Chapter 658 – First War

“Is that woman strong, Guild Leader?” Hidden Soul asked out of curiosity when she saw Shi Feng scrutinizing Verdant Rainbow.

Hidden Soul understood Shi Feng to a certain degree, so she knew that most experts couldn’t catch his attention. Even when the other party was a powerful and influential person in the Greater God’s Domain, Shi Feng would, at most, take a few extra glances at them. He would never bother to scrutinize them.

Normally, those who could gain Shi Feng’s scrutiny would be individuals of extraordinary strength. Or, more specifically, individuals who could threaten his life.

“Yes. Very much so,” Shi Feng quietly said and nodded. “I dare say she’s among the top ten strongest players in the current Eternal Realm.”

“Top ten?” Hidden Soul couldn’t help but take a closer look at Verdant Rainbow upon hearing Shi Feng’s evaluation. Then, she skeptically continued, “Although she is currently at Tier 6, her mana and aura still feel weaker than Azure Shadow’s group. The various apex powers should have also sent some of their old monsters into the Eternal Realm. Even if she is slightly stronger than the various apex powers’ younger generation, I doubt anyone of the younger generation can rank among the Eternal Realm’s top ten.”

Hidden Soul was no longer as ignorant regarding the Greater God’s Domain as she was when she was still operating under the Flower of Seven Sins. While she might not know how many experts the various apex powers had under their command, she knew every major power operating in the Greater God’s Domain had a group of old monsters operating behind the scenes.

In terms of age, even the youngest of these old monsters were probably over a century old, while the older ones had mingled in the Greater God’s Domain for centuries already. Meanwhile, because of the combat experience they had accumulated and the foundation they had built for themselves, they had a vast advantage over players of the younger generation, and it would take the younger generation a lot of time and effort to catch up to them.

Moreover, the stronger a power was, the more so this would be. After all, most of these old monsters had similarly been regarded as paragons and chosen ones during their younger days. The talent they possessed was not at all inferior to the current younger generation.

Admittedly, not many powers and players were currently present in the Eternal Realm. But even in this limited population of players, it would still be incredibly difficult to rank among the top ten in strength. In Hidden Soul’s opinion, even Shi Feng couldn’t necessarily accomplish this feat, so the odds of a woman younger than Shi Feng accomplishing it should be even lower.

“It might be impossible for others, but not for her,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head and wryly smiling when he saw the skeptical look on Hidden Soul. “As for why that is the case, it is because she currently possesses the World String, a Divine Artifact. It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to regard her as a Taboo.”

Verdant Rainbow was a legendary name in Shi Feng’s previous life. During a defensive siege against the Holy Race, Verdant Rainbow had single-handedly slain sixteen Ancient Saints and one Holy Ancestor. Her achievement was so astonishing that she scared away the royal power attacking the Holy City she defended. But who could blame them?

To the Holy Race, Ancient Saints were the equivalent of the human race’s Ancient Gods, while Holy Ancestors were the equivalent of the human race’s Primordial Gods.

Yet, with one bow, Verdant Rainbow had shot down sixteen Ancient Saints and one Holy Ancestor. Such an achievement could only be found in the Grand Library’s records in the modern Greater God’s Domain. In fact, Verdant Rainbow’s achievement might be even more incredible than these records.

It was why the twelve rulers of the Twelve Sanctuaries had unanimously agreed to award Verdant Rainbow with the title of God Hunter.

In terms of significance, a title awarded by the Twelve Sanctuaries’ rulers was far more valuable than a title awarded by the Seven Luminaries Alliance. Not only was it a representation of strength and status in the Greater God’s Domain, but it also came with blessings from the Greater God’s Domain.

Although the current Verdant Rainbow had yet to become as strong as she was when the Holy Race invaded the Twelve Sanctuaries in Shi Feng’s previous life, the fact that she was already in possession of the World String meant that she could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ancient Gods.

This was also why Shi Feng was so surprised to see Verdant Rainbow.

“A Divine Artifact? Is the Seven Luminaries Alliance insane?”

After hearing Shi Feng’s words, Hidden Soul couldn’t help but gape in shock as she looked at the strange-looking crystalline longbow on Verdant Rainbow’s back.

For players like herself, Divine Artifacts were things they could only dream of obtaining. Although Shi Feng had handed the Fragmented Divine Artifact-rank Chaos Windblade to Gentle Snow sometime ago, Hidden Soul still felt that Divine Artifacts were far out of her reach.

Meanwhile, Divine Artifacts were items regarded by the various pseudo-apex powers as their greatest trump card. They would never take out their Divine Artifacts to a fight unless they were facing an existential crisis.

Hence, Hidden Soul found it unbelievable the Seven Luminaries Alliance would let someone take a Divine Artifact into a fight over just one resurrection camp.

It should be known that Divine Artifacts were items that could be dropped on death. In fact, they would have a considerably great chance of dropping in battles between players. After all, players could use curse-type tools or special barriers to drastically increase their opponents’ death penalty. On a large battlefield, players could even lose all of their weapons and equipment if they died multiple times.

There was also no way to hide a Divine Artifact from others in battle. It might be hard to tell a weapon or equipment’s exact rank outside of battle, but once in battle, so long as a player wasn’t an inexperienced amateur, they could quickly determine the rank of their opponents’ weapons and equipment based on the other party’s combat performance.

Not to mention, the might of a Divine Weapon was vastly superior to Legendary and Fragmented Divine Weapons. The moment Verdant Rainbow took action, everyone would be able to tell she was wielding a Divine Weapon.

Defending a resurrection camp with a Divine Weapon was no different than waving a winning lottery ticket in a crowded street. Was the Seven Luminaries Alliance not afraid of getting robbed?

“That’s not for us to worry about,” Shi Feng said when he saw Hidden Soul’s drooling look. Then, he switched to the team chat and said, “Miss Frey, once the battle begins, have all of your people gather near our Tier 6 members and do not move more than a hundred yards away. Otherwise, we will have difficulty rescuing you.”action

“Aren’t you being a little too cautious, Guild Leader Black Flame? We will only be dealing with the rabble who manages to slip through,” Unrestrained Lionheart said as he looked at Shi Feng in confusion. “Not to mention, if we restrict our movements to 100 yards around you, we will have trouble chasing the Holy Race players out of the camp’s core circle.”

The rules for occupying a resurrection camp were simple. So long as a Guild could ensure it had the most members present in a resurrection camp’s core circle for 24 hours, it would immediately gain ownership of the resurrection camp. No interruptions were allowed during this period. If a Guild failed to maintain its numerical advantage even once, the whole occupation process would have to start all over again.

But once a resurrection camp was occupied, if other Guilds wished to occupy it, they would need to ensure nobody but their own members were present in the core circle. Moreover, they needed to keep it that way for 24 hours. If so much as one member from the resurrection camp’s owner entered the core circle, the occupation process would be canceled, and it could not be restarted until the core circle was cleared out. Even if the invading Guild had more members in the core circle, it still wouldn’t matter. Hence, for those seeking to occupy a resurrection camp, it was crucial they be the first to occupy it.

Currently, their task was to chase away any Holy Race player who managed to enter the resurrection camp’s core circle. If they had to limit their movements to within 100 yards of Shi Feng’s team, they would have difficulty exhibiting their strength.

Just as Shi Feng was about to explain his decision, several of the Dark-Gold Combat Puppets stationed along the resurrection camp’s perimeter suddenly went on alert as numerous red dots appeared on their 20,000-yard warning map.

These red dots came in different sizes. The greater the size, the greater the target’s energy levels, the greater the target’s strength, and the greater the threat the target would pose to the Combat Puppet.

“I got 1,043 high-energy alerts!”

“The Holy Race’s army is here! Estimates show at least 1,043 Tier 6 experts!”

…