MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

"Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed participants, welcome to the second stage of our grand event," Zero announced, his voice projecting across the virtual expanse with a sense of authority and enthusiasm.

"I know that every one of you enjoyed the last round due to the beauty of the diverse biomes and the thrilling moments that the participants offered, but rest assured, this stage is set to surpass it by many folds,"

"This stage is going to make the teams defend cities, but it is going to have a big twist, so I can't guarantee that this stage will be to everyone's liking," Zero declared, his voice brimming with excitement and anticipation, and after a moment of silence, he continued.

"In this stage, the original teams will be disbanded, and new teams will be formed through random assignment, ensuring that no more than two members from the original team are placed together."

"This reshuffling of teams injects an element of unpredictability and challenge, forcing participants to adapt to new dynamics and strategies, as they work together while also watching their backs."

"As for the island, it will be familiar yet also in a completely different state, enveloped in a perpetual state of the eclipse, casting a twilight that evokes not only beauty but also a sense of foreboding and dread." Zero said as the darkness dissipated, revealing a bird's eye view of the transformed mythical island.

Alex was standing alone in a dark, empty space, with the system screen showing the live stream, and like every other viewer, he saw the changed island.

The skies and ground hung heavy with oppressive darkness, punctuated only by the feeble glow of the sun struggling against the shadow of the moon that stood frozen before it.

It was not hard to realize that even though the island was the same as before, with various biomes, it was different, not only because of the state of twilight, with dense areas shrouded in pitch darkness, and others having enough light for even a common man to see things with clarity.

But the real change was the large cities situated all over the island, each located in a different biome, and the density of lifeforms inhabiting them.

"There are twenty-five cities, and four teams will be sent to each city, and while there will be no day and night cycle, the timing will stay the same,"

"The cities will be safe for eight hours, protected by a barrier, rendering entry by outsiders impossible. However, once the barrier dissipates, the cities will face a relentless assault for the next sixteen hours."

"A ceaseless tide of berserk creatures will descend upon the city, trying to turn it into dust, plunging them instantly into chaos and peril for sixteen hours, and this relentless cycle will repeat for the following seven days." Zero said and took a short pause to let everyone digest the information.

"Each Player will receive individual points that will belong solely to him and also team points that will be divided equally among everyone in the team at the end of the stage, no matter how much or how little they contributed."

"If the city fell, the team points will turn to zero while the individual points will stay, and at the end of the event, the points of the five original team members will be joined, and they will decide the overall ranking."

"The respawn option would be available like the last round, and so would the lucky spawn in case the entire team gets annihilated."

"While the teams are welcome to dive head-on into the tide of mindless berserk creatures to farm points but to give every member a fair chance to earn points, each city will have a plethora of quests with good rewards that could strengthen the city defenses and boost their chance of survival,"

"But there will also be NPC who will give quests with massive individual rewards to bring the city down, so this is another and also the most profitable way to earn a large sum of points,"

"Similar opportunities will be presented for teams to earn large sums of points or to get strategic resources needed to defend the city,"

"In the surrounding of the city, there will also be areas called loot sites that have a strong presence of mindless creatures, but they will give great rewards, like blueprints, weapons, and high-Rank scrolls that could help them bolster the survival of the city," Zero said, with a bright smile, that looked more like a evil grin.

The teams ready to jump into the second stage, having learned from their mistakes and having planned for things, were left stunned, knowing things had just gotten out of hand.

As much as the stage required them to work together, everyone realized that this stage was going to be a bloodbath because it was openly giving every lower-ranked team a chance to cripple the higher-ranked teams and make a leap through the final rankings.

The teams were required to save the city, but to players, their main goal was to earn points and increase their ranking, and to that, they didn't need to save any city.

The players could not only earn individual points but could also work on bringing down the city and massively benefit from it, and many teams who could care less about their public image were going to take this route.

Zero knew that this stage was going to be filled with betrayal and bloodbath, but he couldn't care less about it because the stage was to teach every watching player a lesson.

Besides strengthening the player base, the event's purpose was to mentally prepare them for the incoming calamity that was the Devourer beasts.

The top twenty teams wouldn't be affected by much as they had figures like Alex, Killian, Odin, and such to carry them, but for the rest of the balanced teams, separating them meant taking away their powers, which was indirectly forcing them to do everything they would be able to to stay in the competition.

Every team was destined to earn great rewards, but only the top fifty would receive extra, with the rest only getting what could be acquired with the number of points they earned in the event.

Zero gave a few moments to let everybody digest the information before revealing a hundred teams, the most keeping their names but many of them being nameless.

Alex would be able to not assist but raise an eye, looking at the lineup of team members, quite surprised by his luck, but an instant later, the surprise turned to a frown, knowing the better the team, the worse the city they would receive to defend.

Alex's team had Lady Rosalba, the Grand Elder of the Frozen Flower Guild. Nereus, The leader of the Hydra Guild. Gregnor, The Mountain, the First Elder of the Celestial Vanguard Guild, and Halagax, the Shadow of the Unyielding Legion Guild.

The team was filled with heavy hitters, but it seemed Alex was not the unluckiest or luckiest, depending on how one saw it in the group, as Andrei had surpassed him.

Andrei's team had Killian, the Dragon Butcher, and Tyrant, Olympian Guild Second Elder, and, for lack of better words, both happened to be enemies that would come for blood when given a chance.

Venedikt, Saahira, and Ravyn happened to be additionally in for a challenge, as each of them were in a team with one or two heavy hitters from the top twenty teams.