Starlink's 300,000-strong army had Moon Creek Town completely surrounded. With Lu Xingluo's command, the 100-plus Large Ballistas slowly advanced, stirring fear in the hearts of the town's players.
This was the first time the Dark Night Empire had seen such a large-scale siege battle.
As the ma.s.s of players swarmed toward the town, the Hundred Flowers Palace members on the town walls couldn't help but shudder in fear. Although they had experienced a few large-scale battles, those fights were insignificant compared to the battle awaiting them.
When Seven Light, Remnant Cloud, and the rest of Zero Wing's members saw this, they, too, were shocked.
"Amazing! So, this is a Guild war?"
"Although I've watched Guild wars before, spectating and partic.i.p.ating are on two different levels."
"So, this is a superpower's true strength?"
Although they were Refinement Realm experts, Seven Light and his comrades couldn't help but feel insignificant before such a large army. In a battle of this scale, an individual wouldn't make even the tiniest wave.
They had successfully broken past one Starlink blockade after another and fended off thousands of players, but they had only done so due to the canyon's narrow terrain. A few hundred players would be fortunate if they could attack at the same time, but this battlefield was about to take place on an open plain. On a battlefield like this, they may have to face thousands of players at once. Surviving would be difficult enough, not to mention turning the tide of battle.
Moreover, they had the Large Ballistas to contend with. If 100 Large Ballistas fired simultaneously, they would even blow a group of peak experts to smithereens.
Starlink didn't only plan to annihilate the Hundred Flowers Palace. It also wanted to make an example of the Guild for the rest of the Dark Night Empire's players. s.h.i.+ Feng could not help his rueful sigh as he watched the gradually approaching war weapons.
Large Ballistas were far more useful than a town's Defense Turrets. Although they didn't have as much range as the Defense Turrets, the ballistas' attacks were undoubtedly at the Tier 3 standard. Furthermore, they had slightly shorter Cooldowns than the Defense Turrets. Fortunately, the Large Ballistas didn't have as large of an AOE as the Defense Turrets.
Since the Large Ballistas' design wasn't particularly difficult to obtain and its materials weren't that rare, it had become a mainstream weapon when sieging towns or cities in the past.
The high production cost was the only drawback.
A single attempt to produce the Large Ballista cost roughly 1,000 Gold. If a Basic Master Forger attempted to craft one, the total cost would amount to around 3,000 Gold. The fact that Starlink had more than 100 of these war weapons meant that the Guild had spent at least 300,000 Gold in the weapons' production.
s.h.i.+ Feng had to admit that a superpower was certainly impressive. It had both strength and money. If it were up to him, he wouldn't have sacrificed so much to ma.s.s-produce the Large Ballistas
Although crafting the Large Ballistas cost half as much to construct a Defense Turret, the turret had incredibly high Defense. It could even survive multiple Tier 4 attacks. But the Large Ballistas were different. They could barely endure two or three Tier 3 attacks before crumbling, much less Tier 4 attacks. Moreover, using the Large Ballistas would reduce their durability, and repairing the war weapons would cost a hefty fee. Unless one was particularly wealthy, they couldn't afford to rely on the Large Ballistas.
"Commander Ye Feng, I've finally found you," Cleansed Rue said as she ran towards s.h.i.+ Feng. "The battle will begin soon. Moon Creek Town is too dangerous now. Your team should prepare to leave immediately. After the fight begins, we'll find an opportunity to open a gap for you to escape."
"You're abandoning Moon Creek Town?" s.h.i.+ Feng asked in an odd tone.
From what he understood, Moon Creek Town was the Hundred Flowers Palace's final ray of hope for survival in the Dark Night Empire. If the Palace lost this town, it would have no choice but to leave the empire.
"We can no longer afford to defend the town. The difference between our forces' strength is simply too great. At this point, all we can do is try to preserve as much of the Guild's strength as possible," Cleansed Rue said, shaking her head.
She, too, wanted to protect Moon Creek Town, but the difference between her Guild's strength and their enemy's was clear for all to see. Even if Shadow Flower's army of 200,000 elite and expert players reached the town in time, the reinforcements couldn't change the war's outcome.
Against more than a hundred Large Ballistas, Moon Creek Town's defenses were practically non-existent. Rather than throwing their lives away in a pointless struggle, it would be wiser if they simply found another location to settle in.
"Is that so?" s.h.i.+ Feng, more or less, understood the Hundred Flowers Palace's reasoning. Smiling, he asked, "What if I say that there is a way to hold onto Moon Creek Town?"
"Hold onto Moon Creek Town?" Cleansed Rue blinked in surprise at s.h.i.+ Feng's words.
"Mhm. Defending against Starlink's a.s.sault isn't exactly impossible. Only, if you want to hold Moon Creek Town, we'll have to touch upon Zero Wing's core secrets," s.h.i.+ Feng said, nodding.
"Is that really possible?" Cleansed Rue asked, needing confirmation from s.h.i.+ Feng once more.
She knew what s.h.i.+ Feng was trying to say. As long as the Hundred Flowers Palace agreed to ally with Zero Wing, Zero Wing would help protect Moon Creek Town, but she couldn't figure out what method they could employ to save the town.
"I'm 80% confident," s.h.i.+ Feng said after giving the matter some thought.
"Eighty percent!?" Cleansed Rue stared at the Swordsman in shock.
Despite facing a 300,000-strong elite army and 100-plus Large Ballistas, s.h.i.+ Feng insisted that they had an 80% chance of victory. If she hadn't been traveling alongside this Swordsman and gained a certain understanding of this man, she would've suspected him of lying to her.
"If we fail to protect the town, I will represent Zero Wing in abandoning the alliance conditions. On the contrary, if we succeed, our previous conditions will remain unchanged. What are your thoughts?" s.h.i.+ Feng asked.
"Alright I'll negotiate with the Guild Leader immediately." Cleansed Rue nodded to s.h.i.+ Feng's conditions and confident tone. She then contacted Shadow Flower and Crimson Heart, relaying the offer, word for word, and asking them to make a decision.
"Hold Moon Creek Town? Against such an a.s.sault?" Crimson Heart found Cleansed Rue's claim difficult to believe.
Not even Unyielding Soul and Crimson Emperor would dare interfere in this war now. Not even they could protect Moon Creek Town against Starlink's forces, and they were too afraid of drawing the Guild's attention.
"However, since Zero Wing had made the offer, we won't suffer any additional losses if this plan fails. Giving it a try doesn't matter at this point," Shadow Flower said after considering the situation. In the end, she agreed that s.h.i.+ Feng's conditions were better than doing nothing and fleeing from the Dark Night Empire.
Following which, Cleansed Rue signed a contract with s.h.i.+ Feng on behalf of Shadow Flower, solidifying the alliance between Zero Wing and the Hundred Flowers Palace. If Zero Wing successfully protected Moon Creek Town, the Hundred Flowers Palace would hand over the management rights to 50% of its Shops in the empire. On the other hand, if Zero Wing failed, this agreement would be null and void.
"Commander Ye Feng, what do you need the Hundred Flowers Palace to do?" Cleansed Rue asked once the contract had been signed.
"How many players do you currently have in Moon Creek Town?" s.h.i.+ Feng responded with a question.
"We have 35,000 members garrisoned in the town. Among them, around 3,000 are experts. There are also 1,000 NPC soldiers, 300 of which are Tier 2," Cleansed Rue said. "If need be, we can also utilize 4,000 Blood Source Potions to create 4,000 temporary experts."
Normally, such a force would be more than enough to defend a town, but against 300,000 elite players, the force would be quite fragile.
"Not bad. It should be enough." s.h.i.+ Feng nodded approvingly. He then s.h.i.+fted his gaze to Seven Light and the others and commanded, "Alright, let's get to work! Starlink's Large Ballistas will be your targets!"
"Wonderful! I didn't think we'd get a chance to use them this time!"
Seven Light and his comrades' eyes glowed as they received their orders.
