Chapter 2498 – God’s Heart

As Fithalia finished speaking, silence fell. Hell Rush frowned at hearing the news.

“Mythology is being too arrogant! Do they think Netherworld Empire is powerless?” Thunder Beast, who stood nearly three-meters tall, bellowed in rage.

This was infuriating!

Not only had Mythology extorted Zero Wing with its declaration, but it also ignored Netherworld Empire.

The public had long since learned of Netherworld Empire’s partnership with the Starlight Fortress. Every superpower on the western continent knew of it. Naturally, there was no way a Super Guild like Mythology hadn’t heard.

And yet, Mythology demanded 51% of the Starlight Fortress’s shares. Not even Netherworld Empire had any of the fortress’s shares. By demanding 51% of the fortress, Mythology had essentially declared that it was more powerful and important than Netherworld Empire.

“Fithalia, do you know who’s leading the team from Mythology?” Hell Rush asked in a frosty tone. “It seems it’s been so long since our last battle that Mythology’s people have forgotten about the Hell Legion!”

The temperature around the group dropped as Hell Rush spoke. The ambient Mana began to freeze as if reacting to his emotions. Obviously, Hell Rush’s Mana control was already considerable.

“Commander Rush, you mustn’t act rashly. These people belong to a newly-formed team from Mythology. Their leader is a young, silver-haired man. He only looks to be around 22 or 23, and he has already replaced Trembling Hand as the First Vice Commander of Mythology’s strongest trump card legion. All of his teammates are roughly the same age, but they’re all incredibly strong. Not even our team’s strongest Assassin is as fast as they are. They move like ghosts. When they had appeared behind me, I hadn’t noticed their presence at all,” Fithalia elaborated when she realized that Hell Rush intended to pick a fight with these Mythology members. “Their team will be especially difficult to take down in the fields.”

She understood Hell Rush’s rage, but this team had a little over a dozen players, and they could all vanish without a trace. If the Hell Legion fought these players in the Starlight Fortress, they might be fine, but the legion would only be running towards its death if it tried to take them on in the fields.

With the complex terrain in the fields, not being able to sense one’s opponent would leave one blind. Even if Hell Rush and the others were strong, those Mythology members were exceptionally fast. Pinning down just one of those players would require five or six peak experts at the very least.

And there were over a dozen of those experts...

When these players had attacked the dozens of peak experts under her command, she hadn’t been able to stop them. These Mythology members targeted a single player before fleeing once they killed their mark. It was easy to imagine how formidable they’d be out in the fields.

“He’s replaced Trembling Hand? How is that possible?” Thunder Beast was astonished.

Trembling Hand had been known as a genius ever since he had joined the virtual gaming world. He had fought in virtual games for over a dozen years now and had long since reached the Domain Realm. He had achieved just as much in the Domain Realm as Hell Rush, and the man was still in his 30s. He was currently at his prime, and he still had plenty of room for improvement.

The various superpowers’ upper echelons all believed that Trembling Hand was the most likely player to become the commander of Mythology’s strongest trump card legion, and yet, he had lost his position as First Vice Commander to a youth...

Even Hell Rush wore a grim expression after hearing the news.

It’s no wonder why they dared to spout such nonsense. It seems they’re not all talk after all! Hell Rush thought, his eyes narrowing as he thought about how to deal with these people.

If what Fithalia said was true, this would be a major problem.

There were only a few members of the Hell Legion who could go up against Trembling Hand. None of the rest of the legion’s members would last very long against him. Meanwhile, the youth Fithalia mentioned could evade detection and was even stronger than Trembling Hand. If that were true, none of the Hell Legion’s members would last more than a handful of moves against this silver-haired youth.

Unless the target had an Invulnerability Skill or Spell, not even Hell Rush could help before the youth executed three or four moves. Meanwhile, if this youth wanted to escape, they’d need at least 20 peak experts to stop him, and that was assuming that these experts didn’t lose sight of the young man.

“Commander Fithalia, do you have a record of their entry and exit from the fortress?” Shi Feng asked.

“No. They seemed to have just appeared, and based on their behavior, they had no issue slipping past the gate security. Not even the Tier 3 NPCs noticed them,” Fithalia said, shaking her head.

Divine Tribe had stationed some of its Tier 3 Personal Guards to manage the Starlight Fortress’s front gate, but when she had checked the NPCs* records, there was no mention of the players from Mythology. It was as if these people had appeared out of thin air.

Stopping these players at the fortress’s gate wasn’t even possible.

“This is interesting,” Shi Feng said, smiling.

“Interesting?” Fithalia could not help but roll her eyes. For a moment, she wondered if Shi Feng understood the severity of this situation.

With the ability to enter and leave the Starlight Fortress freely, no one could stop these players from causing chaos within the Starlight Fortress.

The Starlight Fortress had just taken off. If chaos ensued inside, it would spell tragedy for the fortress’s development. Nobody wanted to remain in an unsafe location, especially when important resource transactions were involved.

“Of course! Leave the rest to Zero Wing, although I will have to continue to trouble you regarding the fortress’s daily security, Commander Fithalia,” Shi Feng said as he nodded confidently.

If this had happened before he had obtained a God’s Heart, these ghost-like experts would’ve been a huge headache for him. Without the ability to instant-kill these players, they could disappear to any random comer of the fortress, and that would be the end of the story. He would have no choice but to let these people leave.

However, the situation had changed.

He now had a God’s Heart, a source of Eternal Energy that rivaled the value of Divine Artifacts.

Not only could one use this God’s Heart as a power core, but one could also release the Eternal Energy it contained and use it to learn new concepts. It was the best item when trying to comprehend new information.

Eternal Energy was an even more powerful energy than Mana. Only the Gods could use and gather the energy, and even they struggled to collect it.

Since the Gods had long since removed themselves from the world, finding Eternal Energy had become incredibly difficult in God’s Domain, even for Tier 5 NPCs, who stood at the apex of this world. A single, small drop of concentrated Eternal Energy would be enough to incite an all-out brawl between Tier 5 NPCs and Tier 6 God-ranked players.

Meanwhile, the God’s Heart in Shi Feng’s bag was a condensed form of Eternal Energy, which not even an empire’s entire wealth could buy.

Initially, Shi Feng had wanted to learn the rest of the Memory Crystal’s content once he had returned to the eastern continent and found an ideal venue for studying the information. Tier 3 players’ foundations were their Mana Bodies, and only by unlocking his Epic Mana Body’s potential could he display his full strength. He’d then be able to explore the maps that contained Solomon’s Sword’s remaining fragments. Hence, he needed a location that could help him gain the most benefit from the Eliadi’s Memory Crystal.

However, now that he had a God’s Heart, he wouldn’t have to go to such great lengths to learn the crystal’s contents.

Once he found enough privacy to take the God’s Heart from his bag without exposing it to others, he could create his own venue, the best in God’s Domain.

Fortunately, the Fortress Lord’s Mansion was the perfect location.

Shi Feng then parted ways with Fithalia and the others, making his way to the mansion.

Fithalia was dumbfounded as she watched Shi Feng and Zero Wing’s members walk away. She couldn’t fathom was going through the Swordsman’s mind.

At such a crucial moment, Shi Feng had reacted similarly to Hell Rush, intent on taking his anger out on these Mythology players.

“What should we do now, Commander?” the Tier 3 Shield Warrior beside Fithalia asked. “The ruckus Mythology caused has already scared plenty of merchant players away. If Mythology causes another scene, I’m afraid everyone in the fortress will panic. Controlling the situation won’t be easy.”

“Forget it. I don’t care anymore. Let Mythology’s people cause a scene if they want. Once Zero Wing’s people realize how severe the situation is, we should be able to curb Mythology’s experts as long as our three Guilds work together,” Fithalia said as she massaged her forehead. She had already learned that trying to dissuade Shi Feng from doing anything foolish was a waste of time. She might as well let him try whatever he had planned. Once he failed, he’d approach Divine Tribe to work on a solution together.

“There’s no need for such pessimism, Commander Fithalia. Who knows? Guild Leader Black Flame might actually be able to show these Mythology members who’s boss. Zero Wing’s strength is the real deal. Even if Zero Wing’s players can’t stop Mythology’s experts completely, they should be able to give them a run for their money,” Hell Rush said, attempting to console Fithalia.

Hell Rush didn’t think Zero Wing had enough power to take out this team from Mythology by itself either, but with experts like Fire Dance and her comrades, they should be able to give Mythology a huge headache for their trouble.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting to see who lasted longer.

While Fithalia and Hell Rush conversed, Shi Feng had reached the Fortress Lord’s Mansion’s core room. He used the Fortress Lord’s Token to activate the room’s defensive magic array before carefully retrieving the crystal that emitted a faint trace of Divine Might from his bag.