Chapter 2294 – Medium Fortress

The regional announcement repeated three times, its contents stunning the players grinding in the Gravity Mountain Range.

“The Northern Fortress’s been captured? What’s going on?”

“Isn’t the Northern Fortress the largest fortress in the northern region?”

“Are you kidding me? Zero Wing actually took down the Northern Fortress?”

“Is Zero Wing really so powerful?”

Practically every player in the Gravity Mountain Range knew about the Northern Fortress. It was one of only three Medium Fortresses in the Gravity Mountain Range and a hot topic among players.

Thus far, the only power to secure a fortress the Gravity Mountain Range was Thirteen Thrones, but the Guild had only claimed a Small Fortress. Taking into account the number of players on Dragonheart Island, a Small Fortress wasn’t enough to satisfy demand. A Medium Fortress, on the other hand, was several times larger.

Now that Zero Wing had captured the Northern Fortress, players grinding in the Gravity Mountain Range wouldn’t have to worry about a safe place to rest and recover.

Everyone had assumed that the first power to capture a Medium Fortress would be one of Dragonheart Island’s Super Guilds, yet Zero Wing had accomplished the feat. No one had expected this outcome.

However, the masses’ shock was nothing compared to how stunned the island’s various powers were over the news.

“How is this possible?! That’s the Northern Fortress we’re talking about! How could a Guild like Zero Wing possibly capture it?!”

“Start an investigation! I want to know every detail of the event! Not even Thirteen Thrones dared to assault the Northern Fortress! Zero Wing must’ve used some special method to capture it! If we can learn this method, the rest of the Gravity Mountain Range’s fortress will be ours!”

The various powers knew just how difficult these fortresses were to capture. Many of the island’s superpowers had attempted such operations, only to fail.

These powers also knew what kind of Guild Zero Wing was. Even with the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s help, capturing the Northern Fortress should’ve been impossible for Zero Wing. If it were that easy, the various Super Guilds would’ve already occupied every fortress in the map.

Zero Wing must have used some tool or special method to succeed.

Meanwhile, a report regarding Zero Wing’s success in capturing the Northern Fortress quickly made it to Melancholy’s desk in the Thirteen Thrones’ Dragonheart City Residence.

“Interesting. I hadn’t really thought that they’d succeed,” Melancholy commented, surprised as he read the initial report.

As Thirteen Thrones’ Guild Leader, Melancholy knew better than anyone on Dragonheart Island how challenging the Gravity Mountain Range’s fortress were to capture. When he had first heard of the operation, he had assumed Zero wing was going for broke, hoping it would work out somehow. The War Blood adventurer team was still going mad over trying to destroy the Guild, after all.

“Guild Leader, now that Zero Wing has captured the Northern Fortress, it will gain more influence on Dragonheart Island. Many powers will likely try to ally with the Guild. Should we...” Happy Art carefully asked Melancholy while eyeing Elder Wu.

Elder Wu had been a strong advocate for their Guild’s relationship with Starlink since the superpower could be so helpful in capturing the Gravity Mountain Range’s fortresses.

And yet, Zero Wing had successfully claimed the Northern Fortress, a feat that not even Thirteen Thrones had the strength to accomplish. Naturally, a Medium Fortress would offer far more and better benefits than a Small Fortress, and the various major powers already saw Zero Wing as a tempting ally. If Thirteen Thrones waited until other powers had allied with Zero Wing first, it would lose a significant amount of potential profit.

“Happy Art, you reach conclusions too quickly,” the masked woman behind Elder Wu spoke up. “Although Zero Wing has the Northern Fortress, capturing it is a lot easier than defending it, especially now that the Guild has angered both Starlink and War Blood. If we negotiate a partnership with Zero Wing, and it failed to defend the fortress, our Guild will be in an awkward position?”

Happy Art fell silent for a moment.

Other powers might not know much about the Gravity Mountain Range’s fortresses, but Thirteen Thrones was very familiar with them. It was true that defending a fortress was far harder than capturing one. Thirteen Thrones had gone as far as stationing a large number of experts in the fortress long-term to protect it from periodic monster attacks, even utilizing a few of the Guild’s trump cards. Needless to say, even stronger monsters would assault a Medium Fortress.

If Zero Wing couldn’t protect the Northern Fortress during one of these monster attacks, the consequences would be dire.

“That kid has exceeded my expectations, but we should see if Zero Wing can defend the fortress before we make a decision,” Elder Wu said. “It won’t be too late to negotiate a partnership once Zero Wing proves that it can hold the Northern Fortress.”

Elder Wu then stood and left the room. He didn’t linger in the Guild Leader’s office any longer.

While Dragonheart Island’s various superpowers discussed Zero Wing’s success, Shi Feng and his team were busy clearing the Undead mobs out of the Northern Fortress.

Capturing a monster-infested fortress wasn’t the same as capturing a monster-infested town. Once a town’s Guardian Boss was defeated, the remaining monsters would flee and disappear. However, in monster-invested fortresses, players had to kill the remaining monsters after defeating the Guardian Boss and claiming the fortress. Fortunately, once the monsters were dead, they wouldn’t respawn.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, we should have these Undead mobs taken care of in a few more hours,” Phoenix Rain reported. Worriedly, she continued, “However, according to the information I’ve recently received, War Blood and Nine Dragons Emperor can no longer sit still. Not only have they locked down the Gravity Mountain Range, but they’ve also begun to gather forces to capture the northern canyon’s Rock Nest Fortress.”

Although the Northern Fortress was the largest in the Gravity Mountain Range’s northern region, its location was remote. In reality, the Northern Fortress wasn’t that attractive to players. Fortunately, there weren’t an^ areas for players in the Gravity Mountain Range, excluding Thirteen Thrones’ Small Fortress. Players would have no choice but to visit the Northern Fortress, regardless of how remote it was.

However, if another fortress in the northern region were captured, that situation would change, especially if it were the Rock Nest Fortress.

The northern canyon, where the Rock Nest Fortress was located, was the sole path leading to the Gravity Mountain Range’s northern region. If War Blood captured it, it would severely affect the Northern Fortress’s popularity.

They have the right idea. We’ve just captured the Northern Fortress and still need some time to clean it up. If they can stop the flow of players and resources from reaching our fortress, they’ll weaken the Northern Fortress’s development speed. We might not even survive the first wave of monsters,” Shi Feng said, chuckling. “Unfortunately, they don’t know what it means to own a Medium Fortress.”

After his comment, Shi Feng approached one of the destroyed Defensive Magic Towers.

There was a strict divide between the Gravity Mountain Range’s fortresses. A Medium Fortress wasn’t just larger than a Small Fortress; it also had Defensive Magic Towers. These towers were the main reason why Medium Fortresses had a qualitative advantage over Small Fortresses.