Town Capture
Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also, give your opinions on something I should change or add.
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Suddenly, as Feng was preparing to help Ruoxi out with the second phase of the Witch's Sin Quest, which is a chain Quest with five phases, he received a communication request from a friend, the caller being Gentle Snow.
"Miss Snow, long time no see. You look tired," Feng, disguised as Black Flame, said when he saw Gentle Snow's haggard expression through the video chat.
Gentle Snow was a well-known superwoman in the virtual gaming world. She also had plenty of capable subordinates under her.
After not seeing each other for only a few days, Gentle Snow looked so exhausted. It was slightly surprising.
It had been quite a few years since Gentle Snow had made her debut. She should be quite competent at managing a Guild by now. In addition, the majority of Ouroboros's Elders supported Gentle Snow right now, so managing the Guild should not be difficult.
"I've been busy with Guild affairs these past few days, so I haven't gotten much rest," Gentle Snow laughed softly, sweeping the matter under the rug with a single sentence. Inwardly, she envied Black Flame, who could push the majority of Guild affairs onto Aqua Rose. Ouroboros was competing over dozens of cities, both large and small, making the guild very busy.
However, these cities were still the least of her problems. Star-Moon City was the issue.
Ouroboros and the Star Alliance had been consolidating their positions in Star-Moon City. In addition to several other powerful second-rate Guilds, things had become extremely hectic for Gentle Snow.
It was especially true for the three upstart Guilds that had recently appeared in Star-Moon City:
Cloud Nine.
Yin Yang Court.
Heaven's Burial.
All three possessed extraordinary backgrounds. They even had multiple Guild Residences in Star-Moon Kingdom's major cities. They were developing as fast as a plague. Among the affected cities, Star-Moon City received the greatest impact, and White River City was not far behind.
Particularly, the manager of Star-Moon City's Heaven's Burial, Daybreak Fog, was far more difficult of an opponent than even Galaxy Past of the Star Alliance. So far, Ouroboros had clashed with Heaven's Burial dozens of times, the battles ranging from small skirmishes to large-scale battles. Although Gentle Snow still held the advantage, Ouroboros did not have only one enemy. Both Cloud Nine and the Yin Yang Court eyed Ouroboros like fresh meat.
Ouroboros had already been unstable due to Cao Chenghua's theft of several of the Guild's core and elite members. Now, before she could settle the turmoil within the Guild, she faced so much trouble. In such a precarious situation, how could set aside time to rest? She had not even upgraded her equipment recently.
As Gentle Snow knew that Black Flame disliked playing with words, after their casual greetings, she got straight to the point and said, "We have discovered a hidden treasured land near Star-Moon City. The area is rich in Magic Crystals, and I wish to invite Zero Wing to pioneer this treasured land by our side. Are you interested?"
Before the Divine Colosseum had been released, Magic Crystals had not been particularly valuable. Now, however, they were a strategic commodity that every large Guild fought over frantically.
Although every large Guild had a large number of players and was capable of dispatching many teams to raid Dungeons each day, Team Dungeons could only be raided once every three days. There were only so many Team Dungeons available. They could not acquire nearly as many Magic Crystals as they consumed.
Meanwhile, if there was another option—other than Team Dungeons—for one to obtain Magic Crystals, this was not an opportunity one could miss.
"A hidden treasured land?" Hearing these words, Feng knew that the Stoneclaw Mountains had finally been activated by Heaven's Burial's Guild Leader, which was the thing he had been waiting for and looking forward to happening.
In the first timeline, when Stoneclaw Mountain had been discovered, it incited a great war between every Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom. The war had been the first kingdom-level war in Star-Moon Kingdom. Hundreds of Guilds involved themselves, all wanting to get their hands on a share of the profits.
That war had caused every Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom to suffer massive damages. Moreover, Ouroboros and the Star Alliance had even started an all-out war with each other. In the end, taking advantage of the situation, Heaven's Burial, the Yin Yang Court, Cloud Nine, and several other second-rate Guilds had banded together to form a massive alliance and took over the Stoneclaw Mountains, splitting the profits.
Afterward, any players who wished to enter the Mountains were required to sign a contract, agreeing to hand over 30% of the Magic Crystals they harvested. In addition, players were required to pay a fixed fee before they could enter. The various large Guilds then split the profits.
Of course, things played out differently in his previous life when Feng was around to get his hands on the Stoneclaw Mountains, with Zero Wing being the main party benefiting from the treasure trove along with Ouroboros.
The Stoneclaw Mountains was a Regional Dungeon that had formed a space of its own. However, it was not just any Dungeon, but an Asura Mode Dungeon.
Ordinary Team Dungeons were divided into three difficulties: Normal, Hard, and Hell.
However, Regional Dungeons were divided into five difficulties: Normal, Hard, Hell, Asura, and God.
The Stoneclaw Mountains existed within the fourth difficulty level of Regional Dungeons. The Dungeon was Level 30 to Level 49. In other words, only players that were within the range of Level 30 to Level 49 could enter the Dungeon. Unlike Team Dungeons, however, there was no limit to the number of players who could enter. It was like White Fog Canyon. Inside the Dungeon, players could obtain items that were normally unattainable elsewhere.
In White Fog Canyon, players could obtain Starfire Ore that increased the success rate of forging. There was also the Warfire Set Equipment.
Meanwhile, White Fog Canyon was merely a Hard Mode Regional Dungeon, whereas the Stoneclaw Mountains was an Asura Mode Regional Dungeon. Survival was far more difficult in the Stoneclaw Mountains.
However, Magic Crystals were vastly important. They must be obtained, regardless of the sacrifices; especially since the supply of them was so little after Feng had singlehandedly emptied the pockets of most of God's Domain's guild's and the market.
Though, Zero Wing was an exception to this.
"Currently, several Guilds from Star-Moon Kingdom are contesting over the rights of this hidden treasured land. If Zero Wing is willing to provide a bit of support, I can offer 50% of the income," Gentle Snow offered a relatively attractive price.
In truth, Snow was just shooting her shot.
She naturally knew that Ouroboros couldn't qualify as a partner to a monstrous entity like Zero Wing. However, the situation for her guild was critical, and obtaining the Stoneclaw Mountain was of utmost importance for Ouroboros if it wished to continue surviving in God's Domain.
Hence, she decided to ask Zero Wing for assistance, which would guarantee their victory.
Gentle Snow wasn't expecting Zero Wing to send a lot of its powerful experts since a guild like it would definitely have other priorities and lots of things that required manpower, while it wasn't too desperate for Magic Crystals unlike the other guilds and wouldn't really be interested in a treasure trove like Stoneclaw Mountain.
Instead, she only hoped that Zeros Wing could delegate a few of its experts to help Ouroboros in taking control of the Regional Dungeon.
To Gentle Snow, offering 50% of the profits was a big concession on her part considering the Stoneclaw Mountains were within the Star-Moon City region, in which Ouroboros was situated in, while Zero Wing focused on White River City, so Zero Wing would only be providing support and she would be the one doing most of the work. As such, the responsibility of supervising the map would fall to Ouroboros.
"Apologies, Miss Snow, but Zero Wing already has some plans for the Stoneclaw Mountain Regional Dungeon, so I can't agree to your proposal." Feng rejected Snow's offer without a moment of hesitation.
He naturally didn't intend to share the Stoneclaw Mountains, or more specifically, Stone Forest Town that was in it and the opportunity it represented, with anyone. So it wasn't a hard decision to turn down Gentle Snow's proposal.
"I see." Gentle Snow was understanding upon hearing Feng shoot down her invitation, knowing it was a bit farfetched that Zero Wing would bother with it.
However, after fully processing his words, Snow realized that this was not the case. Going by what Feng said, Snow suddenly felt that Zero Wing itself might compete for the Stoneclaw Mountains and its resources. In that scenario, there would no longer be any point to the other guilds even making a trip all the way to the Regional Dungeon.
After the two of them finished their call, Feng contacted one of Zero Wing's restored managers and had them recall all the restored members who weren't a part of the first batch, instructing them to gather.
The Stoneclaw Mountains could only be dealt with sooner, and not later. The Stoneclaw Mountain itself wasn't what Feng cared or was concerned about. His mind was on Stone Forest Town, and the secrets hidden within it.
As he was about to make his way back to White River City and prepare, Feng suddenly noticed something. His main consciousness had been shaken from its slumber at some point.
Without him noticing, the consciousness stirred awake during his session of pummeling Ruoxi's pussy into oblivion, perhaps the pleasure and stimuli from him repeatedly cumming in intense orgasms reaching even his sleeping consciousness.
Feng breathed out a relieved sigh upon finally regaining his main consciousness, this thread of the original being far from enough to allow Feng to work in his peak state, with the amount of Concentration he was capable of using being very limited while possessing only a fragment of his real self.
He then released the Perfect Clone's consciousness, stopping his hijacking of it and allowing his other self to return to the replicated body, Black Flame regaining control over his consciousness and physical body, while Feng's main consciousness went back to being in charge of the original body's operations.
"Perfect timing as well." Feng was pleased with his timely awakening as he reveled in the feeling of being whole. Now that he's going to be raiding Stone Forest Town, there will be many things that require his attention at once, so having another him would be quite useful.
Communicating with Black Flame, Feng had the Perfect Clone meet up with him, before he and the gathered Burning Wing Legion members prepared to make their move.
---
Star-Moon City, Stone Forest Town:
Ever since the Stoneclaw Mountains had been discovered, the upper echelons of the various large Guilds had realized the importance of Stone Forest Town. As a result, the various large Guilds in Star-Moon City had frantically gathered their members around the town.
Upon receiving information regarding the Stoneclaw Mountains, large Guilds from other cities also mobilized their forces to Stone Forest Town. However, as the teleportation fees were a problem, they could not dispatch too many members. Most of the members they sent were the Guild's elites.
After arriving at Stone Forest Town, these Guilds would send their main forces to the Stoneclaw Mountains to grind for Magic Crystals, while leaving behind the majority of their elites to stand guard a short distance away from Stone Forest Town to observe other Guilds.
At this moment, Stone Forest Town was surrounded. There were over 1,000,000 players watching the town, making the town's resident players quite uncomfortable.
These 1,000,000-plus players were not ordinary players. They all were the elite members of various large Guilds. They were stronger than even 10,000,000 ordinary players. If these elites surged into Stone Forest Town at the same time, although the town was protected by Level 55 Dark NPCs, these NPCs would most likely fall under the fierce assault of so many elite players.
The only fortunate advantage that they had was that these elite players belonged to multiple large Guilds. They were not united, each Guild having their own intentions.
"And here I thought this was our chance as Dark Guilds to rise to power. I didn't think that the Star-Moon City's Guilds would find out about the Stoneclaw Mountains so soon. Now, we won't even have a place to level up."
"What are you worried about? Don't forget that Stone Forest Town has the Three Great Leaders. Furthermore, the Guilds outside are not united. Unless some Guild is looking to get itself killed and benefit the other Guilds, they won't invade."
"You're not exactly wrong, but Star-Moon City's First-rate Guilds, Ouroboros and the Star Alliance, have dispatched most of their elites already. Of the 1,000,000-plus elite players out there, over one-fourth belong to those two Guilds, while the Star Alliance sent most of its elites, making up a fifth of the total elite players. Even if the other Guilds don't make a move, those two alone are enough to capture the town."
Stone Forest Town's Red Names discussed their current predicament. They were at a loss on what they should do next.
Originally, they had simply lived here in peace. When they had nothing better to do, they would kill some players to earn some money or complete some high-level quests. They lived carefree lives. Hence, they had never imagined that such a massive issue would arrive on their doorsteps one day.
---
On a hilltop a short distance away from Stone Forest Town, a group of players quietly observed the town below. These players were uniformly Level 30 and wore Level 30 Fine-Gold or above Equipment. Not far behind these players, there were more than 200,000 players standing at attention.
The majority of the players in this army were Level 28, with the lowest being Level 27. They were two or three levels higher than the current average level of players.
These players were none other than the members of the Star Alliance led by Galaxy Past. Star Alliance was also the Guild that had dispatched the most players to Stone Forest Town.
An army of 200,000 elite players... This was the strength of a determined First-rate Guild. It was not something a Second-rate Guild could hope to compete with. Ordinary Second-rate Guilds would only have over 100,000 members, while a more powerful one would have up to 200,000 or 300,000 players. Of these players, only a maximum of 30,000 or 40,000 would be elite players. After deploying these elites across multiple cities, it would be amazing enough if a Second-rate Guild could dispatch 20,000 elites for a single expedition.
However, compared to a First-rate Guild like the Star Alliance, Second-rate Guilds were not worth mentioning.
Although the Star Alliance also spreads out its elite players across multiple Kingdoms and cities, the lack of Magic Crystals has severely hindered the development and operations of the guild as a whole. This went for nearly all of God's Domain's guilds as well.
Galaxy Past has been pulling his hair out trying to obtain more Magic Crystals that could stabilize the Star Alliance, but there were no reliable sources, with the amount they acquire from dungeons and independent players not even being able to support the guild, and the competition between all the guilds was incredibly fierce.
Now that a gold mine for Magic Crystals like the Stoneclaw Mountains has appeared, the Star Alliance must secure it at all costs. Hence, Galaxy Past pulled back nearly all of his elite members whose presence wouldn't cause the place they were stationed at to immediately collapse, even having the Star Alliance put a hold on most of its operations and dungeon raiding, returning elite members from other cities and Kingdoms that the Star Alliance had branches at while only leaving a very small number of them in those places.
He was determined to take the Stoneclaw Mountains even if it meant giving up on some of the locations the Star Alliance had poured plenty of effort into getting a foothold in.
The Star Alliance wasn't the only guild doing such a thing either. Most of Star-Moon Kingdom's guilds had made their way to the Stoneclaw Mountains upon getting wind of the news that Magic Crystals were abounded in the Regional Dungeon with armies of their elite players; setting aside the large distance between them and the Star-Moon City region as well as the massive teleportation cost.
There were even a few guilds from neighboring Kingdoms who had sent a few thousand players to join in on the battle, hoping to get a piece of the pie.
As a result, over a million elite players from dozens of guilds had gathered around the Stoneclaw Mountains and Stone Forest Town.
That was how much Feng had fucked them over with his scheme.
"Guild Leader, I've put together a detailed report on Stone Forest Town with the results from my investigation. There are roughly over 1,000 NPCs in the town, and the majority are Level 55 Elite guards. There are over a hundred Level 60 Tier 1 NPCs and roughly 30 Level 60 Tier 2 NPCs. If a fight breaks out, more NPCs might show up. However, the largest challenge of capturing the town will be Stone Forest Town's Three Great Leaders," Flourishing Willow, who wore dark blue leather armor, reported softly.
"Are the Three Great Leaders very powerful?" Galaxy Past asked.
"According to the information I obtained from the Red Names living there, these Leaders are only Tier 2 NPCs. However, they possessed very high intelligence. They are far more powerful than ordinary Tier 2 NPCs regarding combat power. It is especially true for the Great Leader, Sareya. He is a Tier 2 Professional Mage, and I have heard that he knows how to use Large-scale Destruction Spells."
Hearing Flourishing Willow mentioning Large-scale Destruction Spells, everyone frowned.
Large-scale Destruction Spells were zerg tactics' Achilles' heel. Moreover, a high-intelligence NPC's combat techniques were far more powerful than ordinary players. Based on the settings of God's Domain, Sareya should be capable of displaying more than 50% of his actual combat power. In other words, he was at least as skilled as an ordinary expert.
If a player possessed the Attributes of a Level 60 Tier 2 NPC and Large-scale Destruction Spells, said player would be a natural disaster to the current players of God's Domain.
"Since we can't capture Stone Forest Town in a short time, have the Main Force grind for Magic Crystals for now. However, we can't let Ouroboros relax, either. Look for opportunities to kill some of its members. After all, the Stoneclaw Mountains still belong to our two guilds." Galaxy Past smiled lightly. "It truly is fortunate that Cao Chenghua stole a large number of experts and elite players from Ouroboros. The Stoneclaw Mountains will belong to the Star Alliance."
In Star-Moon City, the Star Alliance had far more experts and elite players than Ouroboros. Currently, Ouroboros barely held on. As for the other Guilds in Star-Moon City, they were nothing to the Star Alliance.
This could be seen by the difference in number of elites each guild had sent. Unlike the Star Alliance, Ouroboros wasn't in a situation where it could deploy most of its elite members, having sent only 50,000 to the Stoneclaw Mountains. At the moment, Ouroboros was only comparable to the Second-rate Guilds that had gone all out for the purpose of getting Magic Crystals.
Regardless of the other guilds sending several tens of thousands of elite players each, they were no match to the Star Alliance. In fact, with 200,000 of its elite members gathered, the First-rate Guild could easily take over Stone Forest Town by itself if not for the other guilds being present and ready to gang up on whoever attempted to raid the Town.
At this moment, many Guilds that had completed their investigation of Stone Forest Town had decided to give up on the idea of capturing the town. Instead, they shifted their focus towards grinding for Magic Crystals in the Stoneclaw Mountains. However, as the majority of their elite members had yet to reach Level 30 and could not enter the Stoneclaw Mountains, these elite members were tasked with leveling up as fast as possible.
---
Meanwhile, at Ouroboros's base camp, Gentle Snow was pondering on how to proceed, especially considering that Zero Wing might make a move towards capturing the Stoneclaw Mountain for itself.
Her own situation wasn't favorable after what Cao Chenghua did, so Ouroboros beating out the other guilds would not be possible. Hence, she could only do the same as the rest and send the Level 30 players to grind in the Stoneclaw Mountains, while the rest remained outside to level up.
As all the gathered guilds were planning and making their moves, the elite players below Level 30 grinding for EXP while the various guilds' experts prepared to go into the Asura Mode Dungeon, however, something strange that instantly attracted the attention of every player watching over Stone Forest Town happened.
In the middle of Stone Forest Town, up in the air, a spatial tear formed, quickly expanding into a large portal.
Following which, a middle-aged man whose face was known by all guilds and every player in the Star-Moon Kingdom stepped through the teleportation gate.
Thud!
Apart from the sound of Black Flame's feet hitting the ground as he landed in Stone Forest Town, silence rang out across the area surrounding Stone Forest Town, not a single of the 1,000,000 players uttering a sound.
The reputation of Zero Wing's Guild Leader was unanimously known and treated as absolutely terrifying. Black Flame had spontaneously appeared with incredible strength and shook the entire Star-Moon Kingdom.
Having performed stupefying feats within a short span of time, wiping out a force of over two thousand players and killing the Guild Leader of an enemy guild at first, the man went on to annihilate a united front of multiple guilds which amounted to a total of 500,000 players, earning a spot among the top 100 of the Secret Pavilion's God's Domain's Expert List and being given the title of One-hit Asura, along with several other instances of Black Flame displaying incomprehensible strength, the power that Black Flame represented has become a synonym with fear to the various guilds of the Star-Moon Kingdom.
After the raid on Zero Wing's Guild Residence by the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, Black Flame had even been placed at the top of God's Domain's Expert List and ranked as the number one player in God's Domain by the Secret Pavilion, out of nowhere becoming known to all players across God's Domain as the reputation of the One-hit Asura was set ablaze.
Now that the man himself had suddenly appeared before them in the flesh, how could they not be frightened?
The upper echelons of the dozens of guilds gathered here, in particular, were even more shocked, Galaxy Past included. This shock grew even greater as more of Zero Wing's players began exiting the portal following Black Flame's emergence one after another and landing in Stone Forest Town.
It had never occurred to him that Black Flame might bring Zero Wing into the fray. It was why Galaxy Past had been so confident that the Star Alliance would be the one securing the Stoneclaw Mountains and Stone Forest Town.
After all, the main factor that made the Stoneclaw Mountains such a treasured land and why it was so important to the various guilds, it being the main objective for them pulling back so many of their elite members and going to such lengths to obtain the Regional Dungeon, was its richness of Magic Crystals.
Their desperation stemmed from the fact that Magic Crystals had become astronomically more valuable after the latest evolution of God's Domain, how much of a necessity they were, and how much players lacked Magic Crystals due to the resources previously being cleaned from the market by none other than Black Flame and his Candlelight Trading Firm.
According to the calculations made by the guilds' upper echelons, the Candlelight Trading Firm should have over one and a half billion Magic Crystals that the guilds know about, which means Black Flame and Zero Wing have absolutely no need for Magic Crystals nor must they compete over them like the rest of God's Domain's guilds.
There was nothing else particularly special or valuable in the Stoneclaw Mountains, so it wouldn't make any sense for Zero Wing, which was swimming in Magic Crystals, to compete over the Asura Mode Regional Dungeons with them.
The mysterious guild, considering its strength and status, surely had other more important matters to deal with, so none of the guilds had ever thought or expected that they'd have to fight Zero Wing, led by God's Domain's strongest player, in order to claim the Stoneclaw Mountains for themselves, having some level of confidence in being victorious as a result of the Star-Moon Kingdom's number one guild's absence.
Hence, Black Flame appearing here with a group of Zero Wing members thoroughly surprised and unnerved the various guilds' upper echelons. It would seem like a battle was inevitable.
However, they were also shocked by Black Flame's foolishness. It would be one thing if this was happening somewhere else, and none of the guilds would dare to pick a fight with Zero Wing, but the current situation was quite unique and wouldn't necessarily play out well for Zero Wing, perhaps even spelling Black Flame's doom.
"Guild Leader, what do we do? Do we make a move on Stone Forest Town and prevent Zero Wing from obtaining it?" Flourishing Willow panickingly asked for instructions, unsure of how to proceed after the sudden development.
She had seen for herself how powerful Black Flame and Zero Wing's experts were during the raid on its Residence. As a result, Flourishing Willow knew that each of those players who had just stepped through the spatial gate was much stronger than herself.
How could she not grow anxious upon seeing Zero Wing about to claim Stone Forest Town and being aware of the fact that they couldn't allow such a thing to happen?
"To hell with it! Inform all our forces, charge forward! Black Flame shouldn't think that he can come and go, doing as he pleases. The Star Alliance will be claiming Stone Forest Town!" Galaxy Past gritted his teeth and commanded.
They could not afford to lose Stone Forest Town as it was the closest spot to the Stoneclaw Mountains, and the power that obtains it will be able to dominate the Regional Dungeon, securing its best spots and farming most of the Magic Crystals available there.
After the effects of Feng's actions and the inflation of the market all over God's Domain, whether their guilds would survive was questionable, depending on whether they manage to succeed today and obtain a part of the treasure trove that is this Asura Mode Regional Dungeon.
Thus, regardless of the cost and consequences, their guilds must fight; even if that meant entering combat with Zero Wing.
To begin with, although the many guilds in the Star-Moon Kingdom were afraid of the mysterious, powerful guild, it wasn't like they weren't willing to stand up to Zero Wing and Black Flame in this situation.
One must not forget that there were currently over 1,000,000 players surrounding Stone Forest Town. Moreover, all of them were elite players of the various guilds.
In front of such a force, even God's Domain's top expert would be helpless.
Unlike when Black Flame had killed the 500,000 players when a powerful monster that forced Wiseman to appear and handle it had attacked White River City, this situation was different as those had mostly been the members of unranked Guilds and Third-rate Guilds, with only a small number being from higher ranking guilds. A large portion of those who got massacred by Black Flame were even independent players.
Apart from the basic tactic of "Surround and attack him until he dies!", the players at the time had not employed any real or proper strategy, partially due to still competing with each other and not thinking it necessary to do so against a single player, allowing Black Flame to slaughter them with some powerful skill.
Now, however, the over a million attackers were fully comprised of elite and expert players, along with knowing how important it was to prevent Feng from conquering Stone Forest Town since that would be it for their guilds, all these gathered players would function together at least until Zero Wing was taken out of the picture.
Being powerful guilds and recognizing the strength Black Flame possessed as well, they were sure to use a variety of different methods and strategies to make sure Zero Wing doesn't manage to take over Stone Forest Town, and even to defeat the strongest player.
The battleground and the conditions of their current situation were also quite different compared to Black Flame's two famous fights at White River City's Teleportation Hall and Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
In the fight that he killed 500,000 players, Black Flame had lured the large army of his attackers to the Teleportation Hall which had an entrance too small to fight the huge number of players at once, forcing them to go through it in much smaller waves, and the building was too cramped and enclosed to allow an army of that scale to show its full might.
Most importantly, the Teleportation Hall had made it possible for Black Flame to make the gathering of players go in a single file line through the entrance, which he could easily decimate with things like Large-scale Destruction Skills; while the Teleportation Hall provided him with an escape route at all times.
Black Flame had then used some kind of item or skill to quickly mow down the grouped-up players in front of the Teleportation Hall, which he would not have been able to do if the huge army hadn't been so tightly packed and coming directly at him from the front.
Contrastingly, the 1,000,000-man army of the many guilds' elites and experts will be coming at Black Flame from all directions simultaneously as it surrounded Stone Forest Town, bombarding Zero Wing's Guild Leader with a volley of attacks in quick succession.
It won't be possible for him to just get rid of a large portion of the players at once with so many people rushing him at the same time on an open and mostly even plain that is Stone Forest Town's surroundings.
And it won't even be possible for Black Flame to escape once they enter combat and use various tools to stop teleportation within the area.
As for the thing that had wiped out the army of players when it was gathered around White River City's Teleportation Hall upon Black Flame activating it, the guilds' upper echelons weren't that concerned about it.
Such a powerful ability shouldn't exist at this stage of the game to begin with, and it was most likely a one-time use type of thing, had an enormous cost to activate, or had a very long cooldown that shouldn't be up for a while, so there was very little chance of Black Flame being able to use it in this situation.
Though, even if he could, with this type of terrain and distribution of players, it won't have the same effect as before and Black Flame will not be capable of simply annihilating their army; at most killing a large number of players while using it.
Meanwhile, the difference between the upcoming attack on Zero Wing's members in Stone Forest Town as they tried to capture the Town and the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's raid on Zero Wing's Guild Residence, aside from the fact the 1,000,000 players will be stopping Zero Wing's members from taking Stone Forest Town for themselves and killing them instead of trying to destroy a Guild Residence, was that they weren't Silenced.
When both groups were Silenced and unable to rely on their skills, the difference between experts is shown, and players with greater combat standards and attributes would dominate the other party, which everybody had seen Zero Wing do to the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion when the two groups faced each other in Silenced combat.
Naturally, in terms of combat standards all of these elite players combined couldn't compare to the Legion of members the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion had sent to attack Zero Wing's Guild Residence; much less to Zero Wing's members currently standing in the middle of Stone Forest Town.
Of course, a player's combat power is many times multiplied when they can use their skills and spells.
But in battles between many players, that was only the case when the difference in the number of combatants wasn't too large.
Overall, there were less than five hundred players in the group that Black Flame had brought with him to capture Stone Forest Town.
With such an astronomical difference of 2,000 to 1, it didn't matter how powerful Black Flame and his guild members were or how great their techniques. Regardless of Silenced or not, it was impossible for Zero Wing to fight against so many elite players and come out alive.
Even with Zero Wing's Large-scale Destruction Skills and other powerful skills, there was no way they could get rid of all the over one million players, only thinning down the herd by using up all of their abilities, all the while hundreds of thousands of ranged attacks are flying at Black Flame and the Burning Wing Legion members from every direction.
Faced with so many attacks, even if only 10% of them landed on their targets and did -1 damage, it would still spell doom for any player in God's Domain, and even IF they were somehow able to survive, the Zero Wing members would run out of Stamina long before they managed to kill all the attacking players or break through the wall of elites. Hence the upper echelons of the various guilds gathered here believed they could take down the almighty Black Flame.
All of the Guild Leaders of the other guilds came to the same conclusion as Galaxy Past, sending their forces rushing at Stone Forest Town with the intent of taking down both Zero Wing and the Town at once, then fighting it out with each other on who would get the ownership over it.
There was one exception though.
At Ouroboros's base camp, despite watching the nearly a million players swarm towards Stone Forest Town, none of the over 50,000 elite members of Ouroboros moved forward to follow the massive army into battle, only anxiously gazing at the horrifying sight and talking amongst each other, not daring to imagine themselves being at the focus of all those madly charging players.
"Snow, are we really not going to follow along with the other guilds as well?" Yueru questioned the snow-white haired[1] absolute beauty in front of her.
Although they were on friendly terms with Black Flame and Zero Wing, the two guilds being sort of partners, and lucky enough to be in the good graces of the mysterious guild, Zhao Yueru knew how important securing the Stoneclaw Mountains was for Ouroboros.
Their guild was at an even greater threat of completely disbanding after Cao Chenghua's sabotage than the rest of the guilds competing over the Regional Dungeon due to the Magic Crystal shortage.
Thus Ouroboros must secure the Stoneclaw Mountains no matter what, but that would mean having to go against Zero Wing, which seemed to be in the process of seizing Stone Forest Town for itself. This put Gentle Snow in a tough spot on whether she should send Ouroboros's elites to fight for the Town as well.
And she had to make the decision quickly, since if she tried to join in on the battle later when all the other guilds had already been putting in the work, Ouroboros would get ganged up on, none of the guilds allowing for another party to swoop in and get the rewards they've fought and made losses for.
"Remain in your positions. We'll wait and see what Zero Wing does before making a move." After weighing her options, Snow chose to not go against Black Flame.
No matter how you looked at it, Zero Wing was in a bad situation and all of its members in Stone Forest Town were bound to perish when faced with the enormous army of elite players. Yet, although Snow would be ready to step in and assist Black Flame in the battle to help the Zero Wing members survive if that were the case, her intuition told Gentle Snow that it wasn't likely for such a scenario to occur.
From her impression of the man, Black Flame wasn't the type of person who would do stupid things or act without thinking it through. Going into this, Black Flame must have been aware of the situation at the Stoneclaw Mountains and how the various guilds would react upon seeing him appear in Stone Forest Town.
Despite that, Black Flame still chose to brazenly teleport into Stone Forest Town without giving any regard to the one million-man army of elites, all the while knowing full well he'd be attacked from all sides by the coalition of guilds.
That would imply that the number one player of God's Domain had something up his sleeve that made him confident of surviving. Coupling that with his previous words of having plans for the Stoneclaw Mountains, Snow was sure that Black Flame was confident in securing Stone Forest Town and leaving safely; however ridiculous that may sound considering the situation.
In the scenario that Zero Wing succeeded in capturing Stone Forest Town without suffering, all the powers that had opposed the incomprehensible guild would suffer not only from not claiming the Magic Crystals they were desperately after, but perhaps not getting any shares of the pie at all after Zero Wing takes it all.
Ouroboros would be thoroughly screwed if it participated in the fight against Zero Wing when that happened.
To begin with, having only 50,000 elites dispatched for the occasion, the current Ouroboros didn't have the power to even secure a sufficient portion of the Stoneclaw Mountains and its Magic Crystals for the guild's needs, let alone monopolize the entire Asura Mode Regional Dungeon.
Hence, Snow trusted her gut and judged that they were better off not interfering and risking their relationship with Zero Wing over a fight that would most likely not end to their benefit anyway, instead staying back to show Ouroboros's intentions were pure, and even assist Zero Wing if it became necessary.
Afterwards, her guild might even benefit more from its partnership with Zero Wing than if Ouroboros attempted to compete over Stone Forest Town with the other guilds.
Hearing their Guild Leader's orders, many of the Ouroboros members were shocked by her decision not to engage as well, growing anxious over how the situation would end and for the guild's future.
But they could only hold their tongues and follow orders.
Meanwhile, although the other guilds noticed Ourobors's inaction from the sides, they didn't pay it much mind since a loss of 50,000 players wouldn't affect them in their cause by much, continuing to charge at the nonchalant group of Zero Wing members standing in the center of Stone Forest Town.
"There sure are a lot of people." Feng surveyed the outskirts of Stone Forest Town upon exiting the Spatial Gate after Black Flame and commented in slight surprise when he noticed the over one million people surrounding this small Town.
After meeting up with the awakened Black Flame whose consciousness he had released, Feng continuously exploited the Ethereal Replicant Core's abilities to level up the Auras of his Fragmented Legendary Seven Luminaries Ring, before grouping up with the other restored members and teleporting to Stone Forest Town.
Thanks to the Fragmented Divine Artifact, he was able to level up all of the Auras to Tier 3 Level 1. Unfortunately, as the EXP of a Level 99 player is not enough to push any of the Auras to the point where the invested experience points would not get erased when Feng used Information Uptake to get back the levels, he couldn't upgrade them any further.
Still, the Tier 3 Auras of a Fragmented Legendary Seven Luminaries Ring would be fairly sufficient for the current Feng.
Following which, after waiting a bit for his Heavily Weakened state to end, which didn't take much longer after its duration had been greatly reduced by the Savitarian Carnation Bloodline, Feng, along with the remaining Burning Wing Legion members, teleported to Saimu Town, the town closest to Stone Forest Town that possessed a Teleportation Array, before using Spatial Gate and having everyone cross through it into Stone Forest Town.
With his Perfect Clone going in first, Feng followed along, only to be greeted by the sight of an enormous player army surrounding Stone Forest Town; the 1,000,000-strong force charging towards the small Town moments later.
The sheer number of players had surprised Feng, not expecting so many to participate since he hadn't bothered to get informed on the situation.
Compared to the amount sent by the various guilds in the previous timeline, this battle has reached an entirely different level, with there now being more than three times the elite players gathered. This showed Feng just how bad the Eastern Continent's Magic Crystal situation had gotten, and he was fully responsible for it.
Not that he cared though.
The development only served to slightly surprise Feng and the rest of the restored members. None of them appeared to be worried or concerned about the incoming army, looking at the players as if they were nothing but a bunch of ants swarming at them.
"Ignore them. Let's get to business." Black Flame completely disregarded the 1,000,000-man army as he commanded indifferently. Evidently, he didn't consider the coalition of the various guilds' elite players as something worthy of his attention.
"You're the boss." Feng chuckled at his other self's ordering him and the Zero Wing members.
He had willingly put himself in the position of Ye Feng, a member of Zero Wing and a subordinate of the guild's Guild Leader, Black Flame; even though that individual who was technically his Guild Leader from whom he should take orders was his own clone.
With such an arrangement, Feng got off from all the Guild Leader duty and could act a lot more freely; knowing there was always someone of his strength looking after the guild.
Of course, with the current players, his restored guild members could deal with pretty much everything, but Feng would still have Black Flame handle a part of it for his own reassurance and to provide the guild's top echelon managing players like Aqua with time to do their own things and grow stronger.
Apart from the obvious benefits of having the Perfect Clone like for fighting, exploiting the game, being in two different places at once, possessing a second consciousness that you could change bodies with and communicate from anywhere, and others, having someone to do his job for him was the one Feng valued the most.
He knew from his previous life how tiresome it could be to have a guild you're responsible for and often have to carry most of the time due to other guilds having the advantage of a much stronger foundation and resources to rely on when fighting your guild; even being a major burden at times that hindered him.
However, the return he got once Zero Wing was nurtured and grew stronger over time massively paid back all of his investments with interest.
You couldn't get far in God's Domain without having the backing of a power. Trying to survive and develop on your own even in a regular God's Domain, not to mention in a tyrannical place like the Greater God's Domain, and even more so in the Universal God's Domain, could only get you so far.
A group you belonged to, or at least had the full support of, was a necessary requirement if you wanted to get by and grow exceptionally strong, becoming an existence that garnered fear and respect.
Living the life of a lone wolf was nothing but a fool's errand.
Of course, there were a few extraordinary individuals who manage to freely traverse God's Domain without being a part of any power, their incredible strength and talent allowing them to make other powers unwilling to offend or fight them.
But even they had only grown to that extent thanks to some level of assistance from large powers that backed them, either in God's Domain or in the real world, and still having a connection with them.
These unmatched experts, although mostly free to roam God's Domain as they pleased, had huge limitations on their capabilities, the things they could accomplish, and the resources they could obtain due to not having a large team to help them and provide support; sometimes having to rely on making deals with large associations like Apex Powers to get something they needed instead of possessing their own sources.
Moreover, these experts weren't exactly invincible.
If a power was willing to invest enough time and resources, it would be plausible to take such individuals down. Only, it would be very difficult and require too much effort to be worth it, so even Apex Powers avoided quarreling with those experts unless necessary.
Upon it becoming inevitable and a power deciding it would have to get rid of one of them, perhaps the expert's death being of enough benefit to the power it would deem worth their while, however, an Apex Power would still choose to eliminate such existences.
This might not be the case for organizations like guilds which, if powerful enough, would not be as easy to eradicate.
Feng never had the option of going solo in God's Domain due to his lacking strength in the beginning, not having the power to reach such a level even with his future knowledge without having an organization backing him.
His ambitions were also extremely high, with Feng wanting to create a virtual empire and become the strongest existence in God's Domain. It wasn't possible for a single individual to rule over all the other players, in guilds and independent, no matter how powerful they were.
They might be capable of beating everybody else and instilling fear, but they were just one person, not capable of controlling or ruling over others since they have their own matters to deal with on a daily basis.
Hence, a guild was necessary to Feng for both taking control over the territory he wanted and gathering resources, despite it holding him back at times and making it seem like he was better off without it. If he wanted to achieve his goals, Feng had no other option but to build his guild up into the strongest force, which naturally required plenty of effort and resources since they were dealing with many powerful guilds that were much older and had a solid foundation.
Even though a large guild also served as a huge target thanks to its numerous players, the territory it occupied, and the location of its top members usually being much easier to track, it was also an entity much more difficult to thoroughly take down since it could fight back repeatedly with its many players, experts, and other means.
It thus became a much more troublesome and time-consuming endeavor to complete than killing a single expert possessing greater strength than any of the guild's members; the guild being like a cockroach as its members continued to work together, and possibly even abandon ship together so they could move and restart somewhere else.
Unless one possessed overwhelming strength, it wasn't possible to fully eliminate a guild.
Zero Wing had been like that in the previous timeline thanks to Feng as it continued to grow stronger, at first being a guild he had to completely carry on his own, quickly becoming a power that attracted everybody's attention, and then bringing it to the status of his God's Domain's number one Guild; his guildmates growing as rapidly as Zero Wing and becoming strong enough to handle everything even without him.
The situation greatly deteriorated and grew more complicated once they entered the Greater God's Domain, with their enemies having a level of strength too high to bridge within a short amount of time.
It took much more time for Zero Wing to get set up and push through the ranks, once again attracting the attention of all powers in the human race, and then of the other races as well.
At first, it wasn't worthy of their notice, then became an existence that could not be ignored but still someone they could crush easily, then a force that would require plenty of effort to take down, and then something that even the Universal God's Domain's Apex Powers could no longer eradicate completely.
Regardless of how much work and effort he had put into maintaining the guild, Feng wouldn't have been able to get as far as he had without Zero Wing, his strength unable to progress without a guild's power; and he most likely would have never been able to even reach Tier 6.
Now, Feng was completely free from any burdens. His guild members were fully capable of managing Zero Wing as a guild without him and he only had to do a few things, while there was also the Perfect Clone to handle any Guild Leader duties that were bothersome to Feng.
With Black Flame as Zero Wing's Guild Leader, Feng was at liberty to act as he pleased, simply having to keep up the appearance of another guild member listening to the clone's orders in public for their personas to work.
Paying no heed to Feng's words that only they could understand the true meaning of, Black Flame got onto business, activating Firestorm.
Pillars of flames suddenly erupted and enveloped most of the Stone Forest Town's NPC stronghold and some of the building's surroundings.
All the players caught within Firestorm's range were instantly turned to ash, while the NPCs only held on for a few seconds before they perished under the flames with even most of the Level 60 Tier 2 NPCs in the stronghold not being able to withstand Firestorm's power.
Black Flame didn't let the Aura of Fire's skill run for its entire duration, though, canceling it when he sensed only three signs of life remained in the pile of rubble that was the Stone Forest Town's NPC stronghold ruins.
Moments later, a haggard white-haired old man in black robes emerged from the ruins. This old man was Sareya, a Level 60 Tier 2 NPC. Looking at Black Flame, Sareya shouted in rage, saying, "Intruder! You actually dare to provoke me?! I will show you how terrifying it is to anger a Mage!"
[Sareya] (Great Leader, Professional Mage)
Level 60
HP 830,710/5,500,000
In addition, two NPCs with imposing auras stood beside Sareya, and they were the Second Leader, Lyme, and Third Leader, Paddo.
[Lyme] (Second Leader, Sword Master)
Level 60
HP 979,036/6,500,000
[Paddo] (Third Leader, Berserker Master)
Level 60
HP 1,088,122/7,000,000
Even though they were much stronger than the rest of the regular Tier 2 NPCs, Black Flame's Firestorm had dealt a serious amount of damage to the three Leaders, leaving them at only around one million HP of the millions they possessed.
If not for Black Flame deactivating Firestorm early instead of letting it burn for its entire duration, the Three Great Leaders wouldn't have ended up any better than the rest of the NPCs and players caught within the Large-scale Destruction Skill.
However, their stronghold's destruction and the deaths of their subordinates were what truly infuriated the three Leaders.
Disregarding the huge damage they had just sustained from Black Flame, the three Leaders attacked him without hesitation. Sareya was the first to fire back at the Perfect Clone, casting a Tier 2 spell and shooting a volley of icicles at Black Flame while the other two melee NPCs dashed forward from his left and right sides.
"Clear the Town." Not playing any games, Black Flame left an order to the Burning Wing Legion members and disappeared.
All of the icicles missed their mark as Black Flame was no longer in the same spot, having used Ethereal Blitz to instantly appear in front of the Mage.
"Arh!" Before Sareya could defend himself upon noticing the Swordsman that had just appeared in his face, Black Flame's foot landed on Sareya's chest, kicking the Professional Mage and sending him flying through the air back into the ruins of the stronghold.
Lyme and Paddo turned around when the sound of Sareya's shout reached their ears, rushing back to help their comrade, when a black light flashed across them.
With Sareya having launched a ranged attack on Black Flame from around 40 yards away, the Pandemonium Lashblade's Within Sight Within Range Passive Skill was triggered and allowed Black Flame's Demon Sword to extend to over twenty yards in length. As he kicked the Mage, the clone also spun in mid-air in a circle with his long Fragmented Legendary sword reaching and slashing across the two Tier 2 NPCs.
Unable to withstand the strike, Paddo and Lyme were both bisected by the Pandemonium Lashblade, getting cut in half and losing the rest of their HP.
Without looking at the two fallen NPCs, Black Flame retracted the chain sword, the mechanism in the blade pulling back the Pandemonium Lashblade and returning it into its normal state, while switching from the Aura of Fire to the Aura of Wind and activating Wind Rider.
Using his high speed, Black Flame flew towards the airborne Sareya who had yet to hit the ground after getting kicked in the chest and sent flying into the stronghold's ruins, catching up to the old man and grabbing him by his wrinkled face, before flying deeper into the stronghold.
The other Zero Wing members sprang into action as well, rushing to take care of the NPCs in Stone Forest Town. Although these Level 60 Tier 1 and Tier 2 NPCs were decently strong and not something current players could easily handle, the Burning Wing Legion members didn't have any trouble quickly killing multiple of them thanks to their high attributes and levels.
Feng, in particular, was cutting down the NPCs like grass, causing the number of them to plummet at an astonishing rate.
It was normally not an easy task for a Guild to gain control of a town.
First, players had to dispose of every NPC within the town. Leaving even one NPC alive would result in failure.
Second, players had to obtain the Town Token that the leader of the town guarded.
After completing these two tasks, one would obtain the authority to rule over the town. Hence, it was extremely difficult to capture a town with a large number of competitors nearby.
But with the restored members' current strength, it was nothing.
As for the various guilds' members, panic colored their faces. Never would have any of them imagined that Zero Wing could take down Stone Forest Town so quickly and with such brute force.
They had originally been nearby in case any of the other guilds attempted to invade Stone Forest Town. In fact, the vanguard of the 1,000,000-strong army could reach the Town's entrance in only a minute.
Yet, in that short time, Zero Wing's members had managed to wipe out all of the NPCs before any of the elites could even get to the gate.
Nevertheless, these guilds did not give up. Since Zero Wing hasn't obtained the Town Token yet, there was still a chance for them to come out victorious.
In fact, even if Black Flame does acquire the Town Token, it wouldn't matter or change any of the guilds' intentions. Either way, they would get their hands on Stone Forest Town no matter if it was Black Flame or one of the Three Great Leaders.
When hundreds of thousands of attacks come at them, they'll still die regardless.
Suddenly, however, Stone Forest Town began to collapse, the buildings within the town crumbling, one after another.
A massive Obelisk then emerged in the heart of the town, and Black Flame stood atop this Obelisk, his hand still grasping Sareya's head as the NPCs flailed about.
"What's going on?"
This commotion instantly attracted everyone's attention as they felt the ground beneath their feet quake. It was like an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale had hit the area around Stone Forest Town.
"What are you trying to do?!" Sareya shouted in fear at Black Flame, an expression of utter horror on his face.
This Obelisk was their group's greatest secret. He had never imagined that Black Flame would know about it or rush into their stronghold to activate it.
Sareya had been desperately trying to free himself from the Swordsman's clutches this entire time that he was being dragged by Black Flame, casting spells at him repeatedly to make the lunatic let him go.
In front of Black Flame's Void Shield, however, it all proved completely useless and ineffective. The Legendary Cape's defensive skill reduced the damage of all sources at Tier 5 and below by 90%, so Tier 2 Spells naturally did nothing to Void Shield, unable to even cause a ripple on its surface.
When that failed, Sareya turned desperate and tried hitting Black Flame with his hands and staff, trying anything to force the Perfect Clone's hand off from his face, only for his attempts to be completely futile.
As a Professional Mage, Sareya's Strength attribute was quite low, so when faced with Black Flame's high Defense from all his Fragmented Legendary equipment and the damage reduction from Nightwalker's Cape, it was nowhere near sufficient to do any damage to him; only Miss appearing above Black Flame's head with each of Sareya's physical strikes.
The Mage's fear only grew when he realized where Black Flame had taken him and what he was going to do, putting even more effort into trying to free himself as Sareya anxiously flailed around with his limbs in full frenzy to survive.
Black Flame didn't bother responding to Sareya's question, going on with his plan without caring for the NPC's pleas or fate.
Stabbing down at the Obelisk from above using Moonchaser Black Flame not only shattered the dazzling crystal ball on top of the Obelisk, but the sheer force of the powerful skill pushed to Tier 5 standard by the Swordsmanship Great Grandmaster Title and Black Flame's Mana control destroyed the Magic Array within the Obelisk as well.
Suddenly, Mana Rain began to fall on the town.
"Such a high Mana density! My Spell effects have doubled! This feels awesome!" Many magical class players in the Town grew excited.
At this moment, the members of the various large Guilds who had just entered Stone Forest Town and planned on fighting the Zero Wing members shifted their gazes towards the phenomenon in the Town's center and the dense Mana spreading throughout it.
Suddenly, Stone Forest Town became a paradise for players.
The higher the density of Mana in the environment, the clearer and more active a player's mind was. These areas were helpful for improving a person's Skill Completion Rate. Unfortunately, locations with high Mana density were extremely rare in God's Domain. Although the environmental Mana in the Divine Colosseum's Trial Tower was quite dense, it was nothing compared to Stone Forest Town.
Seeing that Stone Forest Town had such a valuable atmosphere, the various Guilds' upper echelons began to drool.
Regardless of the sacrifice, we must have a Guild Residence in Stone Forest Town! Ruthless greed flashed in these echelons' eyes.
Setting aside the Magic Crystals of the Stoneclaw Mountains, capturing Stone Forest Town for its atmosphere was worth every sacrifice.
If they possessed Stone Forest Town, they could send their Guilds' elites here to improve themselves. Although development here would not be as efficient as in the Divine Colosseum, they would not have to spend a single Mana Crystal on training. They could save a lot of money.
Moreover, if they allowed their members to train in Stone Forest Town for long periods, the rate at which they nurtured experts would definitely surpass the other Guilds. With a large group of experts, becoming even a Super-first-rate Guild would be entirely possible.
Knowing what this meant, however, the Burning Wing Legion members didn't react excitedly nor were they eager to stay in Stone Forest Town, taking the increasing density of Mana as their cue to leave.
Black Flame slammed down Sareya on top of the Obelisk, hitting the Mage's head on the hard surface with such force he knocked the old man out. The clone then distanced himself as well, hiding out of plain sight.
In the next moment, Sareya's white hair became a lustrous black. As if he had grown younger by several decades, his appearance morphed from one of an old man to that of a handsome youth, and his eyes suddenly shot open.
However, unlike ordinary people, this youth's eyes were pure black like two black pits. Those eyes contained no emotion, and just looking at them would send shivers down one's spine.
The Obelisk functioned as a seal.
Meanwhile, crushing the crystal ball on top of the Obelisk was equivalent to undoing the seal.
Sealed inside the Obelisk was something horrifying. Players only discovered later on that the thing sealed inside the Obelisk was an Awakened. It was akin to Mutants among monsters. However, while a Mutant was a mutation of a monster, an Awakened was a mutation of an NPC. The probability of an Awakened appearing was extremely low; even Feng had only witnessed an Awakened a few times during his career of playing God's Domain.
What followed the emergence of every Awakened was a disaster.
Compared to Mutants, an Awakened was much more frightening. Unlike Mutants, an Awakened was born with extremely high intelligence. It was the enemy of all living creatures. In addition, an Awakened could rival even a Fallen Angel, a Higher Being, of the same Tier, so it was ridiculously powerful.
The thing that made creatures like Mutants and Awakeneds truly terrifying, however, was their ability to infinitely grow stronger at an incredible speed by killing other creatures.
The person sealed inside the Obelisk was originally a Tier 5 Divine Mage. As the person was also an Awakened, his strength was the equal of a Fallen Angel's of the same Tier—only Tier 6 Gods could suppress him.
Fortunately, with the Awakened's body already obliterated and just its soul remaining in existence, it could only possess the body of another NPC, even after the removal of the seal. Meanwhile, at this moment, the Awakened had taken over Sareya's body and devoured the old man's soul, becoming the new owner of the body.
Upon the possession, Sareya's body flew into the air, changing even further. A short moment later, his appearance became that of an effeminate youth wearing long, blood-red robes with hair scattered over his shoulders. This youth was none other than the Awakened the Obelisk had imprisoned.
At this moment, Sareya was no longer a Level 60 Tier 2 NPC but already a true monster. Not only had Sareya's body suddenly undergone a massive transformation, but even his statistics had also experienced an earth-shaking change.
[Lancelot] (Awakened, High Elf, Great Wizard)
Level 100
HP 170,000,000/170,000,000
Normally, once the crystal ball was shattered, the seal would be released and allowed a part of Lancelot to be freed, but the seal could be activated back into place by spending 10,000 Magic Crystals to reform the crystal ball, and the Awakened would be sealed back.
Though, he became more powerful with each time his seal was lifted, his power gradually returning bit by bit as the seal's restriction decreased. The NPC he took possession of would also become incredibly difficult to deal with.
In this situation, however, something else had happened.
Black Flame hadn't simply broken the crystal ball and released a part of Lancelot's power. He had directly destroyed the Magic Array serving as the seal, completely freeing the monstrosity. All of the Awakened's power was directly released for Lancelot to use.
Only, due to Lancelot being only a soul, weakening over time in the Obelisk, and the physical body he had possessed being relatively weak, only Tier 2, the Awakened's power was currently limited, only reaching Tier 4 and becoming a Great Wizard.
Given enough time, though, Lancelot will be able to return to his peak after devouring the souls of thousands of creatures, and even grow stronger.
Of course, they weren't planning on letting that happen.
While Lancelot was still enjoying his freedom and adjusting to his physical body, Feng, fully covered in blood-red armor, appeared behind the Great Mage with Instant Strike.
Being Tier 4 and a creature of his level, Lancelot would naturally sense if someone appeared behind him, but before the Awakened's senses could inform his mind of the danger and Lancelot could comprehend the feeling, a bright silver light struck his back.
Lancelot's body was sent descending towards the ground at lightning speed, having been struck by Feng with the Tier 5 standard Moonchaser while in a state of Twofold Berserk with Imperial Ascendence and Blade Liberation, utilizing the Silver Attack Combat Technique Swordmaster Blitz for maximum Attack Speed.
The unsuspecting and unprepared NPC was nearly instantly killed by the powerful strike, still unable to recover from the surprise attack partially due to its power and partially from shock at how suddenly Feng had landed such a blow on him.
He wasn't given a moment to gather his bearings as Black Flame, covered in golden scales, appeared next to the Awakened's plummeting figure and used Thundering Flash.
A sea of lightning devoured Lancelot, who attempted to defend himself, but was unable to cast a spell in time as he was struck by the full brunt of the upgraded Thundering Flash instantaneously.
By the time he tried to recover, a second volley of thunder enveloped Lancelot from behind, doing further damage.
The Awakened wasn't given a break and couldn't even fight back as the two Swordsmen jumped him and attacked with their powerful skills, quickly whittling down his HP and bringing Lancelot to the brink of death.
Just as Lancelot finally thought of using a Lifesaving Spell to protect himself while recovering, two Thunder Flame Explosions bombarded the High Elf, removing the last of his HP.
With his death, a small hill of loot started forming where the NPC had died thanks to Black Flame activating Divine Providence with the maximum amount of Life Force sacrificed.
Most importantly, however, they had managed to capture Lancelot's soul within the Pandemonium Lashblade's Reaper Profound Inheritance. To Feng and Black Flame, everything else, including Stone Forest Town, was of no consequence.
There was nothing particularly special or valuable about Stone Forest Town and the Stoneclaw Mountains. Feng didn't care about either, and if he wanted to, he could capture pretty much any Town in God's Domain.
What truly interested him was the massive secret hidden in Stone Forest Town. The Awakened High Elf NPC, Lancelot.
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1. Finally decided on changing Gentle Snow's hair to be white in my fanfic.