"Huh? What's going on?"
As Ian Song and his group made their way through the Creation Forest, they all suddenly stopped in their tracks, staring in confusion at the blood rain falling from the sky. The air was thick with a sorrowful aura, making everything feel strange and unsettling.
"Blood rain falls from the sky, heaven and earth mourn together—this means a god has fallen!" Prince Rowan Vance said, his expression darkening. Even gods were dying here, which showed just how dangerous the Creation Forest had become.
Princess Myra Vance added, "According to ancient records, the closer you get to the Creation Sky Monolith before it opens, the more dangerous it becomes. But the closer you get, the greater the rewards!"
She had done plenty of homework before coming into the Creation Forest.
"Roar! Roar!"
Suddenly, a series of deep, low roars echoed from all around, making most people feel a chill run down their spines.
Next, nine gigantic exotic beasts appeared, each with nine wolf heads, surrounding Ian Song and his group.
"Everyone be careful—these nine beasts are all stronger than ninth-tier War Generals, and they're almost at god-level!"
Ian Song spoke up to warn everyone.
Hearing this, Prince Rowan and Princess Myra, who had been about to send out the Myriad-Phenomena Army and Scarlet-Scale Army, immediately fell silent. Although their soldiers had grown much stronger lately, they still hadn't reached ninth-tier War General level. Against these beasts, they simply weren't enough.
"Let the Blood Demon Race and the Dragonfolk handle it!"
Ian Song spoke up again.
"Byron, it's your show!"
Drake Liu called out to Byron, who had just become a god.
Although Byron had only just ascended, his Dragonfolk heritage gave him a much deeper foundation than any Human. So, the moment he became a god, he already wielded the strength of a peak low-tier god.
The non-Human god said, "Since both our teams have gods, we should get the largest share of Divine Shell Fruits—let us take fifty percent, and the rest can be divided among your teams. How about that?"
"No way, that's not fair!"
Someone immediately voiced their opposition.
"How about this instead!"
Ian Song suddenly spoke up: "There are exactly 108 crocodile beasts and 108 Divine Shell Fruits. Let's make it simple—whoever kills a crocodile beast gets a fruit, regardless of which team they're on. How about that?"
Everyone thought it over and agreed that Ian Song's plan was fair. With the distribution settled, they started discussing how to attack.
Someone suggested luring the crocodile beasts off the island and killing them separately, since facing all 108 at once would be overwhelming.
In the end, they decided Byron would be the one to lure the crocodiles—anyone else would probably be killed instantly.
Soon, the seven teams withdrew to the forest and formed a simple joint formation, waiting for Byron to draw the crocodile beasts over.
Whoosh!
Byron appeared above the lake and punched out, sending a crocodile beast flying.
But the crocodile beast's hide was thick and tough; it wasn't hurt at all. Roaring, it lunged at Byron in midair, moving incredibly fast.
But Byron was even faster—he dodged out of the lake's range and provoked the beast again with another punch from midair.
Bang!
The crocodile's tail whipped out like a giant rod, colliding with Byron's fist in a clash that was evenly matched.
Without the slightest hesitation, Byron darted straight into the forest.
Roar!
The crocodile beast let out an enraged roar, but instead of giving chase, it retreated back to the island.
This caused everyone's plan to fall through.
After that, Byron tried multiple times to lure the beasts, but each time he only made them angrier—they simply refused to leave the lake.
The very next moment, a figure shot across the sky, heading straight for the island. As soon as he got close, he reached out to grab one of the dwarf trees, intending to uproot it entirely.
Princess Myra's voice rang out just in time: "Divine Shell Fruits are immune to energy. You can only pick them with direct physical contact!"
Sure enough, his grab only made the tree sway slightly, but at that moment, one of the crocodile beasts sprang into action.
A flash of movement—a downpour of blood rain.
The man didn't even have time to scream before he was torn apart by one of the crocodile beasts. His strength was comparable to a ninth-tier War General.
He couldn't even fight back, which meant these crocodiles, even if not quite gods, were at least at the peak of ninth-tier War General level.
This scene shocked everyone.
Even the non-Human god's face turned extremely grim.
"Everyone, how about we work together?"
The non-Human god suddenly addressed Ian Song's group and the other six teams.
If every crocodile on the island was this strong, then seizing the Divine Shell Fruits wouldn't be something any one group could do alone.
So, seven teams—nearly five hundred people—gathered together.
"How do we split them?"
Someone brought up the question of how to divide the Divine Shell Fruits.