Chapter 448 – World Mode

In front of the Courtyard of Space’s teleportation gate:

When Moro left with Parker and over a dozen Tier 5 experts from Frey’s team, the other teams present couldn’t help but gasp.

“What’s going on?”

“Have those two teams decided to join forces?”

When the various upper-ranking hegemonic powers’ teams saw over a dozen Tier 5 experts joining Moro’s teams, they immediately felt great pressure.

Moro’s team originally had over 70 Tier 5 experts already. Among them, twenty-five were fifth-floor experts, and one was even a Saint–Desert Web, the Windworld Saint from the Sacred Quake Realm. Out of all the human teams present, Frey’s team was the only one that could match Moro’s team.

Now, though, Moro’s team had suddenly gained an extra 15 Tier 5 experts. Moreover, six of these Tier 5 experts were fifth-floor experts, and one of them was Parker, the Rockspear Saint who was formerly the manager of a Saint Camp in the Holy World.

With the addition of these experts, Moro’s team now had over 90 Tier 5 experts, of which two were Saints and thirty-one were fifth-floor experts. Just the sight of such a line-up was enough to instill fear into the various teams present, let alone the thought of competing with such a team for the ruin’s First Clear.

“That Parker is a bastard! How dare he do such a thing!?” Thousand Scars cursed. When she saw the Rockspear Saint defecting to Moro’s team, anger and despair filled her eyes.

Frey had gone to great lengths to gather over 70 Tier 5 experts to secure the ruin’s First Clear. She had paid a particularly heavy price to recruit the 22 fifth-floor experts among these Tier 5 experts.

Originally, Frey’s team should have gained an advantage over Moro’s team after the addition of Black Flame, who was rumored to have reached the realm of Saints. However, with the loss of the Rockspear Saint and six fifth-floor experts, even with Black Flame’s addition, there was no way for Frey to compete with Moro for the ruin’s First Clear.

“The old fellow’s betrayal is unsurprising,” Death Omen said, shaking her head. “If he stays with the Galaxy Conglomerate, he will forever remain an Elder of the conglomerate. At most, he will be revered in the Starlight Realm. However, it’s a different story if he becomes an Elder of the Red Dragon Nation. At that time, even the Galaxy Conglomerate’s helmsman will have to treat him with respect…”

For experts who had already reached the realm of Saints, money could no longer move them. Only status and authority could. Meanwhile, Moro’s offer could tempt even young and budding Saints, let alone an old Saint with hardly any growth potential left like Parker.

As expected of someone who has sat in the Vice Guild Leader seat for two decades. After letting the situation sink into her mind, Frey did not react in anger. Instead, she merely looked at Moro’s departing figure with narrowed eyes.

There were limited Elder positions in the Red Dragon Nation, so competition over these positions was extremely intense. Even the top three ranking Vice Guild Leaders would have difficulty getting their hands on a slot, so it was incredible that Moro managed to secure a slot.

Meanwhile, when Unrestrained Lionheart saw what Moro had just done, he only felt contempt for the other party. In Unrestrained Lionheart’s opinion, the struggle for the position of Guild Leader should be a fair and honest competition. However, Moro’s use of underhanded tactics was despicable and lacked charisma. Even if Moro managed to become the Red Dragon Nation’s Guild Leader in the future, he would have difficulty convincing the Red Dragon Nation’s members to obey him wholeheartedly.

God’s Domain had always been a place where the strong were respected.

Powerful experts would not submit themselves to a weak Guild Leader. This, in turn, made it impossible for a weak Guild Leader to lead a Guild to greatness.

The reason Unrestrained Lionheart admired Frey was that the latter had relied on her individual achievements to become the Red Dragon Nation’s Ninth Vice Guild Leader.

“We have less than ten minutes before the ruin activates, Vice Guild Leader. I’m afraid we can only recruit experts from the other powers present to make up for our missing numbers,” Unrestrained Lionheart said after looking at the time.

Moro had deliberately chosen to reveal Parker’s betrayal at the last moment. With ten minutes left until the ruin’s activation, there was no way they would have enough time to find and gather powerful experts from other places. Their only option would be to recruit from the experts present.

However, recruiting experts belonging to other powers evidently wasn’t a wise decision. After all, nobody could guarantee whether these experts were qualified or whether they would sabotage the raid. And even if these experts were qualified and didn’t sabotage the raid, they would most likely ask ridiculous amounts of compensation for their aid.

After pondering for a moment, Frey said, “Let’s just recruit some people for now.”

As the First Clear of this ruin concerned the Red Dragon Nation’s future development in the Eternal Realm, the Guild’s executives placed great importance on it. Frey had even used a lot of the Guild’s resources to recruit experts to fight for her. If she failed to secure the ruin’s First Clear, she would risk losing her position as the Ninth Vice Guild Leader.

However, just as Unrestrained Lionheart was about to recruit experts from the other teams, Shi Feng suddenly stopped him.

“Wait,” Shi Feng said as he extended a hand to stop Unrestrained Lionheart. Then, he turned to Frey and continued, “Miss Frey, since you think we are short of manpower, I can recommend some trustworthy combatants to you if you are interested.”

“Can you find enough experts to make up for our missing numbers, Mr. Black Flame?” Unrestrained Lionheart eagerly asked. If given a choice, he’d rather recruit a group of trustworthy experts than the experts of other powers.

“What are your conditions?” Frey rolled her eyes at Shi Feng when she heard his offer. She was very familiar with this situation. Honestly, if her Vice Guild Leader status wasn’t in danger, she would have definitely turned around and left as soon as Shi Feng finished speaking.

When Shi Feng saw the contemptuous look Frey was giving him, he awkwardly smiled and said, “Now that the team’s circumstances have changed, it’d be a huge loss for me to follow the original condition of maintaining the team’s casualty rate below 20%. Moreover, since my side will be contributing more manpower, it is only reasonable for me to ask for more compensation.”

“What you say makes sense.” Frey nodded in agreement with Shi Feng’s words. “I can loosen the casualty condition and increase the maximum to 40%. I can also give you priority in choosing two items from the ruin. Are these conditions acceptable?”

“Very much so.” Shi Feng agreed to the new conditions without hesitation. Immediately afterward, he contacted Desolate Fury and asked, “Brother Fury, are you three interested in making a fortune?”

…

Subsequently, time passed by quickly. Roughly ten minutes after Shi Feng contacted Desolate Fury’s group of three, the seal on the Courtyard of Space’s teleportation gate suddenly lifted, and a pillar of light rose from the gate and several thousand meters into the sky.

“Move out!”

“The First Clear belongs to the Holy Race!”

…

As soon as the seal was lifted, the teams on both the human side and the Holy Race side charged at the expanding teleportation gate.

However, even though many teams had already made their way into the Courtyard of Space, Moro did not have his team follow suit. Instead, he quietly observed Frey from a distance.

“You’ve already given Frey a chance, Vice Guild Leader Moro. It’s her fault for blindly trusting Black Flame and not cherishing your offer, so you cannot be blamed for this,” Parker said when he saw that Frey’s team seemed to be waiting for someone. “Many teams have already entered the ruin, so we don’t have much time left to waste.”

“Alright, let’s head inside as well, then,” Moro said, giving out the command to enter the Courtyard of Space.

…

Sometime after Moro’s team entered the Courtyard of Space, Unrestrained Lionheart could no longer maintain his composure as he anxiously looked at Shi Feng and asked, “Brother Black Flame, when will your friends be arriving?”

Nearly an hour had already passed since the ruin’s activation. After such a long time, even the other teams had probably explored a significant portion of the ruin already, not to mention Moro’s team.

As soon as Unrestrained Lionheart finished speaking, though, three figures swiftly appeared in front of the team.

“Sorry for the long wait, Brother Black Flame,” Desolate Fury said, hurriedly apologizing when he saw the anxious faces of the experts standing around Shi Feng.

“Don’t worry about it. You guys have arrived very quickly already,” Shi Feng said, waving his hand. The Great Beast Forest might be located next to the Corrosion Mountain Range, but it still wasn’t an easy task for a Tier 5 player to travel from the Great Beast Forest to this place. “Since everyone’s here, let’s begin the raid!”

“Everyone’s here?” When Unrestrained Lionheart heard Shi Feng’s words, he couldn’t help but recount Desolate Fury’s group. However, no matter how many times he looked at the group, he only counted three players. That was only one-fifth of the players they were missing.

“Big Sis Omen, do you think Black Flame is messing with Vice Guild Leader Frey?” Thousand Scars couldn’t help but ask when she saw Shi Feng making his way to the teleportation gate.

Death Omen was similarly puzzled by Shi Feng’s actions, and she felt that Shi Feng was going too far with his joke.

While everyone was feeling perplexed over Shi Feng’s actions, Shi Feng suddenly drew a Master Mana Gathering Array in front of the teleportation gate. Immediately afterward, the golden light pillar that enveloped the teleportation gate turned pitch-black. At the same time, everyone outside the teleportation gate received a series of system notifications.

…

System: The difficulty for the Courtyard of Space has been adjusted from God Mode to World Mode.

System Warning: World Mode Team Dungeon discovered. Please think carefully before choosing to enter the Team Dungeon.