Chapter 334 - Occupying the Ranking List

After Violet Cloud received the key, her heart could not help but pound in anticipation. She wished that she could quickly return to the city, undo the seal on this key, and become an important combat power for Zero Wing as soon as possible.

Although the Guilds in White River City currently appeared to be at peace on the surface, beneath that surface were surging undercurrents. Nobody knew what kind of plans these Guilds were concocting. This was especially true for Dark Star and World Dominators. No matter how one looked at it, they were not Guilds that would give up after suffering only one or two defeats.

Yet, despite Zero Wing maintaining such a high profile, these two Guilds had actually done nothing at all. How could their lack of a response not give rise to suspicions?

Although Violet Cloud did not know what these two Guilds were planning, she was sure of one thing: as long as Zero Wing became sufficiently strong, no matter what sort of tricks or means those two Guilds used, all would be rendered useless.

“Star’s Reminiscence?” Violet Cloud softly muttered after checking the information of the key in her hands.

[Star’s Reminiscence] (Magic Weapon)

A key belonging to the ancient and great Star Sage, Raines. Inside this key remains a fragment of Star Sage Raines’s power. Currently, Raines’s power has been sealed by a mysterious power, and information about the key can only be unveiled after the seal has been undone. This seal requires a Tier 3 Great Mage to undo.

After Shi Feng had used Omniscient Eyes on this Star’s Reminiscence, a portion of the information that had displayed as “Unknown” became available.

Star Sage Raines was one of the many legendary characters of God’s Domain. Even among legendary characters, Star Sage Raines was one of the more dazzling figures. The reason being, the Astromancer class had managed to become powerful and prosperous only due to the efforts of Star Sage Raines. Unfortunately, along with the demise of Star Sage Raines, the entire Astromancer class had slowly vanished through time. As of today, most people had already forgotten about the existence of Astromancers.

Shi Feng took a look at his surroundings, saying, “Now that the traps have been removed, we should return as well.”

With the magic array of the control room deactivated, what they needed to do next was to wipe out all the Blood Hand Association NPCs outside Creek Town, as well as all the NPCs inside the Blood Hand Association’s stronghold. After that was done, the Crusade Quest would be officially completed.

---

While Shi Feng’s group of four was leaving the Blood Hand Association’s stronghold, a major incident occurred at White River City.

Originally, the members of Zero Wing had occupied only up to the 40th position on the White River City Ranking List. However, after another two hours had passed, Zero Wing now occupied every rank up to the 20th position of the Ranking List. Currently, Zero Wing was only 11 ranks away from obtaining full monopoly over the Ranking List.

At present, not a single Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom had managed to achieve the feat of completely monopolizing the Ranking List of a single city. To be precise, nobody had even dared to think of achieving such a feat. After all, there were plenty of experts in every city; there were bound to be a few leveling madmen. It was practically impossible for a single Guild to surpass every other player in a city.

Not to mention, White River City wasn’t just a small city. On the contrary, it was the most important city in Star-Moon Kingdom’s eastern region. It was also the fifth largest city in Star-Moon Kingdom. Needless to say, there were plenty of Guilds and experts gathered here, making it very difficult to fully monopolize the city’s Ranking List.

Yet, now, Zero Wing was actually about to accomplish such a feat. How could the players of White River City not grow excited about it? However, the players most excited over this situation were still the members of Zero Wing. At this moment, many members of Zero Wing started cheering loudly on the streets as they tracked the Ranking List, showing their fervent support for Aqua Rose and the others.

Of course, while some were rejoicing over Zero Wing’s inevitable monopoly over the Ranking List, others grew anxious at this situation.

When Lone Tyrant saw that Zero Wing members were quickly catching up to him, he started using every means available to him to level up.

Lone Tyrant sent for another 600 players from Dark Star to assist him in leveling up. He then split these 600 players into 30 teams of 20 players. These teams were then tasked with gathering and killing monsters around Lone Tyrant.

As long as a team was about to kill the monsters they had herded, they would immediately invite Lone Tyrant into their teams before killing said monsters. That way Lone Tyrant could still receive a portion of the EXP without needing to personally land the killing blow. After the monsters were killed, Lone Tyrant would then leave the team and go on to join other teams. Including the several hundred players that were originally helping him, Lone Tyrant now had over 30 teams of players assisting him in leveling up. Lone Tyrant continued to leave and join teams this way, accumulating large amounts of EXP for himself. Naturally, the effect on his leveling speed was self-evident.

However, such an extravagant way of leveling was only possible because Lone Tyrant was the Guild Leader of Dark Star. Other people could only look on in envy. Not even tycoons dared to level up in such a way.

In truth, Lone Tyrant himself was reluctant to waste so much manpower. However, he simply had no other choice. Despite sending out a horde of people to search for Zero Wing’s whereabouts, no one returned with positive results. Lone Tyrant could not stop Zero Wing’s progress even if he wanted to.

No matter how hard Lone Tyrant racked his brain, he simply could not figure out how the members of Zero Wing were leveling up so quickly. Even when he was using such an extravagant way of leveling, his leveling speed was still far inferior to theirs. It would be fine if this situation was only limited to one or two individuals in Zero Wing. However, such a large group of players was actually leveling up so quickly. Just what kind of method were they using to accomplish such a feat?

If Zero Wing were to really kick him out of the Ranking List, then he, as the Guild Leader of Dark Star and also someone who was famed for his high level, would really become the laughingstock of White River City.

Hence, Lone Tyrant had no choice but to carry out such an unwise move.

However, with the passage of time, Lone Tyrant grew increasingly frightened. Everyone in White River City was greatly surprised as well. The reason being, not only did Zero Wing’s leveling speed not slow down, it somehow was even accelerating.

The rankings changed practically every few minutes.

The positions Zero Wing occupied rapidly went from the 20th to the 15th, before increasing to 12th, and finally stopping at 10th. Now, Lone Tyrant was the only player on the Ranking List who was not part of Zero Wing.

Lone Tyrant became even more frantic at this sight.

“Lure more monsters! The more the better! Everyone else, give me all the Magic Scrolls you have!” Lone Tyrant’s eyes were glowing red at this moment. He looked just like a gambler who had lost all his bets and was planning to stake everything on one final throw. “Black Flame, you’re a hundred years too early if you think you can kick me out of the Ranking List!”

Shortly after, Lone Tyrant started hysterically using all sorts of AOE attack Magic Scrolls, killing the hundreds of monsters his subordinates had lured over. Each and every one of these AOE attack Magic Scrolls were very precious, and they were normally treated as the Guild’s strategic materiel. At this moment, however, Lone Tyrant treated these Magic Scrolls as if they were toys, using them with wild abandon.

Lone Tyrant’s experience bar also soared within a short period of time. However, compared to the rise in experience, Lone Tyrant’s behavior was simply throwing good money after bad.

Everyone from Dark Star felt their hearts ache at this sight. They had managed to obtain these Magic Scrolls only after going through many difficulties. Now, however, all their efforts had gone to waste in order to allow Lone Tyrant to quickly level up. Despite their heartache, the members of Dark Star could do nothing about the situation. After all, the person holding the position of Guild Leader was not them but Lone Tyrant.

Many people started regretting their decision to join Dark Star instead of Zero Wing.

With such a selfish Guild Leader, would Dark Star even possess a future?

In contrast, Black Flame, the Guild Leader of Zero Wing, had not hesitated to charge to the rescue in order to save his brothers and sisters in arms from being bullied. Back when the core members of Zero Wing had been surrounded inside the Silverleaf Forest, Black Flame had ventured into enemy territory all by himself. Moreover, after the war, he had even spent huge sums of money in order to compensate his own Guild members. From Black Flame’s actions, one could tell that he was a person who would rather bear the suffering himself than to let his brothers and sisters be wronged.

If they could have such a Guild Leader, so what if they had to suffer?

---

However, just as Lone Tyrant was hysterically using Magic Scrolls...

Zero Wing’s 100-man team were also in the midst of killing the remaining Level 50 Tier 1 Blood Hand Association Elites.

In order to deal with these Level 50 NPCs, Blackie used Stars of Light, while Shi Feng used Firestorm. Shi Feng’s normal guards also used all their AOE skills. The scene of the battle was like Armageddon; even the Level 50 Tier 1 NPCs could not endure this relentless bombardment.

Soon after, these Blood Hand Association Elites started dying one after another. Simultaneously, the experience bars of everyone from Zero Wing soared like a rocket.

The reason for such rapid leveling was simple. First of all, Tier 1 NPCs gave much more EXP than ordinary NPCs when killed. Second, most of the members of Zero Wing were only Level 20, while the rest were only a few levels higher, so the bonus EXP they could obtain from killing a Level 50 NPC was munificent. When both of these factors were combined, the levels of Zero Wing’s 100-man team naturally increased by leaps and bounds.

After several tens of Blood Hand Association Elites died, everyone from Zero Wing had risen to Level 21 or above, instantly monopolizing all 100 spots on the White River City Ranking List.

At this moment, every player in White River City fell silent.

Zero Wing had done it. Zero Wing had actually fully occupied the top 100 spots of the White River City Ranking List.

The sight stunned Lone Tyrant. He even forgot to use the Magic Scroll in his hands.

At the same time, a series of system notifications sounded throughout the entire Star-Moon Kingdom.