Chapter 2020 – Great Changes
Star-Moon Kingdom, Witch's Hill:
Due to indications that Zero Wing would take action, many of the Starlight Alliance's members had gathered a short distance away from Zero Wing City and were grinding there, thoroughly sealing off the paths leading from the city, while quietly awaiting Zero Wing's next move.
However, standing atop a hill a short distance away from Zero Wing City, Shadowlight Axe, the Guild Leader of Knight's Judgment, was currently confused and agitated. Just a short while ago, he had suddenly received news that Knight's Judgment had lost control over Wildhammer Town. Moreover, this was directly announced into the ears of every Guild member of Knight's Judgment.
Guild System: Zero Wing has captured Wildhammer Town's Town Order. Wildhammer Town will no longer be under Knight's Judgment's jurisdiction. Guild Popularity reduced by 2,000.
Although s.h.i.+ Feng's Miniature World sealed off the communications of players caught within the Skill's AOE, it could not prevent the release of the notification of the Guild Town's capture. As long as one was a member of Knight's Judgment, they would immediately receive news of Wildhammer Town's capture. This could be considered a morale punishment toward a Guild that failed to defend its town.
“Wildhammer Town got captured? How is this possible?”
“What did Zero Wing do?”
The sudden notification threw Knight's Judgment's members for a loop. Wildhammer Town was a town their Guild had fortified heavily. Just the players garrisoning the town numbered over 20,000. There were also more than two dozen static defenses built in the town, as well as thousands of NPC soldiers.
Most importantly, Knight's Judgment had invested a lot of money into building a st.u.r.dy wall, which encompa.s.sed the entire town and prevented players from vaulting over it. The only way to get into the town was by destroying the wall. However, doing so would be extremely difficult. Even 100 Tier 2 players targeting a single section of the wall would need to launch numerous attacks to reduce the wall's durability by just one point. Even if Zero Wing's members had war weapons like cannons, they should still take quite some time to breach the wall.
Hence, Knight's Judgment's members found it truly hard to imagine that such a we 11-fortified town could actually be captured—and within only a short time.
At this moment, confusion plagued the entire Knight's Judgment. Even Shadowlight Axe, who had experienced countless trials and tribulations, wore an ashen complexion, a cold glint flas.h.i.+ng across his eyes.
“Guild Leader, let's rush back to Wildhammer Town now! We can't let Zero Wing get away with this so easily!” a Level 59, Tier 2 male Cleric urged anxiously.
Even if a Guild Town's Town Order were s.n.a.t.c.hed, the town would not immediately switch owners. The ruling Guild would simply lose control of the town. If the ruling Guild could s.n.a.t.c.h the Town Order back within an hour, the town would promptly return to the ruling Guild's control.
“No, we're out of time for that,” Shadowlight Axe said as he shook his head in frustration. “What we need to do now is head immediately to Warring Empire's Golden Flow Town. Also, look into how Zero Wing managed to capture Wildhammer Town. Afterward, we'll discuss with the rest of the alliance how we should proceed.”
Nowadays, Wildhammer Town was Knight's Judgment's main support. It was precisely because of Wildhammer Town's existence that Knight's Judgment received a large amount of funding, gaining an advantage over the other major powers. Without Wildhammer Town, Knight's Judgment's position would plummet into oblivion.
If it were possible to take back Wildhammer Town's Town Order, he, too, wished to do so. However, Knight's Judgment's main army was currently far from Wildhammer Town. With their ability to teleport to the town robbed, they would need over an hour to reach Wildhammer Town even if they took the shortest route and traveled nonstop by Mount. Not to mention, there were also plenty of high-level monsters on the way there.
“Understood! I'll contact the other Guilds of the alliance!” The male Cleric had no choice but to nod in agreement with Shadowlight Axe's words. Although he felt unreconciled to simply letting Zero Wing gain Wildhammer Town, he was helpless.
Meanwhile, news of Zero Wing capturing Wildhammer Town spread like wildfire across the entire Star-Moon Kingdom.
After all, the matter of a Guild Town falling was staggering news that could not be kept a secret Not to mention, the various large Guilds and adventurer teams of Star-Moon Kingdom were all paying close attention to the situation at the Witch's Hill.
“Are you kidding me? That Wildhammer Town actually fell to Zero Wing? What did Zero Wing do?”
“Could this information be fake?”
When the players of Star-Moon Kingdom found out about this matter, their first reaction was denial. After all, how could such a well-fortified town fall so easily? Moreover, Zero Wing had captured the town so quickly that almost no news about it had leaked beforehand.
The only thing everyone knew before this was that Zero Wing had suddenly gathered 1,000 Tier 2 experts. However, what could 1,000 Tier 2 experts possibly do against a Guild Town? It would be sheer suicide to attack a Guild Town with such a small force. Just the NPC soldiers inside the town would be more than enough to kill these experts.
Meanwhile, the news of Zero Wing suddenly capturing Wildhammer Town sent the ferment in Star-Moon Kingdom into an immediate and rapid cooldown. The various major powers automatically took a step back and started observing the situation more carefully. After all, if Zero Wing was capable of capturing even a weH-fortified town like Wildhammer Town, then it was definitely more than capable of capturing the Guild Towns of smaller Guilds like theirs.
“I really underestimated Zero Wing. To think it would capture Wildhammer Town so quickly… No wonder Zero Wing dares to resist Blackwater.” Snow Scar, who currently stood inside one of the Four Towers of Elements, was surprised to receive news about this sudden development.
“Commander, are we going to give up on destroying the Four Towers of Elements, then?” a Level 60, Tier 2 a.s.sa.s.sin asked in a quiet tone.
“Let's wait a little while longer and see what actions the Starlight Alliance takes. The alliance has suffered a considerable setback with the loss of Wildhammer Town. It definitely won't be able to sit still and do nothing. It will take some sort of action. And when it does, we'll have our opportunity,” Snow Scar replied, chuckling.
The main reason why the Starlight Alliance was able to develop so rapidly in the Witch's Hill was the two Guild Towns it controlled. Now that the number of Guild Towns it controlled had been halved, if the alliance still refused to take action, there would be only one outcome.
The resources available in a single town wouldn't be enough for so many corporations to share. It also wouldn't be enough for the various member Guilds of the alliance. At that time, some corporations and Guilds would choose to withdraw from the alliance. Eventually, the Starlight Alliance would naturally disappear from Star-Moon Kingdom. Snow Scar had to admit that Zero Wing was truly vicious to deal such a fatal blow to the Starlight Alliance.
Of course, achieving what Zero Wing achieved was also extremely difficult, to begin with.
Witch's Hill, Golden Flow Town:
Due to Wildhammer Town's capture, the entire Starlight Alliance was currently in chaos. After receiving a call from Shadowlight Axe, the representatives of every member Guild had gathered in Warring Empire's Residence to hold an emergency meeting.
“Zero Wing is truly ruthless. With this single move, it silenced the entire kingdom. As things stand, we'll have a much more difficult time locking down the Million Forest,” Wind Cloud, Sin Realm's representative and a Tier 2 a.s.sa.s.sin, said. Turning to Shadowlight Axe, he smiled and asked, “Do you have any thoughts on this or any information to report? Don't tell me you still haven't found out a single thing about what happened in Wildhammer Town even now.”
Aside from being one of Sin Realm's seven great experts, Wind Cloud was also the most famous a.s.sa.s.sin in the Purple Thorns Kingdom. Many experts and Guild Leaders of first-rate Guilds had fallen at his hands before he joined Sin Realm.
Only after suffering defeat at Lone Beacon's hands did he join Sin Realm.
“My side has already received a report on what happened in Wildhammer Town. According to the report, Zero Wing raided Wildhammer Town suddenly by means of teleportation. Although only 1,000 people were teleported into the town, these 1,000 people were no ordinary players. They were all four meters tall and possessed extraordinary Strength and Defense. They could contend against Level 80, Tier 2 NPCs head-on and survive the attacks of Defense Turrets without receiving much damage,” Shadowlight Axe said. He also did not forget to show the battle videos recorded.
“So, the equivalent of 1,000 monster players?” Roaring Flame, War Riders' commander, said, frowning. “What frightening combat power! If the fight occurs in a narrow place like the street of a town, they will indeed be very difficult to deal with.”
Roaring Flame frequently fought large-scale battles, so he understood very clearly how powerful these 1,000 Giant players would be in an urban battle. Battles inside of towns were different from battles out in the fields. Executing large-scale battle formations was extremely difficult inside a town. Rather, units of several hundred or several thousand players would be more suitable in such a situation.
“We have too little information! We have never before heard about any of the cards Zero Wing has just shown! If we had, Zero Wing never would've succeeded!” Shadowlight Axe exclaimed.
“That's right! However, what we need to do now is take back Wildhammer Town. Although Zero Wing has these Giant players, we have monster players on our side. Moreover, we outnumber Zero Wing considerably. The only problem is that Domain Skill Black Flame used. Its suppression effect is simply too powerful. If we have some way to resist it, the problem would be solved much more easily,” Sky View, Warring Empire's Guild Leader, said as he nodded in agreement with Shadowlight Axe's words.
Dealing with the Giant players was not a problem. After all, their side had monster players. According to the information they received, the combat power of their monster players should be equal to that of Zero Wing's Giant players.
“No need to worry about this. I have a tool here that has a powerful suppression force, although the cost of activating it is very high. This tool can also summon powerful monsters. Although it can't summon a lot of monsters, their quality is top- notch. They are much more powerful than even the Evil Beasts found in Ancient Rock City. In the past, when Zero Wing launched a large-scale attack against Ancient Rock City, it could only retreat in defeat when faced with those Evil Beasts. With these summoned monsters, we should not have any problem retaking Wildhammer Town,” Wind Cloud said, smiling.
“We'll have to depend on Brother Wind afterward, then.” Shadowlight Axe breathed out a sigh of relief.
Wildhammer Town's defenses were far from being a match for Ancient Rock City's. It also didn't have a defensive magic array protecting it. Although Wind Cloud wouldn't be able to summon many monsters, if they included the support of a large number of monster players, retaking Wildhammer Town should be feasible. After all, Zero Wing lacked numbers.
However, just as the gathered representatives were about to discuss further how they should retake Wildhammer Town, a person suddenly barged into the room with a panicked expression. When this person entered, everyone inside the room could hear quite the commotion coming from outside.
“What's going on outside? Why is it so noisy?! Don't they know that we're holding an important meeting?!” Sky View demanded of the Guild member that barged in.
“Guild Leader! Not good! Outside… A large number of Giant players have suddenly appeared outside!” the Level 57 Berserker reported while panting.
