Chapter 2656 – Frightening Monster

Silverwing Town, Blue Rose Bar:

As one of the few Advanced Bars found in Silverwing Town, not only was the Blue Rose Bar a place where experts exchanged information, but it was also a sacred place for the various well-known adventurer teams to celebrate their harvests. Hence, the Blue Rose Bar was basically crowded with players every day.

At this moment, however, only a dozen or so people occupied the bar’s third floor.

Of the people there, even the lowest-leveled was Level 114, with the highest at Level 115. These players also boasted excellent equipment, the weakest piece of equipment being Level 110 Dark-Gold rank. As for Level 100-plus Epic Equipment that could make even peak experts drool, every one of these players had at least two pieces, with some of them sporting up to four.

However, compared to the levels and equipment of these people, their identity was what was truly astonishing. These players were none other than the peak experts of Crimson Emperor, a Guild that was known by almost everyone in the surrounding kingdoms and empires. Meanwhile, seated at the head of this group was Illusory Words, one of Crimson Emperor’s Vice Guild Leaders.

“Sure enough, just like our spies in Saint’s Hand reported, the Mythic ranked Faux Saint Devourer that recently spawned is planning to attack Silverwing Town,” a Level 114 man with a fierce look said as he looked at the image on the Magic Mirror set up in the middle of the table. Sighing, the man continued, “It won’t be long before more Faux Saint Devourers appear. With this, Silverwing Town will fall within a few days. At that time, it will be useless even if Zero Wing’s main force members show up.”

Upon hearing the fierce man’s words, the other Crimson Emperor members fell silent.

The Grand Lord ranked Faux Saint Destroyers were already plenty strong. Now, even a Mythic ranked Faux Saint Devourer had appeared. The strength and combat standards the Faux Saint Devourer had displayed thus far were enough to give even peak experts like themselves goosebumps. Most likely, even if their group here worked together to attack it, they would all still die. Meanwhile, once the numbers of these Faux Saint Devourers grew to around 20 or 30, they might be capable of destroying even Guild Cities.

“What is the Guild Leader’s response to this matter?” Illusory Words asked the fierce man. When she saw the Faux Saint Devourer’s unstoppable rampage through the Magic Mirror, she could not help frowning, either.

“The Guild Leader has ordered a complete withdrawal. He says that there’s no need for us to accompany Zero Wing in its fight to the death against these Faux Saint monsters,” the fierce man replied.

“A complete withdrawal?” Illusory Words was a little surprised by the answer she received.

Previously, their Guild Leader had personally dispatched Crimson Emperor’s experts to help defend Silverwing Town. This indicated that he strongly supported Crimson Emperor’s partnership with Zero Wing. Now, however, before Crimson Emperor’s experts had even started fighting, he was actually ordering a retreat. Illusory Words found this situation unbelievable.

“That’s right, a complete withdrawal. The current God’s Domain is no longer the same as before. We have a ton of matters to deal with just in the Dark Night Empire alone. This is especially true now that Starlink’s development is accelerating. At this point, Starlink already has designs on a few of our Guild Towns. Moreover, the situation here is obviously hopeless, so it is naturally much better if we post our available combat power to defensible locations. Unyielding Soul should be doing likewise,” the fierce man explained.

“Do we have any new information on Zero Wing’s Guild Leader and main force?” Illusory Words asked.

“There’s still nothing even now. I heard that Zero Wing’s upper echelons have tried contacting Black Flame and the others, but their virtual gaming cabins remain under lockdown. If they sever the power to the gaming cabins, there’s a very high chance that Black Flame and the others will enter a deep coma. Hence, all they can do is wait,” the fierce man said, shaking his head. “However, with the present situation, there’s no chance of Zero Wing making a comeback. Setting aside the threat of Starlink and the Dark World, Zero Wing will have difficulty defending its headquarters in Star-Moon Kingdom from the Faux Saint monsters. Nothing will change even if Black Flame and the others return. The difference in combat power is simply too large. Moreover, there’s also Saint’s Hand, which is eyeing Zero Wing’s position in Star-Moon Kingdom.

“Saint’s Hand’s origin is extremely mysterious and extraordinary. Even Blackwater’s mighty Xuanwu Chisa seems afraid of it. Otherwise, with her personality, she definitely wouldn’t make any concessions in the Orc Empire.”

“I understand. However, at the rate the Faux Saint Devourers are spawning, so long as we defend together, we should be able to hold out for another two weeks or so. Retreating so soon is really...” Although Illusory Words understood what the fierce man was trying to say, she still could not bring herself to give up just like that.

“Two weeks?” The fierce man revealed a bitter smile at Illusory Words’s statement. “If we really could hold on for another two weeks, the Guild Leader wouldn’t have called for a retreat right away.”

“What do you mean?” Illusory Words asked curiously.

While Tier 4 combatants were indeed extremely powerful and especially useful when attacking fortified locations, with Silverwing Town’s defenses and the experts like themselves present, it would take at least 20 or 30 Faux Saint Devourers to conquer Silverwing Town.

“According to the information we collected from Saint’s Hand, when Faux Saint monsters reach the Mythic rank, not only do their Basic Attributes and combat power undergo a qualitative transformation, but so does their intellect as well,” the fierce man said, fear darkening his eyes as he looked at the Faux Saint Devourer displayed on the Magic Mirror.

“Isn’t it normal for them to gain a boost to their intellect?” Illusory Words didn’t get the fierce man’s point.

“It wouldn’t be a problem if it were a normal improvement in intellect. However, according to Saint’s Hand’s information, these Faux Saint monsters gain the ability to learn once they reach the Mythic rank. In just a few minutes, they can learn the combat techniques players use. And the more experts they fight, the more quickly they improve. They are monsters in the truest sense!” the fierce man explained.

“How is this possible? Doesn’t this mean that, aside from NPCs, nobody will be able to suppress those Faux Saint Devourers?” Illusory Words could not help feeling that the fierce man was being too alarmist when she heard his words.

Learning a combat technique was easier said than done. Even with the guidance of a complete Legacy Crystal, peak experts would need dozens of hours to learn a combat technique. Without any guidance, they wouldn’t be able to learn a combat technique even given a month or two. Hence, how could a monster that, at most, possessed intellect rivaling that of ordinary players, learn a combat technique in just a few minutes?

“I didn’t believe this information, either,” the fierce man said as he chuckled bitterly. He then sent a video recording to Illusory Words and continued, “Take a look at it yourself.”

When Illusory Words played the video recording, it showed a Tier 3 Void Realm expert fighting a Mythic ranked Faux Saint Devourer. At the start of the fight, the Void Realm expert was merely at a disadvantage in terms of Basic Attributes. With his superior combat standards, he should be able to survive against the Devourer for quite some time.

However, after the Void Realm expert cycled through a few combat techniques a few times, the Faux Saint Devourer seemingly got bored of the expert’s antics and executed a Basic Footwork to instantly kill the said expert. And shortly afterward, the fallen expert’s corpse transformed into a Faux Saint monster.

“How is this possible?”

Goosebumps rose all over Illusory Words’s body when she saw the peak expert getting killed.

Her reaction was because this peak expert was someone she recognized. He was none other than Hundred Arms, the commander of the adventurer team Crimson Wolves, a top adventurer team based in the Black Dragon Empire. Hundred Arms was an expert who was only half a step away from reaching the Domain Realm.

However, despite Hundred Arms having such high combat standards, the Faux Saint Devourer had actually instant-killed him. Moreover, the monster had even used Hundred Arms’s prided footwork, Doppelganger Steps, to do so.

“That’s right. That Faux Saint Devourer learned Doppelganger Steps in only a minute. Moreover, the Devourer was extremely cunning while fighting Hundred Arms. It didn’t use its full strength at the start of the fight. Instead, it held back and squeezed out all of Hundred Arms’s potential, forcing Hundred Arms to use every move he had. Only after seeing that Hundred Arms had nothing left to offer did the Devourer kill him. The situation is similar to Purple Eye’s right now,” the fierce man said, breathing out a deep sigh as he watched Purple Eye clash with the Faux Saint Devourer, through the Magic Mirror.

“No wonder the Guild Leader wants us to retreat immediately. Who could possibly be a match for such a monster?” Illusory Words muttered, still in shock over the Faux Saint Devourer’s intellect.

With such strength and intellect, the Faux Saint Devourer simply wasn’t an existence that players could handle. Only NPCs could kill such a monster.

Just as Illusory Words was about to command Crimson Emperor’s members to withdraw from Silverwing Town, the movement pattern of the Faux Saint Devourer fighting Purple Eye suddenly changed. In the blink of an eye, it appeared behind the Elementalist and sent over 20 spear images stabbing at her.

The move the Faux Saint Devourer had executed was one that Illusory Words was familiar with; it was another one of Hundred Arms’s trademark moves, the Advanced Combat Technique Fallen Leaves. Upon seeing this move being executed, Illusory Words could not help a sigh.

When Hundred Arms executed this move, even Domain Realm experts couldn’t stop it completely. Now that the Faux Saint Devourer had perfectly replicated the move, needless to say, a Flowing Water Realm expert like Purple Eye stood no chance against it.

However, just as Illusory Words was about to turn her gaze away from the Magic Mirror, a flash appeared in the mirror.

In the next moment, a pitch-black wall appeared between Purple Eye and the 20-plus spear images, the spear images vanishing without a trace when they came into contact with the pitch-black wall.