed out of the pit. Now, gripping the Mozi Sword, she clashed fiercely with the slower-reacting snake monster and the raven spirit in a whirlwind of blades and fangs.  

 

   【Survivor Ye Mo has broken through the critical value of mental power, mental attribute +1. 】×4

   【Survivor Ye Mo was detected to have broken through the critical value of Agility, Agility attribute +1. 】×2

   【Survivor Ye Mo was detected to have broken through the critical value of Strength, Strength attribute +1. 】

 

     Different from the guerrilla warfare the day before, this time Ye Mo chose to face the enemy head-on.

     The Yāojing in this world are indeed powerful, and dangerous battles allow her to break through continuously.

   【Survivor Ye Mo has broken through the critical value of mental power, mental attribute +1. 】

     Boom! A raven spirit with an injured wing was slain under the Mozi Sword, its corpse collected into the spatial dimension.

     The snake monster’s regenerative ability was like that of an earthworm, its inner core could move within its long body, allowing it to survive and fight even after being decapitated or having its tail severed.

     Seeing its body getting shorter and shorter, it attempted to flee. Ye Mo decisively pursued, giving it no chance to escape, and finally destroyed its inner core.

   【Survivor Ye Mo was detected to have broken through the critical value of Agility, Agility attribute +1. 】

     “Hah—”

     Though victorious, Ye Mo bore severe wounds, her body slick with blood, multiple ribs fractured, every breath searing through torn flesh.  

      The forest still teemed with opportunistic demons lurking for an easy kill. Gritting her teeth, she began healing on the spot, downing potions between ragged breaths.  

     Without a change in expression, she set her bones, quickly cleaned her wounds, and drank a mental recovery potion, a hemostatic agent, and a restoration pill. The injuries on her body recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

     The Yāojing: “…”

     “???”

     “!!!”

     In the eyes of the otherworldly demons and monsters, the most terrifying thing about Ye Mo wasn’t her ordinary strength, but her endless stream of bizarre methods: sometimes spatial abilities, sometimes fire abilities, sometimes blades and arrows, sometimes mental attacks, sometimes healing skills, and prey that mysteriously disappeared…

     No one knew how many life-saving abilities she still possessed. The unknown was the most terrifying.

     …

    Ye Mo went to the space transfer room to pick up the two shivering little mermaids.

     For the two little merfolk, the time spent in the resting space was filled with anxiety, each second feeling like a year. They had already regarded Ye Mo as another lifeline for their survival.

     When Ye Mo appeared, the two merfolk cried tears of joy and simultaneously, without any instruction, mastered the art of hugging her legs, their eyes shining with adoration.

     Back on the ground, it was already daylight.

     Some of the lurking demons spirit finally noticed the two ants they had suddenly lost. Were all half-demons such miraculous beings? What exactly were their abilities?

     Not long after, a torrential downpour suddenly began. The rain washed away the dark red bloodstains on the ground, and the forest, cleansed by the rain, became lush and lovely.

     Time was tight, and the rain shower did not hinder Ye Mo and the two little merfolk’s work. If anything, it made them even more active. After all, merfolk naturally loved water and working in the rain.

     The forest has regained its previous calm and busyness.

     After all the garbage was cleaned up, Ye Mo temporarily sent the two hardworking little mermaids back to the basement.

     The eastern mixed array was nearing completion. When she first retrieved the wood-elemental spirit jade from the 500-meter-deep pit using her spatial ability, another commotion rippled through the forest. However, due to its brief duration and unknown concerns, no attack materialized.

     The eastern array was complete.

     In the eyes of those without mental abilities, the forest instantly transformed into a small lake. The fairies, with their excellent vision, could even see ordinary fish inside from afar. Occasionally, one or two ordinary birds would pass by, and even the breeze carried a slightly damp scent.

     However, in the eyes of mental ability users or those with strong mental power, the ocean illusion did not form. It remained a lush forest, the extent of its lushness depending on their mental power. The hidden killing array was still in place.

     These two arrays inherently possessed very strong offensive capabilities. If someone skilled in formations continuously manipulated, repaired, and innovated behind the scenes, like Ye Mo, their lethality could increase tenfold to a hundredfold, or even higher.

     It is worth mentioning: The energy consumption was also directly proportional.

     Ye Mo began to arrange the south array.

    At the end of the successful arrangement of the formation in the south, sneak attacks appeared again, with more monsters than before, and a small group that knew how to cooperate.

     Ye Mo also chose to face the enemy head-on and tried her best to kill all the sneak attackers, not only to hone her skills and build her reputation, but also to intimidate potential foes. She needed to protect the half-demons under her charge.  

     The south assault seemed to tear open a breach. Soon, attacks from the west and north surged, with entire monster clans joining the fray.  

     More than once, Ye Mo had to rely on the fully operational arrays she’d set up in the south and east to turn the tide. The moment enemies stepped into those formations, it was as if an ordinary person had plunged into shark-infested waters—every direction hid lethal threats, and the battle swiftly became a one-sided slaughter.  

     Before long, the monsters realized the deadly peril of these unknown illusion arrays.  

     Even a group specializing in mental attacks, once they entered the killing array, had to contend with mental paralysis and mental deception specifically designed for mental ability users. After their mental power was damaged, they would then fall into the lake illusion array until their death.

     So far, only half of them had escaped after entering the formation, only to be finished off by Ye Mo.

     Eventually, luring demons into the array became nearly impossible. The creatures began circling the lake instead, wary of its hidden lethality.  

     After completing the western formation, setting up the northern array grew even more difficult. For a time, the forest’s demonic assaults came in coordinated waves, as if orchestrated by some unseen intelligence.  

     Twice, Ye Mo faced near-fatal crises—forced to resort to spatial teleportation under desperate circumstances.  

     Naturally, those two battles also yielded her the greatest rewards.  

     Not only did the four major attribute values all increase, but the humanoid combat experience also increased dramatically. The purpose of the survivor app is to allow survivors to constantly break through themselves on the edge of life and death, and grow in order to survive.

     North formation√

     The total time spent setting up the arrays in the east, south, west, and north was over 38 hours, with the northern array alone taking more than 18 hours.

     The originally chaotic battlefield and its surroundings, through the illusion array, had become a corner of a wetland park in the eyes of outsiders, complete with weeping willows, lakes, flying birds, flowers, grasses, and streams, full of natural charm and breathtaking beauty.

     This was above ground.

     Underground, surrounding the circular illusion array, Ye Mo also began a series of new small array deployments along the underground perimeter. At the same time, she moved the little stone monsters and other half-demons into the safe space, assigning them small tasks within their capabilities.

     Once the illusion array was complete, the lurkers in the forest could no longer see any useful information, nor could they sense any energy, not even those with mental abilities.

     However, the total number of Yāojing in the forest did not decrease. The attacks, on the other hand, suddenly ceased, making the deployment of other underground arrays much simpler.

     Even so, it took a full day after the basic defensive arrays were complete.

     Ye Mo’s vision was to establish a secure underground complex here—complete with forging workshops, mechanical chambers, training halls, storage vaults, and an herbal medicine center—akin to a goblin’s subterranean realm.  

     This place could become a “Half-Demon Base,” sheltering and nurturing the oppressed who struggled to survive in this world.  

     Of course, for now, it remained nothing more than a distant dream. Time, manpower, resources, and strength were all lacking. There was no guarantee such an ambitious project could ever be realized.  

     Yet Ye Mo was determined to strive for it.  

     She couldn’t help but realize yet again that this would likely become another grueling cycle of pushing her mental limits, gulping down recovery potions, and bidding farewell to proper sleep.  

     Under the awestruck gazes of the young half-demons, Ye Mo maintained her composed facade as she calmly returned to the surface—stepping out of the illusion array without a flicker of hesitation.