More and more reports kept coming in.

By the swamp altar in the middle of the Plague Mountains, the Priest was kneeling there.

He prayed and kowtowed devoutly while muttering under his breath.

His mouth was full of praises for the plague, along with a description of the current situation.

"O Holy Father of Plague, your humble rat-born subjects urgently need your grace, we yearn for your Protection and aid. This is our heartfelt, earnest plea."

The Night Watcher had used some mysterious Rune Power and actually gained immunity to the plague terrain in the mountains. For these rats, this was undoubtedly a heavy blow.

In just two or three days, large numbers of Night Watcher squads were galloping back and forth across the whole mountain range.

They always struck precisely at those key positions, seizing and destroying them.

Now, one third of the plague pustules had already been successfully destroyed.

The Night Watcher, carrying Holy Water, those disgusting Healing Potions, and all sorts of baffling plague Healing Spells, rapidly cleared away the hazards brought by the pustules.

After that, streaks of mysterious blue-white breath surged and threaded through the forest.

These breaths dispersed the last remnants of the plague's Power; the "deliciously sweet" plague scent the rats had once been intoxicated with had now turned into foul air they could hardly endure.

In the rats' eyes, these Night Watchers were utterly evil.

The beautiful homeland they had labored so long to build was being steadily destroyed under the Night Watchers' assault.

The Rat Priest was grief-stricken, weeping snot and tears as he poured out their grievances.

As he poured his heart out, it seemed as though a mysterious Power, a strange gaze, descended from the unseen heights.

This Power fell straight onto the mountains.

Whether it was the Night Watcher squads currently raiding inside the mountains, or the other Night Watchers at the foot of the range, fully armed and ready to rotate in for returning squads, all of them instinctively looked up to the sky.

Alek was already used to this sort of situation. He looked up at the sky, then spat on the ground.

Lately his language had been getting cruder and cruder.

"Damn you, Plague, you really pamper these little rat bastards, huh. You even have to shield this bunch of rats with your life, I'm honestly impressed!!"

Although Alek had anticipated this beforehand, when this scene actually played out, he still couldn't help cursing.

The four Evil Gods each had their own distinct traits.

The Blood God went without saying—his style was simple and brutal, his head full of nothing but "kill, kill, kill." Facing him, all you could do was grit your teeth and fight him head-on, beat him back. The method was simple and direct, but the process was a real pain.

The Shadow Evil God was even more troublesome, fondest of playing with plots and schemes, and habitually targeting the Night Watcher.

However, direct clashes with him were relatively rare; it was usually a high-level, cutting-edge confrontation.

On the battlefield, it was very hard to perceive the Shadow Evil God's moves. Even if he was working behind the scenes, some mid- and low-level commanders might not notice.

This was often a higher-level strategic game.

Alek had only heard some scattered bits of information; supposedly it was generally Leaders at that echelon who tangled with him in the dark.

Next was the Desire Evil God—this guy most loved stirring up trouble inside, and was practically impossible to guard against.

Especially those nauseating, rotten-to-the-core nobles—pure scum among scum.

In Alek's eyes, every last one of them deserved beheading; even killing them all wouldn't be too much.

Although Alek was a front-line commander, he often received news from the rear, learning via the communications channels about the problems other departments at the back were facing.

Some Night Patrol would frequently complain that, for those officials who weren't Night Watchers, the trouble brought by the Desire Evil God was simply endless.

After all, everyone has desires, and the Night Watcher ranks were no exception.

To this day, the problems caused by the Desire Evil God remained something they could never fully guard against; every now and then, some new mess would pop up.

However, overall, this didn't have that much direct connection with the front line.

After all, Alek's requirements for his command team were extremely strict; even when a few minor issues cropped up, they were quickly resolved.

Last was the Plague Evil God.

The troublesome thing about the Plague Evil God was that he was far too biased toward his own followers. It was hard to imagine that, as an Evil God, he could be like this.

Just like when the Leader first encountered one of the Plague Evil God's Ordinary followers—yet even then, the Plague Evil God still bestowed his Blessing.

Back then, when the world's defenses were still fairly tight, coupled with the other side's nauseating methods, the Night Watcher would constantly clash with him.

Out of nowhere, he'd drop down a Blessing and send a few big Apostles to stir up the battlefield.

Now, he even had to give these rats some Protection.

"Get ready, send word to the people in the mountains—we've got big trouble coming!"

As Alek's order went out, those pustules that had swelled under the Blessing burst open one by one.

One after another, Blessed rat trolls crawled out from within. These rat trolls' skin was a mass of ulcerations, their bodies exuding a pungent stench. With every step they took, they left behind a puddle of filthy, ghostly green fluid.

This fluid corroded the surrounding ground mercilessly, like concentrated sulfuric acid.

The Priest at the central swamp section saw this and burst into gleeful laughter, hopping up and down as he shouted:

"Our Father, our Father has not abandoned us!"

Though the Plague Holy Father had given them Power, letting them hold out a while longer, how was this not also a disguised form of abandonment?

More Elite squads rapidly drove into the mountains.

Anlivier turned into an unseen Giant Dragon and soared straight up into the sky.

Her figure was light, like cloud and like wind.

She roamed and roared freely in the heavens.

Fresh wind then threaded through the forest, effectively suppressing the outpouring of filth.

"The sky's Giant Dragon is with us! Take down these filthy creatures, wipe out these Intruders! For the world!"

The Night Watchers roared in unison and launched a fierce assault.

The entire mountain range was instantly plunged into chaos and melee.

Alek, meanwhile, returned to his proper post, sitting in the command tent, eyes locked on the virtual map.

The messenger at his side was on standby at all times, ready to relay orders.

"Send [Forest Wolves] to Sector C3 and launch a raid from the rear!"

"Yes, sir!" The Commander at his side immediately relayed the order via the comms device.

"Have Assault Teams One and Six execute flanking maneuvers from the left and right, push forward, and clear out all enemies in front of them."

"Have…"

"Transfer Squads Three and Four over, and send the medical rescue group to Entrance A for evacuation and aid."

A string of detailed orders went out, and the entire camp began operating swiftly and efficiently.

A battle of breakthrough and tug-of-war thus began.

...

Ring Tower City.

Kevin sat straight in the military conference room.

He focused on the continual stream of military intelligence from all the various battlefields.

After layers of analysis and sorting, some key data and the general framework of the war situation were laid out before him.

In such intense combat, Kana could hardly use the communications channels to get real-time, detailed information on everything.

The volume of information was simply too massive; countless channels were scrolling like crazy.

They needed dedicated Night Watcher Commanders to analyze, summarize, and organize all this information.

Even so, compared to traditional letter-based transmission, this method of communication was countless times faster, almost achieving instant delivery of information.

"At present, nearly every battlefield has fallen into a tug-of-war. Should we issue orders for them to increase the intensity of their offensives and put greater pressure on the rats?"

Listening to the officers below discussing and reporting, Kana merely sat in silent thought, carefully hearing out their views.

He generally wouldn't lightly express opinions on specific battlefield tactics; after all, this wasn't his area of expertise. Although he now dealt with many war-related matters, professional work still had to be left to professionals.

As Leader, his duty was to chart the organization's course, to arrange personnel properly, and allow everyone to fully exercise their talents in the right post.

"Let's wait a bit longer. The timing isn't ripe yet. At the very least, we need to first observe the movements of the other four Evil Gods. The current intensity of the war hasn't reached its climax."

An officer voiced his opinion.

This view won the approval of quite a few people.

Everyone felt they still needed some time; the pressure being applied at present wasn't great enough—the heat hadn't reached the proper level yet.