Chapter 692 - A Corporation’s Strength

Star-Moon City, Star-Moon Restaurant:

Star-Moon Restaurant was the only 5-star restaurant in Star-Moon City. The building was 36-stories tall and stood at the heart of the city’s central trade district. If one dined in the top floor rooms of the restaurant, they could couple their food with the beauty of Star-Moon City.

However, even expert players could not afford even a single meal in the top floor rooms.

The minimum expenditure here was 30 Gold.

Normally, only NPC nobles came here for a meal. This was not a place for players.

Today, however, a charming and sexy female player in luxurious purple robes enjoyed a meal in one of the VIP rooms on the top floor. Delicacies covered the table, each costing at least 2 Gold. Each dish offered players a relatively top-tier piece of equipment.

Suddenly, the room’s doors opened. A burly, middle-aged man entered the room.

“Miss Willow, I’ve arranged for the matter you requested. Both the Red Names and various Workshops are quite satisfied with the remuneration that we have provided. Now, all we need to do is watch as Zero Wing is slowly ground to dust,” the burly man reported coldly as he approached the purple-robed female respectfully.

This man was none other than Twilight Echo’s Guild Leader, Glorious Echo.

After Shi Feng had angered Exemplary Willow, the latter had ordered Glorious Echo to deal with Zero Wing. However, that was a challenge even for him.

Star-Moon Kingdom was not Twilight Echo’s home ground. Moreover, even if it were, Twilight Echo couldn’t do anything about Stone Forest Town.

Hence, he had decided to hire the various Workshops and Red Names in Star-Moon Kingdom to deal with Zero Wing.

A beggar doesn’t fear going bankrupt.

Unlike Guilds, these players could afford to target Zero Wing as they had never particularly relied on Stone Forest Town or the Stoneclaw Mountains to strengthen themselves and level up. Even if Zero Wing tried to avenge their losses, locating these Red Names and Workshops would not be easy. The resources and manpower required to do so would gradually wear Zero Wing down.

It was especially true for those Red Names. Every one of them was an expert in field combat. It was easy for these Red Names to find an opportunity to kill a few of Zero Wing’s core members. In addition, through repeated ambushes and harassment, they could restrict Zero Wing’s activity.

Moreover, Exemplary Willow was still arranging further punishment for Zero Wing. There was no need to worry about the Guild surviving.

“What did the Star Alliance and Ouroboros say about our offer?” Exemplary Willow asked softly.

“The Star Alliance has agreed to our conditions. Ouroboros, unfortunately, does not know how to appreciate kindness when offered. However, I’ve contacted Ouroboros’s original Guild Leader. If Miss Willow agrees to help him, he is confident that he can reclaim Ouroboros for himself.” Glorious Echo had been shocked by Gentle Snow’s rejection.

Ouroboros was no longer as strong as it had been. After the mutiny, Ouroboros began to struggle. Several corporations that had originally supported Ouroboros had abandoned the Guild. The fact that the Guild remained standing was a miracle in and of itself. Theoretically, the Guild should be in need of a large sum of money to turn things around. Yet, Gentle Snow had rejected the offer of Open Source Corporation’s support.

Exemplary Willow had offered no less than what she had given Twilight Echo. Moreover, as the Guild Leader of Ouroboros, Gentle Snow should hold a significant fraction of the Guild’s shares. If she had accepted the offer, those shares would have easily become over ten times more valuable.

Exemplary Willow wanted to obtain the Stoneclaw Mountains at all cost. If they could not obtain Star-Moon City’s two first-rate Guilds, it would be nearly impossible to claim the Regional Dungeon for themselves. Hence, Glorious Echo had sought out Ouroboros’s original Guild Leader, Cao Chenghua. Cao Chenghua’s influence was still entwined with Ouroboros. He was only helpless about his situation because Gentle Snow had gained the support of several important Guild Elders.

If Cao Chenghua had the support of OSC, however, there was a large possibility that he could regain control over Ouroboros.

“Since that is the case, agree to his conditions. I don’t want to waste too much of my time on Star-Moon Kingdom.” Exemplary Willow nodded indifferently. When she thought about Shi Feng’s previous arrogance, her lips unconsciously twisted into a cold sneer.

Against a boorish fellow like Shi Feng, she had decided show him just what kind of beast he had provoked.

---

Meanwhile, in the Stoneclaw Mountain’s inner region, the battle between Zero Wing’s main force and the army of Red Names was in full swing.

After Turtledove activated Freezing Air, the temperature within 15 yards of her fell sharply, cold air filling the area. The Movement Speeds of the dozen or so Red Names surrounding Turtledove instantly dropped by 40%. Meanwhile, the damage Turtledove received decreased to around -100 points.

These Red Names were no fools. The moment they noticed the change to their Movement Speeds, they began to distance themselves from Turtledove. In the next second, however, their Movement Speeds decreased by another 40%. Even if they fast, they could not outrun the Guardian Knight.

Three seconds later, all of the melee Red Names surrounding Turtledove and the other two MTs were frozen.

“What kind of Skill is this?” Some of the melee players who had intended to charge at Turtledove slid to a halt, aghast as they watched their companions turn into ice sculptures.

With such an AOE Control Skill and high Defense, melee classes like themselves had no hope in close combat with Turtledove. They could only allow Turtledove move unhindered as she approached their team’s rear line healers.

However, as players who often participated in PvP battles, these Red Names were no weaklings. Every one of them possessed Skills that allowed them to remove control effects. They immediately activated these Skills to break free from their restraints.

If they were frozen solid, they would be no more than practice targets. Zero Wing’s ranged players would bombard them with vicious attacks. If comparing equipment quality, Zero Wing’s main force was at least two levels above theirs.

It was especially true for Minor Wind’s attacks. As he possessed the Tier 1 Weapon, Windchaser, even MTs such as Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights, who possessed Damage Reduction Skills, received over -1,000 from each of his normal attacks. If they sustained one of the Ranger’s Skills, they would receive nearly -3,000 damage, nearly -6,000 damage if it were a critical hit.

Among these Red Name MTs, there were a few who had as much as 9,000 HP, while some had as little as 8,000 HP. A single critical hit from a Skill was more than enough to destroy over half of their HPs. Even the Red Name healers could not keep up with Minor Wind’s damage.

Moreover, Minor Wind’s Attack Speed was astonishing. Even expert players would have a hard time dodging his arrows. Furthermore, these Red Names had opponents in front of them to deal with. They could not afford to split their attention to dodging the Ranger’s arrows.

Only, as soon as these players broke free from their Frozen debuffs, they instantly discovered that something was amiss.

Although they were no longer frozen, their Movement Speeds were still so low. They could not shake off Turtledove and could only suffer the Guardian Knight’s repeated attacks. Each of Turtledove’s attacks dealt over -600 damage to the melee players. Using Hammer of Sanctions, not only could she force her target into a Fainted state, but she could also achieve a critical hit of over -3,000 points. The half-HP Level 31 Shield Warrior, who was Turtledove’s current target, lost his remaining HP instantly, dropping two pieces of equipment as he fell to the ground.

These Red Names all belonged to the forces of darkness. Even the penalty they received for being Red Names were light. They only lost slightly more EXP than the average player; roughly 1.5 to 2 Level’s worth of EXP.

Meanwhile, Cola’s and Ye Wumian’s damage was even higher than Turtledove’s. Each one of their Skills dealt over -4,000 damage with a critical hit. The unlucky half-HP melee Red Names died instantly.

“Damn it! Why is their damage so high?!” Many Red Names were dumbfounded.

What these Red Names did not know, however, was that Cola and the others’ Skill Completion Rates far surpassed theirs. Hence, their Skill damage was very high.

Three seconds later, the melee players who had broken free from the Freezing effect froze solid once more.

Against the ranged attacks of Zero Wing’s main force, even with their healers’ support, these Red Names could not escape death.

In the blink of an eye, over a dozen melee Red Names fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the majority of Zero Wing’s melee forces suddenly emerged from the forest, launching a pincer attack from the side. As the Red Names had focused all of their attention on the three MTs, they were momentarily caught off-guard by the sudden pincer attack.

Just as the melee Red Names tried desperately to defend against the sudden ambush, Fire Dance, Flying Shadow, and the other Assassins of Zero Wing suddenly appeared behind the Red Name healers.

Ambush!

Backstab!

Absolute Strike!

With a chain of attacks, Fire Dance and the other Assassins claimed the lives of multiple healers.

Meanwhile, the Red Name Assassins had similar thoughts. They had long since circled to Zero Wing’s back, launching an ambush on the team’s healers.

“Die!”

Traceless Blood had long since set his eyes on the Cleric Violet Cloud. Using Shadow Steps, he appeared right behind Violet Cloud, his dagger plunging towards Violet Cloud’s heart.