Reincarnation of The Strongest Sword God

1081-1100

Chapter 1081 - Sword's Orbit Breakthrough

When the fourteen attacks landed simultaneously on the same spot on the sealing barrier, ripples propagated through the barrier like it was water, with the point of attack as the epicenter. Even Nine Kills, who was in a separate dimension, felt the ground underfoot vibrating strongly.

"How is this possible?!" Nine Kills stared at Shi Feng, an incredulous look on his face.

Previously, Shi Feng's attacks did not even garner a single reaction from the barrier. Yet, now, he was able to elicit such an effect just by increasing the number of attacks?

"Could it be..."

Suddenly, Nine Kills thought of a possibility.

Strength stacking?!

However, this feat was easier said than done. One had to grasp the timing of their attacks perfectly in addition to landing their attacks accurately on the same location. Such precise control was impossible for an ordinary expert.

Of course, for an expert of Shi Feng's caliber, merging the Strength of two sources into one was not a big problem—however, doing so with three sources was.

This was like how some people were capable of easily multitasking two jobs at once but faced much greater difficulty when they tried handling three.

There were techniques available for coping with such problems. However, such specialized techniques were generally not taught to outsiders. Precious few people could actually learn them.

Thinking up to this point, Nine Kills could not help but breathe out a sigh of relief.

Shi Feng's Strength was indeed very strong. However, even if he stacked two sources of Strength together, the Tier 4 standard would still be way out of his reach.

With Shi Feng's current Strength, he would need to combine three or four sources of Strength to break the barrier. Moreover, assuming he had not learned any special techniques, combining three or four sources of Strength would only be a dream for him. Even if he eventually managed to figure out the trick of it, he would need a considerable amount of time to do so. By then, the power of the Magic Barrier Stones would've long since been exhausted.

And the war over Stone Forest Town would've definitely ended already.

Great! It is effective as expected! Shi Feng did not fall into disappointment when he saw the ripples on the barrier. On the contrary, an excited expression had appeared on his face. He immediately resumed his assault on the barrier.

Nine Kills thought Shi Feng was trying to combine the destructive power of his attacks to destroy the barrier. In reality, however, that was not the case.

During his battle with Nine Kills, Shi Feng had continuously used Sword's Orbit to defend himself. Along with the increase of his Strength and speed, he had honed his mastery of Sword's Orbit.

Previously, after activating Heavenly Dragon's Power, Shi Feng had no trouble sending Nine Kills flying and his body planting into a wall despite the Shadow Dancer having activated Shadow Possession. While part of this outcome was due to the massive boost in Strength the Berserk Skill provided him with, the main reason was Nine Kills's attack having landed on one of Sword's Orbit's intersecting points.

The merging of the Strength of two swords into a single point had significantly amplified the Strength in his counterattack, hence that shocking result. Otherwise, Nine Kills would at most have been sent flying. The Shadow Dancer definitely wouldn't have had his body planted deep inside a wall.

With this discovery, Shi Feng thought of a way to deal with the sealing barrier. Thus, he had summoned his doppelganger as well as the twelve Abyssal Blade phantoms to execute Sword's Orbit with him.

Everything was just as Shi Feng had guessed. By increasing the number of weapons and having these weapons move according to Sword's Orbit, the technique's power had risen exponentially. However, as he was still unaccustomed to this new method of execution, the Sword's Orbit he had executed was far from perfect.

My doppelganger is somewhat of a hindrance to Sword's Orbit's operation. Without the doppelganger, I should be able to execute Sword's Orbit more perfectly. Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng immediately sent his doppelganger to a side while he and the Abyssal Blade phantoms resumed attacking the sealing barrier with Sword's Orbit.

However, this scene stupefied Nine Kills, who was observing from the side.

What's he trying to do? When Nine Kills saw Shi Feng sidelining his doppelganger, which was only second to Shi Feng in terms of the Strength Attribute, he concluded that Shi Feng was a fool. Could he have given up?

Compared to combining his Strength with that of some phantom weapons, it would be much easier if Shi Feng did so with his doppelganger. This was why expert players could work together to defend against Bosses that possessed far superior Strength.

Just as Nine Kills was having such thoughts, the blades of Shi Feng's swords landed on the sealing barrier once more.

Boom!

A dent immediately formed in the barrier. A ripple many times stronger than before also shook the entire barrier, making Nine Kills lose his balance and fall flat on his butt.

Not enough! I need to be even faster! This time, Shi Feng decided to go all out. He swapped out his Basic Tyrant title for the Swordsmanship Master title, increasing his Attack Speed by 20%. At the same time, he switched the Aura of Fire to the Aura of Wind. Although his damage decreased, his speed underwent a qualitative change.

Following which, Shi Feng executed Sword's Orbit together with the Abyssal Blade phantoms once more.

This time, a transformation to Sword's Orbit also occurred.

Seen from afar, Shi Feng appeared to be surrounded by numerous twinkling stars. The speed of his swords had reached a point where they were invisible to the naked eye. The twinkling stars were none other than the intersection points of Sword's Orbit.

For a time, it was as if Shi Feng stood in a cocoon of starlight. The scene looked absolutely breathtaking.

"What kind of Skill is this?"

At this moment, Nine Kills wasn't the only person who had noticed this change; even Dark Feather and the others outside the barrier spotted the change inside.

Previously, Shi Feng's attacks had already shaken Dark Feather and the others greatly.

In just a single attack, the sealing barrier had inflated like a balloon, and it felt as if this balloon could burst at any time. How could this situation not panic Dark Feather and the others?

"Break!" Shi Feng released a low shout as he violently attacked the sealing barrier.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

At this moment, the twinkling stars surrounding Shi Feng looked like real stars as they continuously bombarded the sealing barrier, relentlessly hollowing it.

The dent on the barrier deepened with each step Shi Feng took forward.

No... No, this is impossible! Nine Kills, Dark Feather, and the others were stricken with anxiety and dread, every one of them very nearly shouting their thoughts out loud.

However, with the sealing barrier continuously deforming, it eventually reached its limit.

Peng!

Suddenly, like a bursting balloon, the entire sealing barrier exploded.

"This..."

When Nine Kills noticed he was back in the secret room, he was shell-shocked.

At this moment, even a fool could tell that what Shi Feng had used just now was not a Skill but a combat technique. Moreover, the might of the technique completely surpassed Nine Kills's imagination.

In addition, there was the difficulty of combining the Strength of attacks. Nevertheless, Shi Feng had accomplished it in such a short time...

Even geniuses would pale in comparison to Shi Feng.

After escaping the sealing barrier, Shi Feng shot a glance at the barrier protecting the Town Token. When he noticed that the Protection Barrier still had over three million HP remaining, he breathed out an involuntary sigh of relief.

Had he not received a breakthrough, most likely, the Town Token would've fallen into Blackwater's hands. At that time, it would have been much more difficult to snatch the token back.

After all, only a limited number of players could enter this secret room. This constraint greatly benefited Zero Wing, which was currently at a numerical disadvantage. However, once outside the Guild Residence, Blackwater would have the upper hand.

Thank goodness I made it in time. Shi Feng then shifted his gaze to Nine Kills and the others. "Die!"

Saying so, Shi Feng executed Sword's Orbit again as he charged at the group of five.

"Dodge!" Nine Kills warned hurriedly.

Unfortunately, with Shi Feng's current speed, even if Nine Kills and the others managed to react in time, they had no way of shaking him off. In addition, he was executing Sword's Orbit so swiftly that even the naked eye had difficulty keeping up with it. Blocking it was next to impossible.

The instant Shi Feng appeared before the five people, Dark Feather's group of four immediately turned into particles of light and disappeared, leaving behind four pieces of equipment in their place. Nine Kills managed to react fast enough to activate Shadow Shift, a Skill that allowed him to become immune to all damages coming from the front for two seconds.

However, Shi Feng took another step forward—and Sword's Orbit suddenly struck Nine Kills's back.

What kind of combat technique is this?! As Nine Kills collapsed to the ground, his mind was filled with surprise and curiosity.

As one of the top experts of a Super Guild, the things he knew about far exceeded the information of ordinary players. He had also seen many combat techniques that surpassed one's imagination. However, this was still his first time to encounter this kind of domain-type combat technique.

Although Nine Kills wished to continue gathering more information, when his HP hit zero, his body transformed into particles of light and disappeared, just like Dark Feather's and the others'. Right now, only Shi Feng remained standing inside the secret room. 

Chapter 1082 - Missing Dark Blade

Outside Stone Forest Town, Abandoned Wave was currently commanding the siege on Zero Wing.

The numerical difference was simply too great. Even the Magic Towers could not make up for this enormous disparity. Not to mention, the firepower of the Magic Towers was currently concentrated on the monsters outside the town. The defensive structures had no time to pay attention to the players inside the town.

If not for the Magic Towers enhancing the Basic Attributes of Zero Wing's members, making them stronger than Blackwater's members, Zero Wing would've long since fallen.

"Guild Leader, our men are occupying Stone Forest Town's outer area already, while Zero Wing's members have all fallen back to defend only a few important locations. With a little more time, we'll be able to wipe them out without any problems," Qin Muyun reported.

"Good. Next up, send some men to meet Pantheon's party. Have everyone else focus on pinning down Zero Wing's members at their current locations. After two hours, the entire Stone Forest Town, including the three Magic Towers, will belong to us!" Abandoned Wave could not help but reveal an excited smile.

The operation this time had incurred immense losses for Blackwater. Currently, their elite army had less than 80,000 players remaining. Over half of the casualties were victims of the Magic Towers. As for the monster army, less than 100,000 monsters survived.

Abandoned Wave had even made plenty of promises to Pantheon and the bandaged man.

However, all of these were trivial losses compared to Stone Forest Town and the Magic Towers they would soon obtain.

Once Blackwater occupied Stone Forest Town, with the Magic Towers' ability to attract players to the town, in addition to the Blackwater Guild's abundant resources and powerful background, recruiting another large batch of elite and expert players into the Guild would be easy. Moreover, Blackwater would also gain a stable supply of Coins and Magic Crystals.

On the other hand, Zero Wing would have to withdraw from its position as ruler of Star-Moon Kingdom.

Turning to look at Peerless, who stood beside him, Abandoned Wave asked, "Brother Peerless, how are things going on your side?"

"It's already in the bag. Although Black Flame managed to guess that we would go and steal the Town Token, we have already sealed him. I'm afraid that he will only be able to get out after the war is over," Peerless laughed.

Back when Nine Kills requested the Magic Barrier Stones, Peerless had had strong opinions about his decision. He thought that Nine Kills was simply making a mountain out of a molehill. These things should be used against Tier 3 NPCs or Grand Lords, not a measly Tier 1 player.

However, now that Zero Wing's Guild Leader had been sealed, this would be a tremendous blow to the Guild.

Just as Peerless thought that the mission was a wrap, a message suddenly came from a Dark Blade member.

"Black Flame has escaped from the seal! Requesting backup!"

When Peerless read this message, his expression immediately tensed.

Although it was only one short sentence, its significance was something only those who understood about the Magic Barrier Stones would know.

Escaped?! How is this possible?! This was the first thought that came to Peerless's mind when he read this message.

Without the Strength of a Tier 4 existence, breaking through the Space Sealing ability of the Magic Barrier Stones was impossible.

Peerless immediately tried contacting the Dark Blade member that messaged him, wanting to get an idea of what was going on.

However, the system notified him that said player was temporarily unavailable. This situation gave Peerless a bad feeling.

There were only three scenarios where a player was incommunicado. The first scenario was that the target player was offline, the second scenario was that the target player was dead, and the third scenario was that the target player had entered a special place. It was obviously impossible for the first and third scenarios to occur right now. Hence, the only possibility was the second scenario.

The second scenario meant that a disaster had occurred over at Dark Blade's side.

All by himself? Is it really possible? Peerless's mind was filled with questions.

The members of Dark Blade were experts nurtured by Pantheon specifically for assassinations. This time, as a precaution, Pantheon had dispatched a team of 100 Dark Blade members. The vice commander of Dark Blade, Nine Kills, even led the team.

Normally, only the upper echelons of Super Guilds or super-first-rate Guilds merited having such a force sent at them.

If not for the importance of the task this time—in addition to the fact that Zero Wing possessed some extraordinary experts—Pantheon wouldn't have bothered mobilizing such a large team.

If these 100 assassination experts worked together, even if the several apex experts of Zero Wing joined forces, they still wouldn't be able to escape death.

Unable to settle his fears, Peerless hurriedly contacted the vice commander of the Red Jade Legion. "Red Rain[1], lead a team into Zero Wing's Residence right away. Something might have happened at Dark Blade's side."

Red Rain was the person the Guild had sent to assist him this time.

In terms of combat standards, she was above even Nine Kills. Moreover, she was an extraordinarily talented genius. In just three short years since she joined Pantheon, she had managed to become the vice commander of one of the Super Guild's trump card legions. The current commander of the Red Jade Legion even had a favorable opinion of her and was considering making her his successor.

Her future in the Guild was many times brighter than that of an old man like himself. Hence, he still had to be polite when speaking with her.

"Something happened with Dark Blade? That's impossible, right?" A skeptical expression appeared on the face of the red-haired goddess in the screen. "Aren't they being led by that old bastard, Nine Kills, this time?"

"I can't make contact with any of them right now. The Town Token is too important to us. We must obtain it at all costs!" Peerless also refused to believe that something had happened to Nine Kills. However, with the facts before him, he had no choice but to send someone over to check.

"I understand." Red Rain nodded before disconnecting the call. She then commanded, "Monkey, switch with me in dealing with this Tier 2 NPC. I need to leave this place for now."

"Big Sis Red, leave it to me!" A thinly built Elementalist nodded hurriedly.

Following which, Red Rain led a team of 100 players and charged into Zero Wing's Residence.

...

"Big Sis Aqua, that Red Rain has led a team into our Residence," Shadow Sword, who was currently brandishing Crimson Moon at four Red Jade Legion members, hurriedly informed Aqua Rose when he saw Red Rain bypassing him.

The members of the Red Jade Legion were not people ordinary Guild experts could go up against. Even with Shadow Sword's Attributes greatly enhanced, they were able to suppress him with just four members.

If even he was already faring this badly, there was no need to mention everyone else.

Meanwhile, Red Rain of the Red Jade Legion was even more inhumanly strong. She had actually managed to kill a Level 65, Tier 2 NPC guard all by herself. When two of such NPCs worked together to deal with her, she still could hold her ground. The members of the Dark Gods Legion that tried to approach her got slaughtered just like that.

When Aqua Rose received this report, she was stumped for a good solution. Currently, it was already taking everything she had to manage the defense of the town's important locations. She did not have any energy to spare worrying about Red Rain.

...

Zero Wing's Residence:

"Nobody's here?" Red Rain muttered as she scanned the entire Residence and failed to detect any Zero Wing members present.

However, when she arrived before the entrance to the Residence's underground hall, she was stunned by the scene that met her eyes.

Mountains of corpses littered the hall. Weapons and equipment were also scattered beside these mounds. After a closer look, Red Rain discovered that these corpses all belonged to Blackwater's members.

Boom!

At this time, an explosion sounded from a short distance away. Like cannon balls, several players went crashing into the piles of corpses.

"Is there a Grand Lord inside?" Red Rain was filled with curiosity. "As expected of the number one Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom. To think Zero Wing would have such a trump card as well!"

These players that died were all Level 38 and above. There were even Level 40 experts among them. A rough count came to at least 30 experts among the corpses.

With so many people, they should not have suffered such a miserable defeat even if they were going up against a Great Lord. Hence, Red Rain concluded that there should be a Grand Lord in the hall.

"Big Sis Red, are we really going in?" a Level 40 Shield Warrior asked. He could not help but gulp when he saw this terrifying scene.

"Of course we're entering. Isn't it just a Grand Lord? It's not like it's our first time killing one," Red Rain replied as she sent a glance at the Shield Warrior. She then took the lead to enter the hall. 

Chapter 1083 - One Man, One Sword Defends the Entire Town

Inside the long and narrow hallway, a large group of Blackwater members was currently staring quietly at the black-robed man standing in the middle of the hallway.

The man wielded two swords in his hands, and although his figure and appearance were the very definition of normal, just by him standing there, nobody dared to move forward in the hallway.

When the Blackwater members received a glance from this man, their bodies involuntarily retreated a step.

"Damn it! Why is there such a monster defending this place?!" Standing at the rear of the group, Qin Muyun frowned as she looked at this figure over her diamond-shaped shield.

This man was none other than Shi Feng.

Due to Shi Feng's presence, she and the elite team she brought with her couldn't proceed a step further towards the secret room behind him.

"Melees, move forward! Ranged players, attack as one! I want to see whether he runs out of Stamina first or we run out of players first!" Qin Muyun shouted.

The most realistic part about God's Domain was the Stamina system, which was something else that other virtual reality games did not have.

Even the most powerful expert had a limit to their Stamina, and any combat they took part in would consume their Stamina.

Due to this reason, zerg tactics were effective against even the most powerful experts. Of course, situations like this were rare. After all, when experts sensed that their Stamina was running out, they could simply run away. However, escape was not an option for Shi Feng, because if he did, Blackwater would be able to steal the Town Token. At that time, Zero Wing would no longer have any chance to turn the tables.

When everyone from Blackwater heard Qin Muyun's words, they unconsciously turned to look at each other. Still, nobody dared to approach Shi Feng.

Since they began fighting Shi Feng, several hundred players had already died—including Level 40 experts.

Yet, even now, Shi Feng still seemed to be brimming with energy.

After reaching their levels, losing a single level would set them back by many days. Nobody wished to die a pointless death.

Seeing her subordinates still paralyzed, Qin Muyun threatened, "What are you afraid of!? He's currently in a Weakened state! His maximum Stamina must've decreased as well! If you all refuse to listen to orders, be ready to suffer the consequences later on!"

Having no other choice, Blackwater's elite members could only grit their teeth as they steeled themselves to attack Shi Feng.

They had gone to great lengths to join Blackwater. If they disobeyed an order from their superior, the consequences would be extremely severe. The Guild would not only expel them but also hunt them down. Dying and losing one level now was much better than being killed by Blackwater until they were back to Level 0.

Moreover, it was just like Qin Muyun had said. Shi Feng was currently in a Weakened state, and his Attributes had dropped to the point where he was even inferior to elite players like themselves.

Players under a Weakened state wouldn't have only their Basic Attributes reduced. Even Hidden Attributes like Stamina would be affected as well.

Shi Feng had already solo killed several hundred players. His Stamina should already be at its limit.

After thinking up to this point, Blackwater's elite members grew confident. Immediately, they began advancing on Shi Feng in groups of five.

Although the hallway was narrow, five people moving side by side could fit in it.

In the next moment, five Berserkers used Charge at Shi Feng simultaneously. The Clerics standing at the back also cast Truth Shield on these Berserkers, while the Oracles cast Protection, and the ranged damage dealers launched a flurry of attacks. They gave Shi Feng no chance to avoid damage.

Shi Feng's side did not lose out to Blackwater's elites, either. Violet Cloud, who stood inside the secret room, cast Truth Shield on Shi Feng, the Spell able to absorb over 7,000 points of damage. Violet Cloud's Truth Shield was nearly twice as powerful as an ordinary Cleric's.

When the Berserkers were only five yards away, Shi Feng tightened his grip around Killing Ray as he executed Thundering Flash. Five lightning snakes devoured the Berserkers. Not only did the attack immediately shatter the Truth Shield and Protection cast on the Berserkers, but it also took away one-fifth of the Berserkers' HPs as well as neutralized all the ranged attacks.

Following which, Shi Feng executed Sword's Orbit, enveloping the five Berserkers in starlight. The Berserkers' advance stopped cold as they cried out in pain.

Even with the healers healing the Berserkers, their HPs fell at a rate visible to the naked eye. In a heartbeat, the five Berserkers became five corpses that were sent flying out of the hallway.

From beginning to end, only a few seconds had passed.

Everyone gasped at this scene.

Although Shi Feng's Attributes had been reduced by 80% due to the backlash of using Twofold Berserk, after including the buff from the Magic Tower and the effects of his Basic Tyrant title, he still retained around 30% of his Attributes. Although the current Attributes he had might not be a match for Blackwater's experts, he should be roughly equal with Blackwater's elite members.

Moreover, the improved Sword's Orbit also greatly enhanced his might. It was simply impossible for Blackwater's elite members to defend against his attacks.

"Go again!" Qin Muyun shouted once more.

Although she could not see through Shi Feng's Sword's Orbit, she was no fool. She knew that the stronger a combat technique was, the greater the burden it placed on a person's Stamina and Concentration.

If Shi Feng continued using the technique, it was only a matter of time before he exhausted himself completely.

Unfortunately for her, Qin Muyun did not know that Shi Feng possessed Life Essence, which could be used to improve his Stamina and Concentration recovery rate. A single drop of Life Essence could last him for two hours. He had no fear of running out of resources at all. On the contrary, by continuously using Sword's Orbit, Shi Feng grew increasingly accustomed to the technique.

Following which, time passed by quickly.

Even after Qin Muyun's legion of 1,000 elite players was nearly annihilated, Shi Feng's powerful aura did not weaken in the slightest. On the contrary, the more he killed, the more vigorous he became.

"The Guild Leader really is amazing!"

"That's right! Look at how dumbfounded Blackwater's commander is! I'm guessing she's already fallen for the Guild Leader's manliness!"

"Even though the Guild Leader is in a Weakened state, he is still able to render Blackwater's 1,000 elite members completely helpless. I don't even dare to imagine what he is capable of if he were at his peak."

The Zero Wing members inside the secret room all sent gazes of admiration at Shi Feng. Their blood started to boil at this scene.

Previously, most of them had only ever seen Shi Feng's fights in videos, and those videos gave off a feeling of having been faked. However, now that they had personally experienced the pressure of contending against a legion of elite players as well as witnessed Shi Feng massacring over half of said legion all by himself, they were thoroughly stunned.

What was an expert?

Shi Feng was the exact embodiment of one.

Despite having roughly equal Attributes, he could still make a legion of over a thousand elite players shudder in fear.

"It'll be a waste if only we get to watch this. Let's upload the video for everyone to see!"

"That's right! I'll upload it now! We'll let Blackwater's members know that Guilds aren't just about having a lot of members! Our Guild Leader can defend an entire town all by himself!"

Saying so, one of Zero Wing's members began uploading their recorded video to the official forums.

One Man, One Sword Defends the Entire Town. Blackwater, what can you do to us?

Shortly after the video was uploaded with that title, an uproar broke out in Star-Moon Kingdom's official forums. In less than a minute, the number of views already exceeded one million.

"Crap, is he really human?"

"Sure enough, he truly deserves to be called Star-Moon Kingdom's number one expert! He is simply a monster! That's a team of a thousand elites and experts!"

"Blackwater is in trouble this time. If they don't defeat Black Flame, they will have no way of capturing Stone Forest Town!"

...

All the players who watched the battle video became hot-blooded.

One Man, One Sword Defends the Entire Town!

This incident would definitely go down as a legend in God's Domain. Meanwhile, Blackwater had become the stepping stone used to create this legend.

After watching this video, the Zero Wing members, who were not taking part in the war at Stone Forest Town, were deeply moved. At this moment, they could not help but wish they could rush over to Stone Forest Town and fight together with their Guild Leader.

...

"Damn it! I don't care what it takes. I want Black Flame dead immediately!" Abandoned Wave shouted madly, his complexion turning ashen after watching the battle video.

...

Just as Qin Muyun's team was nearly wiped out, a group of players wearing red-white vests suddenly entered the hallway. Meanwhile, the woman standing in the lead was a Level 41 Berserker. The woman carried a massive battle axe on her back. As the woman looked at Shi Feng, a playful smile appeared on her face.

The Heaven Splitting Goddess!? Shi Feng's expression tensed drastically when he saw this woman. 

Chapter 1084 - Seal Removed

Every player in the hallway fell silent with Red Rain's sudden appearance.

None of them could pull their eyes from Red Rain. This was not because of Red Rain's beauty or transcendent figure. Rather, it was due to the oppressive aura she radiated.

Even the weakest present was a Guild elite player. They had experienced their fair share of battles in God's Domain, and their senses had long since developed to be extremely sensitive of danger.

These players could tell that the oppression they felt wasn't just from Red Rain. In fact, the battle axe gracing her back was the main culprit.

Rather than a battle axe, it was more appropriate to call it a massive, black scythe. Many blood-red patterns covered the scythe, and the weapon released an evil aura that made everyone present uncomfortable. As Red Rain approached, the discomfort became more prominent.

Faintly, these players felt their thought processes slow significantly.

"Why is she here?" When Violet Cloud, who stood inside the secret room, saw Red Rain, fear surfaced in her eyes. Hurriedly, she whispered a warning to Shi Feng, "Guild Leader, you need to be careful. That woman is very powerful. Even Level 65, Tier 2 guards were no match for her. Moreover, her battle axe is evil. It can slow her enemy's reactions."

It was impossible for current players to match the Attributes of Level 65, Tier 2 NPC guards. In terms of Strength, they were the equivalent of Level 65 Lords. Only, they had much lower HP. However, they compensated for that gap with their higher combat standards. They also possessed far more Skills than a Level 65 Lord. Generally, players very much preferred to fight a Lord ranked monster over a Tier 2 NPC.

If she had to face a Level 65, Tier 2 NPC, she would turn and flee. Even if she worked with Fire Dance, they had no hope of victory. However, Red Rain had, by herself, killed a Level 65, Tier 2 NPC.

To Violet Cloud, that fight had been unbelievable.

However, actions spoke louder than words. She had seen Red Rain defeat one Tier 2 NPC after another with her own eyes. She had even done so in a relatively relaxed manner...

Currently, Shi Feng suffered a Weakened state. Fighting Red Rain right now would be a nightmare.

Shi Feng responded to Violet Cloud's concern with a silent nod. He did not ask her for any further information on the female Berserker.

After all, it was unlikely that anyone throughout God's Domain was more familiar with the woman known as Red Ran than Shi Feng.

In the past, everyone had known about the Heaven Splitting Goddess, Red Rain.

During God's Domain's early stages, in particular, Red Rain had wielded the Magic Weapon Bloody Mary, which ranked 73rd on the God's Domain Magic Weapon List.

The Secret Pavilion had compiled the God's Domain Magic Weapon List in the past, ranking the game's best 100 Magic Weapons after gathering all the information they could.

Magic Weapons were much rarer than Epic Weapons. However, finding some in every kingdom and empire was possible. Hence, every Magic Weapon on that list was among the best of the best . They all possessed special effects; ordinary Magic Weapons could not compete with them.

Among the top 100 Magic Weapons, Bloody Mary's special effect was Mana Control.

The weapon would automatically absorb the surrounding Mana and gather it in its wielder, enhancing their combat power. This effect also deprived the area around Bloody Mary of Mana. If the environment's Mana thinned, it would directly affect players' performance. The effect was the exact opposite of the buff players enjoyed in Mana dense environments. In addition, Skills and Spells would be weaker in areas with less Mana.

As a result, Bloody Mary's wielder possessed extremely strong combat power. This was especially true when the wielder fought players and NPCs.

Monsters generally relied on their Basic Attributes in combat. Players and NPCs were more reliant on their Skills and Spells. If Skills and Spells were weakened, this would significantly reduce players and NPCs' combat power. In addition, due to the Mana deficiency, players and NPCs would also be slightly sluggish.

In a battle between experts, victory and defeat could be determined in the blink of an eye.

This kind of slowing effect was practically fatal.

Due to this, the scythe known as Bloody Mary qualified to rank on the Magic Weapon List.

As Bloody Mary's level increased, its Mana Control effect would also grow stronger.

"You're Zero Wing's Guild Leader, Black Flame?" Red Rain asked, her lips curling up slightly as she slowly strode forward until she was within 20 yards of Shi Feng. Sizing up Shi Feng, she said, "You really are as strong as the rumors say. You're also quite the handsome man, aren't you? It's a pity that Old Peerless has already declared that you need to die. Otherwise, I'd really be interested in a match against you at your peak."

She rather admired Shi Feng.

However, one person wasn't strong enough to change the overall situation.

First, he had entered a Weakened state after fighting Dark Blade. Then he had fought numerous elites and experts from Blackwater. At this point, he should be at his limit in every aspect. Even without her attacking, this battle was already over. Moreover, more of Blackwater's elites and experts had begun to arrive.

How many people could Shi Feng fend off by himself?

Following which, Red Rain unsheathed Bloody Mary and brandished it. Suddenly, as if the hallway's Mana had been devoured, the players present felt as if they were suffocating. Only Red Rain appeared refreshed.

What a powerful special effect! Shi Feng was shocked as he felt the area's Mana dwindle to almost nothing.

In the past, he had only ever heard of Bloody Mary's powerful Mana Control effect. He had never experienced it personally.

Currently, only twenty yards separated him and Red Rain. He could feel how powerful Bloody Mary was.

Even an expert like himself was slightly affected in such a Mana-lacking environment. He felt as if a layer of fog muddled his brain. He could no longer sense the minute fluctuations in the air around him. If the weapon's power was so effective against him, there was no need to mention everyone else.

In such conditions, it was no wonder why Tier 2 NPCs were no match for Red Rain. Mana was even more important to NPCs. In such a Mana-lacking environment, a Tier 2 NPC could not even exert 10% of their usual combat power. Even if their Attributes were superior, their defeat was only a matter of course.

Suddenly, Red Rain used Charge and arrived before Shi Feng. She followed up with a downward slash, completing the process without any excess movements. Her actions were indescribably beautiful. Moreover, Red Rain had perfectly grasped Shi Feng's movements. Her attack left no space for Shi Feng to dodge.

So fast! Shi Feng's heart grew cold.

Peng!

In the crucial moment, Shi Feng activated Defensive Blade and blocked Red Rain's battle axe.

However, Red Rain had no intentions of giving Shi Feng time to catch a breather. Immediately, she launched with a series of attacks. With only 30% of his original Attributes, Shi Feng was no match for Red Rain. Adding in the fact that his reactions had slowed, defending against Red Rain's attacks was even more difficult.

Even after Shi Feng executed Sword's Orbit, due to the effect on his mind, his defense wasn't at its best. As a result, Red Rain easily predicted and dodged his blades. In the end, he had to watch as the Berserker saved off his Defensive Blade's block counts.

As Red Rain suppressed Shi Feng, the Red Jade Legion's other experts circled Shi Feng and rushed into the secret room.

Seeing this, Violet Cloud led the other Zero Wing members to hold off the approaching enemies. Unfortunately, Violet Cloud was the only person capable of putting up a decent fight. The Red Jade Legion's experts easily suppressed her companions. In a short moment, five Zero Wing members had died. In contrast, the enemy experts were alive. Both sides' strengths were obvious at a glance.

"Begone!" Red Rain did not intend to waste any time with Shi Feng. After exhausting Defensive Blade's block counts, she executed Flame Slash.

Immediately, the massive scythe transformed into a fire snake that attempted to devour Shi Feng.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

However, just before the fire snake reached Shi Feng, icicles emerged before the Swordsman, one after another, blocking the fire snake.

Where did that icicle come from? Red Rain was confused.

However, before she could figure out what had happened, another icicle emerged from the ground. This time, the icicle aimed for her heart. Hurriedly, Red Rain used Whirlwind Slash and blocked the attack. However, the Red Jade Legion members inside the secret room were not as lucky. The icicles had heavily injured a few of them, giving Zero Wing's members an opportunity to finish them off.

As expected, Chilling Field isn't particularly effective with my current Attributes. Shi Feng felt somewhat helpless when he saw Red Rain easily fend off his icicle attack.

Despite having used a Domain Skill, he still was no threat to Red Rain. He had only succeeded in forcing her to retreat.

However, when Red Rain's Whirlwind Slash came to an end, Shi Feng vanished and reappeared before Red Rain.

Instant Strike!

Illusory Shadow!

Immediately, Killing Ray transformed into a streak of blue light as it slashed at Red Rain. It was clear that Shi Feng intended to trade blow for blow.

Seeing this, Red Rain executed Chop without hesitation.

If they competed with their Strength and damage, the weakened Shi Feng had no hope against her.

Yet, after several exchanges, Red Rain was the first to collapse to the ground. Shi Feng remained unharmed.

"What's going on?"

The Red Jade Legion members were stupefied. They could not figure out what had just happened.

They had watched everything with their own eyes. Both players had struck each other with their weapons. In the end, however, Shi Feng stood there, unharmed, while Red Rain lost her life.

Red Rain had suffered the most injustice in this battle

She never would've imagined that, before their clash had begun, Shi Feng had activated the Aura of Earth's Absolute Defense, giving himself immunity to all damage for five seconds. He hadn't been afraid of trading blows in the least...

Moreover, Shi Feng understood Red Rain's personality.

Words like "arrogant" and "confident" described the woman perfectly. In addition, due to the fact that he still suffered a Weakened state, she would choose to meet his attacks head-on rather than dodging them.

After Red Rain died, the remaining Red Jade Legion members lost their will to fight.

Meanwhile, Abandoned Wave, who watched a live stream of this battle from outside Stone Forest Town, could not sit still and led Blackwater's experts personally, charging into the town.

Even if Shi Feng were more powerful, he was just one person. It was simply impossible to fend off tens of thousands of players by himself.

"All of you, charge into Zero Wing's Residence! I want to see how long Black Flame lasts by himself!" Abandoned Wave had finally descended into madness.

He was one step away from capturing Stone Forest Town. There was no way in hell he would give up when he was so close to achieving his goal.

The rest of Blackwater's experts trusted Abandoned Wave's judgement.

Currently, there were less than 5,000 Zero Wing members remaining. On the other hand, Blackwater had more than 50,000 players alive. It would take a miracle for Zero Wing to reverse the situation.

"In the end, is the gap still too wide to bridge?" Shi Feng frowned when he read Aqua Rose's latest war report.

The numerical difference between their armies was simply too massive. Even the Magic Towers were not enough to bridge this gap.

Suddenly, Shi Feng received a message. It was from Fire Dance.

Shi Feng called the message up immediately.

The message only contained one sentence—The magic array's core components have been destroyed! 

Chapter 1085 - Full Power

Groups of Blackwater members charged at Stone Forest Town's three Magic Towers.

Although Blackwater couldn't destroy the towers, once they killed the players manipulating the defensive buildings, the Magic Towers would be useless.

However, the Magic Towers were easily defensible and very difficult to assault.

But Blackwater's elites couldn't care less. They desperately tried to force their way into the Magic Towers.

The reason for their fervent attitude was Abandoned Wave's desperation; he had announced extraordinary rewards for the Magic Towers' fall.

Anyone who took down the Magic Towers would be awarded a set of Level 40 Dark-Gold Equipment as well as a Bronze Mount.

Humans died in pursuit of wealth; birds died in pursuit of food.

The thought of such a reward had kindled a passionate light in the eyes of Blackwater's members.

Only Guilds' apex experts could wear a full set of Level 40 Dark-Gold Equipment. As for the Bronze Mount, many Guild experts could only dream of obtaining their own.

Furthermore, Blackwater had the numerical advantage in this war. They had more than enough people to take down the Magic Towers.

Unfortunately, only three people would get to enjoy such a reward. Naturally, they had to fight with everything they had!

However, this situation gave Aqua Rose, who commanded the war from inside one of the Magic Towers, a colossal headache. They had already expended all of their Magic Scrolls and large-scale destruction Spells. However, like madmen, Blackwater's members continued to charge at the Magic Towers with complete disregard for their lives. This rapidly whittled down the number of Zero Wing members defending the structures.

"Big Sis Aqua, what should we do now? We have less than 100 members near our tower. The other two Magic Towers' situations aren't looking too good, either. At this rate, the towers will fall," Blackie asked while launching attacks at the Blackwater members that flooded the nearby streets. However, no matter how many players he killed, they couldn't seem to put a dent in the flood of Blackwater's players. On the contrary, as he fought, more players seemed to swarm the streets.

Aqua Rose frowned at Blackie's report.

Their group was already occupied with fending off the Red Jade Legion. They had no time to worry about the other locations.

The difference between their numbers was too massive. Even with the Attribute boost from the Magic Towers, which allowed each of Zero Wing's elite members to take on three Blackwater elites at a time, it was not enough. Blackwater possessed an overwhelming number of experts. Even several of Zero Wing's elite members were no match for one expert player.

...

"Guild Leader, I've gathered 10,000 people to attack Zero Wing's Residence. We can charge in at any time," Laughing Drunkard reported when he arrived beside Abandoned Wave. "In addition, Heaven's Burial has dispatched an army of 50,000 elites to support us. It will take them roughly ten minutes to reach Stone Forest Town. If we camp outside their Resurrection Temple, even if the Zero Wing members in Stone Forest Town revive, they'll only be able to watch as we secure the town."

"Very good. Go and destroy Zero Wing's Residence," Abandoned Wave commanded. Sitting atop his warhorse, he was incredibly satisfied with the sight of the army surrounding Zero Wing's Residence. "Isn't Black Flame an excellent fighter? Once you destroy the Residence, use the Gnome Cannons to bombard the secret underground room."

He could not help but acknowledge that Black Flame was indeed powerful. The man had managed to defend the hallway to the secret room by himself, and both his subordinates and Pantheon's experts were helpless against him.

Although they could kill him if they continued to throw players at him, Abandoned Wave was done waiting.

The defending army's greatest advantage in a siege war was the ability to resurrect near the battlefield. In a war, half an hour would pass in the blink of an eye. The longer they dragged this war out, the more advantageous Zero Wing's position would be. Hence, he didn't want to waste any more time.

It was not impossible to destroy a Guild Residence's secret underground room. Only, it would be very difficult for players to do so by themselves. However, the Gnome Cannons could complete the task easily.

Without the narrow hallway acting as a barrier, even if Shi Feng were more powerful, he couldn't create endless duplicates of himself. They would only need 100 players to defeat him.

Under Abandoned Wave's command, the 10,000 players surrounding Zero Wing's Residence began to bombard the Residence with attacks.

Boom... Boom... Boom...

Against a series of Spells and Arrows, the buildings inside Zero Wing's Residence began to crumble, one after another.

...

"It seems that this war will end soon."

"What a pity. It would be great if Zero Wing had more members present."

"I know, right? Despite having just 20,000 members, they have lasted this long against Blackwater's army of 200,000 monsters and 100,000-plus elites. They even managed to slaughter over half of Blackwater's armies. If Zero Wing wins this war, it will qualify to be recorded within God's Domain's war history."

"Even if Zero Wing loses, it's still impressive. Have you ever seen any upstart Guild without backing stand against the joint forces of major existences like Blackwater, Heaven's Burial, and Pantheon? Although Zero Wing has lost, it was a glorious defeat!"

"Indeed. It is unfortunate that Zero Wing's luck is so poor. If not for Blackwater, it would have only been a matter of time before it united all of Star-Moon Kingdom."

Players could not help but sigh as they discussed the topic.

...

"Jade, let's return to White River City. There's no point in watching the rest of this war. I just received a report stating that Heaven's Burial's vanguard has reached Stone Forest Town. It won't be long before more reinforcements arrive as well. Even if all of the dead Zero Wing members in Stone Forest Town resurrect, they cannot win this," Yuan Tiexin said as he looked at Purple Jade. "However, Black Flame is quite surprising. Despite his Weakened state, he defeated the Red Jade Legion's vice commander, Red Rain. Pantheon's upper echelons are discussing the matter heatedly."

"Red Rain lost in a one-on-one?" Purple Jade could not help her shock. "That can't be, right? I recall that Red Rain has already reached the Void Realm. She can also reach the Battle Tower's fourth floor. Her Bloody Mary is even more tyrannical than an Epic Weapon, having a powerful countering effect against both NPCs and players. Even experts in the Void Realm won't fight her in a one-on-one if they can help it. How did Black Flame win against her?"

Purple Jade could not imagine how anyone with inferior Basic Attributes and weakened combat standards could defeat Red Rain.

"I am not sure how, either. Pantheon is keeping a tight lid on the battle videos. Our men can't get their hands on any recordings of that battle," Yuan Tiexin said, shaking his head. He was also very curious about that fight. Moreover, there weren't many battle videos that could elicit such a reaction from Pantheon.

"Uncle Yuan, look at Zero Wing's Residence!" Purple Jade suddenly said. "A flood of Zero Wing members are emerging!"

"Are they attempting a final stand?" Yuan Tiexin could not help but shift his gaze to the live stream.

Suddenly, several hundred players surged out of Zero Wing's destroyed Residence. These people were all extraordinarily well-equipped. Moreover, they were all Level 40 and above, and their bodies brimmed with killing intent. The intensity of their auras could even rival the members of Pantheon's Red Jade Legion.

"Wait! Those are Zero Wing's main force members and Dark Gods Legion members!" Upon sweeping a glance over the crowd, he immediately recognized many of Zero Wing's experts.

The instant these people appeared, they all activated Power of Darkness. Combined with the buff from the Magic Towers, their Attributes could rival Lord ranked monsters. Without hesitation, these people dove into Blackwater's elite army and began a massacre. 

Chapter 1086 - Miracle Appearing Once More

Watching the flood of Zero Wing's members charge out of the destroyed Residence towards them, Blackwater's members were stunned.

Based on the reports they had received, Zero Wing's members in Stone Forest Town had been concentrated on the Magic Towers and town walls. A portion had also been dispatched to repel Pantheon's three legions. Hence, the Guild shouldn't have any more manpower to defend its Residence.

Yet, now, several hundred players had emerged. Moreover, their weapons, equipment, and levels were all top class. How could they not be shocked?

However, Blackwater's members did not consider the matter overmuch.

They currently had 10,000 players surrounding Zero Wing's Residence. Among them, several hundred were expert players. With so much open space, Zero Wing could not rely on terrain to fight such a large force.

Blackwater members relaxed their tense hearts as they charged to meet their enemies.

In the next moment, several hundred of Blackwater's MTs raised their shields and slammed into the approaching Zero Wing members.

Peng... Peng... Peng...

As if they had been hit by a truck, Blackwater's forefront MTs flew through the air and crashed into the crowd of players behind them. Not only had the initial clash shattered the Truth Shields and Protection the Clerics and Oracles had cast on these MTs, but the MTs' HPs also dropped considerably.

Moreover, among the Zero Wing members in the frontal charge, none showed signs of grouping up to fight their enemies. Instead, they split up and squeezed their way into the Blackwater crowd before them. This caused issues for Blackwater's ranged players.

After God's Domain had undergone several system upgrades, even players on the same team could damage each other with their attacks.

If the ranged players launched their Spells and attacks into such a cramped area, there were only two possible outcomes; either they hit their mark, or they harmed their allies.

To make matters worse, the Blackwater melee players couldn't stop Zero Wing members from splitting up.

As if these Zero Wing members were high on drugs, they all displayed the Strength of Lord ranked monsters of the same level, with some even surpassing Lords. Blackwater's army couldn't even block Zero Wing's members, much less stop them.

"Who are these people?!"

As players throughout God's Domain watched this fight, they were stupefied.

These several hundred Zero Wing members were too powerful. They looked like tigers pouncing on a flock of sheep. From time to time, one could see numerous Blackwater members flying through the air. This looked like a battle between superhumans and ordinary people. It was a completely one-sided slaughter...

Less than a minute since the battle had begun, Blackwater's army had lost over a thousand members. Moreover, this number rose rapidly.

The massive gap in Attributes and combat techniques rendered Blackwater's elite army helpless.

"Guild Leader, these people seems to have active Berserk Skills. I suggest that we retreat for now and wait until their Skills' durations run out. We're at a disadvantage right now," Laughing Drunkard quickly suggested.

"I understand. Order everyone split up. Ranged players will work to pin Zero Wing's members down." Abandoned Wave's eyes twitched with anger as he watched the massacre before him. "Once their Skills run out, I want them taken care of!"

Berserk Skills were extremely rare in God's Domain. Even Blackwater, with its bountiful resources and strong influence, had only obtained a small number, and only a minority of the Guild's experts had qualified to learn one. Ordinary experts should not dream of wielding their own.

Yet, Zero Wing had managed to supply Berserk Skills to several hundred players.

With just several hundred players, Zero Wing had forced Blackwater's elite army to flee like rats.

This was the first time they had witnessed anything like this in God's Domain.

As time passed, Blackwater suffered more casualties. In contrast, Zero Wing's several hundred players had extremely few deaths.

"Are Heaven's Burial's members not here yet?!" Abandoned Wave demanded anxiously.

Normally, Berserk Skills should only for last two or three minutes at best, yet nearly five minutes had gone by, and Zero Wing's members still fought vigorously. On the other hand, over half of his elite army was dead. This was a nightmare.

"Guild Leader, they've reached the town's entrance and are currently making their way here," Laughing Drunkard responded.

...

Meanwhile, 3,000 players had gathered inside the underground first-floor hall of Zero Wing's Residence. As time passed, more players joined them.

"Guild Leader, Heaven's Burial's members have reached the town. Can we start now?"

"That's right! If we let the main force continue their slaughter, they'll steal the war's contributions!"

"Guild Leader, just say the word! We'll make those bastards from Blackwater beg for mercy!"

The Zero Wing elite members that had used the Guild Transfer Scrolls to teleport to the Residence were starving for action.

As they hadn't been able to teleport in earlier, they had been forced to watch the war from so far away. Even though their allies were being slaughtered, they hadn't been able to do anything to help. The building frustration had been intolerable. If not for the Guild's upper echelons stopping them from running to Stone Forest Town, they would've braved the journey.

Instead of responding to his Guild members, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose and asked, "Aqua, can you see Heaven's Burial's members yet?"

"They've already arrived. They are headed towards the Guild Residence. Initial estimates put their numbers above 30,000," Aqua Rose reported.

Nodding, Shi Feng smiled and said, "Excellent. Your teams can retreat. Try to lure as many people to the Residence as possible."

"Lure them over?" Aqua Rose was somewhat confused.

Although she knew that the seal on the town had been lifted, the Guild Residence's wide, open space was not a strategic location for a battle.

However, Aqua Rose couldn't care less. The Red Jade Legion before her was simply too powerful. Even though everyone from the Dark Gods Legion had activated their Berserk Skills, many of the Red Jade Legion's members had their own. If they continued to clash with the Red Jade Legion, it was only a matter of time before they were annihilated.

...

"Guild Leader Wave, I've made you wait," Singular Burial, who rode a horned lizard that was over two meters tall, greeted as he slowly approached Abandoned Wave.

On his way here, he had heard plenty of news about the battle in Stone Forest Town.

He had rejoiced when he heard the reports. He inwardly celebrated the fact that he had not led his Guild and joined the initial assault on Stone Forest Town. Otherwise, Heaven's Burial's fate would have been far worse than Blackwater's.

Just as Abandoned Wave was about to respond to Singular Burial, he discovered a change in the man's face. Right now, Singular Burial wore an incomparably gloomy expression.

Seeing Singular Burial's ill complexion, Abandoned Wave asked curiously, "Guild Leader Burial?"

Now that Heaven's Burial's vanguard army had arrived, victory was within their reach. It was also only a matter of time before Heaven's Burial's remaining army arrived. Right now, Singular Burial should be quite pleased, not wearing such an ugly look.

"I just received news that the seal on Stone Forest Town has been destroyed!" Singular Burial explained awkwardly.

"You're saying Zero Wing has lifted the seal on Stone Forest Town?" Abandoned Wave immediately paled.

With the seal lifted, Zero Wing could send an endless stream of reinforcements into Stone Forest Town. They had exhausted so much effort to annihilate most of Zero Wing's 20,000 members defending Stone Forest Town. If another forty or fifty thousand joined the fray...

"Wait; something's not right. Stone Forest Town's seal should've lifted quite some time ago. Why are so few of them here right now?" Singular Burial suddenly felt as if something were amiss when he glanced at the empty Zero Wing Residence.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he felt the threat of death wash over him.

Singular Burial wasn't the only one to experience the feeling. All of the players within Zero Wing's Residence felt it as well. Moreover, this feeling grew more intense as the seconds ticked by.

Boom!

Suddenly, the ground beneath Zero Wing's Residence exploded, and a tall tower emerged from the ruins. When this tower appeared, everyone felt as if they were suffocating.

This tower was none other than the Obelisk Shi Feng had unsealed when he had first captured Stone Forest Town. 

Chapter 1087 - Zero Wing's Strength

"A tower?"

"Why is there a tower here?"

Everyone in Stone Forest Town stared incredulously at the Obelisk that had suddenly emerged in the middle of Zero Wing's Residence.

The Obelisk was several hundred meters tall. Even the Tier 4 Mythic monsters looked no different than children before the Obelisk.

The instant the Obelisk appeared, the cold hand of fear touched the hearts of all players within Stone Forest Town.

Before anyone realized it, dark clouds covered the sky above the town. In the blink of an eye, elemental rain began to fall, scattering a mist over the town.

"This is... elementalization!"

Magical class players who were familiar with elemental Mana immediately recognized the mist's true identity, and they couldn't help their growing excitement.

The town's players also felt their minds clear like never before. They felt their perspectives widen.

If they could train in such a Mana-dense environment, it wouldn't take long for them to improve by leaps and bounds.

However, unlike the rest of the players, Abandoned Wave, Peerless, and Singular Burial did not show any excitement despite the thickening mist. Rather, they had noticed a fivefold magic array looming in the sky, enveloping the town.

The instant the fivefold magic array appeared, the Mana it gathered sent a shudder through every player's soul.

Crap! This is a trap! Singular Burial could not help but recall Zero Wing's initial capture of Stone Forest Town, and the monstrous, summoned NPC that destroyed the Star Alliance.

Thinking up to this point, chills crawled down Singular Burial's spine. If that monster appeared once more, the consequences would be unimaginable.

A trap? Originally, Abandoned Wave hadn't been sure about his guess. However, upon seeing Singular Burial's pale complexion, he was certain. Immediately, he turned to Singular Burial and asked, "Can you tell me what is going on?"

Now that he was so close to obtaining Stone Forest Town, he could not give up.

He had sacrificed too much to dominate Stone Forest Town. He no longer had the option to retreat.

Since he couldn't flee, he needed to get a clear idea of the trap they had just fallen into; he needed to implement appropriate countermeasures.

Meanwhile, Peerless, who stood beside the two, grew curious. What, exactly, could frighten the almighty Guild Leader of Heaven's Burial to such a degree?

"There's no time! If we don't leave this instant, it will be too late!" Singular Burial casually responded. Hurriedly, he began shouting through the regional Guild chat, "Everyone, withdraw from Stone Forest Town immediately!"

Unfortunately, a few moments after Singular Burial issued this command, a translucent, purple barrier began to form around Stone Forest Town. The barrier swallowed the town as well as some of the land outside its border. The instant this barrier appeared, fear surfaced on the monsters' faces outside of the town. Ignoring the bandaged man's commands, these monsters turned and fled.

The monsters that had been caught within the purple barrier were not as fortunate. Even Level 66 Grand Lords attacked the barrier desperately, yet the barrier remained intact. The barrier did not even shudder under the powerful assault.

"Shit! We can't get out!"

When the players in saw how firm the magic barrier stood, despite the attacks it received, they started to panic, their previous joy disappearing completely.

Meanwhile, outside Stone Forest Town, the war's spectators could no longer see inside the town. Because these live streams were recorded from a safe distance outside of the town, all they could see was a large dome over Stone Forest Town.

"What did Zero Wing do?" Yuan Tiexin felt an indescribable shock as he stared at the purple dome.

As one of the Secret Pavilion's upper echelons, he usually studied God's Domain thoroughly. He knew just how terrifying a fivefold magic array was.

This was something that could not even be found in empires' Imperial Palaces. Generally, one only encountered such an array in divine ruins. Even Tier 5 NPCs were forced to avoid fivefold magic arrays, much less current players.

Suddenly, Yuan Tiexin felt that his view of Zero Wing blur once again.

...

After the magic barrier surrounded Stone Forest Town, elite and expert players began to swarm out of Zero Wing's Residence, their numbers far exceeding everyone's expectations.

In less than a moment, over ten thousand Zero Wing members had joined the battle. Moreover, this number was still rapidly climbing.

Ten thousand... Twenty thousand... Thirty thousand...

As players watched, 50,000 Zero Wing members exited Zero Wing's partially destroyed Guild Hall. Even the weakest among them were Guild elites.

"Damn it! It really is a trap!" Rage burned in Singular Burial's gaze as he looked at the newly-emerged army of 50,000 elite players.

Although Blackwater, Heaven's Burial, and Pantheon's combined force was still larger than Zero Wing's, the gap had shortened. At this moment, their combined armies barely outnumbered Zero Wing's by two-to-one.

However, Zero Wing's elite members received the Magic Towers' buff. These elites' Basic Attributes surpassed their elite members by a large margin. In a head-on clash, they would not have any advantage whatsoever.

...

"Hahaha! Look at the ugly expressions on Blackwater's faces! I want to see how long they last now that we've closed the gap!"

"They actually dare to pick a fight with Zero Wing while most of us are away! I'll be damned if I don't camp their corpses until tomorrow!"

"There's no point in camping their corpses. They'll resurrect in Saimu Town after they die. Instead, we should let our healers resurrect them, and kill them again. Let's make them drop every item they have!"

The Zero Wing members that had just emerged from the Residence brimmed with fighting spirit as they grinned at Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's members.

"Guild Leader, all available elite members have arrived!" Blackie reported, pride growing in his heart as he watched the army of 50,000 elite players. It was hard to imagine that, in just a few months, Zero Wing had grown from an insignificant Guild to contesting for the position of number one Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom. Excitedly, Blackie said, "As long as you give the word, I'll lead our brothers to exterminate Blackwater and Heaven's Burial!"

"Alright. It's about time we show them Zero Wing's true power," Shi Feng said, nodding. Suddenly, he shouted, "All units, listen up! Leave none of them alive!"

Upon hearing this, Zero Wing's members charged at Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's armies without any hesitation.

The Obelisk was the Awakened's prison. However, the crystal ball inside had more than its sealing ability. Only, the crystal ball's other abilities were considerably costly.

For example, the fivefold magic array enveloping the town had cost a whopping 18 Mana Stones to activate. In addition, the magic array had an extremely long Cooldown. Once used, it could only be used again after a full month. Meanwhile, the magic array only lasted ten hours.

During this period, people could only enter Stone Forest Town. Leaving the town would be impossible until the array's duration ended, or it was deactivated. As for destroying the magic barrier, that was beyond current players. Meanwhile, the white mist in the town strengthened allies, granting them an extraordinary calm and helping them improve their Skill Completion Rate. In contrast, enemy forces' senses were dulled. Enemy players' field of vision, in particular, would be greatly limited.

If a player's field of vision were too narrow, they could easily fall prey to ambushes.

As the battle began, Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's members were bombarded by various ranged attacks, yet when they tried to retaliate, they couldn't locate their attackers. They could only stand there, dumbfounded, under the bombardment.

In just the first wave of attacks, Blackwater and Heaven's Burial had suffered over a thousand casualties.

Against Zero Wing's elite members, even Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's experts had trouble in a one-on-one fight, not to mention the Guilds' elite members.

Nobody could have imagined that the battle would become so one-sided.

In less than fifteen minutes, Blackwater and Heaven's Burial had lost over ten thousand members in total. On the other hand, Zero Wing had only lost several hundred. Moreover, these several hundred Zero Wing elites had traded their lives for the lives of Blackwater's and Heaven's Burial's experts...

Watching Blackwater's members die in troves, Abandoned Wave sent Shi Feng a hateful glare before reluctantly commanding through the Guild chat, "We... retreat!"

Defeated!

He had been miserably defeated! He had never imagined that his long-cultivated plan would end like this. 

Chapter 1088 - Legendary Existence

When Abandoned Wave issued the command, a powerless look graced his face. However, this command allowed the players fighting Zero Wing to release a sigh of relief.

This wasn't a battle; it was simply a one-sided massacre.

Not only were their Basic Attributes lower than Zero Wing's members, but their senses were also disrupted. Despite having more people on their side, they were helpless against Zero Wing.

"Guild Leader, they're starting to withdraw to the north. Should we hunt them down?" Aqua Rose also sighed with relief when she saw Blackwater's and Heaven's Burial's members retreat.

This war hadn't been an easy one. It was definitely the most thrilling war she had participated in since she had started playing virtual reality games.

If not for Shi Feng's preparations, revealing one trump card after another to foil Blackwater's assault as well as dispatching Fire Dance to remove the seal over the town, Blackwater would have secured this war's victory.

Despite dispatching so many elite players and the support of the Magic Towers and Obelisk, Zero Wing had only taken 20,000 enemy lives after much difficulty. In exchange, they had lost 3,000 lives. Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's power was obvious.

Moreover, Pantheon's core legions had also taken part in this war.

If not for Zero Wing's home-ground advantage, the war's outcome might not have been certain.

"Chase after them. Kill as many as we can," Shi Feng commanded without hesitation.

This war had given Shi Feng an understanding of just how powerful Blackwater was.

Despite Blackwater's short time in God's Domain, it already possessed such combat power and foundations. If Blackwater were allowed to continue, Shi Feng even doubted that he could defend Stone Forest Town.

Hence, he needed to deal a harsh blow to Blackwater and Heaven's Burial in this war. If they annihilated the Guilds' armies now, Zero Wing could continue to develop safely for a considerable amount of time. He would also have more time to prepare for his city's construction.

A city's construction was different from that of a town. Not only did it cost more, but it was also more difficult to defend than Stone Forest Town. Most importantly, he had already used the Magic Tower Design three times. Of the two remaining Magic Towers he could construct, he had promised one for the Town of Beginnings. He'd be dreaming if he thought he could defend a city with a single Magic Tower.

Upon hearing Shi Feng's command, every member of Zero Wing charged at the scattering Blackwater's and Heaven's Burial members.

This was a good opportunity to earn Guild Contribution Points.

Many of the systems and benefits Zero Wing offered required a certain amount of GCPs. Promotions also required GCPs. GCPs had become particularly important after Stone Forest Town's Battle Arena had appeared.

One could normally only gain GCPs by completing quests or trading in good equipment or items. However, there was a limit to the GCPs that could be obtained through these methods.

It was only during Guild wars that GCPs could be earned without a limit. How could they pass up this opportunity?

"Zero Wing is despicable! We're already retreating, yet they're chasing us down!" Singular Burial could not help but curse.

Among the remaining players in the Blackwater-Heaven's Burial army, the majority consisted of Heaven's Burial's members.

Blackwater's army had mostly been wiped out. Even if more were killed, it would not make much of a difference. However, things were different for Heaven's Burial.

Although their losses during their escape would be fewer than a direct clash with Zero Wing's forces, they still lost several hundred players with each passing minute.

Elite players were not as readily available as ordinary players. Elite players were a Guild's backbone. If Heaven's Burial lost so many of its elite players here, it would wound the Guild's development. The Guild may even stagnate.

However, regardless of how many times Singular Burial cursed, Heaven's Burial's members died by the dozens. Very quickly, over half of Heaven's Burial's 50,000 elite army had been lost...

As Zero Wing's members continued to massacre Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's members, Shi Feng received a call request from an extremely familiar ID.

Endless Scars? Shi Feng's expression tensed when he saw this name. Why is she contacting me? We shouldn't have any connections.

Endless Scars had been a rather mysterious female expert in Shi Feng's previous life. Aside from her name and battle records, nobody knew anything about her. Many players had recognized her as a legend among independent players.

Many Super Guilds had even tried to recruit the woman, offering her all sorts of astronomical prices. However, the latter ignored these offers, operating alone. Surprisingly, none of these Super Guilds tried to cause Endless Scars any trouble.

Endless Scars had become a legend due to her battle records against one higher-tiered opponent after another. First, she fought Tier 4 opponents as a Tier 3 player. Afterward, she fought Tier 5 opponents as a Tier 4 player. One of her most impressive battle records was of a fight with a Tier 6 God-ranked expert as a Tier 5 player.

Tier 6 was a massive turning point for players. Any expert that reached this rank had peaked in almost all aspects, yet, Endless Scars had successfully defeated a Tier 6 God-ranked expert. After that battle, she became the number one expert on the God's Domain Experts List of the time.

Everyone had assumed that this goddess would continue her legend in God's Domain. However, Endless Scars had suddenly disappeared from the public eye. Many throughout God's Domain had speculated about her disappearance.

Shi Feng had never imagined that such an existence would seek him out.

Shi Feng immediately accepted the call.

"Hello, my name is Endless Scars. You may also refer to me as Ling Jingxuan. I am a representative of the Blackwater Corporation," Ling Jingxuan introduced herself, her voice crisp and pleasing, which made her difficult to hate.

Although he hadn't reacted visibly, Shi Feng's heart pounded madly when he heard this introduction.

To think that this legendary player would be a representative from the Blackwater Corporation....

Shi Feng finally understood why none of the various Super Guilds had issued sanctions against Endless Scars after she rejected their offers. With such a powerful backer, of course, the various Super Guilds wouldn't move against her.

"Seeing as Miss Jingxuan has contacted me, are you, perhaps, trying to convince me to show mercy to Blackwater's people?" Shi Feng asked, laughing.

As one of the Blackwater Corporation's representatives, Ling Jingxuan would care about the Blackwater Guild's development. If all of the Blackwater Guild's elite members died here, the Guild would undoubtedly stagnate.

"That's right. Doing so would benefit us both." Ling Jingxuan did not bother to hide her intentions. Instead, she chuckled lightly, acting as if this matter wasn't important to her in the least.

"Miss Jingxuan, I have received your message of goodwill. If there is nothing else, I'll end the call now," Shi Feng said nonchalantly.

"If you continue to force Abandoned Wave into a corner, he might decide to take you down with him. If that happens, Stone Forest Town will have no ruler." Shi Feng's instant rejection surprised Ling Jingxuan slightly. The reports she had received had described his personality to a T. Immediately, she explained, "I am not saying this without basis. You know that Abandoned Wave is capable of controlling that monster army, right? Those monsters have yet to enter the town because Abandoned Wave is afraid of those monsters polluting the town with Evil Energy, making the area inhospitable for players. If you continue to pursue Blackwater's members, he might release the monster army into Stone Forest Town. If that happens, everyone will lose."

"Evil Energy?" Shi Feng seemed to recall something similar.

Any area that the Evil God's Evil Energy polluted became uninhabitable for players. If players were in these polluted areas for long periods, the Evil Energy would infect them as well. If that happened, the consequences would be extremely severe. This was precisely the reason that the Evil God's Temple was the human race's common enemy.

"Evil Energy cannot be dispelled. If you let the remaining Blackwater members go, I can assure you that Abandoned Wave will not allow the monster army into Stone Forest Town. May I know your decision, Guild Leader Black Flame?" Ling Jingxuan asked, smiling at Shi Feng's poker face on the screen.

At this point, Blackwater had suffered a devastating blow. Even if it were not exterminated, it would not be capable of causing Zero Wing any trouble for some time.

In her opinion, Shi Feng had no other choice.

At the end of the day, Stone Forest Town was an important revenue source for Zero Wing. Losing Stone Forest Town was the equivalent to chopping off Zero Wing's arms.

"Thank you for your offer, Miss Jingxuan. Again, if there is nothing else, I will disconnect the call now," Shi Feng replied in the same manner as before. Without waiting for Ling Jingxuan to respond, he ended the call. 

Chapter 1089 - Shi Feng's Madness

"He rejected the offer?"

Ling Jingxuan blinked in astonishment as she stared at the black, translucent screen before her.

She hadn't expected Shi Feng to be so decisive.

"What an interesting person." Ling Jingxuan chuckled as she shook her head. "So be it. It's just a pity that we'll lose Stone Forest Town."

Following which, Ling Jingxuan forwarded Shi Feng's reply to Abandoned Wave.

Her message was very straightforward, the contents simply stating that Zero Wing had rejected their offer.

After Ling Jingxuan finished sending her message, a female Cleric looking to be in her early twenties walked over and said, "Big Sis Endless, we've found the hidden path leading to the ruins' core. Only, the monster guarding it is a Level 60 Grand Lord. Leader has called for you to discuss a raid plan."

If Shi Feng were present, he would notice that the female Cleric wore Light of the Forsaken, a Level 45 Dark-Gold Set Equipment for Clerics. It was a six-piece set that only dropped from Level 50 and above Field Great Lords. Meanwhile, the Cleric wearing the set was only Level 41.

"Alright, I'll head over right now." Ling Jingxuan smiled and nodded. She then followed the female Cleric deeper into the ruins.

...

The Zero Wing members in Stone Forest Town rushed madly at their enemies, while Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's armies ran and hid wherever they could, suffering immense losses in the process. As for Pantheon's three legions, they held their ground in an easily defensible corner. However, although they had managed to lower their casualty rate, it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.

Watching his Guild members die, one after another, Singular Burial could not help but ask anxiously, "Brother Wave, what did Black Flame say?"

The purple barrier still enveloped the town. Players could only enter the town, not leave. No matter what methods they used, they were utterly helpless against the magic barrier. If this continued, the 50,000 elite members he had worked so hard to nurture would vanish like bubbles.

After Abandoned Wave received Ling Jingxuan's message, he was dazed for a long moment. Murmuring, he said, "He rejected."

"Has Black Flame lost his mind?!" Singular Burial was stunned when he heard this.

He had experienced an area polluted by Evil Energy personally. Players could not reside in those areas for long. If those monsters invaded Stone Forest Town, it would cripple the town.

Stone Forest Town was Zero Wing's main source of income. How could the Guild choose to give it up so easily?

"Black Flame really is decisive. He is actually willing to sacrifice an entire town to defeat the last of our troops. I have underestimated him," Peerless said, astonished. "If he is even this ruthless to himself, it seems our defeat is not without reason."

"Ruthless?" Abandoned Wave laughed. "Since he is so eager to die, I'll fulfill his wish!"

His defeat in this war was already certain.

It was impossible to obtain Stone Forest Town.

Moreover, after suffering such a miserable defeat, nothing good waiting for him upon his return to the Guild. He was more than willing to drag Stone Forest Town with him as he fell.

Moreover, if Zero Wing lost Stone Forest Town, its development would slow significantly. He might even have a chance to redeem himself.

He had only asked Ling Jingxuan to contact Black Flame to appease Pantheon and Heaven's Burial.

In reality, he hoped that Zero Wing would reject his offer.

He had never imagined that Zero Wing would be this foolish.

Following which, Abandoned Wave contacted the bandaged man.

"You can make your move now! Let the monsters enter the town! Destroy as much as you can! Our previous agreement still stands!"

"This is your decision, not mine. I'll gratefully accept Stone Forest Town."

Hearing Abandoned Wave resolution, a hint of excitement flashed in the bandaged man's eyes. He was like a starving beast that had suddenly spotted an innocent sheep.

Immediately, the bandaged man commanded his remaining monsters to charge into Stone Forest Town. The three Mythic monsters even joined the fray.

...

"Guild Leader, this is bad! The three Mythic monsters are trying to charge into the town!" Alluring Summer hurriedly reported as she tried her best to stop the crazed Mythic monsters.

However, the Evil Earth Dragons began to act differently. No longer controlled, their Basic Attributes instantly increased by 15%. Most importantly, their intelligence was no longer suppressed. Despite Alluring Summer's Divine Dragon having superior Attributes, she was barely able to hold back two of the Earth Dragons. She was helpless to stop the third.

As a Tier 4 Mythic monster, the Evil Earth Dragon was extremely fast. In less than ten seconds, it had reached Stone Forest Town's defensive walls.

"Roar!"

Bellowing angrily, the Evil Earth Dragon, that stood over a hundred meters tall, shattered the wall before it with a single swipe of its claws.

As for the town's Level 65 NPC guards, they were nothing before the Evil Earth Dragon. No one could stop the Mythic monster as it charged into the town. Although some players had tried to stop the monster, the Earth Dragon took them out with one swipe of its massive tail. In addition, the attack devastated the surrounding terrain.

Seeing this, Zero Wing's members were stupefied.

Even after activating Protection Blessing, just one of the Evil Earth Dragon's normal attacks had killed a Level 40 Guardian Knight with nearly 30,000 HP instantly...

Meanwhile, the instant the Evil Earth Dragon entered the town, the monster's body began to exude a gray fog that slowly spread. As the gray fog passed, the ground dried up as if its vitality had been devoured.

"Hahaha! With this, Blackwater's victory is a guarantee!"

"Hooray for the Guild Leader!"

Blackwater's members jumped in celebration as the Evil Earth Dragon arrived.

Although Zero Wing had a lot of players, they did not have anyone who could contend with a Mythic monster. They could only watch as the monster destroyed their town.

"A Tier 4 Mythic monster is really powerful. Though, it's a pity that we'll lose Stone Forest Town forever," Singular Burial said, sighing.

Previously, he had not had a chance to observe the Evil Earth Dragons up close. However, now that he witnessed one in action, he finally understood just how frightening Tier 4 monsters were. They were definitely not existences current players could challenge.

...

"Aqua, tell everyone to use their Return Scrolls to leave Stone Forest Town right now," Shi Feng said to Aqua Rose, who stood beside him, as he watched the Evil Earth Dragon rampage inside his town. Following which, he dashed towards the top of the Obelisk.

Unlike other magic barriers, the magic barrier enveloping the town did not isolate or hinder allies. Hence, Zero Wing's members could use their Return Scrolls at any time.

"We're leaving?" Shi Feng's decision confused Aqua Rose. However, after giving it some thought, she realized that they didn't have anyone present that could take care of the Evil Earth Dragon. They would simply be throwing their lives away if they remained. It was better to return to White River City. In any case, with the presence of the Evil Energy, Stone Forest Town was finished.

Following which, Aqua Rose notified Zero Wing's members to withdraw from Stone Forest Town.

...

"Hahaha! They're retreating! It seems even Black Flame fears something!" Abandoned Wave was quite pleased as he watched Zero Wing's members abandoned the town. Although he had not obtained Stone Forest Town, Zero Wing wouldn't have it either.

In other words, this war had ended in a draw, with neither side having an advantage.

When the Evil Earth Dragon reached the Obelisk, it released a powerful roar as its eyes locked onto the only Zero Wing member left in Stone Forest Town—Shi Feng.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng, who stood on the Obelisk's peak, unsheathed Killing Ray and swung the Sacred Sword at the gigantic crystal before him.

Peng!

The crystal split in half on the spot. Immediately, black fog began to seep from the crystal's two halves, gradually forming into the figure of a person.

A short moment later, an effeminate youth wearing long, blood-red robes with hair scattered over his shoulders appeared. This youth was none other than the Awakened the Obelisk had imprisoned.

[Lancelot] (Awakened, High Elf)
Level ? ? ?
HP ? ? ? ? ? ?/ ? ? ? ? ? ?

No wonder he didn't die even after imprisoned for such a long time. So, he's a High Elf. Realization dawned as Shi Feng looked at the effeminate youth.

Elves had a much longer lifespan than humans. Moreover, they were naturally gifted with the ability to manipulate the magical elements. Spells in their hands could move as if they had a life of their own.

If the current Lancelot were not in his soul form, he only needed to flick a finger to turn Stone Forest Town to ash.

However, even the current Lancelot should be provoked. He was capable of taking over other NPCs' bodies. Moreover, he became more powerful with each time his seal was lifted. The NPC he took possession of would also become incredibly difficult to deal with.

Shi Feng hadn't wanted to release Lancelot.

However, to exterminate Blackwater's remaining monsters, he had been forced to take this risk. 

Chapter 1090 - Awakened versus Evil Earth Dragons

As Lancelot appeared, Shi Feng lost control of the magic barrier surrounding Stone Forest Town. Instead, the magic barrier automatically began to suppress Lancelot's soul.

The Mana flowing out of the magic barrier increased by numerous times. Even the Mythic ranked Evil Earth Dragons started to fear the magic array as they unconsciously retreated.

Shortly after, Lancelot glanced at Shi Feng. However, at this point, the Mana from the magic barrier already suppressed him. Immediately, Lancelot vanished from Shi Feng's view as he flew to occupy a Tier 1 NPC Elementalist.

I should leave now. Shi Feng could not help but sigh with relief when Lancelot left.

Although Lancelot was only a soul, the NPC possessed the power to damage and kill other living creatures. Lancelot would have no problem killing a weakened Tier 1 player like himself.

If Lancelot had a physical body, he'd likely kill Shi Feng instantly.

Now that the seal had been broken, the magic barrier had begun to dissipate naturally. Players inside the barrier were no longer restricted and could leave the barrier any time they wanted. Without hesitation, Shi Feng activated Space Movement and distanced himself from Stone Forest Town.

Meanwhile, the independent players watching the war from outside of Stone Forest Town could finally see the situation inside.

"Is that Stone Forest Town?"

Everyone's jaws dropped when they saw the town's current state.

Instead of a thriving town, they saw a wasteland. Collapsed buildings littered the town. Potholes and cracks covered its streets. However, the player corpses that filled the streets shocked the spectators the most.

This was the first time they had seen anything so tragic.

"The magic barrier is gone!" Singular Burial's frown relaxed as he watched the magic barrier vanish. However, after recalling the current state of his army, his hatred for Zero Wing intensified.

Based on his current estimates, his elite army's death toll exceeded 35,000. Of his 50,000-strong elite army, less than 15,000 people remained.

After losing so many elite players, Heaven's Burial's development would undoubtedly stagnate for a time. The most abhorrent thing was that, even after losing so many troops, he had obtained nothing whatsoever. Moreover, Zero Wing's opportunistic members had looted over half of weapons and equipment Heaven's Burial and Blackwater's members had dropped.

Not only hadn't they profited from this war, but they had also lost far more than expected.

"Damn it! Why is Black Flame so willing to part with his town!?" Abandoned Wave ground his teeth as he watched Shi Feng leave the town through a spatial tear. At this moment, he even doubted that Shi Feng was human.

Shi Feng had sacrificed Stone Forest Town, yet he wasn't willing to go down with it.

"Let's leave as well. The Evil Energy here is growing denser." Peerless also could not help but sigh when he saw Shi Feng disappear. He then commanded the members of Pantheon's three core legions to leave Stone Forest Town.

However, as everyone began to activate their Return Scrolls, a figure appeared in the sky, chanting an incantation. Immediately, a threefold magic array slowly formed above Stone Forest Town.

"What kind of NPC is that? He can actually float in the sky."

Everyone was surprised when they noticed the NPC Lancelot had possessed.

"This is bad! NPCs capable of hovering in the air are at least Tier 4! Everyone, get out of there!" Singular Burial's expression tensed when he saw Lancelot.

Ordinary players might not know how significant hovering in the air might be, but as the leader of a Guild, Singular Burial knew what that ability represented. This signified that Lancelot was a Tier 4 NPC at the very minimum. Otherwise, he had no way of learning the super-rare Tier 4 Spell, Hover.

If the enemy were simply a Tier 4 Mythic monster, he would not be particularly worried.

However, the new opponent was a magical class NPC. As a Tier 4 magical class NPC, Lancelot knew many Tier 4 Spells. Among them, there were definitely Tier 4 large-scale destruction Spells. If he used those Spells, slaughtering these players would be child's play.

Peerless had also begun to notify his men, instructing them to escape Stone Forest Town quickly.

"Foolish ants, cease your resistance and let me devour you!" Lancelot, who now had a physical body, overlooked Stone Forest Town, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes as he began to laugh.

Suddenly, Lancelot pointed a finger towards the sky, and pitch-black ripples radiated into the surroundings. Any players that these black ripples enveloped were interrupted and could no longer use their Return Scrolls. Moreover, the Spell's range was more than double that of the Obelisk's magic barrier. Instantly, the black ripples enveloped Stone Forest Town. Even the monsters outside of the town failed to escape.

After the black ripples touched everyone in the town, they felt as if something or someone dragged them as their bodies involuntarily moved closer to Lancelot.

An Awakened's Tier 4 Spell, Dark Gravitation is so much more powerful! Shi Feng was speechless when he saw the black ripples' range.

Fortunately, he had traveled far enough from Stone Forest Town. Otherwise, he would be among those being dragged towards Lancelot right now.

Although Awakened NPCs and Mutants were somewhat similar, the former was unmatched in Skill and Spell utilization. Hence, Awakened NPCs were invincible among those of the same tier and level. They were even capable of challenging opponents of a higher tier.

Even a Tier 6 God couldn't kill a Tier 5 Awakened like Lancelot, and in the end, could only imprison the latter and pray that time would wear the High Elf down.

"What did Black Flame do?" Fear surfaced on Abandoned Wave's expression.

Even if he were a fool, he could tell that Shi Feng was related to this situation. However, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free from the power pulling his body. He could only watch as he gravitated towards Lancelot.

"This won't do. We can't resist this Spell at all. We need the Evil Earth Dragons to get rid of that NPC!" Peerless hurriedly told Abandoned Wave. Even after activating his Berserk Skill, he was dragged towards Lancelot.

Current players couldn't contend with a Tier 4 NPC. The three Evil Earth Dragons were their only hope.

As they were also Tier 4, even if the Evil Earth Dragons were slightly weaker than the NPC, there were three of them. Combined with players and the other Tier 3 monsters' attacks, it might be possible to kill the Tier 4 NPC.

If they could kill such a powerful Tier 4 NPC, based on God's Domain's settings, they might obtain some powerful items that could make up for the losses they had suffered.

Upon Peerless's reminder, Abandoned Wave hurriedly contacted the bandaged man.

The Evil Earth Dragons were Level 65, and after using an advanced Identification Skill, Abandoned Wave discovered that Lancelot was only Level 70. To Tier 4 monsters, a difference of five levels was practically negligible.

[Lancelot] (Awakened, High Elf, Great Wizard)
Level 70
HP 73,000,000/73,000,000

In terms of HP, Lancelot definitely surpassed NPCs of the same tier and level. However, he didn't have as much as the Level 65 Evil Earth Dragons.

"Kill that NPC!" Abandoned Wave commanded.

Immediately, with the three Evil Earth Dragons taking the lead, both monster and player armies began desperately attacking Lancelot. 

Chapter 1091 - Taking Advantage of Others' Misfortune

Lancelot looked like an ant before the three Evil Earth Dragons. It seemed as if a single slap was more than enough to take his life.

"Roar!"

The three Evil Earth Dragons activated their Evil Roar Skills simultaneously, firing three gray beams at Lancelot.

As the Evil Earth Dragons' specialty Skill, their Evil Roars had a very wide range. If struck, even Mythic monsters of the same level would receive significant damage. Their combat powers might even weaken.

The players watching from a distance felt chills crawl down their spines when they saw the three gray beams.

They finally understood why the tens of thousands of players that had attempted to raid Black Ridge Town had suffered such a miserable defeat. It wouldn't matter how many players attacked the town. Against such a Skill, all would die instantly.

Boom... Boom... Boom...

The three beams of light converged into a single point, creating a deafening explosion.

Despite the explosion occurring in the air, the resulting shockwave nearly sent the players inside the town flying.

"Black Flame, do you think a single Tier 4 NPC can defeat us?" Abandoned Wave gleefully demanded.

Although they had lost Stone Forest Town and their war with Zero Wing ended in a draw, every player throughout Star-Moon Kingdom would know of Blackwater now that it had displayed its power. The Guild would have no issues recruiting elite and expert players in the future.

Blackwater would quickly recover its losses.

But what about Zero Wing?

Without Stone Forest Town, the Candlelight Trading Firm would be Zero Wing's only source of income. The trading firm's meager profits could never sustain a Guild of Zero Wing's size. Moreover, Zero Wing could only operate around White River City. How could its development speed possibly compete with Blackwater's?

The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had also suppressed Zero Wing's expansion into the Black Dragon Empire. Hence, it was only a matter of time before Blackwater surpassed Zero Wing.

By then, he would remove Zero Wing's name from Star-Moon Kingdom permanently.

"Guild Leader, look..." Just as Abandoned Wave's hope rekindled, Laughing Drunkard's eyes widened as he looked towards the sky, shock flashing in his gaze.

Still hovering in the air, Lancelot was unharmed. A five-layer ice barrier shattered and fell to the ground, piece by piece.

"He's unharmed?"

"How is he so powerful?!"

"Is this a Tier 4 NPC?"

The spectating crowd gasped when they saw this, their hearts nearly skipping a beat.

A single Evil Roar could easily wipe out thousands of players or heavily injure a Grand Lord of the same level, yet Lancelot emerged unscathed after taking three of these attacks.

Everyone was confused. Why was there such a huge disparity in strength between these Tier 4 existences?

"Continue the attacks! He must've used a Lifesaving Skill! He won't be able to use it repeatedly!" The outcome also surprised Abandoned Wave. However, he had a more complete view of the situation. The greatest difference between NPCs and monsters was their Skills' strength. Otherwise, how could NPCs challenge monsters of the same tier?

As Abandoned Wave had guessed, the Five-layered Ice Mirror was a Tier 4 Great Wizard's Lifesaving Skill. The Skill could not be used again within a short time. Moreover, the Skill had a very short duration of only 10 seconds.

Immediately, tens of thousands of Spells and arrows flew towards Lancelot.

However, Lancelot was too small a target. Only several hundred attacks actually struck the NPC. In response, Lancelot stretched out his hand and swiped it across the empty space before him. Suddenly, a light blue magic shield appeared around him, releasing a dazzling, eye-catching glow.

When the Spells and arrows met the magic shield, it was as if they had crashed into adamantite. The magic shield remained intact even after receiving the hundreds of attacks.

By the time the first wave of attacks ended, Lancelot had finished chanting the incantation for the Tier 4 Spell, Earth Pulsation. The Spell had an effective radius of 300 yards. Upon the Spell's activation, the ground in the affected area shattered. Over a thousand players died on the spot. Monsters beneath Lord rank were also killed.

Immediately after, Lancelot swung his hand again. Clouds of dark smoke rose from Earth Pulsation's affected area and flew towards Lancelot.

This dark smoke was comprised of the slain players' souls. Nothing nourished Lancelot more than players' Immortal Souls.

As Lancelot absorbed the dark smoke, pleasure lit his expression. His aura also grew slightly stronger.

"He... He can absorb souls!" When Abandoned Wave witnessed this familiar scene, fear flashed in his eyes.

Immortal Souls were extremely important to players. If a player's Immortal Soul were absorbed, the penalty could range anywhere from being unable to log into the game for several days to permanent death. In the latter scenario, players would have no choice but to start a new account...

When Peerless and Singular Burial heard Abandoned Wave's words, they similarly paled.

They were not ordinary players. They had a general understanding of Immortal Souls.

If this NPC absorbed all of their present Guild members souls, the consequences would be devastating.

Yet, the powerful gravitational force continued to drag them closer to Lancelot. They couldn't escape the NPC at all...

...

"It seems I'll have to give them some hints." Shi Feng could not help but laugh when he saw these players' despair. Immediately, he anonymously published a message on the official forums, mentioning that he knew Lancelot's weakness. However, the information would cost 10,000 Magic Crystals.

Although his asking price was slightly high, if it could save tens of thousands of elite players and experts from losing their Immortal Souls, Blackwater and Heaven's Burial would buy the information without hesitation.

As for letting Lancelot eliminate Blackwater and Heaven's Burial's members, that was not Shi Feng's goal.

If Lancelot absorbed these players' souls, even Shi Feng would be helpless against the NPC. Moreover, he would truly lose Stone Forest Town.

This was not his desired outcome.

His best option was to ensure that both sides suffered immense losses.

Of course, if Blackwater had not possessed the three Evil Earth Dragons, there would be no point in sharing Lancelot's weakness.

In the past, Lancelot's seal had been removed a total of three times. Unlike the first time the seal had been released, imprisoning Lancelot by repairing the sealing crystal had been impossible after his second release. They had beaten Lancelot within an inch of his life before he could be resealed.

If players wanted to suppress Lancelot, they needed someone or something to pin down the Awakened NPC for a moment. Only then could players approach the Obelisk and activate the magic array inside the structure. When activated, the magic array would suppress Lancelot, making him much easier to deal with.

...

Suddenly, Daybreak Fog contacted Singular Burial and asked, "Guild Leader, I just discovered a method to deal with the NPC on the official forums. However, the other party is requesting 10,000 Magic Crystals. Should we purchase the information?"

"Ten thousand?! Why doesn't he just rob us instead!?" Singular Burial bellowed.

Although Heaven's Burial could obtain plenty of Magic Crystals, 10,000 was not a small number.

However, as soon as Singular Burial finished speaking, Lancelot began to chant another incantation. The Mana fueling this Spell was no less than his Earth Pulsation. Moreover, due to Dark Gravitation, players were much closer to the NPC...

"Guild Leader, do we buy the information?" Although Daybreak Fog agreed that this price was ludicrous, they had no other options.

"Buy it!" Singular Burial gnashed his teeth. Losing one's Immortal Soul was no trivial matter. He did not want to take this risk. Inwardly, however, he swore to himself, This seller better not reveal his identity! I will not let him off the hook! 

Chapter 1092 - Killing the Awakened

After Singular Burial paid the 10,000 Magic Crystals, he appeared to age significantly.

Zero Wing! I will make you pay for this!

His goal in dispatching such a large army to Stone Forest Town had been to take advantage of the situation and plunder some of the weapons and equipment Zero Wing's members dropped. After all, Zero Wing's members were famous for their excellent items. The average standard of Guild's elite members was even higher than Heaven's Burial's.

However, not only hadn't he gained anything, but he had also lost over 30,000 elite members and 10,000 Magic Crystals...

After Heaven's Burial received the strategy he had paid for, he fell silent for a long time. He radiated a cold, deathly aura.

The message he received only contained one sentence—Use the Evil Earth Dragons to distract Lancelot and send someone into the Obelisk to activate the magic array.

He paid 10,000 Magic Crystals for this?

At this moment, Singular Burial even considered devouring Shi Feng whole.

"Guild Leader Burial, what's going on? What's with the ugly look?" Peerless asked curiously when he noticed Singular Burial's enraged laugh.

However, after some thought, he found nothing unreasonable about Singular Burial's reaction. Heaven's Burial had not benefited from this war whatsoever despite sacrificing the majority of his 50,000-elite-player army. It would be odd if Singular Burial were in a good mood. However, Peerless rather admired the other Guild Leader. He never thought that the man would be so open-minded as to laugh after such a loss. Only, the man's facial expression was slightly tense.

However, Singular Burial was not ordinary. Very quickly, he sheathed his bubbling emotions and notified Abandoned Wave and Peerless of the method to raid Lancelot.

Abandoned Wave immediately instructed the bandaged man to control the Evil Earth Dragons to pin down Lancelot, while Peerless had the Red Jade Legion's experts sneak into the Obelisk and search for the prepared magic array.

...

When Zero Wing's members had retreated, Phoenix Rain, who was currently in the faraway Apocalypse Empire, had paid attention to every movement in Stone Forest Town.

A white-haired, slightly hunched old man also watched the war from inside the spacious Guild Leader's room.

Although this man was already in his 70s and looked as if a strong breeze could topple him easily, Phoenix Rain treated him with great respect.

This elder was none other than the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's Great Pavilion Master. He was the true owner of the Pavilion, Ku Rong.

"Zero Wing is quite interesting. To think such a small Guild can catch both you and Nine Dragons's attention at the same time," Ku Rong said, chuckling as he looked at the destroyed and occupied Stone Forest Town. "However, while one of you has an optimistic view of the Guild, the other is trying to destroy it. I cannot figure out what is going through your youthful minds nowadays.

"But Rain, you've slightly overdone it this time. You've invested so much into Zero Wing. Now that Zero Wing has lost Stone Forest Town, how are you going to compete with Nine Dragons on Thunder Island?

"You know how important Thunder Island is to the Guild. Moreover, I've already stated that whoever takes control of Thunder Island will succeed me in the future. I have always had a favorable opinion of you. I hope you do not disappoint me."

When Phoenix Rain heard Ku Rong's words, her chest tightened.

In reality, she had always wondered if she had made the right decision to invest so much into Zero Wing.

The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had only discovered Thunder Island by chance while exploring a dangerous zone out at sea. However, upon reaching Thunder Island, the Pavilion had discovered certain information which the upper echelons greatly valued. Even Ku Rong, the Great Pavilion Master who usually did not show himself in the Guild, made an appearance.

However, news about Thunder Island had quickly leaked, which attracted the attention of many Super Guilds. Several Super Guilds had already dispatched their capable forces to contest for the island.

Meanwhile, Ku Rong had made up his mind and publicly announced to the Guild the condition to become the next Great Pavilion Master. Whoever took control of Thunder Island would become the next Great Pavilion Master of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, and the future Great Pavilion Master would control all of the Guild's resources, talents, and future development.

Even after so many years, Ku Rong had never once mentioned the matter of succession. Hence, Ku Rong's abrupt decision after reading the collected information on Thunder Island had stupefied all of the Elders in the meeting. Phoenix Rain herself had been taken aback.

However, wrestling control of Thunder Island from Nine Dragons Emperor and the various Super Guilds was easier said than done.

It would likely require far more resources than she could imagine.

Moreover, even if she collected enough funds, her chances of taking control of Thunder Island were very small.

It seems I'll have to find Black Flame or Ye Feng for a chat, Phoenix Rain thought as she massaged her temples.

...

Meanwhile, Stone Forest Town was quite lively right now.

After the magic array inside the Obelisk had been activated, Lancelot's Basic Attributes had been significantly weakened. As a result, the power of his Spells had decreased.

After Lancelot had been weakened, players could finally damage the NPC. Unfortunately, they weren't able to deal much. Even Level 40 experts' damage was only in the dozens, while elite players only dealt two or three damage. Moreover, Lancelot dodged most of the attacks sent at him...

Even so, this turn of events gave these players hope of victory.

Lancelot's maximum HP was now only 60,000,000. Although players' damage was low, many a little made a mickle. Furthermore, they still had the support of three Evil Earth Dragons. From time to time, the Mythic monsters would launch attacks that dealt tens of thousands of damage. It was only a matter of time before they wore out Lancelot.

"Everyone, spread out! Melees, stop trying to approach the NPC and defend the magic array at the Obelisk! Ranged players, give him a beating!" Abandoned Wave commanded excitedly as he stood atop the Obelisk.

After the Obelisk's magic array had been activated, shadow monsters, formed from Mana, began to assault the magic array fiercely. However, compared to Lancelot, these shadow monsters were very weak. They were mostly Level 60 Elite monsters. The three Guilds' elite and expert melee players were more than enough to defend the magic array.

In addition, the three Evil Earth Dragons served as meat shields.

Lancelot's HP had already fallen to 20%.

To get to this point, they had paid the lives and souls of nearly 6,000 elite and expert players. Two of the three Evil Earth Dragons had also died in battle, with the last only had half of its HP remaining. However, based on Abandoned Wave's calculations, the remaining Mythic monster should last them until Lancelot died.

Just thinking about the loot a powerful NPC like Lancelot would drop caused Abandoned Wave's heart to jump with excitement.

According to God's Domain's iron laws, the stronger the monster or NPC was, the better the items they would drop. What kind of loot would an NPC, that even three Mythic monsters were helpless against, drop?

This thought had floated in Abandoned Wave's mind throughout the battle against Lancelot.

Time quickly passed. When Lancelot's HP fell to 5%, the players inside the town charged at the NPC frantically. They completely ignored Lancelot's AOE Spells.

"He's nearly dead! Attack with everything you've got!" Abandoned Wave shouted.

Abandoned Wave wasn't the only person with such thoughts. Singular Burial and Peerless's hearts also began to pound.

Very quickly, Lancelot's HP fell from 5% to 4% before falling to 3%. Meanwhile, Lancelot's retaliation grew more powerful, which rapidly increased the three Guilds' death rate. Every one of the Awakened NPC's attacks could easily kill hundreds of players.

However, the Guilds' members were too tempted by the NPC's loot. They couldn't care less if their allies died.

When Lancelot only had 1% HP remaining, Shi Feng finally made his move.

Using Space Movement, he instantly appeared above Lancelot.

"There's someone there!"

"Someone actually dares to try to steal our loot?! Kill him!"

Although everyone was absorbed in the battle, they were not so blind as to fail to notice an outsider.

Kill-stealing was common in God's Domain. Even they often practiced the act. Hence, they were naturally wary of kill-steals. The instant Shi Feng appeared, everyone instinctively shifted their attention to him.

"Wait, that's Black Flame!" Some expert players with good eyesight quickly recognized the intruder.

"Black Flame! I never expected even you to make such a fatal mistake!" Abandoned Wave could not help but laugh at Shi Feng's foolish behavior. Immediately, he commanded, "Everyone, stop attacking the Boss! Focus on Black Flame!"

Although Lancelot only had 1% HP remaining, 1% of 60,000,000 was still 600,000. It was impossible for Shi Feng to kill Lancelot by himself. 

Chapter 1093 - Epic Legacy Skill

"Kill him! Show him the consequences of trying to steal our Boss!"

Hearing Abandoned Wave's command, all the ranged players focused their fire on Shi Feng.

Immediately, a barrage of Spells and arrows flew at Shi Feng, who was still in midair.

With Shi Feng caught in freefall, ranged players could easily predict his trajectory and aim their attacks accordingly.

"Die!"

Singular Burial hated Shi Feng down to the bones right now. If not for Shi Feng releasing Lancelot, Heaven's Burial would not have suffered such a tragic loss. Now that Shi Feng had taken the initiative to come looking for a beating, how could Singular Burial possibly let the man get away?

Immediately, Singular Burial unslung the White Feather Double-string Longbow from his back. He then nocked five silver arrows carved with magic patterns and shot them at Shi Feng.

After he loosed the arrows, they merged into one and flew at Shi Feng like a meteor.

Singular Burial had just used the Tier 1 Taboo Skill Flying Meteor.

The power of this Taboo Skill rivaled that of a Tier 2 Skill. Even a Tier 2 Lord would be heavily injured and become temporarily paralyzed if they received it directly.

Aside from Singular Burial, other ranged experts had also used their specialties.

Instantly, over a hundred attacks locked on Shi Feng's landing spot.

Faced with such an onslaught, even if Shi Feng were on the ground right now, he would find it impossible to dodge them all, not to mention that he was still in midair. However, just when he was about to enter the line of fire, his body suddenly stopped descending. Consequently, all the attacks simply streaked past underfoot.

Immediately after, Shi Feng, who had activated Wind Rider, flew towards Lancelot.

"He's flying!?"

"How can he be flying?!"

Everyone was stupefied when they witnessed this scene. As for Singular Burial, who was somewhat familiar with Shi Feng, the fact that during the war at the Stoneclaw Mountains, Shi Feng had once flown for a short time popped into his head.

"This is bad! He lured us away from the Boss! Quick, stop the Evil Earth Dragon from attacking the NPC!" Noticing that Lancelot was moving farther and farther away, Singular Burial suddenly understood why Shi Feng had not used his flying Skill right off.

At this moment, aside from the last remaining Evil Earth Dragon, everyone else had stopped attacking Lancelot. Regardless, the damage of the Mythic monster was still much higher than the combined damage of all the players present. Even if it did not use any powerful attacks against Lancelot, it would shave off the NPC's remaining 600,000 HP before long. With Shi Feng's accurate judgment towards damage and timing, he could easily time his attack and land the finishing blow on Lancelot.

In addition, Blackwater's members had previously taken the initiative to lure Lancelot away from the main army. With the distance created, Shi Feng would have more than enough time to steal all the loot before the main army could catch up.

This was a perfect plan that killed two birds with one stone.

Hearing Singular Burial's words, Abandoned Wave also realized what was going on. Hurriedly, he had the bandaged man stop holding back the Evil Earth Dragon and let it attack Lancelot with its full power.

This Singular Burial sure reacted quickly. Shi Feng frowned.

Just as Shi Feng was about to arrive before Lancelot, Abandoned Wave finally made a move himself. Taking out an extremely exquisite dark-green crystal ball from his bag, he began chanting the incantation to activate it. With a sinister smile on his face, Abandoned Wave squeezed the crystal ball and shattered it.

When the crystal ball shattered, a stream of black smoke flew to Shi Feng.

This crystal ball was an extremely precious sealing crystal that the bandaged man had given him. When activated, the crystal ball could Silence any single player within a radius of 100 yards for ten minutes.

Shi Feng's Wind Rider Skill instantly vanished, and his body plummeted towards the ground.

"All melees, surround him! Do not let him get away no matter what!" Abandoned Wave shouted.

"Leave it to me, Guild Leader!" Laughing Drunkard, who was charging at the forefront, licked his lips when he saw Shi Feng falling. He was already prepared to land a fatal blow on Shi Feng.

The reason why players were strong was their ability to use numerous Skills and Spells. However, when they were Silenced, they could only resort to normal attacks. Needless to say, a Silenced player would have their combat power reduced significantly. Not to mention, Shi Feng was still in a Weakened state right now.

Aside from Laughing Drunkard, over a dozen other Level 40-plus melee experts were dashing towards Shi Feng. As soon as Shi Feng landed, they would use their Control Skills to restrict him and butcher him.

In response, however, Shi Feng took out a scroll from his bag leisurely.

Summon Guard!

Immediately, Kite's tall and muscular figure appeared before Shi Feng in midair. The Dark-Gold Guard then executed the Tier 2 Skill Storm Blade.

In the next moment, dozens of invisible wind blades struck at Laughing Drunkard and the others.

"Damn it!" Laughing Drunkard immediately withdrew when he failed to read what kind of attack Kite had just executed.

However, everyone else was not as fortunate.

Anyone who attempted to defend against the descending wind blades ended up falling on their backs. Immediately after, several more wind blades reaped their lives.

By the time Kite and Shi Feng alighted safely, all the players—aside from Laughing Drunkard—who had been within 15 yards of them had died to the Dark-Gold Guard's attack.

Kite's power caused the players, who initially planned to rush at Shi Feng, to freeze up, putting an abrupt end to the footwork to execute Charge.

"Black Flame, you will die here today! Don't think that a single NPC can save your life!" Although Laughing Drunkard feared Kite, Shi Feng himself was unable to use a single Skill. As long as they distracted Kite, killing Shi Feng would be a piece of cake.

"What if I have two?" Shi Feng laughed as he proceeded to summon Anna.

With the Dark-Gold ranked Kite protecting him and the Epic ranked Anna on the offensive, the difficulty of killing him would most likely be even greater than if he were at his peak.

The reason why guards were called guards in the first place was their very powerful ability to protect players.

Without even waiting for Shi Feng's command, Anna sprang into action as soon as she appeared.

Ten Stone Guards abruptly appeared before her, forming a wall that blocked off all attacks from the front. The attacks of players could not even scratch the Stone Guards. In contrast, the Stone Guards sent numerous MTs flying with only a single attack. This situation rendered the surrounding players utterly helpless against Shi Feng. As a result, Shi Feng could stroll up to Lancelot.

"Crap! What kind of Personal Guards are they?! They can actually cleave through an army of players so easily!"

"My guess is that they're Secret-Silver rank at the very least. They might even be the rumored Fine-Gold Guards."

The spectating players were shocked when they saw how strong Kite and Anna were. Although the two NPCs had displayed frightening strength before, their performance right now was even more splendorous.

However, Abandoned Wave, the Guild Leader of Blackwater, gnashed his teeth angrily when he saw this scene. At the same time, his heart was also tinged with jealousy.

Kite was already plenty powerful, yet Shi Feng actually had two of such Personal Guards. The aura Anna exuded seemed superior to even Kite's.

"Change of plans! All melees, deal with Black Flame! Everyone else, kill the Boss as quickly as possible!" Abandoned Wave reluctantly chose to deal with Lancelot first when he saw Shi Feng still unharmed despite coming under assault from so many players.

His decision was because, during the brief period they had stopped attacking Lancelot, the latter's HP had recovered back to 2%. If this situation continued, even after they managed to kill Shi Feng, they wouldn't have any way of dealing with the NPC.

Several thousand melee players promptly surrounded Shi Feng, blocking his path to Lancelot.

"Anna, it's up to you now," Shi Feng commanded immediately, having no intention of wasting time.

The strength of an Epic Guard was not as simple as Abandoned Wave thought it to be.

Nodding in response, Anna began chanting an incantation, her hand continuously writing line after line of divine runes so fast that others could not even see her hand.

Meanwhile, Kite and the ten Stone Guards hindered the assault of the maddened players and monsters.

As Anna chanted the final verse of the incantation, a golden magic array suddenly appeared in the middle of the sky, covering a radius of 100 yards. In the next moment, a woman wearing golden, divine armor and wielding a silver spear emerged from the magic array. Two sets of white, feathered wings spread wide from the woman's back.

The instant this woman appeared, everyone could not help but turn their gaze towards the sky, fear and awe instantly flooding their hearts.

"A Valkyrie?"

"This is a lie, right?!"

Everyone was stupefied.

Without waiting for anyone to react, the Valkyrie flapped her wings and abruptly flew before Anna. With a wave of her spear, she sent a storm sweeping across everyone. The ground before the Valkyrie shattered as if the mortal world could not withstand even a normal attack of the Valkyrie.

"Quickly finish off Lancelot!" Shi Feng ordered hurriedly.

Angel Summoning was a Legacy Skill Anna learned after being promoted into an Epic Guard. The Skill allowed her to summon a Valkyrie to assist her in battle. However, the Valkyrie summoned could only be two tiers higher than Anna at most and would remain in existence for a short ten seconds. Moreover, Angel Summoning had a Cooldown of one full day. Shi Feng did not wish to waste this opportunity.

Under Anna's command, the Valkyrie transformed into a streak of light and appeared before Lancelot. When the Valkyrie swept her spear towards Lancelot, the weapon tore apart even space itself. The power contained within the attack was even stronger than Lancelot's without the suppression of the Obelisk's magic array.

At the critical moment, Lancelot activated Five-layered Ice Mirror. However, when the layers of ice came into contact with the Valkyrie's spear, they immediately shattered into oblivion. Furthermore, the spear's power did not decrease even in the slightest as it landed on Lancelot's body.

Boom!

Lancelot instantly shot away, and his body crashed into the Obelisk. His remaining 2% HP instantly fell to 0, leaving him deader than dead. 

Chapter 1094 - Unstoppable EXP

"He's dead?"

"Didn't he still have 2% HP left?"

Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw Lancelot's motionless body planted in the wall of the Obelisk.

They had personally seen for themselves just how powerful Lancelot was.

Even after he was suppressed, pushing him into a critical state would've been impossible if not for the three Level 65 Mythic ranked Evil Earth Dragons slowly chipping away at his HP.

In order to reach this point, they had sacrificed over ten thousand elite players and even two Evil Earth Dragons, and yet...

"Black Flame!"

Abandoned Wave screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw that Lancelot was dead.

At this moment, due to Shi Feng landing the final hit on the Awakened NPC, his experience bar was skyrocketing.

In just a short moment, he had gone from Level 44 to Level 45. Even then, his experience bar continued to shoot up.

Level 45 10%... 30%... 50%...

The EXP awarded for killing an Awakened is actually this much? Shi Feng was momentarily stunned when he looked at his rising experience bar.

The hidden class he possessed doubled the EXP he required to level up. Not to mention, he had already reached Level 44. Even killing two or three Grand Lords of the same rank would not net him one level.

In the end, Shi Feng rose from Level 45 to Level 46 and finally stopped at 84% of Level 46. He was only four levels away from the Level 50 threshold.

This leveling speed truly surpassed Shi Feng's expectations.

Awesome! With this, I'll have more time to deal with the city building matter. Shi Feng was in a great mood as he looked at his Attribute Panel. He could not help but wish he could kill several more Awakened NPCs right now. That way, he'd be able to reach Level 50 posthaste and challenge his Tier 2 class promotion. Then, he could visit many places that were currently off-limits to him.

Level 50 was a major threshold in God's Domain. Not only would players receive a huge improvement to their weapons and equipment, but they could also visit more places. In God's Domain, many rare maps opened up only to players that were Level 50 and above. Although God's Domain was different from most virtual reality games, it still imposed plenty of restrictions on players as a form of protection.

These rare maps were perilous. Players below Level 50 that visited these would undoubtedly die. Even after they met the level requirement to enter these maps, they would only have a slightly higher chance of survival.

In the past, many of God's Domain players had suffered under this restriction. When they stumbled across such maps with zero knowledge about them whatsoever, they received a free trip back to their respective cities, courtesy of the Main God System, wasting plenty of precious travel time.

After Shi Feng got over his joy of leveling up twice, he shifted his gaze up to the air.

After Lancelot died, he had dropped plenty of items. However, they were all scattered around the Obelisk, not concentrated at a single location.

Right then, the players inside Stone Forest Town also noticed the items strewn in midair around the Obelisk. Immediately, greed surfaced in their eyes.

With how powerful Lancelot was, one could just imagine how amazing the loot he dropped would be. Most likely, any random item could sell for an astronomical sum.

Everyone swarmed towards the Obelisk.

Not daring to waste time idling around, Shi Feng dashed straight for the closest item.

However, after he had taken only a few steps forward, a deafening roar entered his ears.

In the next moment, the last Evil Earth Dragon executed Savage Charge on Shi Feng. Not only did the Skill provide the Mythic monster with tremendous speed, but the first target its charge hit would also suffer 400% damage.

If struck, even a Tier 2 MT of the same level would be killed instantly, not to mention the weakened Shi Feng. Most likely, even a scratch would send him to his grave.

"Go! Kill him!" Abandoned Wave's eyes burned with rage after he saw two consecutive golden auras enveloping Shi Feng. If not for Shi Feng's interference, the person who leveled up twice might have been him.

As for Lancelot's loot, he had long since ordered some Assassins to collect them.

"Roar!"

The Evil Earth Dragon roared as it charged at Shi Feng, its speed so fast that even if Shi Feng activated Wind Rider, he would not outrun it.

Just as the Evil Earth Dragon was about to reach Shi Feng, the beautiful Valkyrie appeared before Shi Feng. She then thrust her spear at the approaching Mythic monster.

Peng!

As a clashing sound echoed throughout the entire town, not only did the Evil Earth Dragon's charge abruptly stop, but the Mythic monster even went flying over 30 yards away. When its body slammed into the ground, the earth beneath it cratered.

The Evil Earth Dragon instantly lost 3% of its HP, leaving it with only 16% of its HP.

Such Strength! Her Strength should be close to a Tier 5 existence's. As expected of a Higher Being. Shi Feng was astounded at this scene. The Evil Earth Dragon was bleeding profusely from the wound on its chest right now, and even the claw it used to block the Valkyrie's spear was bent at an unnatural angle.

This was the difference brought about by Life Rating.

Despite both being Tier 4 existences, the Level 69 Valkyrie's Strength completely eclipsed the Evil Earth Dragon's.

By the time the Evil Earth Dragon stood back up, the Valkyrie was already before it. Hovering in midair, the Valkyrie gently flapped her wings as she silently looked down on the Evil Earth Dragon.

Just when the Mythic monster tried to do something, the Valkyrie sent another stab at it.

Boom!

The Evil Earth Dragon got planted into the ground once again. This time, only half its body was above ground. Meanwhile, its HP fell by another 3%. Everyone else inside the town felt a violent tremor that nearly caused them to lose their balance.

After receiving a series of rapid attacks from the Valkyrie, the Evil Earth Dragon was thoroughly embedded into the ground, with only its cranium, which was about to be flattened, above the surface. At this moment, the Mythic monster had only 4% of its HP remaining.

Then, the Valkyrie chanted an incantation. A massive, glowing sword manifested in the sky and plunged towards the Evil Earth Dragon. When the sword crashed into the Mythic monster's exposed head, it took away the monster's last strand of HP.

After witnessing the Valkyrie's series of attacks, everyone was thoroughly stupefied.

Before the Valkyrie, a Tier 4 Mythic monster was no different from a Common monster. She had slaughtered the Evil Earth Dragon with no difficulty whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng, who was currently frantically picking up loot, leveled up once more, reaching Level 47.

When the Valkyrie shifted her gaze towards the nearby players, everyone suddenly couldn't breathe. At this moment, it was as if their lives were out of their hands. Moreover, their bodies also felt extraordinarily heavy.

"Guild Leader Wave, let's retreat!" Singular Burial no longer had the will to fight when he looked at the Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie was simply too strong.

Even sending an army of 300,000 elite players against her would be pure folly. If they remained here, most likely, not a single one of them would leave Stone Forest Town alive.

Peerless nodded in agreement with Singular Burial's words.

Of the three core legions he had brought with him, the Red Jade Legion was no longer functional. Currently, he had lost only one-third of his forces. He still had a chance to redeem himself. If he lost everything, however, he would have to start drafting his letter of resignation already.

"Fine! Let's go!" Abandoned Wave's eyes were filled with reluctance as he said this. However, even though he was reluctant, he knew that contending with the Valkyrie was impossible. 

Chapter 1095 - One versus Five

"Wait, something's wrong with that Valkyrie! Doesn't it seem like she's starting to become translucent?"

"You have that feeling as well?"

"Quick, look! That Valkyrie is starting to disappear!"

Right after Abandoned Wave gave the command to retreat, a sudden change to the Valkyrie immediately grabbed everyone's attention.

The Valkyrie's appearance had simply given them too much of a shock.

Even Abandoned Wave and the others, who hated Zero Wing down to the bones, had no choice but to give up on Stone Forest Town. However, now that the Valkyrie started facing problems, their hopes rekindled.

Seeing this scene, Abandoned Wave immediately interrupted the activation of his Return Scroll.

"Everyone, hinder Black Flame and buy our people some time!" After Abandoned Wave was sure that the Valkyrie had disappeared, a sinister smile appeared on his face.

Lancelot's loot was just too tempting. Most likely, no player would willingly abandon it.

Previously, he had already sent a team of Assassins to collect the items in secret to avoid detection by the Valkyrie. Now, however, there was no need for such precautionary measures.

Currently, Zero Wing had no one present, aside from Black Flame and his two NPC guards. Although killing Black Flame might be difficult, plundering Lancelot's loot would be a piece of cake.

After all, with the Awakened NPC's numerous drop items scattered all over the place, how could one person's looting efficiency outmatch a group's?

Once Abandoned Wave gave the command, Peerless and Singular Burial also began coordinating their forces to cooperate with Blackwater's members.

Regardless if it was Kite or Anna, neither was an existence that current players could go up against. However, there would be no problems if they only wished to distract the two guards for a short period. Particularly, they still possessed magic arrays in their hands.

As long as they found the opportunity to trap Kite and Anna using these magic arrays, killing the Silenced Black Flame would be child's play.

...

After Shi Feng picked up another item, he suddenly discovered over a thousand players converging on his location. Dozens of the previously stealthed Assassins have also begun making bold moves.

Without hesitation, Shi Feng dashed towards the Obelisk.

Currently, not only was he Silenced, but he was also in a Weakened state. He would simply be asking for a beating if he challenged a thousand elite players. Not to mention, the experts of the Red Jade Legion were among these players.

As for Kite and Anna, both of them had already been trapped in magic barriers and were currently fighting against a group of players and one-horn humanoid monsters. The two guards had no attention to spare for him.

Shortly after Shi Feng started running towards the Obelisk, his pursuers stopped cold.

A legion of 1,000 players had suddenly appeared beside Shi Feng. Meanwhile, the person leading this legion was none other than Star-Moon Kingdom's renowned Snow Goddess, Gentle Snow.

"So it's Guild Leader Snow!" Abandoned Wave laughed involuntarily when he saw Gentle Snow. "I was originally planning to take care of you slowly. I never thought you would actually send yourself to me. Charge! Get rid of them all!"

He had a very clear understanding of Gentle Snow's strength.

Although she was indeed quite strong, the people on his side were not unknown nobodies, either. Just the Red Jade Legion Peerless led had several Refinement Realm experts. Although both sides were roughly equal in number, in terms of quality, his army definitely surpassed Gentle Snow's.

In accordance with Abandoned Wave's command, Peerless led four Refinement Realm experts and charged at Gentle Snow. As for Singular Burial, he led a group specifically to deal with the Silenced Shi Feng.

"Your opponent is me!" When Gentle Snow noticed Singular Burial heading towards Shi Feng, she threw her greatsword at the man.

Death Throw!

"If you wish to deal with our Guild Leader, you need to get through me, Lightning Blade, first!"

At this time, a Guardian Knight appeared beside Singular Burial and wielded his square shield to receive the greatsword.

Meanwhile, Singular Burial did not even try to dodge the oncoming greatsword as he continued making his way to Shi Feng.

He was very familiar with Lightning Blade's strength. Heaven's Burial's current strongest MT was probably the Level 41 Lightning Blade, who could hold his ground against a High Lord of the same level all by himself without using any Skills. Defending against a player's attack would be a walk in the park for him.

Peng!

When the greatsword collided with his shield, Lightning Blade had to take four steps back, damage of over -2,000 appearing above his head. Although this amount of damage was nothing to him, who possessed nearly 30,000 HP, an extraordinarily ugly expression still surfaced on his face.

Why is her Strength so powerful? After Lightning Blade stabilized his body, he looked at Gentle Snow somewhat fearfully.

The equipment he currently wore could definitely rank near the top in the current God's Domain, particularly with the Epic bracer he had on right now. The bracer increased the effect of Strength contained within his attacks by 20%. Even if he was going up against a Berserker of the same level, he was confident of surpassing the latter in a contest of Strength.

For the greatsword Gentle Snow threw to actually force him back by so many steps...

Gentle Snow's Strength was simply unbelievable.

Meanwhile, facing the encirclement of Peerless and his four companions, Gentle Snow waved her hand lightly. Suddenly, three dazzling, divine spears appeared around her. Peerless and the others immediately felt as if they had sunk into a muddy swamp, their Movement Speed and Attack Speed decreasing significantly, and they could only watch as the three divine spears flew at them.

Along with the clangor of metal, three of the five players perished instantly. Only Peerless and another Swordsman remained alive.

How did she suddenly become so powerful? Didn't they say that she had entered the Refinement Realm just recently? Peerless had an ugly expression on his face as he stared at Gentle Snow, his eyes filled with confusion.

Currently, however, the most shocked wasn't Peerless, but Gentle Snow.

Right before the battle began, Shi Feng had actually passed her a Fragmented Legendary item, the Seven Luminaries Battle Armor. Although a chest plate mainly increased a player's defensive capabilities, the additional Strength it provided allowed her combat power to undergo a qualitative change.

The Seven Luminaries Spears that came with the activation of the Seven Luminaries Domain allowed her to display Strength rivaling that of a Great Lord of the same level even without activating a Berserk Skill.

As a result, the massive gap in Strength allowed Gentle Snow to fend off the attacks of Peerless, Singular Burial, and the others single-handedly; the disparity was so great that she was even overwhelming Peerless and the others, causing the pressure on them to grow increasingly heavier.

How did she become so powerful? Abandoned Wave was filled with shock.

Before, Gentle Snow's true strength only allowed her to go up against one Refinement Realm expert. Going up against two at the same time was definitely beyond her. Yet, after vanishing from the public eye for just a short time, she was now actually capable of going up against five Refinement Realm experts at the same time. She had even managed to kill three instantly. This feat was utterly inconceivable.

Just as everyone was stunned by Gentle Snow's performance, Shi Feng finally arrived before the massive crystal ball atop the Obelisk.

System: Do you wish to use 10,000 Magic Crystals to repair the seal?

Without hesitation, Shi Feng clicked "Yes." The 10,000 Magic Crystals he obtained from Heaven's Burial immediately disappeared. The massive amount of Mana contained within the Magic Crystals then began returning the sealing crystal ball to its original state rapidly.

At the same time, the purple barrier that had previously disappeared also enveloped Stone Forest Town once again. 

Chapter 1096 - Wildly Arrogant

When the purple barrier appeared around Stone Forest Town once more, the excited members of Blackwater could not help but stare at their surroundings.

The magic barrier didn't just reduce their combat power.

Most importantly, it prevented them from leaving Stone Forest Town. On the other hand, Zero Wing could send in reinforcements continuously to whittle down their forces.

At this moment, Abandoned Wave's complexion also turned extremely pale as he stared at the disguised Shi Feng, who was standing at the top of the Obelisk.

As long as the magic barrier existed, none of his forces could leave the town. Moreover, Lancelot's loot would remain in an ownerless state for two hours after the items first appeared. As long as the players holding those items died, the looted item would drop from their corpses.

Two hours were more than enough for Zero Wing's reinforcements to arrive and wipe them out.

...

"What a devious plan!" Yuan Tiexin, who was observing the battle from Saimu Town, felt a hint of fear towards Shi Feng after witnessing this scene. "With this, Blackwater, Heaven's Burial, and Pantheon are truly finished."

Thinking about it now, Shi Feng was truly a terrifying existence.

Not only did he possess extraordinary strength, but he was also an incredible strategist.

Despite going up against Blackwater's powerful army, Shi Feng had actually managed to wear it down bit by bit, weakening it to such a state. Even a veteran like Yuan Tiexin, who had fought plenty of wars before, was horrified by Shi Feng's capabilities. From beginning to end, this war had been under Shi Feng's control. By the time Blackwater's members realized this, everything was already too late.

Currently, Blackwater no longer had a numerical advantage. Neither did it possess experts of superior quality. It didn't even hold a terrain advantage.

"Uncle Yuan, now that Zero Wing has already won this war, are we still going to look for Black Flame?" Purple Jade asked.

She was not interested in this war in the slightest. However, through this war, her need to challenge Black Flame to a fight had further solidified.

"Of course we're still going. Or to put it in another way, because Zero Wing has won, we have even more reason to visit him," Yuan Tiexin replied, laughing.

Although Zero Wing had won this war, Stone Forest Town was in ruins.

Zero Wing could not sustain itself with just the income of the Candlelight Trading Firm. Right now, the Guild was in dire need of a new source of income for Coins. Otherwise, it would very quickly fall into stagnation—something it could not afford to happen, particularly during this period when the experts of the various large Guilds were reaching Level 40 one after another. If Zero Wing did not have the financial strength to supply its Guild members with Mounts, it would definitely fall behind the other Guilds.

Meanwhile, the Secret Pavilion could provide Zero Wing with cities and markets to develop in.

Yuan Tiexin was not worried about not being able to obtain the Magic Tower Design at all.

...

Time passed quickly. Inside Stone Forest Town, the members of Blackwater, Heaven's Burial, and Pantheon began to assault the Obelisk desperately.

"MTs, open a path for us! Healers, pay attention to healing! Assassins, sneak inside! As long as we destroy the magic crystal on top of the tower, we will be able to leave this place!" At this time, Abandoned Wave himself was also participating in the battle, giving out commands while he fought against Zero Wing's members. "Whoever manages to break that crystal, I'll give them an Epic item!"

Peerless and Singular Burial also nodded in agreement with Abandoned Wave's decision.

After all, they had obtained a total of 26 items from Lancelot. Meanwhile, Zero Wing had managed to get only two. If they had to pay one Epic item to bring the 26 items away, the trade would definitely be worth it.

Hearing this, everyone immediately started fighting with even greater desperation.

In the current God's Domain, the higher the level one reached, the more difficult it was to obtain high-quality weapons and equipment. Ordinary players already treated Dark-Gold items as godly items, not to mention Epic items.

As elite members of their respective Guilds, obtaining an Epic item was practically a dream.

In God's Domain, be it Dungeons or ancient ruins, the more dangerous a place was, the easier it was to obtain good weapons and equipment. However, the requirement in individual combat standards and Basic Attributes for entering these locations were considerably high.

Dark-Gold items were not comparable to Epic items. To elite players like them, an Epic item could provide them with significant improvements. It was their ticket to the world of experts.

The expert players present had mostly reacted in the same manner. After all, even Super Guilds had obtained only a limited number of Epic items—which were then provided to an extremely small number of qualified apex experts.

"What suicidal maniacs!" Even Gentle Snow felt somewhat pressured as she fought off the oncoming horde of players. The enemy was fully intent on trading blow for blow. If not for the healers providing sufficient healing, she would have long since drowned in the sea of players.

However, this kind of attack method had also opened a path to the Obelisk.

Leading hundreds of elite players, Abandoned Wave, Peerless, and Singular Burial charged into the Obelisk.

The interior of the Obelisk consisted of a spiraling staircase that continued all the way to the top of the structure.

Just as everyone was about to reach the top of the tower, a figure in black suddenly appeared before them, blocking their path forward.

The instant this figure appeared, Abandoned Wave and the others involuntarily stopped their advance, their eyes filled with fear as they looked at this figure.

This figure was none other than the Guild Leader of Zero Wing, Black Flame—the man also known as the Sword King, who was the number one expert of Star-Moon Kingdom.

If it were before this war, everyone present would only feel some reverence towards Black Flame. They definitely would not fear him. However, after witnessing Black Flame's frightening performance in this war, even if one did not try to recall those scenes, their hearts would immediately palpitate in fear at the sight of the blue longsword in Black Flame's hand.

"Black Flame! Do you think you can hold off so many people just by yourself?!" Although Abandoned Wave similarly felt fearful, the current situation was different from before.

Not only was Black Flame in a Weakened state right now, but Abandoned Wave had even Silenced him just a while ago. Most importantly, the staircase they were standing on provided much more space than the narrow hallway before the underground secret room. They had enough room for over a dozen players to attack Black Flame at the same time.

Looking at the tense expressions his opponents were making, Shi Feng simply shrugged and chuckled as he said, "How will I know if I don't give it a try?"

"Arrogance!" Peerless[1] abruptly executed Charge on Shi Feng, lifting his shield as he rushed at Shi Feng.

The other melee players in the group also began circling around Shi Feng, intent on surrounding him.

Immediately after, Singular Burial also shot out numerous arrows to prevent Shi Feng from dodging sideways.

If Shi Feng was not Weakened and Silenced, they might have to be wary of him. Now, however, they had no reason to fear him whatsoever.

Without even trying to evade the rapidly approaching Shield Warrior, Shi Feng chose to clash directly with Peerless.

Peng!

Along with the sound of metal clashing, Peerless felt as if he had just collided with a truck, his body, which was as huge as a bear, involuntarily taking a few steps backward.

Everyone could not help but be dumbfounded.

Peerless was one of Pantheon's apex Shield Warriors, yet a Swordsman, who was both Weakened and Silenced, actually forced him back.

"You!" Peerless was inwardly dismayed as well.

Others might not know how powerful Shi Feng's attack was, but Peerless knew very clearly. Unless Shi Feng possessed Strength rivaling a High Lord's of the same level, it was practically impossible for him to achieve such an outcome.

Yet, how could a Weakened player possibly have Strength rivaling a High Lord's of the same level?

TL Notes:
[1]Peerless: In Chapter 939, Peerless was mentioned to be a Berserker. Here, though, he is a Shield Warrior (the author probably forgot about it again). 

Chapter 1097 - Might of the Sword King

Although Peerless was dismayed, he very quickly regained his calm.

He might not be a match for Shi Feng in a frontal confrontation, but he wasn't alone. Right now, over a dozen Level 40 experts had already surrounded Shi Feng.

Even if Shi Feng's Strength was great, he was not invincible.

As long as Peerless continued distracting Shi Feng, the others would have an opportunity to take advantage of the weak points Shi Feng exposed. In addition, unlike the time at the hallway before the secret room, Shi Feng did not have any healers supporting him this time.

"I'll figure out a way to block his attacks! You guys find an opportunity to attack from his blind spot!" Peerless commanded secretly through the team chat.

The fifteen melee experts nodded silently in response, and they began watching Shi Feng's every move.

Once Shi Feng launched another attack against Peerless, they would take action at the same time. Then, even if Shi Feng had six arms and three heads, he wouldn't be able to defend against them.

Moreover, aside from melee players like themselves, Singular Burial was also looking for an opening from a distance.

At this moment, Singular Burial carefully retrieved a Black Arrow from his bag. The instant this Black Arrow appeared, Abandoned Wave, who stood beside him, felt like death was imminent.

Black Flame, you should feel proud that you've forced me to use this Black Arrow! Singular Burial's eyes were filled with reluctance as he looked at the Black Arrow in his hand.

He had obtained five of such arrows from some ruins and had used two of them recently to deal with a Field Grand Lord.

He had never imagined that he would use one of the remaining three arrows on Black Flame.

However, he still considered this to be a worthwhile trade.

Time was of the essence right now. If they did not kill Black Flame soon, the other Zero Wing members would be able to catch up quickly.

Singular Burial nocked the arrow and drew his longbow into a full moon, the Black Arrow locked on Black Flame's body.

After everyone was ready, Peerless activated Shield Wall and dashed at Shi Feng.

Not only could the Tier 1 Shield Wall Skill reduce the damage taken by its user, but it also possessed the ability to resist impact forces. As long as Shield Wall was activated, even a Great Lord couldn't force him back by a single step.

At the same time, the fifteen other melee players surrounding Shi Feng promptly used their most powerful Skills.

Berserker's Beheaded!

Guardian Knight's Holy Slash!

Assassin's Absolute Strike!

Swordsman's Five Consecutive Slashes!

All kinds of killing moves were used. Even a Domain Realm expert would not be able to defend against all these simultaneous attacks.

In the next moment, just as Peerless was about to arrive before Shi Feng, the latter suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight.

This move was none other than Void Steps. It was footwork capable of causing the opponent's mind to actively ignore the user's presence, making it seem as if one had suddenly disappeared.

Not good! Reacting very quickly, Peerless immediately stomped his foot, executing Thunderclap.

The ground instantly cracked, the Skill inflicting a certain amount of damage to all targets within a certain range. At the same time, targets hit by the attack would also have their Movement Speeds reduced. Peerless intended to use this Skill to prevent Shi Feng from utilizing Void Steps normally.

However, he was still a step too late.

When Shi Feng reappeared, he was already standing beside a Berserker, his sword slashing up at a 45-degree angle towards the Berserker.

Before the Level 40 Berserker could react, a blue streak of light cut through his neck.

"So fast!" The Assassin positioned beside the Berserker felt his neck grow cold when he witnessed this scene out of the corner of his eyes.

Only after the strike hit did the Berserker react. He hurried to twist his body, instinctively executing Whirlwind Slash to repel Shi Feng.

However, before the Berserker's body could start rotating, the Abyssal Blade in Shi Feng's other hand pierced through the side of the Berserker's armor and stabbed straight into his heart. Instead of pulling the Magic Weapon out directly, he sliced through the front of the Berserker's chest, dealing another blow to the Berserker. Immediately after, Shi Feng spun around to the Berserker's back. Killing Ray described an arc, and just as Shi Feng arrived behind the Berserker, the Sacred Sword also stabbed into the Berserker's back and again hit his heart.

-13,976.

-5,738.

-6,417.

-17,233.

Everyone only saw four sword lights passing through the Berserker's body before the Berserker, who had over 20,000 HP, collapsed to the ground.

Combat technique Four Moon Lotus!

This was a basic combat technique that all Swordsmen needed to learn.

In God's Domain, the Silenced debuff was something players commonly encountered. Although a Silenced state was a nightmare for ordinary and elite players, it hampered the combat prowess of an expert player only slightly. This was because they could utilize combat techniques to make up for the loss of their Skills, although combat techniques placed a much greater burden on a player's Stamina and Concentration.

In terms of pure power, while combat techniques were inferior to in-game Skills, the former was not subject to Cooldown. Combat techniques could also be used while Silenced.

Hence, so long as one was an expert, they would generally have a few combat techniques under their belts.

Not only could combat techniques be used to make up for one's lack of combat power when their Skills were on Cooldown, but combat techniques could also be used to add variation to one's attacks. Due to this flexibility, even an expert with average equipment could easily beat an elite player with superior equipment senseless.

The instant the Berserker died, everyone felt a chill crawling down their backs.

This gorgeous attack was simply an eye-opener for everyone. However, the truly shocking thing was the damage Shi Feng dealt the Level 40 Berserker.

"Be careful! He's no longer in a Weakened state!" Peerless shouted.

Previously, he had been wondering why Shi Feng possessed such Strength despite being in a Weakened state. Initially, he ascribed it to a special effect of equipment that multiplied his Strength. However, after seeing the Movement Speed and Attack Speed Shi Feng displayed, in addition to the damage he dealt, Peerless became certain that the current Shi Feng was already back to his peak state.

At Peerless's warning, ugly expressions appeared on everyone's faces.

The reason they had joined the vanguard was their belief that Shi Feng's Attributes had been reduced, and that they could utilize their advantage in Attributes to offset the gap in techniques. However, now that Shi Feng had already recovered his Attributes...

In reality, Shi Feng himself had been surprised when he noticed that his Weakened state was lifted so soon. Unexpectedly, the Life Essences actually served to hasten one's recovery from a Weakened state. Otherwise, he would not have dared to come and stop Abandoned Wave and the others so casually.

However, he did not give his opponents much time to think, immediately executing Void Steps and charging towards another player.

The various melee players had already been only a short distance away from Shi Feng. Now that they were charging up to him one after another, Shi Feng just needed to use Void Steps once to arrive beside another player.

Without utilizing any Skills, Shi Feng succeeded in reaping another person's life using only Void Steps and Four Moon Lotus.

Before Peerless could even try to stop Shi Feng, the latter had already killed a total of five players. Nobody could defend against Shi Feng's Four Moon Lotus.

Shi Feng was like the god of death. Whomever he appeared beside would inevitably die.

At this moment, everyone finally understood why the Secret Pavilion had dubbed Shi Feng One-hit Asura.

The pressure of death caused everyone's body to feel extremely heavy, their movements turning sluggish.

"Black Flame, time to die!" At this moment, Singular Burial, who had constantly been searching for an opportunity, grinned as he released the bowstring and sent the Black Arrow flying upward.

Xiu!

The Black Arrow broke through the sound barrier as it shot towards Shi Feng's heart.

What a fast arrow! Shi Feng had long since taken notice of Singular Burial's actions. However, when he saw the approaching black light, he still could not help but be shocked.

At the critical moment, Shi Feng instinctively crossed his swords before him directly in the arrow's trajectory.

Boom!

Shi Feng immediately felt his hands going numb, his body forced through the air by the arrow as his HP continuously decreased. It felt as if he had just received a meteor with his swords. After recovering from his momentary daze, he moved his swords, deflecting the arrow.

Suddenly, a Black Arrow could be seen flying towards the top of the Obelisk.

At this moment, less than half of Shi Feng's 30,000-plus HP remained. 

Chapter 1098 - Extravagant Combat Method

The Black Arrow shot straight upwards and stopped only after it hit the ceiling of the Obelisk. The arrow then transformed into particles of light and disappeared.

That was close! The sight of the arrow prompted a thought to pop into Shi Feng's head. The Black Arrow, is it?

The Black Arrow was an item left behind in ancient ruins. It was somewhat similar to Magic Scrolls, and when used, it could display extraordinary destructive power.

This destructive power corresponded to the player's own strength. However, the Black Arrow's power could go up to Tier 4 at most. But even when used against Tier 4 Mythic monsters, the Black Arrow could still heavily injure them.

As it was an item that could be found only in ancient ruins, the Black Arrow was still considerably rare in God's Domain. In the past, each Black Arrow sold for a minimum of 300 Gold on the market. It was a treasure that many expert teams dearly wished to possess.

After all, Mythic monsters were simply too powerful. If they could heavily injure such a monster and reduce its combat power slightly, they would have a much easier time dealing with it. Using a Black Arrow was equivalent to paying 300 Gold in exchange for the life of a Mythic monster. Such a trade was sure profit.

Of course, even if a Mythic monster were heavily injured, it still would not be easily killed. Its combat power would definitely remain above a Grand Lord. Hence, teams still needed to have a certain amount of strength.

Fortunately, Singular Burial was only a Tier 1 Ranger. If he were Tier 2 right now, he would be able to display the Black Arrow's full power. In that case, Shi Feng would have to activate Absolute Defense or suffer death.

Even so, the Black Arrow was plenty frightening already.

In just a little more than a second, Shi Feng had lost over half his HP. Had he delayed in deflecting the arrow by even one more second, he would've really died back there.

He didn't die?! Singular Burial was stunned by this outcome.

Although the Black Arrow might not be as powerful as a Tier 4 single-target Spell, its might was not something a Tier 1 player could easily defend against. After all, Singular Burial had sent a Great Lord flying over twenty yards and inflicted heavy injuries when he had used the Black Arrow before.

Nevertheless, Singular Burial's arrow allowed the melee players, who had surrounded Shi Feng, to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Brother Burial, I never thought you would actually possess such a trump card as well. We'll be mainly relying on you to deal with Black Flame from now on. As long as you kill Black Flame, we'll let you have the first pick of the loot," Abandoned Wave said. Previously, he already felt helpless when he witnessed Shi Feng's horrific strength. He had never imagined that Singular Burial would still bring him such a pleasant surprise.

Peerless similarly had his hopes rekindled as he nodded in agreement with Abandoned Wave's words.

Singular Burial had taken away over half of Shi Feng's HP in just a single attack. As long as he struck him again, the latter would undoubtedly die.

Shi Feng's death would break the myth of Zero Wing's Guild Leader's invincibility. At that time, Zero Wing would definitely receive a huge blow to its reputation.

"Alright, then. Leave it to me," Singular Burial said, gnashing his teeth. He then retrieved the two remaining Black Arrows from his bag. "However, his reaction speed is too fast. Moreover, now that he is prepared for my attacks, it will become much more difficult to hit him. You guys need to think of a way to pin down his movements for a moment."

"Leave it to us," Peerless and Abandoned Wave said boldly.

Previously, they hadn't been confident of dealing with Shi Feng, who had recovered to his peak state. However, now that they had Singular Burial's Black Arrows, they had no problem with distracting Shi Feng whatsoever.

Immediately, Peerless and Abandoned Wave had the players still capable of using Berserk Skills step forward.

A total of eight players had Berserk Skills ready for use—two Elementalists and six melee players, which included Peerless.

Shi Feng's Basic Attributes were indeed heaven-defying. However, after they used their Berserk Skills, their Attributes would still be slightly superior to his. With six melee players and two Elementalists working together, they could suppress even a Great Lord for a short period, not to mention Shi Feng, whose Attributes were still beneath a Great Lord.

"Go!"

Under Peerless's command, the five other melee experts activated their Berserk Skills together with Peerless. With their Attributes increased significantly, they charged at Shi Feng, who was currently recuperating at the rooftop.

At this moment, Shi Feng took out an Intermediate Regeneration Potion and drank it. His HP instantly recovered back to 20,000, then began slowly rising bit by bit.

Seeing Peerless charging at him, Shi Feng promptly executed Void Steps, avoiding an entanglement with the Shield Warrior.

"This move of yours is already useless against me!" Very quickly, after pinpointing Shi Feng's location, Peerless used Earth Slam. The Skill could place all targets within an area of 8*15 yards before him into a Fainted state.

Shi Feng's Void Steps was indeed powerful. However, Peerless had also gradually gotten accustomed to the technique after seeing Shi Feng using it multiple times throughout this battle. Although he was only able to catch a blurry view of the Swordsman, he could more or less still perceive the direction of Shi Feng's movements.

In the next moment, Shi Feng became visible within the range of Earth Slam. Immediately, the other five melee experts executed their own Control Skills one after another. The two Elementalists standing at the rear also summoned Ice Walls to surround Shi Feng completely. If Shi Feng wanted to retreat, he would have to spend a moment shattering the Ice Walls. This brief period would be more than enough for the five remaining melee players to land their attacks on the Swordsman.

As long as even a single Control Skill struck Shi Feng, his death would be certain.

This was also one of the strong points of in-game Skills. If an expert player did not possess any Control Removal Skills or they were Silenced, just a handful of elite players working together could defeat them.

Right when the five melee players were about to reach Shi Feng, they suddenly stopped moving.

"What's going on with you all?!" Peerless bellowed.

However, Peerless suddenly felt that something was amiss when he noticed the HPs of the five players decreasing rapidly. He instinctively took a step back and, at that critical moment, avoided the shadow spreading on the rooftop.

With a swing of his sword, Shi Feng shattered the Ice Wall blocking his front. He then looked at Peerless, who was roughly 15 yards away from him, feeling somewhat surprised. His reactions sure are fast!

The shadow on the floor was none other than the effect of the Tier 2 Magic Scroll Shadow Strangulation, which could bind all enemies within a 15-yard radius as well as deal 50% dark damage to them every second for five seconds.

By the time the five melee experts reacted and were about to use their Control Removal Skills, Shi Feng was already unfurling another Tier 2 Magic Scroll, Spears of Judgment. Immediately, 36 holy spears appeared around him, each one capable of 80% holy damage with 100% Strength effect. Moreover, they also ignored Defense and dealt double damage to dark creatures.

Xiu... Xiu... Xiu...

The 36 spears shot straight at the five melee players. Despite all five of them being experts, with the spears under Shi Feng's control and fired at such a short distance, each melee player managed to block only two or three spears at most with the remaining spears hitting their bodies. All five melee players transformed into particles of light and disappeared on the spot.

"This..." Everyone stared, stupefied at this situation.

They never thought that Shi Feng would actually use Magic Scrolls to make up for his Silenced state. Magic Scrolls were extremely precious, not to mention Tier 2 Magic Scrolls. Each one was easily worth a piece of Dark-Gold Equipment. Normally, it would be considered a luxury to use Tier 2 Magic Scrolls against ordinary Bosses. Nobody would be willing to waste them on just a few players. Nevertheless, Shi Feng really was using them one after another. Moreover, each one was more valuable than the last.

"Die!" At this moment, Singular Burial finally found an opportunity to attack. He immediately loosed the two nocked Black Arrows.

The Black Arrows instantly transformed into two streaks of black light as they flew towards Shi Feng.

With how fast the Black Arrows were, Shi Feng did not have time to use another Magic Scroll to defend himself.

Just when the arrows were less than 10 yards away from him, Shi Feng began executing Sword's Orbit, surrounding himself in starlight.

Peng! Peng!

Two clear sounds of metal clashing rang out. Shi Feng went flying backwards by over ten yards, his hands nearly losing their grip on his swords. His HP began rapidly decreasing as well, only stabilizing after falling to slightly below 7,000. The two Black Arrows had their trajectories forcefully altered and, as a result, simply flew by Shi Feng's sides.

"Impossible! Isn't he still Silenced?!" Singular Burial could not believe what he was seeing was true. Shi Feng was actually still alive. 

Chapter 1099 - Town Promotion Order

"Is he a monster?"

Everyone was stupefied when they saw that Shi Feng survived Singular Burial's attacks.

Previously, a single Black Arrow had reaped over half of Shi Feng's HP. Yet, now, despite receiving two Black Arrows, he lost less than half of his HP.

"All ranged players, focus fire on him! He doesn't have much HP remaining!"

While everyone else was frozen in shock at Shi Feng's feat, Abandoned Wave quickly reacted and took out a dark gray Magic Scroll from his bag.

Tier 2 Magic Scroll, Death's Flurry.

Immediately, eight gray blades of wind swept towards Shi Feng. At this moment, the other ranged players also began launching their own attacks one after another.

However, Shi Feng had no intention of simply waiting for his death. Executing Void Steps, he disappeared before everyone once again. The incoming attacks just passed through his original position, not a single one landing on him.

"Damn it! He actually recovered so quickly!" The corners of Abandoned Wave's eyes twitched when he saw this scene. Hurriedly, he commanded, "Everyone, form a defensive formation and advance!"

Void Steps was truly mysterious footwork. Even with how powerful Peerless was, the Shield Warrior could only make out a blurry figure of Shi Feng if the latter was within a radius of 20 yards. Beyond that range, he could not detect the Swordsman at all. As for Abandoned Wave and everyone else, not to mention 20 yards, even if Shi Feng were standing within 10 yards of them and launching an attack on them, they wouldn't notice a thing.

Hence, the only method to deal with this problem was to advance in a defensive circle. This way, Shi Feng would have no opportunity to approach Abandoned Wave, who was inside the circle.

Peerless had also immediately entered the defensive circle, fully prepared to protect Abandoned Wave.

Right now, Abandoned Wave carried all of Lancelot's loot they obtained. If he died, all the loot would definitely drop.

While having a single person carry all the loot was a risky move, having multiple people carry them would give Zero Wing an easier chance to target them—and make it more difficult to protect the loot. Anyhow, Abandoned Wave himself was a Level 40 Assassin. In terms of combat standards, he was also a considerably powerful expert. As long as he entered Stealth, he could easily escape detection.

Faced with Abandoned Wave and the others' slowly advancing defensive formation, Shi Feng would appear sporadically before players standing at the outer edge, reaping a life before disappearing again. If he had enough time, he would even kill two players.

What a tough turtle shell! Shi Feng was rendered speechless by his opponents' actions.

He had already used up all the AOE attack Magic Scrolls he had on hand. There were only a few single-target attack and control Magic Scrolls left, not enough to affect the overall battle at all.

However, if he tried jumping over, they would definitely discover him while he was in the air.

Players in midair could not change their movement trajectory. They would be sitting ducks.

However, if he was greedy and went for more kills each time, he would very quickly lose his life under a barrage of attacks. After all, his opponents were not ordinary players. They coordinated well with each other, and their attacks were also very accurate. Moreover, he normally couldn't finish off a player with just one or two moves without executing a combat technique.

Having no other choice, he could only chip away at the formation.

As the number of players dwindled, Blackwater's members fell into an endless panic. Those standing at the outer layer of the defensive circle, in particular, were trembling with fear, dreading becoming the next sacrifice.

Shi Feng was simply too fast. Not only were his appearances sudden, but even his attacks were impossible to detect. Moreover, by the time they began launching their counterattacks, Shi Feng had long since disappeared. Yet, they also weren't allowed to give chase.

These Guild elites and experts finally came to understand what an expert really was.

Compared to Shi Feng, those experts that boasted the ability to go up against ten or a hundred opponents by themselves were simply weaklings.

If faced against those kinds of experts, Blackwater's members could still put up a modicum of resistance.

Shi Feng, however, instilled so much fear into their group of several hundred players that they did not even dare to move. Moreover, when he was attacking them, the only thing they could do was await their impending doom.

Time passed by quickly. Due to the defensive formation, Abandoned Wave and the others advanced at a crawl. Consequently, Shi Feng managed to gradually whittle the team of several hundred players down to just 100 or so. Right now, however, the group was only 100 yards away from the sealing crystal ball.

Upon seeing the gigantic crystal at the peak of the tower, everyone with Abandoned Wave revealed expressions of joy and relief.

As long as they shattered the crystal ball, the barrier surrounding the town would disappear once again. They could then find a hiding place and use their Return Scrolls instead of just quietly waiting for their deaths here.

"Good! We're close enough! All Assassins and Rangers, charge forward and destroy the crystal! Everyone else, continue advancing in the defensive formation!" Abandoned Wave, who had been in Stealth all this time, commanded softly.

Previously, they had been too far away from the crystal ball. Shi Feng would've wiped them out long before anyone could even enter within attack range of the crystal ball. Now that only 100 yards separated them from the crystal ball, if Shi Feng stayed back to try to target Abandoned Wave, the crystal ball would undoubtedly be destroyed. However, if he chose to target those Assassins and Rangers instead, those in the defensive formation could speed up their advance. Abandoned Wave could even use the opportunity to sneak away himself.

Currently, Zero Wing's members had already surrounded the Obelisk. If not for the other members of Blackwater incessantly trying to charge into the Obelisk, the other Zero Wing members would've long since rushed up here.

Immediately, over a dozen Assassins and Rangers raced madly for the crystal ball.

Having no other choice, Shi Feng could only chase these players.

Fortunately, the path towards the crystal ball was not very wide. Before the Assassins and Rangers even entered within 40 yards of the crystal ball, Shi Feng had already disposed of them all. However, this situation also allowed Abandoned Wave and the others to advance a significant distance. Right now, the group was only 60 yards away from the crystal ball.

We won! At this moment, Abandoned Wave was ecstatic.

Although they were still 60 yards away, ranged players had an attack range of 40 yards. Hence, realistically, they only needed to cross another 20 yards.

There was no way Shi Feng could wipe out their team of nearly 100 elite and expert players before they crossed these 20 yards.

As long as the magic barrier was gone, Abandoned Wave could immediately bring the loot back to Star-Moon City. Although he had suffered massive losses in this war, the loot from Lancelot should offset a considerable amount of his losses. Previously, he had browsed through the items they obtained. Several among them would be of massive help to a Guild's development. At the very least, Blackwater would be much better off than Zero Wing. After all, the latter had lost Stone Forest Town.

However, just as Abandoned Wave was jubilating, divine swords suddenly began raining down on his group, damage of over -10,000 appearing above everyone's heads.

This move was none other than Shi Feng's Skywheel Sword, a Skill capable of sealing all enemies within a 20-yard radius for four seconds.

As a result of this attack, Abandoned Wave was also revealed. At this moment, Abandoned Wave stared at Shi Feng, who stood 40 yards away from the crystal ball, in shock.

Impossible! How can he use Skills again?! Ten minutes shouldn't have passed yet! Abandoned Wave was filled with confusion.

Peerless and Singular Burial were similarly dumbfounded at this situation.

However, Shi Feng did not give them much time to react. He immediately raised Killing Ray and executed Lightning Edge.

Although Abandoned Wave was correct in that less than ten minutes had passed since Shi Feng was Silenced, he had forgotten that players had their own natural resistances. Shi Feng's Magic Resistance could give even magical class NPCs a headache.

Magical Resistance not only reduced the magic damage players received but also weakened the side effects of magic.

In reality, while Abandoned Wave was focused on figuring out how to destroy the sealing crystal, Shi Feng was buying time for himself.

In the end, Shi Feng made it at the last moment.

One wave came after another, countless lightning bolts devouring everyone. Despite Abandoned Wave activating Wind Steps and Vanish, he still could not last through the 5-second duration of Lightning Edge. By the time the Skill ended, only Shi Feng and a pile of loot remained on the rooftop of the Obelisk.

Word of Abandoned Wave's and the others' deaths quickly spread to everyone fighting desperately inside Stone Forest Town.

The death of the commander would affect a Guild's performance considerably. This situation also wiped out the last hope Blackwater's members held. Their morale plummeted, making them much easier to deal with.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng himself had collected all the loot Abandoned Wave's group had dropped and began arranging them one by one.

Midway, however, he noticed an item in his bag that captured his attention.

The item was a square silver token engraved with the image of a lion. There were also a few words written on it.

Town Promotion Order! 

Chapter 1100 - Overlord of Star-Moon

In front of a temple lined with pillars, a team of 20 players was currently resting atop the stone steps.

A short distance away from these players was a two-headed bear over ten meters in height. If one paid close attention to the bear, one would discover it to be a Level 60 Grand Lord. Even a 100-man elite team of the same level would be no match for something like this.

Yet, this 20-man team actually defeated it.

The highest-leveled player in this team was already Level 42, with the majority being Level 41. As for the equipment they wore, even the most inferior piece was Level 40 Dark-Gold Equipment. This was a team that could rank at the top even in Super Guilds.

However, every one of these people was an independent player; none of them belonged to a Guild.

"Big Sis Endless, what happened?" a Level 41 female Cleric asked when she noticed a surprised expression suddenly appearing on Ling Jingxuan's face.

"It's nothing. I just read an interesting message, that's all," Ling Jingxuan replied, smiling.

"An interesting message? What is it?" the female Cleric could not help but ask curiously.

Very few things could catch the interest of Ling Jingxuan. Generally, anything that could do so was a considerably amazing matter.

"Blackwater has just been annihilated by Zero Wing. Most likely, news of this matter will quickly spread throughout God's Domain," Ling Jingxuan answered. The way she spoke made it seem as if this matter was none of her business.

"Annihilated?!" At this time, a Level 42 Guardian Knight carrying a snow-white round shield on his back joined in on the conversation. Surprised, he continued, "There must be a mistake, right? I heard that the Blackwater Guild is considerably powerful. It even has the Blackwater Corporation backing it. How can it possibly lose so miserably?"

The term "annihilated" was very rarely used for Guild wars. After all, with so many players participating in the war, not to mention annihilation, even trying to wipe out 70% or 80% of the enemy's forces was an extremely difficult proposition.

Meanwhile, "annihilated" was generally used only when more than 95% of a belligerent's forces had been eliminated. In order to obtain such an outcome, one of the two sides in the conflict usually had to be many times stronger than the other.

Shaking her head, Ling Jingxuan asserted, "Blackwater has indeed suffered total annihilation. And it was not only Blackwater but also the armies dispatched by Heaven's Burial and Pantheon. Not a single player from those three Guilds managed to leave Stone Forest Town alive."

Upon hearing Ling Jingxuan's words, everyone on the team was stupefied.

As Blackwater was merely an upstart Guild, annihilation was certainly a possibility. However, what about Pantheon?

That was a Super Guild.

When had it ever suffered annihilation?

"Just how powerful is Zero Wing? They are simply too amazing. Even other Super Guilds have never managed to annihilate Pantheon's armies. Just how did Zero Wing manage to do it?"

"With this, Zero Wing is set for life. They will definitely cause a storm in God's Domain."

"However, I'm guessing that Pantheon won't take this lying down. After all, Zero Wing has used them as a stepping stone. Pantheon definitely will not let Zero Wing off the hook in the future."

"I wonder what rank Zero Wing will get during this year's Virtual Gaming Guild Annual Evaluation?"

"It is very likely that Zero Wing will be evaluated as a first-rate Guild. However, after this incident, I can't say for sure. I heard that two super-first-rate Guilds have been going downhill recently. They might even get replaced at this rate."

"I don't think it will be possible for Zero Wing to become a super-first-rate Guild. However, its position in this year's Top Five Rookie Guilds should be secure."

"Right, Endless, seeing as you are paying such close attention to Zero Wing, do you have a friend in Zero Wing, perhaps?"

Although everyone present was an independent player, their understanding of the inner workings of the virtual gaming world was not one bit lacking in comparison to that of members of large Guilds. They knew just how powerful Super Guilds were.

It was truly rare to see an upstart Guild capable of such results.

"Friend?" After giving the question some thought, Ling Jingxuan answered seriously, "Something like that. In any case, I am certainly concerned about Zero Wing."

Due to Abandoned Wave's defeat, the entire Blackwater Guild was in an uproar. Even the upper echelon of the Blackwater Corporation had asked for her to attend a meeting to plan how to quickly redeem this humiliation in the near term.

After all, this was the Blackwater Guild's first major war. It would have been fine if they had merely suffered defeat. The crucial point was that they had been annihilated.

Even if they managed to destroy Stone Forest Town and inflicted immense damages on Zero Wing, this was still not an outcome to be proud of.

In the public's view, the only reason for Blackwater's destruction of Stone Forest Town was its inability to obtain the town for itself.

...

Apocalypse Empire, the imperial capital's Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's Residence:

"They wiped out Blackwater?" Phoenix Rain felt somewhat skeptical when she read the message she just received.

Zero Wing's opponents this time had included 200,000 monsters, over 100,000 Blackwater elite members, 50,000 Heaven's Burial elite members, and three core legions of Pantheon, one of which was even the famous Red Jade Legion. In the end, however, Zero Wing still managed to come out on top. No matter how she looked at it, this outcome was somewhat unrealistic. For Zero Wing to have achieved precisely this result was simply unbelievable.

"Big Sis Rain, should we still make a visit to White River City?" Blue Phoenix asked.

The competition for Thunder Island this time was considerably intense. Let alone the power of just the Phoenix Pavilion, even if they used the full power of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, their chances of obtaining the rights to the island would still be slim.

Moreover, compared to the Town of Beginnings, which they controlled, Thunder Island was much more important.

"Of course, we're going." The more Phoenix Rain read the report in her hands, the more joyous she felt.

Originally, she had not been that confident about the matter of Thunder Island. However, after seeing Zero Wing's information, they might have a chance at victory after all.

...

Meanwhile, in Star-Moon Kingdom, all the official forums had long since exploded. Practically every player in the kingdom was discussing the war.

Blackwater and Heaven's Burial had lost miserably this time. This was especially true for Blackwater. Many Guild members were already expressing their dissatisfaction with the leadership in the war. Within just ten minutes of the war's end, over 10,000 players had withdrawn from the Guild, many of them elite players.

In addition, the fall of Blackwater and Heaven's Burial allowed the Star Alliance, which had been suppressed all this time, to rise up once again.

Meanwhile, on Zero Wing's side, due to its massive victory, many large Guilds that initially had designs on the Guild gave up entirely. Overwhelming Smile, in particular, had already begun shifting its focus to other countries and no longer tried to develop in the cities around White River City.

For a time, no Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom dared make an enemy out of Zero Wing. This situation allowed Zero Wing to become the uncontested overlord of Star-Moon Kingdom.

The only fly in the ointment was the loss of Stone Forest Town. This loss greatly depressed the effects of the Zero Wing's hard-earned victory.

However, just as the various large Guilds in Star-Moon Kingdom were secretly celebrating Zero Wing's loss, a surprising situation occurred in Stone Forest Town.

The Evil Energy polluting the town was actually starting to weaken and dissipate gradually.