Finally, after a grueling deliberation, they could only reluctantly agree with Lennox.
"No need to feel lost; there's always a price for everything," Lennox smiled.
Still feeling indignant, they began collecting the bodies of the dark beasts, dividing them based on their points.
Pound by pound, they ensured that everyone received what they had contributed.
Lining up, the first person brought the bodies and fragments of the dark beasts to Lennox.
"Oh? You have quite a number of complete bodies. What do you want—full purification or partial purification?"
"What's the difference?"
"Full purification gets you all the merit. With partial purification, I can condense the merit into usable ultimate materials."
"Ultimate materials?!"
The crowd suddenly erupted in shock, realizing these dark beasts could be used to create ultimate materials.
Although not comparable to higher-tier ultimate treasures, these materials were still valuable commodities sought even by Overlords.
"Don't get too excited. Even if I purified all the dark beasts you killed, it wouldn't be enough to condense even a little piece of tier 12 ultimate materials."
"With your loot, at most, you'd get a small piece of tier 10 ultimate materials."
"This—" Doused with reality, they couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"I want full purification!"
Since they couldn't obtain a tier 12 ultimate treasure, they didn't bother trying.
Although tier 10 materials were rare, they were still purchasable.
"No problem." Using the Absolute of Law, Lennox quickly purified the pile of dark beasts.
Feeling merit flowing into his body, Lennox couldn't help but smile.
The Overlord, Ascelon, had sent him here for this purification work; in case of emergency, he could also assist.
One by one, Lennox purified the dark beast bodies, causing a surge of merit to flow through the group.
Feeling the merit strengthening their bodies, their initial disgust with Lennox turned into smiles.
"So this is the Plane's merit!"
"How comfortable! With money and strength, no matter how many dark beasts I face, I will not back down!"
"That's right! How could mere dark beasts dampen our will?!"
"Let's go! My sword is hungry and thirsty for more!"
"Where is the stronghold leader? Let's get on with our next target!"
"Hurry up, let's move!"
Regardless of their fatigue and injuries, they eagerly urged Liam to press forward.
"I know, I know! Don't be impatient!" Liam muttered angrily.
The stronghold was still in chaos from the battle; how could they leave suddenly?
Understanding Liam's concerns, those who weren't injured from the battle hurriedly began working.
Task after task, even as exhaustion set in, they completed everything as quickly as possible.
Having tasted the benefits of killing the dark beasts, they couldn't help but crave more.
Meanwhile, in the Shadowcrest family's temporary residence, Maximus was carefully examining the bodies of the dark beasts.
Wanting to study them to their very essence, Maximus locked himself away from the outside world.
To hunt a tier 11 primal dark beast, his current ability wasn't enough.
Maximus needed to take his time and sharpen his knife before taking further action.
First on his agenda was upgrading the micro-surveillance bots.
Due to the thick chaotic miasma, they were essentially walking blind.
To regain his eyes on the battlefield, the micro-surveillance bots needed an upgrade.
To do that, the dark beast before him was the key.
Mobilizing his Path of Law, Maximus began using strands of causality to purify the chaotic essence and dark energy of the dark beast.
With strands of causality, even the most stubborn chaotic energy could be purified.
Although it was less cost-effective than using the Absolute of Law, it didn't matter to him.
With his physique and ether devices, he could generate as many strands of causality as he needed.
Soon, after being washed by causality, the stubborn dark beast's body transformed into a tier 9 ultimate material.
Tier 9 ultimate materials were sufficient for the microbots to survive in the chaotic miasma.
Thinking about this, Maximus couldn't help but smile lightly.
"I didn't expect I'd be treating tier 9 ultimate materials ."
Remembering the past, when he had to go out of his way just to buy tier 9 ultimate treasure, he felt ironic.
Deep in his work, time began to pass.
Meanwhile, deep in the dark void domain, six Overlord powerhouses held off waves upon waves of dark beasts.
Even with the void cracking under pressure, the six Overlord powerhouses still leisurely conversing among themselves.
"Do you think this plan will work?" Elvian muttered, glancing at Frir.
"It's only a prototype. Furthermore, we simply lack enough Overlord powerhouses," Frir sighed.
If they had more manpower, how could they struggle ?
They could only use those talents to fill the gap.
The dark disaster was not unbeatable.
As long as they could kill fast enough, the dark disaster could even turn into a farm.
Unfortunately, with only the six of them, how could they kill enough?
Under desperate circumstances, they had devised a solution: divide and conquer.
They set up an unprecedented pseudo-tier 13 plane array, constructed from billions of tier 12 ultimate materials prepared over trillions of epochs.
The array's function was simple: fragmentation.
Each dark beast entering the Aeon Plane would be fragmented.
From a tier 12 beast, it would be divided into numerous manageable tier 10 and tier 11 dark beasts.
With their power, they could single out each dark beast and wipe them out effortlessly.
Unfortunately, their plan was only good on paper.
The array couldn't contain the fragmented dark beasts.
Anywhere in the Aeon Plane, a fragmented void beast could appear.
No matter how strong they were, with their limited numbers, they couldn't protect or kill every dark beast across the Aeon Plane.
Furthermore, some forbidden places in the void were inaccessible.
Some areas even limit only mortals from entering.
If such places became infested with dark beasts, the Aeon Plane would only grow more vulnerable.
Dark beasts operated like a virus. The more they infested the Aeon Plane, the stronger and more frenzied they became.
Considering this dire situation, their plan entered its second iteration.