Chapter 2598 – Clever Use of Personal Guards?

Winter Empire, Winter City, Azure Chamber of Commerce’s Residence:

The Long Family’s Elders and Grand Elders sat within a luxurious, top-floor meeting room, all wearing solemn expressions. If a Tier 3 player entered the room, they’d shudder with fear upon sensing these individuals’ chilly auras.

“What arrogance! Zero Wing is too full of itself!”

“That’s right! It is simply responsible for a few achievements in the east, yet it assumes it can stand on the same level as Violet Sword in the west! It’s ridiculous!”

“Zero Wing wants to negotiate with Violet Sword? Does the Guild think it rules the western continent?”

The Long Family’s Elders and Grand Elders were furious when they heard Long Wushang’s report.

They might’ve understood if Zero Wing had only refused to let Silent Wonder go. They all knew that the Guild must have invested a lot of resources in the girl’s development, and according to Long Wushang’s report, she was very close to becoming a Grandmaster Alchemist.

The importance of a Grandmaster Alchemist to a Guild went without saying. A single Grandmaster could be responsible for an entire Guild’s prosperity.

The best potions currently on the market were Master rank. Obtaining a Grandmaster Potion was unthinkable at this stage of the game. Any random Grandmaster Potion would be immensely useful, and if a Guild could mass-produce such potions, that Guild would have an unimaginable advantage. Hence, they would’ve understood if Zero Wing had tried to fight for her.

However, Shi Feng hadn’t stopped with a refusal to hand Silent Wonder over. He had also declared that Zero Wing would handle the situation, cutting Azure out. It was no more than calling them all incompetent!

“Since Zero Wing has had made the promise, we’ll wash our hands of this matter for now. Once Zero Wing embarrasses itself, it will learn when to take a step back,” the keen-witted, middle-aged man in the seat of honor said. “But what are Wonder’s thoughts on this, Old Five?”

“Wonder is quite hesitant, Big Bro, but once Zero Wing embarrasses itself, I doubt she’ll sit by and watch her Guild and family fall into ruin. I am sure she’ll head to Violet Sword to continue her development,” Long Wushang surmised after giving the matter some thought.

“That makes things simple. All we need to do is let things progress. While Zero Wing might be powerful enough to cause waves on the eastern continent, it can do nothing in the west. I realize that we don’t wish to tie our family’s elites to the Zeus Corporation, the company has chosen to use us as an example to unify the powers under its command. We have no way out of this mess,” the clever man said, sighing.

The Elders and Grand Elders in the room fell silent.

The Long Family had become Azure’s leading family and enjoyed untold glory on the surface, but in truth, it faced increasing pressure. If the Long Family could not continue to grow stronger, only an endless abyss would await them in the end. After all, the Zeus Corporation only supported the Azure Chamber of Commerce; it didn’t care who was in charge.

As the clever man had said, Zero Wing couldn’t accomplish anything on the western continent. All the Long Family needed to do was sit back and watch the show.

While the Long Family’s Elders met, Shi Feng and his party finally reached the dangerous canyon within the east’s Demonwolf Mountain Range after some time traveling on their Flying Mounts.

The canyon was full of Level 120-plus Demonwolves. Quite a few Grand Lord ranked Mutated Crimson Demonwolves and Three-headed Demonwolves rested on the canyon’s broken cliffs, and two twenty-meter-tall, Mythic ranked Three-eyed Ice Demonwolves rested before a cave entrance, both radiating powerful, frosty auras.

[Ice Demonwolf] (Demonic Creature, High Lord)

Level 123

HP 63,000,000/63,000,000

[Three-headed Demonwolf] (Demonic Creature, Grand Lord) Level 124

HP 540,000,000/540,000,000

[Mutated Crimson Demonwolf] (Demonic Creature, Grand Lord) Level 125

HP 1,200,000,000/1,200,000,000

[Three-eyed Ice Demonwolf] (Demonic Creature, Mythic)

Level 127

HP 3,100,000,000/3,100,000,000

When they saw the countless monsters, Zero Wing’s members gasped.

They had already learned about the incredible number of extremely powerful Demonwolves in the canyon from Fire Dance’s report. Still, they couldn’t help but shudder upon seeing the monsters for themselves. This looked like more of a Demonwolf city than a canyon.

Even a team with over 5,000 Level 120, Tier 3 players would struggle to raid this Demonwolf den, much less their team of 12 and several dozen Tier 3 Personal Guards.

With just a glance, they counted more than 300 Three-headed Demonwolves and Mutated Crimson Demonwolves, and the Grand Lords guarded every entrance into the canyon. Two Three-headed Ice Demonwolves also stood guard at the mouth of the cave.

The ice-type Mana the two Level 126 Mythic monsters radiated was no laughing matter, and since all of the team’s players had fully unlocked their Mana Bodies, they could sense how much Mana the two monsters radiated. They felt as if they were staring at two gigantic mountains, not just Mythic monsters.

Enveloped in such overwhelming ice-type Mana, manipulating the ambient Mana would be impossible. Although they could use their own Mana in combat, their Mana would be suppressed, and they wouldn’t be able to exhibit their Skills and Spells’ full power.

“Guild Leader, must we really clear out these Demonwolves?” Cola asked. He had wanted to test his new equipment, but he couldn’t help his nervous gulp when he saw the Demonwolves here. “Even if we rely on the Personal Guards during the fight, I doubt we’ll have an easy time...”

“These Demonwolves must be dealt with, but we’re not relying on the Personal Guards. We’ll be doing the cleaning ourselves,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head.

“We will?” His Guild Leader’s plan surprised Cola.

Even working with their Personal Guards, they’d still have a difficult time defeating these Demonwolves, yet Shi Feng informed them that they’d take out the monsters on their own. This had to be a joke.

“Mhm. The Demonwolves here are special. Not only are there so many, and they’re strong, but they also have high combat standards. Moreover, this environment’s Mana suppression is quite powerful, which makes using Skills and Spells incredibly difficult. Players will have to rely on their combat techniques here. Consider this another training ground. From today on, we’ll train here,” Shi Feng said, nodding. “Once you run out of Stamina and Concentration, return to training in the Extraordinary Tower and recuperate. When you’ve rested, return here. Clearing this area will be our main task for the next few days.”

He had wanted to activate the medium teleportation point, boosting Zero Wing’s development speed, as soon as possible.

However, Shi Feng’s most recent battle on the Extraordinary Tower’s second floor had made one thing clear; the Realms of Truth weren’t as simple as he had initially assumed.

He had thought he had mastered a considerable portion of the Realms of Truth’s principles, but in reality, he only knew the tip of the iceberg. He had never once truly exhibited the Realms of Truth’s full potential during combat.

Meanwhile, Tier 3 was only a transition period for true powerhouses. The difference between their strength and that of ordinary experts would become more prominent as players reached Level 120 and began to challenge their Tier 4 Promotion Quests.

While Zero Wing had plenty of expert players, very few qualified to be called peak experts, and even fewer were apex experts that had reached the Domain Realm.

Although powerful weapons, equipment, and Bloodlines would be quite helpful during players’ Tier 4 Promotion quests, their combat standards would be the deciding factor between completing the quest or not. This would be particularly true of players who challenged their Tier 4 Promotion Quests at a low level. They’d face much higher combat standard requirements than if they waited.

Since the Zeus Corporation was taking measures to consolidate its power, it was obvious that the various superpowers and major corporations had realized the significance of Tier 4. As a result, they were pooling their resources to nurture their peak and apex experts in preparation for their Tier 4 Promotion Quests.

In the past, the various superpowers had only realized how important Tier 4 was after a few apex experts had completed their Promotion Quests. However, due to the butterfly effect Shi Feng had caused, the superpowers now focused on training their high-tiered experts, rather than rely on zerg tactics as they had in his past life.

Hence, improving Zero Wing members’ combat standards was of the utmost importance. If the various superpowers really were preparing their experts for the Tier 4 Promotion Quests, Zero Wing would be overpowered if it remained passive.

Aside from normal training, life-or-death battles with monsters was an absolute must if players wanted to grow stronger. Only by risking their lives in battle could players unlock more of their potential.

Now that Zero Wing had the Extraordinary Tower and the Demonwolf Mountain Range’s special region in its grasp, he had to take advantage of these benefits.

“In that case, Guild Leader, why did we bring all of these Personal Guards?” Aqua Rose asked, confused.

It had taken a lot of manpower to secure so many powerful Personal Guards, yet Shi Feng didn’t intend to use them in the fight. She didn’t understand what he was trying to accomplish.

“They’re here to watch us fight and help during crucial moments, saving our lives,” Shi Feng seriously explained.

His statement left the rest of his team speechless. Was this the right way to use Personal Guards?

These Demonwolves were so powerful. Even if they fought alongside their Personal Guards, victory wasn’t guaranteed, so how were these NPCs supposed to protect them?

“Since there are no more questions, let’s begin our training!” Shi Feng declared, slashing Killing Ray through the empty air before him and sending a lightning bolt at a group of a dozen or so Demonwolves.

The attack startled over a thousand nearby monsters, and the Demonwolves turned to glare at Shi Feng’s group, the rage in their eyes making Cola and the others shiver. Before the team could react, the thousand or so monsters charged toward them...