Chapter 1964 – Black Dragon Empire Shaken
The war between Miracle and Zero Wing was no longer a secret in the Black Dragon Empire. Almost every player in the empire knew about it, and everyone had a.s.sumed that Zero Wing was doomed.
Until now, no large Guild in G.o.d’s Domain had survived a serious confrontation with a superpower. All of the lesser Guilds had fallen in a short time, and Miracle had already placed a bounty on Zero Wing’s experts and upper echelons. The offer was high enough to tempt many of the empire’s experts, and countless players had secretly taken action.
Miracle had even recruited the Black Dragon Empire’s various large Guilds in its war with Zero Wing, and despite the public provocations on the forums each day, the Guild hadn’t responded, and Zero Wing’s reputation in the empire had plummeted. At this point, many of Zero Wing’s members had considered withdrawing from the Guild.
After all, players joined Guilds to ease the burden of leveling up and share in the Guild’s glory. n.o.body would join a cowardly Guild that the public ridiculed.
Meanwhile, the empire’s various large Guilds spent their time preparing. The moment Zero Wing withdrew from the Black Dragon Empire, they would swoop in to take over its abandoned territories.
However, an uproar shook the forums shortly after Fierce Snake uploaded the battle videos he and his teammates had recorded.
The forum post’s t.i.tle was particularly eye-catching.
Death to those who support Miracle!
He had published the post under Zero Wing’s name, and the imposing response was hard to ignore.
Less than a minute after the post went live, it had become the most popular of the day with over a million views.
“Amazing! Zero Wing is simply amazing! Eternal Undead’s members died right in front of Miracle’s members, yet Miracle couldn’t do anything about it!”
“I wonder how the various large Guilds feel now? Zero Wing is obviously showing them that even if they have Miracle’s support, the Guild can’t protect them.”
“Zero Wing is so arrogant. It’s just one Guild. Does Zero Wing really think it can survive if so many Guilds band together? This warning will only enrage its enemies and make Zero Wing’s situation worse.”
“That might not be the case. Did you see how Eternal Undead’s members died? They were fish on the chopping board in front of Zero Wing’s team. Although Eternal Undead is only an average second-rate Guild, it is still a bona fide second-rate Guild, yet Zero Wing slaughtered its members. The other Guilds will only suffer the same fate.”
“That’s right This 1,000-man team from Zero Wing is simply ferocious. It almost annihilated Miracle’s 2,000-man army. If such a team targets other Guilds’ expert teams, the outcome will likely be the same.”
“Zero Wing is really a Guild of experts. I think I’ll stick with joining Zero Wing.”
The empire’s players had a heated discussion over the battle videos Fierce Snake had published. They had never thought that the moment Zero Wing took action, the Guild would make such a terrifying move. With a single battle, it had deterred other Guilds from trying to take advantage of the war and humiliated Miracle.
Zero Wing hadn’t suffered a single casualty in this latest battle, while Eternal Undead and Miracle’s teams had been almost extinguished. Despite the two Guilds having five-times as many players, their defeat had still been miserable. This proved to everyone in the empire that Zero Wing’s strength wasn’t superficial.
When Zero Wing’s members saw the post, however, their pa.s.sion and enthusiasm rekindled. They all wished they had taken part in the battle and given Miracle a good beating. At the same time, many Zero Wing members aspired to become expert members more than ever. They hoped that they could one day fight overwhelming odds, securing an absolute victory like Fierce Snake and the others.
Just the idea was exhilarating.
“Hahaha! Let’s see if those Guilds dare to act so arrogantly before us again!”
“All hail Zero Wing! All hail the Guild Leader!”
When the various superpowers’ upper echelons received news of the battle, an indescribable shock overwhelmed them.
The battle’s outcome had a greater impact on them than it had on the general public. Ordinary players might not be able to determine Fierce Snake and his team’s exact strength, but they could.
“How has Zero Wing secured so many experts with the combat power to rival peak experts?” Yuan Tiexin read the latest report with furrowed brows.
Peak experts were a Guild’s core combatants. Not even the various superpowers had many peak experts, yet Zero Wing had just revealed a force of 200 seemingly out of nowhere. A team of 200 peak experts would be an absolute nightmare out in the fields. Destroying such a force would require an army of tens of thousands of elite and expert players as well the use of magic arrays.
“Miracle likely has quite the headache over this situation right now. It had probably never considered that the little bug it was trying to crush would turn out to be a steel spike,” Purple Jade said, giggling.
Miracle had always been overbearing. Normally, even Super Guilds avoided clas.h.i.+ng with the Guild, whereas super-first-rate Guilds were often oppressed by it. However, she also had to admit that Miracle had the strength to do so. Seeing the Guild suffer such devastating, repeated losses was extremely rare.
Meanwhile, in Miracle’s Residence in Lake Heart City…
The room’s atmosphere was intensely chilly. Many of the empire’s large Guilds had given up on provoking Zero Wing due to its recent demonstration. After all, the Guild had proven that Miracle couldn’t guarantee their safety in the fields. No matter how one looked at it, letting a large number of Guild experts die just to grind in a better resource map wasn’t worthwhile.
“d.a.m.n it! How did Zero Wing suddenly obtain so many experts?!” Thousand Miles paled as he watched the battle video before him. “I thought Zero Wing could only produce a small number of those Basic Combat Devices?!”
After Fierce Snake’s team had displayed their strength at Blue Wave Rock, Miracle had sent spies to investigate the source of their power. With Zero Wing’s current standards, gaining so many peak experts so quickly was impossible. The only explanation was that the Guild had acquired a special tool.
Based on those investigations, they had learned that Fierce Snake and his companions had become so powerful through a tool known as the Basic Combat Device. However, while this tool was very powerful, it had a limited duration, and only a small number could be crafted each day. At most, Zero Wing could supply a 100-man team for a full day. Fortunately, once these players scattered across the empire, they’d no longer pose much of a threat.
But Zero Wing had revealed 200 of these experts in the latest confrontation. Thousand Miles could not figure out how Zero Wing had managed to craft so many more Basic Combat Devices. If Zero Wing could truly maintain a 200-man team of these experts at all times, it would impact the current war’s status quo.
Moreover, they had discovered that Zero Wing had a powerful collection of heavy crossbows during the battle. Not only did the crossbows’ attacks contain immense Strength, but they were also impressively fast. If ten or so Magicbreaking Crossbows attacked together, even a Tier 2 Refinement Realm expert would fall without the use of an Invulnerability Skill.
“Vice Guild Leader Shredded, should we dispatch our peak experts to reinforce the Ice Jade Forest?” Miracle Dragon asked as he turned to Shredded Soul.
“Forget it. Order a retreat,” Shredded Soul said, shaking his head.
“Retreat?” Confused, Thousand Miles asked, “Are we just letting Zero Wing off the hook?”
“Do you plan to order our forces to continue the fight?” Shredded Soul glared at Thousand Miles. Coldly, he continued, “Zero Wing has proven that it has the strength to fight us toe-to-toe in the Black Dragon Empire. We might win if we continue fighting, but we’ll pay a heavy price and fulfill the other superpowers’ long-held wis.h.!.+ If we have to pay such a price for defeating Zero Wing in the empire, what will we gain?
“How would we have lost so many elite and expert players if not for your stupidity? Had you investigated Zero Wing properly before taking action, I wouldn’t have had to come here and clean up your mess! I’ll deliver a report to the Guild Leader personally, so I suggest you cool down in the meantime!”
Shredded Soul’s reprimand left Thousand Miles speechless, but he still felt wronged. Who would’ve thought that an up-and- coming Guild like Zero Wing, which wasn’t backed by any corporation, was so powerful?
“I will return to the western continent. I’ll leave the clean-up to you,” Shredded Soul added as he stared at Thousand Miles. He then used a Guild Transfer Scroll and vanished from the meeting room.